In the fall of 2002, Onward had finished a rough demo of what was to be our third album "New Fathoms Down". I think the whole band had mixed feelings about the music. It was Heavy Metal but had a very hard rock edge. I was trying to get vocalist Michael Grant interested in traditional rock vocalists. He didn't like that direction. Fair enough. We would deal with it after our next tour.
We got the position opening for Brazil's metal legends, Angra. I believe this was their first U.S. tour. The tour was to begin in North Carolina and finish with a few Canadian dates. The night before we left, Michael called each bandmember to remind us to pack our passports. Bassist Chris Payette did the majority of the long drive from Montana to North Carolina. We arrived at the venue "Ziggy's By The Sea" and Angra had already set up a massive stage display including a huge backdrop of whatever their newest album was. This was it! The big Angra debut and expectations for a packed house were high. Well, the 10 people who showed up enjoyed it. We were to play LaMour's in New Jersey next. Before departing N.C. we were notified that LaMour's had banned all Century Media acts from playing their club. Angra headed to New Jersey and we drove to the next show in the Cincinnati area (I think).
At our next show, Angra decided not to set up their big stage display and asked to play on our equipment. Certainly. After Angra played on our gear, the band watched and chuckled as we lugged all the gear back to our U-Haul trailer. Maybe lend a hand guys? Nope. I was getting tired of a lot of petty "rock star" shit on the road. To me, the scene was just a bunch of signed bands fighting over scraps. I asked an insider at Century Media "Do bands generally make a living after four or five albums?" the answer was no. Returning to Wyoming and making underground music on my own was starting to sound appealing.
We continued traveling and doing U.S. gigs with Angra and it was time to make the trek to Canada. Before we headed out, Michael asked us to all check our bags for our passports. We had ours, he did not. He frantically called his girlfriend (and Onward's biggest enemy) asking if she could find it in their apartment. She located it. He was perplexed and upset "I packed my passport when I called and reminded you guys to do the same" Grant said. We couldn't get into Canada now and the tour ground to a depressing and premature halt. I know exactly what happened with his passport but kept that sensitive topic to myself. Century Media Records were furious. We did a great show in Chicago and returned to Montana.
I "shelved" the material that was to be "New Fathoms Down" and went to work putting the demo for another album together, "The Neverending Sun". Century Media were also displeased with this move. I had to create a 100% Traditional Heavy Metal album to keep Onward together. "New Fathoms Down" would have to wait.
We rehearsed the new material and prepared for another tour that was being put together: Blind Guardian/Symphony X/Onward. Our album "Reawaken" was doing well and Century Media invested in another round of advertisements in the metal mags. Maybe this would boost our morale and we could be the group of good friends we had started as, particularly Michael and I.
No such luck.....more to come.
