Deja Voodoo (Canadian band)
Canadian sludgeabilly duo blending horror imagery with rockabilly.
Deja Voodoo was a Canadian garage rock band formed by Gerard van Herk and Tony Dewald. Their music combined 1950s horror imagery with rockabilly and country influences, and they developed a low-treble rock style they called 'sludgeabilly.' The band toured in Canada, the United States, and Europe.
Quick Facts
- Origin
- Montreal, Quebec, Canada
- Genre
- Alternative
- Garage Rock
- Lo-fi
- Years active
- 1981–1990
- Label
- Og Music
- Past members
- Gerard van Herk; Tony Dewald
Facts from the source article.
Early days
Van Herk and Dewald were both born in the 1960s and grew up in Montreal. They formed Deja Voodoo in 1981, playing short songs influenced by rockabilly and punk. As the band began performing, Montreal saw an influx of immigrants from Western Canada and new independent record labels, leading to many niche bands. Deja Voodoo struggled to find an audience in its first year due to the oversaturated market, but by 1982 they began to see interest outside Quebec, particularly in Toronto.
Career
In 1982, van Herk and Dewald launched Og Music, named after a fictional caveman, with a second pressing of their debut single 'Monsters in My Garage.' The label allowed Deja Voodoo to control its own distribution. Og Records' first full-length release was the cassette Gumbo, which sold well in Montreal but failed elsewhere in Canada. Their second album, Cemetery (1984), was their first on vinyl and sold widely across Canada and to some stores in the US and Europe. Og Records also released compilation LPs in the It Came from Canada series; five volumes came out between 1985 and 1989, featuring Montreal acts like Jerry Jerry and the Sons of Rhythm Orchestra, Terminal Sunglasses, and The Gruesomes, as well as bands from across Canada. Over seven years, Og Records released 29 albums, the last being a recording of a Deja Voodoo performance in Finland. Once the label took off, Deja Voodoo toured across Canada, starting in Ontario and Eastern Canada, then branching to Western Canada as far as Prince George, British Columbia. They also toured Europe, primarily in Greece and Finland. In Canada, they received semi-regular airplay on CBC Radio's overnight Brave New Waves program. Van Herk and Dewald organized annual indoor events each December called 'Voodoo BBQ's'; the last was held in Toronto in 2008 as a reunion show. Deja Voodoo never broke into mainstream markets, and by 1990 both members decided to split up the band. They sold Og Records that same year. Van Herk became a university linguistics professor until his retirement in 2019; Dewald worked as a brewer on the West Coast, eventually becoming head brewer at Trading Post Brewing in Langley, British Columbia.
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