Doug and the Slugs

Event Description

Join us at the Mary Winspear Centre on October 19, 2025 for an intimate evening with Doug and the Slugs, featuring Slug tales & twisted trails – stories, hidden gems and all your favourite songs!

Doug and the Slugs first appeared in 1977 and after a few personnel changes the recording lineup came together in December, 1978. They released their debut album ‘Cognac and Bologna’ in 1980; they toured relentlessly and went on to produce 5 more albums (3 of them certified Gold) and proved to be a ‘national treasure’. The band also had international releases in the US, Europe and Australia. They had underground success and critical acclaim in America, helping to launch the video era with Slug videos among the first getting heavy rotation on MTV, due to their film-like quality and humour.

Tragically, on October 16, 2004, Canada lost one of its greatest entertainers and songwriters when Doug Bennett died in a Calgary hospital.

Indeed, the Slugs wondered if they could ever continue without Doug. For several years they did not even consider the idea, until Bernie Aubin suggested they call Ted Okos, a journeyman rocker for many years with the band ‘Nick Danger’. Ted and the original slugs, John Burton, Simon Kendall, Steve Bosley, Wally Watson and Richard Baker, hit it off immediately. Ted’s high energy delivery and warm, but slightly irreverent stage antics, and his keen understanding of the essence of the songs, made him the obvious choice for a rebirth of ‘Doug and the Slugs.’ For the past 16 years the band has delighted audiences across Canada appearing at festivals, theatres and even performing ‘The Symphonic Slugs’ at the PNE with the Vancouver Symphony Orchestra in August 2023.