One Step Beyond

     1988, February 05.  Groovy Aardvark - The Dumbs.

     I overheard Theresa LeClair talking to Sarah Lees Calnan in the hallway at Adam Scott high school about going to Ottawa for the weekend.  I half jokingly told them that I would join 'em.  Next thing I know it became a plan.

     Theresa Le Clair

     "...Julie Currie and Dean Findlay were with us as well..."

     I didn't have any intention of hanging out with them and intruding on their weekend of fun, I just needed a ride.  Going to a metal or punk show in the city would be my main goal.

     At the time in Ottawa there was an all ages club called 'One Step Beyond'  Located on the south side of Rideau Street, near Dalhousie that would open on Friday and Saturday nights.

     One Step Beyond began in September of 1986, as an all-ages alternative [ska] dance club with occasional live performances of 'high energy, non-downbeat music' on weekends.  As the space evolved it became an almost exclusively live venue with emphasis on young, local and Canadian underground and alternative bands.  The club quickly expanded their audience by delving into the world of punk and metal.  Sometimes grouping various genres on the same bill.  They would try to offer two or three out-of-town larger touring bands each month.

     Bands like: Accused; Beyond Possession; Broken Bones; Circle Jerks; Dayglo Abortions; Dead Milkmen; G.B.H.; No Means No; Rollins Band; S.N.F.U.; Sacrifice; Scream [DC]; The Swans; UK Subs and Whiplash all played in this space.

     This particular weekend a thrash metal band from Montreal called D.B.C. - Dead Brains Cells with Montreal hardcore band Capitali$t Alienation opening.  D.B.C. had recently released their debut LP the year previous on Combat Records.

     For some reason D.B.C. pulled out early on, leaving the bill as Capitali$t Alientation; Counter Attack and The Dumbs.  D.B.C. later played Roxanne's in Ottawa 1989, June 18.

     John William Maffett.

     "...I don't think that [D.B.C.] was ever locked.  The flyers had Capitali$t Alienation as the headliner, with The Dumbs and Counter Attack.  I'd never been aware of D.B.C. being slated to play until ...someone posted a monthly schedule in the group 'One Step Beyond Alumni'.  It looks like Jeff [Cohen] might have sent them the early version and never sent an update.  The [D.B.C.] posting is taken from the Club listings from The 'Ottawa Citizen'..."

     Myself..., I also don't ever remember D.B.C. being advertised.  Capitali$t Alienation was the band that I was hoping to see.  I had purchased the band's self-released, self-titled album the year previous at the Record Peddler in Toronto.  The cover artwork was done by Voi Vod's Michel Langevin, aka: Away.  The band's grinding sound was a favorite on my turntable.

Honest Injun, One Step Beyond, Ottawa

     Before heading to Ottawa, I had connected with a tape trader pal Steve 'Mop' Desrosiers' who hooked me up with another friend of his named Mike Moreira who hosted me for the evening.  It was the first time I was meeting them both.

John William Maffett

     "...He [Mike Moreira] used to record a lot of shows..."

     One Step Beyond was a great all ages space.  Their scene was very lucky to have had that.  Since I was from out of town and didn't know anyone, I mostly sat on the bleachers and took in the whole atmosphere.  I was a little bummed out that Capitali$t Alienation and Counter Attack ended up cancelling as well.

     John William Maffett

     "...Counter Attack pulled out a week or so before, due to them not being able to find a second guitarist in time [This would have been their first show with Terry.  If I remember correctly, Jeff Marier had joined by the time they played their next show in April, 1988]  Capitali$t Alienation pulled out right before the show, and Groovy Aardvark filled in..."

     Groovy Aardvark [formerly Schizophrenic Muff Divers] and The Dumbs replaced Capitali$t Alienation for the night.  Although disappointing, I did however really enjoy Groovy Aardvark.  They were a Longueuil band that seemed to be going in all direction at the same time.  Originally their sound seemed much like that of Portland's metalcore scene.  Their early demos were reminiscent of bands like Spazztic Blurr or Wehrmacht.

