This band was probably my first taste of what an original band could really be capable of. To this day, I still don't think there was anyone making music like we were at the time. McKenna Rowe was the driving force, bringing a heavy electronic influence by way of Peter Gabriel and Nine inch Nails, and by and large, the rest of us bought into her musical vision. I know I did, and that was much different than my most recent experience at the time, with Step Zero. McKenna always amazed me with her idea to fully realize the ideas in her head, and at the same time, I was very encouraged to be able to complement her ideas in ways that I thought were pretty interesting. Filling out the lineup were bass player and all-around swell guy Christian Case and guitarist Scott Anderson, who came into to replace Keith Wojciechowski after we had gotten started, and did a damn fine job of it. Chris brought a certain energy on top of just technical ability, and Scott added a very cool, Andy Summers-esque minimalism to the sound.

One of the funniest moments I've ever experienced on stage was when we whipped out a rendition of "The Spirit of Radio" at Morseland. It sent the lighting guy into a spastic frenzy of prog rock glory. And who can forget the band sleepover at McKenna's parents' house in South Bend? Playing shows with this band was just tremendously satisfying in and of itself, mostly due to what I said earlier about being pretty unique in the musical landscape, but also because we all got along really well when we were still at full steam.

Lows? Trying to keep the band going after Chris and Scott left. That just wasn't a good idea, for a number of reasons.

Musically, this was a challenging band. First off, I had to get used to playing to a click track, as a good 2 out of every 3 songs originated with McKenna's sequenced tracks. And those sequences generally included some twists and turns to navigate, but I always felt up to that task. As far as my development as a drummer, the downside was that I was perhaps trying to fit too many cool licks in here and there, rather than waiting for them to demand their inclusion. That said, the strength of the songs in the band helped me get more focused on bringing out the "vision" of the song. It was generally pretty easy for me to see where the song was coming from, and so there were times when I'd hear something for the first time, and immediately come up with something that fit it really well, and not just a stock drum part, either.

Christian decided he wasn't really having fun anymore, mostly due to some strained relationships within the band, and at the same time, Scott more or less swore off rock music for a while. Even though I was smarting from one such strained relationship, I was determined to keep working with McKenna. Nothing like rubbing salt in an open wound. We played with some different guitarists and bassists, but nothing really became of it, other than meeting Craig Urban, who would later play bass in URT. Ultimately, we did record three tracks together as an intial salvo in her solo career. McKenna has sinced moved out to Los Angeles in part to follow that career, where she has released her debut CD as Psykick Girl (check out her website). After playing in all sorts of contexts in and around Chicago, Scott has moved out to New York City. Christian is also living in or around the Big Apple, although I'm pretty sure he's not playing bass much anymore, if at all.