Putting together the timeline
**This is a reminder that I’m theorizing. Please don’t take it as fact.**
I don’t know how Joy and I got into this conversation but she told me they plan R&L over a year in advance. I was shocked by that because that would mean Van would’ve negotiated with R&L around August 2023 which was when they were primarily silent.
I found this article from 2011 which supports what Joy said. They talked with the booker for R&L and this is what he had to say:
16 months in advance of August 2024 puts us at April 2023. I thought that was insane but then started thinking about Sardy’s posts…
@theeleventhhour had the brilliant thought that Sardy was hinting at CATB headlining R&L with this post which was posted 26th May and later deleted. I’m guessing he deleted it because he didn’t want to spoil the news which would eventually be announced November 2023.
The 16 months in advance is making sense. 😁 He also posted this on 26th May using the hashtag #bestalbumever. I believe the album was complete (or mostly complete) by then.
Now I see this post as Van’s got money having just sold his voice for a long weekend! 🤣
Based on when Sardy first used the CATB hashtag, Van and Sardy were probably working on the album from 2022-2023. I’m guessing Showtime was one of the last songs to be written around May 2023.
The article said scouting for bands is a combination of agents/bands approaching them and them approaching agents/bands. Due to the uncertainty of the band’s future at the time, I’m pretty sure it was Van and Sardy approaching R&L. Headlining R&L is honestly an epic comeback announcement and it was well played as that was a massive surprise for fans. And then I’m pretty sure they’ve been busy since hiring management and booking agents, and figuring out their album rollout.
I guess what I’m saying is that silence doesn’t mean they’re doing nothing. Van’s been grafting away this entire time, that bastard. 🙂 (I won’t forget how much suffering he put us through. 😆)
