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Harbinger
I have a pin of this!
Mike, Al Walker, Spatch, and Dr. Martin Deemar
The promo being used in 1979 ish.
Homemade posters from the Concorde.
Spatch is now in Manitoba and A. Walker
Martin, Mike, Spatch and A. Walker |
In 1979 I answered an ad in the Toronto Star regarding a guitarist required for Toronto based rock band. Harbinger was auditioning guitarists at the Nickelodeon located above the Hard Rock Café. The Nick was a regular stop for Toronto bands. It featured a huge stage with plexi-glass flooring with lights underneath. It had a large dance floor immediately in front of the stage. The stage was covered in equipment. The large keyboard setup was masterfully controlled by a Robert Plant look alike, hands flying from one keyboard to the next. A sullen drummer with a huge kit dominated the rest of the stage space. They were running through a Supertramp song with a prospective guitarist. I had been told on the phone that I should be prepared to play a solo from “Bloody well right”, and sing something I was comfortable with. Sitting there in the Nickelodeon with a friend from Owen Sound, we were not all that impressed with the sound, the bass end was at crippling levels from the drums, keys and bass guitar in the empty room. I auditioned, and we talked. It became apparent Harbinger was a complicated setup with band members and the the sound man having an ownership role. I wasn’t sure who was in charge, who was the leader, everyone had opinions. One thing was clear, they were more concerned about jumping around and what to wear than I was. So when I got the call back in Owen Sound I didn’t know what to do. The band wanted me, could I start right away with rehearsals. I was playing somewhat regular in the Owen Sound area, and had other work options. Paulette and I had family and friends in the Owen Sound area. The opportunity in Toronto was just too tempting to pass up. I’d be wondering forever what if…. The Harbinger experience began with a week of rehearsing. I didn’t feel it was going all that great, so many new songs in such a short time. We played our first gig in Sudbury. Management and agents wanted us out of town to work on our show before we returned to Toronto. It was a good idea. I roomed with Gumbo the drummer. I had friends who shared his lifestyle but I never had to live with them. Extensive self medication was the order of the day. A complete reversal of normal was Gumbo Jim’s world, stay up all night and sleep all day. I remember playing my acoustic for the opening or end of a set one night and we got a good response. Some of the songs I'd play acoustic were “Over the mill” which is on "The lost luggage", “Dust in the wind”, “Wish you were here” and "The express" an original which was written at Emmentt Lake and recorded at Byrdland Studios in the 70's. Hundreds of nights in clubs later Harbinger was one of the top bar bands playing across southern Ontario. We still played a set of Supertramp, but we were becoming a “new wave band”. Sets included new artists like the Cars and Elvis Costello. We were on our second east coast swing when our van was involved in a nasty accident. So many nights driving back from a gig at 3 in the morning I pictured accidents happening, drivers falling asleep, the other guy falling asleep, slippery roads whatever. So when it finally happened it was nothing like I imagined. We were on Cape Breton Island at about 3am, heading back to Halifax. We hit a stretch of black ice that turned out to be kilometers long. I was driving and I noticed that the steering was not working. I didn’t panic but I yelled out to the guys that we were in trouble. The van slowly began to move back and forth down the highway, I tapped the brake and nothing, I tried to turn the wheel opposite to our motion, nothing. The momentum of the van eventually turned the van completely around, we were traveling backward and then we crashed. The impact and next 60 seconds were a dream. The moans from the back of the van woke me up, the front captain chairs had ended up in the back on top of the others. What happened next was eerie. Danny (the newest drummer) and I had bought emergency flares at a marine supply store that day. We placed the flares on the highway where the black ice started, and then we placed some down the road where it finished. Vehicles began appear in both directions, slowing down some slipping on the ice. A trucker with CB called it in. We were eventually taken by ambulance to a hospital, from there taken to the airport by ambulance and put on a plane for Toronto. I didn’t return to the group. I phoned Allan Katz and told him I wasn’t returning. I don’t remember talking much to the others. I was finished with Harbinger and life on the road.
Songs from Comfort Sound recording sessions Halifax 1981 |
