Vegas Archive: Tomorrows Gone 1997 7″

Today we’re bringing you the 1997 7″ from Tomorrows Gone. For more information about the songs, read the commentary from Tomorrows Gone frontman Lance Wells.

Compared to the previous year, 1996 was a very slow year for Tomorrows Gone, and in fact, most people thought we had broken up altogether. Jeff had quickly moved to Detroit at the beginning of the year to play in a band called Cleon’s Down with Jay Navarro from The Suicide Machines, and as one of the driving forces behind TG, his departure basically put the band on hold. I don’t recall any one of us ever saying the band was officially done when Jeff left for The Motor City, but we were certainly dormant for the better part of the year.

As for the rest of us that remained in Vegas, we all kept busy in our own ways. If I remember correctly, Fred was pursuing college full time and was also involved in a fairly serious relationship. Shay was a full-fledged member of Attaboy Skip by this time, so he was still actively involved in music, and by mid-to-late 1996, he was also playing guitar in a great pop punk band called Lickitysplit. Future (and final) TG bassist, Mike Pinaud, also happened to be the drummer/vocalist of Lickitysplit, and Shay and I spent a lot of time hanging out with the band and their group of friends throughout the year (watch for a future Vegas Archive entry featuring the Lickitysplit demo and 7”).

In fact, the only real musical project I was involved with in 1996 was a very short lived band with Mike Pinaud and Shay called A New Hope. As previously mentioned, the three of us were spending a lot of time together, we were all listening to a ton of Jawbreaker, and we inevitably formed a band in that same melodic punk vein. The lineup for ANH was Mike on drums, Shay on guitar, and yours truly on bass, and while we never actually played a show or recorded, I distinctly remember having a few songs and practicing multiple times. It’s a shame we didn’t document the project, as I feel like we were onto something cool, but for some reason the band just fizzled out and went nowhere.

That said, I was still very active in the music scene, but not so much as a musician. I did a small print fanzine from 1994-1997 called Help, which kept me busy writing and interacting with the bands, fellow zinesters, and various other underground characters. My biggest issues (#3 and #4) were released in 1996 and 1997 respectively, and I still recall endless nights spent writing record reviews, transcribing interviews, and working on that good ole’ cut and paste layout at Kinkos. I am very proud of what I accomplished with my little mag, and as evidenced by some of the work I’ve done here at Punks in Vegas, writing has always been a huge creative element in my life (again, watch for these in a future Vegas Archive entry).

Boba Fett Youth also let me tag along as roadie on their winter tour ‘95/‘96, which was another priceless event I was able to experience as a youth. While it was only a week and a half long tour of the West Coast, the band played a lot of cool towns like Boise, Spokane, Seattle, Portland, San Francisco, and San Diego, and the good times we had will not be forgotten. This “vacation” of sorts only encouraged me to go on tour again, only next time with my own band.

Oddly enough, the only TG shows I remember playing in 1996 were with Boba Fett Youth on a weekend trip late in the year that included Phoenix, a Tucson doubleheader, and Bakersfield, and aside from a St George show in 1997, these four shows would be the only out of town dates TG would ever play. Of course, we had an absolute blast, the shows were mostly fun, and the adventures we had could fill an entire Vegas Archive entry in itself. I still remember listening to the Hot Water Music Push For Coin EP on the drive home after the Bakersfield show, and the deep sadness I carried in my heart as I pondered the uncertain future of the band. We were all seemingly embarking on different paths in life, and while a part of me wanted to believe that there would always be another TG adventure or show, another part of me knew that what I had just experienced was probably a brief sliver in time that should not be taken for granted.

Shortly after this weekend “tour” with BFY, Jeff started working on new TG material, and plans began to materialize regarding the TG 7”. Jeff had become friends with an awesome dude from Indianapolis-by-way-of-Detroit named Eric Ziembowicz, and it turns out Eric liked our band and was interested in doing a 7” with us on his label Element Records. To say we were super stoked would be an understatement, and after taking TG through the hardcore proving grounds of a couple cassette demos and a few compilation records, we felt we were ready for an actual record.

Another thing that happened in 1996 was that hardcore became really fun again. Bands like Battery, By The Grace of God, Ensign, Ignite, Rain On The Parade, and Redemption 87 were playing a faster style of hardcore that certainly retained a solid message, but the atmosphere wasn’t quite as stuffy as the Ebullition Records/Riot Grrrl era of the early to mid-90s. That’s not to say that I didn’t appreciate the issues being addressed by the ultra-politically correct crowd, but I think many people got hung up on trivialities, myself included, and the hardcore scene turned into a witch hunt of sorts with people being called out on the regular for minor infractions. I will always stand against ignorance in any form, but as a youngster, I also liked to dance and do an occasional stage dive at shows.

With the influence of this new crop of bands in mind, Jeff and Shay wrote the bulk of three new TG songs that featured a more traditional hardcore sound, and I scribed lyrics to match. In January of 1997, we took these original songs and two covers (Chain Of Strength’s “Too Deep Until Now” and Dag Nasty’s “One To Two”) into the studio, which was actually just a house where a dude named Abe lived. Abe was one of the Saxophone players from Attaboy Skip, and for a small fee, he provided a super chill atmosphere and a solid recording for our band. The music was recorded over one weekend, the vocals over another, and the DAT was dropped in the mail to Jeff who was back in Detroit.

