Visions
Ok, this is the new, shorter version, minus all the minute details and just focusing on the important facts…
February 1998… The original idea for this band came up between myself and the bass player from "Typhoid Mary" (Danny Butler), while we were playing a gig in early 1998. That night we learned that our guitar player, Jeff Kittren, would be soon transferring to Florida. Since Danny (who actually introduced me to bands like "Symphony X" and "Stratovarius") and I are huge prog fans, we decided to start a project playing the type of material we loved and that no-one else was doing at the time. So, as Jeff went south to Florida in June, so did "Typhoid Mary". That summer I started placing monthly ad's in all the local musician mags looking for a guitar player, singer and keyboard player. A long-time friend of mine, Chich, expressed interest in joining as the lead guitar, and he suggested a friend of his (Joe) to play rhythm guitar as short-term fix until we found a keyboard player. At that time I named the project "AWAKE", after a "Dream Theater" album.
December 1998… Damon (actually his girlfriend at the time) called asking for an audition, so we tried him out in January 99. We didn’t have a singer yet, so my friend Stephen Walker (Otis) filled in. It was the middle of January, so of course we got 9 inches of friggin' snow that day, and then Danny didn't show up on top of it. Just imagine a drummer, keyboard player, and singer who wasn’t familiar with the material, attempting to play Queensryche, Rush + Dream Theater… what a mess…lol The only encouraging aspect of that jam was that I met a 24 year old, blind keyboard player who absolutely kicked the shit out of anybody I'd ever been in a band with...(sorry Morgan, you’d agree if you heard him), so this was good!!
April 1999… Martyn Jenkins joins as lead singer. We practiced at his house in PA twice a week for 6 months, driving over 2 hours each way, while we got tight and put together our set-list. During this time we picked up Martyn's friend Greg to play bass since Danny didn't work out.
September 1999… AWAKE plays our first gig at "The Merry-Go-Round", near Trenton, to a very receptive crowd. We only played 7 songs because it was an open-jam, but it was good to finally “break our cherry”. In September and November of '99 we played at Hartley’s in North Arlington NJ to small but energetic crowds, but as things progressed there was tension within the band. Damon and I weren't happy with the direction the band was going in, and we didn't totally agree with some of the music that we were learning as a sacrifice for other musicians in the band that weren't able to play the more difficult material that we wanted to cover. Greg stopped showing up to practices, and Joe wasn’t improving at a pace that we were happy with, so we knew that changes were forthcoming.
February 2000… Martyn resigns due to work / travel scheduling conflicts and we fire Greg. Luke Cory (of Killerwatt and Vintage) joins as Lead Singer.
March 2000… Joe put an ad in the Aquarian / East Coast Rocker looking for a bass player. Tom Campbell answered it and came to our next show on St. Patrick ’s Day to check us out. In between sets I spoke with Tom and discussed some changes that he felt needed to take place in order for him to join the band, so we reached an agreement. The next day, Chich let Joe go. Now with a new singer, bass player, and one less guitar player, we started to make changes with the material that Damon and I felt needed to be made in order to keep our sanity. We dropped over 20 songs and decided to learn songs by Rush, Yes, Queensryche and Dream Theater, the material this band was supposed to play originally but got pushed aside in order to learn less challenging songs just so we could get out and gig quicker.
September of 2000… Chich resigns. We used our next show (a Labor Day Party at Tom's house) as an audition for Tom’s friend, Doug, who had only 2 weeks to learn over 20 songs. We played the party and were amazingly tight, so we hired him on the spot. Over the next 9 months we played all over NJ, opening for my friends in "Power Windows" at The Wreck Room in Wallington 3 times, headlining at Razzles in SeaSide Heights, and at The Sports Section in Union twice. Our last gig with that line-up was June 2001 at The Sports Section, which also was Luke's last show with us.
Christmas 2001… We decided that we should change the name of the band, since only 2 of the original members remained...and because I got tired of hearing Luke’s “We are ‘AWAKE’, and we hope you are too” jokes. After a few weeks and some rather strange suggestions, we chose VISIONS. I wanted a short, one word name with a progressive link, VISIONS being not only the name of RUSH's only official biography, but also the title of a 1996 Stratovarius CD, off which we play The Abyss Of Your Eyes.
