Tuesday 27 March 2012

Rain for a Day - "Omi's Forgotten Wedding" (1985)

We're closing in on the end of the Golden Rock archives with another one from Ken Kittlitz's '86 mix tape (and re-mastered by Cheeba). Rain for a Day were CJSW staples back in the day, but we're at a loss for info about this one. Was it from a cassette? Who was in the band? What year is this from? Is the title even correct? (It might be "Omi's Secret Wedding.") If anyone can shed some light on this track, please e-mail us at hamfisted[at]gmail[dot]com.

Update! Pat McGannon got in touch with us, and offers a whole bunch of answers to the questions we asked.

Was it from a cassette?Yes this track is from a cassette recording. It was made in the drummer’s (Jason Rubero) basement in Braeside (located in SW Calgary). The recording was done on a reel-to-reel four track recorder and mixed to a cassette deck. It’s pretty raw but that’s what we had to work with back in those days. This track has no bass guitar on it, the low end is a string patch on a Roland JUNO 106. I still have the same keyboard and use it live on shows today. The original recording features an intro that’s about 1:30 long. We cut it out for the CJSW cart as I think it was going to be too long to fit on the cart. We were also fearful CJSW would not play a long synth track that was clocking in at over 5 minutes long!

Who was in the band?Gary Backhouse – Lead vocal/guitar
Pat McGannon – Keyboards/bass guitar
Jason Rubero – Drums
Kevin Simpson (aka “Johnny”) – Keyboards

What year is this from?It was recorded in the fall of 1985.

Is the title even correct? (It might be "Omi's Secret Wedding.")The correct title is “Omi’s Forgotten Wedding”.
Thanks, Pat!

Get it here.

1 comment:

Jason said...

Recorded @ MacEwan Hall Ballroom in late 1985.

Personnel:

Johnny 'Kev' Simpson - keys
Gary Backhouse - vocals, guitar
Pat McGannon - bass
Jason Rubero - drums