On the fast track out of Fond du Lac

Outside Tony Anders’ door are palm trees, relentlessly sunny skies and the Sunset Strip. On weekends he’s getting invites to hang out with Jason Newsted at the "Rock Star: Supernova" mansion. Best of all, his only responsibilities are playing and writing music. And he’s doing it all rent-free.

Yep, dude obviously isn’t still in Fond du Lac.

Anders, the singer/guitarist for FDL’s favorite pop-punk band Verona Grove, packed up for West Hollywood earlier this month with bandmates Max Harder and Charlie Wilhelm to begin work on their first album for Pat’s Record Company, a division of Universal Records that signed the band in June.

Local music followers might know PRC as the big-shot label that scooped up Appleton band The Robins (formerly Number One Fan), who also just left for L.A. to work on an album. Verona Grove hooked up with PRC thanks in part to Justin Perkins, a local music scene legend (and member of the Obsoletes and Yesterday’s Kids) who produced Number One Fan’s "Compromises" CD and recorded the Verona Grove song "Small-Town Celebrity" at Smart Studios in Madison. Perkins put the band in touch with PRC, and the label sent a representative to check out a local Verona Grove show in March.

"We were like, ‘Why the hell are you coming to Wisconsin?’" Anders, 22, said. "They were like, ‘It doesn’t matter where you are. Music is music.’"

PRC is providing a house and rehearsal space for Verona Grove over the next two months so the band can write songs for the new record. The band has already finished 15 tracks, but Anders expects to continue writing so the label has lots to choose from. Verona Grove will be back in Hollywood to record the album, shoot music videos and perpetrate all the other rock star stuff in future months.

Last weekend the band took a break from rehearsing to visit the "Rock Star" mansion where they spied Newsted and the show’s crop of dullard contestants. Sadly they didn’t find their favorite Supernova member. "We wished we saw Tommy Lee but he wasn’t there," Anders said.

Oh well. I guess Anders will have to be content living the dream of a million bands. "It’s cool for the time being to live like this," he said. Pretty soon, Tommy Lee might be checking them out.