Demics, 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 20, 2024, Dave writes in The Cedar Lounge - Blue Boot group:

"Here's some more excellent Reg Quinton pics from the Cedar Lounge. This time it's the Demics w/original guitarist Rob Brent. Circa 1979/80.

May 1/2024 marks 42 years ago the Cedar closed it's doors for the final time."

Markii Burnaway comments: "Thanks Dave and Reg for promo-ing the Demics ..I believe the Demics should be more nationally even internationally known like Teenage Head, DOA etc. They tend to be little London's best kept secret."

Fred Young says, "Remember the bass player, Ian Staines, from my time at Saunders Secondary" and Kelly Mulvey adds, "I was forever running into Ian in Toronto, he'd always ask 'how is every little thing with you'".

Rob Minderman adds: "Saw them there in 1979, 1980. They put us (Second Thoughts) up in their Toronto house on Baldwin St when we played at The Headspace - Larry's Hideaway in 1980."

There is some good evidence that people were having a heck of a time. The dance floor looks packed and sweaty. And it always was for the Demics. We really loved this band: vocalist Keith Whittaker, guitarist Rob Brent, bassist Iain Atkinson-Staines and drummer James Weatherstone (see Wikipedia). Their EP, "Talk's Cheap" came out in 1979 and the Cedar Lounge was their home. There were PhD. colleagues at school who were keen on the punk movement, others disparaged the 3 chord structure. I loved the attitude, and Keith had it in spades. Keith Whittaker died of cancer in 1996.

I've posted many of these pictures before on Facebook and in this blog. The photos here seem to be all available light, hence the yellow cast. There were some stage lights, but nothing fancy. At the time I recall having a 135mm F2 Soligor lens. I suspect I did not have a good flash at the time.

— 2024/12/21 I have moved this post in my blog to the approximate date of the event. Arbitrarily picked a date in 1980 (BK).

Brucefield Field Concert

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I posted a call for memories to Facebook on April 11, 2021. I am looking for help with some old photos scanned during March of 2021 (during the COVID-19 lockdown). Sorting and digitizing old photos has been a pandemic project for me.
I'm looking for your memories .... there was a field concert near Brucefield hosted by Richard Stevens in the late summer of 1981. Kate and I were married just a year then and had rented a car so we could go and stay for the day — I wanted her to see the Demics who had moved to Toronto and weren't around London as much. In spite of a very good concert lineup there weren't a lot there to see the show. The concert was out in a farmer's field, the stage was a flat bed trailer. I'm told there was even a pig-roast but I have no recollection of that.


During the day the Forgotten Rebels played (that would have been the first time we'd seen them), another band that I can't recall (it might have been the System from Toronto) and later in the afternoon it rained quite a bit. We hunkered down in our car and saw a twister coming down but it never touched the ground. The Demics played after sunset when the rain had let up and I've shared those pictures before. There has been some previous comments/posts on this event.


This photo album has some crowd pictures, the FR's and another band I can't recall. If you were there and can share some memories that would be great. I've added my pictures of the Demics from the same event which have been shared already.


David Clark recalls: "Best moment of the day was Mickey DeSadist [of the Forgotten Rebels] saying something about the punk rock revolution being powered by a Honda generator."


Dave O'Halloran recalls: "That was August or Sept 1981 somewhere near Brucefield. Posted some pictures from this gig a little while ago and the farmer's name that owned the field, Richard Stevens came up. Apparently there was a pig roast there as well, but can't recall. The System from Toronto played, along with Zellots, Forgotten Rebels, Demics and probably more...."
Ps. I'd really like to identify the second band/bands, if you can help, let me know. Apologies for the poor quality BW photos. They're what I have.


Since we're not sure when this event actually happened during the later summer of 1981 so I have arbitrarily filed it in my blog under August of that year.

