Welcome to the Spoons music and video archive. These are live shows, videos and other Spoons related material that you might enjoy.
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Spoons played their first show together on December 14 1979 at their high school in Burlington Ontario. The first incarnation of the band featured Gord Deppe on Guitar and Vocals, Sandy Horne on Bass and Vocals, Derrick Ross on Drums and Brett Wickens on Keyboards. The band recorded the single After The Institution/My Job, which was released on Mannequin Records with a run of 1000 copies. Wickens left soon after and formed Ceramic Hello.
Rob Preuss, a 15-year-old fan of the band joined in 1980 to replace the departed Wickens and in 1981 the band released their first album Stick Figure Neighbourhood on Ready Records which topped Canadian Campus music charts without the aid of a single. Opening spots for OMD, Simple Minds and The Police soon followed in 81 through 82. Big strides for a new band!
The quirky Talking Heads-esqe album was followed in April 1982 with the new single Nova Heart/Symmetry produced by John Punter of Roxy Music/Japan fame. The song was a huge New Wave hit going top 10 and laid the groundwork for the New Wave masterpiece Arias & Symphonies which followed in October. The Arias album is considered by many to be one of the finest examples of New Wave music to come out of Canada and spawned two more singles, Smiling In Winter and the title track.
In the spring of 1983 the band was spotted in NYC opening for Culture Club by Funk/Dicso icon Nile Rodgers of Chic fame. Rodgers approached Ready Records about producing the band and in 1983 the fruits of the union were released as the band's 3rd album Talk Back. The album was slightly less synthesizer oriented and yielded the hit singles Old Emotions, Talk Back and The Rhythm. In 1984 the band reunited with Rodgers to record what would become their commercial zenith single in Tell No Lies/Romantic Traffic. The band had again changed their sound with the addition of Phil Poppa and Tony Carlucci on saxophone and trumpet respectively. Both songs were huge hits and produced classic videos. The band toured Canada extensively during this period. In the midst of this Gord Deppe also wrote the soundtrack to the Ron Mann movie Listen To The City that featured Jim Caroll and Sandy Horne in lead roles and Gord in a small cameo. The album also featured contributions by Sandy and Rob. December 31 1985 in Calgary Alberta saw the last show to feature Preuss and Ross who both amicably left the band to pursue other avenues. Rob joined Honeymoon Suite before moving into Musical Theatre in Toronto and then Broadway while Ross ventured into the management/A&R side of the music industry. These were also the band's final releases under the Ready Records flag (until Limited Edition was released in 2008).
Following the departure of Preuss and Ross, the band added Steve Kendry on Drums and Scott MacDonald on Keyboards and shed the horn section. 1986 saw the rock oriented release of Bridges Over Borders, most of the songs having been road tested in 84/85. The album produced 3 more singles with Rodeo, Be Alone Tonight and the title track (which had its genesis under earlier titles In The Hands Of Money and Cool Life). Colin Cripps was brought on as second guitar and sax to flesh out the live sound and appeared in the Rodeo video as well. Two years later the band reunited in Wales to record the Vertigo Tango album. Again rockier than any of it's predecessors the album produced three more hits, Sooner Or Later, When Time Turns Around and their final big hit Waterline.
The band stopped recording together following this to pursue side projects and families. Gord formed Beyond 7, Thread and Five Star Fall while Sandy released a few albums under the Amaris and Dog Won't Bite monikers. The band never actually broke up, however. In 1994 the hits of the Ready Records era was released as the 14 song Collectible Spoons. Throughout the 90s and early 00's the band played periodically around the Toronto/Southern Ontario region keeping the name alive. Since 2006 the band has played more frequently partly due to the online presence of their www.thespoons.ca website and partly due to the release of the Much More Music Presents "The Spoons Live In Concert DVD" both of which brought focus to them once again.
Following up on a forum thread regarding vintage Deppe/Horne/Preuss/Ross material played during their Ontario Place Forum spectacles of 1984/1985 Gord searched through his archive of material and put together the album Unexpected Guest At A Cancelled Party comprised entirely of songs recorded during that era but never released (and named for the instrumental b-side of the Talk Back single). 2000 Years was a continuation of Nova Heart while other live favorites such as In The Hands Of Money, Unpremeditated Love, Love Drum, No Promises and Young English Gentleman finally saw the light of day to the delight of their many fans. In 2008 the Limited Edition CD was released to replace the out of print Collectible Spoons disc.
l to r: Steve Kendry, Sandy Horne, Gord Deppe, Steve Sweeney
The band continue to play live shows around Ontario and occasionally beyond and in 2009 celebrate their 30th year together as one of Canada's most popular and influential New Wave/Alt Pop bands. 2010 marks the 30th anniversary of their first sinlge After The Institution/My Job.
