Hero's live performances were well received, and the band caught the attention of producer Josh Abraham. Abraham became an early supporter of the Hero's music, and subsequently signed the band to JAB Records, an imprint label he had recently established on 143 Records, which in turn was a Warner Music Group label distributed by Atlantic Records.Wright 2004, p. 48 The band signed their record deal with 143/Atlantic/JAB on July 29, 1999, and thereafter headed to Abraham's rehearsal space in Los Angeles to begin work on their debut album. Recording sessions for Hero's debut, then known as Circles, commenced in September 1999, and wrapped up in December the same year. Brian Virtue engineered the album's recording sessions, whilst Dave Ogilive handled the album's mixing duties. Miller was responsible for composing the album's music, which was worked on in and out of the studio, whilst Aimee handled the album's lyrics and melodies. As Echo or Miller had no expectations of what the band's output should look like, the album's writing process proved to be swift. Midway through the album's production, Hero changed their name to theSTART after learning that the name "Hero" was already taken by a number of bands, although this did not affect any of their pre-existing recording plans.
