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The
Early Years
Sault
Ste.
Marie,
Balderdash
and on...
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Balderdash
was basically my very first band of any type of notoriety, and thinking
back, it was a good little group.
My mother had
passed away from cancer when I was nine. Being kind of
a lonely
kid, the next two years of my life were spent 'noodling' on every
instrument
my older brothers, Kenny and Jimmy, would bring home from their high
school
music classes at Bawating
Collegiate
and Vocational School in our home town of Sault Ste. Marie,
Ontario,
Canada. 
Trumpet, clarinet, bass fiddle, bass clarinet -
I tried them all
while my brothers would be out on dates or at work. By the time I was
twelve,
I had settled securely on my brother Kenny's $17.00 Kay guitar that he
had purchased from K-Mart with his summer job money. I had watched my
brother
play "Love is All Around" by the Troggs very carefully. When he left, I
picked up the guitar and played it. By the time he came home, I had it
down, much to his amazement. From that day on, with Kenny's help, I
spent
most of my time trying to learn every song I could. The Beatles songs
were
a natural favourite.
One
sunny
afternoon about a year later, I was really bored. My
brother Dennis
and his wife at the time, Bobbi, took pity on me I guess, and brought
me
out to where Bobbi's parents and brothers lived; Landslide Road, which
was about 5-6 miles from where I lived on Greenfield Drive in Sault
Ste.
Marie, Ontario.
Little did I know at
the time, but Landslide Road and it's surrounding neighbourhoods and
people
would become pivotal in my musical and adolescent development.
When I arrived on that warm
summer's day,
I found that Bobbi's brother Danny Speers also played guitar and loved
the fact that I knew so many Beatles songs. He asked me to play
everything
I knew at that time over and over again so he could learn what I was
doing
and, by the end of that day, we had decided to form a band
together.
Being
that
Danny and I both played guitar, we tried unsuccessfully
to teach
Danny's friend, Brian Rouse, to play bass. Brian knew a guy who had
recently
bought a set of Silvertone drums, Timmy Huot. Tim joined the band
almost
immediately, and had a liking for all the same music we did. Timmy's
brother,
Rene, played bass, but already had a band that had amplifiers and
everything.
They were light years above us and played at teen parties. We were
little
kids compared to Rene. He was, after all, about 3 years older than us.
We
started
practicing in my basement on Greenfield Drive. Although
everyone
else lived 5-6 miles away on Landslide Road, my dad's basement became
our
first practice space due to the fact that Rene's band practiced in the
Huot's basement, and nobody else in our little group had a basement for
all the noise. Bands NEVER shared rehearsal space in those days.
It should be noted here
that we also incorporated a keyboard player into our band who
moonlighted
with Rene's band as well. His name was Kimmo Karlella, and his parents
operated a dance hall/lodge at Hiawatha Park, just up the hill on
Landslide
Road. Kimmo was fairly creative (that was the first time I heard anyone
play their own music), but he lacked the 'ear' to learn other people's
material. Considering his shortage of talent, Kimmo kept working in
those
days mainly because he had an organ (big money in those days) and his
parent's
ran the coolest spot around. You could have a dance there for free if
Kimmo
was in the band.
Kimmo's time was short-lived,
however. He didn't play with either group for that long and I believe
he
gave up on music entirely very quickly after that.
In
time,
Rene realized that our little band (at first called
"Hossenfeffer"
after a Bugs Bunny cartoon I had seen) was starting to sound a little
better
than his band. Rene, like his little brother Timmy, had a good ear for
music and it was becoming increasingly clear to him that his band (I
can't
recall what they were called) were very limited in their development.
Rene
decided to quit his band and join us. Now we could practice on
Landslide
Road (where the Huot's lived) and the only one who would have to
commute
to have practices would be me. Being that Brian Rouse still couldn't
play
bass guitar, Rene made a wonderful addition to our little band. Not
wanting
to hurt Brian, we 'promoted' him to 'manager'.
We
practiced
and played hard and became like brothers. Music can do
that to people;
having that common thread amongst us. Sometimes I would almost live at
the Huot's house. Mrs. Huot was a charming, loving and supportive
woman.
Mr. Huot, for the most part, mainly just put up with the band because
he
felt it kept his kids out of trouble - sort of. It was my first taste
of
really 'belonging' and feeling appreciated for my talents. The
Landslide
Road girls were beginning to notice me too, which was extremely cool in
my eyes. My own neighbourhood still treated me like a dweeb, yet here I
was a small time hero, just a few miles away.
Mr. and Mrs. Huot decided
we could have small dances in their basement where the band would play.
