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Please view the entire Deadly Romantics EPK on Sonic Bids - click here |
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The Deadly Romantics were founded in the Summer of 2006 in Hamilton, Ontario, Canada, by Bruce Hotchkies, who had found some success in Canada as the drummer for " Me First and the Gimmie Gimmies" rip offs "Britney's Krack".
"Britney's Krack" was often tagged "Hamiltons Most Hated Band", largely due to the bands flippant nature, but more often than not, it was Bruce's vicious put downs of other local bands. It was often stated that there were more people at a "Britney's Krack" gig than at a gig by an original act in Hamilton, largely due to the fact that, Bruce felt, Hamilton bands we're crap. |
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"Almost all of the people that see a Britney's Krack show understand what we are doing and leave happy, having seen some good, solid entertainment," explains Hotchkies. "The dislike tends to come from our peers, most of whom have never even seen a Britney's Krack show. They are taking themselves and their music too seriously. A lot of them are pretentious wankers, but mostly they are just uninformed. They are judging the proverbial book by the cover. My favourite quote was 'I don't need to see or hear Britney's Krack to know I won't like them.' I used to take offense at all of the insults thrown at the band, especially when they got personal. You either get the band or you don't. I've been threatened with castration—you name it, all because of a band." |
Hamilton Music Notes by Ric Taylor, View Magazine Vol. 11 No. 47 • November 24 - 30, 2005 |
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| "Britney's Krack" achieved some notoriety with their 2005 release "Couldn't Care Less" which saw the band touring through to New York City, and opening up for legendary Canadian punk band The Forgotten Rebels. Despite the growing success of "Britney's Krack", including two nominations at the Hamilton Music Awards, shooting a video for Ricky Martin's "Living La Vida Loca" and opening slots for artists such as Carol Pope and The Bay City Rollers, Bruce grew tired of performing other peoples songs and decided he wanted to sing anyway... |
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"At that point I'd had enough of Britney's Krack. The New York trip had been an unmitigated disaster as far as the personalities in the band went. Musically, I think the trip was worth it, but it brought each member of the band out in a new light, and I don't think it was a light any of us liked. Two weeks after we got back from New York, three of us (Ryan, Johnny and myself) had the Queen Tribute to contend with, two weeks after the Queen Tribute, Mickey DeSadist (of The Forgotten Rebels) asked if we would open up for The Forgotten Rebels at their next show. We decided to make that show our CD release party. Two weeks after that gig, Mickey asked me to be the drummer in his side project, The Mickey DeSadist Show. Mickey isn't a guy you can turn down, plus I knew how much it would piss off every single one of my peer drummers in Hamilton, there was no way I would say no to that. During the Rebels show, I remember thinking that Britney's Krack was coming to an end, and that I should be concentrating on doing original music. Sometime in the early part of 2006, James (Britney's Krack Lead Singer) didn't show up to a rehearsal, and I had lyrics for "New York City" and "F**ked By Rock and Roll", scribbled down in my bag. Next thing you know, 'The Deadly Romantics' were born." |
Bruce Hotchkies, 2008 |
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The band was officially formed in the Summer of 2006 and featured several (locally) well known musicians.
