Gen Kiyooka (Lead Vocals, Rhythm Guitar)
Jan Olesen (Bass Guitar, Vocals)
Eldon Winters (Lead Guitar)
Dave Scheuerman (Drums)
Jim Chu (Keyboards)
Biography
The story of the Slaves of the New Plantation starts in a small college town in Alberta, Canada called Camrose.
Everyone in this band met while they were at college in Camrose, except for the drummer Dave.
However, I started this band the year after I had graduated from college and moved to the nearby city of Edmonton, AB.
Eldon had also left Camrose and relocated to Edmonton where he was studying Jazz at Grant MacEwan Community College.
Eldon recommended Dave, who was also studying Jazz, as our drummer. Both Jan and Jim, as I recall, were in Camrose,
initially and so we used to commute 1hr to rehearse in Jim's basement. Later we rehearsed at the Mustard Seed church in Edmonton. The details are a bit fuzzy as I write this.
We rehearsed for at least a year before we started playing. We had a number of small-time gigs around Edmonton.
This 6-song cassette was produced as a promotional item for New Music Seminar, 1990. Jim was from NYC, so I travelled
to New York to attend the conference and hustle our cassette.
Probably the peak of the Slaves days was playing on a Sunday night at the Sidetrack Cafe in Edmonton.
We entered a battle of the bands style contest -- we didn't win, but our performance there gained us an invite to the Sidetrack.
The band broke up shortly after that. We had a full album partially completed. I've managed to migrate the tracks into a digital format in the event
that we ever get around to finishing it, unlikely given the geographic factor, but you never know.
I recorded this 6 song EP on a Fostex Model 80 1/4" 8-track recorder and mixer which I found and bought used through a newspaper ad.
I mixed it to DAT, an exotic format (at the time) which we had to rent from a local pro sound place. In retrospect, this turned out to be a great idea,
as I now have the exact mixes in 16-bit 44.1 kHz digital masters. As I recall, there are about 500 copies of this cassette in print. Also, at various times,
the album has been available for free download.
After the band broke up I recorded my first solo effort, a 4-song demo, and then, within months relocated to California.
My music career then went on hiatus for a couple of years before getting started again recording and producing acts in San Diego.
My 1997 solo recording Red Dakini (as Druk) marked my return to recording my own music.