From the start. Wow. I was sitting in a pub in Westport Ontario
The Cove Inn - all by myself.For some reason
I wondered what a Crony was and looked it up in the
dictionary."An intimate friend/drinking companion."
Ya that works for me.

The way it began was in a Kingston-based band called AFH or the Air Fan Heat Band
which we got from looking at the dash of my '69 panel truck's dash. We were a four-piece band between 19-21 years old and got a band house at 27 Main Street in Kingston. Thus, we became "27 Main". We played music by The Cars, Styx, and top ten 70's songs. We did local gigs at The General Wolfe/Wolfe Island, Elgin, Newboro and Westport. Our band house was party-central. We had a lot of noise complaints at all hours and the Kingston police were very nice to us. Eventually someone fell asleep with a smoke and the house, with all our equipment, burnt to the ground. No one perished in the fire but the band folded.

I played in various bands after that then I started a band that did a tribute to Zep and Rush. I was just singing and playing some drums with a double-drummer set up. Bernie Dobbin, our local talent agent, told me I looked like an elephant on stage but that I was a very good singer. The band called Legacy called it quits for many reasons.

I was introduced to Ron Sly and Ricky Bakker through a mutual friend. They had a duo and needed a drummer with experience. There were a lot of Elvis and 50's songs I was familiar with. A Kingston band call the Wise Guys and later The Razorbacks with Tony Kenny introduced us to Rockabilly. We all quit our jobs and wanted to tour Canada. We listened to Robert Gordon, Gene Vincent, Shakin Pyamids, Stray Cats Shakin Stevens, Rockpile and all the legends from Sun Records. In Kingston we played The Lakeview Manor, The Commodore, The Plaza, Junior Ranks Mess, Kingston Penitentiary, the Dock Yards and others. We became a four piece band when Charlie Stuart joined us. Having four lead and harmony singers was a wonderful feature as well as the somewhat choreographed moves. Being a stand up drummer was and still is a blast.

August 05, 2012Posted by Author B. Kelly