Damascus

It all had to start somewhere...

It all began with "Haze". What?! Yes, you see, Tom started playing guitar when he was 10 and took his first lessons from Marc's sister. Marc was older, so the partnership had to wait a few years till Tom got to high school. From there, Tom and Marc started playing in variety shows and in church basements. Really, they were ready to make noise anywhere they could. They formed a hard rock band named "Haze". Well, first it was "Golden Haze", named after a book Tom found in the library, but shortly thereafter it was shortened to Haze. They played in any club / bar that would allow underaged kids in. After multiple personnel changes, they taught their friend Cliff how to play the bass. Now they were set to take on the world. They were offered a recording contract for one of their tunes, "Tables Turnin'" but after the lawyers read it, the deal was dead. Fame would have to wait. A year later, Marc left for college and Haze made more changes and carried on. So, if you've been following along so far, Tom and Cliff are still working together for a couple more years as Haze.

Following a massive car wreck (band van), Haze was in disarray and legal problem ensued. It was a low point and maybe it was time for a change. But I'm getting ahead of myself.

Marc had just come back from college. He invited Tom to a concert to see some guys named "Rez Band". Tom's intent was to go and see how poorly these "Christian" rockers rocked. That night, December 12, 1981 was the turning point. A new life and new direction had begun. Haze lasted exactly one rehearsal longer. After hearing of the spiritual change and the new direction, the other members of Haze couldn't leave fast enough. It was a very strange time.

With a new lease on life, who better to share it with than Marc and Cliff. Oh, I forgot to mention that Cliff was going to tell Tom that he was leaving Haze the same night Tom came over to ask him to join a new band he was forming. Ha! God has His ways of working things out. So anyway, we are now back to Tom, Marc and Cliff. Three old friends together again and writing a new kind of music. This is about the time that Tom bought an organ and a Leslie speaker. Can't play prog without a keyboard... right? With that... Damascus was formed. Why the name Damascus? The apostle Paul first preached in Damascus. So Tom felt it fitting that Damascus would be his first band since his new-found faith.

Now... what to do about a drummer? Many ads and searches led to a meeting with a guy named Dave. Yep, that Dave. At first, it was a matter of getting to know this new guy and see if they could connect on a musical and spritual level. I'd say five albums proved they were compatible and brothers.

So now you see all the pieces are in place, except Tom couldn't play what he wrote and they had no songs. The first year and a half was spent developing as a group and learning how to play more technically. This is when keyboard and amp collecting began for the group. Every few weeks brought a new "toy" to figure out. A new sound and a new way to write music. Pretty quickly, it became apparent that while Tom could write music all day, lyrics came much slower. Enter Dave Coy and his stash of lyrics. The typical scenario became that Dave would write a ton of lyrics. Tom would take those on vacation with a guitar and keyboard and turn those lyrics into songs. Every album was written in that same way.

The earliest recodings were done in the school rooms of a church building after hours. The band was completely DIY. The first album was basically recorded direct to 1/4" tape. Next came two tape machines to allow one overdub. Then the band graduated to four track recording. There was a sound in Tom's head but they didn't have the money or the gear to make it happen. The Timeless album had to be mixed twice. The first studio was poorly designed and the mix was unlistenable. The second time they finally found a studio that they could get some good results from and began a life-long friendship with the owner. "Soon.." was the album that they finally worked on eight tracks. The ideas they had could finally be recorded.

All things must change... Shortly after the release of "Soon..." Marc informed the band that he was taking a job in Oregon and would be leaving after the tour. The three remaining members tried to pull all their technical abilities together to make the music work. They built a new studio in Cliff's home and began writing the next album. Cliff and Dave both picked up some keyboard duties. Unfortunately, the industry wasn't ready for what Damascus was creating.

Art has no greater enemy than apathy. By the beginning of 1993, it was over. Dave had decided to leave the band. The Christian music business was looking for clones of other bands and Damascus never fit into that world. They tried to do something new and different with each album. For those who understood, different was good, but it couldn't financially sustain them. So, that was the end of the Damascus story... Or was it?