Gerry McGhee

By Carl Begai

If you grew up in Canada during the ‘80s hair band cock rock era you were well aware of Brighton Rock. They were a fixture on MuchMusic and video shows as of 1986 with their Michael Wagener-produced full length debut Young, Wild And Free and first single ‘We Came To Rock’; the same year Poison blew their wad all over Los Angeles, thus making mega-glam ultra-cool in North America. Unlike Bret Michaels and his ‘Talk Dirty To Me’ crew, however, the big push behind Brighton Rock was focused on the band’s lighter side. Second single ‘Can’t Wait For The Night’ and ‘One More Try’ from the 1988 follow-up Take A Deep Breath were massive hits that ultimately came to define the band. It was a travesty for those of us that truly knew Brighton Rock in that there was nothing prim or proper or fluffy – read: stereotypical Canadian rock – about the vast majority of their material. And anyone who saw Brighton Rock perform live will argue (successfully) that the band stood toe-to-toe with any of their glammed-up L.A.-based peers… when they didn’t crush them entirely.

And for the record, the title of this story is ripped off the back of a Brighton Rock tour shirt…. that I so foolishly didn’t buy when I had the chance some 24 years ago.

“That was the piss-off of being Canadian,” says frontman Gerry McGhee, the head honcho at Canadian music distributor Isotope for over 10 years now. “They always wanted to stick us in that box of fluff. I remember one time we were on tour and we did ‘Unleash The Rage’ at a soundcheck; we came off stage and some guy says ‘Are these the same guys that do ‘One More Try’?’ That was one song on the record, man (laughs). I love the tunes, don’t get me wrong, but if I had my way it would have all been the heavy stuff like ‘Unleash The Rage’, ‘Bulletproof’, ‘Nightstalker’ put out there because that’s what the band was all about. We kind of captured that on (third album, from 1991) Love Machine because it was close to that raw sound, but it was the label pressure that put us in that ballad box. That would have been fine if they’d at least released some of the rockers. I got in shit on MuchMusic once because I said ‘The new album doesn’t come wrapped in a condom, so open up and say aaah.'” Continue reading BRIGHTON ROCK – Take A Deep Breath And Suck On It

By Carl Begai

St. Catharines-based Fraze Gang recently released their second album, entitled Fraze Gang 2, and along with a heavier and edgier sound they went from being a trio to a quartet, adding Dead Celebrity / former Hexus guitarist Derek McGowan to the line-up. Anyone familiar with either band will find the Fraze Gang merger a head-scratcher, but McGowan considers it an honour to be a part of the proceedings even though things are geared in a melodic ‘70s / ‘80s rock direction. And the truth is he earned his spot in the band as Fraze Gang frontman Greg Fraser’s stunt double in Brighton Rock a long time ago, which McGowan readily admits was a surreal experience.

“It’s coming up on ten years now, and that blows me away because it doesn’t feel that long ago. It was about a year after they got back together to do some reunion shows here at home. Brighton Rock’s second album, Take A Deep Breath, is still one of my favourite albums. Every single moment on that album means the world to me, because it brings me back to great memories of my childhood. I originally wanted to be a drummer, so I’d set up a makeshift kit and try to do Mark Cavarzan’s moves (laughs). It was Mark’s playing, Bobby Blotzer from Ratt and Joey Kramer from Aerosmith, those were the guys I tried to emulate up to the point where I got a guitar. The Fraze Gang thing came about because I stayed in touch with Mark, Greg, and Stevie. We’d talk on the phone and I went out to a few Fraze Gang shows, and they eventually asked me to get involved with the band. Originally I was just their live guitarist, and we’d get together to rehearse and jam on the songs.” Continue reading FRAZE GANG – Six String Four Play