     Tyson Kingsbury

     "...Groovy Aardvark was something you played for me...  I think it was one evening when I was crashing at your place, and we watched 'Evil Dead'  ...I think the next day we went up to Toronto to go record shopping at the Record Peddler... bought a great Venom bootleg that day.  For whatever reason, Groovy Aardvark stuck with me..."

     As Groovy Aardvark evolved into the 1990s they added a more funk sound and although it likely limited their growth outside of Quebec, the band was not afraid to pay respect to their French language heritage.  I was surprised at how large the francophone community in Ottawa was.

     That night, after the show Micheal and I spent most of the evening dubbing demo cassettes from each other and watching horror films.  It was a bit awkward not knowing him all that well, however we seemed to connect and get along fine.  I did have a strange feeling that the parents didn't really want me staying in their home.  This was a pretty common experience for me back in those days.  Except this time it was all in French without the subtitles.

     The next day after the show I called the hotel where the girls were staying.  Turns out that they had left.  Holy Crap!!!  That was a stomach dropping feeling that I had for a short time that kind of freaked me out...   Somehow through broken English, the hotel staff managed to relay a message to me.  The others had decided to spend the night at some college party house.  I don't remember how I managed to find them, yet I did...  That evening's plan was for us all to head to Hull for the evening where we could drink at age eighteen.

     We ended up at a really fancy nightclub in an old Church called 'La Viva Disco'.  The place had once been named in Playboy magazine as being in the top ten bars in North America.  Years later the club abruptly closed down with rumors' of some shocking 'event' that witness had been seriously affected by for years to follow.

La Viva Disco, Hull Quebec.

     Of course that Saturday night back in 1988, the door man would let everyone in but myself.  As usual... due to my style of dress.  "...No denim or studded leather jackets..." I recall him saying.

     Not wanting to ruin the night for the girls and their friends, I took a cab back to the College house and crashed out on an old couch in their unfinished basement.  The only other thing I remember was that the College house basement was filled from floor to ceiling with stolen stop signs, mail boxes and newspaper stands.  They even had a very large McDonald's 'Golden Arch'.  If that house could talk, it must have had some wicked fraternity initiation stories.

     Theresa LeClair

     "...I remember that house very clearly.  The garage was filled floor to ceiling with empty beer bottles..."

 

Teenage Wasteland

     1989, June 24

     My friend Jeff B. and myself are underneath the Bathurst Street bridge at Fort Blvd trying to find a decent spot to take a piss.  We are surprised to find hundreds of homeless people have already claimed the location as their own village.  I continue to solidify my argument with Jeff.

     Only an hour or so earlier I had convinced him that the rock band 'The Who' was for old people.  He had to trust me on this one.  I've been there and done that already.  Yes... I agreed it would have been amazing to see Townshend perform the closing Woodstock solo in 69.  However, that was twenty years previous, and it was a different world now.  Somewhere in some shitty Toronto bar that night could be the next mega superstar band, and perhaps that would be the story I would write for my children in some dumb book years later.  I saw the artist "...so and so..." at the very beginning of their career...  Not the dying end...  It took me a while but I had Jeff sold.

     For some historical context on this strongly held belief of mine.  At the time an almost unknown band called Nirvana was set to play Canada for the first time ever on July 20, 1989 in some shitty small Toronto club.

     Earlier in the day while shopping at the Record Peddler I had grabbed us tickets for Verbal Assault; Uniform Choice and The Fearless Iranians From Hell.  That show at the Siboney Club in Kensington Market, of course I knew would never be "...THE..." concert to end all shows.  Still looking back at 'The Who's "...final..." concert in 1982, I knew I just couldn't relive that rock and roll bullshit all over again.

     Yet... we were still heading in the direction of the CNE.  Jeff's mother at the time worked at 'Peterborough This Week' and scored us some free tickets to see the show.  Since it was still early in the evening before the club on Augusta would open we both decided that we would experience the atmosphere of the crowds and give away the tickets so they wouldn't go to waste.

     "...Free tickets... Free Who tickets..." we yelled as we walked along Front Street near the Princess gates mingling through the crowd.  Made up of mostly old rockers admiring each other's very, very, very faded concert T-shirts from a time long before I was born.