January 2002…18 months and a dozen applicants after Luke resignation, Greg Romanoff from Philly joins as Lead Singer.
March 2002… Visions’ records our first DEMO at “The Den” Recording Studio.
May 2002… Greg resigns.
July 2002… Tom is replaced.
September 2002… Joe from Metuchen NJ joins Visions as Bass player, plays only 2 shows: 11/9/02 at On The Roxx, and 1/21/03 at The Whiskey Cafe'. Damon took over as Lead Singer for those shows. Then Joe disappeared. He totally blew-off all practices leading up to the next show at the Whiskey… no call, no email, nothing. So we played the Whiskey on 2/25/03 as a 3-piece. Damon played keys, sang lead, and tried to fill in bass lines as best he could (with the fifth limb he grew just for that show…lol). I refused to cancel the show because I knew that we were going to have one of our largest crowds that night. It was a huge strain on blind-boy, but we got through it. Luckily John Pine was there again to help out and sing a few songs, helping to relieve some of Damon’s stress. I video-taped the show and it really wasn't that bad. Both the promoter and the sound guy complimented us afterwards, saying we sounded tighter than the January show. Imagine that…lol
April 9, 2003... John Pine made our dreams come true and joined the band full-time.
April 10, 2003... We auditioned our new bass player, Bruce. This guys is amazing...he showed up with 4, 5 & 7 string basses and Taurus Pedals!!! Damon just about came in his pants!!! Like Doug, he learned over 20 songs in a 10 day period, and we're confident that he'll be ready for the 3-set show we have scheduled for May 17th at the Wagon Wheel in Bergenfield. Bruce and I played in an original project together called the Chains back in 1989, so I knew we'd ask him to join once Doug and Damon heard him play.
November 10th, 2003... Doug tenders his resignation. In late August he needed emergency surgery, which was only 2 weeks prior to a gig on September 12th, so we had to bring in a couple subs to cover his parts. For the 9/12 at the Charleston House in Staten Island we had one of Bruce's other bands (Rainbow Bridge) open for us, then we played 2 sets with Marcus Giegerich of Erotomania fame on guitar. Then at the West Side on the 9/26 we used Eddie from Crankshaft for the middle set and Marcus again for the first and third sets. Marcus joins the band on 11/17, and his inaugural appearance was at The Wreck Room on 11/28, opening for Power Windows. Doug last show was 12/19 at Hogs & Heifers in NYC.
September 5th, 2004... During the past couple months Visions has been toying around with the idea of starting a Dream Theater Tribute. We were actually contacted by BB Kings in NYC back in January because they were looking for one and heard about EROTOMANIA. So, with the blessing of the original members of Erotomania, we took on an Alter Ego and continued with that name. A special thank you goes out to Sean, James and Marc for your permission and support!!
April 2005… The old L’Amour’s, now called the Brooklyn Music Terminal, booked us to play there, as well as BB Kings in NYC and the Starland Ballroom in NJ.
May 2005- May 2007… Bruce, Damon and myself played in the Queensryche Tribute, Queen of the Ryche. We played a lot of great shows, and did a hell of a lot of drinking… lol
September 2005… Damon gives his notice to quit Erotomania + Visions due to all the responsibilities he now has in QotR, since he is more or less the second guitar player, back-ground vocalist and segue-artist.
October 2005… John also quit both projects. Damon did stick around until January 2006 to play gigs that were already scheduled before he gave his notice.
June - November 8, 2006... Put together a new line-up (except me and Marcus): Benny on Lead Guitar and Vocals, and Marc Rabin from Erotomania / QotR on Bass. We learned 70 new songs since we didn’t have keyboards anymore, so the set-list is got a total make-over. This line-up played a bunch of gigs through January 2008, then went on hiatus until now, October 2009.
October 2009…Current line-up: John Pine, Damon Fibraio, Marcus Giegerich, and Mike Madden on bass. I played with Mike in on original band with Nat Gardiner (of QotR), which shall remain nameless, and at times we discussed our love for a lot of the same influences as children, so I figured he’d be a good fit. We recently re-tooled our entire catalog of covers, axing 60 out of 160 songs and adding 30 new ones, with another 25-50 more to be added soon. We’re hoping to start gigging in early 2010, so please check back often for updates!!!
Thanks for reading..
Carpe diem
Russ + the boys