Faded Grey

In early 1998, the remaining members of the recently departed Las Vegas band, Tomorrow's Gone, decided to get together one last time to record a few "new" songs for a planned TG discography CD on Element Records. Long time TG members Jeff Dean and Shay Mehrdad recruited former TG bassist Mike "Marlboro" Rosati and Ryan Butler (Far From It) for a studio band that eventually put four songs to tape. Shay then sent a rough demo mix of the songs to TG vocalist, Lance Wells, who was living in Redondo Beach, CA at the time. Upon receiving the tape, Lance immediately began writing lyrics for the songs, and during the process the idea to do a whole new band was born. The four "new" TG songs sounded fresh and vital, and Lance was soon on the horn with Shay to discuss the possibilties of playing live again. Mike and Ryan jumped on board without hesitation, but Jeff was unfortunately on his way out of the revolving door known as Las Vegas to the windy city of Chicago where he would go on to play in many bands such as The Story So Far, The Bomb, and Four Star Alarm. Thus, Tomorrow's Gone became Faded Grey, as there is no TG without the great bearded lady. After commuting to LV from CA for the first two live shows, Lance soon packed his bags and said goodbye to sunny southern California and returned to the blow dryer heat of the southern Nevada desert. Since the recording for the TG discography was scrapped when Jeff took three of the four songs with him to Chicago, a new FG demo was in order. The band quickly recorded two new songs (Begin Again and Army of Kids) and re-worked two old songs (Faded Grey and In Silence) with long time friend Abe, and the FG demo 1998 was completed. This recording would later be re-mastered at Q-Mark and released by Eric "sick boy" Z as the "Army of Kids" EP on Element Records. Many live shows and an ill-fated, never released split 7" with fellow Las Vegan's Curl Up and Die would soon follow. FG slowly began to build a following in LV and southern CA over the next year with the energy and honesty they brought to a scene that was beginning to stagnate, at least in late 90's Las Vegas. Dave Mandel from Indecision Records took note of the band, and FG became a part of the Indecision family in late 1999. Needless to say, this was a huge stepping stone for a little known band from the sun baked desert. Over the next few months, the band played numerous live shows in LV, CA, and Utah and began writing for what was intitially going to be a 7"/EP on Indy Recs. As Shay and Lance began to churn out more songs than expected, the slated EP became an LP, and Joe Schoser (Far From It and Keegan's Quest) was brought into the FG mix to beef up the sound as a second guitarist. During the beautiful spring and blazing summer of 2000, the band worked together tirelessly to write and refine what would become the "A Quiet Time of Desperation" LP, which was recorded with the great Paul Miner at For The Record studios in Orange, CA during the month of August 2000. After the release of the FG LP in late 2000 (the official record release was January 2001), the band hit the road for a west coast tour with long-time friends Death By Stereo and new Indy Recs bros Count Me Out. Too many highlights and hijinks went down to discuss here, but the tour was a success on many levels, and FG continued to play relentlessly in LV, CA, and UT during the spring of 2001 before embarking on a US tour during the summer of 2001 with Count Me Out, Striking Distance (east coast leg), Time Flies (west coast leg), and Good Clean Fun (west coast leg). Again, while trying at times, the tour was a blast and many great friendships were made that summer. Unfortunately, the band parted ways with long-time FG drummer Ryan Butler at the end of the summer, and "Mr. Enthusiasm" himself, Victor Moya, was recruited as his replacement. The remainder of 2001 and beginning of 2002 was spent playing shows in LV and CA and writing a few new songs, two of which were completed but never recorded (Another Dead Friend and Dot-Dot-Dash). The band would play its final out-of-town shows with fellow Indy Recs bros Stay Gold during a weekend trip to CA in the spring of 2002 and began to fall apart shortly there after due to a conflict of interest regarding many of the band members (family, school, work, etc). From the summer of 2002 until December 2002, the band was basically dormant until two last shows were booked on December 21st at Skate City and December 22nd at the Hammer House. Jesse Fitts from CUAD was brought in to play drums for Victor, who was tied down with family business, and the shows went down with much passion in front of two rousing hometown crowds (thanks to everyone who came from out of town as well). After FG ended, the members kept in touch but went on to do many different things. Joe started a new band called Countenance and traveled to Germany for a school internship. Lance began to pursue a career as a firefighter/paramedic while slingin' cardboard for the brown. Mike made lots of money, smoked lots of cigs, and kicked it with the likes of Vince Neil. Shay was married to his long-time girlfriend and FG graphic designer, Jera Austin, and moved to San Diego. Ryan runs a recording studio and is a tattoo artist. Victor moved to Denver, CO, but later returned to LV and now plays drums for The Loud Pipes. Jesse continued to play in CUAD until their demise and now plays drums for Vulcans. Regardless of where life took the members of FG, music was still a huge part of their lives, and when some local kids started talking about the band in late 2004, the plan to do a one time reunion show was hatched. On January 28th, 2005, Faded Grey played with Of Faith and Fire and Folsom at the Roadhouse in Henderson, NV. To the band's surprise, kids from all over the country came to the show, and in the end, it was quite possibly the most intense FG experience ever. I think it's safe to say, "This music will survive."