Members of the band (aside from Bruce) were: |
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| Johnny "Bud" Timmins (aka Johnny Douchebag) on Guitar: |
| Johnny has been a staple of the Hamilton music scene for more years than he would care to remember. Originally from Scotland, relocated to Burlington, Ontario in his youth and that's where the guitar legend began. Early bands included names such as the "Mind Ornaments", "The Shock Rockets", "The Abrasives" and " Johnny and the Hemroids", but as the 90's began, Johnny found himself being courted by the majors in CFNY lovelies "Sister Cowpie". Getting truly f**cked by Rock and Roll, Johnny quit the scene in the mid 90's only to be pulled back by Hamilton Radio personality Lou Molinaro and his Shock Rock girlfriend Buckshot Bebee and lured into "The Poisoned Aeros". By 2004, Johnny was slinging the six string for Hamilton's Most hated Band "Britney's Krack", when, in 2006, the lead singer failed to show up to a rehearsal and "The Deadly Romantics" were born. Johnny was instrumental in the band, specifically when it came to song writing with Bruce. Sometimes called a "dictator" by other members of the band. Johnny is currently playing in a reunited version of "The Poisoned Aeros". |
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| Ludger Bourassa (aka Mick Jager) on Guitar: |
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Ludger started his illustrious career in rock and roll as a roadie for the Hamilton hard rock band "Sarasin". He picked up a guitar and learned how to play "Wild Thing" by the Troggs, very quickly moving on to form "Biff Axe Hammer" with Candy Rotten of "The Punk Rods" fame. A self confessed fan of Kiss, Iron Maiden, Judas Preist and Led Zeppelin, Ludger didn't discover Punk Rock until meeting Johnny Bud in the early 90's, and quickly becoming known as a Punk Guitarist in bands such as "Gemini", "BOT" and "The Mind Ornaments". A qualified sound engineer, while working on recordings for "The Poisoned Aeros", was asked to join the band on Bass Guitar, seeing the band through their peak period of the late 90's and early 00's. When the band broke up in 2004, Ludger, moved back to his hard rock roots and joined Hamilton's "Spin Dizzy", as well as taking a role in "The Punk Rods" which also features Punk Rock Lisa from "The Cannibal Girls" and Robbie from "Sam Lawrence 5". Ludger was a member of "The Deadly Romantics" almost from the get-go, and his "Metal" style of playing was a harmonious contrast to the more punk rock styling of Johnny Bud. Ludger takes the rock and roll lifestyle very seriously and is known to throw a little fit every now and again. Ludger is currently playing in a reunited version of "The Poisoned Aeros" and continues to perform with "The Punk Rods" |
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| Brian Fowlie (aka B-Fowl, Mayhem) on Guitar: |
| Brian has been around the Hamilton scene for a few years playing in bands such as "Crystal Lake Campers", "Gnarly Skull", "Bent Hefner" and "Monster Dog". A wicked Guitar player in his own right, his interests at night include grave robbing, cadaver tossing, funeral crashing, driving guitar, playing with my car! His influences range from old school Country and a lot of 50's to Mick Mars of Motley Crue! Mayhem moonlights as the Bass player in local Hamilton hard rock outfit Trash Gallery, and dreams of waking up next to Ace Frehley. |
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| Mark Datzkiw (aka Skid McHammer) on Bass Guitar: |
| Mark first appeared on the Hamilton music scene in 1990 as the Bass player for Hamilton's legendary Oi band the "Hammerboiz". Mark met Bruce through Mickey DeSadist of The Forgotten Rebels, and, as the story goes, at one of the first "Deadly Romantics" shows in Hamilton, Mark walked into the washroom and bumped into Brian Fowlie and said "How was your last show with the band? You've just been fired, I'm the new Bass player!" Psychic or not, upon Brian briefly leaving the band in August 2007, Mark came on board for the short lived remaining few shows. "There's no denying Mark fit the band," says Bruce in 2008, "his influences were right, bands like Motorhead, Black Sabbath and Rose Tattoo, and he was eager. Right from the first show he came to, he was half heartedly asking me when was I going to get him in the band. In all honesty, and don't get me wrong, I love Brian, but Mark should have been in the band right from the start, if he had been, I think things would have turned out differently, and I think he would have been given a fair shake of the can, something that I don't think he ever got. We were a band, a gang, a team, and I don't think some members of that team give Mark a chance." Mark is also currently playing in two projects, Glen the Hamilton Kid's new band The Steeltown Spoilers and Mickey DeSadist's The Mickey DeSadist Show. Mark likes motorbikes, tattoos and pretending he's tough (he's a pussycat). |
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| Marsh Wilkinson (aka Smash Bashskins) on Drums: |
