Circa: 1969/70
Home Town: Salisbury
Members:
- Rick Nelson – Lead vocals and bass guitar
- Bruce Eros – Lead guitar
- Denys Beynon – Drums
- Barry Blow – Manager
- Darryl Heinrich – Sound & lights technician
Shalome’s journey is an interesting one. When most Rhodesian bands, those with pretensions of making internationally that is, were looking to take the ground-making step to South Africa and, from there, further abroad, Shalome’s journey was going in reverse!
Shalome was actually formed in Canada, their original name being This Worldly Generation. The members of this band were Rick Nelson (lead vocals and bass), Bruce Eros (lead guitar) and Dennis Beynon (drums).
The venue at which this photograph was taken is thought to be “The Night Owl” in Chilliwack, British Columbia, Canada.
Being in the mid-Sixties, This Worldly Generation completely immersed themselves in the rock ‘n roll fervour of the day. After a time they changed their name to Shalome. Like so many bands of the day they heavily influenced by the Beatles, Stones, Dylan, Jefferson Airplane, Buddy Rich, Gene Krupa and the Who. It was during this phase that the band participated in what was billed as Canada’s first rock festival, a Canadian Woodstock as it were. The assorted gallery of aspiring rock bands included the likes of Mock Duck, Trials of Jason Hoover, Winters Green, Conspiracy and Seeds of Time, hardly household names anywhere else but well known in their native land.
The band’s career took an unlikely turn when their first manager, Barrey Blow, accepted a position with the Ministry of Education in Rhodesia. By all accounts, Blow was a persuasive character who convinced the band’s members that Rhodesia would provide an environment in which they could thrive. They were sold. The call went out to a local contact, Darryl Heinrich, who had technical skills and was asked to accompany the band. He agreed and soon found himself working in a factory in Rhodesia building Scarab guitar amps, speaker cabinets, discos and fuzzboxes. During this time, Darryl came up with a light show to add to the band’s wizardry.
Like Darryl, all the band’s members had to find daytime jobs, the income from music not being sufficient to make ends meet. By night they gigged widely about Salisbury appearing at all the well known venues including, naturally, Le Coq D’Or. Members of the band also became involved in managing the Celebrity Club and it was here that they were to meet BJ Kramer and Wayne Fontana who were visiting the country. Darryl Heinrich recalls that Wayne Fontana was so obliging that he agreed to visit their digs where he played and sang a few songs from his repertoire for them. The Flames also visited the Celebrity Club, their presence being in marked contrast to the usual racial mix of the venue’s clientele.
Barry Blow’s tenure with the band came to an end and a local promoted, Rob Miller, stepped into the void. Under Rob’s tutelage the band started to gig more widely and participate in rock festivals, most notably, in Bulawayo.
