Hometown boy and ‘Born to be Wild’ songwriter returning to Oshawa for Sunday event

A promise is a promise, even if former Steppenwolf songwriter and Oshawa native Mars Bonfire’s pledge to return to the city that raised him will come true six days before the second annual Convergence Music & Arts Festival.

Mars Bonfire (aka Dennis Edmonton, aka Dennis McCrohan), who wrote Born to be Wild, (the band’s biggest hit and one of the most iconic songs in rock ‘n roll), is coming back to Oshawa September 15 for a show at the BOND|ST Event Centre’s TwoTwoTwo downstairs venue, along with a meet-and-greet with fans.

Convergence, which enjoyed a wildly successful opening event last year, will happen on the following Saturday.

Bonfire, whose father Owen McCrohan operated the Jubilee Pavilion in Oshawa from 1932 until his death in 1981, vowed to come back for this year’s Convergence Festival (September 21) during a virtual session last year following the screening of a documentary (by filmmaker Paul Koidis) on 1960s Yorkville called ‘Essentials,’ which looked at the impact the former hippie haven (now exclusive enclave for the well-heeled) had on the music industry.

BOND|ST is partnering with Kops Records on the event on Sunday, which will include performances from three bands: Incoming Sun, an emerging young female-fronted band from Brooklin; John Denver Airport Conspiracy, a Toronto-based psych rock band who tries to bring back the “swirly goodness” of the 60s; and Mark Wihlidal (featuring Fools Gold), a group of talented musicians from Oshawa who will pay tribute to Steppenwolf and other luminaries from the era.

Tickets are just $10 for early birds and $20 at the door. Doors open at 6 p.m.

As Will McGuirk of Kops Records noted, “this is the one Oshawa, lots of special guests too so get your motor running and get a ticket.”

Steppenwolf. Mars Bonfire is second from left

Bonfire was born and raised in Oshawa (on Oshawa Boulevard and later Stevenson Road) and wrote the rock ‘n roll road anthem ‘Born to Be Wild,’ which became the seminal band’s biggest hit, while hiking in the desert behind the Hollywood Hills.

A member of Steppenwolf precursor Jack and the Sparrows, Bonfire re-joined the band (his brother Jerry was the drummer) in time for their biggest success and brought Born to be Wild with him.

The song (featured in the classic 1969 flick ‘Easy Rider’) is credited by some for coining the phrase ‘heavy metal’ – which later became a rock genre – with the lyrics, “I like smoke and lightening, heavy metal thunder,” but other lyrics in the song, such as “get your motor running, head out on the highway, looking for adventure, for whatever comes our way” became the message for an entire generation to get out of their comfort zone and see the world.

“I didn’t know it would even be recorded, let alone be a big success,” Bonfire said during the virtual interview last year. “I think it captures the essence of that transition between youth and adulthood, of leaving your parents and getting out on your own.”

He remembers Oshawa and peeling potatoes in the basement of the Jubilee, playing at Woodview Park and hiking to a country school (three grades taught in the same room!) when his family moved into what was then farmland in north-west Oshawa.

“That’s where I found my love of hiking and the great outdoors,” said the 80-something former rocker, who is still an active hiker. “Oshawa was a great place to grow up in the 40s and 50s.”

Peter Fonda and Dennis Hopper cruising to ‘Born to be Wild’ in the 1969 classic ‘Easy Rider’