| Marsh has been playing the drums for a long, long time, but his foray into Rock and Roll happened in the early 90's when he answered an ad placed by Johnny Bud and found himself alongside Ludger Bourassa in the "Mind Ornaments" who in turn became "BOT". Marsh moved on to join "Sister Cowpie" soon to be followed by Johnny Bud, but by the mid 90's Marsh had turned semi-professional on the covers and tribute circuit playing across Ontario. By the mid 00's, Marsh was playing in local Burlington, Ontatio based band, "Top Dead Centre" featuring Jim McLean of "Mortal Annoyance" fame. Once again, answering an ad looking for an "AC/DC type Drummer", Marsh found himself talking to his old band mate Johnny Bud. Upon hearing that the band also included old band mate Ludger Bourassa, Marsh stated, "as soon as I heard that Johnny and Ludger were involved, I just said, count me in! At the first rehearsal we all knew, the glue was being set, right there at the beginning. For me, it's been the craziest ride I've ever been on in a band. Cartwheels and Rollercoasters!!" Marsh likes himself and his self absorbed sense of humour that no one else gets, he also has the social skills of a brick! |
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| Being a huge fan of what is now called the "Brit Glam Rock" movement of the late 80's, Bruce set about forming the band he wanted to front. |
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"My biggest influences we're bands like The Dogs D'Amour, The Quireboys, Zodiac Mindwarp and the Love Reaction, The Wildhearts and Enuff Z'Nuff, those we're the influences, but my favourite band has always been QUEEN"
"I had no idea whether I could sing or not, in fact, if truth be told, I knew I couldn't sing, but that never stopped some of the bands I liked. I remember that first get together with Johnny Bud (Ryan Cannon on Bass and Dave Chollette on Drums) and he told me to just sing the lyrics I had written and he would play along with my range, it took me a few times to get the balls to sing, but when I finally let loose, no one cringed! In all honesty, I have almost perfect pitch, I just don't have a very easy voice to listen to."
"I knew I wanted the biker look, total Zodiac Minwarp. People in Hamilton have said, 'Wow, you're so original with your ideas' but I'm not. Just as Britney's Krack was my answer to Me First and the Gimmie Gimmies, The Deadly Romantics were my answer to Zed! If Zed ever sees us, I hope he treats the band as an homage to him rather than taking a swing at me!!" |
Bruce Hotchkies, 2008 |
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| The first appearance of The Deadly Romantics was at the Second Annual Tribute to Queen, in Hamilton, Ontario. The band performed two Queen songs: "Need Your Loving Tonight" and "We Will Rock You", and then stormed into "F**cked By Rock and Roll" |
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| On October 25th, the band performed their first "official" gig at Sneaky Dees in Toronto. They performed as the middle band on a three band bill. The other acts on the bill were: Bloodletter and Treestar. |
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| "This was a great start. The set was pretty tight considering half the songs were still being arranged. The band from the eastcoast...I'll never forget their guitar player yelling THATS HOW YA PLAY A LES PAUL!!" |
Johnny Bud, 2008 |
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| Amp Records was hosting a Benefit for Drew Lee. Bruce was reluctant to do the show because of the Punk ties that the band had. The Deadly Romantics were a Hard Rock band, and Bruce felt that the band should only be on Hard Rock bills, but because of the reasons behind the show, the band couldn't say no. Bruce had been in touch with a local Hamilton Burlesque Troop called the Steeltown Sirens, with the idea of having a dancer on stage with the band. He found the troop through MySpace and received a response from the troop leader, Ginger St. James, who herself, wasn't interested in performing with the band, but thought that one of her fellow burlesquers, Kissimi Goodnight, may well fancy a night of dirty Rock and Roll. Kissimi stated that she was up for the task, and was the first to arrive at The Underground. During the evening, Ginger St. James made an appearance and decided that she to would join the band on stage during their set. The crowd loved the band, and loved the dancers, only at the end of the night did all involved realize it had been an all ages show! |
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"Big young crowd. Perfect for us to introduce the girls. It was great from the first minute. Our name was firmly on the tongues of all the younger club goers by the end of that week. Our show was hot. Parents shoulda been scared and some of them were." |
Johnny Bud, 2008 |
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Just before Christmas, the band (minus Johnny) entered Steel City Studio's to start recording their first CD. The original concept of the band, was to have their CD release party on February 14th, but by the time the band entered the studio, this date was already looking remote. Johnny had to work and didn't attened the bed track sessions, but during the first 8 hour session, all drum tracks for 7 songs were completed, by the following afternoon, Brian had laid down the bass tracks.
