United Empire Loyalists

Websites:  https://citizenfreak.com/titles/305324-uproar-different-drummer-b-w-look-who-we-are
Origin: Vancouver, British Columbia, 🇨🇦
Biography:

United Empire Loyalists
Vancouver, British Columbia | 1965–1970

The United Empire Loyalists were a pioneering psychedelic rock band that emerged from Vancouver’s vibrant 1960s counterculture. Known for their intense live shows, extended improvisational jams, and deep integration with the city’s underground scene, the Loyalists became one of British Columbia’s most vital musical voices—despite releasing just a single 45 during their career.

Formed in 1965 as The Molesters, the original lineup featured Jeff Ridley (rhythm guitar, vocals), Anton “Tom” Kolstee (lead guitar), Richard Cruickshank (drums), Bruce Dowd (bass), and Mike Trew (vocals/keys). With early influences rooted in raw R&B and British Invasion rock—especially the Rolling Stones—the group soon realized a rebrand was in order. After opening for the Tom Northcott Trio at the Pender Auditorium, Kolstee proposed the name United Empire Loyalists, pulled from a high school social studies class. The name stuck, and their music quickly evolved to match the cultural upheaval around them.

The turning point came in 1966 when singer/bassist Rick Enns, fresh off a summer stint with the Tom Northcott Trio in San Francisco, joined the group. With Enns’ songwriting and melodic bass work, the Loyalists embraced a new sound heavily influenced by the San Francisco scene—long-form jams, modal exploration, and heavy doses of blues and psychedelia. Rehearsals often turned into three-hour jam sessions, developing original compositions like “Buffalo Wilkie” and “Looking and Searching.”

That same year, they opened for the Grateful Dead during the Dead’s first Vancouver visit, even hosting a now-legendary practice session at Cruickshank’s West Vancouver home. They later opened for Cream, Canned Heat, Country Joe & The Fish, The Yardbirds, The Steve Miller Band, and others, becoming a fixture at Vancouver venues like The Afterthought, Pender Auditorium, and the Retinal Circus.

In 1968, they recorded and independently released the single “No, No, No” / “Afraid of the Dark”, a bluesy, garage-rock stormer inspired by Willie Cobbs and filtered through the Dead’s interpretation. Only 200 copies were pressed, making it one of the rarest artifacts from the Vancouver scene. While the band saw the single as a flirtation with commercialism, it did help them build a cult following and land an appearance on the CBC’s Enterprise television series. Their filmed performance—one of the first nationally broadcast psychedelic music specials in Canada—cemented their status as underground legends.

Personnel changes followed: Richard Cruickshank was replaced first by Ted Lewis (later known as Duris Maxwell) and then by Glen Hendrickson, whose heavy, rhythmic playing added drive to the band’s increasingly complex sound. In 1970, Kolstee departed after a failed attempt to join the Siegel-Schwall Band in Chicago and subsequently pursued a PhD in ethnomusicology. By the early 1970s, the band—reduced to a power trio of Enns, Ridley, and Hendrickson—played their final gigs in a rapidly changing scene dominated by strip clubs and shrinking opportunities for psychedelic rock.

In 1990, the original members reunited for a CBC documentary on Vancouver’s 1960s scene. This prompted renewed interest, culminating in the 1998 release of Notes from the Underground, a compilation of 13 archival tracks from live performances, CBC sessions, and unreleased studio material. Though the original 45 “No, No, No” was curiously absent, the collection captured the band’s spirit: wild, exploratory, uncompromising.

Notably, Jeff Ridley and Glen Hendrickson continued on with the short-lived but critically praised band Uproar, which opened for Frank Zappa and the Mothers of Invention in 1971 and landed a local radio hit with “Different Drummer.”

The United Empire Loyalists left behind only a handful of recordings, but their impact on Vancouver’s psychedelic scene—and their proximity to some of its most formative events—makes them a key chapter in Canadian rock history. Equal parts acid jam, youthful rebellion, and west coast mysticism, they were, as Ridley once said, “excellent food for the brains of space travellers.”
-Robert Williston

United Empire Loyalists – Lineups (1965–1970)
1965 – Original lineup (as The Molesters):
Mike Trew: lead vocals, keyboards
Anton “Tom” Kolstee: lead guitar
Jeff Ridley: rhythm guitar, vocals
Bruce Dowd: bass
Richard Cruickshank: drums

Late 1966 – Classic early Loyalists lineup:
Rick Enns: lead vocals, bass
Anton “Tom” Kolstee: lead guitar
Jeff Ridley: rhythm guitar, vocals
Richard Cruickshank: drums

This is the lineup that recorded the 1968 single “No, No, No” / “Afraid of the Dark.”

Early 1968 – Brief transitional lineup:
Rick Enns: lead vocals, bass
Anton “Tom” Kolstee: lead guitar
Jeff Ridley: rhythm guitar, vocals
Ted Lewis (Duris Maxwell): drums

1968–1969 – Second classic lineup:
Rick Enns: lead vocals, bass
Anton “Tom” Kolstee: lead guitar
Jeff Ridley: rhythm guitar, vocals
Glen Hendrickson: drums

This lineup appears on much of the live and studio material later released on Notes from the Underground.

1969–1970 – Final trio configuration:
Rick Enns: lead vocals, bass
Jeff Ridley: guitar, vocals (combined lead/rhythm)
Glen Hendrickson: drums

Performed as a three-piece during the band’s final phase.