New Jersey Stage 2017: Issue 3 | Page 116

great live performer, was the per- fect choice. We were so excited when he was happy to join. Dave joined a year and a half ago and has brought a great feel to the band. He’s a metronome and has amazing song arrangement ideas. He’s the pro’s pro. He’s played with everyone and has a resume a mile long. Having these two in the band has brought our game to a whole other level as seen in our resurgence of late. Marra: Eric allows for the songs to be more layered. Having an- other lead instrument in the band leads to the songwriting going in different directions. Dave’s ex- perience in playing with so many different projects and styles has brought more dynamic arrange- ments to our band’s music. It’s added a new fire to the band. Why did Colossal Street Jam go away and what made you want to come back? Potts: We had a lot going on NJ STAGE 2017 - Vol. 4 No. 3 with management companies and one label that was coming to our shows, and it just seemed to take forever. As time went on, we just got impatient and started to dis- agree on the route of the band. The label wanted us to be more like (Jake E. Lee’s) Badlands, and we were more in the Grand Funk Railroad style. So we never really broke up. We just kind of faded away. We all stayed close, just stopped playing, and it just turned into the end. The 20th anniversary of our 1993 release started reunion talk just for one show, and once we started rehearsing, we felt like it was time to get back out there, write and record music and see how it goes. By the way, you wrote a killer re- view of that CD. We thank you for that! Marra: I remember that review. It was awesome. Thanks, brother! What was the moment that made Colossal Street Jam want to get INDEX NEXT ARTICLE 116