The Edge

After guitarist Ray Roper first left Stonebolt in the mid ’80s, he joined Trooper alumni bassist Doni Underhill (also ex of Zwol) and drummer Tommy Stewart called Trama, a band that had been around for nearly a decade, but never had anything released. Not long after their demise, he formed The Ray Roper Band in …

Edward Bear

Larry Evoy & Paul Weldon began jamming together in basements and garages amidst the Toronto musical revolution of the ’60’s. They were assaulted with a variety of influences, from psychadelia to folk to blues-based styles, and went through several incarnations of various groups. In ’66, with band members Craig Hemming on bass and drummer Dave …

Emerson Drive

In early 1995, Grand Prairie, Alberta native vocalist Brad Mates assembled a band after winning a local ‘battle of the bands’ contest, singing Garth Brooks’ “Friends In Low Places.” With fellow St Joseph Catholic High School students – keyboardist Chris Hartman and fiddle player Pat Allingham (who’d entered that same contest in a different band), …

Esquires

Richard Patterson memorial Not to be confused with any of several American or British groups of different genres and times with the same name, Ottawa’s The Esquires were typical of most mid-sized Canadian cities in the 60s – a group of school friends trying to imitate their idols – the top British stars of the …

Family Brown

‘Papa Joe’ Brown memorial Originally from Amherst, Nova Scotia, Joe Brown was a member of various country groups, starting with The Hillbilly Jewels in the early 1950s. After moving to Hamilton, and then Ottawa, he joined The Happy Wanderers, but by ’67 he decided to take it to the next level and form a group …

Finger Eleven

Burlington, Ontario’s Finger Eleven formed in 1989 around brothers Scott and Sean Anderson on vocals and bass, along with highschool friends James Black on bass and drummer Rob Gommerman. Before long they doubled their guitar attack by adding Rick Jackett. Calling themselves Rainbow Butt Monkeys, they played throughout the region after graduation and in ’94 …

Fist

John Chenier memorial Unquestionably the heaviest export from Ottawa at that time, Ron Chenier’s first band was Those Naughty Boys, a bunch of local kids who released a pair of sappy tunes in ’65 called “Somebody Told My Girl” and “Tell Me Why.” But within a year of its release the band had run its …

Exciter

Originally known as Hell Razor, Exciter was formed in Ottawa in 1978 by John Ricci on guitars, Allan Johnson on bass and drummer/vocalist Dan Beehler. After honing their chops on the Ontario bar circuit for nearly two years they changed their name to Exciter, after submitting a set of demos to US-based Shrapnel Records the …