Rusland's Hall [later became Club 1-2-3] was a popular dance spot that would have the occasional live hard rock show. I was very young during those Rusland's days. I wasn't old enough to get into Joker's Niteclub or couldn't drive to Toronto and go see metal / hardcore shows at Larry's Hideaway. These local all age Peterborough events were my only access to live music. At the time I really looked up to everyone in that scene like they were these huge rock stars, never realizing until much later everyone involved were all just young kids themselves.
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| Virgin Angel; Rusland's Hall, 1984/06/08; Credit: Richard Hanes |
Virgin Angel
By the mid 1980's a young band out of Kenner called Virgin Angel appeared on the local scene. The band members included: Derrick Foley (bass); Kirk Berardi; Dale Kennedy (guitar) and Jamie Berardi. Virgin Angel played at Rusland's Hall June, 1984. That was the summer before I started high school. They mostly did metal and hard rock covers. Virgin Angel was a project that Dale Kennedy was working on while vocalist Rick Nisbett from his previous band Tyrant was off visiting England.
Kirk Berardi [Virgin Angel]
"...Yeah, Sabbath, Priest, Van Halen and so on... Too bad things didn't work out, I loved that band..." Internet Post, 2014/06/24.
Dale Kennedy [Tryant / Virgin Angel]
"...Virgin Angel was the first metal band in Peterborough, followed by Bloody Mary and Shylok..." Correspondence, 2021/05/01.
Bloody Mary
Bloody Mary was another young local metal band. If you are old enough to remember watching Bloody Mary play 'The Battle of the Bands' at Crary Park in the summer of 1984, then you can say that you saw a pre- Kid Wikkid / Skid Row Sebastian Bierk perform one of his earliest shows. Bloody Mary were: Jason Shibley [Jay Blake] (guitar); Chris Vander Schaaf (guitar); Mark McPhail (bass) and George Anagnostu (drums) with Sebastian Bierk on vocals.
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| Bloody Mary - 1984 'Battle of the Bands'; Credit: Derek Dodds |
Bloody Mary played 'The Battle of the Bands' at Crary Park in the summer of 1984 and won first place. An audio recording of the band performing Great White 's 'Out of the Night' and Judas Priest 's 'Hell Bent For Leather' exist. I believe either Dave Brown or Derek Dodds have the original copy. A video and photographs of a performance at 'The Hastings Howl' are also rumored to exist.
Sebastian Bach [Bloody Mary / Kid Wikkid]
"...The memories here [Peterborough, Ontario] are limitless. Just drove into town past the stage in Crary Park where I won the battle of the bands with my band Bloody Mary..." Internet Post, 2018/11/17.
George Anagnostou [Bloody Mary]
"...the year we kicked Strobic Ass..." Internet Post, 2014/10/10.
Note: I should mention here that back in the late 1970s and early 1980s the tradition of 'The Battle of the Bands' seemed to be more prevalent than it is today. Often something that local high school's would encourage and present in their gym or auditorium.
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| Strobic Axe, 1979 PCVS 'Battle Of The Bands' |
Rural music halls and pavilions like 'The Pines' in Bridgenorth or 'The Hastings Howl' [mentioned previously] arose out of the cottage tourist industry of the 1950s and 1960s. One last family weekend dance before the Toronto folks would drive back to the city. Over the years these dances had turned into drunken brawls with hard rock bands performing as background accompaniment. At the end of their run the locations became perfect spots for younger metal bands to perform at.
Mark McPhail [Bloody Mary]
"...[Jason Wilfrid] Shibley; [Chris] Vander Schaaft and I all went to Kenner and used to Jam in the little out buildings by the old race track on Lansdowne. Jay Poser used to drum for a while, then Derek Dodds or Dave Brown introduced us to George 'The Greek' [Anagnostou] and Sebastian [Bierk]. We started rehearsing at the Music warehouse off Romaine. A lot of bands were there like Streettalk, Blusing Brides I think. We pulled together a set list for the Crary Park 'Battle of the Bands' because it was sponsored by Sebastian's Dad and Artspace..." Correspondence, 2021/10/02.
Jay Poyser [Bloody Mary]
"...Yes I do remember! Hell bent!! The loudness coming from Crary Park in those days was awesome..." Internet Post, 2013/01/13
Bobby Marino [Tyrant]
"...Sebastian even sounded great at that age too. I remember the band somewhat, but I don't remember this gig..." Internet Post, 2013/01/13
Doug Gardner
"...I was there!..." Internet Post, 2013/01/22
The Peterborough bands during this period seem to somewhat overlap with each other so I hope I have things in the right order. Rick Nisbett [Tyrant / Stryder] and Sebastian Bierk [Bloody Mary] would later both move to Toronto with dreams of becoming big rock stars.
