Diamondjimi
07-26-2006, 09:26 PM
If you were a fan of rock music growing up in Canada , chances are you know about this band. (Or myself , a diehard fan.) You had their records. These vids are decent , but to truely appreciate these guys check 'em out on disc. They had a lot of humour in their music as well as great arrangments and killer chops.
Here's the skinny ............
Kim Mitchell (guitars, vocals)
Terry Watkinson (keyboards)
Paul Kersey (drums)
Mike Tilka (bass)
Gary McCracken (drums; replaced Kersey in 1977)
Dave Myles (bass; replaced Tilka)
Dave Stone (keyboards; replaced Watkinson in 1979]
Peter Fredette (bass; replaced Myles)
Sarnia in the 1960's saw a young, ambitious Kim Mitchell join ZOOOM, who wound up in Toronto where cover-tunes ruled and original material went unnoticed. Mitchell left them, starving, getting work doing studio sessions, beer commercials, and the airport lounge circuit. He set off to the Greek island of Rhodes backing up a Greek Tom Jones with the Canadian Flag. Six months later Mitchell invited poet and childhood buddy Pye Dubois to Greece to co-write some songs; they decided to make it a band project with some Sarnia friends and set off to launch MAX WEBSTER (a name they picked from a phonebook).
The 1972 line-up consisted of Mitchell, Kersey, Tilka, and Watkinson. By 1974 their live act was getting bites from record companies and in 1975 they signed with SRO Productions who were the management arm of Anthem Records. Their first two albums, 'Max Webster' and 'High Class In Borrowed Shoes', were produced by Terry Brown (Rush, Klaatu, Eye Eye). However, during the recording of 'Mutiny Up My Sleeve' (1978) he left over a dispute concerning the album's musical direction. By this point McCracken had assumed the drum chores (Kersey had quit to form The Hunt after a falling out with Kim Mitchell) and Myles had taken over bass duties for Tilka, who turned to business aspects at SRO/Anthem.
Yet, even with the changes, the band maintained its stance as a strong live draw, so much so that Rush asked them to open their 1977 tour. Slowly, Webster began to establish a massive cult following and acceptance, a fact that didn't go unnoticed by 'A Million Vacations' producer John de Nottebeck. With that album he made the band more radio friendly and they finally cracked the charts with the single "Let Go The Line" in 1979. 'Live Magnetic Air' was also released that year but Watkinson left anyway to pursue a solo career. He eventually formed the band Antlers with Tilka in the early 1990's.
Despite a fabled team-up of Max Webster and Rush on the song "Battlescar", 1980's 'Universal Juveniles' had a noticeable absence of that trademark Watkinson keyboard sound and the band was falling apart from constant touring in towns where feverish fans were unable to purchase the band's records. The lack of promotion and poor management organization is sited as the cause for Kim Mitchell's resignation during a tour with Rush in April 1981. With this the band split up but they had actually been close to hitting the big time, so Anthem capitalized with a posthumous greatest hits package called 'Diamonds, Diamonds'.
Mitchell went on to a very successful solo career, but the continued cult status of Max Webster, particularly in Ontario, prompted Mitchell, Watkinson, McCracken, and Tilka to reunite in 1990. Their first performance was a short set at the Toronto Music Awards that year to 3000 hysterical fans who refused to pay attention to the awards given out after their set, continuing to chant "Max! Max! Max!" for the rest of the night. Anthem capitalized on the new-found Max fervour by releasing another best of package that year. Delighted with this response, the four musicians continued to do one-off dates around Ontario as Max Webster well into the late 1990's with Kim Mitchell Band bassist Peter Fredette filling in for Tilka.
Kim Mitchell now hosts the afternoon "drive" 2pm to 7pm Monday to Friday on Q107 (FM) in Toronto .
"High Class in Borrowed Shoes" (1980)
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"Rascal Houdi" (From the short film "A Million Vacations")- 1979
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"In Context Of The Moon"
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Kim Mitchell Band 1989 - "Battlescar" (Max tune)
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Kim Mitchell Band 1989 - "Go for a Soda"
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http://www.maxwebster.ca/
Here's the skinny ............
