D.O.A., Bullwinkles (Again)

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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, July 10, 2024, Dave writes in 1980's Punk Rockers in London, Ontario group:

"Here's the last batch of DOA pics by Reg Quinton. This time it's at Bullwinkles circa 1986.

 
Band consists of: Joey Shithead, Brian Goble (Wimpy Roy), Dave Gregg and not sure who is on the drums."

Again, I'll add that D.O.A. was one of our favorite bands of that era. These photos would have been shot with a Vivitar flash and bounce card onto slide film. Lately I've been trying again to use a flash at band concerts but it's not working out very well. 

I regret that I didn't take more pictures back then. These days, with digital cameras, I tend to shoot hundreds of pictures at an event and weed them down to the few worth sharing. For example, at the CTO event I shot over 300 frames! As I often say, the secret to taking good pictures is to take a lot of bad pictures.

Many thanks to Dave for organizing these pictures. We all appreciate his work.

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

D.O.A. - Bullwinkles

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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, July 9, 2024, Dave writes in 1980's Punk Rockers in London, Ontario group:

"Here's some more Reg Quinton pics of DOA circa 1986.

 
Looks like Bullwinkles and the band lineup at the time was: Joey Shithead, Brian Goble (Wimpy Roy), Dave Gregg and Jon Card."

There's some debate about where these pictures were taken. It might have been Mingles (Talbot and Dundas) but I can't say with any certainty. Wherever it was, it seems to have been a pretty seedy bar with an exposed ceiling. There's not a lot more than I can add from yesterday's post so let's just leave it there.

Many thanks to Dave for sharing these photos and figuring out the who, what, where and when. His work is very much appreciated.

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

Itsa Skitsa

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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, July 15, 2024, Dave writes in 1980's Punk Rockers in London, Ontario group:

"Here's some more Reg Quinton photos, this time it's Itsa Skitsa at Call The Office circa 1986.

The band consisted of; Iain Staines (former Demic), Damian Seguin (former Soma), Paul Scriven (former Stoves) and Doug Campbell (former Soma). They released a 6 song 12" record and appeared on the CHRW compilation, London Underground during their tenure. There was a CD released in 2003 that collected unreleased mid 80's recordings."

Rob Minderman (Second Thoughts) commented: "I met Doug and Damian who played before SOMA in a prog band with Second Thoughts Ralph Dame on Bass, Doug Campbell on Drums, Damian Seguin & Rick Bauman on guitars in a band called Fractured Fantasy. Cool pics."

That's Ian on bass, Doug on drums, Damian and Paul on guitars. This was a very accomplished band. Their music I'd describe as post-punk-pop; perhaps "new wave" would fit; they were very much in the style of early XTC. Very rhythmic with strong dance beats and great harmonies. In my iTunes music collection I have digitized versions of "Itsa Skitsa" (1987 6-song EP), Itsa Skitsa - Demo (1986 2-song cassette), "4 Days in November" (2003 18-song CD also on iTunes and YouTube) and the CHRW London Underground (1986 various artists collection). There's a  catalogue of their music on Discogs but I rather doubt you'll be able to find anyone selling their copies. I see they've used a cover photo from this collection for Discogs. That's great.

In the background of this photo you can see a list of bands playing that week. I see that LMOTV were playing on Thurs and Friday, Itsa Skitsa on Saturday. That's a nice combination of bands, we like both of them. See blog entry here on LMOTV and Sheep Look Up.

Most of these pictures have been shared before — see Itsa Skitsa (2013) in this blog. Dave likes to share everything shot at that event, including out of focus and poorly framed, my original posting would have been pruned down to a "best of". I'm grateful that these are being shared and enjoyed.

By the way there's another post in this blog you might find interesting — see Itsa Skitsa (2021). Those photos have been identified as August of 1986. That blog also points to some photos in an album of mine Its Skitsa Again which haven't been identified. That small collection seems to have them fronting some other band but I know not who, where, or when.

Finally, there is a connection to Doug Campbell. When we lived in South London (Wortley Village) we were members of a small food coop, the New Brighton Food Co-Op, that was located in Mary Campbell's garage. Mary was Doug's mom and the bands would rehearse in the same space! Mary was an interesting character who leaned more than a little to the left. She claimed the RCMP had a file on her and no doubt they did. The Mary Campbell Housing Co-op on Talbot St, London honors her legacy.

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

Michael "Cub" Koda

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Sometime in 1986 (What Wave Dave O'Halloran remembers a show there on 4/17/1986) we saw Michael "Cub" Koda (1948-2000) perform at the Firehall in London. This would have been after his time with the band Brownsville Station. The Firehall catered more towards country, R&B, blues and classic rock. At the time I was more interested in punk and new wave.

