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Biography

Early Days

Robert G. Anstey was born in Winnipeg, Manitoba in 1949 and lived there during his early, formative years. His parents - Gordon and Margaret - were married in 1945 after the war and had four boys over the course of the next eleven years. Richard was born in 1946, Robert in 1949, Bruce in 1954 and Ken in 1957. Music was a big part of the family life and Gordon not only bought and sold musical instruments but also played the accordian, piano, organ and guitar. Gordon worked at The Birt Saddlery Company during his days but also had his own small business (Treasure Mart) in the basement of the famly home selling mail order handicrafts and hobbycraft items through ads in prairie newspapers, etc. Buying and selling musical instruments was a part of that business. Sports was a big part of Robert's life during those early years with football and the Winnipeg Blue Bombers being his main occupation. But winter is a big thing in places like Winnipeg and so hockey also became a passion. School was not good to him and he developed an early hatred and repulsion for organized education that lasted though his life. His love for music happened slowly as he heard folk songs on the radio in the late 50's and rock 'n roll as well. They made a lasting impression on him and he would often go to bed with sounds of his father's guitar twanging in his ears.

Robert's mother and his aunt were twins and his father and his uncle were brothers so the extended family was close in that respect. When his aunt and uncle moved to Vancouver in 1959 there was a natural pull on his parents to move their family west as well and this finally happened in 1963. They had taken a three week vacation to Vancouver in 1960 and loved the natural freshness of life in Vancouver and the quiet ease in which the people seemed to live. It was all so different than life in Winnipeg. Their lives changed completely in 1963 with the move west. Gordon quit his job at The Birt Saddlery Company in Winnipeg of course and tried to make a living in Vancouver solely from his own business but the time wasn't right and he had to take on other part time jobs in order to feed the family. Thereafter he ran the business from the basement of the family home. Robert found a big improvement in school life just as life itself improved greatly for the whole family. Beautiful weather, warm winters, cool summers and a fresh ocean breeze gave their new lives a real shot in the arm and it was like a paradise after living through the cold, endless Winnipeg winters and hot, dry, mosquito-ridden summers. West Coast living was a breath of fresh air for them all and the 60's would prove to be a fabulous and exciting time.

Music And Early Bands

In 1964 The Beatles hit America and young people all over North America and the world seemed to look up from a state of stupor and come alive. Robert was no different. At age 14 he was just ripe for the freedom and excitement that The Beatles offered and he was bitten with the Beatlemania bug. From that moment on he was determined to form a band and make music. He started by organizing a few friends to sing Beatle songs behind the kindergarten building during recesses and after school. But as no one could play an instrument, that soon faded. Over the next year or so he and his younger brother Bruce formed a series of "bands" with neighbourhood friends that started with miming the words to songs and then as they gradually picked up guitars and drums, playing simple songs. Bruce naturally gravitated to the guitar and began playing one of Gordon's guitars that were laying around. Robert soon developed a love for drums and would often stop by the local drum store on the way home from school to ogle the drum sets through the windows. He soon found that the drum store often threw out interesting drum paraphernalia in their garbages and so every day after school he would stop by and pick up old drum heads, sticks, catalogs, magazines, etc. He soon got a snare drum and a cymbal from his parents for a birthday present and began building a makeshift drum set by trading various things to friends who had bits and pieces of drums. One item he managed to pick up was a big old white bass drum. He would practice during school lunch times and after school, playing along with rock' n roll records.

The Scene I

After a year or so of trying to organize friends into a real band that could actually play music, Robert became frustrated because A) most of their friends weren't really interested in the discipline that a band required and B) they couldn't play their instruments anyway. This made it hard to be a "band leader" who desperately wanted a band that could actually make music. He soon realized that to be a leader in the band and one who could initiate real music, he needed to play the guitar. Sitting back on the drums waiting for the others to organize themselves and play anything tangible became tedious and boring. For Christmas 1965 he asked his parents for a guitar and received a small acoustic which he immediately set to work learning. Bruce helped him to pick up some simple chords and from that Robert began indulging in what soon became a lifelong passion; writing songs. He passed the drumming job along to a young friend (Soren Rassmussen) nicknamed Razz who soon picked up the basic beats. With Razz on drums and he and Bruce on guitars, they had the basis for a real band. Robert had met Jim Fisher at school and they soon became friends. It wasn't long before Jim was singing along with the band and helping Robert write a few songs. Robert loved Jim's brassy voice and compared him to a cross between Mick Jagger and Eric Burdon. Another friend (Doug Hicks) nicknamed Turtle joined them as a "bass player" but as he didn't have a bass and only owned a small acoustic guitar which he couldn't play, he was only along for the ride at that time. They called the band The Scene and practiced all through the spring and summer months of 1966.

