Giraffe - Progfest '94 (1994)

One day Kevin Gilbert was visiting Sherri and I in our North Hollywood rehearsal studio. He mentioned that his keyboardist, Dave Kerzner, was an old Genesis fan and they were toying with the idea of putting together a Genesis tribute band to perform The Lamb Lies Down On Broadway, for one night at Progfest ’94. I’d never heard of Progfest, but told him if they needed someone to play the Steve Hackett parts I was their man. In fact I begged him to let me play the part! Sure enough I later got a call from Kevin saying it was definitely on, and Stan Coty had signed on as the Michael Rutherford part. Stan had played with Kevin previously in Giraffe, so Kevin decided we would play under that name. As for a drummer Kevin suggested Nick D’Virgilio (of Spock’s Beard), whom he had met by chance while on a skiing trip. Nick had learned to play drums by listening to Phil Collins in old Genesis, so he also jumped at the opportunity. We all met at Kevin’s studio in Pasadena, Lawn Mower And Garden Supplies Studios. Dave was a collector of vintage gear, and had all the same keyboards Tony Banks used during The Lamb era. He also lent me some vintage guitar effects Hackett would have used. Stan had a Rickenbacker bass, and two different 12-string guitars. Even two wasn’t enough to accommodate the different tunings, so I lent him my Rickenbacker 12-string. I also lent him my Korg midi pedals with which he drove a Moog Taurus head. From the first moment we all sat down together it sounded amazing. These guys were all session-quality musicians, and I was truly humbled to be in their midst. But I practiced the hell out of my parts, and Kevin, with his incredible ear, made certain we were getting all the notes right. We’d record our rehearsals and the tapes sounded uncannily like the real thing. We had only two weeks before the gig to practice. I remember we even skipped Halloween to rehearse. The only fly in the ointment was the gig was the very day after my cousin Mary Beth’s wedding in Indiana, and I had long before agreed to play classical guitar at it. Talk about pressure! I had to practice for both events simultaneously, and being in Indiana the day before meant I would miss a dress-rehearsal for the Progfest gig at the Variety Arts Theater. The rest of the guys were rather perturbed about my missing this. So I flew out to Indy for the wedding, and flew back to LA on the very day of the gig. I had only slept half an hour the night before due to nerves, and was a nervous wreck when I arrived at the theater. However I ended up putting in my best performance yet, virtually free of mistakes, and we pulled it off quite nicely. The audience went nuts. Sherri, Robert Ferris and Jennifer Gross were in the audience, as well as a friend of mine from Ground Control, Matt Colleran (formerly of Mary’s Danish). After the show I was hanging out backstage in the dressing room with Sherri, when Nick walked in. He said “Hey Dan, you really should come out front, there’s a lot of people who want to meet you.” I followed him out to the lobby and these progressive rock fans from all over the world were mobbing us, shaking our hands, taking pictures, even asking for autographs. I was incredulous! I knew right then and there that this would go down as one of the most memorable nights of my life. Of course we were asked when we would play again. Sadly, it was never to be, as Kevin Gilbert died tragically less than two years later.