I was shooting black and white film at the time which would have been developed a few months later. We used to buy long rolls of movie film and wind them onto 35mm cassettes. Developing film was a project often delayed until we had several rolls to tend to.

It looks like I was using available light rather than a flash so the film would have been push processed — hence the high contrast results. I never got around to looking at or printing the photos (the negatives are pretty crappy) until the COVID-19 Pandemic in the spring of 2021 when I was scanning a folder of old slides and negatives taken of bands in the 1980's. This was amongst them.

Dave O'Halloran tells me, "I think we were there different nights, as the way I remember it, there was almost nobody at [the 4/17/1986] show and it was a weeknight. One of your pics shows a crowd and there certainly wasn't one at this show, audio tape confirms it. I remember Cub played the rest of the week there and was planning to get back, but never made it....saw him another time at Mingles and there was a crowd for that show. Those are some great pics you took Reg!!"

Scott Bentley recalls: "I did an interview with Kub for Scene magazine under an alias when he was at the Firehall. Pretty Kool guy!"

I recall little of the event but thought I'd share these photos for those who might remember more. It looks like an exciting performance and it seems to have been well attended. I must have been pretty pissed to have been taking pictures from the small stage.

This note and photo album prepared April, 2021. The blog entry is filed as on arbitrary date in the year when we saw the performance.

D.O.A. Circa '86

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D.O.A. were one of our favorite Canadian punk rock bands in the early 80's. We saw them at least three times in London, Ontario that I can recall and this photo album captures the band at their best. I recall seeing them the first time at the Embassy Hotel on Dundas, at Bullwinkles on King Street, and at the Mingles Bar at Talbot and Dundas. Their shows were always a hoot.

That's Dave Gregg in the photo at left (he later played with the The Real McKenzies and passed away in 2014 at 54 years). 

In the photo album you'll see Joe Keithley (Joey Shithead) on guitar, Dave Greg on guitar, Brian Gobles (Wimpy Roy) on bass and, I think, Dimwit on drums. I 

Brian passed away in 2014 at 57 years. 

This note prepared '21/03/17 during the pandemic and filed arbitrarily as Mar 17, 1986.

Sheep Look Up

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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. Yesterday (November 4, 2024) Dave writes in 1980's Punk Rockers in London, Ontario group:

"Here's some more Reg Quinton pics, this time it's Sheep Look Up on the stage of Centennial Hall Feb 21 1986.

Sheep Look Up were one of those bands that coulda and shoulda made it but it just didn't happen. Members of the band at this time: Matt Owen, Gilbert Smith RIP, Mark DeRoux RIP, John Francom and Greg Moore."

I commented that we had blogged quite a bit on this before — see "LMOTV & Sheep Look Up" (1986).

Rob Minderman commented, "I have the Sheep Look Up EP that I found about 4 years ago at Kops records on Queen St. West." I added, looking through my iTunes collection,  "would it have been Entropic Concern (1983). There's also a cut "Like a Rat" on London Underground (1986)." and noted that "Oddly, Dave O'Halloran's show Radio What Wave, March 24/2022 had several cuts (I cribbed the show, I sometimes do) beyond the above ...." Dave explained that "Most of those tracks on the radio show were never released to the public. Live track recorded by Gilbert Smith's brother."

Another person commented that "This just makes me sad." So many of those young fellows are gone now.

Again these are pretty rough photos but I'm happy to share them with anyone interested. And, many thanks to Dave for his work tracking these down.

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

The Waiting, Cenntenial Hall

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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. Yesterday (2024/11/16) Dave writes in 1980's Punk Rockers in London, Ontario group:

"Here's some more Reg Quinton pics, this time it's The Waiting at the new Centennial Hall Feb 21/1986. Anyone recall what the 'new' in the name meant?

Also on the bill according to the ticket stub: Sheep Look Up (pics in this FB group), October Crisis and LMO TV."

Page Graham adds, "They were great! I used to hang out with them quite a bit, but by 1986 I had left town..."

Paul Mansfield explains the "New Centennial Hall" this way: "“In 1986, Donald Jones Management Services took over, and the hall underwent renovations with the seating capacity reduced to 1637 in order to facilitate better views of the stage." See Canadian Encyclopedia article.

I have posted and shared photos of this event before under the title, "LMOTV & Sheep Look Up" (1986).

Again these are pretty rough photos but I'm happy to share them with anyone interested. And again, many thanks to Dave for his work tracking these down.

— I have moved these band postings to the approximate date of the event documented.