previous summer as a front of house sound technician. "He was just the obvious, logical choice," Strum said of the guitarist who was chosen without an audition. "He knew the vibe, and he and Tim were friends... In fact, Tim was the first guy who came to the rest of us and said, Have you heard this guy play?" "It helped us pad the loss by bringing in another family member," Strum remarked. The band rehearsed with Jeff Blando during the last week of May 1998 with the only goal in mind to continue and make this work. They were committed to taking part in the Rock Never Stops tour, which began in mid-May and ran through mid-September, on the same bill with bands like Quiet Riot, Warrant, Firehouse and L.A. Guns. "While we were obviously in shock at first, none of us believe he would want anything but to have us keep the upbeat and positive message of Slaughter's music out there in the world," Dana Strum explained, speaking about their decision to continue touring after Tim Kelly's passing. Slaughter's first performance without Kelly was in Salt Lake City in June 1998, as part of the Rock Never Stops tour, with Blando being received by the audience with open arms. Slaughter continued touring on the Rock Never Stops tour for which Strum came up with the name and concept to showcase bands from the so-called "hair-metal" era. Apart from Slaughter, the tour packaged acts from that scene included Whitesnake, Vince Neil, Warrant, Ratt on single bills, who were playing to as many as 16,000 fans. 1999–2001: Back To Reality After overcoming all sorts of obstacles and experimenting a bit on its 1997 release Revolution, Slaughter completed their seventh album, named Back to Reality, symbolizing a return to its trademark style characterized by "crunchy lead guitar and ear-piercing vocals". That marked the first joint writing effort involving all four band members and the most challenging recording schedule to date. With the production of the CD beginning only in March 1999 in Las Vegas, the album was released on June 29, 1999. In a press release for their new album, Mark Slaughter admitted: "We did stray from our true musical roots on the past couple of albums, but this time we just went in and made a true Slaughter album. This is who we are and who we want to be."