The Randypeters - Freedom Train

A brief history of the Randypeters circa 1981 to 1985. The band was from Ottawa, Ontario, Canada, and were anchored by vocalist Pieter Botman, and guitarist Rand Peppler. Along the way, a couple of bass players, and a ton of drummers, served time with the group. Mick Kern (1981-1985) and Derek Campfield (1986-1990) handled the bass duties. The list of drummers probably could take up the entire computer screen. Bill Anderson, Rob Hanson, John Ferguson, Bob Grant, Mark Craig, Gilles Mantha, Bob Grant (again) and finally Gilles Mantha (again). For the record, Rob Hanson and Bob Grant drummed on the songs found on the Blender Mix compilation, and Mark Craig drummed on the tracks found on the Independence Day E.P. and the Cassettera compilation. Influenced by a mishmash of the Rolling Stones, the Clash, rockabilly, 65/66 Beatles, surf music, and whatever the heck else was on CKCU-FM those days, the Randypeters were a difficult band to pin down, though a roots rock/country/punk hybrid would be accurate. The majority of the songwriting was done by Botman and Peppler, though Kern and Campfield also chipped in with a number of songs. As far as our research indicates, only "Sounds of Children", written by Mark Craig, emerged from the ranks of the drummers. The Randypeters came to life for a Talent Show at Gloucester High School in suburban Ottawa in 1980, and broke up sometime in 1990. Pieter and Rand were members of the same Gloucester swim team, and Pieter and Mick met during Grade 13 at Cairine Wilson High School in Orleans, Ontario. Along the way, the Randypeters recorded a couple of EP's (Independence Day-1985 and You Thought I was Foolin-1988), appeared on the Blender Mix compilation album (1983), the Cassettera compilation album (1985), and a CMJ sampler (1988). The band opened for the likes of the Cramps, the Minutemen, Rough Trade, Trio, the Exploited, the Anti-Nowhere League, Forgotten Rebels, Alien Sex Fiend, and Eight Seconds. A chance to open up for the Kinks, and later Midnight Oil, fell through. More frustrating was the chance to open for Katrina and the Waves during a Canadian tour. That also did not materialize. Don't even get us started on the "Open For The Clash" gig at Barrymore's in 1984. There were a couple of videos produced, which can be found on YouTube, though only "Innocent City" (1983 - directed by Richard Millen) is worth watching. Skyline Cablevision in Ottawa recorded the July 1st, 1985 concert at the Astrolabe Theatre, overlooking the Parliament Buildings. Somewhere, there is a very good stereo recording of this concert. This gig featured Pat Levinson, formerly of the Dub Rifles, on sax. He was with the Randypeters for about six months during the first part of 1985. Outside of Ottawa, the Randypeters played a ton of gigs in Montreal and Toronto. Montreal gigs included Station 10, Le Steppe, Club Soda, and Fonfounes Electriques. They were also the first non-Montreal band to play at The Jungle Bash at Concordia University. In Toronto, the Randypeters played the likes of the Beverly Tavern, the Upper Lip, the Rivoli, and Larry's Hideaway. The band also toured Canada a number of times, playing in cities such as Victoria, Vancouver (The Railway Club), Edmonton (Rockers) , Calgary, Regina (The Beat Club), Winnipeg (Verna's) , Thunder Bay (Lakehead University), Hamilton (McMaster University), Deep River (high school gig three times), and Quebec City. Television appearances included the 1985 Rock Wars program on Good Rockin' Tonight on CBC. That video can also be found on YouTube. JD Roberts of MuchMusic interviewed the band on July 1st, 1985. The Randypeters also appeared on a couple of telethon broadcasts during the late 1980's, and countless radio interviews across the country. Derek Campfield passed away in March of 2008.