When he was 9 and in Mrs. Tolkeim's class at Grosse Isle Elementary, Jason Schaller's uncle took him backstage at a Cobo Hall rock concert. And there was Ted Nugent, the veteran Detroit rocker, the Motor City Madman himself. Nugent sat young Jason down next to him on a man-sized amplifier shipping case, and put the big question to him.

This was in 1986, and Schaller, a 2000 graduate of EMU's arts and entertainment management program, still recalls the details. "My uncle has always worked in the music business, and in those days he was tour manager for Nugent.  He took me with him to the show, and I remember it well, There were a bunch of black equipment flight cases backstage. Those Anvil cases with the heavy latches and the wheels. Nugent was sitting on one, dressed in his super skin-tight unitard outfit."

Nugent picked Jason up and sat him on the top of the case in one motion. "He slapped me on the knee and asked, ‘Are you ready to rock ‘n' roll young man?'"
As it would turn out, the answer was yes.  But it would take another 20 years, and tickets to 30 more Nugent concerts, for Schaller to know for sure. That first night, at least, he watched the show from a front row, in the dark, in awe, never having seen, or heard, anything quite like it in his life. "I kept my hands over my ears the whole time," he said.

These days, Schaller, 29, is a regional vice president for construction at McKinley, an Ann Arbor-based real estate investment firm. By night, he plays guitar in South Normal, a band conceived and born in Ypsilanti in the 1990s, but which is now based next door in Chelsea.
"We're not perfect yet, but we're a lot closer than we ever were. And we've also realized that we're the ones who have to be aggressive in going out and seeking a record deal," he said. "You can be great, there can be a buzz around town, but nobody is going to fly in from New York City just because you're popular in Chelsea, Michigan."

Early on, the band was nameless. At that time, bassist Jeremy Mackinder was delivering pizzas. He was also keeping the short list of probable band names. When he searched his pockets for it one night, all he found was a receipt from a delivery run he had made to an address on South Normal Street. That night, the group became South Normal. Today, there is no South Normal Street in Ypsilanti. The band maintains that the city got tired of replacing signs appropriated by overzealous music fans, and simply renamed the roadway, Normal Street.           

Still, the band is attracting attention beyond Michigan. Recently, they were chosen by Evil Genius, a Detroit-area advertising agency, to star in a mini-concert TV commercial for a Denver, Colo.-area car dealership. The commercial was filmed at Frog Island near Depot Town. To create a youthful look and sound for the Burt Automotive Group, the agency came up with the idea of "Burtapalooza." Actual South Normal fans came in droves to be Burtapalooza fans as the cameras rolled.

"More than ever, we're in a position where we could get ourselves a major label record deal.  We've got a catalog of 35 recorded songs, plus more on the rehearsal tapes," said Schaller. "We've paid our dues, we've figured out what works well for us with licensing our music, and we've been able to prove that people like the music."

Schaller was in the EMU Wind Symphony and held down a trombone chair in it for three years. EMU's director of bands then, Dr. Max Plank, had a significant influence on him.  "I was in the Wind Symphony for three years, and sat principal trombone for two years. It was ironic, since I was not a music major.  But I liked the setting, the tours and the music." He received the James Pietrzak Memorial Scholarship all four years.

His father, Lowell Schaller, graduated from EMU with a bachelor of music education degree in 1975. His mother, Deborah, also graduated from EMU (B.S. '73).

More closely related to his major, Schaller worked with EMU's performance departments, where he was assistant box office manager, a production manager for the dance department and house manager of the theater.

"Working with performers and artistic people, you learn to watch out for their feelings. You have to be a little more sensitive to their goals, and to let them know you care about what they are trying to do," he said.

Now, after a dozen years of wood-shedding [an old term for music practice] and driving the band van to weekend gigs, Schaller and the group are poised for a move up.

"I don't think you need to have formal education in the music business just to just play in a band, but if you're going to take it to the next level with organizing, with publishing, with licensing and rights management, you've got to have some classes.  Especially the way record deals are written, you need to have background in business law," Schaller said.

"Basically, if you're going to make it big in the music business these days, you have to make it easy for the record company to work with you. The South Normal LLC is set up. We've done the copyrights on our material. The record companies want to know that we've done our homework."

Listen to a sample of the music (mp3 964 KB)

Listen to the complete song (mp3 7.9 MB)

Watch the video (Quicktime 7.9 MB)