Zellots

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More old photos from the Cedar Lounge circa 1980 with players identified by fans on Facebook in the 1980's Punk Rockers in London, Ontario group. Many thanks to all who responded.

The Zellots were a force in the London punk music scene from around 1979 until 1984. The picture at left, and photo album (click on the image for more photos), would have been taken sometime in 1980 at the Cedar Lounge. This version of the band had Craig McGaully on drums (more often than not we saw them with Greg Moore drumming). That peaked my curiousity — I asked for help on the Facebook group because that doesn't look like Greg. Mark Goodwin quickly identified Craig as the original drummer, many thanks.

The band had Jane Colligan on bass, Chris Deveber on guitar and Cathy Destin on voice. They performed a number of their own tunes, really good stuff and ought to have gone on to better times. They were one of my favorite bands from that era. Part of the appeal, after the music, of course, was the girl band ensemble.

I have other pictures of them I'll share later. We saw them several times at the Cedar Lounge, at least once at Fryfogles and I seem to recall that they opened for Simple Minds at Mingles. These photos are fairly early, perhaps they were fronting for another act that night. I'm not sure. I have filed this on an arbitrary date in 1980 (I think this was BK but who knows).

The picture is a bit of an insight to the Cedar Lounge. The men's room was directly behind the stage (you can see the sign in the photo) and there's a bit of "cedar" decoration near the ceiling. 

The band did get back together for the Graphic London Underground concert at Call the Office in October 2012 and there's some video on YouTube of them playing that event — look for the Chris Deveber user (chrissydv17). They're older, probably wiser too, but still did an excellent job of reviving their music for us.

There's an excellent biography of the band at Reverbnation with a sampling of some of their music. See also the Zellots page at Discogs. They released a couple of singles/EPs and appeared on several collections. Empty Victories, released in 2018 from early recordings, is an excellent sampling of their music. You can listen to a version of that album at the Zellots -Topic on YouTube.

This note composed during the May 2021 pandemic lock down. Many thanks for Facebook friends who keep memories alive.

Zellots, Cedar Lounge

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Our friend Dave O'Halloran (aka What Wave Dave on CHRW) has been sharing on Facebook, with our grateful permission, photos that we had taken of various bands back in the 1980's. Today, April 24, 2024, Dave writes in The Cedar Lounge - Blue Boot group:

"Here's some more Reg Quinton pics, this time The Zellots at the Cedar Lounge, London ON, circa 1980.

At this time, the band consisted of Christine DeVeber, Catherine Destun, Jane Colligan and Craig McGauley on drums. Later Greg Moore joined on drums full time."

The Zellots were a great band and there were lots of comments remembering them:

Kerry Piper: The Zellots were an incredible band. RIP Chrissy. 

Various Artists: One of my favourite London bands. These are great shots.

Kelly Mulvey: OMG I loved this band soooo much🎶💕

Debbie Weir Cairns: Loved the Zellots!

Rob Gliddon: They were sooo good. And Lou Reed said it best...

Kate and I were fans as well. I recall we had a tshirt made where we had printed with "Zellots" written out in random fonts — like a ransom notes with letters clipped from various papers and magazines. We never knew the band beyond seeing them perform several times.

Chrissy DeVeber, lead guitar, passed away recently in London; here's her 2022 obituary. The Zellots did reunite for a gig in London back in 2012 for the Graphic Underground, a book by Brian Lambert celebrating the artists, posters and music of that period. Several of my photos appear in that book.

See also

• Zellots 1980 — many of these same photos
• Zellots 2015 — grab bag of old photos
• Graphic Underground 2012

Many thanks to Dave for his work organizing photos and figuring out the location and time for many of these.

— 2024/12/21 I have moved this post in my blog to the approximate time of the event. Sometime in 1980.

The Verge, Cedar Lounge

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Our friend Dave O'Halloran (aka What Wave Dave on CHRW) has been sharing on Facebook, with our grateful permission, photos that we had taken of various bands back in the 1980's. Today, April 23, 2024, Dave writes in The Cedar Lounge - Blue Boot group:

"Some more Reg Quinton pics. This time it's The Verge (and possibly the Earwigs), from Exeter ON and probably 1980 at the Cedar opening up for NFG.