After the Drew Lee Benefit show, it became obvious that Kissimi Goodnight was a hard core fan of the band. For the next couple of shows, she would show up and dance to "Obligatory Love Song" and "F**ked by Rock and Roll". Pretty soon, Ginger started appearing at the shows and would often get up and dance, so with much love and respect, they became the "Thundersluts"..
Towards the end of 2006, Bruce had been in touch with Tyla from the Dog's D'Amour with regards to Tyla's upcoming US dates. When Bruce had asked if Tyla was going to be playing any dates in Toronto, he received an e-mail from Tyla asking if Bruce "knew anywhere to play?". Before long, Bruce was standing at the Toronto International Airport arrivals lounge waiting for Tyla to arrive.
The show was booked at Toronto's Bovine Sex Club and marked the first time Tyla had played in Canada since 1989. Tyla stayed in Hamilton for a few days, but Johnny drove him down to Detroit to start his US leg of the tour the day after the Toronto show.
March passed by uneventfully, very uneventfully if you are talking about studio work. Three months had passed and no Lead Guitar work had been done. Bruce had recorded all of the vocals, and had even recorded a brief piano intro to "Do You Wanna Rock and Roll" called "The Deadly Romantics". Both Ginger St. James and Kisimi Goodnight had contributed their "moans" to "Porn Star", and even Darryl Gould had sung backing vocals on "Rock Whore" and "Scream My Name".
Jezebel Dupree from the Steeltown Sirens was booking an escape artist called "Santini - The Dark Master of Escape" and asked the band if they would perform at the show. Of course, never to turn down a show, the band rocked the house and made a life long fan out of Steve Santini.
April and May passed, and still there was no furthur work on the CD. Ryan Cannon (Engineer) blamed the slow progress on Ludger not being able to remain sober for long enough, and Ludger blamed it on Ryan for not answering his calls. The band forged on with their live work.
Tyla (who had been on tour for the past 3 months in the US) had returned to Canada, and was staying with Bruce, and so endeavoured to book 3 dates across Ontario in London, Hamilton and Toronto.
Two prime shows had been booked for June. June 15th with the Steeltown Sirens Burlesque and June 27th with the WINK Burlesque Troop out of Hamilton. But due to circumstances beyond the bands control, a quickly booked gig for the following night, June 28th was booked, and to be called the "It's Our Festival".
The "It's Our Festival" was booked after the band was unceremoniously dumped off of the bill for the 2007 "It's Your Festival" held every year at Gage Park in Hamilton. The controversy started over the band's name. The tag "Thunderfuck" had been dropped from all promotion done by the band, and any links to the bands website had beed removed to comply with the fact that it was a family festival. |
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| It's Your Festival is a joke! It's basically just huge flea market to attract the white trash of Hamilton, and the City and the organizers soak money out of the festival and claim it is some sort of cultural show, which is total crap! When we were booked to do the show, we made every possible concession to appease the organizers, then someone complained that we were not a "family" act, and we were dropped like a hot potato. We had people coming in from out of town, and out of the country to see the band, and at the last minute, we had to make other arrangements. They booked us on the show as they wanted to express what the new music was in the city, and, in the end, settled for the same crap to make the white trash happy. I mean come on, how relevant is Sass Jordan and Blue Rodeo in today's market place? But still, there's a principle to uphold, so we sent a legal letter to the booking agent, the organizers and the Mayor of Hamilton, and I don't mind telling you, that cost us an awful lot of money, it cleared out the bank account. I went to the show on the Sunday afternoon, and in all honesty, and in hindsight, I'm glad we didn't play the show. It's been a long time since I've had to lower my standards and play on three sheets of 4x8 plywood under a tent. Fuck that. |
Bruce Hotchkies 2008 |
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The band needed to regroup after the legal issues surrounding the "It's Your Festival" debacle, and only one gig was booked, which was the twice cancelled "Legendary Red Rooster Cafe" in Burlington, Ontario.
