Teaze was one of those '70s bands that never quite made it. They were a hard rocking, hard working band from Windsor, Ontario, and this LP, released in 1978, was probably the closest they got to The Big Time. It spawned a couple of hits with Stay Here and Sweet Misery. They later toured Japan and released a live album compiled from their shows there.
They also released a couple of other studio albums, but nothing ever really happened for them and they eventually disbanded in 1981. Myles Goodwyn, of April Wine fame, later produced a couple “best of” packages, one of which became the band’s best selling album.
I saw them play at Hamilton's Mohawk College when I was 17 or 18. I lived just down the road in Burlington and hitch-hiked to the show. I was hitch-hiking home afterwards when a wood-panelled station wagon pulled over to pick me up. It was the band, and they were all piled into the two front seats with all their equipment stuffed into the back. I squeezed into the backseat and, as we drove along King Street, the guitarist, Brian Danter, asked me if I wanted to buy a guitar and showed me a really cool-looking white Ovation with a curved top. I don’t know if he was serious, but I couldn’t have afforded it anyway.
They said they were hungry and wanted to know where they could get something to eat, so I steered them to a nearby Swiss Chalet and we all went in and enjoyed a meal together. Then they drove me home and continued on to their next gig, wherever it was. Nice guys!
On The Loose is not a great album, although it has some great moments. Straight ahead rock and roll, a la 1970s.
It’s been 40-plus years since Teaze buttered themselves into spandex and sang about girls and rock and roll and sex and raising hell - but they're back.
Well, sort of.
A few years ago Danter, who founded the band way back when, brought back guitarist Mark Bradac, drummer Mike Kozak and, for a few appearances, added guitarist Chuck Price. Newcomer Charlie Lambrick would later hold down Price's slot in the band when he departed.
Now almost 70 and a grandfather, Danter remembers what it was like when Teaze was working its ass off trying to make it and spending a lot of time on the road opening shows for the likes of Aerosmith, Cheap Trick and Blue Oyster Cult. From 1977-80 the band released four studio albums, plus the aforementioned live album compiled from a successful tour of Japan in 1978. “We had trampolines in Japan," Danter remembered. "They were built into the stage, on either side. We’d jump off our amps and onto these trampolines and be catapulted eight or 10 feet into the air.”
But Teaze wouldn’t last. Shortly after their fourth album was released and just as they were making some headway in the biz, Danter dropped a holy bombshell on the rest of the band and announced he was leaving rock and roll for religion. He loved playing in the band but didn't like the associated culture and lifestyle that came with it. With his departure the band's record label, Aquarius, dropped them, and before long Teaze was no more.
I'd have been really pissed if I was one of the other band members. All that hard work - POOF! - gone, just like that. For some dumb religion? Seems like such a shame, and whatever happened to the separation of church and rock, anyway?
But I digress.
The '78 tour of Japan seems to have played a part in the band's, um, resurrection. Someone who saw them at that time suggested the band reunite for a Japanese benefit concert in aid of the victims of the 2011 tsunami and earthquake. That never happened, but it sparked something in Danter and the group reconvened and started rehearsing. But it's not the same. The religion is still lurking beneath the surface like an ingrown hair. Danter says he’s had to modify certain lyrics to better reflect his beliefs, and many of the other songs in the Teaze catalog won't be on any future setlists. God, it seems, wouldn't like them. Which begs the question: what the hell's the point? I mean, honestly, why bother?
Teaze performed for the first time in 39 years at the Old Walkerville Theatre in their hometown of Windsor, Ontario, in April, 2019. They called it the Resurrection Concert, which seems kinda lame and suggests Danter is still trying to work out his demons. Other shows followed and they're still at it, although sporadically.
A good band derailed for no good reason. And despite the reunion and the occasional show there won't be a second coming of Teaze. Their time has passed, and this record is in my collection mostly for sentimental reasons. But it's also a good record - not anywhere near great - but it has some good music in the grooves that hints at what could have been.
Teaze was one of those '70s bands that never quite made it. They were a hard rocking, hard working band from Windsor, Ontario, and this LP, released in 1978, was probably the closest they got to The Big Time. It spawned a couple of hits with Stay Here and Sweet Misery. They later toured Japan and released a live album compiled from their shows there.
