Wrathchild (1984-85)
Members: Mark Watson, Rick Stack, Chad Gunderson, Kevin Anderson, Scott Sorenson, Tom Salmon
Crew: Scott Horsman
By the summer of 1984, keyboardist Kevin Anderson and guitar whiz Rick Stack had joined Koncept and changed the group from a rough garage band sound to a more polished/refined project. The group decided a new name was needed to differentiate and separate itself from both the Koncept name and the past Koncept sound. In late summer 1984, Wrathchild was born.
Wrathchild started it’s existence with the same five members that had ended Koncept, Chad Gunderson (lead vocals and guitar), Rick Stack (guitar), Kevin Anderson (keyboards and guitar), Scott Sorenson (bass), and Tom Salmon (drums). The five honed their sound (in a rented space above an old chick hatchery) playing primarily cover material, which was a departure from the mostly original music focus of earlier groups Koncept and Oasis. The band had also moved into heavier rock material, like Scorpians, Ratt, and Motley Crue. The fivesome would play only one gig together (which was Rick’s first ever live band performance) in September 1984 at an outdoor party.
Shortly after, Chad, Kevin, and the band parted ways and Mark Watson joined Rick, Scott, and Tom to form the second version of Wrathchild. Scott and Tom had met Mark at a local music store where Mark was trying out a new guitar. By the end of that same day, the three had jammed together and things felt right. After another jam with Rick, the new Wrathchild was set.
This second version of Wrathchild went on to do a couple of gigs including a Mayo High School dance and Tom (age 17), Scott (age 16), and Rick’s (age 15) first “bar" gig, a two-nighter at a little dive in Cresco, Iowa (Mark was already a bar veteran at this point).
But by the end of 1984, Wrathchild had quietly disbanded and Rick and Mark went their separate ways, with Mark forming Toyz (I think, Mark correct me if I’m wrong), and Rick taking a break before hooking back up with Tom and Scott for Hot Pink in early 1986. Scott and Tom, meanwhile, took a little break, then started a brief project with Joe Bourassa. While the project with Joe never took shape enough to gig (thus no band section exists on this site for it), Joe introduced the two to Marty Smith at a party in early 1985 which led to the next band, Hunger.