vocals on songs written by five different writers, including Mike Naydock. It was released on April 2, 1999, and upon its release the band was dropped by Universal. Selders persisted in finding a new label and within a month, the Badlees were signed to a new contract with a label called Ark 21, owned by Miles Copeland III, who had previously owned I.R.S. Records. Up There, Down Here would finally be released to the public on August 24, 1999 on the Ark 21 label. The only provision of the deal was that the Badlees would have to stop actively promoting their recently released Amazing Grace album. The group planned to tour behind Up There Down Here, but by this time Ark 21 was well on its way to bankruptcy. The Badlees left Ark 21 after a very short period and returned to their status as an independent band. Selders left as manager soon after this. Branching out (2000–2001) Bret Alexander and Paul Smith decided to open a studio for business, choosing a private location near Danville, Pennsylvania, owned by Rusty Foulke of the band Hybrid Ice. The studio had been called Magnetic North and, starting with their first EP in 1990, the Badlees used it to make pre-production demos prior to recording their albums in a professional studio. Alexander and Smith decided to call their studio Saturation Acres. Over the course of the next decade, they would produce many Pennsylvania artists, including some that would become nationally successful, such as Breaking Benjamin and Darcie Miner. Further, The Cellarbirds, a pick-up band that includes the Badlee trio of Alexander, Smith, and drummer Ron Simasek, were available as the official "house band" to offer session performances for solo artists or those with less than a full band. Meanwhile, Palladino and Feltenberger were also working on their own separate solo projects while continuing to perform live together as the Pete & Jeff Duo. Simasek would also join them on occasion to become Pete, Jeff, & Ron, and on one such occasion, Pete brought in some professional equipment to record a live show by the trio in Williamsport, Pennsylvania, resulting in the live album, 50:45 Live, which would ultimately be the last album released on the Rite-Off label in 2000. As 2001 got underway, the members of the Badlees were busy working on their separate "side" albums that would end up being released within