Real deal for The Make Believe

VICKI ANDERSON

US-BOUND: Christchurch musical trio The Make Believe have signed a five-album deal with a United States company.

Christchurch musical trio The Make Believe have signed a deal with a United States company and will record in a studio used by teen sensation Justin Bieber.

The trio comprising Tyler Vivian, Mike Lake and Matt Andrews made headlines last month after uploading a cover version of One Direction's song What Makes You Beautiful to YouTube. 

The group were singled out by American Idol host Ryan Seacrest. The song has nearly 600,000 views and the group has had over one million hits on its YouTube channel.

The cover song also attracted attention from United States management company Three Piece Productions, which has acted for such international high-fliers as Pink and Chris Brown.

Lake yesterday confirmed the group had signed a ''five-year, five-album deal'' with the company.

They re expected to fly to the US in June, ''all expenses paid'', including an apartment and a salary, and would record in a studio complex that has been used by many top-selling artists including Justin Bieber, Chris Brown and Jason Derulo.

''We go to Philadelphia, New York and then Los Angeles after that," Lake said.

"We record solidly in the studio for three months, and then they put us in front of the record companies and they battle it out if they want to sign us.

"We're recording in the same studios that Justin Bieber, Chris Brown and Jason Derulo have used, it's unreal.

''They are quite confident in us and they're paying for our trip, the apartment, everything. It's such a privilege. We're surprised we're getting paid at all, it's more than we've ever been paid before, put it that way. But we have to wait and see how it plays out with the record companies.

''But we know we have got to work hard and give it our all.''

He said a Scottish group signed up to Three Piece Productions in a similar way last year. That group ended up signing a deal with L.A. Reid.

''It's a huge opportunity and we know it. We'd be going over to the United States right now but the Scottish group are using the complex so we have to wait until they're done.''

Before they leave, The Make Believe are embarking on a mini New Zealand tour, performing at Christchurch's Phillipstown Youth Centre on Friday night, Wellington on Saturday, Hamilton on Sunday and Auckland on Monday.

Although it has been their unique cover songs that have attracted the attention, Lake said the group preferred to write their own material and planned to record a new song in Auckland over the next week.

''We want to release a single before we go to the United States,'' Lake said.

''Our song is called Give It A Million. It's about leaving all our friends behind but it's not cheesy.

''We've got high hopes for it, ideally we want to get it into the Top 20 New Zealand charts.''

Lake, who described their sound as ''pop with an edge'', said the group had been working hard and had written ''quite a few songs'' already in preparation for the mammoth American task.

Although their experience had been ''dream like'', Lake said the group was realistic about what they were getting into.

They made the cover video for a laugh after returning from a skate park, and any success was unlikely to change them he said.

 ''We are who we are, we're not stuck-up, we're just normal people doing our thing. Hopefully it works out, but who knows what will happen with the music industry the way it is.

''For us it's about taking New Zealand music to the world stage. And we're definitely keeping our Kiwi accents.''

* Check out The Make Believe's cover of One Direction's song What Makes You Beautiful and a band introduction video.

- © Fairfax NZ News