I did. I knew two of the band members. They had hit, "Faut pas lâcher", that was a major hit in Quebec and was getting tons of airplay. I grew up listening to the lead guitarist, Emidio "Peanut" Verrillo (the guy whose photo is on the extreme left; the guy in the forefront was the drummer, as I recall), while he was practising from his 2nd floor bedroom window. Was a kid a the time and there wasn't much to do, so I sat in the shadow and just listened to him play for hours. He never acknowledged me, he was businesslike, just kept playing. There was no AC in our homes at the time, so his bedroom window was always open. This is how I developed my love for music.
Back then, a lot of local bands were forming and several lived in our neighborhood. There were a ton of garage bands playing easy songs, lots of CCR and basic rock. This was a time when garage bands literally played in garages. They would practice all around us, we'd hear them a block away and they'd leave the garage door open a foot or so from the ground. And all of us kids would huddle up to the base of the door, peek in and listen to the bands play and they'd let us be there, without ever chasing us out. Those were special times, very laid back and easy going, it literally felt like anything was possible, there was a huge wave of creative energy coming from everywhere.
I'm totally flabbergasted that you brought up that album. Never in my wildest dreams would I have thought that someone would dig that up. Wow. How in the hell did you come up with this? Were you involved with the band?
I have long been a hard rock fan. My aunt made tapes for me from her husband record collection when I was 7 (82ish) Ac/Dc some Van Halen(which I just never cared for much) and Sabbath. Also by accident hadn't flicked the switch to phono and recorded the radio (some great songs on that tape).
Anyway I have hunted high and low for good garage rock on you tube and forums. My tastes have changed over the years but a crunchy amp, some good bass and solid drumming and I am taken away(mentally). Detroit at one time had a great rock scene Alice Cooper, Nugent, Frijid Pink, MC5, Early Bob Seager. A lot of bands I found simply by looking at influences of bands that I liked, such as metallica. They led me to budgie diamond head, and a lot of other NWOBHM (which of course I already liked because of Iron Maiden and Priest). So I got wondering since so many countries had some great rock coming out in the early 70's (Billy Thorpe and the Aztec-Mamma Australian, Lucifer's Friend Ride in the Sky Germany, Golden Earring beside radar love and twilight zone, Holland, November Mt Everest Sweden, etc) What did we have from Canada.
Sad for the most part, sure we had RUSH and the Guess Who, but it drops off after that. We don't have Truth and Janey types who were not well known internationally but had a cult following, perhaps Steppenwolf if you include half the members being Canucks and John having lived in Canada for a time. Hardly any hard rock acts. Someone did a list of canadian bands and Connexion came up. I can't understand the lyrics too well (my mom does but her french is rusty after 60 years mostly speaking english) but the vibe is pretty cool.
For the most part we are adapt at soft rock or alt rock, but hardly do hard rock. Anvil and Annihilator and you can throw in more 80's stuff like Lee Aaron and Voivod(montreal act I believe) but more soft stuff like Allanah Myles, 54/40 BNL, Trag Hip(has some rock to it but not a lot), Tea Party(from my hometown) and we do great in other genres, esp women Alanis morisette, celine, shania(and other country), diana krall, nellie furtato(sp), joni mitchell, lightfoot, stompin tom, etc.
I know exactly what you mean. I grew up in the rougher side of town and there was a garage band up the street from me. I can still remember them practising Jenny 867-5309 and the smell of skunky beer and skunky something else coming from their garage. Like you they would let us kids hang out in the doorway while they practiced. They weren't even young guys maybe late 30's early 40s as the bassist was grey at the temples. I remember him smelling of stale smokes and beer and he had a huge adams apple. Weird that this all comes back to me.
But life seemed a lot simpler back then. No bills, no worries, hardly aware of the word around you to be honest. Saturday nights I would go sit and watch hockey with my dad in my parents bedroom on a 14 inch TV, having peanuts while the click click of the puck could be heard on Radio Canada with some guys that sounded like my pepe and uncles talked about this weird 'sport'.
SO tl;dr I found them on a forum about canadian hard rock bands(someone said may blitz as well but I never bothered to verify if they were canadian because I didn't care for them) and I appreciate the one album I could find and figured this would likely be a good place to ask about it. I didn't know I would be 1 degree removed from them, but that is pretty cool. I have a ton of other bands that I put into that category Bang is another
Also this is a big surprise to those that dont know, but Ronnie James Dio previous to his career as a metal demon 'singing the praises of the devil' sounded a lot more mellow