David Fromstein - Triton Warrior
Born and raised in Ontario, Canada, Fromstein began to have an interest in playing music, specifically the guitar, at just the age of five and by the time he was nine he would be playing in his first band. As the years prolonged he would meet one of his dearest friends, Ken Ambrose and start an underground powerhouse called Triton Warrior. The legend of TW is incredible, but you already know that! It was a pleasure speaking with David about his early days growing up, how music changed his, as well as influenced his entire life, and how he would go on to start one of the heaviest bands in the underground Canadian scene in the 70’s. Enjoy!
-Special thanks to Jason from over Supreme Echo for his support during the process of this interview.
I was born in Toronto, Canada, in 1955. Growing up for me in the early years was very different. My sister tossed my stroller down the stairs before I was one. I Stuttered badly as a youth and teen. I played behind couches, and in closets, because I didn’t feel safe. The outside world was a place where I was expected to talk. Use a phone, order pizza. I was also born with many environmental allergies. That meant a lot of time spent indoors. These simple things were all challenging for me. My fascination with the guitar began at 5. I wanted to be like Davy Crockett. With a buckskin hat and a guitar strapped across my back. Lessons started at 5 years old with “On top of old smokie, and down in the valley”. Lessons didn’t really provide me with anything I could use until I started to play with other people. I spent a great deal of time in my head with music and how it made me feel.
Writing started at 9. So did my first band. Batboy and the Vampires. We played in our friends’ basements all original material. This band was followed by the Mad Hatter, and the Cast, before meeting Ken Ambrose of Mama Moose in 1972. In all 17 years formal guitar training. 3 years Conservatory Theory, 4 years modern Jazz technical theory. I have an Undiscovered Archive of over 7 hours of Material, including 3 rock operas. The bulk of this material was written from 1972-1980. I just released a Cd featuring some of the early Triton tracks. Almost Lost my Friends, Son of Gad, Seasons are Changing. Would love to recreate the live sound “off the stage” of an evening with Triton. Maybe this year.
Growing up was a little different with my allergies. I wanted to play baseball, football, any field games. I spent a lot of time in fantasy and writing rather than being social. My Father introduced me to a series at Massey Hall in Toronto, Symphony, and the Jazz. The Symphony would open, the band would follow, and the two would join for the last set. Theater series at the O’Keefe Center, for monthly theater, usually musicals, and weekly trips to the Colonial to watch and meet jazz greats over dinner. We also went to many baseball and football games. The Music scene in Toronto was vibrant in the 60’s and 70’s. My early influences in popular music were James Taylor, Stephen Stills, Jimi Hendrix, Terry Kath, Cat Stevens and Carol King and Grand Funk. Loved the Motown, Sound, and the British invasion. I didn’t really listen to any heavy rock until meeting to for Triton Warrior.
Drummer Ken had an enormous vinyl collection and he introduced me to new music weekly, including Black Sabbath. The 70’s were all about protest like the 60’s. I wanted our music to have a message and change the world. Upon releasing Almost lost my friends 49 years after I wrote it, I was amazed that all the issues in the 70’s were still the same. Nothing has Changed. The area we lived in had many guitarists, and basement bands. We all had reputations. Some guys were known for speed. I was known for being able to extract the guitar parts from our cover songs like the original and play them the same every time. In the clubs we were watching April Wine, Foot in Cold Water, Scrublocain, Lighthouse, had a house a few doors away it was common place to sit outside the house while they were rehearsing.
I know this is a rock interview but the musician with the largest impact on my life was Charlie Byrd. I met him several times at the Colonial and he would come to the table to sit with my dad. The first time I was maybe 14, I asked him if he plays all year in clubs like this one. He told me he tours six months and goes to school 6 months a year. I asked him what he taught. He said no I am a student. He was in his 60’s. He showed me there is always something to learn in music. Thank you Charlie. He then went on stage and played an instrumental of Jesus Christ Super star. all the parts, by himself. Like an orchestra.
My first live performance was as a 9 year old at a resort in the Catskills. My sister sang house of the rising sun and I accompanied on the guitar. I mentioned earlier my bands, Bat boy and the vampires, mad hatter, and the cast. Our first gig with Triton was a high-school in Toronto. I broke 2 strings that night and had NO BACK UP. After that I always had a kit for my guitar with an abundance of strings, picks, and cables. I also played in a working band 150 nights a year for 15 years. 400 songs, for weddings and corporate parties. Lots of gigs. Little expression. I was the first entertainment at Yuk Yuks in Yorkville when it opened. I played acoustic guitar during dinner and breaks. I didn’t like this much. I thought the music was empty unplugged.
A big part of my life was Triton Sound Studios in Downsview. I partnered with JR Ellis, and Joel from the Triton band. We built a state of the art studio, for the least possible dollar. I worked grave yard to offer young talent recording time at $25 hour. This allowed me to not only perform on others work, but to craft my engineering and production skills. I loved having a new song to hum every day by playing on others songs. A glass cut severed tendons in my right hand when I was 27. I sold out of the studio thinking I would never play again
More later about loss of all my wealth, loss of all my possessions, then two whip lashes and a slip and fall left me without feeling from the waist down and unable to lift my arms above my waist. Today I am in excellent health, fully recovered and in a loving marriage. My attitude and playing are with an understanding I never thought possible. It is amazing what you can achieve when it is all taken away. Onwards. The high schools were the melting pots for the bands in Toronto. We were in the Junior and High schools playing after school dances. In 1972 as Triton Warrior. I met Ken Ambrose, then drummer of Mama Moose, after my wrist surgery. I wore the cast for 13 months and two surgeries. Thus my band the Cast, and then Triton Warrior.
