As tributes pour in for late Teenage Head guitarist Gord Lewis, a special one is from a local musician who knew and played with him in the late 80s and 90s.
Troy Sinister, bassist with Toronto punk band the Sinisters, remembers Lewis as a modest, humble man who enthusiastically encouraged young up-and-coming bands.
Lewis was discovered dead this past weekend in his Hamilton apartment. His son, 41-year-old Jonathan Lewis has since been charged with his second-degree murder.
Sinister’s band shared a record label ‘Other People’s Music’ with Teenage Head for a duration and Troy remembers seeing Gord around the label’s offices from time to time.
“I would see Gordie (there) and I remember saying ‘you should get up and play with us some time,” recalls Sinister. “He sent us a list of suggested songs that included Stooges, Mc5 and Dead Boys covers. He basically provided the setlist from Teenage Heads’ high school years I’m sure. (When it happened) he brought his rig and his classic Les Paul Jr. Gordie was such an amazing player – one thing a lot of musicians remember is his tone – it was such a classic thing – you just couldn’t duplicate that sound. He was such a great guy too – very engaging and generous, especially with young bands.”
Photo (l-R) – Troy Sinister and Gord Lewis on stage together circa 1999/2000 at Toronto’s El Mocambo.
Sinister remembers Gord being more than willing to help out on many occasions.
“It was hard to keep him from getting up and jamming,” he says. “He was such a musician. He lived to play. He was not one of these guys that drank a lot or did drugs. The drug for him was the music.”
From 1975 forward Lewis was in Teenage Head – it was his passion and life and what he wanted to do.
He (Lewis) liked playing songs for people and seeing people dance and have fun. It’s what he lived for and it’s what he did – Troy Sinister
Sinister says Gord was the kind of guy who’d jump into action to fix things if you, say, broke an e-string while playing live. He first met Gord in the late 80s around the time the Sinisters were playing Hamilton quite a bit.
“Gordie would regularly just show up at the shows,” says Troy. “(and) we used to do Teenage Head covers.”
Sinister was really impressed with Teenage Head, who was considered part of the big six of the punk rock movement of the time. Their stomping grounds were the geographical triangle that included New York, Detroit, Cleveland, and Toronto, cities all the bands played regularly.
“I can’t think of one of the classic bands I know who hasn’t asked me at some point ‘is Teenage Head still playing? ‘Do they want to come down?’ ” continues Sinister. “That’s the thing that really impressed me. They were amazingly fun. Gordie was such an immaculate player and on-the-ball all the time”
Later in life Sinister was a part of a side project here in Muskoka that they named ‘Gord’ in tribute to “all the Gordies of the world”.
“He was his name,” says Sinister. “Gordie was one of the ones we had in mind when we were talking about it. He loved the music. He liked playing songs for people and seeing people dance and have fun. It’s what he lived for and it’s what he did.”
