Aranda: ‘Idol’ connection more than band ever dreamed

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Buzz up!

By Gene Triplett

Published: October 7, 2009

Read more: http://newsok.com/aranda-idol-connection-more-than-band-ever-dreamed/article/3406760?custom_click=pod_headline_ae#ixzz0THI8oifo

Ever since "American Idol” winner Kelly Clarkson decided to record "All I Ever Wanted” and "Whyyawannabringmedown” for her latest album, Dameon Aranda has had a lot of explaining to do.

Hard-edged rock is the stylistic calling of the Oklahoma City-based band called Aranda, which Dameon fronts with singing brother Gabe. And when they include those two songs in their set, someone invariably approaches them after the show and asks the same question.

"I mean, you’ll get people every night, it doesn’t fail, they’re like, ‘Man, why you guys coverin’ Kelly Clarkson? Why you doin’ a Kelly Clarkson song for your new single?’” he said in a recent phone interview from a tour stop in Denver.

Clarkson is a pop diva. "All I Ever Wanted” is the title tune of her most recent album, released in March. "Whyyawannabringmedown” is the ninth track on her disc. Aranda just issued its much harder rocking version of that same song as its new single.

The thing some newer Aranda fans don’t realize is that both songs were co-written by Dameon Aranda and two of his band’s producers, and both tunes are included on Aranda’s self-titled debut album, which was released in April 2008.

So it’s the other way around: Clarkson’s covering Aranda. But she’s a lot more famous at the moment.

The way it all happened, Dameon said, is that the wife of one of Aranda’s producers is best friends with Clarkson and turned the Idol on to the band’s music.

"(Clarkson) checked ’em out on MySpace and loved ’em,” the guitarist, co-vocalist and chief songwriter of Aranda said.

But Clarkson apparently thought the songs were demos from nonperforming songwriters when she paid for the rights to record them. When she found out the songs had been recorded by Aranda, she immediately telephoned Dameon to apologize.

"She called me, and she said, ‘I am so sorry, I didn’t know that these were on your album, and is it still OK for me to record them and put them on my album?’” Dameon recalled. "I was like, ‘Kelly, please, that would be a dream for us.’ I was kind of already shocked that Kelly Clarkson was calling me in the first place. ... It was funny because when she called, she was like, ‘Hey, what’s goin’ on? This is Kelly Clarkson.’ And I was like, ‘Man, who is this? You jokin’ around? What the heck?’”

The exposure, despite its unusual nature, has been invaluable. At least three major labels — which shall remain unnamed until a contract is signed — have expressed interest in the band, and Dameon has signed a publishing deal to write songs for other artists, having already worked with "American Idol” runner-up Adam Lambert and Backstreet Boy A.J. McLean, who’s working on a solo project.

Meanwhile, Aranda the band has shared the stage in the past year and a half with the All-American Rejects, Saliva, Shinedown, Puddle of Mudd, Theory of a Deadman, Black Stone Cherry and Tantric.

After a three-month absence, the band, which also includes Chad Roper (bass) and Mike Walker (drums), returns home to family and friends and to play a benefit concert for autism research Thursday at theUniversity of Central Oklahoma in Edmond.

No doubt, they’ll get the same silly questions here, just like everywhere else.

"And obviously, look at us,” Dameon said. "I mean, it’s great conversation.”

Read more: http://newsok.com/aranda-idol-connection-more-than-band-ever-dreamed/article/3406760?custom_click=pod_headline_ae#ixzz0THHw2RPq