Sainte Anthony's Fyre
Sainte Anthony's Fyre

In 1969 SAINTE ANTHONYS FYRE was the ultimate hardrock powertrio from Trenton, New Jersey. Band leader, guitar wiz and vocalist Greg Ohm was heavy into music since childhood, having played classical music in elementary and high school (1st violin Trenton High’s Orchestra). He also took some music classes in college and ended up with the group Peter's Precious Soul, who were very popular locally. But Greg grew tired of playing Top 40 cover songs and decided to start his own band. While cleaning his grandmother's attic one day in 1967 he found an old newspaper with the headline, "Ste. Anthony's Fyre Strikes French Town." A wheat crop had developed ergot, which is a fungus disease that affects rye and other plants, and was contaminated. The wheat was used to make bread and sent the whole town on an LSD-like trip that lasted nearly three weeks. This was the perfect name for the group Greg had in mind and thus Sainte Anthony's Fyre was born.

Greg recruited two skilled local musicians, and friends of his; Tom Nardi (previously in the bubblegum band Marshmallow Way) on bass and vocals and Bobb Sharples on drums. In 1968 they started rehearsing in the cellar of a boutique in downtown Trenton called the Hip-Pocket. Greg was extremely innovative and played weird positions, inverted chords, and off-key tuning on his customized Gibson Firebird guitar. He would only use Marshall’s, three 100-watt heads with six cabinets. Greg also considered himself a fashion plate and always...

In 1969 SAINTE ANTHONYS FYRE was the ultimate hardrock powertrio from Trenton, New Jersey. Band leader, guitar wiz and vocalist Greg Ohm was heavy into music since childhood, having played classical music in elementary and high school (1st violin Trenton High’s Orchestra). He also took some music classes in college and ended up with the group Peter's Precious Soul, who were very popular locally. But Greg grew tired of playing Top 40 cover songs and decided to start his own band. While cleaning his grandmother's attic one day in 1967 he found an old newspaper with the headline, "Ste. Anthony's Fyre Strikes French Town." A wheat crop had developed ergot, which is a fungus disease that affects rye and other plants, and was contaminated. The wheat was used to make bread and sent the whole town on an LSD-like trip that lasted nearly three weeks. This was the perfect name for the group Greg had in mind and thus Sainte Anthony's Fyre was born.

Greg recruited two skilled local musicians, and friends of his; Tom Nardi (previously in the bubblegum band Marshmallow Way) on bass and vocals and Bobb Sharples on drums. In 1968 they started rehearsing in the cellar of a boutique in downtown Trenton called the Hip-Pocket. Greg was extremely innovative and played weird positions, inverted chords, and off-key tuning on his customized Gibson Firebird guitar. He would only use Marshall’s, three 100-watt heads with six cabinets. Greg also considered himself a fashion plate and always wore a grey felt cowboy hat, a scarf tied around his left knee, and bedroom slippers when he played. Tom used a Sunn 2000S with four 15'' JBLs, four Sunn 412S cabinets with two Sunn Sorado heads, one Sorado head with a 610 cabinet, and one 15'' cabinet, to blow eardrums left and right. He also sported a cartridge belt around his waist. Bobbie always had a double bass drum set. This was a real power trio.

One of the owners of the Hip-Pocket and his business partner decided to manage the band and used the profit from the clothing store to promote them. They started Zonk Productions and managed to get Sainte Anthony’s Fyre booked as an opening act for bands like MC5, Wishbone Ash, Grass Roots, Rare Earth, Fleetwood Mac, and Joe Cocker. About this time they met a black promoter named Dickie Diamond who wanted to bankroll them. He said he knew everyone and would take care of everything. He was putting on shows with black acts and had the band opening for them. They also had to fill in as backup players for an impressive rooster of artists like James Brown, Jackie Wilson, the Coasters, the Drifters, the Four Tops, Kool and the Gang and others!

As Sainte Anthony’s Fyre’s fan base grew Zonk Productions decided it was time to put out an album. It was recorded around the end of 1969 in a studio in Pennsauken, New Jersey which was run by the bass player from the Lovin' Spoonful. Unfortunately he had no idea how to record this loud bunch. They refused to go directly into the board or use small amps so the sound board kept blowing up. Then finally they just set the amps up facing the back wall and hung two microphones on the far wall. They did some overdubbing at Nise Studios in Philadelphia and after mixing, the tapes were sent to Motown for pressing, who according to the band totally screwed it up. United Artists then pressed about 1000 copies of the Zonk Productions label release. Because the record was an independent release no radio stations would play it.

In the meantime Dickie had some crazy schemes going. He wanted to put them on tour as Led Zeppelin (he called them "Zefflin"), he said no one would figure it out because Zeppelin was from England and nobody knew what they looked like. He also started booking shows, selling the tickets, and then canceling the shows. Nobody knew what they were doing but Dickie said he would make it up to the band. So he got some time at Electric Lady Studio in New York to re-record the album in January 1971. But before Christmas Dickie was arrested for setting up a drug hit in Trenton, and because he wasn't with the band when they showed up the studio they wouldn't let them in.

Sainte Anthony’s Fyre broke up in 1972, six months after the Hip-Pocket closed. Tom went back to retrieve the rest of the Sainte Anthony's Fyre records but couldn't open the front door because of all the mail piled against it from the inside. When he finally got in he found letters from several major labels offering to sign the band, but by then it was too late. Greg started a new group called Greg Ohm's Shock Troop who played a continuation of Ste. Anthony's Fyre songs. Sadly Greg fell ill, soon after his brother Anthony (another skilled guitarist) got killed in an accident, and Greg died in 1978.

The Zonk recording will forever carry the legacy of this amazing band. The recording and mastering and might be sub-standard but the compressed basement sound has an amazing raw live feel that captures the band in their prime. Awesome ass burning riff fests like “Lone Soul Road” will blow your mind! Get off!

Credits:
Tom Nardi interviewed by Stefan Kéry. Thanks to Max Nardi.