Playing to an almost sold out house, the entire show was videotaped by Geoff Hall, who had previously done work for Britney's Krack and Tyla.
In August, 2007 Bruce announced to the band that he was leaving for Scotland. |
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| "I remember calling Johnny up and asking if I could come over to his place for a chat. I'm sure he was expecting me to moan about someone in the band or something, I'm pretty sure he wasn't expecting me to tell him that, effectively, the band was over. I truly meant to tell every one in the band personally, but for some reason, Johnny asked if he could tell the guys, and being the sort of person to run away from every conflict possible, of course I said yes. Walking into the next rehearsal was nerve wrecking, but Ludger didn't seemed fazed at all, Mark just made some wise ass comment, if I had to say if anyone was hurt or pissed off, surprisingly, I would say Marsh. I think he had some personal shit going on at the same time, so me leaving the band was just the icing on the cake for him. He sold his gear and moved up North!!" |
Bruce Hotchkies, 2008 |
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On Friday the 10th of August, the band was booked at the Club Absinthe in Hamilton, for what could foreseeably have been their last performance. They announced the end of the band earlier that evening on Ric Taylor's "Lullabies in Razorland" radio show on CFMU in Hamilton. The band asked if anyone wanted to see the band after that evening, to get in touch, and possibly a "final" show could be arranged. Before the band left the radio station, the phone lines were ringing with offers, and plans were afoot to book the finale.
The final show was on Saturday, Spetember 22 at the Club Absinthe in Hamilton. Johnny and Bruce opened the night with a reformed "Britney's Krack", followed by Patty Reece's new outfit "BDSM Bakesale". James Britney (Britney's Krack) joined the band on stage for a duet of "Fucked By Rock and Roll" and Ginger St. James sang a specially written verse during "Scream My Name". For the finale, Bruce appeared on stage complete with kilt. It was easily the biggest crowd that the band had performed to, and for the first time ever, all SIX members of The Deadly Romantics were stone cold sober!! The band hastily put a 10 track CD together, called "Sexploitation – The Canadian Demos", which was simply their studio output to date, plus two live songs. Half the tracks had no lead guitar work, and the cover artwork featured a prominent shot of Kissimi's backside. |
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| There were underlying problems with the band, and as I was moving to Scotland, I guess it was just easier not to cause any conflict, do the last gig and respectfully bow out. I was constantly being accused of trying to rush things, booking gigs before the band felt we were ready, booking studio time before the band felt the songs were complete. My frustration was the band's incompetence to get anything done. I was gutted at the fact that Ludger and Johnny couldn't get it together to get into the studio and record their parts. Communication within the band was almost at a standstill, Ludger and Johnny were at each others throats, Marsh's snide little comments were getting to me, the wives and girlfriends were on my back about Ginger and Kissimi. I wanted to make the last show special, do a couple of covers, but Marsh just didn't want to know, he didn't want to rehearse or anything, that was why I ended up doing the Dogs D'Amour thing solo." |
Bruce Hotchkies 2008 |
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Before leaving for Scotland, Bruce assembled a quick troupe of musicians under the "Deadly Romantics" banner (Johnny Bud on Guitar, Ryan Cannon on Bass and Ginger St. James on Backing Vocals) to record a cover of The Dogs D'Amour classic "Saviour" for the upcoming Charity release. 'Their Hearts Caught Fire' was a British charity project that was founded in the UK in 2007 to raise money for Cancer Research UK. The project was based around an album of covers of songs by The Dogs D'Amour, recorded by fans of the band, and the name of the project was taken from the first line of the Dogs song "The Prettiest Girl In The World". Tyla, vocalist and songwriter of The Dogs D'Amour, gave his blessing to the project, even re-recording one song himself under the alias of Gabriel O'Keefe.
