After just over four decades, Thor has come full circle.
The local band whose members started in the early 1970s as 12-year-olds and went on to thrill high school audiences is making a return to play at this year’s Steveston Salmon Festival.
The July 1 gig will make it 41 years since the group – Whiteside elementary pals Brad Kilburn (bass), Jimmy Coletsis (guitar), Johnny Fatiaki (guitar), Korianna Tylor (keyboards) and Steve Braithwaite (vocals) — has performed at the event. The only one who will cannot make it is drummer Martin Tanaka, who will be replaced by Tommy Stewart —who played with the band Trooper for many years.
And since this year’s Salmon Festival is part of Canada’s 150th anniversary celebrations, the nostalgia is front and centre, said Kilburn.
“It’s kinda nice,” he said, adding there was a small possibility Thor could have played the event last year, but festival organizers decided to wait until this summer and an anticipated larger audience.
“It ties up who we are and where we’re from and everything that’s happened in our lives,” Kilburn added.
One of Thor’s first, local appearances came at the 1973 Sardine Festival at the South Arm Community Centre – an event in spring, but smaller than the one in Steveston.
“We were about 12 or 13 at the time and we played in the outdoor tennis courts,” Kilburn said.
Three years later the group, which by that time were regularly playing at high school dances and parties across the city and had developed a following, was contacted and asked to play at the 1976 Salmon Festival.
“I think someone came out to see us rehearse and asked us to play,” Kilburn said.
Thor played together for five years and by the time the members graduated from high school they went their separate ways.
But the bonds they developed remained strong to the point where they managed a pair of sold out reunion shows in 2013 and 2015 at one of their favourite local venues - South Arm Hall. Kilburn even did a pub tour in London, England last October and was joined by Braithwaite and Coletsis who now live in the U.K.
When the Salmon Festival show this July 1 was offered, there was no doubt the group would reunite one more time.
“Steve said it’s one for the memory banks,” Kilburn said. “We’re not so old now, but we are getting older. And we appreciate the significance of reuniting with people who we grew up with and helped define who we were when we were teenagers. There’s a bond that developed with a shared experience. We grew up doing this and it’s been awesome.”
It’s also a chance for those fans who grew up along with Thor to take a walk back in time.
“I grew up in Richmond and still live here. And people want that idealized version of their past here in the present day,” Kilburn said. “It’s not often attainable. But in gatherings like this one coming up, it is.”
Another layer of nostalgia will be when Kilburn’s wife, Barb, will introduce the band. That was one of the duties she had when she was selected as Miss Richmond prior to the 1978 Salmon Festival.
Also on the live music bill for the Salmon Festival this year will be the Steveston Senior Drumming Circle who will kick off things at 12:25 p.m.
They will be followed by Urban Myth (1 p.m.) and Line 49 (2:30 p.m.) before Thor takes the stage at 4 p.m.
The day’s music will conclude with headliner Powder Blues at 5:30 p.m.
For more information about this year’s Steveston Salmon Festival, visit online at StevestonSalmonfest.ca.
