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Hess History:  
 

Autumn 1994:   HESS was formed by brothers Tom and Scott Hess. In those days the band was called Gothic Empire, it was then that Mike Walsh and Tom Hess met for the first time.  It would be over a year before they would ever hear each other play electric guitar.

By the end of 1994 the band lineup was:  
Tom Hess - Guitars
Scott Hess - Percussion
Joe LaBanco - Guitars
Chuck Hamilton - Bass guitar

1995: The band played several live shows in the Chicago area.

January 1996:  a couple of lineup changes occurred:
Tom Hess - Guitars
Scott Hess - Percussion
Mike Walsh  - Guitars
Dan Massa - Bass guitar

Early 1996:  More live shows in Chicago and suburbs.

May 1996:  Scott leaves the band to finish his college degree.  The band interviewed and auditioned between 30-40 drummers to find a replacement.  

Late 1996: The new lineup:
Tom Hess - Guitars
Mike Walsh  - Guitars
Chris Dowgun - Percussion

The band had no bass player from late 1996 all the way until Mark Carozza joined the band in 2001.  Hess continued to play live shows without a live bass player.  Tom recorded the bass guitar and keyboard parts onto DAT tape and the band (Tom, Mike and Chris) played many live shows over the next few years with the pre-recorded bass and keyboard parts.

March 1999:  Recording of Opus 1 began.  Tom played the bass parts and sequenced the keyboard parts.  

May/June 1999:  Tom goes to Eastern Europe  (mainly Poland and the Czech Republic).  During his time there, he composes lots of musical ideas that would later become part of Opus 2.

February 2000: Chris Dowgun leaves the band and Scott [Hess] replaces him.

April 20th, 2000:  Opus 1 is released.

May 2001: Mark Carozza graduates from Berklee college of music and joins the band as the bass player.

May/June 2001:  Tom goes back to Europe (Poland) and composes more music for Opus 2.

January 2002:  Recording of Opus 2 begins.

June 2002 - June 2003:  Tom plans out the concept for Opus 3 and spends an entire year just to plan out the 12 song titles that will be on Opus 3!  (That is NOT a misprint: 1 year to write the titles without composing a single musical note).

June/July 2003:  Tom goes to Europe (Poland) and begins composing musical sketches for Opus 3.

December 2003 - Opus 2 is released.