Within 30 days, Bruce had re-located to Scotland.
Once in Scotland, Bruce started going over the classifieds to find suitable musicians to carry on the name of the Deadly Romantics.
Very quickly Bruce found Gary Mark: |
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| Gary Mark on Guitar (Scotland): |
| Gary Mark moved to New Zealand from Glasgow in the late 1970's. Gary has been playing the guitar for years and not only has he established himself as a notable player in touring bands such as "White Pussy" and "Mint", but he has shared the stage with Australian legend Jimmy Barnes and had also become a much sought after guitar instructor. Gary's influences are based in British Classic Rock with the likes of The Sensational Alex Harvey Band and UFO. |
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| Almost immediately after re-locating to Scotland, Bruce signed a limited record deal with Nashville based Versailles Records to record a Def Leppard cover for another upcoming compilation/Tribute CD. As there was no real band, Bruce and Gary headed off to Homegrown Recording Studio's in Larbert, and with Bruce on Drums and Vocals, and Gary on Guitar and Bass, they recorded their version of "Have You Ever Needed Someone So Bad". |
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| My God it is a horrible song! It reminded me of the phrase "You can't polish a turd" but I was desperate to keep the momentum going with the band, so any work was better than nothing. We couldn't find a Bass player, and I wanted to keep Gary interested in the project, so almost immediately after joining the band, he was in the recording studio playing Def Leppard songs. James, the engineer, had no idea what we were trying to do, and you could see the painful look on his face. We recorded the song in an afternoon, and then spent about 3 hours trying to do all these big vocals like Def Leppard has, and it was a nightmare, I finally just said to Hell with it, erased all the vocals, went in and screamed the lyrics. The production on the song is great, much better than the Dogs D'Amour cover we did, but when it came time to send the song of to the Record company, I have to admit, I was worried… surprisingly, they loved it. Once all the guys in Canada heard it, I knew they thought it was awful as well. |
Bruce Hotchkies, 2008 |
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| By February 2008, after trying out 3 bass players and 5 drummers, The Deadly Romantics were ready to start rehearsing on a regular basis. On Bass Callum Maigo had joined the fold. |
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| Callum Maigo on Bass (Scotland): |
| Callum, although raised in the Scottish Borders, has been playing for years around both Edinburgh and Glasgow, rising to prominence with Edinburgh Skate Punk band "EndyofCity". Cal's influences were the most eclectic of any Deadly Romantic past or present ranging from The Who to Slayer. Cal's playing brought the Deadly Romantics to a new level, as the Entwhistle influence was hard to ignore. |
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| By April the band were back at Homegrown Recording Studio to complete work on the unfinished demo's that had been started in Canada. The Canadian engineer, Ryan Cannon, had mailed over the studio masters, and in Larbert, the new Bass and Guitar tracks were laid. As there was still no drummer in place, the tracks that had been laid down in Canada by Smash Bashkins were kept, as well as several of the rhythm tracks from Johnny. Cal and Gary added some backing vocal tracks and the CD was ready to be pressed. |
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| Although there were seven songs recorded in Canada, only four were chosen for the EP release: |
- Do You Wanna Rock and Roll
- Fucked By Rock and Roll
- New York City
- Scream My Name
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"Do You Wanna Rock and Roll" – was inspired by crowd participation. It's one of those songs where after to hear the chorus once, the crowd is just singing along with you. We almost always open the show with it, just to get the crowd involved, there's no feeling like having an audience sign your music back to you. It's a zero to sixty in three point zero seconds to sweaty heaven!!