Rick Nisbett [Tyrant / Stryder]
"...I also seem to recall the last version of Tyrant had one or two members of Stryder in it. I think we had Dean Bond (drums) and Derrick Foley (bass). We never never played live and that's when I decided to call it quits and went to Europe. I came back to Canada [from London] about 9 or 10 months later and that's when I was contacted by Sebastian and urged to move up to Toronto where he was..." Correspondence, 2021/10/04.
While in Toronto Rick Nisbet [Ricky Blade] and Dale [Dirty Dale] Kennedy [Tryant / Virgin Angel] would form a Toronto glam metal act called Daggers n Dolls together playing covers by bands like Faster Pussycat and Kiss. Sebastian would perform in Herrenvolk / Kid Wikkid as mentioned in previous writings.
Rick Nisbett [Tyrant / Stryder]
"...the [Daggers n Dolls] guitar player kept showing up without an amplifier so I fired him and called Dale [Kennedy]..." Correspondence, 2021/09/26.
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| Sebastian Bierk [Kid Wikkid] with Dale Kenney [Virgin Angel / Daggers n Dolls]; Photo: Ron Boudreau; Credit: Harper Collins |
Rick Nisbett [Tyrant / Stryder]
"...Our days in Peterborough when we were 15, 16 and 17 were not a whole lot different than when we were in Toronto. A lot of debauchery, heavy field parties and lots of girls. Black Sabbath, Iron Maiden, Rainbow, The Who, Led Zeppelin, Kiss were all part of the soundtrack of the mid 70s to mid 80s. Heavy metal at it's best..." Correspondence, 2021/09/26.
Lans Nahrgang [Ripper]
"...I sang for Bloody Mary after Sebastian moved to Toronto and joined V05. We jammed in my basement on Hillard Street..." Correspondence, 2021/04/17.
Ripper
I'm about 95 percent sure that I was at that previous June, 1984 Virgin Angel show. I vaguely recall them playing some Black Sabbath and Led Zeppelin songs. One of the earliest metal shows that I can definitely remember seeing in Peterborough at Rusland's Hall was two local bands Ripper and Shylock.
I knew Ripper 's vocalist Lans Nahrgang previously from my days at Lady Eaton public school in Omemee. Lans was a few grades older than myself, however I can still remember that he would wear rectangular new wave glasses and rock out to Devo at recess.
A new wave character called Johnny 'Slash' Ulasewicz [played by Merritt Butrick] on the 1982-83 'Square Pegs' television sit-com that was very popular at the time.
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| Ripper - June, 1985, Rusland's Hall; Credit: Lans Nahrgang |
There were a few different versions of Ripper. The final one being: Las Nahrgang (vocals); Kevin Clark (bass); Rob McIlwain (guitar) and Matt McIlmoyle (drums). I remember the band being mostly a metal cover band that totally loved Judas Priest. Other members included: Jason Shibley [Bloody Mary]; Chris Vandershaft; Andy Koshowski [Shylok / I Mother Earth] and Paul Heath.
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| Ripper; Credit: Lans Nahrgang |
Lans Nahrgang [Ripper]"...Andy Koshowski [Shylok] did a gig with Ripper. I think only once..., Jason Shibley [Bloody Mary] and Paul Heath were the original guitar players for Ripper..." Correspondence, 2021/04/17.
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| Ripper; Andrew Koshowski [I Mother Earth]; Credit: Lans Nahrgang |
Mike Heffernan"...The singer in the band Ripper was like 6 foot 6, looked like Joey Ramone with elevator shoes..." Correspondence, 2021/04/03.
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| Lans Nahrgang [Ripper / Mama's Worry]; Credit: Crestwood Yearbook |
I recall Ripper staying together for a while in the 1980s. During my high school years I would go and see them play at the old Morrow Park Lounge 'The Teen Centre' on the corner of Park and Lansdowne.
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| Ripper; Morrow Park Lounge, Jan 1985: Credit: Lans Nahrgang |
In the early 1990s Ripper vocalist Lans Nahrgang and guitarist Rob McIlwain would go on form a band called Mama's Worry with John Miller on bass and another guy named Gord?
