Contradance

Contradance were a short-lived Windsor, Ontario new wave party band active in mid-to-late 1982. The group featured Dave McDonald on bass, Ken Montague on guitar and vocals, and Arif Qureshi on drums, and came out of a small but lively Windsor scene where reggae, punk, campus radio, and new wave overlapped.

Their only known four-song EP, Black Preppies: Look Buffy, four songs just for us!, was released on Dancing Note Records in 1982 and recorded at Aldon Sound 4 Studios in Windsor on August 3, 1982. Built around Montague’s sharp, funny title track, the record became a small local favourite, supported by CJAM and remembered through Windsor and Ann Arbor live appearances during the band’s brief original run.

The EP catches that Windsor campus/new wave moment well, with bright guitar, humour, reggae and pop touches, and a loose party-band feel. 'Black Preppies' is the obvious standout: a catchy satire of preppy fashion, social posing, and trying to fit in without quite wanting to. 'Trouble In The Darkness' stretches out into a smoother reggae-influenced groove, while 'She’s Got An Eyepiece' and 'Professional Dads' show the band’s lighter, oddball pop side.

More than 25 years later, Contradance reunited in 2013 for a CJAM anniversary event, a fitting return for a record that had never entirely disappeared from Windsor campus-radio memory. Brief as they were, Contradance left behind one of those small, funny, highly specific Canadian private-press records that captures a time, a city, and a scene in just four songs.

– Robert Williston

Lineup:
Dave McDonald: bass
Ken Montague: guitar, vocals
Arif Qureshi: drums