Vegas Archive: Tomorrows Gone demo tape (1994) and ‘Live at the Huntridge’ (1994)

Click here to download the 1994 Demo Cassette

Click here to download Live @ the Huntridge 1994

[ezcol_2third]Welcome to Vegas Archive, a feature where we re-release music from local bands that are gone, but certainly not forgotten.

Today we’re bringing you the self-titled, 1994 demo tape and ‘Live from the Huntridge’ EP from local hardcore band Tomorrows Gone, who were active from 1993-1997.

For more information about the songs, read the commentary from Tomorrows Gone frontman Lance Wells.

The band Tomorrows Gone actually morphed out of a long line of bands that started circa 1990 with a skate punk/funk party band from Boulder City called Not For Everyone. I played bass in NFE, and with enlightening song titles like “Butt Taco” and “Horny” (complete with wanna-be Flea slap bass), it’s painfully obvious that we were a bunch of pimple-faced teenagers during the band’s existence. We also played Body Count and Minor Threat covers, and while definitely not my finest hour, it sure was fun.

Eventually we changed singers, changed the name of the band to Relent, and went for a more serious HC approach. We were fresh out of high school and ready to take on the world, but we mostly just played house parties and desert keggers (our first show at the Henderson Jaycees was a milestone for us). There was a Relent demo in 1993, but like a dumb ass, I never kept a copy and lost track of the DAT.

We kept chugging along and eventually Jeff Dean was brought into the mix after our original guitarist (he actually switched to bass before leaving Relent for good) decided to go the metal route with another BC band called Mindset Rage. I met Jeff through our mutual love of skateboarding, and I knew he liked 7 Seconds and had recently started playing guitar. Jeff would drive up to BC a couple times a week and we would hammer out our set in a rented storage space that was hotter than hell. The name of the band was quickly changed to Matter of Fact, we were playing an Embrace cover, and we actually had regular shows at the Henderson Elk’s Lodge.

Very soon after Jeff came into the band, we started practicing at the Dean’s house. It was a little bit later that we changed the name of the band to Tomorrows Gone when we found out there was another Matter of Fact from the east coast. Oddly enough, there was another Tomorrows Gone from Virginia Beach and my friend Kevin Finn had a shirt to prove it (they were also listed on the thanks list of the Four Walls Falling ”Culture Shock” LP). We kept the name anyway.

Shortly after becoming Tomorrows Gone, we also went into Digital Insight Recording Studio to try our luck at another demo. I don’t remember much about the actual recording experience, except for the fact that none of us were all that stoked on the finished product. We always tried to help our singer improve, but he couldn’t sing or even scream well for that matter. He was one of my best friends from growing up in BC, but I couldn’t deny that his vocals sounded like he was casually singing in the shower.

After our botched attempt at a TG demo, Mike Rosati came into the band on bass and I moved to 2nd guitar. TG was playing a lot of cool shows during this same period of time, but we just weren’t making any real headway with our singer. He didn’t show up to practice one day and I put down my guitar and half-jokingly decided to give vocals a shot. We played one song and Rosati said, ”Where is the phone because we’re kicking (our singer) out.” Never easy to kick a good friend out of your band, nor was I ever the greatest vocalist, but it was definitely a step up.

With that I moved to vocals permanently and Shay was recruited to play guitar after we tried out some really random folks (Mike’s friend “Scooter” immediately comes to mind). We were so stoked on Shay because not only did he absolutely shred on the guitar, but he had a Les Paul and a real amp. With our new line-up, we quickly went back to Digital Insight to rework the TG demo. We left Fred’s drum track intact, and due to Rosati’s rapid departure from the band, we kept my original bass track as well and simply re-recorded both guitars and the vocals during a short session on a rainy Saturday. I’ll never forget listening to the recording while driving back to Jeff’s house with both of us giddy as hell because we finally had a recording we liked. Of course we stopped to grab some bean burritos at Taco Bell in celebration.

We passed those demos out like crazy, and one actually ended up in the hands of Andrew Kiraly who sang for the long, lost LV band Boba Fett Youth. Andrew also happened to write for City Life Magazine, and he was kind enough to give our demo an outstanding review. Most of us in TG were attending UNLV at the time, and we stumbled upon the City Life review after picking up the latest issue in between classes. After struggling with such mediocre music for so long, we seriously could not believe someone outside of our circle of friends genuinely liked our band.

The original line-up for the first TG demo was Fred Abercrombie – drums, Kelley Bryant – vocals, Jeff Dean – guitar, and Lance Wells – bass. Revamped line-up for the first TG demo was Fred Abercrombie – drums, Jeff Dean – guitar, Shay Mehrdad – guitar, Billy Schmutz – bass (did not play on recording), and Lance Wells – bass and vocals. The demo was recorded at Digital Insight Recording Studio sometime in early 1994. It should also be noted that all of the lyrics on this demo were written by our original singer, Kelley.

-Lance Wells

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Tomorrows Gone
Tomorrows Gone demo tape
1994

Fred Abercrombie – drums
Jeff Dean – guitar
Shay Mehrdad – guitar
Lance Wells – bass and vocals
Kelley Bryant – lyrics

Tomorrows Gone
Live @ the Huntridge
1994

Fred Abercrombie- drums
Jeff Dean – guitar
Mike Rosati – bass
Lance Wells – vocals
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