So How Did All This Happen ??
This Whole Thing Began As A Passing
Comment In A Coffee Bar
In The Lobby Of The Record Label...

One Day, In Early January Of 2000, There Were 2 Men Having
A Casual Chat In The Coffee Bar Of The Last Chance
International Records Building...

These Men Were David Westfall - Owner Of That, & Several
Other Record Labels - And The Legendary Chuck Andersen -
Designer Of The Best Guitars On The Planet; From Eddie
Van Halen To Steve Vai To Randy Rhoads...

The 2 Men Were Discussing How Much The Face Of Music -
Rock In Particular - Had Changed...And Beyond That, How
There Really Hadn't Been A Real Guitar Hero In Over !0
Years...They Agreed That The World Needed A New Guitar
God...But How ??   And Who ??

After Some Discussion, The Men Consulted The W.G.P.I.A. -
(World Guitar Player's International Association) - To Find Out
Exactly Who The Best Rated Player In The World Was...

That Number 1 Player Turned Out To Be
Japan's Yusi Hirotatchi...

As The Oldest & Most Prestigious Of Worldwide Guitar
Organizations, The W.G.P.I.A. Rates Players in
10 Different Categories. Speed, Of Course,
Has Always Been The Biggest...

(Although The Guinness Book Of World Records Will Rate
The Occasional Player; They Are  NOT Recognized
As A "Credible" Organization In Musical Records -
Since Too Much Science Is Involved...)

And The 2 Men Then Agreed - If They Could Find Someone
To Break Hirotatchi's Speed Record, They Would Then Have
Not Only The Highest Rated Player On The Planet,
But Also The Fastest...

In Short - They Would Have
The Greatest Player Who Ever Lived...

The 2 Men Then Smiled & Shook Hands...

And Then Paperwork Was Drawn Up, Deals Were Made,
Entire Staffs Of Specialists Were Contracted, Phone Calls
Were Made, Multi-Million Dollar Endorsers Lined Up All Over
The World; Hundreds Of Millions Were Dumped Into The
Project; And All The Teams Were Ready To Go...
Except For One Big Problem...

They Couldn't Find A Player Anywhere In The World Who
Could Even Come Close To Breaking Hirotatchi's Record...

(Here Are Just A Few Who Tried, & Did NOT Make The Cut:
Eddie Van Halen, Kirk Hammett, Zakk Wylde, Jake E. Lee, Steve
Vai, Micheal Batio, Doug Marks, Cheyna Yamato & Yngwie
Malmsteen...) - All Were Turned Down For The Job...

Finding This One In A Million Player Was Getting To Be Far
More Difficult That They Ever Dreamed...

After 7 Months Of Searching The Whole Planet,
The 2 Men Were Beginning To Think
That They Would Never Find Their Player...

A Few Days Later, They Were Walking Down A Hallway On
One Of The Studio Floors, When They Both Heard Blistering
Guitar Coming From A Warm-Up Room...

"Who The Hell Is That?"; They Wondered...

The 2 Men Stood Outside Listening For Quite Some
Time...When The Playing Stopped,
They Walked Into The Room...

Enter The Legendary J. Randall Casey...

Casey Had Been Working On-Contract For The Label For 4
Years...(What That Means, Is That It was Casey's Job To Fill In
The Guitar Slot For Whatever Band Was Having A Problem
With Their Guitar Player At The Time.)

Casey Had An Excellent Reputation For Furious Speed & For
Showing Up, Whatever The Circumstance, & Getting The Job
Done Right; & The List Of People He Played With Ranged
From Ozzy To Megadeth To Queensryche...

The 2 Men Asked Casey What He Was Just Playing...Casey
Told Them It Was Just Some Scales He Used To Warm Up...
They Then Asked Him How Fast He Could Play Those
Scales...Casey Said He Wasn't Sure...Never Really Timed It...
Andersen Pulled A Stopwatch Out Of His Pocket &
Told Casey To Humor Him...

Casey Did, & When He Was Done 5 Minutes Later, The 2
Men Looked At Each Other, & Then Looked At Casey...

Before The Day Was Out, Casey Was On The Top Floor Of
The Record Label, Having A Drink With The Very Powerful
Group Of Men Who Own It...

They Looked At Casey, And Said:  
"Here's What We Need You To Do...".

