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Artist History ==> Web Page 5 of 26
In May 1990, the heavy metal/hard rock unit EXXESS disbanded, having quickly served its purpose for the musicians involved, and EXXESS-former-drummer Dombrovski was recruited in August 1990 to drum for ECHOES, a PINK FLOYD tribute group based in Wilmington, DELAWARE, which performed in the united states of America's Mid-Atlantic Region. As a live act, ECHOES meticulously replicated the highly-produced and polished PINK FLOYD studio sound, going so far as to perform the entire PINK FLOYD recording Animals live, and ECHOES added a high degree of the theatricality PINK FLOYD themselves originally utilized during their own The Wall tour. This was in no small part due to the tremendous musical, technical, and artistic efforts of former ECHOES' vocalist/keyboardist Tim Sands--Sands now a featured member, bassist, keyboardist, and writer for progressive rock artist RARE FORM.
DOMBROVSKI: Immediately after I left EXXESS in May 1990, I cut my hair short. I joined ECHOES as drummer on August 19, 1990. I mean, I'd been in a classic rock cover band performing some original power-pop (RAEL), I'd been in a heavy metal/hard rock band (EXXESS) performing all originals, and I'd just finished a demo of my own original material; so I figured drumming in an all-PINK FLOYD cover band made sense because I equated PINK FLOYD with progressive/art/concept rock. It just seemed a logical step. We began rehearsing the entire Animals recording immediately. Two of my former-RAEL band mates were in ECHOES: Dave Fox--lead guitars, and Bill Craig--bass and backing vocals. Dave Fox likes playing David Gilmour note-for-note, plus Dave Fox puts tremendous passion into the guitar, and I liked that. I liked Bill Craig's feel, and I never had problems locking into a groove with Bill on bass.
DOMBROVSKI: I was also surprised Tim Sands was going to be on lead vocals and keyboards, not bass. Tim Sands is a damn good bassist, and I saw him performing live in that capacity in different groups previously; however, I guess Tim wanted to grow musically by not limiting himself solely to bass, and I respected that. When I remember PINK FLOYD, two dominating elements are David Gilmour's guitar playing and Rick Wright's keyboard sounds, said keyboard sounds absolutely setting the mood. Tim has a great ear, so he got all those trademark signature keyboard sounds down perfectly, in my opinion. Also, given Tim's great ear, I'm sure the keyboard voicings were exactly what are on the PINK FLOYD recordings. One more thing, Tim's singing voice approaches Roger Waters' vocals enough to be convincing. Dave Fox got extremely close to Gilmour's guitar tone, also. That was cool and added to the excitement of being in ECHOES. Both Tim Sands and Dave Fox are perfectionists. That helped in this context, but man, those guys had their work cut out for them. I was very curious to know how audiences in bars were going to react to music you really couldn't dance to. PINK FLOYD is not for casual listeners. It's for cultists.
DOMBROVSKI: On September 28, 1990, William a.k.a. Bill Swezey joined ECHOES as another lead guitarist and lead vocalist. Lead guitarist Dave Fox had quit earlier. By November 4, 1990, Dave Fox was back in ECHOES, but the cool thing was Bill Swezey owned and operated a commercial recording studio named "APOLLO STUDIOS." This meant ECHOES could duplicate most of the carefully placed stereophonic sound effects that appear on so many PINK FLOYD recordings. Bill Swezey and Tim Sands took care of the sound effects department, and they did a good job. I mean, it was cool playing drums in a band covering music that was so textural and dense with detail. PINK FLOYD created grandiose concept albums with massive themes, and it was interesting performing within those slow atmospheric soundscapes we were attempting to duplicate.
DOMBROVSKI: From PINK FLOYD's recording Meddle, we performed the epic "Echoes", which is about 23 minutes in length. I have to admit when we got to the middle section in "Echoes," where the eerie and weird keyboards are playing behind the squealing "seagull cries" of the guitar, I was a little spooked. Tim and Dave got those sounds right.
