"We're is not a band you just go and see, or a cd you just listen to. We are something you have to do".

Thats how lead singer Alan Doyle describes this weeks Tunesday Artists - a right coast phenomenom that started out as informal, kitchen party jam sessions in the Newfoundland fishing village of Petty Harbor.
Doyle and childhood friend John Brenton began as the aptly named "Staggering Home", touring the pubs of Newfoundland with their own brand of East Coast music and it was there Doyle made the aquaintance of Sean McCann, Bob Hallett and Darrell Power who were part of another Celtic Band, Rankin Street. Tired of the revolving door that seem to be following "Street" the three pulled the plug and joined forces with Doyle and I think its safe to say that East Coast music has never been the same since.

Their debut album dropped in the spring of 1992; self-titled and self-produced it soon caught the attention of Warner Brothers Canada, who soon re-issued it under their own label. The bands hard driving sound and East Coast homage made them a VERY unique sound on the radio that year - "Fisherman’s Lament", "Drunken Sailor" and "I’se The B’y" (one of my favorites) helped keep this band at the top of the charts for almost 3 months.

Good thing too because it would be almost three full years before fans would get another taste.....

UP hit record stores in September of 1995 and while it did well in the single department; "Billy Peddle", "The Old Black Rum" and the FANTASTIC "Run Run Away" (their tribute to Slade) it took nearly a year to sell 100,000 copies in Canada and be certified platinum.

The same was not true for their next effort... PLAY, released in June 1997, was certified platinum within three months and by February 1998, had sold more than 200,000 copies! Not unexpected given some of the singles that came out of this disc..."End of the World", "...

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They formed on the left coast in the late Sixties... the brainchild of Vancouver natives guitarist Ray Roper, drummer Brian Lousley and Danny Atchison on bass they were originally called "Pathway" and honed their craft playing practically every small venue in the Vancouver area. Club Band they were.... top ten band the werent so they recruited John Webster on keyboards and even went south of the 49th to bring in David Wills, formerly of the Seattle-based group Shaker, on vocals in 1973.

It was three more years on the "circuit" til they finally got their first real break; they recorded 2 sets of demos with legendary producer Elliot Mazur whose previous credits included the likes of Janis Joplin, Journey and Neil Young and were FINALLY noticed by Walter Stewart in '77, the road manager for Johnny Rivers, and signed to a deal with Parachute Records.

Their self-titled debut album dropped the following year and they released two singles; "Queen Of The Night", which failed to make any headway up the charts but it wasthis weeks featured tune that took them to the top of the heap for 5 weeks in Canada and even made Billboards top 30!

1979 was a year of transition for the group, though still early in their career. They released KEEP IT ALIVE that summer and found gold with "Love Struck". Anything but your typical 'I love you - the sky is blue' ballad, it quickly raced up the charts and is still a favourite of classic rock radio stations today. Two others, "Don't Ya Hide It" and "Crying Again Tonight" also ran the charts, stoppin at 11 and 13 respectively.

Despite their relative success things continued to change...Webster left to join Red Rider (who later joined up with Tom Cochrane) and was replaced by Lewis Nitikman. Their fourth album, NEW SET OF CHANGES hit the stores later that year but even a mediocre cover of The Beatles' "Please Please Me" couldnt help it..... disco was king and the way...

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A Nice "Alternative".....

It started with two friends and a mutual taste for something DIFFERENT than "mainstream".... high school buddies Neil Osborne and Brad Merritt used to spend their afternoons jamming in the garage, dreaming of life, and music, outside those four walls.

After graduation Osbourne went South to attend the prestigious Berklee College of Music in Boston only to be coaxed back to the left coast after a few semesters by Merritt and the lure of the growing underground punk scene in Vancouver. Together they hooked up with Osbournes brother David and a few other local musicians to form the LOUD RANGERS; unfortunately gigs were few and far between and after the band was tagged to play at the Osbourne family business, an aluminum recycling plant where all 12 people in attendance were either family, friends or employees, they disbanded.

It was after a visit to England to see their Punk Idols, Gang of Four and Joy Division that the stage called them again but this time it would be different... new members Ian Franey on bass and Darryl Neudorf on drums, new name and not a recycling plant in sight!

Gigs came and went but it was a New Years Eve set in 1980 that would finally push them thru; taking a late night set that nobody wanted at the place where West Coast Canadian Punk got its start, the Smilin' Buddha Cabaret, the foursome caught the eye of Allen Moy, a vocalist from the Vancouver band POPULAR FRONT. POPULAR FRONT was not only POPULAR they were productive..... several years earlier they had formed a nonprofit record label and musician's collective called Mo=Da=Mu. Ideas flowed after the session and in 1982 this band recorded SELECTION, a six-song EP on the label and followed that up with 1983s SET THE FIRE, a full length album produced by Moy himself.

While these two discs didnt threaten to set ANYTHING on fire they played well on College radios from Vancouver to San Francisco; major touring of small venues...

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....that I was good at "unintentional" demolition - a 69 Montego, a 71 Chev Pick-up, a 5 ton delivery truck, my left knee, my left shoulder, a picnic table (who knew they fall apart while youre water skiing on them ), the neighbours tin tool shed after trying to jump my Sears Glider over it, one Sears Glider, several egos and last, but not least, my right hand that tranformed into a human maraca after repeatedly bouncing it off of someones skull but I'm finding this "intentional" stuff a little more difficult.

I guess the reason MAY be that I'm trying to leave the rest of the bathroom intact (for now anyway) while tearing out a 40 year old built in shower stall; wrecking bar and hammer in hand I've been taking this thing apart piece by piece when all I REALLY want to do is grab the 50 lb sledge and swing for the fences.

There is ONE consolation tho... the floor and the footer are BOTH cement and that can only mean ONE THING...

JACKHAMMER!!!



Hmmmmmm that sidewalk back to the garbage cans is lookin kinda shoddy too...

I mentioned this on my radio show but I thought I'd explain a little further....

You KNOW when its for you don't you? I mean,how often are we driving down the street, we hear a siren and without a second thought we do our best to get the heck outta the way? But then theres that ONE time when something at the bottom of your gut awakens and says....

"Buddy, this sirens for YOU!"

Thats exactly what happened last Saturday... returning home from a errand run I was at the wrong end of said siren... so I hauled it to the curb and waited.

Now its happend to me before, more times than I choose to let on but this time was different... the guy with the badge must have sat in his cruiser for a good minute, just staring at me with a "what the hell do i do now" look on his face.

I waited.

He finally emerged, scratching his head and sportin a grin that would rival any Chershire cat....

and when it was all said and done I was $117.00 poorer.

Not so unusual you say?

Well dont try to tell that to a certain member of Calgarys Finest.

You see,

It was the first time in a 21 year career he had ever issued a speeding to to someone on a bicycle!

Yup me and my Raleigh 27 speed were clocked doing 41kph in a 30kph zone - to my defense (besides being a blind idiot) I took a different route home than I usually do if driving and DID NOT see that playground zone sign.....

At first it seemed that he didnt know WHAT to do... he went thru the USUAL routine "The reason that I stopped you Sir 'official yadda yadda, official yadda yadda'" but then broke off half way thru and said "Hell, they not gonna believe this down at the station!"

For a SECOND there I THOUGHT maybe i was gonna pedal away scott free but no go...

We met, we laughed, I went home a LOT poorer...

Hmmmm Kinda reminds me of my last date.....

Now if you'll excuse me Ive got a ticket to go pay.... ...

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