     A few couples stopped to see if we had better seats than them.  It took three or four groups of people before we found someone that had really crappy seats.  They were a little apprehensive at first but they finally took our good tickets in trade for theirs.

     It was getting dark... I didn't want to miss Fearless Iranians opening.  I had picked up their 'Holy War' album the year previous.  I got a total kick out of their S.O.D. - Stormtroopers Of Death type of offensive satire.  Loved their song 'Iranian Hash'  It was time to go and head on up to The Siboney Club.

     Just as we were leaving and walking past the former Molson Brewery building at Lake Shore Boulevard and Fleet Street Jeff, myself and an unrelated stranger got jumped from behind by these two big ass dudes.  It took a moment or two to figure out just what the fuck was going on.  These huge football jock types were really rough and were using their best wrestling team moves to pin our arms behind our backs.  Then it finally came to me...

     Fucking undercover cops!!!

     They pulled us up off the ground and tossed us into some bushes out front the Molson factory.  They told us they had been watching us for the last hour and knew that we were selling drugs.  One cop began searching through my bag of records that I had purchased earlier in the day.  They told us to drop our pants down.  First thing the unknown stranger does is take his penis out of his pants, starts waving it around in front of the face of the cop kneeling down searching my bag.  He says to the cop...  "...You want me naked so you can blow me like the queers you are..."  Terrified, I look at one of the cops and say.  "...Ya... [long pause], …we're not with him...".  "...Pants off..." the cop repeats looking at me.  I remember putting both my arms in the air and saying these exact words loud enough so that anyone walking past on the sidewalk near the brewery could hear me.  "...If you want my clothes off, you're going to have to take them off yourself..."

M.E.A.T. - Issue #1

     The two cops both ignored my comment as a crowd that heard my strange words began to gather.  One of the cops pulled out a stack of free Toronto heavy metal magazines out of my bag called M.E.A.T. [Metal Entertainment Around Toronto].  Why do you have so many of the same magazines, did you steal them?  "...They're free..." I continued.  "...I'm taking them back to Peterborough to put in our local record store...".  At the time the first issue of the legendary magazine had been released only a month earlier and I thought it was a really cool idea that I wanted to promote in our neck of the woods.

     With my arms still in the air waiting for the officer to undress me, I must have given him way too much data for his pig mindset to comprehend.  Just as the two cops turned their attention away from me to Jeff, a bunch of kids on skateboards and bicycles came up to the two cops in the bushes and started pointing out people in the crowd.  "...Guy with yellow shirt and woman with Rolling Stones shirt, and that guy with AC/DC on the back of his jean jacket..."  then they took off again.  What the fuck...  Using young kids as rats in the crowd.  That was some next level crazy undercover shit that until that day I had no idea went on behind the scenes.  We had been wrongly accused by a couple of thirteen years old's on bikes looking to get some hero cookies from the cops.

     Turns out me and the guy waving his dick around were both free to go, except before they let us on our way they took all of our concert tickets and drew a slash / on them with a thick black marker.  Perhaps to indicate something to security at the gate.  Maybe for them to not let us in at all?  Even wrecked the Verbal Assault / Uniform Choice tickets so that they were illegible.  Both shows would be a wash out.  Didn't matter anyways, since Jeff had just been arrested for having the tiniest piece of hash in his front pocket.  Later he told me that he had forgotten that it was even there.

     Afterwards... I was kind of in a daze trying to process the whole event as I walked north.  Not really knowing what to do.  Doing my best to lose the stranger dude who still wanted to talk to me about waving his member in front of the cops.  I travelled back over the same Bathurst Street bridge wondering how many people realize that there is a very huge homeless encampment underneath.  To this day I wonder if it's still there?

     I was mad about being tackled to the ground for no reason.  Just because of the accusations of a couple of children who they themselves were probably trying to work off their own bullshit charges.

