You can join the Wild Onions Facebook page by clicking here.
In 2005 I moved to Lillooet, a beautiful small town in British Columbia. My (now ex) husband and I moved to Lillooet with dreams of starting a family a running our own business. We were running a cafe which really helped us get to know the lovely people of Lillooet.
I don’t remember the exact details of how it came about, but I was invited to join 5 other musicians for a jam. They were initially going to form a group to perform during the street festival that summer. There was Blake on the drums, Eddie on guitar, Sharon on keyboards, Gary on bass and Dee on guitar. I remember it being so much fun! The idea of a large band kind of fizzled out though, but Gary and Dee touched base with me to see if I’d still be interested in forming a band. And the Wild Onions were born!
The name Wild Onions comes from the native translation of Lillooet. Gary Swaenepoel, the bass player, is a Lillooet local and has played in many bands over the years. Dee Long plays guitar, keyboard and programs all the drums and other electronics we used to fill out our sound. Dee is one of the founding members of the Canadian progressive rock group Klaatu. He is a musician, producer, engineer and songwriter. [ here’s a link to Dee’s music https://deelong.bandcamp.com/ , and click here to see his most recent video]
The Wild Onions played rock, pop, and R&B tunes from the 60’s through the 80’s. Here’s a link to our set list. We did some New Years Eve gigs in town, would rock up the local bonspiel (pun intended – lol!) plus had the opportunity to play at many outside summer festivals. One of our first gigs we could have renamed ourselves the Fried Onions as we played an outside gig in 40 plus degree weather. It was so hot it was hard to play the keyboard and the guitars were melting. We even recorded one of our New Years performances and released a live CD “Born to Be”.
I left Lillooet to move back to the Lower Mainland around 2010, but continued to go back to Lillooet to play. Dee moved to the Fraser Canyon area around 2015 but we still returned to Lillooet to play the annual Apricot Festival. Lillooet is such a beautiful place, it was always so nice to play against the mountain backdrop, and the people are so nice.
In 2019 we played the Apricot Festival in Lillooet and the Harvest Festival in the Sunshine Valley. Then COVID hit. Those would turn out to be the last Wild Onion gigs. Dee and his wife have relocated to the other coast, making it really hard to get together. I wish them all the best on their endeavor, but I will miss “The Onions”. I have a great deal of respect for Dee and Gary, and I will always have great memories of singing with The Wild Onions.
Tracey Sings 