It was just after working with Melrose Angel that J P decided to take a short break from working with bands so he could concentrate on his music composition major. That was to be short lived. Word got around that J P was available and the phone calls started coming. Michaels had received one from this bass player in this "hard rock" band that said they where looking for a singer, and have heard him in other bands. These guys were not know in the local music scene so normally J P would have bid them a farewell.  With reluctance J P agreed to meet  with them.

  J P arrived with his press kit in hand with some demo's "just in case". As soon as he got out of my car he heard these unbelievable guitar riffs coming out of the basement of this house. J P's attitude changed right away. "Maybe this won't be so bad" he thought.  The sounds where coming out of this Steinberg guitar being wailed upon by Art Deidrick. Art proceeded to introduce the rest of the band, and they started playing their original material. It "sounded" great, but "what was up with those crappy lyrics and melody lines ?"J P thought. Art's guitar riffs where so catchy, J P told him he would re-write all of their lyrics so that they made sense.

 The guys where not offended by my suggestion. They proceeded to offer J P the gig if he wanted it. With a guitar player like that J P had to say "yes". "Oh well so much for total concentration on college!" The only way to describe how well Art and J P worked together is to say it was like a "Lennon / McCartney or Gene Simmons / Paul Stanley duo. Art would come up with a guitar riff, and J P  would come up with the arrangement and lyrics to fit. Crossfire soon had 28 originals in only a few short weeks. After being together for only four months Crossfire had entered the band on WCCC fm's Battle of the Bands contest with just some songs recorded on a 4-track. Crossfire ended up coming in 3rd place. The great part about that was that the top three bands got to play New Haven Coliseum in front of a packed house! The song "We're Here To Rock You" was their opening anthem for that show and it was recorded there live.

   After dominating the main club and arena scene in New England, Crossfire met a fast break-up due to personal issues. Crossfire never played out again. Tragic for such a great guitar player, and a fantastic band. J P was contacted by the bassist and drummer three months later to possibly reunite, but unfortunately that never happened.