Vancouver hard-rockers Point of Power have their feet in the bars and their heads in the stars

ORIGINALLY PUBLISHED ON SEPT. 18, 1992

By Steve Newton

Back in 1985, Canadian metal pioneers Kick Axe recorded a star-studded version of the Beatles’ “With a Little Help From My Friends.” Seven years later, former Kick Axe guitarist Raymond Arthur Harvey became involved with a similar project, only this time he was behind the controls instead of in the sound booth.

Producer Harvey twiddled the knobs for the new album by Vancouver’s Point of Power, which features guest performances by more than a dozen local musicians, including former Loverboy keyboardist Doug Johnson, former Bryan Adams drummer Pat Steward, former Kick Axe members George Criston and Victor Langen, and singers Marc La France, Kirsten Nash, Paul Laine, and Mick Dalla-Vicenza.

“Most of them are close friends,” says P.O.P. drummer/songwriter Craig Brooks. “Doug Johnson, for instance, happened to walk in, and we had an old keyboard that he used on one of the old Loverboy tracks. He was sitting there just laughin’ at how this thing is basically a doorstop.

“And during the song ‘Make Up Your Mind’, which Mike Reno wrote with us, we said, ‘You know, it would be really cool to have this low-end bass thing like you used to do in those old Loverboy tunes.’ And he said, ‘Okay’.”

The new album, It’s About Time, also features a performance by Ray Ayotte, who is better known as a maker of world-class drums than as a percussionist. Brooks says Ayotte’s performance was his idea.

“In ‘Hard Knocks’, I wanted the end part to be a drum solo, so we got Pat Steward in on a little trap kit, we got Ray with some congas, we got [former Kick Axe drummer] Brian Gillstrom…”

“It ended up being more of a drum symphony than a solo,” pipes up P.O.P. guitarist Steve Crane as Brooks chuckles in agreement.

Producer Harvey–who shared the stage with fellow producer Bob Rock in Rock & Hyde after his Kick Axe sojourn–got in on the act when he joined former bandmate Criston on “Push and Shove”, adding an extra guitar solo at the end.

“We’ve known Ray for years and years,” explains Brooks, “and he did the demos for us. He’d go, ‘Okay, these are the way they’re gonna be. Now, when you come back, they better sound this way.’ And if they didn’t, he’d give us shit.”

The result of taskmaster Harvey’s ministrations is a collection of hard-rock tunes that have drawn comparisons to such ’70s acts as Deep Purple and Styx.

“I think the Styx reference comes ’cause there’s a lot of stacked harmonies there,” figures Crane, “so you get a pretty fat vocal sound.”

Before naming themselves Point of Power, Brooks and Crane–along with ex-White Wolf singer Donnie K. Wilk, bassist Peter Oulster, and keyboardist Paul McEwan–played in a club act called Sahara that won a sizeable following among the rockheads who frequent Vancouver’s louder bars. But the band had to change its name when its members found out that a South African group already had title to it.

Strangely enough, It’s About Time was funded, in part, from money that members of Point of Power had received when an American recording act paid them off for rights to the name Giant, one of their previous incarnations.

“I’m not allowed to say how much we got,” hedges Brooks, “but the lawyers got a lot more than we did. It did help keep us goin’, though.”

Athough he’s spent thousands of nights in the drum chair as a member of cover acts like Sahara and Simon Kaos, Brooks claims that he’s never gotten sick of playing other people’s songs.

“We’re in a cover band right now,” he says, motioning to Crane, “and we play around for the fun of it.”

“You do get sick of the bars,” interjects Crane, “but you don’t really get sick of the music as long as you’re learning new stuff.”

As well as the recording and distribution deal with BEI/MCA Records that resulted in It’s About Time, Point of Power also signed a worldwide publishing deal with BMG Music Publishing, which means they can also take a shot at writing tunes for other people.

“They [BMG} might give us a list of 10 bands and go, ‘Here’s some bands that are looking for material this fall. Write some songs and submit them to us.’ So you get a target. It’s kind of like you’re trying to write a cover song.”

“That’s where all the years of playin’ in bars will come in handy,” adds Crane.

To read over 100 of my interviews with local Vancouver musicians since 1983, go here.