Hollywood

BEST OF SEVEN
In 1999, Grunge was gasping for air, Nickelback were an indie band from Canada that radio couldn't care less about, and Jon Bon Jovi was about to get a hipper haircut and mount a comeback. Meanwhile, in a rehearsal studio somewhere in North Hollywood, Best Of Seven were about to to take their stab at leaving a mark on pop culture, an attempt that would yield wildly mixed results.

With the sum of its parts producing a sound that was an odd amalgamation of Goo Goo Dolls, Foo Fighters, Bon Jovi, and Cheap Trick, marching in step with the current crop of Modern Rock hit-makers seemed unlikely at best, but within months of releasing a self-titled debut EP, produced by the likes of Ken Van Druten(KISS, Linkin Park, Everclear), and Matt Thorne(Trapt, Julien-K), the band were snatched up for management by Union Entertainment Group(Nickelback, Hinder, RED), and the process of developing and showcasing the band for labels had begun.

For the next two years, they were groomed for an impending success that never quite materialized, supporting everyone from Buckcherry to Warrant on the road, while spending countless hours in various studios when they were not, churning out dozens of tracks for supposedly interested label execs who always seemed to want more.

Eventually, frustrated with the industry runaround, and plagued by the resulting internal tensions, the original lineup parted ways, and the band faded back into the obscurity from whence it came, but not before leaving a vast wealth of unreleased studio material, the first of which sees the light of day with the February 2012 release of 'Turn It On Again' from Demon Doll Records.

Culled from sessions spanning 1999-2002, as well as recent collaborations between former members Shane Tassart and Denny Smith, recorded in 2009 and 2011, the collection includes the 2010 AVN Award-nominated "Kiss The Girl", available for the first time on CD, as well as over a dozen tunes that have never before seen official release, all remastered, and the subject of extensive liner notes that recall the origins of and circumstances surrounding each track.

Is this a retrospective designed to memorialize a thing of the past, or an introduction to a new chapter in Best Of Seven history? That remains to be seen. One thing is for sure, these 19 tracks only scratch the surface of the band's recorded output, so who's to say this isn't just volume 1?

BACK INSERT COVER CREDITS:

1. Know It's Over (S. Tassart)
2. Call My Name (D. Smith)
3. Wonder (S. Tassart)
4. Underwhelmed (D. Smith)
5. Kiss The Girl (D. Smith)
6. Eggshells (D. Smith)
7. Again (S. Tassart, J. Ketchmark)
8. Her History (D. Smith)
9. Beautiful Goodbye (D. Smith)
10. Broken (D. Smith)
11. Throwing It All Away (D. Smith)
12. Sleep (S. Tassart)
13. Only In My Head (D. Smith)
14. Hate (S. Tassart)
15. Hollywood (D. Smith)
16. Anything (S. Tassart)
17. Climb (S. Tassart)
18. Untrue (S. Tassart, D. Smith)
19. I'd Do It All Again (S. Tassart)

Shane Tassart: vocals, guitars
Denny Smith: guitars, vocals, keys
Brian Wong: bass on all tracks except 1, 5, 9, & 19
Rob Wood: drums on all tracks except 1, 5, 9, & 19
Joshua Ketchmark: guitar on tracks 7, 11, & 18
Henry Go: bass on tracks 1, 5, 9, & 19
Billy Baker: drums on track 1, 5, 9, & 19
Lee Corham: keyboards on track 9

Tracks 1, 5, 9, & 19 recorded, mixed, & engineered by Michael Saint-Leon at The Switchyard, Antioch, TN. Vocal recording by D.D. Ehrlich(1, 5 & 9) & Burt Malcuit (19)

Tracks 2, 3, 6, 7, 10, 11, 13, 15, 16, 17, 18 recorded, mixed, engineered, and produced by Jack Hayback at Almazan Road Studio, Woodland Hills, CA.

Tracks 4, 8, & 14 recorded, mixed, engineered, and produced by Ken Van Druten & Robert "Ragman" Long at Ocean Studios, Burbank, CA, and A&M Studios, Hollywood, CA.

Track 12 recorded, mixed, engineered, and produced by Matt Thorne at MT Studios, Burbank, CA.

Back cover photo: SUPERMONGREL

Special thanks to all our friends and family, and especially all of you who have waited patiently for this stuff to finally see the light of day. (Sorry it took us so long, we got distracted.) Stephanie, Shandi, Cassidy and Zander (My World), Joann & Taylor Moss, Dawn & Brett Wong, Cody Lee, My Mom (I miss you so much), The Barneys (Vicki you are always with us), Linda Shane & family, the Tassarts, The Smith clan, The Woods, The Wikoffs and the Co-Op Records Crew, Mike J. Nichols, Johnny and Demon Doll Records, Marie, Paul and Jason, GMD FILMS, Jenny D, Bob Long and Shandi's Music, Billy Baker, Henry Go, Patrick Miller, the TGA guys, Josh Ketchmark, Jessica Rodriguez, Jason Lee & family, Joey Osisek, Tony Delarosa @ Samick Guitars, Gibson Guitars, Washburn Guitars, Bryan Coleman & Union Entertainment Group, Robert “Ragman” Long, Dirtbag Clothing, Scott Camarota, Sean Paden, Audrey Jackson, Sandy Rizzo, WWCT & WGLO Peoria R.I.P., Joe Ramirez, The Graves, The Watkins clan, Blair Pettyjohn, My friends at FOX Cable, John Cassisi and my friends at Disney Channel, Jennie Wood, Brian Gilmore, La La & Frankie, Matty Barrotto, Joe Casey & family, Dirty D, Lonny Johnson, Jonathon Firstenberg, Heather Brown, Nick "NOVA", The Jack Hayback Social Club, Ivan "the GREAT" Markota & all the Van Mar bunch, Tony Boldi, Garrison @ DW, Kirsten & the Zildjian family, Tammy Bowen, Pam Hunt, Melinda Meltzer, Heather Van Meter , Third Encore, Nightingale Studios, all of the bands we shared a stage with (cheers), R.I.P. Jani Lane.

To Denny, Brian and Rob, I dedicate this to you and I thank you for your unconditional friendship all of these years! We had a great ride.