I came across a few prints and contact sheets I has tucked away in an envelope from the very early days of the Vancouver punk rock scene. Please send a note to correct me if I’m off on names etc. These were taken quite a while ago (1977ish? ) and I didn’t keep the notes I should have.
The Furies at the Japanese hall. I believe this was the second local punk rock show in Vancouver. My first. Tom Harrison of the Georgia Straight used the photo. If memory serves me, the bass player is Malcolm Hasman, now Vancouver realtor to the famous.
The Dishrags. I think they opened for The Furies although this photo was taken at a later date.
Detail from a contact sheet of the Skulls playing the Easter Be-In in White Rock. I remember getting whacked by beer caps the unnappreciative crowd was flipping at the band. The Skulls metamorphed into DOA.
Another details from the Skulls contact sheets. A number of stalwarts from later bands were in this group, Joe ‘Shithead’ Keithley, Brian Goble, Ken Montgomery, Brad Kent.
Early photo of the classic DOA line up of Joe Keithley, Chuck Biscuits and Randya Rampage
Detail from a contact sheet of another early DOA show or maybe they were still the Skulls at this point
Subhumans with Ken Montgomery playing guitar, Brian Goble and Gerry Hannah. Not sure of drummer.
Gerry Hannah of the Subhumans
Ken Montgomery of the Subhumans. No idea why he had the stocking mask on.
Rabid -Sid Sick and John Doe say my notes on the print
Wow, thanks for posting these treasures from your trove, Don! And rest assured, your note taking was indeed accurate. I can try to add some info:
The 2nd Furies Japanese Hall show was 2 Sept 1977 (The Lewd, Furies, and Skulls). But I have the nagging suspicion this is their first appearance, and thus Vancouver’s first “proper” punk concert, 30 July 1977 The Furies and the Dishrags. The bassist is indeed Malcolm Hasman but I think he was replaced by Jonathan Werner by their September. The Drummer is Jim Walker, who decamped to London and joined Public Image Ltd (he’s on the first LP).
The Dishrags photo was used as a fold-out poster in Vancouver punk newspaper Public Enemy no.3 (Feb. 1979).
The Skulls White Rock contact sheet is priceless! I believe the long-haired singer is Lee Kendall, who only played one show with them. I would love to see a blow up of the smaller contact sheet sample!
The early DOA sitting photo is great, I’ve never seen it anywhere before! The contact sheet below it is indeed The Skulls, not DOA, showing guitarist Simon Werner (brother of Furies’ Jonathan).
The Subhumans photos are intriguing. It is possible they weren’t even called the Subhumans yet, as one proto-version of the band performed as “Wimpy & the Bloated Cows”! I don’t know the drummer either, but Joey Shithead could be a possible candidate.
Great pic of Rabid (whose guitarist “Jon Doe” is Jon Williams, later of The Scramblers). Looking on is future Subhumans guitarist Mike Graham, aka Mike Normal. Was the venue The Windmill on Granville Street?
Thanks again for posting Don; here’s wishing you a speedy a complete recovery! – Scott B.
A wonderful post! Must be a treat for DOA fans! You are resting your eye, right?
Hi Scott:
Thank for that info. It really helps to back up what I remember. You’re right I’m sure that the Furies/Dishrags was the first ‘proper’ show but somewhere i have a faint rememberance they’d played one gig before but maybe that was a private gig.
I wish I had a copy of that poster of the Dishrags, for some reason the copies I had have disappeared. It showed up in the background (on a wall) in the Dennis Hopper directed movie Out Of The Blue that was filmed in Vancouver at that time. Movie had sound problems though so video copies I’ve seen are unwatchable.
Again you’re right about the singer in the Skulls, Lee Kendall was Australian I believe and that was the only time I saw him sing.
Yes, that Dishrags poster is on the background, as Dennis Hooper surveys his daughter CeCe’s (Linda Manz) bedroom with disgust at her posters. “Public Enemy, Subhumans… I’d rip those down in one fuckin’ second, man.” Its funny because he says Public Enemy, the name of the Vancouver punk paper, several years before the rap band Public Enemy became famous.
Nice pics – many of them I haven’t seen in years, some completely new to me (the White Rock Skulls’ show..). Yep, ‘Wimpy and the Bloated Cows’ backing up DOA (I think it was DOA’s first show) at the Legion Hall on 4th ave. I opened the show with a crappy school punk band i had put together (The Stimulants) 🙂 Had the DOA guitar job offered to me by Joe that very night if I recall correctly…
The Rabid pic is from a show at a club thst actually pre-dates The Windmill Club and The Smilin Buddah – it’s still there I believe – it was later re-branded ‘Club Soda’ among other names. Mike Graham was always the guitarist for the mighty Subhumans 🙂 other than my very short stint in the 90’s 🙂
Cheers guys
Jon Doe
Excellent. Saw the Subhumans recently here in Galway. Nice to see some longevity in rock and roll from bands without millions and knighthoods.
Assuming that was the UK Subhumans not Vancouver’s
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Furies did an open stage / talent hunt performance at the Blue Boy I think it was called, before these Japanese hall gigs. It was just one set but perhaps it counts as their first performance
Dear Don,
As a member of The Furies that night at the Japanese Hall I remember having my own agenda that night.
How did you like the show?
I remember seeing that pic in the Vancouver Sun the next day – we got better coverage than ELP who were playing to 15,000 to our 300 odd crowd. Come to think of it, it would be great to hear from anyone else who went to that show in July 1977.
cheers
jim walker
Apparently the Skulls relocated to Ontario for a short period of time and played at the Shock Theatre in Toronto on December 21 and 22 1978 – two gigs along with a little known New Jersey band at that time – the Misfits. I wonder if any type of gig flyer was created for this show and if so if one still exists somewhere? The Misfits appearance is mentioned in an old Toronto punk fanzine called “Toranna Punks” March 1978. The Misfits also allegedly played the Horseshoe Tavern in Toronto with the Viletones sometime in October of ’78, but can find no substantiating evidence of this.