At some point shortly afterward, Mischa left the band. He wanted to spend more time with his family and the road was killing him. Phil knew a keyboardist at school named Mike Graham, and he joined the band. Simultaneously, and at the same time, Jeff invited Meredith Halpern to sing backing vocals for us. OK, she sang harmony and Phil called Wednesdays. We were ready to rock!
In the fall, we played our first Battle of the Bands. I remember getting in trouble at the meeting with all the bands when we asked if Louie Louie could be banned from the show. Our alternate plan was to play Louie Louie by all of us switching instruments. Instead, we played the most prog songs we could. Roundabout, Lamb Lies Down on Broadway, Owner of a Lonely Heart, Comfortably Numb, Lavender, Touch and Go, and Whiter Shade of Pale. Plus we played 42 and Music of the Spheres. We ended with Suite Madame Blue, followed by Goodbye Cruel World. I'm starting to think I'm mixing up gigs, cuz this is too many songs for one show. Darrin wore face make-up, Phil straightened his hair, Mer looked like the kid on the cover of Misplaced Childhood and Daniel wore Phil's sister's sweet 16 dress. Jeff played the guitar with his teeth.
Overall it was a big success and we decided to book a real gig in a club. The club was Ildiko's and we payed all our dues on that one night. We were supposed to play with a band called IROK, and another band, I believe, but they all cancelled out, so we were forced to play all the songs we only remotely knew. I think we even played some songs we didn't know but just liked. We played 3 sets, which included many originals, and some "gems" like Crime of the Century and Games Without Frontiers, which should never be played without a full band with many more instruments. Add to this that the place was heated with a giant Bunsen burner (on Dec. 30th), had no running water, and the toilets and sinks were on the floor due to the fact that it was a punk club and the punks had ripped apart the bathroom the night before our show. Also, there was a gigantic alcoholic man who insisted on being our bouncer. I think he beat up some of our friends to show how much we needed him to protect us. It was a dismal gig. The place was so bad, that even punk bands (including Bunchoffuckinggoofs and Nunfuckers) refused to play there. Ildiko's then closed down, it was once the bastion of punk rock in Toronto, and Tempus Fugit, an amateur prog band, was the last band to play there! We did have a good turnout, though. Unfortunately due to the sudden withdrawal of our opening band IROK, we had to have John Yeates and Banned open who then proceeded to take 2/3 of the door money we brought in for their effort. On top of it all, Darrin had a bad throat infection verging on laryngitis. Daniels mother, bless her, had him drinking warm milk with Corn Syrup all day to soothe his vocal cords. It didn't soothe the vocal cords but it did relax other parts of him that would have been much more convenient had the toilets not been ripped out of the wall of the club the night before. Thus ended 1987.
1988 was a busy and tumultuous year. We played High School Star Search and Youthquake (our last gig in that incarnation) adding songs like Aqualung and Assassing. We actually became known for playing Comfortably Numb. We played several high school shows including Hillstock, York Millstock, Mackenzie Rocks and theThornlea Talent Show. In 1998 we rerecorded 42 and Music of the Spheres with Mike on keyboards for submission to the Q107 Homegrown Contest. We won but declined to accept our prize as we were concerned it would interfere with Daniel's studies. Summer came, some of us went to camp, and the band had some shake ups. Daniel moved to Montreal, and we replaced him with Drew Moncarz, but it didn't really work out. Harlan Cooper also played bass for a short period of time. At some point in time, Darrin and Daniel recorded, the Dream, and Jeff and Mer rerecorded Music of the Spheres in Israel, but the band broke up with Jeff and Darrin joining Maximum 40, until that dissolved and there was nothing for several years.
Next Beyond the Fugit Barrier - 1989-1997