Bill Henderson says Chilliwack is done with the Top 40 circuit, wants to record and play concerts again

ORIGINALLY PUBLISHED ON FEB. 21, 1986

By Steve Newton

“It’s weird,” says longtime Chilliwack leader Bill Henderson. “I mean I got offstage and just tons of people came up and said how much they liked it. And yet when you’d finish a song there’d be just nothing. It was incredible.”

During his lengthy, up-and-down career, the 41-year-old Henderson has seen his share of strange crowds, but few as jaded as the one he encountered at the Metro last Friday. Then again, one might be persuaded to use that term to describe Henderson himself. Surely a musician of his talent and creativity must feel confined playing mainly old songs in Top 40 clubs.

And with no current record contract, Henderson admits that he and his band are “just surviving” in terms of the dates they play. That means playing a lot of places that they wouldn’t necessarily want to play.

“At first the clubs were really quite attractive to me, ’cause I hadn’t played those kind of rooms for a long time. And to be able to play two hours a night or whatever, and play hard six nights a week is really neat, actually. But we’ve been doing it for a year, and it’s enough already. Time for concerts.”

Though the Vancouver area club scene has taken its toll on Henderson, the last year hasn’t been without its high points. One was Chilliwack’s tour of Europe and the Middle East, where they played for Canadian Forces personnel stationed in Israel and Cyprus.

Another was making a one-hour live video at Whispers in North Van. The show was recorded on Commercial Electronics’ 24-track machine over a two night period, and engineered and mixed by the Payola$‘ Bob Rock. It will be aired on CBC-TV March 15 at 9:30 pm and simulcast on CFOX radio.

Henderson says he wants to get at least three songs of his material on tape before he approaches any record companies. Considering his past performance (he’s still collecting royalties for previous hits) that shouldn’t be too difficult. He’s hoping to have a new record out by September, but for now it’s still the clubs–and those fine old Chilliwack tunes.

“We usually get a strong response for some of the classic old ones like “Fly at Night”. And “Baby Blue” usually does real well, ’cause it’s a concert type of tune. And I really like the way this band plays it–the band plays it very emotionally.”

Chilliwack’s current lineup includes drummer Jerry Adolphe (ex of Prototype and Sample Stearns), keyboardist Robbie Gray (formerly with Pacheena), bassist Brian Newcombe (Nancy Nash), guitarist-vocalist John Roles (Jerry Doucette), and keyboardist-saxman Claire Lawrence, whose affiliation with Henderson goes way back to the 1960s and the Collectors.

Nowadays, Bill Henderson likes listening to bands like Roxy Music (Avalon) and Talking Heads, who he got to know through teenage daughters Saffron, 18, and Camille, 15. As it turns out, both have already proved themselves as accomplished actresses. Camille had a strong support role in the movie My American Cousin, nominated for 11 Genie Awards. Saffron starred in the film Rainbow War, nominated in the Best Live Action Short Subject category of the upcoming Academy Awards.

“They’ve been around show business all their lives,” Henderson explains, “and I think that makes it believable to them that basically anyone can do it. And they had training. They took dance lessons for about eight years or so. And the teacher that they studied with was the kind of teacher that had them performing everywhere–even the rest-home circuit.”

So does he think that his young charges might someday steal the spotlight from dear old Dad?

“Oh easy,” he says with a laugh. “No prob.”

To hear the full audio of my 1999 interview with Chilliwack’s Bill Henderson subscribe to my Patreon page, where you can eavesdrop on over 650 of my uncut, one-on-one conversations with rockers since 1982.