They Were All Stunned When Casey Told Them
He Didn't Want The Job...

In Fact, Over The Next Week, Casey Turned
Their Offer Down 6 Times...

They Men Decided That Casey Was Going To
Take The Job Anyway...

The Next Several Months Of Casey's Life Were More Like A
Marathon Of Endurance, As The 3 Men Worked Day & Night
To Do What Every Industry Expert Said Could Never Be Done:

Break Hirotatchi's Speed Record...

They Began To Get Results, & Big Ones At That, But The
Song They Were Looking For Still Eluded Them...

It Was Now May Of 2001...

And Then One Night On A Plane From New York To L.A.,
Casey Was Messing Around With Some Scales To Keep His
Hand Warm...And Somewhere Over Middle America, The
Opening Notes Of What Is Now "Infusion" Happened...

Interesting Piece Of History:
"Infusion" Was First Laid Out On A 4-Trak Recorder
That Casey Carried With Him; From 19,400 Feet, While The
Plane Sped On At Over 850 Miles Per Hour...

At 4:30am, The Plane Banked Hard, &
Headed Back To New York...

"I Knew As Soon As I Heard It, I Knew That Was The Song We
Were Looking For...", Says Casey...

The Record Label Listened To That Very First Playback
Without Casey Even In The Room...Exhausted From The
Months Of Sheer Hell He Had Gone Thru, Casey Fell Asleep
On The Plane Before It Landed...

No One Had The Heart To Wake Him Up...

All Agreed It Was The Super-Song They Had Been Seeking...
But There Was Still 1 Big Problem... -
It Still Wasn't Fast Enough To Break Hirotatchi's Record...

For The Next Several Weeks, Casey & The Rest Of The Team
Worked Around The Clock...

The Goal Wasn't To Just Beat The Record...
The Goal Was To Beat It By A Longshot...

And On The Morning Of June 17th, Something Happened That
Would Change All Of Their Lives Forever...

Just After 9am, People Quietly Began To Fill Up The Studio
Where Casey Was Rehearsing...

Casey Played With His Back To The Soundbooth,
So He Wouldn't Be Distracted...The Power Was Cut, &
When Casey Turned Around To See Why,
He Saw Almost 200 People Looking At Him...

Chuck & Dave & The Rest Of The Staff,  Showered Casey
With Champagne As They Broke The News That As Of
8:54am, He Had Beaten Hirotatchi's Record...

But In Order For A Record To Be Official,
It Has To Be Broken Live...

And Phone Calls Were Made...A Concert Venue Was Picked
- New York City's Prestigious Pier-16 Ampitheater...Scientists
From The W.G.P.I.A. Were Called To Bear Witness To The
Event...A Date Was Picked...16,000 Tickets Went On Sale, &
Sold-Out In Only 83 Minutes - Breaking All Other Sales
Records In The 62 Year History Of The Theater...

And Then Came The Day That Will Live
In Musical History Forever:

August 10th 2001...

The Electricity In The Air Was Thick Enough To Cut With A
Chain-Saw, As Every V.I.P. Box In The Theater Filled Up
With The Past 50 Years Of Rock Legends -
From Bob Seger To The Rolling Stones...

Casey Took The Stage At 9:01pm, & Played Brilliantly For
More Than An Hour...Shortly After 10:15pm,
Casey Launched Into "Infusion"...

And At 10:35pm EST; J. Randall Casey Wrote Himself Right
Into Rock & Roll History; As The Scientists Onhand Confirmed
That He Had, Indeed, Broken Yusi Hirotatchi's
Long-Standing Speed Record..

Unknown To Casey, Hirotatchi Was In One Of Those V.I.P.
Boxes...And Shortly After Midnight, Hirotatchi Congratulated
Casey Himself...

It Was An Awkward And Emotional Moment For Both Men...

It Was The First Time In Musical History
That Someone From The U.S.A. Held The Title...

The "Infusion" World Tour Remains, To This Day, The Biggest
Instrumental Tour In Musical History - Spanning Over 5 Years,
1,458,907 Miles, Thru 17 Countries, &
Almost 7 Million Records Sold...
(See The Records & Facts Page !!)

And 7 Years Later,
J. Randall Casey's World Record Still Stands !!