After All

The roots to After All can be traced back to 1980, when Todd Simko and Jordy Birch would jam together as young teenagers while growing up in Surrey, BC. The band lineups and name changed over the years, but by the middle of the decade frontman Scott Acomba and drummer Leigh Grant were on board, with Simko on guitars and Birch on bass.

Based out of Vancouver, they played the western Canadian circuit until signing with Nettwerk Records in ’88. Nearly six months in Little Mountain Studios in Vancouver and Eastern Sound in Toronto with producer John Webster culminated in their debut album, HOW HIGH THE MOON in the fall of ’88. It produced two singles – “Save Me From Myself” and “Bullets.” With the exception of Acomba’s “Save Me From Myself,” all the songs were written by Birch and Simko, and the mix of slick pop/rock was a hit with the critics.

Videos for both singles also made their rounds on MuchMusic, fuelling a national tour. But by late ’89, Acomba was out and eventually formed Satsuma, releasing their only album, HELLO – MY NAME IS … (co-produced by Simko) nearly 10 years later.

After All meanwhile carried on, adding keyboardist Mark Henning. But unable to land a major deal, it prompted the band to briefly change its name to Grin Factory, then to Pure less than a year later, with Birch moving from bass to lead vocals when new member Dave Hadley came on board.

As Pure, they moved to Toronto for awhile and were signed by Warner/Reprise in ’91, releasing three albums in the alt-rock boom throughout the decade, and enjoying relative success, including the single “Blast” reaching Billboard’s #22 spot, and “Greedy” making it to the 1992 “Cool World” movie soundtrack, starring Brad Pitt and Kim Basinger.

After that group’s breakup, Birch went on to form Guilty About Girls, while Simko became a producer until passing away on April 26, 2012.