The Dishes (band)

The Dishes were a New Wave band from the first era of punk rock in the late 1970s in Toronto, Canada.

History

The Dishes were formed in 1975 with a lineup of Murray Ball (vocals), Scott Davey (guitar), Steven Davey (drums), Ken Farr (bass) and Michael Lacroix (saxophone) later joined by Glenn Schellenberg (keyboards) Their sound was heavily influenced by art-rock bands like Roxy Music, David Bowie, Sparx, Genesis (Peter Gabriel era) and King Crimson with a fondness for comedy and the use of props during their live shows. They were one of the earliest bands of the New Wave era in Toronto along with Rough Trade and both bands were notable in having openly gay members. Both bands played gigs at the Ontario College Of Art before playing regular gigs at the Beverly Tavern. The success of these nights led to an opening for other bands in the burgeoning scene like The Diodes, The Curse, B-Girls (band), Martha and the Muffins, The Viletones, The Ugly, Teenage Head and FM with Nash The Slash.

Their musical style had little in common with the loud and fast three chord punk of much of the era having more in common with art-punk bands of the era such as the Talking Heads (who they opened for) and early (John Foxx era) Ultravox and the band would continue to do art gallery gigs including shows with the art collective General Idea and at fashion shows.

The band recorded an ep entitled Fashion Plates in 1977 becoming the first Toronto band to record and release a record longer than a 45 single. In 1978 they released a second ep "Hot Property". in 1977 The Dishes also filmed a televised concert for TV Ontario becoming the second Canadian New Wave band to appear on television after FM had previously done a TV Ontario show in 1976. With their art school background the band were notable for their use of visual and graphic arts in aggressive street postering and starting a fanzine all done in collaboration with General Idea who also designed their record sleeves.

The band broke up in 1978 although they did reunite for a show at the Winnipeg Art Gallery in 1984. Steven Davey would switch to vocals and start a new band, The Everglades, who would record a single "Rock And Roll Cliche" and contribute two songs on the "The Last Pogo" soundtrack although they do not appear in the film. Davey would later go on to become a journalist for The Toronto Star, MacLean's Magazine, Xtra and Now Magazine. He died in 2014. Scott Davey joined a new band The Sharks with Sherry Kean and played with Rough Trade. Ken Farr joined Drastic Measures, who had also played the Last Pogo. Murray Ball became a club owner.

Members of the band appear in the documentary "The Last Pogo Jumps Again". A CD of their collected works was released in 2002.

References

External Links

See also

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