Some really old stuff
The first real band, that I actually auditioned for, was called "Metal
Dreams" the year was 1988. I was 19. After I joined the band we changed the
name to "Talisman". As Talisman we wrote several songs and gigged around Long
Island with the line up :
Mike Connors - Vocals, Nick Potenza - Bass, Mike Basile - Drums, Brian Dowd - Guitar, vocals
...Heavy metal music was big on Long Island at the time and we all wanted to be heavy
metal rock stars. We recorded our first demo in Mineola, New York (Long Island) at Mike
Connors'-fathers -friend's home studio. It was my first taste of recording in a real
studio situation. These next 6 songs were recorded for that demo in the summer of 1988
...After a few months the guitarist that I replaced, Ryan Rhodes rejoined the band. We
found out there was another band that was bigger than us named Talisman so we renamed the
band "Impact". We wrote several more songs with the new lineup and
contiued to play the local clubs on Long Island. These pictures were taken by Mike
Basile's girlfriend Pat in a schoolyard by her house (where we used to practice in her
basement) 
in 1988.
In
1989 we decided to record another demo because the old one didn't sound like us anymore.
We went to a studio in Brooklyn named Coyote Studios and recorded some of our latest and greatest. The
lineup still had Mike Basile on Drums and Ryan Rhodes on guitar.
No Tomorrow
Lady Of Sin
The evolution of the band continued with our drummer Mike Basile leaving the band and
being replaced by my best friend RobCantwell
in July of 1989. Rob and I had been
playing since we were 15 as a duo at parties
.jpg)
so we didnt need much to get
reaquainted musically.
In
1990 we had a few things happen. Ryan left the band....again, and we got another
guy, Ralph Cuccano to replace him on guitar. We played only 1 very memorable gig with him
at Andy Warhol's nephews flat on Hudson St in Manhattan NY. This is a picture from that
gig
. Also in 1990 we had our final
band member change. When Ralph didn't work out after just a short time, we replaced him
with Larry Maxwell on guitar.
We re-recorded some of our old favorites with the new lineup in my basement while my parents were away for 6 months. The band basically moved in with me and we all agreed as 21 year olds "it was party time." Some of the old tunes were rewritten to reflect the changes made due to playing the songs live and letting them evolve naturally. We were starting to develope our own sound, good, bad, or indifferent. Notice how the guitar sound changed from the first versions of these songs. In these recordings the guitar sound is reminiscent of "static" or a "buzzsaw on tilt mode." Funny as I look back now, the best sounding recording we ever did was the very first one.
In the summer of 1991 
the band
did another recording this time at Arte Studios in Hauppauge NY. We recorded 2 tunes
Mike decided not to show for the arte recording so I did the vocal tracks on "Guilty".
At this point it seemed we had the right lineup to make it big as heavy metal rock stars. Now, it was just a matter of gigging as much as we could...
...The band broke up after I left in 1991. This was a picture
from our last show at Sparks .jpg)
i in Deer Park Long Island, which was
probably one of the best shows we ever did...
In 1993 while I was living in my grandparents house in Queens Village NY and working at a music store selling pro audio equipment, I bought a 4track recorder and set up my first home studio. I recorded many songs on that setup including a new version of "Night Of the Wicked Moon".
After living in Queens for a year and a half I moved to Hicksville NY into a basement apartment and set up my little 4track in the living room and recorded these songs there in 1995
