Brad and Larry met in 1970, when Larry was born.  Sharing the same mother made 
    this incredibly easy.  At that time, they weren't quite ready to start a band
    together.

    Brad took piano lessons and music theory in his youth, but didn't begin his 
    love-affair with music until the first time he heard the Beatles in 1963.
    The sound of that band was so unique, in Brad's mind, that he was blown away.

    In his teen years, Brad took some guitar lessons, but he didn't get much out
    of them, as the music he was learning was not what he was interested in.  So,
    dropping the lessons, and picking up a few Beatles' Song Books, he began teach-
    ing himself guitar.  

    In college, Brad met bassist Mike Atchley.  Mike shared a love for good music.
    Mike introduced Brad to Kansas for the first time, and Brad found there some
    of the same intricacies and excitement that he had heard in some of the later
    works by the Beatles.
 
    Brad and Mike spent years expanding their skills and building a back-log of 
    songs.  Brad also began moving what he had learned on the guitar back to the 
    keyboard.  But his real love was, and still is, song-writing.

    Meanwhile, back at home, Larry began working with drums, playing in school
    jazz band, and other bands.  Larry was listening to metal bands of the 80's
    and incorporating some of their styles into his own.

    In the late 80's, after leaving Mike behind and returning to his home state, 
    Brad started a group called Project 7.  When the bass player for that group
    left after the second practice, the band put an ad in the paper for a bass
    or guitar player.  Bob, who played guitar, answered the ad, so Brad switched 
    to bass.

    The band was, for a long time, a four-man band.  Bob and Brad worked with 
    drummer Ken Hasty and guitarist Kevin Swope.  All four sang vocals and wrote
    songs.  Bob, Brad, and Kevin all took turns switching around on guitars, bass,
    and keyboards, adding a lot of variety to their sound.

    When Brad brought in a song called "War of the Harvest", the band was very 
    receptive to moving in a more "Prog" direction.  They had all been fans of 
    Kansas, and enjoyed more challenging music.  This song was soon followed by 
    other Prog songs.

    The band continued for several years, building a small local following.  At
    times Larry would step-in on drums, allowing Ken to move to the front for a 
    song.  And in its final days, the band added Marc Jackson on vocals/keys to 
    add even more variety.

    When Project 7 called it quits, several members pulled together another band,
    now with Larry as the drummer.  For a short time Bob, Brad, Marc and Larry 
    worked together in this band, but soon life and other commitments pulled the
    band apart.

    Several years later, Brad saw the opportunity to re-unite the four when he 
    joined forces with two other musicians to form a new band.  But when the two
    new members decided to head off in their own direction, Brad, Bob, Larry, and
    Marc went back to focusing on their own jobs and lives.  But music would NOT
    leave them alone.

    Eventually they began putting together equipment to record the music that was
    still going through their heads.  Brad put together a demo of the song he had
    written back in 1980, called "Documents", and got it to Bob and Larry.  Together
    they made the song a reality.  And that was to be the beginning of Shadowstar.