ORIGINALLY PUBLISHED ON APRIL 26, 1985
By Steve Newton
“You know that song ‘On the Cover of the Rolling Stone’?,” asks Tad Campbell, vocalist and leader of the Vancouver-based Idle Eyes. “Well, when we used to sing it, it was ‘On the Cover of the Georgia Straight’!”
Who ever said that flattery would get you nowhere?
Nowhere is definitely not where Idle Eyes are going these days. The band just recently released their debut album, and the first single from it–“Tokyo Rose”–is currently one of the most added-on tracks in Canadian radio.
The video for the song is receiving steady rotation on pay-TV’s MuchMusic, and the group has also been awarded the prestigious opening slot on the May 6 Vancouver appearance of L.A. supergroup Toto.
Idle Eyes first came together three years ago in Townsville, North Australia, when a traveling Campbell answered a classified ad for a guitar player. He met singer Donna McConville, and the original line-up toured the Australian club circuit before relocating to Canada in 1982.
But after making one demo tape on a porta-studio, the Aussie members encountered visa problems, and were forced to return to their homeland.
Campbell decided to “have one last crack” at making his original music, so he hired a keyboardist/bass player and sax player, went into a local eight-track studio, and came out with another tape, which he took to Payola$ manager Cliff Jones in January of last year.
Jones called him back two days later, and after a few more demos were made a production deal was signed.
“I really have to hand it to Cliff,” says Campbell, “he’s stuck behind us all the way. I know the other people that he works with down at the office were not all that knocked out with us at first, but he’s made believers out of them–in the last while, anyway.”
Idle Eyes did some opening dates for the Payola$ last year, and in November started recording the new album with producer Declan O’Doherty, whose credits include Elton John, Paul McCartney, ELP, and local singer Ann Mortifee.
“Our manager met Declan when he was doing the Ann Mortifee project out here,” says Tad. “He gave us her tape, and I really liked the production on it. We just wanted that kind of a clean sound.
“And at first I thought we might have a real tyrant on our hands, but Declan was really nice to work with. We co-produced it with him, so a lot of our own ideas are in there.”
Idle Eyes was recorded at Ocean Sound and mixed at Little Mountain Sound, and features the current lineup of Toronto natives Glenn R. Smith and Phil Robertson, on guitar and drums, and bassist Miles Foxx Hill, who hails from Saskatoon. Phil and Glenn played together for a while in the local band Sequence, and Glenn has also played with H.B. Concept.
Keyboardist John Webster is also featured heavily on the new LP. He used to be in Stonebolt, then later on local club act 44 (since called Sharp Edges). More recently he has been touring and recording with Red Rider.
The music on Idle Eyes is very poppy and infectious, sort of like a funked-up Men at Work. Cleanly-produced and well-played, the tunes–mostly written by Campbell himself–have good potential for mass appeal. As well as “Tokyo Rose”, the track “Two Rivers” has been playlisted on several stations across Canada, and Campbell is hoping to get the song “All Day” released for the summertime.
“It’s really a fun, up-and-boppy kind of tune,” he says.
So with a hot new album out, an opening spot with Toto, and possible dates with Tears for Fears, Idle Eyes are on the move. And Tad Campbell hopes he can use some of this new-found success to bring recognition to other deserving players in town.
“I used to live in a house called ‘The Snakepit’,” Tad says, “with Art Bergmann and a couple of members of the Actionauts. It was a really good house for writing in, and some of the songs those guys came up with are fantastic–they just kill me. So if I get a chance I’d like to help them get some kind of record deal going too.”
To read over 100 of my other interviews with local Vancouver musicians since 1983, go here.