The change to progressive rock caused two significant changes. 1) We stopped playing the opening riff to "Smoke on the Water" for half an hour each practice, and replaced it with the ending riff from "Starship Trooper" - which we'd play for half an hour each practice. 2) We changed our name (thank god) to Tempus Fugit, because it was latin, and a name of a Yes song from an album that absolutely no one ever bought!
The next step for the band was to find a lead singer. Sure, Daniel thought he could sing, and Jeff wasn't bad, and Phil could remember all the lyrics (being the only lead singer of Fugit to be able to brag about this) but truth be told, we sucked. I remember 3 singers from that time. The first might be a figment of my imagination, but man he'd have to have been awful for us not to keep him (Editor's Note - the first singer was Bill Levitt who actually went on to form There 4 Three with Howie Beck). The 2nd was Mike Kohn, who went to school with Phil. We practised and practised, all the while writing more songs, and finally got our first gig in January of 1987 (or possibly late 1986)- FH/FX at Dan's and Jeff's school. This was a talent show and this was our first time playing in front of an audience. To warm up, Phil, Dan, Jeff and Mischa played Peter Gunn with a couple of horn players (including Marlowe Bork) calling themselves "Subterranean Underground Dwellers." Then, finally, Fugit took the stage. We played 2 songs, "Hey You" by Pink Floyd (which no one knew, cuz Floyd didn't come back in style until 6 months later) and "Touch and Go" by Emerson Lake and Powell (which everyone knew and we got a great reaction). Plus, Phil started dating one of the organizers of the event. (Rock and Roll!). One other note about this show was that Darrin also played in his first "band" show at FH/FX as well, playing "Out In The Streets" and "Fire" by Bruce Springsteen. The other band members were Peter Meretsky(Keyboards), Justin Levine (Guitar), Jason Kravice (Drums) and Lawrence (Larry) Bayer (Bass).
Hot off the heals of our first success, we set upon ourselves 2 tasks. Write and record on 4-track, our first album, and audition for the High School Bands that June. We did not make it into battle of the bands, but we all went to the show, and while we were there, one of the organizers saw one of us wearing a Marillion shirt (was it me? I don't remember). And he asked us if we played Marillion, and we said we know Kayleigh and Lavender, so he said we'd be in the next Battle of the Bands for sure (which was true).
Recording the album was fun. Mike Kohn left in the middle (although I believe you can still hear him singing one line in the album). Daniel and Jeff recorded some of the vocals, and invited Darrin Cappe, who they knew from school to join the band. Some notes from the album: Daniel plays drums at the end of Home Again. And I believe 42 was the last song we recorded. We didn't have a singer at the time and I recorded the drums after the guitar and bass tracks were done. The keyboard solo is quite long and the guitar chords are the same as the verse which follows. So basically, I was playing along to the same thing over and over. At some point, I threw in some china-type shots. When Darrin recorded the vocals later, it ended up that the shots were during the only break in vocals he had - pure magic. Finally, the album was set up as alternating Daniel and Jeff songs (starting with Daniel).
Oddly enough, the cassette of "Beyond the Barrier" made its rounds. Lots of people had copies of it, even though we had never had a gig. It even made it as far as Israel where we were huge at Yishava U!
Next Battle(s) Of The Bands - Live in 87/88