     Mad because the exact same thing had happened to me in June of the previous year when Toronto held the G7 summit.  That weekend the city vice squads were tasked with "...cleaning up the city streets...".  They basically do a coordinated crackdown on sex workers, the homeless, gays and lesbians, transgender people.  Oh ya and freaky looking long haired metalheads getting off the bus to see some anarchist punk show on the same weekend.  Again I got off very lucky but both the violations leave a very sore taste to this day.

     At these globalist meetings, organizations like the RCMP and CSIS justify increased security measures by pushing a bunch of "unsubstantiated truth" through so-called "experts" in the corporate media.  In doing so they pump up the fear among the public, as well as with the hotheads in the lower police ranks.  I think that year it was the Chinese 'Red Army' and the 'Irish Republican Army' were going to attack the summit or some such bullshit.  It's always the same script every time, often magically finding a car load of weapons in the days leading up to the summits.  I can't believe after all these years we are still falling for the same fear equals tyranny routine.

https://www.cbc.ca/archives/entry/tight-security-at-torontos-1988-g7-summit

     Anyways, I digress back to Jeff and our adventure.

     I had no tickets and no idea where the police would be taking him.  I figured the best thing to do would be to take the bus back to Peterborough, and look for his parents phone number to tell them the story if he hadn't yet been in contact with them.  So I headed up to the old Toronto Coach Terminal at 610 Bay Street to catch a ride home.

     Who should I see sitting inside by the front entrance smiling from ear to ear.  "...What they hell?..."  Before I could ask him more or continue on.

     Jeff couldn't wait to tell me how the adventure ended.  "...I kicked that fucker right in the balls and then made a run for it..."  We laughed all the way home just thinking about that one.  I still smile about it to this day...

Kreator / Coroner - 1989

 

Kreator / Coroner

     1989, September 03 - Kreator - Coroner - Infernal Majesty.

     Germany's Kreator came through Toronto in the fall of 1989 during their 'Extreme Aggression Tour'.  This was the second date on the North American tour only months after the album was released.

     I had seen them perform in August of the previous year at the Concert Hall show with Holy Terror.  Both bands opening for D.R.I. - Dirty Rotten Imbeciles.  The guys in Holy Terror were super cool and hooked me up with a backstage pass.  I recall even managing to set up an interview for a friend for the following show at Peabody's in Cleveland.

     While backstage at The Concert Hall show, in broken English I got a chance to chat with Kreator singer Mille Petrozza for a bit after their set.  I sort of really started liking what they were doing musically during that time period. 

     I don't recall much else from that show besides being asked to help keep the crowd off the stage during D.R.I.'s set.  I was really small back in those days, so I'm not sure why someone asked me.  D.R.I. shows are always pretty nuts so I guess any help was better than none.  I just happened to be there at the time.

     I was looking forward to checking out Kreator again, this time with the Swiss band Coroner opening.

     The Apocalypse Club was a tiny space.  Way too small to be hosting such a popular band.  The club had very low clearance with water pipes hanging on the ceiling used from the building above.  The bands performed on a not so high stage, so if you were at the back of the club you couldn't even see the artists.

     They did have some good sound that night, however I remember the place being way over crowed.  Likely illegal fire regulation kind of crowded.  To keep the insanity from the mosh pit away from the bands I think they had set up some sort of crowd control fencing in front of the stage.

Credit: Darah Hayes, 1980's Belleville promoter

     Kim Erskine

     "...I was just thinking about that show!  Tammy Tennant and I went to see Sons Of Ishmael and Guilt Parade in some small town [Belleville] the night before and then stayed in the basement of one of the band's parents' houses, then we somehow hitched a ride to Toronto the next day and met you there.  …You only had one ticket so don't think we ended up going in.  We hung around the club outside all night.  Some random guy gave us a joint that smelled like burning plastic and made us both sick.  WTF were we thinking?  We might have come back to Peterborough with you..." 

     I do recall some Peterborough friends hanging outside panhandling.  Maybe Dianne Hart-Maxwell was there as well?, as she and Tammy Tennant were always connected.  Total dick move on my part leaving the girls all outside.  Although... Kreator at the small Apocalypse Club, would have totally sold out and there wouldn't have been the slightest chance in hell I would be able to get tickets for anyone else to get in.

