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When the plug was pulled on The Pumps in 1982, it was after only one album, and after Polydor execs had lost faith in the Winnipeg group becoming the next great prairie find. By that time however, another popular group was making its way out of the local basement, and making noise along the way …
The group’s origins stem from when highschool friends guitarist Dave Tamblyn and keyboardist Greg Brown grew up in London, Ontario playing in a number of bands on the weekends, finally settling in as Leather and Lace, which featured Janice Morgan on vocals. They moved to Yorkville and became staples on the folk scene through the …
Not to be confused with the techno artist from Quebec that appeared on the scene a quarter of a century later or the British reality show contestant after that, the band Octavian hailed from the nation’s capital. The core of vocalist John Pulkkinen, guitarists Warren Barbour and Bill Gauvrea, Ray Lessard on bass and Kirk …
One of the west coast’s hottest alternative rock groups in the 1990s was Odds. Guitarists/vocalists Steven Drake and Craig Northey met in 1986 when they were both entered in a radio station Battle of the Bands competition in their respective groups, but frustrated with where they were each going – Drake with 20th Century, and …
Formed in Montreal at the tail end of the 1960s, Offenbach was formed around keyboardist and singer Gerry Boulet’s vision of blending French music with operatic rock. The original lineup also consisted of his brother Denis on drums, guitarist Johnny Gravel, Will Lamothe on bass, and Pierre Harel on vocals and keyboards. They went through …
Brent Macnab memorial Isolated from the Toronto juggernaut that all but controlled the Canadian music scene in the early 70’s, Alberta was developing its own style – with its own country-cross over-flavoured influences. By 1977, Pickens was already one of Edmonton’s most promising acts when Drayton Valley native Ian Oscar grew tired of two years …
Oscar Peterson memorial Arguably one of the world’s most influential pianists of the modern era, Oscar Emmanuel Peterson was born in 1925, and grew up in a predominantly black poor neighbourhood of Montreal to immigrants from the West Indies. He found himself immersed in the emerging jazz culture, and at the age of five, began …
The origins of Our Lady Peace began in late 1991, when Michael Maida responsded to an ad Mike Turner had placed in Now Magazine, looking to put a band together. Maida was a criminology student at the University of Toronto, and thought it would be a good way to make an extra buck on the …
Originally from Calgary, trombonist Ian McDougall moved to Victoria as a teenager, then studied music at UBC. By the end of the 1960s, he was already accomplished on the local circuit, and CBC Records released MUSIC BY IAN McDOUGALL in early 1970. While lending himself out to other artists’ projects, CBC urged him to put …
Michel Pagliaro was born in Montreal in 1948, and by age 11 he was playing the guitar. Only four years later he was playing in his first band, les Stringmen, which evolved into les Bluebirds, and then les Merseys. Along the way, those formative first few years gave him exposure to audiences during street fests, …