The Scene II

During the summer months of 1966 The Scene played a couple of "gigs" in the living/dining room of the Anstey home to a few friends and family members and also in the basements of Razz and Turtle, bringing in a horde of school friends for the occasions. It was good experience for the band and certainly gave them a shot in the arm. But by the fall of 1966, Jim was having troubles at home and began missing the evening practices. This went against the grain as far as Robert was concerned as he felt that the band needed those nightly practices to improve. Finally it became clear that Jim's problems at home weren't going to improve and the band chose to go on without him. The Scene now became a 4-piece band and when Turtle received a new electric guitar and an amp for Christmas, he became the new rhythm guitar player and Bruce took up the bass, playing a new electric bass that Gordon had picked up somewhere. With Jim's departure, Robert took up the lead vocals and Bruce and Razz continued with backup vocals. The band's sound improved with a variety of cover songs and some of Robert's original tunes.

Toad

With the new band lineup and sound, Robert decided to change the name to Toad. It was a laughable name that he and Razz had toyed with for some time. By the early spring of 1967 Robert met Ken Ogilvie (Og) at school and learned that he was a bass player. He began going to the Ogilvie house where he met Og's older brother Don (Horse.) Horse was a great guitar player and the three jammed occasionally. Robert's view in regards to the band in those days was constant improvement. If a better player could be brought in, the band's overall sound would improve. He always had his antennae out for "new talent" and for people who played music. By the late spring he decided to replace Turtle with Og. Although Turtle had recently received a new guitar and amp, his playing was limited and his future with the band was somewhat questionable anyway. Og was a good bass player and he took over the bass playing while Bruce returned to the rhythm guitar parts which he was better at anyway and the band's sound improved again. Throughout the summer and fall of 1967 Toad played a few "gigs" in the Anstey living/dining rooms for friends and family and a few in the Ogilvie basement for neighbourhood kids.

Pat, Byrd & Og

During the "Summer of Love," as well as practicing with Toad, Og and Robert joined forces with a neighbour and friend of the Ogilvie family named Pat Bluck. Pat was a poet and singer and, with Robert, wrote a series of folk songs. (For some unknown reason Robert's nickname at the time among the Ogilvie neighbourhood kids was "Byrd.") The three formed a folk trio with Pat and Robert singing and Og and Robert playing acoustic guitars. Og and Robert spent ten days on Galiano Island with Pat and her family during that July enjoying the sunshine, writing songs and honing their sound. The trio didn't last beyond the summer months.

Sandalspring I

Toad continued on through the winter of 1967 practicing and playing the odd "gig" to families and friends in the Ogilvie basement and the Anstey living room. Og's older brother Horse was a real supporter of the band and occasionally taped them with his tape recorder and even sat in with them. By the spring of 1968 Bruce was showing signs of losing interest in the band and Robert got the idea of adding Horse to the lineup and letting Bruce go. This happened in March of 1968 and the band's sound improved dramatically as Horse's guitar playing was superior to anything any of the others could do. To spruce up the band's image and to get more up to speed with the times new cover songs were added to the band's repetoire including songs by The Doors, Cream, Jimi Hendrix, etc. as well as Robert's compositions. Robert also came up with a new name for the band which he felt was more up to date with the times. The new name was Sandalspring.

Sandalspring improved as a band and played a few "real" gigs during the summer and fall of 1968. One was in the basement of a church and they were paid $10.00 for their efforts and another was for a kids' party for which they were paid $60.00. They picked up a small sound system from some friends and gradually got better equipment. In the fall of 1968 they were introduced to The Grateful Dead's music and this changed the direction of the band completely. Several of the Dead's songs were added to Sandalspring's repetoire and with their hair now growing longer and their sound becoming more "psychedelic" in nature, they were really becoming more in tune with the times.

