Wide Awake • 1992-1997
Pictured Left to Right: Phil Weiss, Scott Treibitz, Mark Salamone,
Ed Ryan and Tom San Filippo

In the summer of 1991 The Underdogs were living together in Stroudsburg, PA, writing, recording and performing around the clock. The removal of the daily distractions we commonly faced on Long Island was to give way to total absorbtion of music in the country.

In our new environment the band as a whole produced many songs which are considered to be our best work ever. Ideas were given the care and attention needed to flourish into songs that had both musical depth and commercial appeal. On the suface we appeared to be a well oiled machine, but under the hood things were breaking down.

The constant work schedule had taken it's toll on the band and although we gained the freedom to explore our music fulltime, our live shows were in a state of disrepair. The venues were getting increasingly worse and our audiences were becoming smaller. It seemed that we could not find the right balance of hooks, musicality and presentation that we had become well known for with Ed Ryan.