New record deal gives local singer more national music exposure

Howie Day isn’t worried. Why should he be? Like most in their early 20s, he is taking a much-needed summer break.

Except Day isn’t coming home from college; instead, the 21-year-old singer-songwriter is coming home from a tour that has taken him from Bangor to Belize to Prague and back again. Also, Day now holds a distinction rare among both the college-age set and musicians native to the Bangor area: a bona fide record deal.

In April, Day signed with Epic Records. The company will re-release his self-produced album “Australia” on June 11 to record stores everywhere. Recorded in Boston more than three years ago, the release of the album by Epic potentially will give Day even stronger footing in the music business. Distribution by Epic will make “Australia” available for the first time in stores across the country.

A singer-songwriter who appears onstage with little more than an acoustic guitar and an array of effect pedals, Day succeeds in creating an original and diverse sound. Day succeeds so well, in fact, that he’s been courted by major labels since the very early days of his career – which weren’t all that long ago. However, Day and his manager, Sean Radley, weren’t easily dazzled.

“We took a long time with the process. Went to talk to a lot of different labels and really were careful about who we chose,” Day said. “And we went with Epic because it kinda had the pull, you know, major-label kinda pull we really desired.”

“Australia” already has won Day such accolades as a 2001 Boston Music Award for “Best Debut Album by a Singer-Songwriter” and a 2002 award for “Best Male Singer-Songwriter.” Through Day’s Web site and at the 300 shows he played last year, the album already has sold nearly 30,000 copies.

Day had another career break earlier this year when his version of the Beatles song “Help!” appeared on the soundtrack for the film “I Am Sam”. Day also was profiled recently on MTV’s “You Hear It First” and his songs have been featured on popular television shows such as the WB’s “Dawson’s Creek” and MTV’s “The Real World.”

In a recent phone interview Day remained demure about his recent successes, describing the new major-label support as a “steroid” for his album and a “nice step up” for his career.

“Does it add validity? So I can go to my mom and go ‘yeah, but mom, I’ve got a record deal!’ ” Day joked. “It does. But I think there was validity before that.”

Surprisingly, “Australia” will look and sound as it has since Day first recorded and released it independently.

“Well, I mean, when we were going to release this record, we talked a lot about changing everything,” Day said. “‘Let’s change the artwork here’ and do all these little things and you kinda get to the point where it’s like ‘why?’ Why do all that at this moment in time? The record’s three years old, you can’t make it new, really. So we just kinda decided not to change it.”

During his short summer break Day plans to work on material for a new album.

“As far as the next record, I think yeah, I’m four years older … and I think artistically and creatively I’ll blow myself away four years ago.”

During his working break Day also is scheduled to open a few dates for the Goo Goo Dolls before going back on the road touring with Sheryl Crow, Train and others in the Jeep World Outside Festival.

There’s just one final question for a lone guitar man from the Pine Tree State. Why name your album “Australia?”

“Mostly the reason I called it ‘Australia’ was because I liked the way it sounded. I thought it was a good album name, kinda memorable,” Day said with a laugh.