Vasil Zook formed in Cleveland, Ohio in late 1977.

It was shortly before New Years Eve when the phone rang. “Our opening band just canceled on us; can your band do the gig?” “Sure, no problem!” was the reply. The only problem was...there was no band. The clock was ticking away and there were less than 4 days to go before the gig. A flurry of phone calls later and Vasil Zook was born.

They started with a few covers they all knew: King Crimson’s “Talking Drum” & “Larks’ Tongues, pt. 2”, “Knights” from Peter Banks’ solo album, and the theme from the recent hit movie “Close Encounters”. Steve offered up a pair of tunes he’d recently penned, and a group drum solo seemed like a good idea. Peter had a “Dumb Ditty” up his sleeve, and Paul & Mark had recently been jamming on some interesting ideas. Add a segue here and a silly story there. This just might work.

When they took the stage, they blew away the band they’d been invited to open for, and everyone else in the club as well, and were invited back 4 times. Sadly, this was not to last and Vasil Zook disbanded nearly as quickly as it came together less than 3 months later.