Fade to Black

Fade To Black history... In 1989, Eldon McGraw (guitar) began writing and recording some original song demos in his home studio. Eldon was attending Lansing Community College in the Media Technology field. His wife, Bonnie, who was an audio engineer at Lansing Community College introduced Eldon to Tommy Gomez (drums) to work with Eldon on recording some of the songs at a local recording studio. Tommy was an aspiring professional actor and musician who was attending Lansing Community College. So in December of 1989, Eldon and Tommy started recording a few future Fade To Black songs. The next member to join the group was Mike Anderson (vocals). Mike and Eldon were childhood friends. Mike had performed in various rock bands for years. Mike also attended Lansing Community College in the Media Technology field. Mike was an integral addition to the band because he possessed experience performing and additional songwriting capabilities. Eldon called on another friend, Jeff Behrendt (bass), to join the group. Jeff and Eldon attended Waverly High School together where they developed a friendship. Jeff was a graduate of Ferris State University with a Television Production degree. The final piece of the puzzle was the addition of Randy Matthews (guitar). Randy was a friend of Bonnie McGraw's and she introduced Randy to Eldon, who then invited Randy to join the group. Randy was attending Lansing Community College in the Media Technology field and he was also a professional actor. This group of players began rehearsing live in the the winter of 1990. The band, who did not have a name yet, worked on original songs written by all of the members. Their goal was to record an album and play live. After a few weeks of rehearsing, the band played their first "unofficial" gig at a house party in East Lansing, MI. Four of the members (Randy was not in attendance) of the band were attending a house party where another band were playing. The members of the band were asked if they wanted to play a few songs, and they agreed. Because Fade To Black was not their official name yet, they played this gig as "Vic Tayback's Memorial Spaghetti Western". The band played a small set of original tunes and they were met with a receptive audience. This gig inspired the band to keep rehearsing and recording. In the spring of 1990, the band decided to name themselves Fade To Black, which is a term used in the film and television industry that describes a scene that fades to black. A very creative phase of the band began to develop. The band were rehearsing, recording in the studio, writing songs, planning gigs, creating artwork, and making music videos. Fade To Black began the process of recording their original songs in a local studio. The recording process would take months. All the members of Fade To Black were credited with songwriting of their first album. Bonnie McGraw co-produced the album and she was also credited with co-songwriting credits on one of the tracks. Rob Fritts, a Lansing Community College Audio Production student also assisted in the production of their first album. Rob would move on to an illustrious career in the audio production field. He became an Emmy award winning audio engineer. Fade To Black were anxious to play their first official gig, so they decided to host their own house party at Jeff Behrendt's house on Detroit Street in Lansing, MI. This is the house where the band rehearsed. Fade To Black recruited two other local bands to play the gig with them. "Crotch", a local band that featured three female members out of four and "47 Tyme" who were a local band with a large following that was already established. This gig had a slight delay during the set of 47 Tyme due to a visit by the kind law enforcement officers from Lansing Township. So the gig was set for a June date in 1990. Crotch opened up the show with an eye opening performance that featured a strong set of mostly punk style original songs. Next up was Fade To Black. The band kicked into a high powered set of original rock songs and won the crowd over. Because of the bands media background, they included video monitors on stage and played various video clips edited by Jeff for the crowd to enjoy. 47 Tyme finished off the night with a tight set of great music. Over the next couple of months, the band continued to record their debut album and play live shows at local clubs and parties. The end of the original member formation happened with the departure of Tommy Gomez in the early fall of 1990. Tommy needed to focus on his burgeoning career as a professional actor. The remaining members continued to rehearse while the final mixing was completed on their album. In October of 1990, the band released their first album called, "Land of Plenty". This album featured 12 original songs and included the tracks: Livin and Lovin On (written by Eldon), Believe It (Eldon) , Nobody Like You (Randy), Give God Your Money (Mike), Land of Plenty (Eldon), Can't See the Light (Tommy and Eldon), Into the Darkness (Eldon), World Keeps a Balance (Jeff), Can't Take It Much Longer (Eldon), Bonnie (Eldon), I Wanna...