Sandalspring II

By the winter of 1968 Razz informed the others that his family was moving to Coquitlam and he would be headed to university. Suddenly Sandalspring was looking for a new drummer. He came in the form of Sean Burne who was introduced to Robert, Og and Horse in January by some friends in the Ogilvie neighbourhood. Sean was a better drummer than Razz had been and gave the band some real oomph in the percussion department. Also, Robert had met saxophonist Ken Lerner at school the previous year and he had become a good friend. Ken picked up the flute as well that year and soon joined the band first as a sit-in sax and flute player on jazz-oriented tunes and then joined them officially in the spring of 1969. Sandalspring was now a 5-piece band with a much better and more professional sound than they'd had the previous year.

Mark Wilson met the Ogilvies during the 1968 school year. He was a lover of blues and soon became a close friend. He worked at Bill Lewis Music, a local Vancouver musical instrument company. Hearing Sandalspring and feeling that they were good but just needing some direction, he decided to manage them. He started by getting them a gig at the Jericho Army barracks and then got them an audition at a local teen club called La Place. Sandalspring played at La Place throughout the month of March and got their name on posters and a mention in the Vancouver Sun. From there they moved on to The Big Mother in downtown Vancouver where many of the bigger, more established bands were playing. This was definitely a step up from La Place and ended up getting then a review in the Vancouver Sun. From The Big Mother they were asked to play at the Village Bistro on Fourth Avenue and did several week-long stints there over the next few months. With gigs at local dances, parties and various other functions including one gig at the Gardens in the PNE grounds, Sandalspring was quickly getting established around Vancouver.

New Directions

By the spring of 1970 life was changing for Robert. He was growing up and began to feel that the band lifestyle was too confining. His life revolved around the band practices and gigs and that world but the rest of the world including his family and friends was somewhere else. He began to feel left out of the real world and really began feeling that he needed a change. The change came in April when he abruptly quit the band, cut his hair and got a job at a lighting fixture manufacturing plant. It was a shock to those around him but he felt that the need for change was great. He still had an interest in music but not in an organized band. After getting established at his job he bought an acoustic guitar and a good quality tape recorder. He still wrote songs and made recordings of them and this gave him the satisfaction that he needed artistically.

Along with writing songs and recording them, Robert was also writing poetry. In 1970 his friend and former bandmate Ken Lerner (who now worked at a printing company) took a lot of Robert's poetry and printed the individual pages. Another friend (Jim Bescott) drew and painted a cover design and Robert's first poetry book (entitled Everything Was Fine Til The Puppy Died) was born. He continued writing poetry over the next few years as a compliment to his songwriting.

Business And Family Life

In 1972 Robert's father, Gordon saw an increase in his small basement business Treasure Mart. Margaret had joined him the year before and now Gorden asked Robert and Bruce to join him in the business. They jumped at it and in 1974 younger brother Ken joined them as well. Now Treasure Mart became a family business that would become a comfortable occupation for all the family (except Richard who was married and living in Mission at the time. Shortly thereafter he would move his family to Europe.) Throughout the 70's the family kept up the basement craft business and saw a measure of success. Robert was married in 1974 and continued his songwriting and poetry, etc. In 1977 the first of his four sons (Marty) was born. In 1978 the second son (Jamie) was born and then twins David and Daniel were born in 1980. This put a stop to Robert's creative life as suddenly his business and family life became all-consuming.

In 1980 Treasure Mart moved out of the basement and into their first warehouse. The business grew rapidly after that and employees were added to the mix. Gordon retired from the business, leaving it to the three sons (although he remained on as a helper and adviser as did Margaret.) In 1986 Bruce left the company to pursue his own business. Throughout the 80's and into the 90's business and family life consumed most of Robert's time and left little room for creative endeavors. But by the early 90's the muse returned and he began writing songs and poetry again, self-publishing several poetry books and recording some of his new songs with his sons (who were all musically inclined.)

Life Changes

By the mid-90's Robert sold his portion of the business to Ken and to moved up to Vernon, BC where he operated his own small publishing business. He published a small international prose and poetry magazine called Teak Roundup and published poetry books of his own and by others as well. He continued to write songs and record them and by the late 90's began painting. In 1999 he moved to Chilliwack, BC (just outside Vancouver) to be nearer to the family and focussed on writing books, painting and songwriting. With his sons, he began recording and making cd's of his songs.