On Nov. 19 the Texas Chapter and the GRAMMY Foundation hosted a GRAMMY SoundChecks with OneRepublic prior to their concert at Austin's La Zona Rosa. As students from the Liberal Arts and Science Academy High School, Texas State and University of Texas at Austin entered the venue, the excitement grew as they walked into what seemed to be a private concert just for them. Shortly thereafter, OneRepublic lead singer Ryan Tedder and his fellow bandmates conducted a brief soundcheck.
After the soundcheck, the band conducted a question-and-answer session. Students listened eagerly as the band explained how they stay inspired and write their music. The band and their touring manager, Mark Oglesby, spoke to the students about how they began and what it takes to stay together as a band when things don't seem to go as planned. Tedder told the students that getting signed by a record label didn't mean that they could stop promoting themselves, and he explained the band used to work on their computers for eight hours per day in posting their music on social networking sites such as MySpace.
After the session, band members spoke to the students individually and answered additional questions. Students interested in managing bands spoke with Oglesby and got his advice about the business and inquired about the type of daily responsibilities associated with his work as tour manager for OneRepublic.