I think we charged a quarter to get in (Brian Rouse doing his manager
job
at the door), and we sold chips and pop as well. We used to have some
pretty
big audiences at those parties, and considering the meager admission
price,
we would usually make about 3-4 dollars each from them, which supported
our juvenile cigarette habit for a week, if we were lucky. My brother
Kenny
(remember - he taught me how to play) played in a 'real' band which
even
did nightclubs in those days. He had a big Ampeg B-2 bass amp with a
2X15"
speaker cabinet. It was massive. When we did these dances, he would let
me use it for my guitar, and since it was the only amp big enough to
put
a microphone into it as well, I inadvertently became the lead singer.
Danny's
brother John Speers who, like my brother Jimmy, fancied working with
electronics,
got
down to work fashioning our first P.A. system. It mostly contained
tubes
and chassis from old radios, I believe. Although the PA looked
impressive
(to us, anyway), the wattage was very low, and considering the 'grill
cloth'
we used on the speaker cabinets didn't 'breathe' at all (meaning the
sound
didn't go through AT ALL), you could easily shout louder than the P.A.
itself. On our gigs playing in Huot's basement, I went hoarse regularly
screaming over top of the instruments, mainly because my natural voice
was louder than our little P.A. - but hey - it looked cool!
My
brother Jimmy took an old juke box chassis
and tubes and made me my first guitar amp. He made me
two more as
well. One was styled after a Fender Bassman amp and another after an
old
Epiphone amp. He had found the schematics in a book he had purchased
somewhere.
He would also build my speaker cabinets that were considerably more
efficient
than our 'John Speers PA" models. I used those speakers right up until
I left to go on the road. They actually worked quite well.
Around
the same period of time, by taking
out the Canada Savings Bonds that my mother had started
for me at
the age of 6 to go towards college, my dad allowed me to buy a $250.00
used 1963 Epiphone Wilshire from
Gartshore's
Music Store in downtown Sault Ste. Marie. I hadn't owned my own
electric
guitar until that point, and had to borrow guitars from people so I
could
play my little 'gigs'. This was wonderful!!!
On top of that, for Christmas
my brothers and my father all pitched in to buy me my first "Shure"
microphone
and a boom mic stand. I was now 'styling'.
Soon, we felt that Danny
Speers' musical
prowess wasn't growing as quickly as the rest of us, and
animosity
was starting to rear its ugly head. We parted company. Unlike Brian
Rouse,
this was not an amicable split however, and it dissolved Danny's and my
friendship immediately. It was very sad, because I really cared for
him.
He was hurt, and rightly so...
NOTE:
Danny got the last laugh though. He eventually formed a band with a new
kid in the Landslide Road neighbourhood, Steve Ashman. Steve sang like
a bird and was a good little drummer. They called their band "Jaded
Spectre",
and I was there to see them compete against Balderdash and a host of
other
local bands at a Yamaha sponsored "Battle of the Bands" at the Korah
Collegiate
Auditorium. They were great!
I
thought
their original songs were very good as well. Oh well... Lesson learned.
My brother had
started playing in a weekend band while
he went to Cambrian College (now Sault College) and brought
me down
to one of their rehearsals one night because I had nothing to do.
During
the rehearsals these two young girls (sisters) walked in and the band
asked
if they wanted to sing. They said yes and I sat back to have a good
laugh,
expecting the worst. I WAS FLOORED! Rosanne and Pauline Bourgoin had
been
singing together since they were toddlers and they had a blend with
their
harmonies that I had never heard live before. I used to sit in on
most of my brother's band's rehearsals to learn whatever I could. Even
comparing with all of Sault Ste. Marie's finest lead singers in my
brother
Ken's band's throughout the years, these vocals were at a completely
different
level!
I didn't even really
talk to them that night, but man - what an impression!
By
now, Timmy was getting to be a pretty
good little drummer. My
brother's band needed a sub one night for
a wedding they were playing at the Elks Hall on Bay Street, and Timmy
got
the call. I was at home that night doing nothing when my brother called
me to get in touch with Rene and get our butts down to the hall,
because
he wanted to show our band off at the wedding. He had asked the bride
and
groom if his kid brother's band could play and got the necessary
permission.
When
we
arrived, I saw those same two girls there with their parents (I
guess they knew the newlyweds), and that Timmy had become quite
friendly
with Rosanne,
the older of the two girls. My brother Ken had Tim,
Rene
and I go up on stage and we played several songs to very good response.
It felt great.
Then the
girls got up
to sing with my brother's band. They tore the house down! They were so
incredible!
I then found out that
Rosanne was 12 and Pauline was 11!!! They did carry themselves to look
much more mature than that however.