Infernal Majesty

     I don't remember much of Infernal Majesty playing that night.  They were a Toronto band that later moved out to British Columbia.  They seemed to be caught between the two worlds of heavy and thrash metal.  I remember some of my Cleaveland friends were huge fans of the 1987 'None Shall Defy' album and couldn't get enough of them.  Although I owned that album they seemed to pretty much pass right over my radar.  The September previous to this Apocalypse show, a girlfriend and myself had been invited to an after party at their practice spot.  Much of that night unfortunately was a drunken blur.

     Coroner was from Zurich Switzerland.  Originally Celtic Frost's road crew.  The band never really did that well, outside of Europe.  Very talented musicians, although I don't recall them being a stand out band that night.  A little progressive or avant-garde for my raw tastes.  Meh!  Similarities between their 'Masked Jackal' video and this tour date have been compared.  Their 1991 cover of the Beatles 'I Want You (She's So Heavy)' is interesting and worth checking out.

     By the time Kreator hit the Apocalypse Club that night it was sweaty, hot and way overcrowded.  It didn't matter where you stood in the club, you were forever in the pit.  The more intense the music got the whole room just swayed back and forth like ocean waves crashing during a nasty storm.  The band was performing on a small raiser so I tried pushing my way up front to see them play.  That was a huge mistake...

     Ottawa Metal

     "...Kreator Extreme Aggression tour...  The inside of the Apocalypse club was one of the crowdest & sickest ever shows to be put on, too bad there is not footage, just memories.  Drew Masters was the promoter, thanks Drew..."

     Everyone was thrashing their heads to the speed of the music.  Long hair whipping in my face throughout.  People constantly use my head or shoulders as leverage on their travels as they crowd surf past overhead.  Crammed in so tight if my arms were at my side it felt like I was holding hands with the dude next to me.  If I put them in front of me I would get hit from behind and they would end up stuck to some guys sweat soaked back.  The pipes hanging from the ceiling were put to good use to help the denim clad metalheads pull themselves up on top of the audience.

     I was panicking...

     I got trapped in the crowd for Kreator's entire set.  If I tried to leave to get out of the mass of people I couldn't move in any direction.  I would just get pushed back to the spot that I originally stood.  I didn't like the feeling.  With the panic came an asthma attack.  I couldn't breathe...  I was doing my best trying to remain calm.  I kept telling myself that it will all be over soon.  Reassuring my mind that I've been in much bigger and larger pits than this.  If I were to die it would have to be a better band than Kreator.

     I just stood there in the mass, body limp all drenched in sweat letting the crowd and the tempo of the band decide my fate.  I was tossed and thrown around the audience like a rag doll.

     Thankfully Kreator's set that night was extremely short.  By the time they were ripping into 'Flag of Hate / Tormentor' I knew it was almost over...

     Afterwards...  As the club lights came up, and the steam of the heat, smell of shitty home grown weed and the stench of spilled beer poured out of the bar.  My crushing adventure and flash of death had been long forgotten.  I was chatting up similar minds and planning on doing it all over again in the days to follow.  It was all just another metal weekend in the late 80s...

Moshed Potatoes 'Marriage Scum' Demo 1989

 

Moshed Potatoes

Moshed Potatoes (1989) Demo

     'Marriage Scum' Demo 1989, August.

     Recorded in various basements on a Tascam 4-track.  Peterborough's Moshed Potatoes released their demo in August of 1989.  At the time of recording the band members included: Bruce Cyr (guitar); Jason Kurz (vocals); Rob Metcalfe (bass); Scott Schroeder (guitar) and Kenneth Trusler (drums).

     Tracks on the demo included: Marriage Scum; Frere-Jacques; Huggamuggamax; Mr. Potatoehead; Somewhere Slow; Batman vs. Bond; Tribute to Death; Insolent Knave; The Spill; Don't Kill Animals; Degrassi Jr. High; Hercules and Too Bad It's Not A Dream.

     It's estimated that about 100 copies of the cassette were made.

