Fall 1986 - Fall 1989. With the new lineup of Bob, Dave L., Mike B., Michael R., and Mikey W. in place, a number of songs from the early Uninvited Guests were resurrected. "Surfin' The Dead Sea" and "Chicken From Hell" would become a permanent part of the live show. While the group returned to some of its now classic material, the desire to remain forward-looking led to yet another temporary name change. The new banner Modo de Memoria seemed to cross the genres of alternative and the new Miami-Latin sound suggesting new possibilities in new directions. MdM suffered the same fate as Those Zany Nixons and, after only a few weeks in the summer of 1986, the band soon became The All-New Uninvited Guests and shortly after that, simply The Uninvited Guests.
          At the time Michael R. took over as the principal guitarist for The Uninvited Guests he knew most of the major and minor chord structures but could only play two or three chords with any accuracy. While it didn't take long for Michael R. to double his chord playing abilities to nearly six chords, tuning the guitar remained a major problem, and one that makes listening to recordings of early shows at the Plaza nearly impossible. The band's sound began to change when an electronic guitar tuner was purchased out of band funds. Though Michael R. still forgot how most of the songs went, at least the guitar was now generally in tune.
           Early shows at Newport's The Jockey Club, Clifton's The Plaza, and Corryville's Sudsy Malone's Laundromat and Music Emporium provided the band an opportunity to develop a rapport with its young male audience. Another brief name change to Steve! U.K. came and went and, before long, the band had secured regular Tuesday night gigs at The Plaza where new music could be tried out. Early shows focused on themes including Bowling night, Pirate night, and Toga night. At Sudsy's the concept of "Male Fantasy Night" was perfected where, in between songs, band members would describe their fantasies (such as "it would be my fantasy to be a fireman when I grow up") and audience members could bring forward freshly laundered T-shirts to be judged in a wet T-shirt extravaganza. Steady weekend gigs at the downtown gay dance club, The Clubhouse, also served to keep The Uninvited Guests in the public eye and on the public mind.
           Bob was responsible for the largest portion of new material in the early portion of the late period and much of it was dependent upon a synthesizer with a sequencer and the ability to sample voice patterns. Songs from this period include "Deceit," "I Wear No Disguise," and "The Grocery Song," which used his keyboard's high-tech voice sampling ability to play the phrase "there's a spill in aisle nine" repeatedly in various pitches creating an infections grocery groove.
           A chance encounter with local musician Crazy Pete, then in the employ of The Plaza, led to further musical development. Pete, who had made a name for himself with songs such as "Wrong Number From Avondale," took the band into his apartment to help The Guests produce and refine new songs and became the bands number one sound man. Pete encouraged a harder guitar sound and began to bring the guitar forward in the mix at a time when Michael R. was becoming fluent with an armory of at least a dozen chords. Guitar compositions were beginning to define the band's new sound with songs such as "Western Culture," "The Yellow Rose," and "Hearts and Roses."
           The Uninvited Guests with this line up were beginning to be noticed by other musicians. In the Summer of 1986, Martin Atkins of Public Image Limited and Killing Joke brought his own band, Brian Brain to Cincinnati for the second time in two years. On the first visit Bob had given Martin a cassette tape of early Uninvited Guest material including the futuristic narrative "Space Age Clam Bake." Martin was so moved he asked The Uninvited Guests to open for Brian Brain on the Cincinnati leg of their tour and a special two-band version of "Space Age Clam Bake" was performed as the evening's encore. Steve Schulte of RedMath also took the band under his wing by having The Guests open for his band at a number of Plaza shows and at a Bogart's show. RedMath proved to be The Uninvited Guests' single most influential supporter. (Thank you RedMath!). With confidence growing, The Guests were ready to go on the road.
           With this new found respect, pressure was beginning to build within the band to break out from the Cincinnati scene and win a larger audience. During 1986 and 1987 The Guests logged tens of road hours and nearly 100 road miles traveling to Dayton's Building Lounge, and the BW3 in Bloomington, Indiana where a former Salivator was now in charge of booking bands. The height of rock and roll insanity was witnessed in a trip to Ohio University in Athens where The Uninvited Guests were hired to play an eight hour set. Half the band was lured to Athens for the possibility of free beer while a quarter of the band hoped to make very special friends for the weekend. Needing to pad the set far beyond the standard set played in local clubs, Dave L. was given the opportunity to shine on his new Kramer guitar in versions of Led Zeppelin's "Rock and Roll," and Judas Priest's "Headin' out to the Highway." Other cover tunes were introduced at this time including Bauhaus' "Stigmata Martyr" and the Cult's "King Contrary Man."
           With the growing reputation of The Uninvited Guests, it only seemed logical that the band would be selected to play at the estate of grocery magnate Frank Eavey in Fairfield, Ohio. That, plus the fact that Dave L. was one of his employees, left little to chance. But midway through the outdoor concert dark clouds threatened the band when it seemed the future could only hold sunny skies. Amid shouts of "Tornado! Tornado!" the show came to an early ominous end.
           In only a short time the golden sunshine dissipated and Mikey W. loaded up his Karmann Ghia and drove off toward California. The Uninvited Guests, now reduced to four players, needed loftier goals. But difficulties began to develop as Michael R. was not willing to consider more extended road trips and tours--the next logical step toward a recording contract. Michael R. also began to complicate the band's equilibrium with a series of romantic liaisons. It was estimated that in a period of almost two years he had dated almost three women, each of whom knew one another and were close to other band girlfriends. While Michael R. never actually dated the then-girlfriend of alternative radio's Mr. K, it was assumed that his friendship with her had a negative impact on The Uninvited Guests' chances in the annual Exposure Contests and was to lead to a major rift between members of the band. To dispel these clouds, it was thought a new name for the band could signal a new, brighter future. Mike B. lobbied to become The Jelly Babies in an homage to the television program "Dr. Who." Hard feelings ensued when at the first show as The Jelly Babies three members decided to announce, "We are The Uninvited Guests." Shortly after this gig, Johnny Miracle, at the time playing with local favorites Sleep Theater, was called in to act as substitute Guest drummer for a gig at Top Cats. For The Guests, a short time was enough to soften these difficulties and to get back to work.
           New venues for original music in Cincinnati were emerging which meant The Guests had little time to dwell on its difficulties. One such new venue, a dance club called NRG, provided an opportunity to open, as usual, for RedMath. During the energetic performance, Bob accidentally broke a plastic clip off his mic stand. It was apparent the darkness had not completely parted. The club would not pay The Guests citing the broken equipment. The club refused to budge from their position even though the mic stand in question was the property of The Uninvited Guests.
           Times, however, did improve. An opportunity to participate in the Join Rivers: "Can We Listen?" project CD gave the band a new mission and took the band into Ultrasuede Studios to work on a demo. These sessions also led to a number of tracks later to be compiled on the cassette release Paprika With the prospect of a release, the band needed the support of a record label and came under the influence of Love Chocolate Records©, then a fledgling corporation. Paprika was released as "Love Chocolate #1" and in appreciation for the assistance, The Uninvited Guests announced a show at Sudsy's under the name Love Chocolate. The show, billed as "the ultimate Doors experience," left a portion of the audience somewhat unhappy considering The Uninvited Guests never knew any songs by the Doors.
           After what many felt was The Uninvited Guests' finest performance, the band retired from the stage. The much anticipated last show brought The Guests full circle. Martin Atkins, long time friend and supporter, called Cincinnati radio stations to encourage fans to come out for this final show at Bogart's in the fall of 1989. The face of the Cincinnati music scene had changed forever.

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