CREEPIN' CHESTER Reunion (Hamilton '90s jam-rock Pioneers) Corktown June 11

[briguy]

CREEPIN' CHESTER

w/ Sticky Hans and Make Joy Cry

Friday, June 11, 2010

@ Corktown -- 9PM -- 19+ :: $7

175 Young Street

Hamilton, Ontario, L8N 1V7

http://www.thecorktownpub.ca

Facebook Event Page

CREEPIN’ CHESTER’S REVENGE

Hamilton's tallest band returns!!!

Twenty years after (or thereabouts) infecting Hamiltonians with their untethered, tasty toons, Steeltown's finest folk-rock-jazz-blues-punk-psychedelic combo has emerged from their own towering shadows to shake the city one more time.

Those who recall the blood, sweat n beers spilt over 7 years will be drawn back to the Corktown to endure more Friday, June 11th as the five original members reprise their roles in, "the return of Creepin' Chester!!"

Creepin' Chester - Jim Beer, Stu Griffett, Jamie Shea, Jean Vanhaelen, and Rob Willett - unite forces once more, tapping into the murky, moving sounds that run like bridged-over creeks into Hamilton Harbour.

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Make Joy Cry

Make Joy Cry was formed in late 1991 by guitarist-songwriters Daniel Wintermans and Calvin Hager. Bassist Paul McConnell and drummer Nick Girard were soon added to flesh out ideas. MJC's first show was at the Corktown in late July of 1992, complete with double-projections and 'audio enhancements'. Ahead of their time, and like a shooting star, they burned fast and bright; trashed the 'Trasheteria' and made friends at 'Amigo's'; recorded a dozen songs in various versions in various studios; and eventually broke up in 1997 against the burgeoning atmosphere of disposable pop music.

In late 1999 CH and DW re-emerged as an ambient two-piece, 'head phone over tone', which was augmented by various guest musicians (one of whom being drummer Stu Griffett of Chester fame). HPOT went on hiatus in 2005.

In early 2010, DW ran into PMcC in a local bar, and after a call to CH, MJC was resurrected. No-one has heard from Nick in at least 10 years.

Paul McConnell: bass & vocals

Calvin Hager: guitar & vocals

Daniel Wintermans: guitar & vocals

Special Guest: drums

[briguy]

The Hamilton Spectator

(Jun 10, 2010)

Best Bets

by Graham Rockingham

CREEPIN' CHESTER: One of the pioneering bands of Hamilton's '90s jam-rock scene is getting together for a 20th anniversary reunion. Creepin' Chester -- Jim Beer, Stu Griffett, Jamie Shea, Jean Vanhaelen and Rob Willett -- will take over the Corktown (175 Young St.) tomorrow night. Folk-rock-jazz-blues-punk-psychedelic improvisation. $7. 9 p.m.

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VIEW Magazine

Hamilton Music Notes

by Ric Taylor

June 10 - 16, 2010

Creepin’ Chester Reunite After 13 Years

It was two decades ago that five men would come together to form the beguilingly named Creepin’ Chester. Bands like the Rainbow Butt Monkeys got to open for Creepin’ Chester and while the Butt Monkeys development may have overshadowed the Chesters (particularly with their name change to Finger Eleven), Creepin’ Chester remains one of the biggest bands to a small community of friends and fans that saw them religiously play Amigos, La Luna and the Corktown in the early ‘90s. You may not be familiar with the name because the band sadly parted ways before View began printing – but this weekend the band reunites for one night and we get to catch up.

“It would be the fault of Greenpeace and their initiative to start a Hamilton field office where three of these four Hamiltonian 20–somethings in need of a bass player met up with myself,†recalls Rob Willett setting the scenario for the origins of the band. Jim Beer (rhythm guitar), Stu Griffett (drums), Jamie Shea (lead guitar), Jean Vanhaelen (rhythm guitar), and Rob (bass) came together at a time long before Phish or Sublime really came to popularity but were coming from the same touchstone of the Grateful Dead.

“Each of us brought a little something different to the table that helped develop a sound that helped develop the reputation as, Steeltown’s finest folk–rock–jazz–blues–punk–psychedelic band,†smiles Willett. “Yes, there were Dead comparisons due to the long jam format we seemed to lean to but that said it had what I felt was an aggressive, garage kind of feel. It made for quite the combination.â€

With covers that maybe expanded on that from Dave Brubeck, to the Velvet Underground, Chic and Neil Young – Creepin’ Chester was about the nu–hippies that were gaining steam in the pre–grunge early ‘90s. Everything they did pushed the envelope and offered the band’s off–kilter humour, whether the general populous got it or not.

“Everybody gets so scared about the name,†says Willett. “My grandma used to pull Creeping Charlie weeds from her lawn and no one was scared of that, but mention the Creepin’ Chester moniker and you get a cocked eye. In the end, it meant for good music to listen to while shaking on the dance floor. It was a ton of shows in the Hammer, and I recall 90 per cent of them being something that left everyone smiling.â€

Creepin’ Chester’s sole recording, the cassette entitled Les Poissons Sont Dans La Fromage, captures some of the band’s intent and intensity but as with many youthful dreams, the individual members would quietly pursue their own families, jobs and musical outlets after seven years. Vanhaelen would gravitate to Toronto; Griffett would eventually wind up in BC, while the remaining three members would stay relatively close to their roots. But 13 years after they faded from the scene, a chance email set a reunion in motion.

“A number of people have inquired about the possibility of a reunion over the years,†recalls Willett. “But then through a bizarre set of circumstances involving my hotmail sending a virus to all in my address book and Stu replying with, ‘I think you sent me a virus, wanna do a Chester reunion, please say yes!!!’ there, all of a sudden, was a window of opportunity – specifically a week and a half window that Stu was coming back down here. We’ve all kept our musical chops honed, so it was more to share some of the Chester headiness with those who have been asking to hear those songs once more. That and it’s darned fun.

"We had to come back at least once to provide that recollection of raw, unhinged, yet somewhat creamy music energy that makes you want to be a part of the soundscape around you,†adds Willett. “We are together again; just about finely rehearsed and dang we do still have a lot of energy. We’ll be doing up the CDs, so the cassette crowd can grow with us right into another aging format. But the magic has definitely been flowing at the rehearsal studios although some things changed – I’ve gotten a hell of a lot greyer. Seriously, it’s good music, it’s fun music, it’s head shaking music, it’s head probing music. This is about sharing smiles, that Chester sound and fun times that make some bodies move.â€

Creepin’ Chester reunite at the Corktown this Friday June 11 with Make Joy Cry (reuniting as well) and Sticky Hans. Click on the Corktownpub.ca

[briguy]

Old school Fat Cats fans might remember Chester from the early 90s Dundas scene (and La Luna), specifically a gig at the Dundas Driving Park with the Fatties and Roadside Attraction. Or was it High Times and Roadside Attraction? I think it was Fat Cats.

[briguy]

It's not Chester related but it's from that time and I thought it would be neat to share.

[briguy]

and this one

[hamilton]

Ha! I was at that Fat Cats/Roadside Attraction gig at the Tivoli. Maybe 1992? And I sure remember Creeping Chester at La Luna. Good times.