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Pauline Parent, Myself
and Rosanne Swift
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Sault Ste. Marie
- August 12th, 2002
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My
brother's devious plan had worked. By the end of the
night we had
received permission from the girl's parents, Mr. and Mrs. Bourgoin,
that
the girls could join our band. Thinking back on it now, it must have
been
an incredibly difficult decision for the girl's parents to make,
letting
their beautiful young daughters hang out at rehearsals with young boys
until all hours of the night - school nights included. I never forgot
that
and Laurier and Yolland Bourgoin are still very dear friends of mine to
this day.
Although personality conflicts
sometimes
stood in the way (Rene was almost ready to get married
and a girl
in his band was eleven years old!), the band gelled rather quickly.
Pauline's
ability to find a harmony literally anywhere (her ear still blows me
away
to this day) became the band's trademark.
"Balderdash", as we were
now called, had the best vocals around as Timmy had also turned into a
good little singer too. We had some very impressive four part harmonies
considering all the singers were between the ages of 11 and 15 and that
this was literally everyone's first band. Considering we were a three
piece
band with just the two girls out front, we did everything from Edgar
Winter
Group material to Chicago, to Beatles, Stones, Chi Coltrane, The Hues
Corporation;
we covered a lot musically because of those immense vocals. We were
starting
to play a lot of high school dances and weddings in those days for the
amazing sum of $150.00- $180.00! After rentals of PA etc., it worked
out
to about $25.00-$30.00 each on a good night.
I felt that we may be able to
go one step
higher with another guitar player which would allow me
to 'wail'
a bit and possibly even play some piano in the band, if we could afford
one (what was I thinking? I didn't even play piano). Enter Bob Forbes.
Bob was a likable guy who I had met through my drummer friend Jon
Frolick.
They both taught at Killoren's Music School in the Soo and when I had
told
Jon my desire to find another member for Balderdash, he quickly
suggested
Bob.
Bob entered the band
just before our great 'road trip' to Dubreuilville
to play a wedding. Dubreuilville is a legend within itself.
Built by
Dubreuil Lumber, Dubreuilville was a logging community
about 2-3
hours north of Sault Ste. Marie. They had built an entire town for all
of their workers and their families, with stores and businesses with a
big rec centre in the centre of town, which is where we played.
The gig went very smoothly...
incredible as a matter of fact. I remember they applauded our intro to
"Killing Me Softly" as if we were the original artists - my first taste
of how exciting it can be to play at that caliber. They were treating
us
like stars and it felt good to all of us.
However, the wild west
was still the law of the land in Dubreuilville. After the gig was over
the streets went ballistic. I don't recall fights or anything of that
nature,
but it wouldn't have taken a whole lot to start one. They had no police
force up there to speak of, so vehicles with no windows or doors and
sometimes
even no roofs (driven by whoever and whatever wanted to drive them)
were
all over the place. It was a crazy place!
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Balderdash in
Dubreuilville, Ontario, Canada
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Me, Bob Forbes, Pauline
& Rosanne Bourgoin, Rene Huot (behind Pauline - Tim Huot)
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It seems
that not too long after he had joined, Bob left the band.
He wasn't
making the big difference I had hoped for anyway, and, I guess, he
wanted
to do something else. I never really heard from Bob again, and have no
idea what's happened with him. Life can be that way.
Maybe he'll email me
someday....
In
time, Timmy and Rene became more and
more obsessed with their motorcycles and the band's
predominance
in their lives became a thing of the past. Although I had sometimes
made
the 5-6 mile trek to their house for rehearsals, they often had 'other
things'
more pressing on their minds it seemed, and nothing musical would be
accomplished.
Rosanne, Pauline and I felt a lot of frustration over this, and
dissension
started to set in.
The band
quickly dissolved.
By early 1975, it was pretty much history, although we did play a
couple
of gigs. One of them was photographed at The Station Mall in Sault Ste.
Marie by my brother Dennis...
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One of the last
Balderdash
gigs
Station Mall, Sault
Ste. Marie, Ontario, Canada
|
During
this time (1975) I had received two offers to go on the road.
I
was almost eighteen at the time, and working at "Soo Piano" on Queen
Street
in downtown Sault Ste. Marie. The store's proximity to most of the
major
nightclubs in town made it a regular stop for 'traveling musicians' to
buy their strings etc.
I had received an offer
to 'hit the road' with a 'Show Band' from Chicago called "Don Dino and
Mark Five" that had made a stop at the Sault Ste. Marie Holiday Inn for
two weeks. They were tailoring a very well crafted show to 'make it' in
the Las Vegas type of markets. I really enjoyed their performances but,
obvious to me and my cronies, their guitarist was a weak link. They
were
about a 9-10 piece band, I believe, with a front man. They regularly
came
through the store during the afternoons and 'Don Dino' heard me play
guitar
on one of those occasions. I almost considered his offer and met with
him
on several occasions during his stay in the Soo, but there was a better
offer that had already been made to me earlier that year....
