Of course, his main purpose for recording the demo was to attract record companies to his work. He sent copies to major and independent labels hoping to get some sort of response. However, Eddie was a student of the game. He knew that you just can't send your music to labels and expect them to notice you. It only happened to the lucky few. He was aware that you need to see the A&R people in person, get their attention, stand out from the crowd. Eddie tried telephone calls, even hanging out at clubs in LA where he thought they might be. Unfortunately, he wasn't having much luck. He began to realize that he needed to start a band so that he could be noticed on stage. Interest in the demo would hopefully follow suit.
One day Eddie noticed an ad in the San Diego Reader that stated that there was going to be a Chrysalis Records A&R executive at a local guitar shop called Guitar Trader on a Saturday. It was basically a promotion for the store in which the record executive was going to accept demo tapes as well as play some of them over the PA for critiquing. Eddie was pumped. He asked me if I wanted to go. It started at around 9 a.m. and went until 3 p.m. The record executive wasn't going to start reviewing tapes until noon. I told Eddie I'd be there around noon.
I showed up around noon and Eddie was all the way up front. There was a live band playing while the store waited for the A&R exec. to show up. A little after noon a large women executive arrived and took over the PA. There was a huge drop box for demo tapes. You were only allowed to submit one tape. Before she began selecting demo tapes to play, she played an example of an actual demo tape that was successful. It was, in her opinion, a high quality song but a terrible recording. She put the cassette in the tape machine and pressed 'play'. It was the original demo tape of the guy who wrote the old "We Believe" hit song for Pat Benatar. "The man that wrote this song was able to purchase a house on the beach in Malibu because of its success.", she stated. "It could happen to you as well!" She picked up the box and shouted, "I'm looking to sign a kick ass rock band today. Are there any out there?". The half drunken crowd, of course, responded by shouting, "Yeah!!!". Like a raffle contest she blindly picked a cassette out of the box. She carefully looked over the cassette and then read the name of the band. She gave her impression of the cassettes appearance and then stuck it in the tape player.