Groove Maneuveres

Sexbeat were a Vancouver power pop and rock trio active from the spring of 1982 until the spring of 1983. The band featured Dick Jane on guitar and vocals, Blair Petrie on bass and Murray Wystrack on drums. Jane and Wystrack had previously played together in the Cover Boys, while Petrie had already worked with Shriek, Rosa Luxembourg and several experimental projects before joining Sexbeat.

The band rehearsed at Profile Studios on Commercial Drive, run by Bill Barker and Ray Fulber of the Scissors. The studio was still being developed at the time, and Petrie recalled that money from Sexbeat’s rehearsals helped Barker and Fulber build the operation. Profile soon became a working commercial studio used by a number of Vancouver bands.

Sexbeat recorded their six-song mini-LP Groove Maneuveres at Profile and released it independently in 1982 as SB 500. Dick Jane wrote all six songs, with the band working in a melodic power pop and new wave style. The lineup remained Jane on guitar and vocals, Petrie on bass and Wystrack on drums.

The Province music writer Tom Harrison described Sexbeat as melodic rock driven by ringing guitar and strong drums, and singled out the closing track ‘Neo-Cosmopolitan’ for its quieter guitar and vocal approach.

Sexbeat continued through the following months and began working toward a second EP. According to Petrie, the band broke up in the spring of 1983 before the follow-up could be recorded.

Murray Wystrack later played drums in an early lineup of Ultramarine and took part in the band’s first recording session at Profile Studios before leaving because of family circumstances. Blair Petrie continued recording his own experimental and electronic music, releasing Interference and the NRBP mini-LP in 1983, and later became a member of Ultramarine.

-Robert Williston