Demo 1981

Klō were a Toronto art-rock/new wave group formed at the turn of the 1980s around brothers Christopher Butterfield and Philip Butterfield, with Rick Sacks becoming a central part of the group’s rhythmic and visual identity. Their music sat somewhere between post-punk, experimental pop and downtown art-rock, using clipped guitar figures, off-centre song structures, danceable rhythms and a deliberately odd sense of humour. Although their catalogue was small, the surviving singles, LP and demo tapes show a band moving restlessly between punk economy, new wave polish and a more theatrical art-school sensibility.

The group first appeared on vinyl in 1980 with the independent Pattern Records single 'No Money' / 'The Parking Lot Song'. Issued in Toronto on the band-linked Pattern Records label, the record introduced the early lineup of Christopher Butterfield, Philip Butterfield, Alan Nagel and Rick Sacks. Recorded in November 1979, it already captured the group’s stripped-down, angular approach: Alan Nagel’s 'No Money' on one side and Christopher Butterfield’s 'The Parking Lot Song' on the other. The single’s handmade feel, small-label presentation and MAPL-marked Canadian identity place it firmly within Toronto’s early independent underground.

By 1981, Klō were already documenting unreleased material on cassette. A surviving demo from that year lists 'Try', 'Clown', 'Weirdo', 'You're Chic' and 'Baby Wants A Baby', all marked © Klō 1981. The tape is especially valuable because it captures a group in transition between the raw 1980 single and the more developed material that followed. Another cassette from 1982 includes 'Fun', 'Weirdo' and 'Dreaming'. The first two tracks would later surface on the UK single, while 'Dreaming', identified on the tape as a CBC recording from Parry Sound on July 27, 1982, appears to document a previously unreleased broadcast-era recording.

Klō’s profile expanded with the 1983 Fun release, followed in 1985 by their full-length album So Baby on I-O Records. By this point the core trio was listed as Philip Butterfield on vocals and guitar, Christopher Butterfield on vocals and guitar, and Rick Sacks on drums, percussion and “Smoothtalker.” The LP widened the band’s palette considerably, bringing in additional players such as Dave Woodhead, Steve Webster, Mike Sloski, Alan Nagel, Ken Myhr, John Forbes and Modular Music. Recorded across multiple studios in Toronto, Buttonville, New York and Parry Sound-related circles, So Baby connected Klō’s local underground origins to a more ambitious studio sound.

The album’s credits also reveal the band’s broader creative world. Terry McKeown produced most of the LP, Greg Roberts produced 'Information', and Steve Webster handled production and mixing on several key tracks. The record was mastered by Peter Norman at McClear Place, with illustration by Sandra Dionisi, photographs by Barry Spiegel and collage by Rick Sacks. Songs such as 'Society Of The Spectacle', 'Bull Elephant', 'Nightshift' and 'Information' show Klō leaning fully into a witty, cerebral and rhythmically charged form of Canadian art-rock.

A final known single, 'Mrs. Fong' / 'Break The Floor', followed in 1987, extending the band’s discography into the later 1980s. Klō never became a mainstream act, but their work now stands as a fascinating piece of Toronto’s independent music history: part new wave, part experimental pop, part downtown art project. The newly surfaced demo cassettes help fill in the missing early chapter, showing that the band’s best-known vinyl releases were only part of a wider body of material.

-Robert Williston