Gary and Gelb just couldn't bring themselves to play out anymore. It was now 1989 and Gary had been experimenting with home recording, drum machines, and synthesizers for several years. They were still writing, "God and Dr. Hawking" comes from this period, but it was getting harder and harder to get Richie to come over to Gary's studio to lay down vocals. What was the point? Many of the home demos from these years have only Gary's scratch (and scratchy) vocals on them. As home demos piled up and his skills improved, Gary came up with a project. There was a local 16-track studio in Toms River owned and engineered by a kid Gary knew as Damian. (Damian had sold Gary his famous white falcon guitar when he worked at silverton music.) Damian Cordisco knew of the Clams, and he played drums. Over the next six months, working at night, or on weekends, Richie, Gary, and Damian laid down the tracks of "the story of my life". Occasionally they would use Gelb's son's garage band (aptly named Johnny Panic and...you guessed it). They bought in singers and horn players if needed. The final result was a rebirth for the clams. On two tracks Dave performed. He played the guitar solo on the title track, and he sang harmony on another. By far the majority of the music is Gary and Damian.
Having time left on the project, and being just about finished, Gary concocted another scheme. Under the pretense of recording new versions of "odd man out"and "something I gotta do" for the project, he brought back Mario Cicerello from the alright bros, (Larry Mandel was in Law School) and Mike Graf, again on bass. Damian would play drums. The session went so well that everyone agreed to play a live gig at the Brighton in Long Branch N.J. Dave even came up with a version of "my back pages" to symbolize the return of the Clams.