(Four / then Four plus One equals Five / then Five minus Two equals Three / then Three plus Two equals Five / then Five plus One equals Six / then Six minus Three equals Three / and finally Three plus Two equals the final Five.) That was the Rockin Saints career as an equation representing the number of players in the band from 1965 to 1972 inclusive. Cape Breton bands and most bands for that matter are a loose association of somewhat like-minded people who just happen to play a musical instrument. People who play in bands fall into 4 general categories: (A) People who love to play their instrument(s) in conjunction with others who wish to play music with people of similar aspirations. Their future in band music is determined by several factors with the most overriding being that other things take the place of music in importance in their lives and their tenure in the group situation can be counted in months, not decades. (B) People who need attention constantly focused on themselves and use their place in a band to further their status as special and in this case the music is actually secondary. These people are there while the band situation is providing the imaginary spotlight they feel they deserve. They are not team players so these guys get kicked out a lot. ( C) Then you have those whose sole purpose for playing in a band is the quest for women. The music can be somewhat of a distraction to this player because he is concentrating on what is going to happen after the performance not during. So this player considers the gig as part of the seduction cycle(he thinks!). This guy usually lasts for a bit because he is charismatic and can bluff his way along. But this guy doesnt last for the long haul because the music techniques pass him by. Why? Because the music isnt the reason he is there in the first place . And finally (D): You have the person that sees and dedicates himself as a true musician. He learns to master his instrument, making the total sacrifice of leaving the safety of a steady job with a future, medical plans , pensions, and steady income to put himself out there for people to judge him by his work in musical terms. This person will sample the highest highs and the lowest lows, but once the commitment is made and all the life lines are disengaged he stands and falls on the notes he sings and plays. I have met two such people from the last category during my life time. Over the intervening period since my 8 years as the bass player for the Saints, Ive often been asked if I actually liked all the musicians that went through the bands revolving door. My stock answer is always the same, some were more memorable than others and all were solid musicians. When breaking down the Saints as an entity at least during my time in the band, one has to realize that the central figure in the group since the beginning was Jimmy Hiscott or to simplify it further, Jimmys voice. Jimmys vocal abilities, his tone and style were assets that I recognized later, much later on reflection. The Saints that I joined in that cold spring of 1965, was a surprisingly well balanced group both musically and socially. Ike Keating, the lead guitar player and myself were around the same age and had similar tastes in the new music of the day. In my prior band where I played lead guitar we played more complex songs like “And I Love Her” from the Beatles “Hard Days Night” and Gerry and The Pacemakers, “Dont Let The Sun Catch You Crying”. But that band copied the tunes to play them; the Saints did the songs in their own style. They became “Saints” songs. The late 60s Saints era of which I have documented through a series of standout memories is the story of perseverance and holding to a formula that was “In”, then “Out”, then back “In” again. I stuck with Jimmy and Cyril until the last 2 great North Sydney musicians had joined the band and run their tenure out which effectively ended our ability to play at the level we expected of ourselves. Paul Dunn, one of the most talented musicians/songwriters Ive ever known was the keyboard player and sang harmony in this watershed moment of our career. The other musician, Tony Quinn was a super singer and guitar player who could play anything. These two young musicians gave both Jimmy and I a marvelous creative boost; a new creative plateau to climb. We were doing songs like, “Ma Bella Amie” by the Tee-Set and Mashmakhans, “As Years Go By”. We also did the Guess Whos, “No Time” and “A Salty Dog” by Procol Harum. Their stay in the group was an adventure in musical forms. One night Tony came to practice with the Kinks hit, “Lola” and we did it at a Margaree High School dance. The kids loved it. But alas, this pleasant sojourn in the Saints already complicated journey came to an end as the younger players moved off to where their careers could take them. The band never really broke up; it was more a case where we had said and done everything we could have done in a local music career that started in a basement in North Sydney in 1958. If the Saints were a house that had a front and back door there would have been a lot of players who entered, stayed, then left. But two were in that house to stay and saw all the others come and go. Jimmy Hiscott and Cyril Mac Donald have earned the accolade of being “True Musicians” in the starkest of terms and should be acknowledged for their perseverance and dedication to the dream that germinated so long ago and held it together over the greatest decade of them all....the 60s.
Posted on: Thu, 01 Jan 2015 23:11:21 +0000
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