Where ya been boys?

There he is folks! Yes, that is the Driving Wheel's drummer man Dan Veitch waaay back in the late '70s when a see-through Fibes kit with 4 rack toms was all the rage. (Those f*ckers were SO LOUD! CB) The last that kit was seen it was buried under a pile of droppings, abandoned on some turkey farm... It's true!
Dan tried to rescue it but to no avail. Sad isn't it? Especially considering they go for big money now.

Dan and Colin's musical, and personal, relations go as far back as the mid-seventies and the early CDN "punk" movement. As members of Discharge ("I'm not a discharge... "), alongside artist Kevin DeForest and future Monuments Galore vocalist Kevin Mears, they played the first Punk Rock Festivals at the University of Manitoba as well as various and sundry art gallery, social hall, bar, and basement gigs. Most often the Discharge gang was to be seen sharing the stage with the likes of Lowlife (featuring future Personality Crisis/Le Kille members/tag team comedians Richard Duguay and Mark Haldorsson), the Psychiatrists (Glen Meadmore anyone?), the Popular Mechanix, and others long since come and gone.

We should have some more pictures, posters and the like posted here in the coming months... Soon as we can go through all our boxes of stuff that is!

After Discharge split in 1979 Dan and Colin went their seperate musical ways for a time. In early 1980 they then began working with Clint Bowman and Matthew "Sid" Challenger, and began to explore reggae and soul sounds in combination with the punk and "60s" styles that had influenced them to that point . Frequently heard sounds on the tape deck at the rehearsal space were the Temptations, Burning Spear, Bob Marely and the Wailers (early sides) and the Who.
Dan soon tired of the increasing emphasis on reggae/dub styles and split. It was nearly 20 years before Dan and Colin would work together again. Truth be told it was nearly 20 years before Dan did another gig! Colin has kept his wee fingers busy on and off ever since.

You can read tales of the DUB RIFLES elsewhere on this website so we'll continue here, well actually here with Colin's musical activities leading up to the DRIVING WHEEL.

Come back here soon for more tidbits of the early WPG Underground scene.

TONY VICAR