Nach Dem Tode

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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. This morning (August 9, 2024) Dave writes in 1980's Punk Rockers in London, Ontario group:

"Some more Reg Quinton pics, this time it's Nach Dem Tode at Fryfogles circa 1981.

At this time, the band consisted of; Rob Gliddon, Brian Lambert, Donna Turner and Maurice Carroll."

Some details — Rob Gliddon (formerly of NFG) plays bass as does Brian Lambert (formerly of The Enemas). Donna Turner is voice, I gather that's Maurice Carroll on keyboards and, although not listed, I'm pretty sure it was Peter Lambert (Brian's brother and formerly of NFG) on the drum kit. As might be expected their music was very bass centric; it was also very experimental and well outside the "punk" mainstream. You could dance to it but it wouldn't be a pogo!

I do recall this event, I had a mono-cassette from the event that I passed on to Brian a few years ago. That's been digitized into my iTunes collection without song titles (that's the cover I made above for the iTunes album). There was also a cassette, "The Crow Dancer", that came out around 1986 and that's also digitized into my iTunes collection. Brian has a lot of his solo work available under Nach Dem Tode on Bandcamp including the "Crow Dancer" but I'm sure it's not the same.

Rob Gliddon says "This was either the pre-Stranglers show or when we opened for the Stranglers. The Free Press described us as 'Amateurish dirge music'". As we never went to the Stranglers show (I would remember that!) this must have been the pre-Stranglers show.

Google translate tells me that "Nach dem tode" is German and means "after death". That might give an additional hint to the musical style.

Again, many thanks to Dave O'Halloran for sorting through these old photos and sharing them for others to enjoy. The photo album Dave shared to Facebook has a lot of duplicates. I've pruned it down here but left the poorly composed and badly out of focus ... for completeness sake.

— Postscript. In early September Dave found some B/W photos (scanned negatives) of this event which have been added to the collection. He had originally guessed that these new photos were from a Cedar Lounge event and posted to the FB Cedar Lounge group but Rob Gliddon and I both agreed that these were from the same Fryfogles event (the clothing matches). Most of these B/W photos are dirty, grungy and many are sadly out of focus. But there's always a gem in the rough to be found.

— 24/12/20 I have moved this post to the approximate date of the event.

Zellots, Mingles

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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, May 11, 2024, Dave writes in The Cedar Lounge - Blue Boot group:

 

"Here's some more Zellots pics by Reg Quinton as Reg pointed out that I had already posted the Zellots pics from the Cedar. 

This time it's at Mingles, possibly opening for Simple Minds circa 1981 with Greg Moore behind the kit."

In these photos the band consisted of Christine DeVeber (guitar), Catherine Destun (voice), Jane Colligan (bass) and  Greg Moore (drums). Christine passed away recently in London during the pandemic; 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. There are some tunes available on YouTube — see, for example, the Empty Victories playlist.

Dave had previously shared some photos of the Zellots at the Cedar Lounge which were taken earlier (different drummer, BW photos). I do recall seeing Simple Minds at Mingles and I'm pretty sure this was the opening act — the stark lighting is what sticks with me. 

Mingles was a bar at the corner of Talbot and Dundas Streets in London. The Firehall (see 63 Monroe at the Firehall in this blog) was attached on the Talbot Street side. We saw several bands at these bars back in the day. These bars and buildings are long gone, like the Cedar Lounge which was down the street one block on Talbot, and were replaced by the Budweiser Gardens (a large arena complex) which has a faux-frontage to mimic the original Talbot Inn hotel.

Many thanks to Dave for organizing the photos, figuring out the location, date and time. It's work that is very much appreciated.

— 2024/12/21 I have moved this post in my blog to an approximate date for the event... sometime in 1981

Leon Redbone

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Kate and I saw Leon Redbone at Fryfogle's Tavern in London some time in 1981 (I'm not sure of the precise date). Wikipedia describes him as

"Leon Redbone (born Dickran Gobalian, August 26, 1949 – May 30, 2019) was an American singer-songwriter and musician specializing in jazz, blues, and Tin Pan Alley classics."

He had a lovely baritone voice and played guitar. There was a small group with him including a Tuba player. He also had various "props" to keep things interesting including a starter's pistol which he pulled out and fired when attention seemed to lag. Scared the hell out of everyone, but certainly got their attention!

At the time Kate and I lived in a brownstone walkup across from the city hall in downtown London. Dundas Street and Fryfogles was a short walk away. Fryfogle's played all sorts of music. Leon Redbone would certainly fit into the "all sorts" category. At the time we were exploring various music styles; this was one end of the bell curve.

This note and photo album composed in April, 2021. The blog entry is filed on an arbitrary date in 1981.

Radio 4

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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. This morning (November 2, 2024) Dave writes in 1980's Punk Rockers in London, Ontario group:

"Some more Reg Quinton pics, this time it's Radio 4 at the Cedar Lounge circa 1981.

Radio 4 sorta morphed out of VD Teens and Raw Dogs, 2 bands that played a few shows in London. Later Radio 4 evolved into the much better known Sheep Look Up in 1982. Sheep Look Up released an EP, cassette and appeared on a couple compilations. At the time, we believed they were one of the local bands that were going to make it. They had the talent, the originality, the drive, the songs.....just not in the right place at the right time.

Pictured are; Mark DeRoux, Matt Owens and Brian Bouge. The drummer could be either Paul Venno or Brian Embry."

There are some sadly out of focus pictures in this small collection which I'd normally not share. Dave likes to archive them all so here they are for all to enjoy. I've removed some duplicates.

