With that, we began practicing for our first gig with Dario, which Darrin had booked at the Lion on July 2, 1998. It was during this time that we wrote "Pacify," which was shot to the forefront due to Dario's wickedly cool bass line which just pumped up the song from it's original sound. Dario had also written a piece of music which Darrin wrote impromptu words to. This song was "Solitude, My Tribe." Eerily, Darrin's lyrics about solitude, reflected exactly how Dario was feeling when he wrote the music. The song was pretty much written and arranged in one practice. Both these songs would get their trial by fire at the up coming gig. Also, at this time, Daniel returned from Chicago and began playing keyboards in the band, although he didn't play the show at the Lion.
Daniel then started rehearsing with us, and we resurrected 42, a song from our high-school band "Tempus Fugit." We also decided that we were going to cut a demo, or a CD, and the first three songs we were going to record were "Black Rose," "+Clover," and "All Over Again." In addition to practicing these three songs over and over again, we also had to prepare for another show at the Elmo, which Scott B. invited us to on July 29, 1998.
Overall, it was a pretty good gig, but the reaction from the audience was mixed vis-a-vis the sound at the Elmo, some said it was the best we ever sounded, some said it was horrendous.
The next day we went into Vyner road studios with Rob Rotstein and Elliott Sairan to record Black Rose, All Over Again and +Clover. A positive that came out of the recording was a crystallisation of a band ethos. We had a new understanding of our songs and a new confidence in which to play them, which was evident at our following show at Clinton's. At the same time, we had to decide what to do with the three songs. Demo or CD? Record more songs, or mix and master these first. In the end, after much discussion and a lot of changing of minds. We decided to record another 6 or 7 songs, and then slowly mix them. The next recordings took place Oct. 8-13, 1998.
Our last gig with Daniel prior to his return to school in Chicago was booked at The Reverb on Sept. 9, 1998.
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