Joe Bergamini is one of the best drummers on the music circuit today. He teaches percussion and travels all over the world to conduct drum clinics. Joe also writes charts for Modern Drummer magazine. With his multi-piece Tama kit, he is one of the few drummers that can do Neil Peart justice in covering his complex beats. This is heard in classic tunes like "The Spirit of Radio" to the new album's "One Little Victory." He navigates the band through Rush's odd time signatures with the greatest of ease.

Zak Rizvi has been playing guitar for 20 years. He is currently the cheif engineer at his own recording studio, The Den. Zak's passion for guitar and Alex Lifeson accuracy was evident. He played killer guitar solos and some jammin' rhythm parts on such songs as "The Trees" and "Freewill." Zak and Joe also play in an original band called 4FRONT. They opened the show this night with a set of their all-instrumental progressive rock.

Lead singer / bassist Joe Scarangella does the Geddy Lee thing very well. He plays with a pick, but he plays those Geddy bass lines very precisely. And he sounds just like him too! Songs like "The Analog Kid" and "By-Tor and the Snow Dog" really point out his talents, from the screaming high tenor voice to the melodic riffs on his Fender bass.

Last but never least is keyboardist and band founder, Dan Gibson. He plays all the keyboard parts that Geddy would normally sequence live. He alternates between two keyboards, and his playing really hits the spot on songs like "Subdivisions" and "Vital Signs."

Let’s start by stating the obvious: It takes some quality musicians to perform a tribute to Rush, Canada’s ultimate progressive rock band. It takes some major to duplicate the odd time signatures, deranged arrangements, and over- the-top musicianship of Geddy Lee, Neil Peart, and Alex Lifeson. So, when we’re talking about Power Windows, the Ultimate Rush tribute band, we’re talking about some fine musicians.

Rush may be one of the few bands in which the drummer, Neil Peart, receives the majority of the accolades, and Power Windows may very well follow suit. Drummer Joe Bergamini has been drumming for over fifteen years and has frequently been featured in Modem Drummer magazine. Watching Bergamini pull off Peart’s drum patterns night after night has become downright disgusting for vocalist/bassist, Joe Scarangella. "I hate him," Scarangella says with a laugh. "The guy doesn’t even break a sweat." Scarangella reveals one 'flaw' in Bergamini’s playing, however. "We still can’t get him to do a Neil Peart solo," he says. "It took us forever to get him to do a solo at all. Now he does a solo every night and it’s always his own, it’s always different, and it’s always great. God bless him."

Unlike Rush, Power Windows is not a trio. The band employs a separate keyboard player (Dan Gibson), which allows Scarangella to handle Geddy Lee’s ridiculous bass lines and vocal melodies without worrying about continually switching to keys. It also allows the band to bypass all the computer sampling that Rush utilizes m their own live performances.

It was Gibson who actually formed the band in January 1992. In these last eight years (no, this is no 'Fly By Night' operation here), the band has performed throughout the tri-state area and their repertoire consists of nearly four hours of Rush material, spanning the entire 25-year history ol the band. Picking material from that vast catalogue proves challenging.

"I’m the one who always wants to play the stuff you’d think everyone wants to hear," Scarangella says, "but I get yelled at! They tell me ’they want to hear the obscure (stuff).' But generally the people will scream out the stuff they want to hear so you can go by that."

Rounding out the band is guitarisl, Zak Rivzi, who has been playing for over twenty years, and previously played with the New Jersey band Turnstyles. In addition to being quality musicians themselves, Power Windows has had a few brushes with some interesting guest musicians.

"We played with the drummer from Dream Theatre, Mike Portnoy, at Mai Place in Nyack," Scarangella said. "He did a Rush tribute album with a lot af great musicians on it. We did YYZ and Analog Kid with him. Dream Theatre also opened up for us at Hammerhedz in Hempstead to get ready for opening on the Iron Maiden tour. We also had Jason Bonham come down one night at the Rock N Roll Cafe," he continued. "He was jamming at the China Club the night before with John Entwistle. We got him up and did an amazing version of (Led Zeppelin’s) Immigrant Song." Though the band members hail from Queens, New Jersey, and Manhattan, they’ve found a home on Long Island where they’ve become regulars al places like the Dugout in Commack and the All Aboard Pub in Ronkonkoma. A gig at New York Avenue in Huntington was the one that Scarangella credits as 'breaking' the band. "New York Avenue was the one that got us noticed," he said. "That’s the one that everybody packed into and the word spread around and it took off from there."

As enthusiastic as Scarangella is about his own band, he’s equally psyched on many of the tribute bands now flooding the area. "I go to see as many (tribute bands) as I can, as often as possible. My favorites are Strawberry Fields, The Soft Parade, and Sabbra Caddabbra (I love them to death)... I saw Wonderous Stories and I think they’re the best band out there."

In addition to fronting Power Windows, Scarangella, of course, is a "Working Man." He’s employed as a scenic artist on NBC’s Saturday Night Live ("Just about anything you see on screen - that’s what I do," he says). The day job, unfortunately, allows Power Windows to perform only about twice a month, though "in the summer it will be more often," Scarangella promises.