Changes Me, Changes You (The Fireside)

Changes & Fair Exchange – This week’s Flashback Friday highlights the band Fair Exchange from 1992-93. Essentially, it was the convergence of two groups: the original Fair Exchange and the band New Jerusalem. Guitarist David Perrigan and I formed the group New Jerusalem in 1992. We came across musician Marc Miller when looking for a bass player to fill the role. Marc would later introduce Dave and me to drummer Gary Zdenek, and the rest is history.

Both Marc and Gary were members of the original Fair Exchange group. This group’s first incarnation had toured the coast of California, performed at Knott’s Berry Farm’s Jubilation, recorded an LP, and had some radio play. Unfortunately, that incarnation parted ways. That would be good news for Dave and me. We had already asked Marc to join our band, New Jerusalem. So adding Marc’s tasty and skillful bass playing and Gary’s intricate drumming technique would help bring Dave and me to a new level. But it would be the idea of taking the then-unused band name “Fair Exchange” and picking up where the original band had left off that would take us four guys on a very extraordinary journey.

During our tenure, the “all-new” Fair Exchange wrote and recorded six original songs, produced two music videos, and played our music anywhere we could. You can read more about that here.

Today’s Flashback Friday features this rare performance from 1993 at The Fireside in Downey, California. It is a raw performance by Fair Exchange of a new song that was still in its infancy. The song was initially titled “Changes Me, Changes You.” However, it would later become known as “Changes.” You may notice a few lyrical and melody changes from what would eventually become the final tune. I hope you enjoy it.