"New York City" – is about a tour I did with my old band "Britney's Krack". It was a nightmare! You think that playing in a rock and roll band, New York City is the Mecca of Rock and Roll and it really is a shit town. Four of us cramped into a tiny hotel room, no money, getting kicked out at 4am, losing our Bass player on the lower east side, crack heads, hookers you name it, what a dump! And CBGBs really is a shit hole!!
"Scream My Name" – is my homage to Zodiac Mindwarp and the Love Reaction. It was totally written with all those classics like "Prime Mover", "Backseat Education" and "Planet Girl" in mind. Zed is a lyrical genius. It's all about being the Rock and Roll God coming back to save the masses from their mindless wanderings in the Valley of Pointless Music and seeing the light, and discovering the ways of ROCK!! Very Jack Black eh??
"Fucked By Rock And Roll" – just more of my hatred for Screamo, Emo, Indie Rock, Dance culture etc. I imagine the band setting up in a dance club, and all these people waiting to hear what we're going to be playing, the opening chords ripping through them and screaming "You just been fucked… by rock and roll…" |
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The first gig in Scotland was on May 22nd at the Crowbar in Clydebank, just south of Glasgow. It was certainly a Celtic supporters club, and the band were playing on match night. Luckily Celtic won and the crowd was up for a party. Joining the band on drums was Phil Dodgeson, who was a percussion teacher in Glasgow, but being in several bands as well as the Territorial Army, Phil couldn't give the commitment that the band was looking for.
"Do You Wanna Rock and Roll" the EP was released in July and received favourable reviews in the UK, across Europe and the USA.
July 4th saw the band opening up for the legendary Zodiac Mindwarp and the Love Reaction at the Capitol Theatre in the City centre of Glasgow. For one gig only, was 18 year old Graeme Simpson on drums. |
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| Being a huge fan of Zodiac Mindwarp, it was awesome getting the chance to open up for the band. Zodiac Mindwarp (aka Mark Manning) is also an author and has written quite a few biographical accounts of being in a band. I got the impression, after reading a few of his books, that he was a bit of a dick, and I can say that after having met him I was not disappointed. I'm sure he is a nice bloke, but he just didn't want to know. Colbalt Stargazer (Guitarist for The Love Reaction) on the other hand was really cool, I spent quite a bit of time with him after the gig and we were going to go for dinner together until he said he wanted a curry!! Still, I was there for sound check, and to have the band play "Backseat Education" and "High Priest Of Love" just for me was a moment I'll not forget anytime soon. |
Bruce Hotchkies 2008 |
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Another date at the end of July, playing a benefit show for the "Rock Against Child Pornography" charity, was another notch in the belt for the band. Appearing in the middle of a 5 act bill, the show was poorly attended, but the organizers expressed a serious interest in the band.
For personal reasons, Bruce booked a trip back to Canada at the end of August. Johnny then organized a reunion gig for the band to play with all six original members of the band. The show was performed at the Absinthe club in Hamilton, sharing the bill with The Marble Index, and was easily the biggest crowd the band had played in front of to date. Once again, most of the band were relatively sober, yet still some of the previous demons began to raise their ugly heads. Marsh and Mark were still going at each other and Ludger quit the band on stage…again.
Soon after the Zodiac gig, Cal decided to quit the band which was a huge blow to Bruce. |
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| Cal brought a lot to the band. Yes he was an “over the top” player, which although I loved his playing, I’m not sure it fitted in with what we were doing, and I think Cal knew that as well. Of all the players that have been in this band, Cal was the first to quit! I took it quite badly at the time. I thought that without Cal being in the band, what was the point? I told Gary I was going to move back to Canada, which devastated him, and basically scrapped the band. |
Bruce Hotchkies 2009 |
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In November 2008, The Deadly Romantics were invited to play at the Hamilton Music Awards where they had been nominated in the “Best Hard Rock” category. Playing on the same night as the Forgotten Rebels and the Frankie Venom Memorial at the Hamilton Convention Centre, Bruce flew over from the UK to participate in the honour.
