By: Alexei Korolev

It seems that every shit-hole town in America has its own KYUSS and FU MANCHU clones, doing “that 70th thing”. Somehow the bellbottoms are cool again and so are the puffy shirts and shaggy haircuts. Oh how hard these kids try to reproduce what was cool over 30 years ago, yet how unaware most of them are to the worlds outside of SABBATH, FLOYD, and ZEPPELIN. Thanks to the corporate mindset of the show business industry, we are still constantly discovering albums by long lost bands that rocked harder than most of the better known acts of the day, the unsung heroes if you will, that paved the way for all that is cool in music today. Here brings Relapse another reissue of the obscure 70’s group of the cult status among the collectors, an overlooked piece of heavy metal history, and an excellent follow up to the PENTAGRAM releases. All who enjoyed the proto-metal of the US legends would do well to stay tuned for another lesson in rock.

WARPIG comes from Canada, Woodstock, Ontario to be precise. Formed in 1968 by guitarist/singer Rick Donmoyer, keyboardist/singer Dana Snitch, drummer Terry Hook, and bassist Terry Brett, the band got signed to an independent label, Fonthill Records a year later. Some of the band members have played in THE WOT (formerly THE KINGBEES), who changed the name to MASS DESTRUCTION, which included all four members by its demise, and eventually ended up as WARPIG.

The first, self-titled album was recorded and released in late 1970 by Fonthill Records. Recalls guitarist Rick Donmoyer: “Bob (Fonthill owner) took us into Sound Canada Recording Studios in Toronto and with the engineering skills of a then very young Ken Fresian, produced his very first heavy rock album (the term “Heavy Metal” had not yet been applied to music world). As I recall, both Bob and Ken were scratching their heads wondering what this WARPIG music was all about (remember...almost no heavier rock music on the radio yet) and politely going along with us when we told them we were either “doing another take” “leaving that weird sound on the tape” or “that was a keeper”! We all worked late nights in the studio, usually after gigging and often having driven some distance to record until dawn, then pack up and go for breakfast at the Greasy Spoon around the corner and later drive home to Woodstock to sleep (unless we had to go to work that day). It took a few weeks booked around our schedules but we got the job done and the album was released on both vinyl and 8-track tape. No computers or sequencers, no digital audio, no canned guitar sound effects and no electronic drums or “loops”, but the Mini-Moog synthesizer was almost designed and introduced by then!”

The band played numerous shows over the years, both big and small, sharing the stage with such bands as MAHOGANY RUSH, WISHBONE ASH, JOE WALSH, QUICKSILVER MESSENGER SERVICE, MANFRED MANN, SAVOY BROWN, and many others. In 1973, the album was re-released by London Records with 2 tracks rerecorded, different artwork and notes. The single “Rock Star” has entered top 50 in the Canadian RPM charts, for 5 weeks sharing chart space with names like DEEP PURPLE, ALICE COOPER, THE EAGLES, DOOBIE BROTHERS, BEACH BOYS and other giants of the day. “Fortunately, bikers, straights and freaks all bought records back then, and more than a few of them were curious enough to show up at gigs and join together as an audience for us. Looking back now, perhaps we shouldn’t have been so hasty then in breaking the band up! A couple of those groups actually went on to quit their day jobs and make some money in the music business!”

Later that year, WARPIG teamed up with Tom Brennand of DEEP PURPLE fame as the engineer and entered a studio to record their second album for London Records. Before the album was complete, Terry Hook left the band in abject frustration with management and direction. His leave was followed a year later by Dana’s. There were several attempts to carry on, but the heart was gone as a group and the problems that drove the others away persisted.

Thirty years later, 70’s rock is back in style; the album has remained a rarity and was highly sought after by the collectors, the original LP being listed for well over a hundred dollars in record price guides. It was extensively bootlegged both in Europe and America and finally ended up in my hands though a friend, who picked it up based on a random recommendation at some record show. It had a cool name, cool logo and it was from the early 70’s. It didn’t sound like BLACK SABBATH, like you would expect. Maybe a bit like DEEP PURPLE at times, but with a definite sound of their own. It combined the best of what I liked about that period in rock music – it was hard and heavy, yet progressive and melodic, but never lost sight of true rock, never got too artsy and too soft. There were proto-doom riffs, if you will, and the melody had balls. It instantly became one of my favorites in this genre, and later I wondered what happened to the band and if the members can be located. After almost a year of searching and losing hope, sometime in late 2002 I got a reply to my post on some local Canadian message board. It was the bass player’s son, Scott; he offered to help me in my search. And so the wheels started turning.


After a quite extended band hiatus, all original members are still alive and active. They re-united in May of 2004 and discovered that those dormant juices of creativity still have some magic. “For the first time in 26 years, all of us met in my home studio (some of us have not spoken to or seen each other in all those years) and I played for them recordings of rehearsals and live shows most of them have never ever heard. It was a wonderful day for all of us and it wasn’t long before a few original musical ideas began to emerge as we jammed away for a couple of hours. WARPIG is a living entity again, as we have begun to rediscover that which brought us together all those years ago."

“The likelihood of any WARPIG video or film existing today is slim indeed as the only TV shows we ever taped were erased along with so many other band’s sessions of the day! We do hope, however, that someone may have borrowed his or her father’s 8MM home movie camera and there still may exist a “silent movie” of the band lurking in a closet or attic out there. If you have such an item or can put us in touch with someone who does, we will be very pleased to follow up on it right away.” Luckily, there is an audiotape of a show from 1973 that was presented to a band by a fan: “Although the tape is damaged, we have now heard ourselves playing all the un-released 2nd album songs that should have been on vinyl in 1974!”

Unfortunately, these kinds of lost gems of heavy rock always seem to come out on small reissue labels, and they’re still hard to find and are usually pricey. With two PENTAGRAM releases in stores, Relapse seemed like good place for the WARPIG album. Jacobson (Matt, Relapse CEO) liked the music and gave the green light to this project, and soon the band was working on getting their part together. After almost two years of digging through attics and garages, sorting through legal issues and reconnecting with old contacts, here we are with this re-mastered and re-packaged version, which is the beginning of a new chapter for the band.

The recordings of the second album still exist in bits and snippets and this is a starting point for any new material, which is being worked on as you read this. A number of live shows and rehearsal audiotapes still exist and are now in the band’s possession. With more unreleased recordings and bonus material turning up, new songs shaping up, there is a lot to look forward to. So rock on this and keep an eye out, as there will be more coming out of the WARPIG camp.

WARPIG’s classic S/T album will be reissued on CD by Relapse this September. For more info check out the brand new website: www.warpig.ca

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