First of all, I'm gratified by all the feedback I've been getting from the Don Tremaine interview. It is leading to some good things for me, actually, and I'll tell you about them as they approach.
Tonight, I thought I'd write about one of my favourite rock bands of the 1970's and very early 1980's. I sold my vinyl albums a few years ago, along with their scant, hard-to-find albums that I don't even know if they exist on cd.
I have managed to find 3 of their songs on youtube. I thought I'd share them with you tonight.
I write of "Teaze". I don't know why they misspelled the name. Maybe it's because it would make the name copyrightable. Maybe it's part of the grand tradition of deliberately misspelling the name of a band. The Beatles. Led Zeppelin. And so on.
Their big hit, if you remember them at all, is probably "Sweet Misery", which the old CHNS used to dust off from time to time as recently as 5 or so years ago. For some reason, it is often characterized as a country-type tune. Maybe it has something to do with the honkytonk piano sound.
But I always thought of these guys as a pretty strong, aggressive rock and roll band. They played well. They sang well. Myles Goodwin of April Wine fame even produced one of their albums. I thought they would have a long, thriving career.
But I read this in a Canadian rock magazine in the early 1980's. The lead singer lost his voice and regained it. He attributed this to God and found religion. He instantly lost any interest in being in a secular band and quit, leaving the rest of the guys without a singer or a reason to continue. They split.
I used to joke that if you ever saw a heavenly choir singing on television, and the guy in the background, third from the left, was wearing boots and had long hair, chances were that it would be Brian Danter of Teaze. Ha ha.
It's a shame that they only put out 4 albums. But they were fun. And I am sorry they didn't go any further. One always wonders what could have happened had their record company had more confidence in them and nurtured them better.
Here's an interview with their guitarist Chuck Price.
Here's a brief article about the band.
And, do you want to know what Brian Danter is up to now? Here's a link to his church's website!
And here is their biggest hit (which they refused to perform live!):
Here's a tune from their Live in Japan album, because everybody did a live in Japan album back then:
Finally, here's a tune from the Myles Goodwin-produced album:
6 comments:
I can recall playing air guitar to these guys. They were a pretty tight band and like you said Bev , they should have been bigger. Cool times.
Great interviews. Do I smell a book in your future about radio history perhaps ....keep them coming.
Hi, Reg. People are telling me there is a book there, or maybe several books. Ian Robinson tells me that every time I see him, or every time we speak on the phone, or exchange an email. Chris Mills says the same thing. Ha. I even have a title in mind. It's fun to think about.
I was referring to the fact that I lined up 3 more interviews today.
Damn shame about Teaze. These songs take me back. Just as enjoyable now as they were 30 years ago.
Did you check out the links I provided?
Bev
I did check out the links . Good solid rock . Have a good one.
Hi Bev,
Brian just sent me to your blog. My name is Jael and I am one of those invisible musicians that has been in the business so long that very few people remember. I've had a few Canadian hits under different names but I am Brian's songwriting partner of close to 30 years. The church band is fine for what it is but that is not the big news today. We are days away from finishing a new album so we found your blog to be very timely. A label in England is re-issuing "One Night Stands" and that should be out already but for a mistake in the liner printing. The song line up has some bonus tracks. There were actually 5 Teaze albums before Brian left the band and 1 after with Marco's wife and another new member. You are probably unaware of the first one from 1976, which earned them the label of Canada's hardest rock band, because it was not released on Aquarius. You can find the new album details only on myspace at the moment and it is being changed tonight to really start some pre-launch promotion.
www.myspace.com/briandanter
There are a few things about Brian's conversion from his secular career that are not quite right in the blog, but the details belong in a book not a sentence or two, so we won't fix it here. That is a fascinating story. The guys are all still friends and even plan a private party to play together once in a while. If demand gets strong enough, I could see them playing a few gigs for the public but Brian's new direction has been set for some time even if the new album contains a lot of surprises.
Thank you so much for writing, Jael. I am gratified that Brian Danter saw my post.
I apologize for getting some facts wrong. Please note that the rock magazine which wrote about the demise of Teaze was published, and read by me, in 1981 or so, and is long gone from any place where I could read it. I was going by memory. But I do recall that the article was very brief.
There is very little online material about Teaze, just a few web pages here and there. Very sad, given how good Teaze was.
What a coincidence that I should write of Teaze just as there will be an opportunity for a new generation to experience this fine music. I will get "One Night Stands" as soon as it is available!
Please thank Brian for pointing you in my direction. If he wants to chime in with a comment or 3, then please let him know that he will always have a forum on Bevboy's Blog.
I have some experience with interviews, as you'll see by checking out the labels on the left hand side of the blog page. If Brian wants to speak with me...
All the best!
Bev
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