Many thanks to Dave for preserving these memories and organizing our photos.

— 2024/12/20 I have moved this post to the approximate date of the event.

Wars in Transit, 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, March 30, 2024, Dave writes in The Cedar Lounge - Blue Boot group: 

"Another post from ace photog Reg Quinton, this time it's Wars In Transit at the Cedar Lounge. Unfortunately there's only a couple pics and not the greatest quality, but it's all we got.

Wars In Transit were from Guelph ON, late 70's/early 80's artpunk in which the bass plays a pivotal role in the songs. Lyrics very abstract but at the same time quite engaging. They were a big fave of the late Peter Moore and he did a live session with the band circa 1981 that aired on CHRW. Peter's comments that aired are hilarious and perfect in context about the time and this city.

In 1982 the band released a self titled cassette that became one of my faves. Full cassette info has been added to Discogs.

The band consisted of Greg Jarvis on drums, John MacLeod on bass and Matthew Budden on guitar/vocals. Matthew appeared in several other Guelph combos later.

 

I've been able to date these pics as Dec 22 or Dec 23 1980 at the Cedar Lounge playing with the Enemas (pics of them will appear here at a later date). I remember being there for at least one of the shows as I was on Xmas break from school.

 

Also recall seeing Wars In Transit at I believe one of the Polish Hall gigs on Ann St in London ON.....anyone have info?"

Some interesting discussion followed:

Rob Gliddon: I have a cassette of their studio stuff, am unsure if it is from Peter Moore's sessions, or not. Nach dem Tode played with them a few times here and in Guelph. I think they opened up for A Certain Ratio in Guelph as well. Brian Lambert may have clearer memories of that.

Dave O'Halloran: Hey Rob, is it this cassette? Cause that's all I'm aware they released but there could be more: Wars In Transit - Wars In Transit (on Discogs).

Rob Gliddon: Yeah Dave O'Halloran that's the one I have, somewhere. Discogs has only 22 copies are known, does that mean I could be rich?!?! I definitely got my copy from Matt. They liked us and we liked them. Arty bands clump together. A great rhyming couplet from the cassette, "The nude is lying naked, And the naked is lying nude, Ones a piece of art, The other's a piece of food". I could pass it along to you if you would want.

Dave O'Halloran: Bought my copy many years ago and loved it from day one! Just digitized it this week. And now that quote above is going to be stuck in my noggin'.....LOL Gonna message you

Page Graham: We were doing so many live shows at CHRW back in the early '80s it was amazing! Unfortunately, due to the high cost of 1/4 recording tape, a lot of them get lost in the ether...unless somebody transcribed them to casette. 😉

I have no recollection of taking these photos. But if they were fronting for the Enemas then no doubt I would have been there. These look like available light, push processed B/W film. The grainy effect is nice, the lighting was pretty awful. Once again I would have pruned this down to a few photos worth sharing, Dave is more into archiving everything.

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

Ps. I've convinced Dave to stop using superlatives like "ace photographer". Kate thinks he means "ace" as in the movie "Ace Ventura: Pet Detective" starring Jim Carrey.

— 2024/12/21 I have moved this post in my blog to the approximate date of the event ... ie. 1980/12/23

Enemas Again!

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Dave has been busy! 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. This morning (August 29, 2024) Dave writes in The Cedar Lounge - Blue Boot group:

"Some more Reg Quinton pics, this time it's the Enemas at the Cedar Lounge, either Dec 22nd or 23rd [1980]. Actually able to date this one as I was at one or both these shows on Christmas break from Fanshawe.

The band consisted of: Brian Lambert, Oliver Kellhammer, Derek Graham, Blaine White and Greg Jarvie and were based out of Guelph ON."

I will refer you to yesteday's blog post for more information and links to previous posts. Suffice to say, this is clearly a different event from the two posted yesterday. I assume Dave has dated it accurately. 

Many thanks to Dave for his work sharing these memories. There are some very good photos that I'm especially pleased with in this album.

— 2024/12/20 I have moved this post to the approximate date of the event.

Enemas

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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. This morning (August 24, 2024) Dave writes in The Cedar Lounge - Blue Boot group:

"Some more Reg Quinton pics, this time it's the Enemas at the Cedar Lounge circa 1980. Looks like it's at least 2 different shows.

[The Enemas] were from Guelph and played the Cedar, Polish Hall and possibly other London locations.

The band consisted of Brian Lambert, Oliver Kellhammer, Derek Graham, Blaine White and Greg Jarvie.

They didn't release anything during their tenure, but did appear on 3 compilations; Animals Fight Back (cassette from London put out by Chris Richards), Hide #3 (artzine and cassette from Guelph) and Slippery's Club Hits (cassette from London put out by What Wave)."

I've gone through the photos Dave posted, eliminated duplicates and sorted them to show the two events. I also commented that I've blogged a bit about the Enemas (2015) and again Enemas (2020) so most of the pictures here will have been shared before. I believe the band scattered after they graduated from University; Brian remains an acquaintance of ours. I suspect the last time they played together might have been at the Graphic Underground London (2012) event celebrating Brian's book which helped to document that time.

An interesting comment was posted on Facebook by Henry Martinuk where he shares a Vimeo posting:

"The Dogs, The Anemics (my band), and The Enemas at The Woodshed in beautiful downtown Guelph, March 8 1980. The sound is extremely lo-fi"

Many thanks to Dave for sorting through these old photos of ours. He's a much appreciated archivist of the music scene we so much enjoyed.

— 2024/12/20 I have moved this post to the approximate date of the event