They also released a couple of other studio albums, but nothing ever really happened for them and they eventually disbanded in 1981. Myles Goodwyn, of April Wine fame, later produced a couple “best of” packages, one of which became the band’s best selling album.
I saw them play at Hamilton's Mohawk College when I was 17 or 18. I lived just down the road in Burlington and hitch-hiked to the show. I was hitch-hiking home afterwards when a wood-panelled station wagon pulled over to pick me up. It was the band, and they were all piled into the two front seats with all their equipment stuffed into the back. As we drove along King Street, the guitarist, Brian Danter, asked me if I wanted to buy a guitar and showed me a really cool-looking white Ovation with a curved top. I don’t know if he was serious, but I couldn’t have afforded it anyway.
They said they were hungry and wanted to know where they could get something to eat, so I steered them to a nearby Swiss Chalet and we all went in and enjoyed a meal together. Then they drove me home and continued on to their next gig, wherever it was. Nice guys!
On The Loose is not a great album, although it has some great moments. Straight ahead rock and roll, a la 1970s.
It’s been 40-plus years since Teaze buttered themselves into spandex and sang about girls and rock and roll and sex and raising hell - but they're back.
Well, sort of.
A few years ago Danter, who founded the band way back when, brought back guitarist Mark Bradac, drummer Mike Kozak and, for a few appearances, added guitarist Chuck Price. Newcomer Charlie Lambrick would later hold down Price's slot in the band when he departed.
Now almost 70 and a grandfather, Danter remembers what it was like when Teaze was working its ass off trying to make it and spending a lot of time on the road opening shows for the likes of Aerosmith, Cheap Trick and Blue Oyster Cult. From 1977-80 the band released four studio albums, plus the aforementioned live album compiled from a successful tour of Japan in 1978. “We had trampolines in Japan," Danter remembered. "They were built into the stage, on either side. We’d jump off our amps and onto these trampolines and be catapulted eight or 10 feet into the air.”
But Teaze wouldn’t last. Shortly after their fourth album was released and just as they were making some headway in the biz, Danter dropped a holy bombshell on the rest of the band and announced he was leaving rock and roll for religion. He loved playing in the band but didn't like the associated culture and lifestyle that came with it. With his departure the band's record label, Aquarius, dropped them, and before long Teaze was no more.
I'd have been really pissed if I was one of the other band members. All that hard work - POOF! - gone, just like that. For some dumb religion? Seems like such a shame, and whatever happened to the separation of church and rock, anyway?
But I digress.
The '78 tour of Japan seems to have played a part in the band's, um, resurrection. Someone who saw them at that time suggested the band reunite for a Japanese benefit concert in aid of the victims of the 2011 tsunami and earthquake. That never happened, but it sparked something in Danter and the group reconvened and started rehearsing. But it's not the same. The religion is still lurking beneath the surface like an ingrown hair. Danter says he’s had to modify certain lyrics to better reflect his beliefs, and many of the other songs in the Teaze catalog won't be on any future setlists. God, it seems, wouldn't like them. Which begs the question: what the hell's the point? I mean, honestly, why bother?
Teaze performed for the first time in 39 years at the Old Walkerville Theatre in their hometown of Windsor, Ontario, in April, 2019. They called it the Resurrection Concert, which seems kinda lame and suggests Danter is still trying to work out his demons. Other shows followed and they're still at it, although sporadically.
A good band derailed for no good reason. And despite the reunion and the occasional show there won't be a second coming of Teaze. Their time has passed, and this record is in my collection mostly for sentimental reasons. But it's also a good record - not anywhere near great - but it has some good music in the grooves that hints at what could have been.
BONUS TRACK
FROM THE WINDSOR STAR, JUNE 24, 2016
The name and logo of a local 1970’s rock group has allegedly been stolen by an American band soon to share a stage with legendary band KISS. Even a little band from Windsor needs its fair share of justice, said Mark Bradac, former Teaze guitarist.
“There is a band of thieves that have now stolen our name, our logo and our image, they even look like us, and they’re playing on tour with KISS,” Bradac, who has been using social media to campaign against the band, said Thursday. “Of course, I went crazy and freaked out.”
The original Teaze is a local band from Windsor, born in 1975. The band recorded four studio albums and toured in Japan. During that tour, they were met with sold-out stadiums and mobs at the airports. The group disbanded in 1981.
