Ascensions

Websites:  No
Origin: Sooke, British Columbia, 🇨🇦
Biography:

Formed in 1979 in the isolated logging community of Sooke, British Columbia, The Ascensions emerged from the Titus brothers’ earlier high-school band Sovereign Council. More a hippy-rock outfit than a punk group, they nonetheless carried the raw, outsider energy that marked much of Vancouver Island’s underground scene at the turn of the 1980s. The band — Peter Titus (guitar, vocals), Matthew Nicoll (keyboards), Joel Lepage (bass) and David Titus (drums) — struggled to secure gigs until local venues insisted they needed a 7" single to be taken seriously.

Determined, they entered Legacy Productions in Victoria in December 1980 and recorded their lone release, The Stud backed with Need Some Lovin Times. Of the 500 copies pressed, only around 50 escaped their basement; the remainder were eventually dumped or surfaced years later in thrift stores, giving the record its long-standing reputation as a rare Vancouver Island collectible. Though early copies once fetched as much as $150, recent sales have been far more modest.

The band’s brief arc nonetheless produced a few memorable moments. They appeared on Rogers Cable TV with radio host BJ Bennett, played chaotic, guitar-smashing sets at Bogey’s Rock Cabaret in Langford, and even managed to unite a few hundred international students at Pearson College in Metchosin during a legendary performance that ended with the crowd rushing the stage. Their momentum ended abruptly when Peter Titus was diagnosed with tendonitis in 1982.

In 2006 their A-side, “The Stud,” was restored to wider visibility through its inclusion on the acclaimed 2CD anthology All Your Ears Can Hear: Underground Music in Victoria BC, 1978–1984, accompanied by the previously unreleased home-recorded track “She’s Weird,” offering a rare glimpse into a band whose recorded legacy barely left their hometown.
-Robert Williston

Peter Titus: guitar
David Titus: drums
Matthew Nicoll: keyboards
Bob Richardson: bass