June 2011. Martha’s Vineyard. Cal Shapiro and Rob Resnick, the two members of crossover band Timeflies, are hard at work in a white-walled room with a handful of friends, beer cans everywhere, a computer in the corner, and a standalone mic in the middle. OK, maybe not your traditional definition of “hard at work,” but somehow, it is. Resnick, better known as Rez, throws on a personally-remixed version of the Kansas classic “Wayward Son,” while Cal walks up to the mic, smiling. “Another Timeflies Tuesday,” he says. “I had a few Bud Lights, so it’s gonna be a good Tuesday, goddamn.” Two years later, that video has over 2 million views and Timeflies is in the middle of a national tour. It’s headlining. The dudes play the 2,700-person Orpheum Theater in Boston on Friday. And it’s sold out. To some, even after shuffling through the duo’s more than 150 videos on YouTube, Timeflies’ success just might not make a whole lot of sense. Sure, these guys are talented, but they’re regular. They do the same things we do. They’re too normal to be famous. How did they do it? More
