The Spoons

The Spoons

The Spoons. Pop group, formed in 1979 in Burlington, Ont, west of Toronto. Original members were Gordon Deppe (guitar, vocals), Sandy Horne (bass, vocals), Brett Wickens (keyboards) and Derrick Ross (drums). Wickens was replaced by Rob Preuss in 1981, and Preuss and Ross were replaced by Scott MacDonald and Steve Kendry respectively in 1986. The Spoons enjoyed early success with teenaged audiences on the basis of the debut LP Stick Figure Neighbourhood (Ready LR-012) in 1981 and the 12-inch single 'Nova Heart' in 1982, both of which were in the synthesizer-based 'electro-pop' style of the day.

Developing a tougher rock style in the course of the 1980s, The Spoons made little impact on record outside of Canada but maintained a national profile with such songs (and corresponding videos) as 'Arias & Symphonies' (from an LP of the same title, Ready LR-022) in 1982, 'Old Emotions' (from Talkback, Ready LR-039) in 1983, 'Tell No Lies' and 'Romantic Traffic' in 1984, 'Bridge Over Borders' (from an album of the same title, Anthem ANR-1-1050) in 1986, and 'When Time Turns Around' (from Vertigo Tango, Anthem ANR-1-1054) in 1988. Canadian sales of both Arias & Symphonies and Talkback exceeded 50,000 copies. The Spoons have toured extensively in Canada and occasionally - eg, in 1983 opening for Culture Club and in 1987 opening for Survivor and Human League - in the USA. The band was still active in 1990 when Deppe and MacDonald introduced Punch House, and Horne and Kendry formed Hurricane Jane.