Wichita as seen in the early 1990s. (Photo Courtesy Tim Herman)

By Chris Brown

A show for the ages

Wichita ready for one-night reunion at Stampede Summer Jam

Jul 26, 2021 | 4:29 PM

MEDICINE HAT, AB – Wednesday’s Stampede Summer Jam will not only be a celebration of the current musical talent in Medicine Hat but will also pay homage to one of the most popular local groups of the past.

By far the most prominent name on the Summer Jam poster is Wichita.

It’s a name that will be familiar to many who lived on the Prairies throughout the 1980s.

“We played just about every kind of rodeo dance or honky-tonk or whatever from like in the prairie provinces and drove a lot of miles to go all over the place,” recalls Tim Herman, who served as the band’s leader for much of its heyday and beyond.

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Herman played with the band until the early 2000s, and saw many members come and go over those years and after. He said at last count Wichita’s alumni numbers well into the 50s.

He laughs that it made narrowing it down to who would play at Summer Jam a bit of a challenge.

“They only gave us five songs. If they wanted all 54 they would have had to give us a whole night,” he said with a smile.

“The alumni crew for this particular show is going to be my brother Greg, we’ve got Al Bader on bass, we’ve got James Evangelos on acoustic guitar, he’s actually one of our drummers but he was our high harmony singer so he’s joining us,” Herman said. “We’ve got Randy Schmidt playing drums and we’ve got Dave McDonald from one of the early band versions that was on the road.”

Herman said Wichita has a history with the Summer Jam, but not as it is known now. They played the precursor to Summer Jam.

“There used to be an event called the Kiwanis Branding Party where they would actually brand some calves and it was a really neat deal down in Woolfrey’s Coulee,” he said. “If you can imagine having to go across a swinging bridge to get over to the dance floor, we had to drive the band rig through a creek to get over there to set up.”

Trent Roset of Mahoney, who will host Summer Jam, is excited they were able to get Wichita for the show.

“That’s a cool experience, seeing these people that we’ve seen growing up now we get to work alongside them,” said Roset.

“That’s actually really cool, that feels … that’s a warm, fuzzy feeling,” said Herman, adding he and the rest of the guys are honoured to be playing on Wednesday.

The rest of the lineup includes Audrey Three, Phoenix, Mahoney and Friends, Desperate Measures, Band of Brothers, Derek Hintz and The Cruisers.

Doors open for Summer Jam at 6 p.m. and the music starts at 7.

Tickets are $10 and it is rush seating.

Way back when

Herman was not an original member of Wichita, but joined about eight months into its history in 1982.

He says the band was doing fairly well playing local bars and clubs, and they decided to take their music to a wider audience.

“They wanted to go on the road and needed guys that would commit to that kind of time schedule,” said Herman. “Two of the members said they couldn’t do it and so myself and a fella named Dave McDonald, we replaced some of the first generation members and that’s when we started going on the road.”

Wichita had four radio singles that charted in Canada, and spent the bulk of the ’80s as a road band.

“It was like, ‘here’s what you’ve got to do, can you play a bit? Great, let’s go do this thing,”’ Herman said. “And you know, we did OK. We did eight years of that before we decided to come back home and just go back to weekends again.”