DOMBROVSKI: These were the ECHOES set lists:
SET ONE:
01. "In the Flesh?" -- from The Wall
02. "The Thin Ice" -- from The Wall
03. "Another Brick In the Wall, Part 1" -- from The Wall
04. "Young Lust" -- from The Wall
05. "Goodbye Blue Sky" -- from The Wall
06. "Empty Spaces Medley" (containing "Another Brick In the Wall, Part 2" and
"Another Brick In the Wall, Part 3") -- from The Wall
07. "Money" -- from Dark Side of the Moon
08. "Time" -- from Dark Side of the Moon
09. "Free Four" -- from Obscured by Clouds
SET TWO:
01. "Pigs On the Wing (Part One)" -- from Animals
02. "Dogs" -- from Animals
03. "Pigs" (Three Different Ones) -- from Animals
04. "Sheep" -- from Animals
05. "Pigs On the Wing (Part Two)" -- from Animals
06. "Echoes" -- from Meddle
SET THREE:
01. "In the Flesh" -- from The Wall
02. "Run Like Hell" -- from The Wall
03. "Hey You" -- from The Wall
04. "Mother" -- from The Wall
05. "One Slip" -- from A Momentary Lapse of Reason
06. "Us and Them" -- from Dark Side of the Moon
07. "Wish You Were Here" -- from Wish You Were Here
08. "One of These Days" -- from Meddle
09. "Comfortably Numb" -- from The Wall
DOMBROVSKI: For stage props, Tim Sands, his father, and his mother were responsible for creating huge banners (at a minimum 4' X 12') of the PINK FLOYD Hammers for ECHOES and also PINK FLOYD Hammers armbands. In the movie The Wall, the lead character PINK transforms from an alienated and damaged rock star into a fascist leader, with PINK wearing all black. PINK also wore an armband containing the PINK FLOYD Hammers. That was the look each member of ECHOES adopted on stage. Each of us wore black pants and a black shirt with a PINK FLOYD Hammers armband. It felt very strange adopting a fascist persona on stage and performing. It made me wonder what kind of guy people thought I was outside ECHOES, which is something I hadn't consider when I was seduced by the grandeur of the idea of ECHOES stealing some of the glory that fanatical fans reserve for PINK FLOYD. I looked like a friggin' NAZI on stage, and I'm playing PINK FLOYD's mixture of heavy-duty electronic keyboards and sound effects merged with blues guitar, all accompanied by rock drums. I felt a certain weight and gravity I wasn't accustomed to. I mean, there's no denying ECHOES was projecting a strange, dark, bleak, and bitter vibe. It was a formal and somber posture to adopt in contrast to the party/good-time mood of most bar band configurations. I don't think ECHOES was in an advantageous, nor competitive, position when it came to attracting young women to our shows.
DOMBROVSKI: Incidentally, it's bloody obvious how much of the musical, technical, and artistic load Tim Sands shouldered in ECHOES--keyboards, lead vocals, sound effects, props, and stage attire. After one of our gigs, I remember a comment a girl made to me. Basically, she said, "It's very rare to see a band go all out like this." Tim Sands is not afraid of hard work, that's for sure.
DOMBROVSKI: On March 10, 1991, ECHOES performed our first gig in Newark, DELAWARE, U.S.A., at a club named "PRIME TIMES." The crowd was small, and ECHOES lost money paying for all the production costs. On March 30, 1991, ECHOES played the CORPUS CHRISTI Social Hall in Elsmere, DELAWARE, U.S.A. Tickets were required for that show, and ECHOES sold out. People were being turned away at the door. ECHOES filled the hall beyond capacity.
DOMBROVSKI: For that night's performance, the PINK FLOYD Hammer banners were flying high on each side of the performance area, and ECHOES had a huge wall (in reference to PINK FLOYD's The Wall recording) projected behind the band. Two cameramen were on hand to videotape the show. Also, there were four stacks of PA speakers in each corner of the social hall to surround the audience with quadraphonic sonic effects and music. Guitarist/vocalist William Swezey wore a cool mask while producing several bloodcurdling screams, which freaked the living shit out of many.
DOMBROVSKI: I have videotape and audio recordings of that show, and gauging from the enthusiastic audience response, I'd have to say the show was a success, although by set three I think we'd pushed most of the audience beyond the limits of endurance. Remember, we performed the entire Animals recording. Listening to just ONE CD at home in a single sitting is often enough for most people, and Animals was just ONE long set for ECHOES, but in the final analysis the show was a success considering ECHOES made very good money that night.
DOMBROVSKI: The driving force in ECHOES was guitarist Bill Smenkovski. He was the one with the vision of what ECHOES could be and achieve given enough time to develop. Bill Smenkovski is a strategist, and I say that because Bill Smenkovski plays an awfully good game of chess, having whooped my ass and taken my money far too many times; so it's understandable why Bill Smenkovski was so excited about ECHOES performing PINK FLOYD's "thinking man's" music. I think Bill thought given enough time and gigs, ECHOES would begin to compel attention.
DOMBROVSKI: ECHOES did several more gigs from May 1991 through August 1991. For the most part, ECHOES was losing money paying for production, sound, and lights. On June 11, 1991, lead guitarist Dave Fox announced he was leaving ECHOES. On July 22, 1991, I announced my departure from ECHOES, the reason being I was leaving Wilmington, DELAWARE, U.S.A., to attend BERKLEE COLLEGE OF MUSIC in Boston, MASSACHUSETTS, U.S.A. On July 26, 1991, bassist Bill Craig announced he was leaving ECHOES. Keyboardist/lead vocalist Tim Sands, lead vocalist/guitarist William Swezey, and guitarist Bill Smenkovski decided they were going to obtain new personnel and carry on with ECHOES. I did my last gig with ECHOES on August 17, 1991, at THE PIKE CREEK ROYAL EXCHANGE in Wilmington, DELAWARE.
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Artist History ==> Web Page 5 of 26