The American band’s name has a diaeresis - two dots above the first “e” in Teaze. The band will be playing on the KISS Kruise VI in November. Their name on the Kruise poster does not have a diaeresis nor does their Facebook page name and several of their posts.
“People have no respect for intellectual rights,” said Bradac, who received a call from a friend a few days ago telling him to look at the poster. “We worked hard on that name for many years and it’s still a viable name and we’re still selling product, so it just screws everything up.”
“We might be little guys from Windsor, Ontario, Canada, but it’s happening too much,” he said.
With the debacle capturing international attention, the 70’s band has made it, once more, onto the airwaves.
The 60-year-old musician has interviews scheduled with various Michigan-based and Canada-wide shows and was contacted by renowned American lawyer Geoffrey Fieger on Thursday.
Fieger called Bradac’s pawn shop and told the store’s employees that his brother Doug Fieger was once part of a band called Knack. He said Knack had been with Capitol Records at the same time as Teaze was, said Bradac.
“He told an employee, ‘this is (crap),’” he said. “You work for so many years to develop a name, for something you believe in, and then you got these young guys that show up and they decide they have the arrogance to just rip your name off,” said Bradac. “You just can’t have that.”
Unidisc Music Inc. in Montreal now owns the internationally trademarked name, said Bradac. “I don’t own the name, because we’re now with Unidisc Records, that’s who owns our catalogues, so they own the name,” he said.
Bradac said he just wants to set things right. “I’m hoping for the right thing to be done, for them to drop the name,” he said. “When you start touring with international acts like KISS you can’t be stealing someones rights, I mean this isn’t just about my rights, its about all our rights.”
My take: why would anyone want to be Teaze? There's not a lot to steal. Maybe they should just turn the other cheek.
FROM THE WINDSOR STAR, JUNE 24, 2016
The name and logo of a local 1970’s rock group has allegedly been stolen by an American band soon to share a stage with legendary band KISS. Even a little band from Windsor needs its fair share of justice, said Mark Bradac, former Teaze guitarist.
“There is a band of thieves that have now stolen our name, our logo and our image, they even look like us, and they’re playing on tour with KISS,” Bradac, who has been using social media to campaign against the band, said Thursday. “Of course, I went crazy and freaked out.”
The original Teaze is a local band from Windsor, born in 1975. The band recorded four studio albums and toured in Japan. During that tour, they were met with sold-out stadiums and mobs at the airports. The group disbanded in 1981.
The American band’s name has a diaeresis - two dots above the first “e” in Teaze. The band will be playing on the KISS Kruise VI in November. Their name on the Kruise poster does not have a diaeresis nor does their Facebook page name and several of their posts.
“People have no respect for intellectual rights,” said Bradac, who received a call from a friend a few days ago telling him to look at the poster. “We worked hard on that name for many years and it’s still a viable name and we’re still selling product, so it just screws everything up.”
“We might be little guys from Windsor, Ontario, Canada, but it’s happening too much,” he said.
With the debacle capturing international attention, the 70’s band has made it, once more, onto the airwaves.
The 60-year-old musician has interviews scheduled with various Michigan-based and Canada-wide shows and was contacted by renowned American lawyer Geoffrey Fieger on Thursday.
Fieger called Bradac’s pawn shop and told the store’s employees that his brother Doug Fieger was once part of a band called Knack. He said Knack had been with Capitol Records at the same time as Teaze was, said Bradac.
“He told an employee, ‘this is (crap),’” he said. “You work for so many years to develop a name, for something you believe in, and then you got these young guys that show up and they decide they have the arrogance to just rip your name off,” said Bradac. “You just can’t have that.”
Unidisc Music Inc. in Montreal now owns the internationally trademarked name, said Bradac. “I don’t own the name, because we’re now with Unidisc Records, that’s who owns our catalogues, so they own the name,” he said.
Bradac said he just wants to set things right. “I’m hoping for the right thing to be done, for them to drop the name,” he said. “When you start touring with international acts like KISS you can’t be stealing someones rights, I mean this isn’t just about my rights, its about all our rights.”
My take: why would anyone want to be Teaze? There's not a lot to steal. Maybe they should just turn the other cheek.
