Teaser, with Chris Bontos, Butch Maxwell, Spike (Mark Beihl) and other former members of the band, is planned for about 7 pm Friday, May 15 at River City Ale Works at 14th & Main Streets in Wheeling. The band plans to play a variety of songs that made it the area's most popular band in the 1980s, along with a selection of newer material.
In 1980, the top rock and roll FM station in the Pittsburgh, PA market, WDVE-FM, featured Teaser's song "Welcome to the Future," as the first song on the first album in the station's popular "Pittsburgh Rocks" series. Formed in fall of 1978 by the songwriting team of Chris Bontos and Butch Maxwell, Teaser began recording and playing live in 1979. The band's quirky new wave approach to British Invasion songs augmented by its mostly original music caught on among music enthusiasts bored with the local country-rock and disco scene.
Within months, Teaser quickly moved from small clubs and coffee houses to headlining at the 2500-seat Capitol Music Hall by the end of 1979. After shaking up the line-up, Bontos & Maxwell's band found greater success and an ever-growing fan base eager to shout "Teaser Rocks!" at every opportunity. By 1981, the band was performing four to five nights a week, whether at Tin Pan Alley in Wheeling or venues such as the Decade, Electric Banana and Graffiti in Pittsburgh. Teaser recorded extensively, and was on the verge of breaking out nationally. Teaser's original music was played extensively on WOMP-FM, WCPI-FM, WDVE-FM, WKWK-FM, WYEP-FM and college radio stations throughout the Pittsburgh and Ohio Valley area. The band also headlined at the Wheeling Civic Center.
The line-up split, leaving Bontos & Maxwell to reform the band with new members in 1982. That version of the band continued to perform regionally and recorded some of Bontos & Maxwell's strongest material, until 1985 when they replaced the drummer and lead singer with the previous drummer and lead singer. The revitalized Teaser broke house records in 1985 and 1986 with new material, in addition to nearly a decade of older songs and experience.
By the end of 1986, however, Bontos decided to leave the area. Maxwell continued to lead the ensemble until early 1989, when he decided to leave in order to spend evenings with his growing family.
The band reunited in 1996 for two shows, one in the spring featuring classic Teaser material from the 80s, and one in the fall as part of a Beatles tribute weekend. Teaser played live again in 1998, this time with a concert of all new material that was about to be recorded. The recording sessions for the album "In the Middle of Now" were begun in 1999 and completed in 2000. Bontos & Maxwell continued to write and record together until spring of 2001, when Bontos again left the area.
The songwriters are still close friends. A one-time-only reunion featuring longtime drummer Spike and other former members of the band is planned for May 15, 2009.
For more information, contact River City Ale Works at 304-233-4555. Or see www.geocities.com/teaserrocks.
You can hear samples of Teaser's music and even hear an audio biography of the band on MySpace at www.myspace.com/teaserrocks
© 2009 Butch Maxwell
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