Ken heard about my drummer returning to Greece, and he suggested we get together. His guitar player Keith (16) Ken (17), My bass player Alex 17, and me also 17. The first rehearsals were in my parents’ basement. They took up bowling so we could turn up the volume. Rehearsal nights usually attracted a lot of visitors including members of competing bands. There is a chapter in a book here with some of the stories. Anyway Ken was very strong, and he would pound the drums Keith Moonish with military sticks. Ken had only one condition for me to join with him. Get a new guitar. He didn’t approve of my Harmony semi acoustic. So, I went out and bought my Gibson SG custom 1969 for 700 dollars with the case. When I brought it home of course my parents cursed it as too good for me and demanded I return it to the store. So it was born, Triton Warrior.
Ken and I hit it off instantly in the creative direction meeting daily to try new ideas. The main rift on the bass is written by Ken trying to show us what he wanted to play drums too. I was the theory master so it was my job to come up with the train horn on the guitar. Along with Keith crybaby wow we had that awesome rhythm set. I wrote the bridge and the rhythm for Keiths lead, and Ken perfected his solo for the single. The Tatsi sound recording “the acetate” was our first recording. We had it so tight in rehearsals. But the recording process was new and we were more trying not to make mistakes than play it like we could. That’s why there was another recording at sound Canada on the Vintage label.
These were fun creative times, punctuated with pizza, beer and frisbee. Over the years there were many rehearsal studios, and road trips. Keith and I worked daily on double leads and our 5ths solos. Playing shows for us was like a celebration. We had the amps on full with full distortion and boost at the guitar. With Ken in the band we were striving for Who like volume. The bands name came about on Rumor has it that Ken had a reel to reel brand of tape called triton. We went to the library to see what we could find and found the seahorse and the trident. It didn’t take long to create a mythical identity for us to get behind Triton Warrior.
Excerpt from the ballade of Triton Warrior (1974):
“Far in the ancient past when a man could still fear a god.
A child to the ocean was born.
Rising up from the tide, and the serpents wake,
The waters writhed and churned out its scorn.”
Sort of makes you want to hear more. The sound was in flux all the time. Ken working on the double bass techniques, Me experimenting with tape delay, Keith with the wah and echo. One thing for sure. It was going to be basic rock. So basic we called it Gravel Music. Crushed rock. Crushed because I used my theory to break the rules in all sorts of places. Like a 21 bar blues. Satans Train was the first song written by the band. Sealed in a Grave was taught to me by Ken and Keith. I would bring songs forward from my list. The band would work on songs together, and we chose our cover material to fit our personalities. High energy. Was playing a rock rift last week at 140bpm. Ken was a monster. Our Management Power-one records liked Satans Train for the single.
We got private funding the second time around for the Sound Canada recording. At the time we were young power one was a nobody who wanted to make a quick buck. The record was done a 2nd time for us by us. The label and pressing process was all new to us. I can remember being very proud of that first product. Even got some air play. Sitting in the room at Quality records, and choosing the Vintage label was a totally new experience. In the first recording I had to sing Sealed in a grave Ken didn’t cut it. That is why we added Joel Cohen to the band. He sang leads and let Ken and I sing back up. The sound Canada recording features Joel on Vocals in Satans train and singing the bridge up high in Sealed in a grave. Joel and I have been singing together now for 48 years.
Recording at Sound Canada for the single was our first venture into a real studio. We rehearsed and gigged for weeks stoking up the energy for the single. We went in Sounding like Black Sabbath and came out of the session sounding so thin. Small budget meant little attention to microphone placement and engineering. We thought we were one of those bands sounding better live than recorded. This was the start of my personal education in engineering, acoustics, and recording. Another stepping stone so to speak.
As for gigs and promotion, there were two lawsuits. One for destroying a hotel in London Ontario, and the other for a concert in Barrie Ont. I found myself 19 and at private boarding school 300km away from the band and home. The original band stopped here. This is where I started to write my rock opera the ‘Shatterer of Worlds’ in 1974. When school ended the band got together for one night in Rosseau, Ontario. One of the best nights I can remember. We were 19 and full of edge.
The show was awesome, cottage country in the summer. The best stories come from the guy at the gas station that cooked your cheeseburgers, Joel drinking an entire bottle of screech. Camping in the bush under the stars, and a Sunday morning jam before we packed up. Just could get enough playing in. I especially like me with hair and the stripped shirt. I am pretty sure it was a limited run of 500 copies.
Our 45th reunion Consisted of several days and weekends of getting together for music and food. We all loved the energy. And miss Sandro very much. The deal with Supreme Echo and Jason Flower did not start the way Jason had hoped. He had found Ken, who got ill, and I gave him the run around for years. Jason has done two discs for us and his attention to detail and the historical fact makes me proud to be associated with him.
The Numero Group was a separate deal by me for the compilation album. These guys are also first rate and a pleasure to do business with. I have also shipped the group a case of old master tapes and jams from Triton sound. Maybe something will come out of it… I have been contacted by many fans from all over. I must say it is a thrill and a rush to hear what the fans have to say. Joel and I released our Cd this year with Early Triton tracks Recorded in 2020: Son of Gad.
Take it, Almost lost my Friends. Seasons are Changing Under the band name rebel bros… Here is an early track of the same song as a tribute to the band members I have played with in Triton Warrior. Thank you for this experience has been awesome and finally if you have a chance, my wife and I have a mission in Cuba that we have been blessed with. Each year we feed several hundred families with rice, oil, beans, canned goods, toiletries. Have a look. And thank you!
Dakota Brown
