Slow

Websites:  No
Origin: Vancouver, British Columbia
Biography:

Vocalist Tom Anselmi and guitarist Christian Thor Valdson (or "Thorvaldson" as some sources list) made up the nucleus of the legendary Slow, who also featured Ziggy Sigmund on second guitar, Stephen Hamm on bass and Terry Russell on drums. To date, no known photo of the group has been found (I'll get to the one above in just a minute).

Call these guys Punk, call them Garage Punk, or even Proto-Grunge. But they preferred to describe themselves as "Demolition Rock".

An apt name, to be sure, considering that in the space of a year, Slow went from playing to a handful of friends to headlining some of the larger venues in Vancouver, BC via word of mouth regarding their live shows.

In 1985, the band recorded and released the I Broke The Circle 7". (It was recently voted the 40th Best Canadian Single of All Time in Chartattack Magazine -RCR)

This was the recording they would tour the pacific northwest with. It should be noted that the band did this during the mid-to-late-80's. They toured Seattle wearing lumberjack shirts and played grungey, 70's-influenced hard rock infused with punk. Sound familiar? Yes, these guys were the original inspiration for the Seattle Grunge movement of the early 90's. I once read a story, where Art Bergmann, of the K-Tels/Young Canadians was once approached by an American record guy about checking out a new group called Mudhoney. The guy was so excited about this great, brand new music and wanted to know what Bergmann thought about them. Bergmann dismissed the band as poseurs. "So what? We've got a group in Vancouver named Slow who are the real thing." (Or something to that effect, I'm not actually quoting - just typing from memory).

However, Slow more or less self-destructed a couple months after shutting down the independent music festival at Expo '86. Accounts are somewhat sketchy as to what really happened: the band reportedly "exposed" themselves on stage. It is't known whether they mooned the audience or pulled a Jim Morrison (it was a "Jim Morrison" - RCR). Either way, obscenity charges were pending and authorities shut down the concert. Apparently, audience members rioted - even forcing their way into a local TV station during a live broadcast, and further forcing the closure of said Expo.

That pretty much spelled the end, of that incarnation of the group. Hamm and Terry went on to form Tankhog. As soon as I get my hands on some of their music, I'll create a separate post. Stephen Hamm would also get together with Robert Dayton as Big Hamm and Little Hamm, in Canned Hamm.

Meanwhile, Anselmi and Thor Valdson hooked up with Eric Marxson and Pete Bourne. The band emerged anew as ©. They recorded and released the critically acclaimed, but ill-fated, Circle C album, in 1990. Six years later, they re-emerged as Copyright (ie, the 'Circle C' logo and album name).