Shylok
Seeing Shylok only the week previous open up for Sebastian's glam metal band Kid Wikkid had everyone in town very excited to do it all over again. We were all addicted and just couldn't get enough live metal.
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| Shylok / Ripper; Ruslands, 1985/06/14: Credit: Stephen Mills |
Shylok were: Rob Syvret (vocals); Stephen Mills (bass) [later Death Militia]; Nolan Dewdney (guitar); Andrew Koshowski (guitar); Christian Koshowski (drums) [aka: Christian & Jagori Tanna [later I Mother Earth].
Al Pammett
"...I do remember going to some concert with you downtown Peterborough at the Orange Hall [Rusland's] on Brock Street..." Correspondence, 2021/04/04.
Stephen Mills [Shylok / Death Militia]
"...Shylok was my second band ever, after Aggravated Assault. [The first band] Aggravated Assault was me on bass; Paul McNaney - R.I.P. (vocals); Mark DeBoer (guitar) and I think Martin Pell on drums..." Correspondence, 2022/06/09.
Marty Menard
"...I was at that Shylok / Ripper show at Orange Hall..." Correspondence, 2021/05/17.
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| Shylok - Stephen Mills (bass); Credit: Stephen Mills |
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| Shylok - Stephen Mills (bass); Credit: Stephen Mills |
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| Shylok - Stephen Mills (bass); Credit: Stephen Mills |
Stepehn Mills [Shylok / Death Militia]
"...Shylok only played two shows. Two Saturdays in a row. The first one was opening for Kid Wikkid at Artspace. A week later we played that basement Orange Hall with Ripper opening. I was so stoked, I ripped one of my bass strings off in the first song and had to use the Ripper bassist's bass for the rest of the show..." Correspondence, 2021/04/27.
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| Shylok - Chris Koshowski (drums); Credit: Stephen Mills |
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| Shylok - Stephen Mills (bass); Andrew Koshowski (guitar); Credit: Stephen Mills |
Jim Godby
"...Shylok was a good band. I still see Andy and Chris [Koshowski] on occasion. Chris played drums and Andy lead guitar in Shylok..." Correspondence, 2021/04/07.
I had gone to other Rusland's shows previous to this night however this Shylok gig sticks out in my memories for being the one where so many people from all the different schools would meet for the first time. This was a very well advertised event. It seemed like everyone in town who like hard rock and heavy metal was there.
In true music tradition the organizers made us wait outside for quite some time. Us younger, newer kids on the scene were all impatiently wanting to get inside. Screaming and yelling loudly we were trying to put on our best heavy metal pose for each other. Inside we could hear the sound of the musicians warming up. They were the generation who smoked hash listening to Kiss and Black Sabbath, while outside the hall we were the kids who spent weekends tripping on acid listening to Exodus and Slayer. It was a crazy time as the doors opened and the two tribes merged. I can still feel the energy of what evolved from that night.
Gary R. Hill [Oblivion]
"...Front door got ripped off it's hinges. ...the door was open and it got reefed on..." Correspondence, 2021/04/06.
It was at this Shylok / Ripper show where I would have first met Gary Hill. A few months later I was introduced to his friend Mike Begin and I became the singer for their thrash metal band Oblivion. Also standing outside waiting to get in was Robert Stanley [Sewage Shit]. At the time everyone called Gary 'Spaz' and Rob Stanley was introduced to me as just 'Morbid Shit'. Rob and I would later go on to do one of the longest running shows on Trent Radio called 'The Mellow Contemporary Hour For Senior Citizens'.
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| Mike Begin and Gary Hill [Oblivion]; Robert Stanley; Credit: PCVS Yearbook, 1985-86 |
For this event local metal head Ed Bos designed a wicked logo for Shylok and had made up a bunch of T-shirts. High schools throughout town would be littered with them come the Monday after the show. Ed Bos later went on to design the album cover for the trash metal release of the 1987 'Custom Killing' by the Guelph, Ontario band Razor.
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Tom Ellis [wearing Ed Bos / Shylok T-shirt] ; Credit: Crestwood Yearbook
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| Tony Crosgrey [wearing Ed Bos / Shylok T-shirt]; Credit: Anthony Crosgrey |
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| Razor artwork by Peterborough's Ed Bos |
Many thanks to everyone that helped brick together the bits and pieces of this history, and a big Cheers to all those that helped shape the Peterborough hard rock music scene before us younger folks came along. You truly were inspirational and a hard act to follow.
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