     Matt Barraball

     "...I still have one of those cassettes in my attic..."

 

     How much involvement I had in the project is a little fuzzy.  I know for certain that I designed the cover of the cassette, although I believe that Jason Kurz may have drawn the potato.  The stabbing knife image is a still from the Dario Argento film entitled Suspira (1977).  A beautifully filmed Euro horror film that has always been a favorite of mine.  I likely cut out the picture from an old Fangoria magazine.

Suspira (1977) Dario Argento, Synapse Films

     The insert photo of the band was taken in my basement apartment at 809 Nicholls Street, Peterborough.  It was a popular party spot and crash pad for touring bands.  I don't remember who typeset the inside fold out.  It could have been me, as I was working at a family run offset print company called 'Printer Paul' at the time.  The bassist Rob Metcalfe who was going to school at Trent University seemed the most reliable to answer mail.  His home address in Oshawa was the band's main contact.  I believe that Rob was also responsible for the final mixes and having the tapes manufactured.

Scott Schroeder; Kenneth Trusler; Bruce Cyr; Jason Kurz; Rob Metcalfe

     Rob Metcalfe [Moshed Potatoes]

     "...you doing it at your print shop rings a bell.  I didn't do any of the design work or finishing work, it was you and Jason Kurz..."

Credit: Richard Sanderson

Credit: Richard Sanderson

     Special thanks to the bands Moshed Potatoes played with previous to the release of this cassette were included in the insert: Last Generation [1989/03/02, Necropolis Cafe, Peterborough]; M.S.I. - More Stupid Initials [1989/05/06, Necropolis Cafe, Peterborough]; Leftovers; Attitude [1989/05/14: Kinsmen Hall, Oshawa]; Guilt Parade; Prostetniks; No Sad [Alhambra Hall, Belleville].

Credit: Richard Sanderson

     Stella Salamone [Cultrona].  An influential metal DJ [W.R.U.W.]; promoter and record producer from Cleveland, Ohio was also mentioned in the liner notes.  She and myself [Tony Crosgrey] were dating at the time of this recording.

Credit: Richard Sanderson

Credit: Richard Sanderson

Credit: Richard Sanderson

Credit: Richard Sanderson

     Club 704 George Street mentioned on the insert of the demo cassette.  That was the student residence where bassist Rob Metcalfe lived while attending University in Peterborough.  The band would often practice at that location.

Bruce Cyr; Jason Kurz; Rob Metcalfe; Credit: Tony Crosgrey

     Kim Erskine

     "...I used to go to that house [George Street] ...and watch them practice and Ken [Trusler] and I started playing together a bit after that..."

 

Bruce Cyr; Jason Kurz; Rob Metcalfe; Credit: Tony Crosgrey

Tony Crosgrey; Kenneth Trusler; Tom Toms; Credit: Tony Crosgrey

     Toronto Trash Blogspot

     "...I heard it ['Marriage Scum' demo] once, back in the day on Paul Abrash [Crisis of Faith / One Blood] 's radio show 'Death Metal Up Yer Kilt', or maybe Stephen Perry's 'Fast N Bulbous On The Spot?'  Yeah, it's a low-fi recording of grindcore / death metal, but I liked what I heard, even if you could barely tune in the damn station..."

     Rob Metcalfe [Moshed Potatoes]

     Tom Toms ended up joining Moshed Potatoes not long after that demo came out.  Scott Schroeder went to college that Fall (1989), so we needed a guitarist.  My recollection is you brought him to us!...  …Around that time, maybe a little later, Tom also had a 2-piece metal band called Know Nothing.  They play The Necropolis at least once.  The drummer's name was Andrew?..."

An Early Scene Part 1

P.dot Rock

An Early Scene Part 2

     Long before I came along there was a hard rock, punk and metal scene connected to Peterborough, as I'm sure there will be one long after I'm gone.  Hopefully this short history may spark a search for connections and a 'shout out' to those early Peterpatch days gone by.  I'm hoping that this piece will evolve and grow.  Any changes, additions, subtractions or suggestions are more than welcomed.