The making of Stereo Jane and the hopes of intergalactic pop-rock stardom for a set of 17-year-old twins from Bloomfield Hills

One of the curious things is the fact the girls are signed, and not the band. Major label deals really are rarer than hen's teeth these days. Local acts who've signed to majors recently include DeJ Loaf (Columbia) and Big Sean (Def Jam). Olivia Millerschin has a publishing deal with BMG, but no publicized record deal. As for teens signed to majors, one has to cast a wider net. Fifteen-year-old pop singer Bea Miller from New Jersey recently signed to Hollywood, while teen bands Residual Kid from Austin, Texas, and Unlocking the Truth from Brooklyn, N.Y., signed to Sire and Sony, respectively.

"They're signing the twins because that's the selling point of the band," Gaydos says. "But they've welcomed my songwriting in the band, and I am happy to know that Mark and girls feel as strongly as they do to involve me in all things Stereo Jane."

Gaydos is 23, lives in Dearborn, and was born into rock royalty. His father played with Mugsy, Cub Koda, and many more, while none other than MC5 singer Rob Tyner blessed Gaydos in utero and proclaimed he'd be a musician. At the age of 11, Gaydos tasted child music fame when he was cast as the guitarist in Jack Black's School of Rock film.

Martin is from Bloomfield Hills and used to play in Nailing Betty, so he's known the girls since they were knee-high. He's in his 40s, probably (he refuses to give his age), and it's remarkable that so many adults consider these kids their equals.

The most obvious test for catchiness is whether a song involuntarily snakes its way into your brain. "Starry Eyed Youngsters" has not left my head for 10 days as of this writing, and this is not something I want, necessarily. I like the song, but I'm far from the intended audience. It's stuck in my brain because it works.

"Starry-Eyed" was actually co-written with Steve Dresser, when Emilia and Sydney went to Los Angeles last summer to work with the Detroiter in his new home. This is a process they'll have to do a lot in the future.

"For Atlantic, it's all about the song," Mark says repeatedly. "Atlantic is about the song, and the top line, and the melody."

They're fishing for radio hits, in layman's terms, and the commercial licensing that follows.

"We're in constant communication with Atlantic, more than a couple times a week," says Mark, who sounds a bit exhausted but also exhilarated.

Vargo is impressed with how humble and hardworking the girls are.

"A lot of young bands who have good initial buzz and backing start to believe their own hype and don't seem willing to put in the hard work to back up all that raw talent," she says. "Stereo Jane has that great blue-collar Detroit work ethic that you don't see from a lot of young bands these days."

The plan now is to work super hard during those weeks in L.A., and to get a first single out eight months from now.

"It's now about the girls doing all the work they can for the next few months, submitting 50 songs, let's say, and then going out and meeting with them," Mark says. "Atlantic will get a sense by the work they've created completely on their own of whether they should hook them up with this producer or this writer. Atlantic wants to rent a house and bring in people to work with them."

I witnessed the girls get recognized at a strip mall on Telegraph, but in a low-key way. When the girls go to some larger malls, other younger girls follow them around sometimes. But it's already gotten a little bit creepy. One time, some female fangirls followed them into the bathroom; the girls graciously asked for their privacy. Their shows at local schools and venues are routinely at capacity.

"I think they'll find an audience, because they won't intimidate teen/20something girls and the boys will love them too," Vargo says. They've been covered in the Detroit Free Press, Farmington Observer, and Birmingham Eccentric, while their appearances at Cleveland Cavaliers and Detroit Red Wings games have garnered TV coverage.

Which isn't to say that all press has been of the brand that the family wants, even if it comes in horrible ways the family can at least expect: Last year, a male blogger interviewed them on the phone and asked something along the lines of would they ever pose topless for photos.

"I wasn't present, but they handled themselves pretty well, and I was proud that her response was, 'If this is an interview about music I'm happy to talk to you about that,'" Mark says. "I'm gonna pick my battles."

The girls used to shy from doing too many cover songs, but this trend of people doing short covers on Vine is so big now that they've capitulated and posted a few. They know it's important, so they'll do more in the future. They're a bit at the mercy of what their label wants from them, but whatever they have to do to get a song on the radio, they're prepared, so long as it's good. Live, they maintain they'll always perform in this sort of heavy rock vein they've already perfected. Even if Atlantic will try to paint them as the next Disney princesses, they're plainly not that. They're strong-willed, which might be the thing about them that their dad is the most proud of.

"I know the world is a crazy place and they're going to run into all kinds of craziness," Mark says. "I don't think from what she was saying that it was something to take action on. They've had things where people have been jealous. Some girl a couple weeks ago on Twitter said, 'You look fat.' And Sydney responded that there's bullying in this country and cited some statistic about kids and suicide and that stopped her dead in her tracks. They've got a lot of common sense. They know how to handle situations. And at 17, I understand that they're going to have boys looking at them, people making comments. They understand that this is the game that they're playing, the business that they're in."

I've hung out with a lot of dedicated musicians in my life but have rarely witnessed people as driven as these two. "My life has changed so much since we signed to Atlantic, and it's about to change even more," Emilia says. "At first it was hard to adjust, but we're finally starting to get the hang of things."

I've got a feeling that things are going to work out for them, even if the Atlantic deal somehow tanks.

"We'll tell people we're signed to a label and they won't believe that we're more than just your average garage band that plays weird music and doesn't really go anywhere," Sydney says.

People assume that it's a hobby, at best.

"This is my career, my job, and what I'm going to do for the rest of my life. No one really believes us. But one day I'll be singing on stage and everyone in the audience will know the lyrics to my songs," Sydney says.

And listening to them, listening to her, it's really hard not to believe right alongside her — even though that sounds cheesier than a line from the fucking Little Mermaid.

Learn more about the band at stereojanemusic.com.