It’s true. We would often go on with no set list and no songs prepared. John would start something and Lindsay would jump on it. Steve and I would lay down a groove and Geoff would make up lyrics spontaneously. But we weren’t just jamming. We would actually compose songs with verses, choruses, bridges, middle eights on the spot. Our improvised songs suffered mostly from our undeveloped talent as arrangers. Our only rule was that every song “gets off!” If there was any sameness to our compositions it was that every song built to a crescendo ... we had to be exhausted at the end of every song.
Our efforts earned us a pretty good review:
The Seeds Of Time, about whom
I have been writing a great deal
lately, came up with another original
twist this time out. As far as
imagination, variety and initial
creativity goes, this group must be
the top in Vancouver.
Every time I see them I am impressed
by a new twist, a new approach or just
better programming. Last time it was jug
bands. This time it was that almost forgotten
predecessor of where it all started, the folk-
acoustic guitar, backed by a piano, drums and
bass. The soft sounds were welcomed in the darkness.
Brian McLeod
I saw a lot of great bands at the Big Mother including The Mock Duck, a very interesting jazz/rock band with guitarist Joe Mock and bassist/vocalist Rick Enns formerly of The Tom Northcott Trio and The United Empire Loyalists.
Another of Vancouver's eclectic bands was called Mother Tucker's Yellow Duck. They were led by guitarist Roger Lawand vocalist Donnie McDougall. They had a single titled, One Ring Jane. More than any other band, Mother Tucker's Yellow Duck, or Mother Tucker's for short, or Mother Fucker's for real fans, epitomized the true hippie attitude in Vancouver at that time; laid back, peaceful and drugged out.
We were playing a high school dance somewhere. Lindsay broke a guitar string and, while he was changing it, Geoff and Steve invented a routine based around an imaginary radio program starring two colourful personalities named, Jack Offenlickit and Hugo Fuckyourself.
Geoff was the sarcastic Hugo Fuckyourself who asked questions like, “Do you think, Jack, that’s it’s acceptable for a guy to go down on a girl who uses the FDS feminine product?”
Steve was the know-it-all Jack Offenlickit and would answer dryly, “You know, Hugo ... If you can get by the smell you got it licked.”
Then Hugo might say, “Whoa, did someone have fish for lunch? Now Jack, what do you think about the alarming trend of men balling with ugly women?”
Jack would answer, “Well, Hugo, I don’t have a problem with it - you don’t fuck the face now do you ... Hey folks, I’m Jack Offenlickit, here with my partner Hugo Fuckyourself, and that’s our show for tonight.” This patter could go on for twenty minutes once they got into a routine - And this at a high school dance.
There were plenty of other characters in The Seeds of Time as well. I was Rocket Norton and John was Papa John. Lindsay was Rufus Frail, Geoff was Scarface The Walnut, Steve may have been Scrotum Bagley and somebody wasRalph Hamburger. Then there was Vito and Guisseppie Popalucci and a third unnamed Popalucci brother.
We also had several bands within the band. Sometimes we were Herbert & The Herberts and other times God’s Little Children and we created two splinter groups that would act as opening acts for The Seeds of Time. They were called The Spores, a trio with Geoff on drums, and John Hall & His Orchestra; John playing keyboards and I as the orchestra.
On April 18th Frank Zappa and The Mothers of Invention played the Agrodome with an unknown opening act called Alice Cooper. Vincent Furnier had only just recently transformed himself into Alice Cooper and began his musical career by clearing a room of two thousand repulsed fans at his first gig in Los Angeles. Frank Zappa and would-be manager Shep Gordon were impressed and Alice was hired to open for Zappa’s entire North American tour.
After the concert Jim invited Alice and members of his band back to our place. When I arrived, the house was packed. I strolled in and noticed this foxy lady with long straight hair bent over looking in the fridge. She spun around holding a beer and I was shocked to realize that it was twenty-one year old Alice Cooper. He plopped himself down on the old tattered couch and proceeded to tell us how he was going to shock the world and then conquer it. I got the impression that he was already planning hangings, beheadings and the public execution of live chickens. Here was a guy with a very explicit dream. Mine was still a little fuzzy.
A young deejay at CKLG Radio, Steve Grossman - whose on-air name was Little Stevie Wonder because he was only a teenager when he started broadcasting - had formed a record label of his own called, Coast Records. He built a studio in a warehouse on Eighth Avenue near Cambie Street in Vancouver. We went in and recorded Steal Away, Candy Man and Muskrat Rumble with a young genius engineer named Brent Jaybush.
It took hours for Brent to get the sound the way he wanted it. I had to pound on one drum at a time for a mind numbing length of time - Then the next drum, then all of them together; then start the process all over, pounding on the first drum again. As a group we were impatient with this process. We just wanted to play!
Finally, while Lindsay and Geoff watched through the control room glass, John, Steve and I laid down a rhythm track to Steal Away with piano, bass and drums. After a few tries, which I knew were nervous and stiff, Brent invited us to come in and listen. We hurried into the sparse control room. My heart pounded as I waited for the tape machine to rewind. I was excited but afraid of what I might hear.
He pushed the play button. The song started with a drum roll on the floor tom then John counted us in:
One
(everyone answers “one”)
Two-zizzies
(everyone answers “two-zizzies”)
One-two-three-four
Then came the rinky-dink piano intro; it sounded great so far. When the drums came in, I heard for the first time my erratic, heavy-handed manner. Even Steve’s plodding bass worked with the piano but I seemed to be trying to find it. At best, I was inconsistent and that was not a desirable quality in a drummer. I could see the disappointment in Lindsay. John’s piano style was loose anyway and Geoff and Steve were not interested in boring details like excellence of musicianship, but Lindsay wished for more, and he deserved it.
We got through the session with Lindsay adding guitars and Geoff laying down a vocal. Trisha sang background vocals on the chorus. Surprisingly, despite my poor showing, it wasn’t a bad track for our first time. We completed the day by recording Candy Man and Muskrat Rumble. We were starting to get the hang of recording and even added some sound effects like a police siren at the end of Candy Man and a jet at the end of Muskrat Rumble.
Steve Grossman did not like any of these tracks to release as a single but still had faith in us. He promised another session when we had a couple of new songs that were more suitable for rock radio. In the meantime he had a big project on the go and The Seeds of Time were included.
The last weekend in May, Grossman and partners produced Vancouver’s first rock festival in a field about thirty miles up the Fraser Valley near Aldergrove. They called it the Aldergrove Beach Rock Festival. All the Vancouver bands played there including The