  One of the hottest punk groups in Winnipeg during the early 1980s was Personality Crisis. Bassist Mitch Funk had moved from Calgary and in ’79, with Doug Bauer on vocals, guitarists Walter Kot and Tommy Wharton, and drummer Ed Asselin, Le Kille was born – and raised havoc on the local scene, gaining a reputation for their high octane live shows.They added J LePlume on wind instruments early the next year to try and diversify their sound, but it wasn’t long before he was gone, and then an influx of personnel changes began. By the fall of ’81, just in time for the college party season, the only original member left standing for the mosh pits was Funk, and he changed their name to Personality Crisis. Duane Eddie took over bass duties from Richard Duguay, while he moved over to guitars with Jimmy Green. Mark Halldorson was behind the drumkit for less than a year, replaced by Jon Card. They toured the prairies and caught some major tour rides into the US with Stretch Marks, Social Unrest, Tales of Terro, and the UK’s GBH over the next year or so. After they signed with indie label, Risky Records, Funk and Duguay first lent them a production hand in ’83 on their debut EP, WHO’S IN CHARGE? They peddled a couple of demos at their shows while morphing, then their debut, CREATURES FOR AWHILE, was in the stores by the summer of 1981. Recorded at Ocean and Northern studios, it had a structure too sophisticated to be termed ‘punk,’ which was all but dead. Instead they were breaking new ground with heavy undertones in the title track, and the frantic near-thrash of “Tyrant” and “Vampire’s Dream.” The label didn’t last, and neither did the band beyond the next couple of years. Funk formed Honest John with ex-members of Stretch Marks, also recently deceased. Card joined SNFU, then DOA, and later the Subhumans. Duguay bounced around with a few projects, and also worked on Guns ‘n Roses’ SPAGHETTI INCIDENT album. Throughout the ’80s, Personality Crisis albums became a local underground hot item, and they popped up from time to time on compilation albums. In ’89, Overground Records re-issued CREATURES FOR AWHILE as a UK import – with a new cover, a changed tracklisting and some song replacements. A year later, the label also released TWILIGHT’S LAST GLEAMING, a 7″ that featured the title track b/w “Waiting,” one of five new tracks on the re-release. In ’08 the band’s story and that of Winnipeg at the time was made into book form, in Chris Walter’s “Pesonality Crisis: Warm Beer and Wild Times. A year later, War on Music re-released the album in its original form, but again with a new jacket.
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