Pictured are Pete Dekoker, Dick May, William R Parsons, possibly Jeff Rooth on drums, Mike Smith and others. Any help on the others names appreciated."

Markii Burnaway replies "Little factoid: I jammed with the Verge and got the idea to bring Rooster and Pete to form a new 63 Monroe."

I have some faded memories of this event. The Marilyn Monroe poster does mark it as an NFG/63 Monroe event. I do recall there was some Nazi punk stuff with this band that I found very disturbing —I've asked Dave not to share those photos but there are some in the album that give a hint to what was going on. I didn't like it a the time, still don't, especially after having been to Auschwitz in Poland (2003). Some of that anarchy punk stuff I'll put down to youthful indescretion, but I won't celebrate it. 

From the photos it looks like I was using both cameras, one loaded with B/W, the other with slide film. We used to develop both in our darkroom. Photos would have been scanned sometime around 2005 for our 25th Wedding Anniversary. I still have the negatives and could scan again for higher resolution.

Many thanks to Dave for his work organizing our photos and documenting the scene.

— 2024/12/21 I've moved this post in my blog to the approximate date of the event. I suspect it's late 1980 maybe BK.

Bob Dylan

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I saw Bob Dylan at Massey Hall in Toronto on the "Slow Train Coming" tour and took some photos. It was a long time ago and my memories of the event are pretty faded ... I think I might have been there with Mike and Charlie. However, I do remember that Dylan was in his Christian phase at the time and had a big band with him including several singers backing him. I had seen Dylan at Maple Leaf Gardens several years earlier during the "Rolling Thunder" tour and really enjoyed that concert. I was not as keen about seeing Gospel Bob.

There's a posted set list but I cannot speak to the accuracy. Clearly he wasn't playing his back catalogue. Which would explain my disappointment.

The photo album is a collection of Black and White negatives that were scanned during the COVID-19 crisis in February of 2021. I assume they were push processed to ASA 1600. The pictures are pretty poor quality -- very overexposed in the highlights. It took me years to learn how to take successful concert photos. These aren't successful!

I've always said that the secret to taking good pictures is to take a lot of bad ones. This collection is proof that I've taken a lot bad ones.

NFG, Cedar Lounge

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April 13, 2024. Our friend Dave O'Halloran (aka What Wave Dave on CHRW) has been sharing on Facebook, with our grateful permission, photos that we had taken of various bands back in the 1980's. Today Dave writes in Radio What Wave group:

"With the re-issue of the NFG/63 Monroe EP on Yeah Right! Records it's time to bring out some of Reg Quinton's pics of NFG.

This is the lineup of NFG that appear on the studio portion of the record and is the second last lineup of NFG before they morphed into 63 Monroe. The band pictured consists of' Scott Bentley (Steven R Stunning), Markii Burnaway. Rob Gliddon and Peter Lambert. The final lineup of NFG would have Mark DeRoux replace Rob Gliddon on bass and that lineup appears on the record mentioned above as 63 Monroe. Best guess for the pics is 1980 and definitely at the Cedar Lounge. 

Lots and lots of familiar faces in these pics. I've added some names in the comments attached to the pics. If you spot a familiar face that isn't in the comments, please add it and I'll try to revise the picture comments.

 

I'm splitting this post into 2 as there are so many great Reg Quinton pics of the band and fans."

The photos are clearly NFG (Bob Gliddon on bass is the big clue) but from different times at the Cedar Lounge. Some are from 1980 as I can see Kate in one photo. That might have been before we were married in August, but it's mostly likely 1980. NFG morphed into First Date and then 63 Monroe shortly after.

Usually I'd prune an album down to just the few photos I'm especially proud of. Dave is more encyclopedic in his choice of photos to share. But for an historical record here it is. Many thanks to Dave for his work organizing these photos and figuring out the location and time for many of these.

— 2024/12/21 I have moved this post to the approximate date of the photos.