Photo provided Sterling Heights-based band The Victorious Secrets — Bryon Rossi, Mike Mulliniks, Dan Zott, Stephen Saputo and Danny Rossi — is among four finalists in the freecreditscore.com band search. Online voting at free creditscoreband.com is open until Aug. 9.

Sterling Heights band advances to finals in national contest

By Cortney Casey
C & G Staff Writer

STERLING HEIGHTS — When a stranger recently approached Mike Mulliniks at a local Walgreen’s, singing the ubiquitous Fox Sports Detroit “April in the D” jingle, Mulliniks capitalized on the opportunity.

“It was a great segue,” he said, “because I said, ‘If you think that song is in your head, wait until you see the band search we’ve entered into.’”

Mulliniks and his bandmates from The Victorious Secrets are among four finalists in the running to be the face — and sound — of freecreditscore.com, a website touting no-cost credit checks through credit reporting agency Experian.

Online voting runs through Aug. 9 at freecreditscoreband.com; visitors can vote once daily. Besides national exposure via a commercial appearance, the winning band will walk the red carpet at the MTV Video Music Awards, play as an opening act on the VMA tour, and receive $10,000, along with Gibson Guitar and Pearl Drums packages.

Not too shabby for a band that didn’t even exist six months ago. The Victorious Secrets formed in March specifically to enter the “April in the D” contest, which solicited songs to promote the start of baseball season and hockey and basketball playoffs.

The five members — Sterling Heights residents Mulliniks, Danny Rossi and Bryon Rossi on lead guitar, drums and bass, respectively; Rochester Hills resident Stephen Saputo on keyboards; and Royal Oak resident Dan Zott on lead vocals and guitar — previously collaborated on other projects together, and all but Mulliniks front other metro Detroit bands.

Several of them work at Kensington Community Church in Troy, where they shot their submission for the initial round of the freecredit score.com contest.

“If you were born with money growing out of your ooh-hoo, then this song probably doesn’t apply to you,” Zott croons in the clip, while the others jam on their instruments around him. “But if you’re like most people I know, you could use some help understanding your credit score. So, one, two, three, four, freecredit score.com — aw, yeah.”

Bands could choose from a few pre-written songs, then put their own spin on them, said Bryon Rossi.

Experian held talent searches in three cities, emerging after several rounds with The Poets from Chicago, Evolove from Los Angeles and I Love Monsters from New York. The fourth finalist slot, which The Victorious Secrets ultimately netted, was reserved for an online winner.

Entering a week and a half after voting had already begun, they knew they were a long shot, but focused on rallying supporters and leveraging online exposure — and it worked.

The Victorious Secrets recently jetted out to Los Angeles to film a commercial airing during the Major League Baseball All-Star Game July 13. This time, they were assigned an already-penned song, but “they gave us a lot of artistic freedom to kind of make it our own,” said Bryon Rossi.

He said the trip was a rush, “as cliché as you can get” — in a good way. They flew into Burbank, drove by the Hollywood sign, spotted Nicolas Cage wandering the lobby of their hotel and ate Thai food at a table beside Limp Bizkit frontman Fred Durst.

“It was everything you think it would be like, as a naïve person … it was exactly what you think,” laughed Bryon Rossi.

They recorded the music at Henson Recording Studios — in the same room as “We Are the World,” noted Danny Rossi — while Eddie Van Halen was in the room next door.

As all of the band members are involved with coordinating productions and recording music for a living, “to be able to go out to Los Angeles and get to be part of that kind of process that’s done on the highest of professional levels — that’s just a really cool, eye-opening experience,” said Mulliniks.

He characterizes The Victorious Secrets’ sound as “’60s rock from the future”; they’re influenced by groups like the Beatles, Queen, The Who, “but it’s also a newer type sound, an accessible sound, as well.”

As for their moniker, “the name came together probably in 17 minutes through a vicious string of e-mails back and forth to each other when we were entering into ‘April in the D,’” said Bryon Rossi. “We wanted something that subconsciously instilled victory into the minds of the readers, but we also wanted something kind of ironic. We’re a very happy-go-lucky band. Our tongues are planted firmly in our cheeks.”       

The guys had little vision for their partnership past entering the “April in the D” contest, which Mulliniks said they were “super psyched” to win.

“Originally, we didn’t really have a whole lot of expectations for that to turn into a real serious project for us when we entered,” he said, but the “creative synergy” that resulted “was so inspiring that we decided to try it again” for the freecredit score.com competition.

Now, they’re vying for that title while recording an album, with six songs already complete and others in the works. There’s no overanalyzing, no taking themselves too seriously — and that’s what makes it work, said Mulliniks.

“It’s very fun, and it’s very free, and we create very spontaneously,” he said. “It’s just something we’re really enjoying, getting to make music together.”

Danny Rossi said the swell of local support has been humbling.

“One of the coolest things for me has been us pretty much seeing the response of everybody back at home,” he said. “We’re really proud to represent Detroit.”

To vote on the finalists, visit www.freecreditscoreband.com through Aug. 9.

For more information on The Victorious Secrets, visit www.thevictorioussecrets.com. The group plans to perform July 31 at the Crofoot Ballroom in Pontiac.