Red Deer transplants Mad Duck
ORIGINALLY PUBLISHED ON AUG. 4, 1989
By Steve Newton
When a rock writer commits himself to reviewing four bands in one night, he expects to be stuck in a club for some time, though not necessarily to be busy taking positive notes about every band he sees. But at 86 Street last week this scribbler’s pen damn near ran out of ink with all the noteworthy stuff happening on stage.
A group called Cannon Anny started things off. They’re a quintet of relocated Edmonton dudes that take a Molly Hatchet-style approach to their craft–plenty of bluesy, Southern-fried riffs and rough-hewn, good-ol’-boy vocals. On tunes like “Hangman” they showed plenty of confidence, which is a must for a new band. Vocalist Jason Pearson is a cross between Rik Emmett and Danny Joe Brown, and leads a band comprised of bassist Iain Godsman, drummer Mike Swanson, and guitarists Derek Ewasiuk and Pete LeBlanc.
Next up was Mad Duck, a group of four transplanted Red Deer rabble rousers led by guitarist/vocalist/songwriter Brock Armstrong, alias “Stick”. Sporting Ted Nugent hair and Angus Young muscles, Stick joined forces with co-guitarist Terry Cave, bassist Mark Hermery, and drummer Dale Salive in a number of progressive hard-rock tunes, most of which are included on the band’s new demo cassette, recorded by former Kick Axe and Rock & Hyde guitarist Ray Arthur Harvey.
Stick took a pointer from former Thin Lizzy frontman Phil Lynott by polishing his chrome pick-guard so that it reflected heavily into the audience’s eyes and added a neat visual edge to the band’s straight-forward stage style. Like Cannon Anny before them, Mad Duck is a band that snubs the high-fashion end of things in favour of t-shirts and jeans–preferring to let the music do the talkin’.
The night’s third act, Shy Thunder, is more in the glam-rock vein, with scads of dangling metal chains and enough leather to make cows wince. But their material, which seemed to fall in the Def Leppard/commercial-metal range, was most impressive. Vocalist Chris Gilbert has David Lee Roth‘s bravado down pat and ace guitarist Glen MacLeod is a speedster in the Randy Rhoads tradition. Bassist Mark Ash and drummer Jeff Peters round out Shy Thunder, a very accessible hard-rock act that sounds ripe for the radio.
Topping off the night was Silence, another local four-piece, but one that had to suffer with a sound mix that was way too heavy on the top end. The band’s energy was clearly evident through the racket, though. Singer Aaron Randall, guitarist Phil Zadera, bassist Kelly O’Hara, and drummer Chris DeSoura were the ones responsible for making this fellow’s ears ring until the next night.
The final act’s crummy sound not withstanding, the first West Coast Rocker’s Ball was an unqualified success, drawing a healthy crowd of 700. Here’s hoping that Larry Gillstrom and the folks at Timeless Productions make it a yearly event–at the very least.