Quickflight

Quickflight
Origin	Kelowna, British Columbia, Canada
Genres	New wave Christian contemporary
Labels	Star Song Tunesmith
Past members
Pete Cordalis Ric deGroot Dale Dirksen Doug Giesbrecht Gary Hendricks Greg Johnson

Quickflight was a new wave band formed in Kelowna, British Columbia, Canada. The band released two albums in the early 1980s: Breakaway on Tunesmith and their second Decent Beat on Star Song.

History

Musically their style, particularly on the first album "Breakaway" is similar to that of early OMD, which was in turn influenced by Kraftwerk. Vocally, however they were closer to The Cars or Devo.

The second album of Quickflight, entitled Decent Beat, was recorded at Little Mountain Sound Studios in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada, and was released by Star Song Records of Houston, Texas, in 1983. It was groundbreaking because it was one of the first Christian Contemporary releases in which the instruments used consisted almost entirely of synthesizers and sequencers. "At the time," recalls deGroot, "this was not the most common way of recording, so we had to keep in mind that we weren't trying to duplicate acoustic and electric instruments, but that we were trying to create our own electronic sound, all the while keeping it accessible." The album was also one of the first Christian Contemporary Music albums that was digitally mastered although it was never released on CD.

Quickflight toured through the Mid-West and West Coast of the U.S. and parts of Canada. Being managed by California-based Cavali Artists, the band was able to perform at several outdoor festivals, playing with a variety of Christian artists who included The Steve Taylor Band, The Rez Band, Kerry Livgren, Sheila Walsh, Undercover, and Larry Norman. "It was an unbelievable time for us," says deGroot. "One day we were in a coffeehouse in Surrey, British Columbia, and a couple days later we were playing a 25,000 plus festival in Southern California!"

Through recording at Little Mountain, Ric deGroot met the members of the Capitol Recording group Strange Advance and joined them in 1984. They toured Canada in 1985. deGroot currently lives in Vancouver and works in production in the film business.

Band members

• Ric deGroot
• Dale Dirksen
• Greg Johnson
• Gary Hendricks - drummer
• Pete Cordalis
• Doug Giesbrecht- bass
• Mike King

additional musicians

• Paul Iverson
• Scotty Hall
• Chris Livingstone
• Ruth Shareski (Evenden)

Discography

Albums

• Breakaway (Tunesmith Records, 1980)

1. Breakaway
2. Pink Shirts
3. Atheist
4. Feelin' Sad
5. OK
6. Shuttle
7. Modern Romans
8. Rendezvous
9. Between the Lines
10. Fine Line
11. I Saw You

• Decent Beat (Star Song, 1983)

1. Water of Life
2. Remote Control
3. In the World
4. Safety in Numbers
5. System Breakdown
6. Fantasy
7. Fade to Glory
8. Messages
9. D.M.X.
10. Metro Alien
11. I Dream

• Musical Production: Ric deGroot
• Audio Production: Ron Obvious
• Executive Producer: Bob Brooks
• Art Direction & Design: Joan Tankersley
• Illustration: Denise Chapman
• Layout: Lori Cooper
• Source: Ric deGroot Star Song Records