BAND MEMBERS (from left to right) Andy DeFaria Mike Fraser  Scott Dinn
Visit the Cast of Shadows Music Archive.
Here are a few songs I've been working on lately. MIDI files with me playing guitar! Download WinAmp, an MP3 Player. Windows Media Player 2 will also handle mp3s.   Cryin' in the Rain Cast of Shadows 2.1 meg Reelin in the Years Steely Dan 2.2 meg Boys Are Back in Town Thin Lizzy 2.2 meg Black Dog Led Zepplin 2.5 meg The Wanton Song Led Zepplin 3.8 meg

Face the Time Title Time Street Magic 4:06 Face The Time 5:30 Drugstore Novels 4:32 Cryin' in the Rain 4:30 Remember 4:25 Reach Beyond the Past 4:38 Lifeline 4:36 Silent Rage 4:42 Breakaway 4:16 Love Beyond Our Needs 3:59 The Reunion 3:57 Reach Beyond the Past (Remix) 4:38 All songs are © Copyright Hop-A-Long Productions 1993

• Wrote, recorded and produced our own CD called Face the Time of all original compositions. To hear some of these masterpieces Download MP3 Player then download any of the above songs. These songs are provided courtesy of my old drummer, Scott Dinn, from his web site WebThumper (also a great site for Hockey, MIDI Files).
• Played over 100 dates at local area clubs such as:
• Boswells (Pruneyard)
• McNeil's (Santa Clara)
• Pioneer Saloon (Woodside)
• Carlos Murphy's (Cupertino)
• Sport's Page (Mountain View)
• Cheer's (Sunnyvale)
• Lord John's Inn (Santa Clara)
• Toon's (San Jose)
• Mountain Charlies (Los Gatos)
• Britiania Arms (Almaden)
• Cabaret (San Jose)
• The Huddle (Fremont)
• Doc Ricketts (Monterey)
• Fanny & Alexander's (Palo Alto)
• Foggs (Mountain View)

As well as some I've probably forgot!
• Made and sold T-shirts, stickers and buttons.
• Bought our own PA and light show.
• Integrated our 3 piece band with MIDI controlling 3 synthesizers as well as the light show.
• Obtained management (Thrill Entertainment Group).
• Obtained roadies (finally!).
• Managed to get the band business in the black.

Managed to get the to point of drawing an actually month salary from being a musician! (How sweet it is - or was ).

But, alas, all of this has fallen apart!

After Cast of Shadows I formed the band named Bottoms Up. We gigged around for about a year. I am currently band less and available for hire!

New Directions 

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Ideally I'd like to join a working project because that's what I'm used to doing, but I've also entertained thoughts of joining or forming a band with competent musicians who wish to perform songs simply because they like the tunes. One thing that Cast of Shadows got wrapped up in is doing tunes for everybody else and not the members of Cast of Shadows. This made us bored with ourselves and I guess it shown through. Basically I'd like a band where if a song is disliked by any band member it's chucked. You only do the songs you really enjoy and you make the most of them - you have fun. This, of course, requires that everybody has somewhat similar tastes and/or is easy going.

I also sing but am more of a backup singer than a lead singer. I have good transportation, equipment and I've been around. I know theory but am not a reader. If you got something interesting then contact me at the addresses above.

Recently I've bought a Korg Pandora's box. It's a little headphone type amp and has some pretty cool tones. Living in an apartment doesn't make for the best of studios when trying to record guitar sounds, but this little guy records pretty well. So I hooked it up to my PC and fired up Cakewalk and recorded Cryin in the Rain from a MIDI file that Scott gave me. Luckily it was not to hard to get the non General MIDI MIDI file into GM format (or at least close). Added a little bass line for consistency. No vocals in this one.

Next we have Reelin in the Years by Steely Dan. I've always like the guitar on this one, especially the harmony guitar parts. Now I can play both of them! For comparison purposes here's the original MIDI file that I started with complete with cruddy MIDI guitars: Realin in the Years. Just added Boys Are Back in Town by Thin Lizzy.