The vinyl wouldn’t materialize until July of 1997, and in between recording and the record release, we would unknowingly play live for the last three times over the period of a week or so. The first of these shows was at The Huntridge Theater with Sick Of It All, AFI, and Ensign and it was significant for a couple reasons: it was the biggest show TG was ever a part of and we played as a four piece without Jeff. Dean flew into town a day or two later for a St George, Utah date with a new Vegas band called Shelf Life, and the following weekend we played Boba Fett Youth’s last show. It was an interesting time, as no doubt BFY’s last show felt like the end of an era, and yet there was a whole new breed of kids (e.g. Shelf Life and crew) surfacing that subscribed to the type of hardcore we had been trying to promote for years. These new kids would one day be immortalized by the Faded Grey song “Army of Kids,” and some of them would also go on to play in their own band called Curl Up And Die.

In between the aforementioned shows and the July release of the TG 7”, Jeff worked tirelessly to book a full U.S. summer tour. It was never spoken aloud, but I think all of us in the band knew this tour was going to be our last gasp. Shay was traveling a lot with Attaboy Skip and had already gracefully bowed out of TG, and after Mike informed us he couldn’t do the tour, he was replaced by one of our previous bassists, Joe Kozlowski. I personally had plans to move to Southern California with a good friend from the Midwest, and my meager belongings were basically packed so that I could move as soon as the tour concluded.

July rolled around and Jeff and Joe arrived in Vegas, as did a box of 200 TG 7”s with limited “tour edition” covers. The plan was to practice a few times and then hit the road, but admittedly, I think we all felt a little awkward knowing Mike and (especially) Shay weren’t coming along for the ride. The four of us that remained in the band met one afternoon to practice at Fred’s house, and that’s when Fred and Joe let the cat out of the bag that they couldn’t do the tour due to financial reasons. After a very lengthy and rather heated debate, the band known as Tomorrows Gone officially ended with a whimper on a quiet summer afternoon. I was already paying rent on an apartment in Redondo Beach, so I loaded up my little Nissan Sentra the following day and quickly left the whole mess in the rearview mirror.

Kozlowski returned to Redondo Beach as well, and Fred would begin art school in San Francisco that fall. Jeff had moved back to Vegas from Detroit for the TG tour, and he quickly formed a new band with Mike Pinaud and Mike Rosati called Zero In Trust (another future Vegas Archive entry). I continued living and breathing hardcore in California, and I eventually ended up going on that summer tour in 1998, although only as a roadie for the band Eyelid.

The TG 7” was officially released posthumously, and from what I remember, featured three different covers over the years. The first version of the record featured a “tour edition” cover, all 200 of which were destroyed by Jeff after our 1997 summer tour was canceled and the band broke up. The official cover would be next, followed by another limited cover with a picture of an awesome ditch Eric Z and I found when he came to visit me in California. I do not know the actual pressing information beyond the “tour edition,” but I would venture to say there were probably 1000-2000 records pressed, all on black vinyl. The only version of the record I own is the regular press that was readily available, but I am always on the lookout for a copy with the limited “skate ditch” cover.

Aside from the live stuff, all of the material presented in the TG entries here was later compiled on a discography CD. Mike Rosati and his friend Chris did a short-lived CD-only label called World On Fire, and along with a Cleon’s Down discography, the TG discography made up one of two releases by the label. I actually had no input in the art direction or track listing of the CD, and much to my surprise, I stumbled upon it during a random visit to Balcony Lights (old LV record store). I think Chris and Mike did a pretty good job with the CD release, even though it is missing the Chain Of Strength cover and some decent live recordings. In fact, the Chain cover is completely M.I.A. at this point unless someone outside of the band has a dubbed tape copy or Abe has it on a hard drive somewhere.

In hindsight, I never thought I would play in another band after TG broke up, let alone one that would ever mean as much to me. Fred and I started playing music together in 1990, and we went on a seven year journey that all started when a really tight group of friends from the small town of Boulder City decided to start a band. Along the way we met some extremely cool and talented people like Jeff, Shay, Rosati, Billy, Jay, and Pinaud, and as our music began to change over time, so did the members of the band as people. I spent my late teens and early twenties playing in the lineage of bands that became Tomorrows Gone, and the lessons I learned during that period are still with me to this day. Through a simple punk band I realized that I could accomplish anything, stand up to anyone, and express myself freely, all on my own DIY terms.

To paraphrase the final line from the movie Stand By Me, “I never had friends later on like the ones I had when I was growing up and playing punk rock. Does anyone?”

-Lance Wells

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Tomorrows Gone
Tomorrows Gone 7″
1997

Fred Abercrombie – drums
Jeff Dean – guitar
Lance Wells – vocals
Shay Mehrdad – guitar
Mike Pinaud – Bass
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