Kim Mitchell (guitars, vocals)
Terry Watkinson (keyboards)
Paul Kersey (drums)
Mike Tilka (bass)
Gary McCracken (drums; replaced Kersey in 1977)
Dave Myles (bass; replaced Tilka)
Dave Stone (keyboards; replaced Watkinson in 1979]
Peter Fredette (bass; replaced Myles)
Sarnia in the 1960's saw a young, ambitious Kim Mitchell join ZOOOM, who wound up in Toronto where cover-tunes ruled and original material went unnoticed. Mitchell left them, starving, getting work doing studio sessions, beer commercials, and the airport lounge circuit. He set off to the Greek island of Rhodes backing up a Greek Tom Jones with the Canadian Flag. Six months later Mitchell invited poet and childhood buddy Pye Dubois to Greece to co-write some songs; they decided to make it a band project with some Sarnia friends and set off to launch MAX WEBSTER (a name they picked from a phonebook).
The 1972 line-up consisted of Mitchell, Kersey, Tilka, and Watkinson. By 1974 their live act was getting bites from record companies and in 1975 they signed with SRO Productions who were the management arm of Anthem Records. Their first two albums, 'Max Webster' and 'High Class In Borrowed Shoes', were produced by Terry Brown (Rush, Klaatu, Eye Eye). However, during the recording of 'Mutiny Up My Sleeve' (1978) he left over a dispute concerning the album's musical direction. By this point McCracken had assumed the drum chores (Kersey had quit to form The Hunt after a falling out with Kim Mitchell) and Myles had taken over bass duties for Tilka, who turned to business aspects at SRO/Anthem.
Yet, even with the changes, the band maintained its stance as a strong live draw, so much so that Rush asked them to open their 1977 tour. Slowly, Webster began to establish a massive cult following and acceptance, a fact that didn't go unnoticed by 'A Million Vacations' producer John de Nottebeck. With that album he made the band more radio friendly and they finally cracked the charts with the single "Let Go The Line" in 1979. 'Live Magnetic Air' was also released that year but Watkinson left anyway to pursue a solo career. He eventually formed the band Antlers with Tilka in the early 1990's.
Despite a fabled team-up of Max Webster and Rush on the song "Battlescar", 1980's 'Universal Juveniles' had a noticeable absence of that trademark Watkinson keyboard sound and the band was falling apart from constant touring in towns where feverish fans were unable to purchase the band's records. The lack of promotion and poor management organization is sited as the cause for Kim Mitchell's resignation during a tour with Rush in April 1981. With this the band split up but they had actually been close to hitting the big time, so Anthem capitalized with a posthumous greatest hits package called 'Diamonds, Diamonds'.
Mitchell went on to a very successful solo career, but the continued cult status of Max Webster, particularly in Ontario, prompted Mitchell, Watkinson, McCracken, and Tilka to reunite in 1990. Their first performance was a short set at the Toronto Music Awards that year to 3000 hysterical fans who refused to pay attention to the awards given out after their set, continuing to chant "Max! Max! Max!" for the rest of the night. Anthem capitalized on the new-found Max fervour by releasing another best of package that year. Delighted with this response, the four musicians continued to do one-off dates around Ontario as Max Webster well into the late 1990's with Kim Mitchell Band bassist Peter Fredette filling in for Tilka.
Kim Mitchell now hosts the afternoon "drive" 2pm to 7pm Monday to Friday on Q107 (FM) in Toronto .
"High Class in Borrowed Shoes" (1980)
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"Rascal Houdi" (From the short film "A Million Vacations")- 1979
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"In Context Of The Moon"
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Kim Mitchell Band 1989 - "Battlescar" (Max tune)
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Kim Mitchell Band 1989 - "Go for a Soda"
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http://www.maxwebster.ca/