Demics

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I found these old color negatives of Keith Whittaker performing with the Demics and did not have them in my existing collection of digitized Demics photos. The folder says this is 1979; I suspect the venue is the Cedar Lounge in London, Ontario but I'm not sure when. They're not great quality photos, nor do I have any firm memories of this event. But I suppose it must have been then. They were a great London band that are credited with founding the punk movement in London. Keith was a 110% performer — he threw himself into it. I got to see them a few times in and around town.

At that time I was a dilettante grad student who should have been working on his thesis.

This note prepared and these photos scanned during the COVID-19 pandemic and lockdown of 2021. I've arbitrarily filed this as October 1, 1979 BK (before Kate).

Demics

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These are some scanned images of the Demics performing around 1980/81. When you hear people talk about "seminal" bands it seldom applies. For the Demics, it was and is appropriate. They were ground breaking in the punk movement in London, Ontario.

Their song "New York City" captured the moment. 

In the photo album there's a set that are clearly from the Cedar Lounge in London with the original line up of vocalist Keith Whittaker, guitarist Rob Brent, bassist Iain Atkinson-Staines and drummer J. D. Weatherstone. 

There's another set of photos that were taken at an outdoor concert north of the city (I think it was near Brucefield in 1981). You can tell it's later as Iain's hair is much longer. Rob Brent has been replaced by Steve Koch on guitar.

These photos were scanned around 2005 using a Dimage II scanner I had bought to scan wedding anniversary pictures (on the occasion of our 25th). These photos have been in circulation for some time. For example, some are found in this YouTube posting of a live version of "400 Blows".

This note composed during the COVID-19 lockdown of 2021. I've arbitrarily filed these in my blog as October 1, 1981.

Stoves, Polish 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. Today, June 21, 2024, Dave writes in 1980's Punk Rockers in London, Ontario group:

"Here's some more Reg Quinton photos. This time it's The Stoves at the Polish Hall on Ann St, London ON, 11/2/1979.

 
This was at least a 4 band Halloween event, with; Demics, NFG, Regulators and Stoves all playing. I've posted pics of NFG and Regulators from that night, now it's time for The Stoves. The band consisted of; Greg Moore (drums), Paul Scriven (guitar, vocals), Rick Washbrook (guitar, vocals) and Scony Action (bass)."

It is great that Dave has been able to firmly date these to Nov 2, 1979; that would have been a Halloween Bash. These have been shared before; see Polish Hall entry of 2015 in this blog.

These photos are definitely pre-Kate and very early in my photographic life. At the time I was a Ph.D. student in Philosophy and taught some introductory courses in Computer Science. There's a picture of my friend Sandy in this collection. Sandy was the administrative secretary in Computer Science and a good friend of ours. We haven't seen her in a very long time; although we did bump into her one time when we were on holidays at a resort in Cuba.

Again, these are pretty rough photos — B/W push processed, grainy, dusty, dirty and out of focus. But there's an occasional gem and they are a record of the event. Many thanks to Dave for his work organizing photos and figuring out the location and event.

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

New York City

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Kate and I made a quick trip to New York City for our friend (Kate's KBS colleague) Nancy's 50th birthday party held with a few friends in a luxury suite on Park Avenue. 

Staying in the city is atrociously expensive and you'd be a darn fool to take your car into the city so we made other plans.

We drove our car to Albany; touring some of the Finger Lakes wineries on the way. We stayed overnight in Albany, the state capitol, which is up river on the Hudson, and the next morning took a quick train into the city. 

In NYC we stayed overnight at the Jumeirah Essex House at the south end of Central Park (a posh hotel for sure) and attended Nancy's party a short walk away on Park Avenue. She and Jeff had rented a large suite for the party; Gillian, a mutual friend from Australia, had come to the party as well.

We made a CD for Nancy, I can't recall what was on it other than "I Wanna Go to New York City" by the Demics.

We had lunch overlooking Columbus Circle and took a carriage ride around Central Park before the party. The next morning we went to the top of the Empire State Building before returning to Albany and touring more of the Finger Lakes Winery on our way home — we found one that made it's own grappa!

It was a brief visit to the "Big Apple" and nice to celebrate with Nancy.

