Boys Brigade

“Melody"

  In the aftermath of the initial upheaval in the Canadian music scene, (especially in the Toronto area) caused by the “punk” movement, a number of groups who would be categorized as Canadian New Wave became prominent. Ironically, it was primarily these acts, rather than the punk rock musicians, who would have commercial success and who would reap the benefits of the opportunities the new music styles created. 

One of the Canadian groups that rose to prominence in this genre was a darling of the Queen Street West scene, "Boys Brigade". The group was formed in 1981 around Malcolm Burn (vocals and keyboards) and Tony Lester (vocals and guitar). Completing the lineup was bassist Wayne Lorenz, drummer Billie Brock, and David Porter and Jeff Packer as backing vocalists and percussionists. The band hooked up with an enterprising booking agent who not only was successful at getting the band into the usual clubs on Queen Street, but was also able to get them into Queen Street venues such as the Rex Hotel, places that at the time were not known for live music. The band continued working on their sound and on writing original material, and they submitted a song in a competition being held by one of Toronto’s bigger rock FM radio stations. This effort was successful, and the song “Mannequin” was included in the 1981 “Homegrown” compilation album released by Q 107. 

The band built upon their success and eventually Geddy Lee of Rush fame agreed to produce their initial self titled album, after having heard them. Interestingly, Malcolm Burn, who would later go on to work extensively with noted Canadian producer Daniel Lanois, and who himself would have great international success as a producer and engineer, said in a 2004 interview that while his wish was for Lanois to produce the band's first album, their manager of the time, along with other band members, were not interested. Of course, Lanois would go onto to working quite successfully with other Canadian New Wave acts of the time such as the Parachute Club and Martha and The Muffins. 

In 1983 the band’s self titled debut, “Boys Brigade” was released in Canada on Anthem records (and in the US on Capitol). One of the singles from the album, “Melody” enjoyed chart success, especially in the Toronto market. There was also a video created to support the song, which was great exposure for the band with advent of the MuchMusic video channel. The band would hit the road for a couple of years, but by 1985 had everyone decided to go their separate ways. 

“Melody”, with its spoken word verse and keyboard textures serves as a fitting to tribute to one of our lesser known Canadian groups form the early 1980’s. 

  

May 2, 2019

B. B. Gabor

“Soviet Jewellry”

B. B. Gabor (real name Gabor Hegedus) was an outstanding musician and singer/songwriter who was part of Toronto’s “New Wave” music scene in the late 1970’s and early 1980’s. Gabor was Hungarian by birth, and his early years were indelibly affected by the trauma he and his family suffered during the 1956 revolution in Hungary, and the subsequent savage repression by the Soviet Union. The family was forced to flee their homeland, and after going through the various hardships assorted with being refugees, the family settled in London, England. In 1973, Gabor emigrated to Toronto and became involved in the local music scene. His hard work and dedication to his craft earned him a record deal in 1979 with one of Canada’s better independent labels of the period, Anthem Records. His enigmatic and irrepressible musical style was great fit with this label. His songs mixed witty, yet perceptive lyrics with great pop music sensibilities. It was music that would appeal to those on the dance floor as well as the more thoughtful types listening through their Walkman’s. 

Recorded in June of 1979 and released in 1980, B. B. Gabor’s self titled debut album was well received, with two of the singles “Metropolitan Life” and “Nyet, Nyet Soviet (Soviet Jewellry)” becoming staples on Toronto radio. B. B. Gabor received a Juno nomination and toured in support of the album. He was also a great live act, and this author has very fond memories of watching him at a club in Toronto.     

Tragically, B.B. Gabor died at a far too young age, robbing Canada (and music in general) of a very talented individual. However, his musical legacy will always be a testament to his tremendous abilities, which certainly enriched the Canadian music scene of the early 1980’s.            

Hammersmith

Western Canada has always been fertile ground when it comes to rock music. The Guess Who and Bachman Turner Overdrive automatically come to mind, but it would doing a disservice to many other bands if we didn’t acknowledge the depth and talent that was (and I am sure still is) out there on the Prairies and the Rockies. Hammersmith, from Calgary Alberta, was a prime example.

Hammersmith was a band that was formed in 1975. Most of the members had previously performed together in another group called “Painter” (that also hailed from Calgary) which had some chart success in 1973 with the song “West Coast Woman”. However, in 1975 the members decided to start afresh and decided on the name “Hammersmith”. The group was a quintet comprising of Dan Lowe (lead guitar), Doran Beattie (lead vocals), Royden Morice (bass & keys), Jeff Boyne (rhythm guitar) and Jim Llewellyn (drums). Not long after forming, they released their eponymously  titled debut album on Mercury.

The initial single from the album was a catchy number called “Late Night Lovin’ Man” (also the lead track on side one of the album).  The style of music the band performed would be best described as “hard rock”. Nowadays that term seems to have been superseded by the designation  “metal”, but it would be a mistake to assume that these types of rock and roll are the same. Hard rock meant loud guitars, but usually also meant music that had a strong beat and was danceable, and the debut single by Hammersmith was no exception. The song itself is a great example of mid 1970’s commercial rock music, a style that within a year or so of this song’s release would begin to reflect the influence first of disco, and then not long after, new wave. As someone who spent at least part of his misspent youth at high school dances (when the dances still featured live music from bands you could actually hear on the local radio station), “Late Night Lovin’ Man” is redolent of what those dances were like. 

I reached out to Hammersmith’s drummer Jim Llewellyn to find out some more about the band. he very graciously answered my questions about the band. Jim was a regular in the Calgary music scene, and as such was familiar with the musicians from Painter. When their drummer decided to leave, he auditioned and became the new drummer. Jim advised that the band had Bruce Allan as their manager, who was also Bachman Turner Overdrive’s manager at the time. With the release of their debut album, Hammersmith found themselves on the road, opening for some of the era’s top acts. Jim recalls being on the same bill as Kiss, Spirit, Styx, Rod Stewart, Kansas, Jethro Tull and others. He advised me that it was an incredible time for him, playing in front of crowds of up to 20,000 people, and standing backstage watching some the top drummers in the field ply their trade (and in the process learning a great deal about drumming). I would highly recommend visiting Jim’s great website for more details about his fascinating career. It is located at http://www.jimllewellyn.com/postersandstuff.html.

For a great example of Canadian rock from the mid 70’s, give a Hammersmith a listen. I’ll bet you won’t be disappointed.