gentlemen of horror

What do you do in small town Kelowna BC in 1980 when you’re a teenager with nothing to do except hang out at Porcos Pool Hall ? You form a punk band, cut off all your hair and get chased around town on Friday nights by red necks.The Gentlemen of Horror was formed by Me, Tom Hooper (punk name "Casey Casem") on guitar and vocals,my brother Chris Hooper (punk name "Nigel Watts") drums and a friend of mine from school , Donny Walchuck (punk name "Friendly Giant") on the bass.We formed in the summer of 1980, practicing at Donny's Parent’s house which was located on one of Kelowna's finest golf courses. Golfers were often entertained by the band who frequently practiced with the doors open so the public could enjoy their music. G.O.H. released their first and only record in Jan.1981 -- a 5 song 7 inch 45 of which they pressed only 200 copies. The record has been known to sell for over $400 on E-bay and other on-line music services.G.O.H. probably only played 20 shows, mostly due to the fact that there was nowhere to play in Kelowna at the time,we would put our own shows on, mostly at a place called Kadac Hall, but the the only people who ever showed up were our 6 friends. The most memorable Kelowna gig was an outdoor show at the local city park bandstand. I was 14 at the time and I had booked the show over the phone with a city rep. I told them it was a rock band to get the gig. We then proceeded to put up poster's all over town announcing the big punk rock show in city park. Two day's before the show I get a call from city hall asking me to come down for a meeting. I had already received the contract in the mail and knew that they could not cancel the show without 72 hrs notice or something like that so I went to meet them. They must have been a little surprised to see this little kid with a shaved head who's voice hadn't changed yet confidently telling them that they couldn't cancel the show because of the contract.They were concerned because they didn't know it was going to be a PUNK rock show.The night of the show the park was jammed with over 500 people out to see the big punk show, including the mayor.First, Penticton's own "Sick Society" took the stage. The audience who were unaccustomed to anything other than the usual Doobie Bros. or Air Supply fare were taken aback at the sheer sloppy noise of it all and started to boo and throw beer bottles (stubbies). Next up Kelowna's quirky, arty Empty Set (featuring future Grape Kevin Kane and future 54/40 Darryl Neudorf) really got the crowd angry, as the bottles started to come fast and furious. Lastly, the Gentlemen of Horror raged through our set of minute-long speedcore songs, all the while screaming and ranting about religion and old people -- guaranteeing to piss off all the hippies and rednecks and mostly everyone else in the crowd. Soon the crowd was chanting as the bottles flew, the cops had arrived as well, it was our dad who thought that we should get our stuff loaded in the cars as soon as possible for safety reasons. After returning to Donny’s folks house for an after gig swim and a couple bottles of Pop Shoppe pop, we got a call from Bruce Mitchell, the music reviewer from the local paper who wondered who we were and to say what a great time he’d had. He would become a big supporter of ours over the years.The Gent's would have to drive the 7 hours to Vancouver or Victoria to play gigs and buy records.We borrowed my dad's car to play the Smiling Buddha in Vancouver, the mecca of Vancouver punk rock, backing up our heroes The Subhumans. It was a very enlightening time -- the Smiling Buddha was not what I expected. It was way smaller and not as scary as I had imagined, although I do recall on the second night someone got stabbed outside."The Gentlemen of Horror broke up in 1983 after headlining Victoria B.C's Hardcore '83, which also featured such acts as the Day Glow Abortions, Red Tide and the Neos. 2002 saw the re-release of the 1981 e.p. on American label Dionysus Records, and after 21 years of obscurity, The Gentlemen of Horror e.p. was charting on university campus radio. My brother Chris and I went onto a successful musical career as early Nettwerk recording(then EMI) artists The Grapes of Wrath.A new Gentlemen of Horror collection will be available on i-tunes,featuring the original 5 song 45 recordings and extremely rare never released material from 81-83.