The
Beginnings of the BIG THING
The Bawating
High School music department (the real reason I went to
that school)
was headed by one of the greatest high school music teachers of all
time,
Frank Elliott. 
The numerous awards The Bawating Concert Band
received over
the years were a testament to Frank's ability to get the best out of
everyone
at all times. Anyone who went through that music program adored that
man.
I was lucky enough to
be recognized around Bawating as a talent that stood out a bit (as far
as the 'rock musicians' went - the brass and woodwinds players in the
actual
Bawating Concert Band were all second to none). There were three others
from Bawating that people regarded that way...
One
was
an amazing drummer a few years older than me with tons
of energy
and a cock sure attitude named Brien Armstrong, who had left the Soo
while
I was in grade 10 to go on the road.
He very quickly ended
up in a band backing up
The
Fabulous Platters (the source of a ton of very funny stories in
themselves)
and traveled a bit of the world including the island of Guam
which made the entertainment section of The
Sault Star - a very big deal to us Bawating kids.
He came
back a year later and grabbed Bawating's (and possibly Sault Ste.
Marie's)
best guitarist, Jeff Neill, to join that band. 
Jeff had completed
high school by that time and was free to go.
During
this time, my friendship had increased dramatically with a very
talented
guy by the name of Michael Sicoly.
We developed quite a
'musical brotherhood' between us.
|
Jim Wilde, Michael
Sicoly and myself doing a tour
of elementary schools
in Sault Ste, Marie (May/June of 1975)
|
Mike
and I had hit it off one day in the Bawating band room when he heard me
do the opening guitar phrases of "Octopus's Garden" by The Beatles.
After that we became pretty quick friends. While
I played in "Balderdash",
Mike played in a weekend band with his father called, "Solid Gold". Two
"Beatle Freaks" we were - still are, I guess. Mike turned out to be
(and
still is) one of the most talented people I have ever met. He had an
amazing
ear for chord structure and musical intervals that intrigued me, while
he was always impressed with my ability to 'hear' what key a song was
in
out of thin air. In 1973, we even formed a little band, with Timmy on
drums
(Rene was working full time at the Abitibi Pulp and Paper Mill by that
time and couldn't play every night on top of that), that played
downtown
at the "Lock City Hotel" Monday through Saturdays for $96.00 each per
week.
We had a pretty good run there. We were packing the place!
Unfortunately,
we were packing the place with underage friends and people like us from
Bawating - I was 15 at the time and Mike and Timmy were
16. One
day the place was raided and we were busted. When we appeared in court,
our fine was set at $50.00 each which we subsequently made back when we
were asked to be witnesses for the Crown Prosecution against The Lock
City
Hotel for serving minors. 
Ironically, I never drank the whole time I was
there, being under the mistaken impression that the police wouldn't
charge
me if I was just "playing there". Mike and Tim had a great time and
ended
up with the same fine! Bummer! Another issue was that it was raided
after
our second set on a Saturday and we were promptly sent home by the
police.
Consequently, we didn't get paid for that final week. The Lock City
Hotel
still owes us the $288.00 + interest to this day! We may have trouble
collecting
by now though...
Back
to the story...
About 7
months after he had left to go on the road with Brien,
Jeff came
back to Bawating for a visit, walked into the school hallways in
between
class times and asked Michael Sicoly and I if we would consider going
out
west when were finished our school year. He wanted to start a new band
and use the connections that he and Brien had already gained in the
Canadian
western provinces to establish this 'new band' quickly. Jeff said he
would
consider it to be a 'super group'. Mike would have graduated from Grade
13 by that time and I would be finishing my Grade 12 year.
My dream
band!!!! I couldn't believe I was even considered to be
in the same
league as these guys!!!
After weeks
of pondering, my dad felt it was best if he let me quit
high school
and go on the road.
A very tough decision
in retrospect, but he believed that it was to be a great opportunity.
Smart guy - it changed
the course of my life.
On January
2nd, 1976 Michael Sicoly and I boarded a plane headed
for Vancouver,
BC, Canada.
Remember - the band had
ever played together before.
For the most part, we
didn't even hang out together before this.
It was a complete gamble.
It was, what a lot of
people in the Soo referred to as, "The Cream of the Crop"
This band
was to become: SHAMA
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Shama's First Night
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Vancouver, BC,
Canada
January 2nd, 1976
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