Glass Tiger employs a Vancouver connection to make its mark with The Thin Red Line

ORIGINALLY PUBLISHED ON APRIL 4, 1986

By Steve Newton

Newmarket, Ontario is not known as one of Canada’s hotbeds for rock and roll. But the music scene in the small city, just north of Toronto, has livened up considerably since hometown band Glass Tiger began moving up the Canadian charts.

“You know what happens,” explains singer Alan Frew. “It’s like Gretzky makes it to the big leagues and everybody goes and buys skates.”

And young rockers in Newmarket have fair reason to try and emulate a band like Glass Tiger, which plays Club Soda Friday and Saturday (April 4 and 5).

Although the band does show strong commercial pop instincts on their first single, “Don’t Forget Me (When I’m Gone)”, they can also make smart and infectious music along the lines of U2 and Big Country. Glass Tiger comes across as a band that wants to make decent music and eat well too.

They were helped in both respects by Vancouver songwriter Jim Vallance, who co-wrote “Don’t Forget Me” and produced the group’s new debut album, Thin Red Line.

“Capitol Records wanted Jim to work with us as a songwriter and arranger,” says Frew, “and we were more than happy with that. But what we didn’t know was that he had reached the point in his career where he wanted to produce. It was just a wonderful meeting of the minds, because we were both ready for it.”

As well as writing, producing, and arranging, Vallance did some engineering on the Glass Tiger record, which was partially recorded at his own Vancouver facility, Distorto Studios. Several local musicians contributed to the LP, including Doug Edwards (bass), Dave Pickell (harmonica), and Keith Scott of the Bryan Adams band (guitar).

Adams himself even lent the album some backing vocals on “Don’t Forget Me”.

“Yeah,” chuckles Frew. “The guy might go somewhere now, eh?”

To hear the full audio of the interview I did with Glass Tiger’s Alan Frew the following year, in 1987, subscribe to my Patreon page, where you can eavesdrop on over 500 of my uncut, one-on-one conversations with musicians since 1982.