By January 2009, Bruce had finally gotten over Cal leaving the band, and decided to give the band another kick at the can. Gary was back on board on Guitar. Graeme Simpson was brought in as a full time drummer, and one of Graeme’s friends, Gordon Miller came in on 2nd Guitar.
April saw the band go back to Homegrown Productions, and under the watchful eyes of engineer, James Taylor, the band have finally started work on their debut album. |
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Graeme Simpson (aka WeeMan) on Drums: |
| Graeme hails from Larbert, and being the youngest member of the band, a mere 20 years old, keeps the rest of the guys on their toes. Easily the best drummer Scotland has to offer, WeeMan’s talents go way beyond skin bashing, being the new “cute” member of the band, when the bands rolls into a new venue, once they see Weeman, they think Westlife has just shown up. Graeme has performed with a local, alternative band called “Ever The Optimist”, and is also currently drumming with “It’s A Girl”. |
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Brian "Rockin'" Rawson on Second Guitar: |
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Brian’s first real band was "The Tearjerkers" who were signed to Terry Hooley’s Good Vibrations record label in Belfast. The first single, “Love Affair”, was recorded in Dublin and produced by Johnny Byrne. The band was subsequently signed to Phonogram by the head of A&R at that time, Davy Bates, and released the Phil Chapman & John Astley produced “Murder Mystery” on the subsidiary label, Back Door Records. They toured with Thin Lizzy, Dexy's Midnight Runners, Doll By Doll and Rachel Sweet and did numerous TV and radio appearances in both Northern and Southern Ireland. Following the demise of the Tearjerkers, Brian joined Jim Lyttle's band that would eventually become “Rogue Male” and worked with Jimmy Bain (Rainbow/Dio) who played bass and produced the band’s initial recordings in Alvic Studios in London, he then relocated to California where he recorded the track, “Tears from Heaven” with the band, Criss Cross, for the Concrete Foundations CD, did a British tour with Brian Connolly's new “Sweet” lineup, played guitar on singer/songwriter Jon Lacabanne's album, “Amen”, in the infamous Route 66 Studios in Santa Rosa, California, with producer Harry Gale, played guitar on Irish singer/songwriter Deirdre Cunningham’s album “Sunny Days” which was favourably reviewed in the Hotpress that year, played a one-off gig with “Handsome” Mick Rowe’s band “Nineteen88” in Nashville and whilst there he played guitar on the Whiskey Hill release “Killing Time”.
Brian is obviously far too talented for The Deadly Romantics, but since we’ve got im, we ain’t letting him get away.
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Throbbin' Robin Neilson on Bass Guitar: |
| Robin started playing bass back in the late eighties in several blues bands one of them being "Killing Floor " then in the mid 90,s progressed onto 3 piece punk outfit "5 Past Midnight" recording several EPs and a 24 song live album. In the late 90's he recorded an album with "Sparkle Palace" and then spent a few years writing and recording his own material under the name of "Gridlok". This is still an ongoing project. In 2004 "Two Bob Rocket" was formed., with Robin fronting and playing bass, they currently play Rock covers in the Glasgow and Edinburgh Pub and club circuit.
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As of August 2009, the band is in full swing. It’s been over a year since the last Deadly Romantics show, and everyone in the band is itching to get out there and play. Work has begun on the full length debut album, tentatively called “Motorcycle Music”. |
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“It’s been killing us to find a Bass Player and for a while, the band moral was at an all time low, then all of a sudden, we just started writing, and have already put five new songs down on tape, with another five in the bag. We’re now deciding whether or not to keep any of the original stuff, songs like “Fucked By Rock and Roll” and “Scream My Name” which I have been singing for 3 years now, are getting a little stale. We’re looking at hitting the road in November, and once we finally get back out there, playing live shows, I don’t think we’ll stop.” |
Bruce Hotchkies 2009 |
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Watch this space. |
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