Exit 18
Power Trio
After splitting with the Neil Young clone, Dave had the idea that he wanted to form a power rock trio--like Rush--doing all original material.
Dave had turned me on to Rush starting with 2112 and it didn't take long for me to become a full-on fan. (kind of hard not to, when you aspire to become a rock bass player, right?)
Dave had a handful of songs that he'd penned that he felt would provide us with a platform for moving forward and creating more.
Exit 18?
Mostly because of the duality of trying to start a heavy rock band smack dab in the heart of Country Music USA, we eventually decided on a band name lifted from the Opryland exit off of Briley Parkway.
Both the exit and the amusement park are no longer there. Along with this band and its ill-fated dream of stadium stardom. (But there really was an Exit 18 there in 1983!)
The Line Up
| David Payen | lead guitar, vocals |
| Scott Nason | bass guitar, vocals |
| Rusty Nix | lead guitar, vocals |
| Drummers | Calvin, Chris Nason, Dan (the "Pig Farmer"... no, really, he was an actual pig farmer.) |
Demo Tapes Galore
This band came into existence during the time that I was building out the first iteration of Attic Recording Studio in my basement, so needless to say, we ended up with plenty of demo tapes!
Although originally conceived as a purley all originals band, we soon realized that we would have to play some Top-40 covers if we were ever going to make a dime playing in clubs anywhere. So we had both Original and Top-40 demo tapes to pass out.
Early Practice Tape - August, 1983
The Demo Tapes - '85, '86