cktimes.ca Archives for Classic Vinyl
Classic Vinyl
THE STACCATOS/5 MAN ELECTRIC BAND AND THUNDERMUG
Tuesday, January 6, 2009
The Staccatos LP
Five Man Electric Band 45
Five Man Electric Band CD
1st Thundermug Album
Thundermug Photo
Thundermug Ta-Daa!! Album
Thundermug Strikes Album
Thundermug Album Photo
The Staccatos Band was formed 1963 in the Ottawa area featuring singer Dean Hagopian--they had some recording with Allied Records, but their first single with hit quality was "Small Time Girl" on the Capitol Label. Their next releases "Moved To California" 1966 and Let's Run Away" won Best Produced Single and Vocal Instrumental Group of The Year Juno's. In 1967 their "Half Past Midnight" also won another Juno Award for best produced single and lots of gigs in Toronto's Yorkville Village. This band also managed to play for the Queen when she was passing thru Canada.
Now It is around this time that I had acquired to HUGE Coco-Cola Poster for my bedroom---huge reddish pink posters of The Staccatos and The Guess Who---I am still trying to figure out where they ended up---on with the story---Around this time, they hooked up with Coco-Cola and recorded some radio jingles and shared half of an LP with The Guess Who, called "A Wild Pair" on Nimbus Records (I know I had that album also, but it has disappeared also) this prompted Capitol US to release the "Half Past Midnight" single and a commitment to record new material in LA. Sadly it failed as sounding to Beach boy like and this was in California. They would now change their name to THE FIVE MAN ELECTRIC BAND---waited out their contract and signed with MGM---no success---then onto LION records and history was waiting for them.
JUST IN: Last week I managed to find a Mint,Mint COPY of The Staccatos/The Guess Who "A WILD PAIR" at GROOVES RECORDS in London--if your looking to sell your used vinyl or looking for great finds like I just found, Grooves is the place to check out 353 Clarence St. in London---even if your looking for lost vinyl memories, it is a very cool place to look.
As The Five Man Electric Band, they cut "Goodbyes & Butterflies" LP with the HUGE single (selling 2 million copies worldwide) "Signs" going to No.3 in the US and No.4 in Canada. The bands next single "Absolutely Right" went No.3 in Canada and Top-20 in the US. By 1973, they were toured/worked out and pursued solo careers. They reformed in 1986 for a one-off concert which has lead to a Canadian tour every year (no pressures) and a Five Man Electrical Band "best of" cd was released in 1995.
Another very success 60's Canadian band that survived and still touring today---way to go The Staccatos/5 Man Electric Band.
THUNDERMUG band members are: Joe de Angelis/guitar/vocals, James (Jim) Corbett/bass, Bill Durst/keyboards/guitar/vocals, Ed Pranskus/drums, Corey Thompson/drums 95 and Justin Burgess/drums 97 also noted is Wyn Anderson their manager (all bands need a good manager)
Thundermug was formed in London, Ontario 1972, originally as Pink Orange---their first album Thundermug Strikes, produced their Top-40 hit "Africa". Their 2nd album Orbit in 1973 produced the Top-50 hit of the same name "Orbit". Be sure to check out this week's youtube connections for a listen----there was lots of touring at this time in the bands history and they even played at The Bedford Hotel in Goderich (with the boys dressing up in Kentucky Fried Chicken outfits, buckets and all) 1974 brought about the album Ta-Daa!!
The band split up shortly after their last charting single in 1975 "Clap Your Hands and Stomp your Feet" which also made it into the Top-50 in Canada. One thing about the breaking up of a GREAT band, one day they do get the urge to get back together---this happened around the end of 1980 and all band members were around for that.
Wyn Anderson ex-manager, pooled all his money in 1995 for the re-united Thundermug and a new album "Who's Running My World" featured the title track as it's single and a video (again, check my youtubes of this great clip) Successful exposure helped the band's popularity in the club scene again and the CD went on to have 3 Top-40 hits on rock radio.
In 1997, Thundermug recorded a CD "Bang The Love Drum" on the Raven Label and toured as a trio for many dates with Durst/Corbett and Ed Pranskus. the band officially disbanded again in 2001 and were nominated into the London Music Hall of Fame in 2006. Over 16 singles recorded and 4 albums for this GREAT Canadian Band from the 70's
Where are some of them now---Manager Wyn Anderson died in 1999---Corbett has joined Cheryl Lescom's Band and Bill Durst has a very successful solo career and working on another solo CD---he performs regularly in and around the London, Ontario area. The last time I saw Bill Durst play was 2 years ago, doing his ZZ Top cover band tribute---he is playing better than ever and his old Gibson SG never sounded better.
Be sure to check out this weeks youtube attachments to see both of these great Canadian bands---being Canadian, live clips and videos are rare, very nice to have visuals while hearing their songs: The Staccatos "Cry To Me" http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HmaFDd18p2w "It's A Long Way Home" http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s9r33VDTAvU&feat...ure=related "Half Past Midnight" from 1967 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D2tshd5Uf3Y&feat...ure=related and "You Only Die Once" http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x4VA3BUjsuU&NR=1 and London, Ontario's very own Thundermug "Africa" http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H4RxO0m_tNM " Who's Running My World" http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SCre_NG6xdY and "Orbit" 1973 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KeqX8RRVZo4 and a recent interview with Bill Durst http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nDPlz2A_gok
Help Preserve Canadian Music, log onto http://www.mouseholemusic.com/OttawaBands.htm and you will find an amazing selection of Canadian music for sale on cd's and some waiting to be re released
Hope you enjoyed this weeks column and see you in 2 weeks---contact me at bluesslider88@yahoo.ca or at cktimes with any comments you would like to make about classic vinyl
Allan Day----long time acquaintance of John Gardiner----I presently live in Goderich Ontario, retired (oh yeah) and live for the sound of music, especially from the 60's music explosion---I hope you enjoy some of my articles and they bring back some lost memories of bands gone by. Now I have to let you know that I am a HUGE Rolling Stones fan, collector, historian and I hope to hear any stories you might have on this GREAT Band from the 60's----email me at CK Times and let me know what you have or memories you have of this group. I will include stories and short stories on The Stones each week.
