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In early 1998, the remaining members
of the recently departed Las Vegas band, Tomorrow's Gone, decided
to get together one last time to record a few "new" songs
for a planned TG discography CD on Element Records. Long time TG
members Jeff Dean and Shay Mehrdad recruited former TG bassist Mike
"Marlboro" Rosati and Ryan Butler (Far From It) for a
studio band that eventually put four songs to tape. Shay then sent
a rough demo mix of the songs to TG vocalist, Lance Wells, who was
living in Redondo Beach, CA at the time.
Upon receiving the tape, Lance immediately
began writing lyrics for the songs, and during the process the idea
to do a whole new band was born. The four "new" TG songs
sounded fresh and vital, and Lance was soon on the horn with Shay
to discuss the possibilties of playing live again. Mike and Ryan
jumped on board without hesitation, but Jeff was unfortunately on
his way out of the revolving door known as Las Vegas to the windy
city of Chicago where he would go on to play in many bands such
as The Story So Far, The Bomb, and Four Star Alarm. Thus, Tomorrow's
Gone became Faded Grey, as there is no TG without the great bearded
lady.
After commuting to LV from CA for
the first two live shows, Lance soon packed his bags and said goodbye
to sunny Southern California and returned to the blow dryer heat
of the southern Nevada desert. Since the recording for the TG discography
was scrapped when Jeff took three of the four songs with him to
Chicago, a new FG demo was in order. The band quickly recorded two
new songs (Begin Again and Army of Kids) and re-worked two old songs
(Faded Grey and In Silence) with long time friend Abe, and the FG
demo 1998 was completed. This recording would later be re-mastered
at Q-Mark and released by Eric "sick boy" Z as the "Army
of Kids" EP on Element Records.
Many live shows and an ill-fated,
never released split 7" with fellow Las Vegan's Curl Up and
Die would soon follow. FG slowly began to build a following in LV
and southern CA over the next year with the energy and honesty they
brought to a scene that was beginning to stagnate, at least in late
90's Las Vegas. Dave Mandel from Indecision Records took note of
the band, and FG became a part of the Indecision family in late
1999. Needless to say, this was a huge stepping stone for a little
known band from the sun baked desert.
Over the next few months, the band
played numerous live shows in LV, CA, and Utah and began writing
for what was intitially going to be a 7"/EP on Indy Recs. As
Shay and Lance began to churn out more songs than expected, the
slated EP became an LP, and Joe Schoser (Far From It and Keegan's
Quest) was brought into the FG mix to beef up the sound as a second
guitarist. During the beautiful spring and blazing summer of 2000,
the band worked together tirelessly to write and refine what would
become the "A Quiet Time of Desperation" LP, which was
recorded with the great Paul Miner at For The Record studios in
Orange, CA during the month of August 2000.
After the release of the FG LP in
late 2000 (the official record release was January 2001), the band
hit the road for a west coast tour with long-time friends Death
By Stereo and new Indy Recs bros Count Me Out. Too many highlights
and hijinks went down to discuss here, but the tour was a success
on many levels, and FG continued to play relentlessly in LV, CA,
and UT during the spring of 2001 before embarking on a US tour during
the summer of 2001 with Count Me Out, Striking Distance (east coast
leg), Time Flies (west coast leg), and Good Clean Fun (west coast
leg). Again, while trying at times, the tour was a blast and many
great friendships were made that summer. Unfortunately, the band
parted ways with long-time FG drummer Ryan Butler at the end of
the summer, and "Mr. Enthusiasm" himself, Victor Moya,
was recruited as the new FG drummer.
The remainder of 2001 and beginning
of 2002 was spent playing shows in LV and CA and writing a few new
songs, two of which were completed but never recorded (Another Dead
Friend and Dot-Dot-Dash). The band would play it's final out of
town shows with fellow Indy Recs bros Stay Gold during a weekend
trip to CA in the spring of 2002 and began to fall apart shortly
there after due to a conflict of interest regarding many of the
band members (family, school, work, etc). From the summer of 2002
until December 2002, the band was basically dormant until two last
shows were booked on December 21st at Skate City and December 22nd
at the Hammer House. Jesse Fitts from CUAD was brought in to play
drums for Victor, who was tied down with family business, and the
shows went down with much passion in front of two rousing hometown
crowds (thanks to everyone who came from out of town as well).
After FG ended, the members kept in
touch but went on to do many different things. Joe started a new
band called Countenance and traveled to Germany for a school internship.
Lance began to pursue a career as a firefighter/paramedic while
slingin' cardboard for the brown. Mike made lots of money, smoked
lots of cigs, and kicked it with the likes of Vince Neil. Shay was
married to his long-time girlfriend and FG graphic designer, Jera
Austin, and moved to San Diego. Ryan runs a recording studio and
is a tattoo artist. Victor moved to Denver, CO, but later returned
to LV and now plays drums for The Loud Pipes. Jesse continued to
play in CUAD until their demise and now plays drums for Vulcans.
Regardless of where life took the members of FG, music was still
a huge part of their lives, and when some local kids started talking
about the band in late 2004, the plan to do a one time reunion show
was hatched.
On January 28th, 2005, Faded Grey
played with Of Faith and Fire and Folsom at the Roadhouse in Henderson,
NV. To the band's surprise, kids from all over the country came
to the show, and in the end, it was quite possibly the most intense
FG experience ever. I think it's safe to say, "This music will
survive."
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