Phoebe Judge

I don't know how those two meld.

Gavin says that on Monday morning, after going over their story again, he and Billy went to Island Records to meet with Chris, the scout who'd given them his card at their show.

Gavin says Chris seemed to believe the story completely.

Gavin remembers that he even told them it was beautiful.

But Gavin says they couldn't just sign with the record company.

First, they needed a lawyer and a manager.

Chris got them a meeting with one of the biggest music managers in London, a man named Jonathan Shallott.

But Jonathan Shallott said okay.

Jonathan Shalit's office helped get them set up in a big apartment and arranged for them to play at showcases around London, trying to see what kinds of offers came in.

And it worked.

After about three months, they made a deal with Sony.

They went into the office to sign the contract.

Gavin remembers it was in a big boardroom with staff there to help them celebrate.

There was champagne.

And people kept coming up to them to ask them about the stories they'd heard about them.

By this time, Gavin and Billy had developed a system for whenever anybody started asking questions about their lives in America.

They called it Lead and Recover.

Gavin says they signed the contract, as syllable and brains, for £50,000 up front and £300,000 more when they released more material and their album.

Did you have a plan?

Did you say, okay, well, we'll go for this long or we'll make this much money and then we'll tell people who we really are?