Deja Voodoo was a two-piece Canadian band from Montreal. Gerard van Herk played 4-string guitar and sang, while Tony Dewald played a minimal drum kit that excluded cymbals.
Being a minimalist two-piece sludgeabilly band, Deja Voodoo could pack all their gear into a couple of hockey bags. That helped to make it financially feasible to play locations that didn’t see many touring acts in those days, including weirdo backwoods places like St. Catharines, Ontario.
Deja Voodoo were active in the 80s and wrote short and deceptively simple songs. Deja Voodoo albums would have about 24 songs, whereas a typical album had 12. I suspect that Deja Voodoo might have been winking at the James Last 28 Hits Für Ihre Party records that could be found in every house in the world in those days.
Deja Voodoo and OG Records were pillars of Canadian garage music
Tony and Gerard also started OG Records. OG released dozens of albums by Canadian bands who likely would have never released any music otherwise.
In the US, labels would put out “samplers” that would have a couple dozen songs from a couple dozen bands. OG had an It Came from Canada (ICFC) series that was similar. ICFC records would include a dozen bands from Ontario and Quebec that wouldn’t have a record otherwise. Cowboy Junkies who would become a platinum selling band appeared on It Came from Canada Vol. 4.
In the pre-internet days, being on a record meant that radio stations could play those records, and kids could listen to them in their parents’ basements.
Looking back, Tony and Gerard were kind of the CBGB of Canada. They did more for CANCON than any bought-off politician. They deserve a star on Yonge Street AND Canada’s Walk of Fame!
When Deja Voodoo split up, they SPLIT UP
When Deja Voodoo split up, they really split up. Drummer Tony Dewald became a brewmaster of note on the West Coast. Gerard Van Herk became a linguistic professor at Memorial University in Newfoundland and Labrador. Sadly, Tony passed away earlier this year.
In M*A*S*H terms, that is a bit like B.J. going to Marin County, California after the Korean War and Hawkeye returning to Crabapple Cove, Maine.
The Gerard Van Herk gig at The Horseshoe in Toronto
Inside The Legendary Horseshoe Tavern, people wore Toronto Blue Jays hats and jerseys. There was a Bo Bichette standing next to a Vladdy Guerrero Jr. at the back bar. When I saw that nonsense, I became ashamed for not wearing my Detroit Tigers 1968 World Series Champions commemorative jersey.
We only got to see the last 2 songs of The Wabi Sabis, which was a letdown. Next up was Bloodshot Bill, a unique one-man band you might expect to run into in an alley in New Orleans.
I say that because seeing Bill perform reminded me of walking down Frenchman Street in Nawlins and witnessing a man playing music in the window of a bar. The man was sitting down, playing a guitar with his hands. Nothing unusual about that, but the artist on display also had bare feet and he was playing a bass guitar lying on the floor with them.
The iconic Gerard Van Herk joined Bloodshot Bill and spread a whole lot of bliss by playing a bunch of Deja Voodoo favourites including:
Gerard’s stage banter and sense of humour are still in fine form. He joked about seeing a Depend® ad behind the urinals in the men’s room “Wow they really know their crowd here.” He also mentioned that he now plays with 6 strings on his guitar instead of 4 and that it was the 10th gig he has played in 35 years.
It was also wonderful to “make some noise” for the recently passed Tony Dewald.
THANK YOU, Gerard.
RIP Tony.
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