Surrey-based rock outfit HUNDRED REASONS finally ended much speculation following a massive amount of A&R interest when they penned a worldwide recording deal with Columbia Records in mid-April 2001. What most people don’t know about is the 14 months of touring, working and rehearsing it took to get them there.January 2000 saw HR in a familiar situation to anyone who’s just started out in a new band. Their equipment was temperamental, their bank balances were in the red and they were unsigned. Each member was a reluctant employee with a ‘get you by’ job to make the rent and pay for rehearsals. Prior to the end of 1999, HR members had existed in two different guises, namely Jetpak and Floor. Both bands shared the same management and drifted around their local scene, gaining notoriety amongst those who knew about them but not much else. Both bands eventually crumbled and Hundred Reasons was the outcome, their name taken from a poster at the extreme sports company where drummer Andy Bews was working - "We thought 'Hundred something' or 'something Hundred' was cool and the poster was 1000 reasons why you should learn to skate, so we meshed the two together." Under the watchful eye of their longterm management, a partnership was forged that would see them all move forward with incredible speed. Only three copies of their first demo were handed out initially, one of which ended up at Kerrang! Within weeks the band were playing their third ever show - supporting flavour-of-the-moment Canadian girl rockers Kittie at a Kerrang-sponsored event in London. Simon Williams from Fierce Panda Records saw the band and was so impressed he offered to release their first EP, which was duly recorded with longtime cohort John Hannon, formerly of UK hardcore legends Understand.More info @www.hundredreasons.com