In August 1986, we finished our last performance at the Chamber. We made a decision to go to Hollywood and bring (unleash) our show to the Los Angeles Music Scene.
Our decision was fueled by the urging of our mentor Colin Hilborne who convinced us that if we were serious about our music we should take the band out west in a market where there was a better chance to be seen by someone who could take it to the next level. Get us a record deal and start a tour to promote it.
The timing was right. We had a good crop of unique songs recorded, we were tight musically and we put on a good stage show. Robert Lowden “led the wagon out west” when in late August he moved to Hollywood all by his lonesome. He had two cousins out there, Jeff and William Burr who were applying their skills to movie directing and producing.
While Bob was grabbing a foothold in Hollywood, the rest of us packed-up and moved the equipment out of 1660 Kenmore Ave. (“The Chamber”) and into a temporary storage facility up the street called Absolute Storage on Kenmore Ave. at Delaware.
Of course, we couldn’t leave without staging a “farewell to the Chamber party”.
This was a very tenuous period in the history of the band. For the first time in eight years Garth, Bob, Gerry and Patt suspended writing and performing to pursue a music career out West. Hopefully we were headed in the same direction but only time would tell.
Although the thought of leaving town and everything we know for what some might call “a pig in a poke” was scary, it wasn’t as scary as staying in Buffalo and thinking, “I wonder what would have happened if the band moved to the West Coast.” We weren’t sure what was in store for us but we knew we were committed to giving it a try.