Lynam: Signing Once, Signing Twice …

A year after Lynam self-released 'Tragic City Symphony,' the Alabama rockers have licensed the album to Mascot/Megaforce, and will get the chance to breathe new life into a recording they feel is "big and anthemic."

But it's not the first time the band has had a record deal. While Lynam's first three albums were released independently -- and sold "thousands and thousands of copies just on our own," according to frontman Jacob Lynam -- the fourth, 2006's 'Slave to the Machine,' came out on DRT Entertainment, a label with distribution through Universal Music's Fontana.

"After that record was done, unfortunately the label went out of business," says Jacob. "I guess they signed Powerman 5000 and a bunch of other bands at the same time, and with the way the record companies are all merging and people are losing jobs left and right, they actually went out of business. So we released this record, 'Tragic City Symphony,' on our own.

"The whole point was just to make the best record we could," says Jacob of himself and bandmates bassist Mark Lynam and drummer David Lynam, who all use David's real last name. "We put it out ourselves and, with the help of New Ocean Media, took it as far as we possibly could on our own. The single, 'Save My Soul,' actually hit number five on the active rock [independent] chart. When that happened, a lot of labels started reaching out," says Jacob.

Jacob, whose surname is Bunton, also had record deals with Atlantic and Portrait in the late '90s when he was in the band Mars Electric. So what was important to him this time around?

"Basically signing with a partner that would make something happen further than we would on our own," explains Jacob. "We're really excited to be on a new label, because they share our vision for where we see the band.

"That was the most important thing, [a label] that wasn't going to change the band, because a lot of times when you sign with labels, they have their own ideas about what your band should be and it's nothing like you are. That's happened a million times where bands sign record deals and then, 'Oh yeah, by the way, you've gotta get rid of your drummer and hire a better looking guy,' or this or that," he laughs.