Deacons Timeline I – pre-history

Posted: January 5, 2007

mid- 1970′s

Dan Thorpe and David Crossley meet while in high school in Burlington, Ont. “Dan bought a guitar that I had my eye on at a local music shop, and I was insanely jealous. However, it turned out he was a pretty cool guy!”

1978

Dan moves to Ottawa, David moves to Toronto, to pursue their fortunes. It looks like the end of the story, until…

1979

…both move back again. They move into an apartment building at 490 Nelson Avenue in Burlington. One of the the first things they notice is this gawdawful noise coming out of an apartment down the hall from Dave’s. They eventually identify the noise as…

1980

…an electric guitar. Intrigued, they invite the young man to jam. His name is Rick Prinsthal, and months later, he and Dave form a band with drummer Roger Davies, who Rick knows from school. The band is dubbed “The Paperboys” by Oh-No’s singer Bill Wood.

1981

The Paperboys enter the studio (Comfort Sound in Toronto) for the first time. The end result is a single – “Lookin’ for Sharron” b/w “Saturday 12 Midnight”. It’s co-produced with Dan (his first production credit), who also plays some additional guitar.

1982

“Sharron” is released just as Rick graduates from high school. The ‘boys play the last school dance of the year with another Burlington band, The Filters. The Filters’ management is so taken with Rick they ask him to join that band as frontman.

The reconstituted Filters are renamed Channel 5, and immediately enter the studio. They record an EP, and set about touring to support it. It’s at this point Rick adopts the stage name “Ricky Rose” for the first time. Months later, Rick is sacked for looking disinterested onstage. “They wouldn’t let me play guitar!”, he complained