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Photo courtesy Paperback Hero

Everything seems so right about Paperback Hero. The band hails from Los Angeles, has that brawny tough but loveable look, plays radio-friendly modern rock that is heavy-ish but not challenging and has secured deals that have their music playing on television shows, airplanes and in the bathrooms of cinema multiplexes across the United States.

And it’s so right that it showcases what’s so wrong with the music scene today. But someone, some band, always appeals to the lowest common denominator of the music-listening public — those who really don’t listen, but are easily swayed by the popular musical style of the moment that practically hypnotizes the consumer into thinking they like it. (And this is not a new thing, but has been happening since the first Teen Idol crooned. Today it is typically controlled by label, radio and marketing executives.)

So why is Paperback Hero proud to be heard in movie theater bathrooms? It’s actually a good gig if you can get it, in terms of exposure and potential sales (and other future bathroom gigs), explained band front man, songwriter and vocalist Bryan Hopkins.

Hopkins added that all of Paperback Hero’s success is also self-won, through hard work and perseverance.

“That’s been the approach the whole way. We do what we can, how we can,” Hopkins said. “We found ourselves a couple months ago negotiating a record deal and with everything we do, it didn’t seem like the right move. It’s not about the money, but what the label can do for you. We felt like with all we do, it would be better to stay the way we are.”

This do-it-yourself approach does give the band some semblance of credibility. While too much music and too many acts are merely manufactured for success and mass appeal, Paperback Hero figured out where they wanted to be, and then found a way to get there on their own, even if it is among those mass-market groups.

The band, which includes Pete Burke on drums, Dan Fine on bass and guitarist Chris Latham, paid for, produced and self-released its eponymous first album, books its own gigs and tours, licenses songs directly to television and films, and does its own marketing and self-promotion. Hopkins, who said he never drinks or does drugs, wakes up each day with boundless energy that he channels into the band.

For the band’s second album, “Cautionary Tale,” Paperback Hero did accept some outside help. While proud of the job done with the debut album, Hopkins, who places the band’s sound as “a little more rock than Lifehouse, but a little less grungy than Nickelback,” said it was time to bring in some outside help.

Jay Ruston, who worked with The Donnas, Steel Panther and Army of Freshman, was brought in to produce. Matthew Nelson, son of Ricky and member with brother Gunnar in the band Nelson, sings on many of the tracks, and Lifehouse’s Ben Carey is on others.

“For the first album, we wrote it, produced it, did the artwork, we went all out. That was great, but for this second record, I want it to be the best piece of material I have ever done,” Hopkins said. “I needed this one to be pro; to sound like one of the big boys.”

Exactly.