A recording contract is not a safety net, according to Aaron "Deli Man" Maxwell, guitarist/vocalist for God Street Wine.
"It's not an end-all, be-all kind of thing," Maxwell said during a phone call from Lawrence, Kans. "A lot of bands think once they get signed the rest is going to be easy. That's not the case."The feel-good jams of God Street Wine - Maxwell, vocalist/
guitarist Lo "L.G." Faber, keyboardist Jon "Mahavishnu" Bevo, bassist Dan "Sweets" Pifer and drummer Tomo - will return to Salt Lake City for a gig at the Zephyr Club on Monday, Nov. 10. Doors open at 7 p.m. The music begins with opening act Citizen's Utilities.
Maxwell knows what he's talking about when it comes to recording contracts. After spending a few years making a name for itself as an acoustic duo (with Faber and Maxwell), the band added a bassist and drummer and caught a deal with Geffen Records, but the label didn't know how to market the band.
The band next went to Mercury Records, where it released "Red."
"We found out pretty early in our (recording) careers that if you want longevity, you need to work harder after signing with a label," Maxwell said. "It's still up to us to play the best shows, although Mercury is standing behind us. We still need to present ourselves the best we can."
Maxwell, whose father was a jazz trumpeter, said the band's ultimate goal is to keep improving. "Every night is a new experience. And we need to keep it fresh for us as well as the audience. We play rock 'n' roll for a living. So we need to let it show."
God Street Wine's follow-up to its critically acclaimed "Red" album is a self-named album that was released earlier this year.
"The only real pressure we felt about making the new album was finding a way to make a cohesive album from beginning to end. We needed to really define our sound.
"The first album contained a lot of different styles," Maxwell said. "This time around, we focused on our style."