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The son of van Steenes' previous musical adventures, ARSON and Glamatron!, Vis-A-Vis was born and registered in 1984, in the shadow of Big Brother and other Orwellian delights. Translated literally, the name Vis-A-Vis is from the French meaning, 'face to face' and the stark black and white logo designed by van Steenes symbolized facing the past while facing the future.

In the beginning, it's main creative output centered around the words and music of van Steenes and the guitar and music of Kurt Laporte. Both being accomplished in their own right, their collaborations yielded the core sound of the original band. Their influences were primarily the British sounds of musicians such as Wire, XTC, The Cure, Peter Murphy & Bauhaus, David Bowie, Roxy Music, Ultravox! and many others, cross bred with the American stylings of Todd Rundgren, Devo, Pere Ubu, The Velvet Underground, Lou Reed, Iggy Pop and too many others to list.

Vis-A-Vis' first release, produced by the legendary Garth Richardson, was a 6 track LP titled, 'Heart and Soul', a strong introductory album with 3 of it's tracks getting steady radio play on the alternative dial. The first release for airplay was a track called 'Dance With Me (She's a Theatre)'. This was followed quickly by 'I Am The Night (Colour Me Black)' and 'Prison Of Eyes'. The response was very favourable and the band was nominated for "Best Independant Artists" and "Best Album Design" by local radio station, CFNY and their CASBY (Canadian Artists Selected By You) awards. They won the "Best Independant Artists" award for 1986.

By this time, Vis-A-Vis' members included Bassist Gene Donofrio, Keyboardist Norm Brown and Drummer Frank March, all exceptionally talented players and collaborators. Radio airplay combined with their dynamic live performances established their credibility and brought them many new fans and by the fall of 1986, they were back in the studio to do a follow up to the successful 'Heart and Soul' album.

While in the studio doing their final mixdowns, Mick Ronson, who happened to be working in Studio B, dropped in and added some magic to the mix and early in the new year, Vis-A-Vis released their best selling song, "Shadow Play". Debuting on radio station CFNY's Club 102 with super DJ Chris Shepperd, the song soon became the signature tune the band was known for both in Canada and in parts of the US and Europe. A somewhat controversial video for the song followed and received moderate rotation on the Much Music network as well as throughout the club circuit. The music for "Shadow Play" was also used in an episode of "Fashion Television" and was selling quite well in various markets. The summer of 1987 saw Vis-A-Vis play it's biggest concert in front of 25,000 people at the CFNY picnic held at Molson Park, north of Toronto. That year also saw the band nominated for another CASBY award for "Most Promising Band". Fortunately, they didn't win as that particular award seemed to carry a curse sending most winners towards a downward spiral! As for this version of Vis-A-Vis, change was also in the wind as time, unkept promises and the 'business' of being a band took it's toll.

At some point along the road, things changed. Was it the record distributor who stole our royalties and never paid us?; The managers who were too busy to focus on a real alternative with growing success?; The possibility that our ideals had changed or were changed for us by circumstances?; All in all, it was a combination of events that saw this version of Vis-A-Vis go on hiatus in the spring of 1988 leaving vocalist/composer van Steenes to carry on the band as a project which, to this day, he still does.

In 2004, the Hi-BIAS label released the first in a series of compilation CD's called retro:active, Rare & Remixed. Featured artists on that CD included A-Ha, Echo & The Bunnymen, INXS, Erasure, The Cure, Book of Love and yes, Vis-A-Vis! Stay tuned!!