Local band Acroma has always relied on goals. "When we first got together, we had a goal that we wanted to write songs," said lead singer Jeremy Stanley. "Then we made a goal for ourselves to play some shows."
"After we achieved those," said bassist Tom Collins, "we made another goal to play the Zephyr Club. Then we wanted to play DV8, but that goal never happened, because the club changed its name to Xscape."
Acroma is on its way to the big time. The group — which also features drummer Joshua Zirbel and guitarist Brian Christensen — is gearing up to release a CD on Universal Records, the home of Nelly, Godsmack and Three Doors Down.
To celebrate, Acroma will perform at Club Xscape on Wednesday, one day after the album is released to record stores all over the country. Those who buy the album at Graywhale will get a free ticket to the May 7 show.
It has been a swift ride for the Salt Lake group — three of whose members (Stanley, Collins and Christensen) went to Kearns High School. During an interview in the Deseret News offices, the band talked about where it's been, and where it hopes to go.
"We had a mutual friend who heard a demo CD we made, and she knew some people at Virgin Records," said Christensen, who cited everyone from Jane's Addiction to Radiohead to James Taylor as his musical influences.
Eventually music industry insider Steve Walker got a hold of the CD and offered to manage the band, alongside longtime manager Joel Christensen (who is Brian's brother).
"It works out well," said Stanley, who cut his teeth on Metallica, the Cure and Depeche Mode. "And we wouldn't have made it this far without the both of them guiding us along."
Joel Christensen shopped the band around, and he sent press kits and copies of the CD to every record label he could find. "At the same time, we had our music posted on the Internet and were contacted by record labels like Atlantic, Jive and Roadrunner," said Brian Christensen. "Walker set us up with more connections. But all of that didn't get us signed."
Then the CD wound up at Universal. "We got a call, and they wanted to know when our next show was," said the guitarist. "Tom Nakai flew out and we all went to dinner. Even before we were signed, he began asking us if we had thought of a producer for our album. He was talking like the signing was already a done deal."
Acroma did sign to Universal and began working on an album that would eventually emerge as "Orbital."
The group recruited producer Sylvia Massey, who has worked with Tool, System of a Down and Powerman 5000. "We all heard horror stories about producers who come in and rewrite all the songs," said Collins, who loves Pink Floyd and Skinny Puppy. "We were prepared for that to happen, but it never did.
"Sylvia let us do what we wanted to do and allowed us to experiment. Some of the best things on the album happened because Brian stepped on the wrong effects pedal or something like that."
For four months, the band members holed up in a little apartment in Weed, Calif., working on the album. "We wanted to make this album the best we could," said Collins. "We wanted to do that, just in case it was our only album."
"We had all the songs written and ready to go by the time we began recording," said Stanley.
"But we wrote some additional songs in that four-month period," said Zirbel, who grew up in El Paso, Texas, and was in a band that wanted to be like Bauhaus. "We've always been the type of band that wants to improve itself. People would say, 'You sound great, but . . . ,' and we'd listen to what was wrong and improve on that."
Currently, the album's single "Sun Rises Down" has hit radio play lists across the country. "We're prepared to jump at the chance if things go right," said Brian Christensen. "But we're also preparing ourselves to work harder if something doesn't happen."
"In the meantime," said Zirbel, "we're trying to write better songs, but keeping an eye on day jobs just in case."
If you go
What: Acroma
Where: Club Xscape, 115 S. West Temple
When: 7 p.m., Wednesday
How much: $5 and $7
Phone: 467-8499 or
1-800-888-8499