  Originally called Common Bond, the band shortened its name to simply Bond, and was based out of Toronto. The lineup changed often in the early days, but always featured founders drummer Jeff Hamilton and bassist John Roles. Roles soon traded in his bass for the six-string guitar variety, making room for Bill Dunn. They briefly had Barry Cobus and Alex MacDougall on guitars, but before long both were gone, and Gerry Mosby was in.Cobus became their manager and they were playing the Ontario b-circuit. Covering the usual mix of the day’s bar hits, they gradually mixed their British influences’ own experimentations, and soon their shows contained a growing amount of original material. They signed with Columbia and CBS in the fall of ’74. After spending a couple of months in Toronto’s Manta Sound and Captain Audio studios with producer Bob Gallo, the result was their 1975 self-titled debut. Mostly Roles/Trenholm compositions, the single “Dancin On A Saturday Night” cracked the top 20 at home. They toured the country, including dates with Lighthouse and The Stampeders. The somewhat surprising warm welcome to the single spawned a quick successor. But “When You’re Up, You’re Up” was anything but that, virtually ignored by radio. The third single, “Hold On,” fared no better. Still, they put out one of the better albums from Toronto that year. With MacDougall’s “Gallo’s Dreams Sitting Here” (a sort of tale of a day in the life in the studio), and leadoff “Come On Home,” it was generally sanitary, non-offensive pop that often utilized horns and piano. A pair of more singles were released in ’76, but “Back Seat Driver” got poo-pooed because it was deemed there could be a chance its inspiration could possibly potentially offend someone. “One Lives In My Life” was a ballad that the label had requested, but failed to make a dent in the charts. By mid ’77 Hamilton was out and Kim Hunt was the new drummer. Soon Roles was gone that summer, where he moved to the West Coast, teaming up with Chilliwack and then Doucette in the ’80s, and The Groove Corporation in the ’90s. Replacing him was Ted Trenholm. The band fell out of favour with label execs because of the familiar irreconcilable differences, and the revolving door was open for a few years. Brian Mitchell became the singer for awhile, and MacDougall went on to play with Crowbar, then King Biscuit Boy throughout the ’80s. Colin Walker sat behind the drums after Hunt left to co-found Zon, then Urgent, then joined Hanover Fist, and then Moxy. The band was cut from Columbia’s roster after one last single, “I Can’t Help It” fizzled before it ever burned, after Jim Lamarche did time as guitarist for awhile before going solo on A & M for one record. He later became a successful studio engineer and session play around Toronto. Mitch Lewis and Chris Livingston (later of Lawrence Gowan, The Hunt, and Ian Thomas). |
