Although the addition of drums added a lot to the mix, the group was still in need of a bass player. The search never produced much more than a few names being thrown around, but soon 2 more people would be joining the band. Matt Youhess was a local drummer who Brannon was acquainted with and he soon introduced Shattuck and Jarman to Youhess who would become the band’s next drummer. The band was still in need of a bass player when Youhess requested that his friend Thomas join the band as another guitarist. Everyone agreed and Shattuck decided he would switch from playing guitar to bass. The four of them worked hard through the summer and as fall was approaching they began to seek out places to make their live debut. It was at that time they decided to change the name from Girls Night Out to A Turnaround Life. ATL (A Turnaround Life) kept working hard and prepared for their debut show which was set for September 15th of 2007. As the show neared ATL caught the ear of Wendell Quillen who was a local who had a brand new studio and was looking for a band to break it in. Quillen approached the band and asked if they would be willing to serve as his “guinea pig” in testing out the studio in exchange for some free recording time. The band eagerly accepted and recorded a few songs in Youhess’s garage just to get a feel for the recording process before entering the studio itself. The first two songs they recorded were Touchy Subject and Sex. Both of these songs aired on the band’s myspace page shortly after and were well received by all who listened. ATL next entered the studio and recorded a couple new songs, one of them being My Own Ever After was the next song to be released to be heard by the public.
September 15th finally came and the band drew a good size crowd to the Sun Shoppe Café in downtown Melbourne. This show jumpstarted them into playing 2 more shows not even a week later at The Metro and Pizza Di Rock. After the first string of shows Thomas decided to leave the band to pursue other things going on in his life. With a 4th show not even a week away; Shattuck, Jarman and Youhess decided to play the show as just the 3 of them and see how things go. The show was at The Hustler in Satellite Beach, FL which was one of the more popular local venues in the area. The show wasn’t their best performance, but the three of them decided they would go on as a trio instead of recruiting someone to replace Thomas. They continued to write new songs, record more songs, and play shows through the fall. After a house show and more shows at The Metro and Pizza Di Rock, the band played their first benefit show on December 22nd 2007. The show was organized by Youhess who wanted to do the benefit for the St. Jude’s Children’s Hospital. The show was held at the Sports Page and would be the final show A Turnaround Life would play that year.
After the break over the holidays ATL was quick in getting back into the old routine and played a show at the Melbourne Jaycees. Shattuck was having problems with his tonsils so the band asked a friend of theirs to help out with the vocals for the show. However for the last song (Touchy Subject) Shattuck insisted that it only be the three of them on stage. The show went well and a lot of the local scene kids were there but little did anyone know that this would be the last time Shattuck, Jarman and Youhess would take the stage together. Issues with Jarman getting to practice on time and being able to keep performing like he had in the past were becoming prominent and something had to be done if the band was going to move forward. The band took some time off and during that time Shattuck and Youhess decided that they would move on with the band without Jarman. This put a halt on current recording projects in the studio, song writing, and shows. But it was something the two of them agreed on that had to be done. A couple weeks past, and they found Mike Smith to be their choice as Jarman’s replacement. Smith had a couple practices with Shattuck and Youhess and they were impressed from day one. However, tension was beginning to grow between Shattuck and Youhess. Youhess had some personal problems with some friends and such and he was letting them affect the band to the point where it was no longer able to function the way it had in the past. After one last discussion Youhess stated that he would choose his friends over the band and left. Smith had told Shattuck that he would stay in the band with him no matter what happened, but it wasn’t a week later that he told Shattuck he wouldn’t be continuing with him. That very day Shattuck began to rebuild the band, but there were no guarantees that A Turnaround Life would ever be heard of again. Shattuck first contacted drummers and the first to reply was local punk drummer Josh Black. Black had been in a local band called Lyenex who had played with some shows with Fintan's Tree. The two conversed about getting something together but before they had a chance to get things going, Black passed away. Around that same time Shattuck was offered some radio time and more exposure if he could record a demo. With no one in the band but himself, he knew that if he couldn’t take advantage of this opportunity that A Turnaround Life may not ever have a second chance. He recruited former Fintan's Tree drummer Charles Holloway to record the demo with him. Charles was currently drumming in a local hardcore/punk band called Victor, but agreed to help Shattuck out with the demo and said he would take over the drumming position for the time being. The two entered the studio and recorded 7 songs in 2 weeks. Shattuck played guitar, bass, and did all the vocal work while Holloway did the drums.
After the demo Shattuck decided he was going to switch back to guitar and began trying out bass players. After a few tryouts Shattuck chose David Sokerka (Kerka) to be the next bass player for A Turnaround Life. Kerka had a solo project going on in Orlando but he was willing to join ATL despite the long drive to get to practices. Within a month the new band members were caught up on the songs and once again ATL was looking to book shows. During this time Shattuck put together a benefit called Project Imagine which was raising money for some unfortunate individuals one of which was Josh Black’s son Noah who was left fatherless when Josh passed away. A Turnaround Life re-debuted on April 11th at the Sports Page. It was the first Project Imagine show ever, and was more successful than any show in the A Turnaround Life history. However, Holloway had told Shattuck a couple weeks before the show that he wasn’t sure how much longer he could stay in the band. Holloway’s other band Victor was becoming busier with shows and it was hard for him to play with both bands. Holloway said he would stay in the band until they found a good replacement which didn’t take long to find. Mike Battista was the first drummer they tried out and he was without a doubt the drummer they wanted to go with. Holloway played his last show with A Turnaround Life on May 2nd, the show brought in over twice as much as the first Project Imagine show and got the attention of a lot of people local and nationwide. Battista debuted a week later at the 3rd Project Imagine show which was just as much of a success as the 2nd. Soon after the first three Project Imagine shows A Turnaround Life added guitarist/vocalist Dylan Wolstencroft into the band to be the 4th member. Wolstencroft and Battista had both been in a band together previous to their envolvement with A Turnaround Life. So when Battista joined A Turnaround Life it didn't take long before Wolstencroft was called upon to join the band. After several months of playing shows and wrting new material, the band decided it was time to record its first full length album. However Wolstencroft decided that he was going to leave the band right after they began recoding. The band entered WQTK Studios September of 2008. The album is almost finished with only some vocals left to do on the songs and they anticipate to be available summer of 2009. On January 24th Kerka played his last show with A Turnaround Life due to traveling and time issues. Shattuck and Battista began looking for his replacement shortly afterwards and soon found Kevin Wright. Wright’s old band Lusta Prima Vista had played some shows with ATL back in 2007 so he and Shattuck were already familiar with each other. After a couple of practices and some studio sessions Battista and Shattuck knew Wright was going to be the perfect fit for ATL’s next bassist/vocalist. While recording the album A Turnaround Life acquired an endorsement from a local clothing line called Jacket Off. ATL encourages all of their fans to show Jacket Off the same support they have shown the band. ATL also wishes to thank everyone who's been a part of the ATL story up to this point and looks forward to working with others in the future. It's clear to see that A Turnaround Life has been through a lot to get to where it is today, but it is a stronger and better built band than it ever was before. Robert Shattuck, Mike Battista and Kevin Wright are A Turnaround Life… Keep it real, keep it punk.
