Following Robert’s departure from the band, we began the search for a new lead guitarist. That’s when Dudley Taft, a guy who just moved down from Seattle to Los Angeles, answered our ad in BAM magazine.

Dudley was a rocker, a real shredder.  He had a custom Fender guitar and a modified Mesa Boogie amp.  After performing with a few acts in Seattle he decided to check out the L.A. music scene now that hair metal bands were in fashion and the heavy guitar rock that went with it.   He wanted to get into a band where he could play intense guitar parts and Parousia was a match. Weaving heavy guitar into orchestral arrangements, we could give Dudley something challenging to chew on.  Dudley rose to the challenge and joined up in October of 1989.

The band now comprised of me, (Gerry), Patt, Marty and Dudley started practicing right away in Dudley’s garage in Venice CA. We started with the basics like song structure, melody, lyrics, and timing. Next, we booked a rehearsal studio in order to fine tune the act.

Looking back, it was cool that we had Dudley as a guitar player for the time we had him with us, (October 1989 – April 1990).  After his departure, he moved up back to Seattle and joined the band Sweet Water and started touring the states with national acts, Monster Magnet, Candlebox and Alice in Chains.

After recording two albums for Atlantic, he left Sweet Water for the band Second Coming. More touring followed with an album on Capitol Records and a hit single, “Vintage Eyes”.  In 2006, Dudley started playing blues rock in Seattle and released the album ‘Left For Dead’ in 2010. Dudley now makes his home in Chapel Hill, North Carolina.

Having Dudley in the band was fun and fresh; he was big “toker” and a joker. He was busting with self-confidence and never had any concerns about money and always seemed to have plenty (he was an heir to the Taft broadcasting mogul).

Dudley Taft – Broken Down (live 1-26-2013)