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Ps. this brief note was composed 2026/01/05. Kate was writing with Nancy wrt. the recent passing of a mutual friend and mentor Sharon. We remembered this adventure from years before and our wild times at the KBS.

NFG at the Polish Hall

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NFG was a notorious punk riot on three chords in London, Ontario. These photos are from a 1979 gig at the Polish Hall. Peter Lambert thinks they were probably opening for the Demics, or it might have been the Sidewinders.

 
This is the original version of the band -- pre Mark Deroux on bass, pre Markii Burnaway on guitar, pre Rooster on drums. There's Simon Lewis and Larry Gifford (he's wearing a beret) on guitars, Bob Gliddon on bass, Pete Lambert on drums and Scott Bentley on voice.

Put your big boy panties on now.

Here's some photos from the show.

London Punks

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Saturday, June 13, as part of the Forest City London Music Week 2026 there's a punk show outdoors at the Covent Gardens Market. There are some bands from the early 1980's who have reformed (some I suspect especially for this event) and others with players from back then who have started new bands. All of the players are folks at/near our age. Like us, they are reliving their misspent youth. Unlike us they've done their 10,000 hours, some on stage, and can play!

We saw a few friends from the day: Debbie, Dave & Rena, Peter & Angela.

We are especially interested in seeing the Wabi Sabis; they are composed of players from back then; some we know fairly well. They've been recording quite a bit and playing a lot in town; we've just not had the chance to see them. Peter Dekoker, who plays with 63 Monroe, Thames Rivieras, the Wabi Sabis (and god knows where else) greets us. Peter and Angela came to our 45th anniversary party last year. And Pete centered us out when we saw 63 Monroe last year on our 45th Anniversary; he played with them at our 25th Anniversary; and was a young punk in waiting when we were married and danced to NFG at the Cedar Lounge (August 2, 1980).

It's an evening event starting at 5pm. We arrive late-ish and miss several acts. We catch the Black Donnellys (a notorious 1980s band from Lucan), the Lucys (a new band of players from the day — Iain Staines from the Demics, Paul Scriven from Itsa Skitsa, Marcy Saddy from Certain Generals, and more), the Wabi Sabis (as mentioned — from the Crash 80's Peter Tangredi voice, Peter DeKoker and Dave Clark formally of October Crisis, 98DA and the Terminals are pictured above) and the Legend Killers who reformed and played a first gig at the Palasad a couple of weeks ago. Mike McGill of the Legend Killers acts as the host for the evening. We understand there's been some fuss regarding the host originally planned (our friend Scott).

The music that night was loud, often too loud. When the speakers start fibulating (bzzz .. bzzz ...) it's time to turn it down from 11. The Lucys were great and had a better sound mix; I especially liked their rendition of "Ohio" (by Neil Young of CSNY, re: Kent State shootings of 1970). I recognized the song right away from the opening jangling chords. There's a lot to protest in the US right now. Not a "punk" song but a great one and nice to hear again.

Wabi Sabis were fun to see and they obviously were enjoying themselves. Perhaps a little less F-bombs might make them more palatable to the surrounding apartments who got to hear it all. The Legend Killers were great as well. I had never seen them before.

You can find music released by the Wabi Sabis and Thames Rivieras on Bandcamp. There's lots on YouTube as well.

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Finally, I'm experimenting with film again and shot most of these pictures with my Nikon F2A and a flash gun. The B/W film I developed at home and did a terrible job — it has that grainy push processed feel. The color was done at a local lab; not as terrible a job but nothing to crow about either. Both have been heavily manipulated; I'm trying to pull out something salvageable. The Legend Killers were shot on my digital camera and worked well. Kate thinks I'm crazy to shoot film on these old cameras; I suspect she's right.

Itsa Skitsa

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During April of 2021, during the COVID-19 pandemic, I've been busy scanning my old slides and negatives. I came across some black and white negatives dated 1986 of the band Itsa Skitsa playing at what I guessed to be the Key West club in London. As always I went to Facebook fans of that era and got a load of information. 

