Lucero signs to Universal Republic

After two albums on their Warner-East/West distributed Liberty & Lament label, Lucero has signed to Universal/Republic. According to a Memphis Flyer report, the band has a a four-album deal with the major.

Guitarist Brian Venable discussed the signing, saying:

It's got to be one of the most low-key, non-rock-star major-label signings ever. The majors are running on a big indie model now, so it's not tons of money. A four-record deal really means one record with three options. If it doesn't sell well, they'll drop us. In that case, we'd probably just try to do things through our own label.

We're hoping for that major-label push -- the press, the ads in all the magazines, hopefully get on some soundtracks. We've been doing this for 10 years. I've got a baby on the way. Everyone was like: What the hell, let's take a shot. It's not like we're going to break up.

The band recently entered Young Avenue Sound studios for a few days to record a batch of demos for the label. They experimented with horns for the first time and may work on a second batch of demos soon.