(Mike) and I Gotta See Your Face (Eldon and Bonnie). The local FM college radio station located on the campus of Michigan State University played the cuts Into the Darkness, Livin' and Lovin" On, World Keeps a Balance, I Wanna..., Give God Your Money and I Gotta See Your Face. Soon after the album release, Fade To Black added a new drummer to the mix. Mort began rehearsing with the band with plans to play live and record together. Well, the band was able to record a couple of songs with Mort, but he walked out of the studio sessions over creative differences. Fade to Black, with Mort on drums were able to record two new songs called Is This the End? (Eldon) and Come Over (Mike and Eldon). Jeff Beherendt was the next of the original members to leave. Jeff left the band in December of 1990 to pursue his career in the media field. Now the band was down to Mike, Eldon and Randy. The three remaining members began the process of recruiting a drummer first. During the recruiting process, Randy left the band over creative differences. At this time, Eldon and Mike, the only remaining members took a small break from the band. After this short break, they decided to keep the band together and started the process of recruiting new members. Eldon and Mike decided to recruit a bass player and drummer, but not an additional guitar player. Eldon and Mike continued to write new material and they were determined to keep recording new songs. Fade To Black found a drummer fairly quickly. Eric Draper, an 18 year old drummer from East Lansing was added to the mix. The trio began rehearsing new material and looking for a bass player. The band found a temporary bass player who did not want to become a permanent member of Fade To Black, but he was willing to play a few gigs and lay down some bass tracks in the studio. His name was Scott Helmke. The quartet of Mike, Eldon, Eric, and Scott hit the studio in the spring of 1991 and recorded two new tracks, She Likes To Rock (Eldon) and Sky Girl (Mike, Eldon, Randy, Jeff). At this time in the Fade To Black career, Eldon and Mike became the principal songwriters. Both of these songs were played by the local college radio station as singles to help promote local gigs. The band found a permanent bass player in Chris Flock. Eldon knew Chris thru a fellow college friend and he quickly joined the band in full stride. The band went back to rehearsing new songs and added a few cover songs into the mix as well for live performances. In the summer of 1991, Eldon, Mike, Eric, and Chris hit the studio for some new songs. Over the next few weeks, the band recorded Hope (Eldon), Say Something (Eldon), Know My Mind (Mike), and Stay With Me (Eldon and non-member Rick Walker). The band debuted their new songs and some of their old songs at a local gig in August of 1991. The gig was shut down by the police as a noise disturbance. Sadly, this was the last live gig performed by Fade To Black as of this date. In September of 1991, Eric and Chris both left the band to pursue studies in different areas of the country. Eldon and Mike decided to call it quits after this event. They didn't have the heart to find another rhythm section. Post Fade to Black - Mike continued to pursue music. He sang in various cover bands throughout the years. Eldon created another band and recorded an album of original material that was released in 1998. This band continued to sporadically record throughout the 1990's and 2000's. Randy Matthews started a short lived band and also continued to write new songs. Jeff Behrendt left the music business to focus on his career in the media field. Tommy Gomez moved to California and became a professional Shakespearean actor. He also continued playing congas in various bands. Mort is nowhere to be found. Eric moved to California to play drums in various rock bands. Chris went to the Berklee School of Music. Fade to Black reunion - In the spring of 2009, Eldon began writing some new songs. The style of the new songs seemed like they would fit the style of Fade To Black. So Eldon contacted Mike, Jeff, Tommy and Randy to see if they would be interested in recording some tracks. In March of 2010, Tommy Gomez - original drummer, took a leave of absence from the band. Casey Chahine, a recent friend of the band, was added as the new drummer in March of 2010. Currently the band has released their new album, "Black Is Back" on Good Time Gang records. The album is available on iTunes, Amazon, at their live shows and at Flat, Black, and Circular record store in East Lansing, MI. In Jnauary 2011, Casey Chahine left Fade To Black to pursue his college education out of state. On February 21, 2011, Mike Reed joined Fade To Black on drums. On February 22, 2011, Fade To Black released their live album, "Live In Lansing". In 2013 the band released their fourth studio album "G Street Panaorama" on Silver Maple Kill Records. Fade To Black - new album, "G Street Panorama" at http://fadetoblacktheband.bandcamp.com/album/g-street-panorama