Parousia (Perousia) landed a back-to-back gig on a Saturday and Sunday night in January and found ourselves on the same bill with some great talent. It was a good weekend at McVans. College students were out of school, Out of town visitors were back in Buffalo for the Holidays, and that meant lots of people came to party at Mc Vans.
McVan’s Buffalo Evening News, ‘Gusto’ ad. Friday, Saturday & Sunday Jan. 5th, 6th & 7th 1979
It all started on Friday with a New Wave/punk flavor to it starting with the Enemies, one of the better punk bands at McVans. They released an album that generated good reviews and were getting generous airplay on WBFO and elsewhere.
Following the Enemies, the George took the stage, a very entertaining new wave/punk group. (See Parousia and the George at the Masthead 04.16.1979).
And if that wasn’t enough for ya’ then get ready for Electroman to take the stage, featuring the ever eclectic Mark Freeland. Wow, this line up at McVans was giving the Continental Club and Nietzsche’s (two other popular new wave/punk clubs located in downtown Buffalo) some stiff competition as to who was “punkier”. I still consider McVans the leader in that category, until it closed down…Then the Continental Club became the hub of the movement. But there was something that McVans had that the Continental & Nietzsche’s didn’t… Mark Freeland’s loyalty and that aspect alone helped keep McVans a popular venue throughout the late 70’s. At the time, Mark had at least three bands performing at the club and built up a strong fan-base in Buffalo. Good for him and good for Joe-T rose, the owner of McVans.
Mark Freeland’s Electroman 45 vinyl single, ‘Let’s stay up and party ’till six in the morning’
Also playing on Friday was a Buffalo NY, “avante garage” band, the Vores who began many years ago and had a few vinyl 45’s recorded and then two albums. The most recent one, Common Scar, was released in the summer of 2012.
Buffalo punk band, the Vores
On Saturday January 6th at McVans, Parousia performed with the very talented Kent Weber and his band Aunt Helen. Aunt Helen was still ‘riding high’ on heels of their single, “Big Money” and “Rebecca” released on vinyl in 1978. We knew he would bring in a good crowd and sure enough, between both of our bands fan base, the club was packed tonight with college kids (thank-you Christmas break).
Kent Weber with the band ‘Aunt Helen’- 45 Vinyl record featuring, “Big Money” & “Rebecca”
Bassist Kent Weber – 1970’s. Nice cape!
We have some audio recordings of our performance that night including cover songs “the Portrait” (by Kansas), “Cat Scratch Fever” (by the venerable Ted Nugent), “Summer Sky” an original solo electric guitar instrumental written and performed by Barry Cannizzaro and then “School” (by SuperTramp). The Portrait is introduced by our good friend and fan, Mike Holcomb. You can see Mike’s smiling puss in our photos posted elsewhere on this web site, see” Video” category: ‘The Journey to Dallas, TX” for Keep Running Video Production 1984’.
Parousia at historic McVan’s 1979; Pictured left to right: Barry, Bob (behind Kim), Kim, Patt and Garth.
Then on Sunday, January 7th, we did it all again solo! Rocking out on a Christmas Vacation weekend!
Info about Mark Freeland:
Mark Freeland, one of Buffalo’s most enduring personalities of the past four decades, passed away on June 14th 2007. An endearing article about Mark’s life and death was published in the Art Voice, written by Dale Anderson.
For another great place to remember Mark and all the bands he performed in and all the art he created check out: http://www.markfreeland.com and the Mark Freeland Facebook page.
Mark Freeland, one of Buffalo’s most enduring personalities passed away on June 14th 2007. RIP Mark!
Info about Joe Bompczyk and the Enemies:
On September 7th, 2010 Joe Bompczyk, pioneer and guitarist of 1980’s Buffalo punk band ‘The Enemies’, died at the age of 55. Interesting fact: “Disconnected” a song written by Bompczyk and The Enemies, was covered, 15 years later by The Goo Goo Dolls on their hugely popular album ‘A Boy Named Goo’. Bompczyk played in other influential, Buffalo based acts including, ‘The Restless’ and ‘Fredmann’s Curve’. Here’s a link to the song ‘Disconnected’ performed by the band Fredmann’s curve.
Billy Piranha and The Enemies
I played guitar in a band there in the late 1970’s. It was a dream of mine to play there after seeing all the bands playing there like the Toys, Electroman, Rodan, Pegasus. The lower level had very low ceilings, everything was painted black including the “dressing rooms” which were pretty disgusting looking and lined with graffiti. RIP Joe Terose.