My call for help in the 1980's Punk Rockers in London, Ontario Facebook group went like this ...

Looking for you recollections ... again. I have some BW pictures of Itsa Skitsa I've recently scanned which seem to be from 1986. It looks like it might have been at Key West on Talbot St (definitely London). If you have any recollections to share I'd appreciate it. (I have previously shared color photos from a CTO gig).

I do recall them being very good musicians with quirky post-punk rhythms. They did have a track "Warning" on the CHRW London Underground LP (86);  there was a demo tape (again '86) with "Simple Kiss", "Tell You" and "Will We Ever". If anyone has collected more of their music I'd like to hear it again.

I believe the band had Doug Campbell - drums, percussion; Paul Scriven - guitars, vocals; Damien Seguin - guitars, vocals; Iain Staines - bass, vocals. In these pictures there's a third person singing. A guest/friend?

I seem to recall they were an evolution of the band called "Soma".

Ps. From these pictures I think they might have been called "Men w/o Shirts"

They released a self titled six (6) tune EP in 1987 (see Discogs for more information) which I have digitized into my iTunes collection. On listening again to their music I think they were in the Pop or New Wave genre.

Mark Goodwin, who was active in the London scene at the time, identified the singer "Pretty sure the mystery vocalist is DaNa STone friend of the band and all around good guy." Dave O'Halloran confirmed my suspicions that it was the Key West club. Marcy Marcy got in contact with some of the band members and reports "the boys are racking their brains to remember these gigs, but loving the pics! Your photos are such a treasure. A gift to all the bands you photographed."

DaNa STone confirmed the club and shared the poster at left of events at the Key West in early August of 1986 which sets the date of these black and white images at either Friday August 8 or Saturday the 9th. He shared the poster and commented "Pretty sure it’s from this gig. Skitsa shows usually ended with a lengthy jam - my favs were with Doug and Marcy doing a “double drum”. I love seeing pics like this, reminding me of the great friends and wonderful Music Community that we were all part of. ;0)"

The poster is a very good representation of the music scene in London at the time. It's a veritable inventory of all that was going on. Young people making music of their own and having the time of their lives doing so. Gary Kaufman (who drummed for LMOTV) saw the poster and commented "Great to be included in that line-up....and yes, those were the days.." Kevin McKeon (also of LMOTV) recalls "it was such an exciting time with a bunch of bars within walking distance of each other that featured live bands playing original music most days of the week."

I've had a bit of a conversation on the side with DaNa STone. He tells me he's working on remastering the Itsa Skitsa EP which I had mentioned. He has a bunch of live tracks which might someday see the light of day. There are a few recordings I've found on YouTube but it is pretty sparse. We also talked about an 18 track LP "4 Days in November" they recorded back in 1984 at "ItsaBarn" where I have another connection. He confirms it was indeed the barn at Doug Campbell's home in an area called "Old South London". We lived nearby and knew his mother Mary Campbell (see also the Mary Campbell Housing Coop) as the barn was also used by our food coop. I recall seeing the band rehearse there several times.

DaNa has a history with the London music scene, Kate and I were just voyeurs on the side. He tells me he wasn’t around for Soma (I recall they rehearsed in that same barn). He writes "I’d lived in London in 79 working with a band called The Stoves - Paul [Scriven] was in that band. Doug [Campbell] and Damian [Seguin] were in Soma - I have some promo pics somewhere and I think a few demo songs - I believe with Ralph Dame and Rick Bowman. Iain [Staines], who I met in 79, came from The Demics."

At the mention of The Stoves I shared some photos from "Polish Hall - 1979 Stoves & Regulators". 

Finally, I have more color photos of Itsa Skitsa, some I've not shared before, from the same period.

• Itsa Skitsa at Call the Office
• Itsa Skitsa fronting for some other band.

These notes and photos scanned and organized during April 2021; this blog filed for the date of the August 9, 1986 show at Key West.