Editor’s Note: Last semester, we profiled a number of struggling artists in a series called “The Unsigned.” One of those stories was on Addiction Theory, a local band consisting of lead singer Jared Lawson, bassist Ben Sherman, drummer Jeff Clayton and guitarist Eric Carrillo.

One day they are scraping together all their cash to get an hour or two of recording time in the studio and the next they spend all day tweaking one song for free -that’s what it means to be signed.

Members of the local band Addiction Theory signed their names to a contract of more than 20 pages with Electric Cowboy Records, an independent label. The band is planning to release an album later this year and film a music video in June. They also get a piece of whatever money their music makes and free time in the studio to make it.

“When you’re on your own, you’re nickel and diming it,” Carrillo said. “Now we can spend a whole day on a song.”

The band members said that they’ve sacrificed a lot of time, money and even relationships while they tried to make their music. Through it all, Lawson said that he has learned patience, and they all said that now things are easier.

“We don’t have to sacrifice as much now because we’ve matured as a group,” Carrillo said.

Being signed has not significantly changed any of the band member’s lives, and none of them have quit their day jobs. But when asked if they have stars in their eyes now, all four snickered a little bit.

“I started out a long time ago with stars in my eyes,” Sherman said.

Sherman’s father, Pat, said he was proud of his son and that even when Ben was a young kid, the first thing he would do when he came home was play music.

The guys are trying to get their music heard by more people, which is also a benefit of being signed because now they have someone to represent the band and do it for them. They don’t have to do everything themselves all the time.

When asked what they want out of their music, they answered that they want a sense of accomplishment and to make a living at it. They wish music was their day job.

“Maybe this is as far as we go and maybe we get further,” Carrillo said.

Getting signed, at least, has taken them one step closer to what they want.