BIG ethel 1987-1996
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My first show with a band was at Cole Harbour High School in 1985. We called the band Mooty Hex, using a derogatory term used to describe our music by the drummer’s french-speaking grandmother. We played two shows, a school assembly and a “Rock-a-Thon” fundraiser. I also wrote my first song with this band, “You’re the One”.
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After leaving High School, guitarist Tim Manuel asked me to sing in a new band called BIG ethel, following the breakup of his main band, The Spawning Grunions. Initially we were a pop-rock cover band playing venues like The Misty Moon and The Palace, but started writing our own songs and recorded a 6 –song self-titled EP. We won the regional leg of the Yamaha MusicQuest, resulting in performing at SUNFEST ‘93 in Gimli Manitoba.
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The core of the group was myself, Blain Morris, and Tim Manuel, and included Blair Seaboyer, Steve Preeper, Mark Power, Bob Murphy, Marc Perry and Mike Clattenburg (Trailer Park Boys). Some highlights included opening for Doug & The Slugs, The Grapes of Wrath, Too Many Cooks, and Thomas Trio and the Red Albino.
dharma 1996-2004
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In the summer of 1996, I packed my 1985 Honda Civic hatchback with a suitcase, a guitar and a 4-track recorder and moved to the “Big Smoke” of Toronto to “make it”. I quickly formed a four-piece rock group called dharma with Ken Griffin on drums, Andy Ghandour on bass, and Mark Collins on guitar. We started performing regularly in downtown Toronto and through a little good fortune, we were able to quickly record our first 5-song EP at SONY studios with Lenny DeRose on the board.
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It wasn’t long before we earned our spots at high profile venues like The El Mocombo, The Horseshoe Tavern and the Rivoli, highlighted with opening slots for Powderfinger from Australia, Nickelback and Platinum Blonde. With this early success, we all moved into a house together in Markham to focus on building a solid live show and develop our songwriting. In addition to the SONY EP, we recorded a three song EP with Terry Sawchuk , a live-off-the-floor full-length album with Mark DeBoer at Clinton’s Tavern, and a final 3-song demo with Eric Mahar.
uncorked 2006-2011
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I moved to Hamilton in 2004 , and decided to take a few years off from music,. I enrolled in Toastmasters to help me sharpen my communication skills and through a strange twist of events, ended up putting together a band, we called The Mistletoasts, for our Toastmasters Christmas Party.
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We had enough fun to try our hand at an Open Mic night at The Coach & Lantern Pub in Ancaster, Ontario. After the show, owner Mark Hodge said he loved it, he'd never heard anyone play Fisherman’s Blues by The Waterboys, one of his favorite songs. “Do you have about forty songs to play a full night?” “Yes!”, of course.
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The next morning, we decided we would need to make the band official, give it a name, and start learning about 30 songs. We called the band uncorked and using the Coach as a launching pad, started playing local pubs as a pop-rock band with an east coast sing-a-long flavor.
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As that grew, and members started to come and go, we started playing a few festivals and special events locally and around Southern Ontario.
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East Coast Kitchen Party 2011-current
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It was at this time I met Randal Hill, who invited me to sit-in at a Kitchen Party show he was playing in. Being an east coast guy, how could I say no. Liam’s Kitchen Party performed at Rolly Rockets in Hamilton weekly featuring the talents of young fiddle player Liam McGlashon.
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This was the beginning of the shift for me to focus on East Coast Music. Growing up in Halifax, and frequenting well-known pubs like The Lower Deck, The Old Triangle, or Your Father’s Moustache, it was almost second nature to lead the charge through a few sing-songs and Sociables. So began the journey at The Corktown Pub.
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It began without much fanfare, and modest crowds. But as the word-of-mouth spread, we began to realize how many east coasters were living in the Hamilton area, and how much demand there was for a good ol’ down home kitchen party. We watched the crowds grow…
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And of course there were the St. Patty’s Day parties..
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And the Robbie Burns Day Celebrations …
And Pipes & Drums for Tartan Day …
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The Blue Grotto and The Fronteers 2015
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The Blue Grotto is easily the coolest venue I have ever played. Situated upstairs of Hamilton's oldest "downtown" restaurant, The Capri, it has had a long and colorful history, and boasts of a design like no other live music room.
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I had been hired to play a Christmas Party with uncorked, and at the time, I had not heard of the venue. It was infrequently used for special events, and wasn't functioning as a regular venue for live music. I thought wow, this is truly a hidden gem of the city. I spoke to owner Sal Fiorino after the show, and asked if he would be open to putting on a few music events. He agreed to give it a try. And so I embarked on a side project to stretch my wings with other styles of music and some other incredibly talented players, of which, Hamilton is brimming with.
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Over a period of about a year, I was able to put together four events in the Blue Grotto, while performing regularly with the kitchen party. An east coast tribute-style show that was an assembly of all the kitchen party players in a scaled up version of our regular shows, which I called Great Big C. Followed by two shows as The Fronteers, made up mostly from other local musicians who fronted their own bands, and finally a Springsteen tribute show called Born for Fun.
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Ferguson Young and Fried Balogna
2016-current
Eventually, with continued and growing success, an almost insatiable demand for kitchen parties, and a small army of talented players, one band could become two, Ferguson Young and Fried Balogna. Ferguson Young showcased the fiddling talents of Liam McGlashon with a jigs and reel feel you would hear in Cape Breton and PEI. Fried Balogna took on more of a Newfoundland or Irish pub feel with four part vocal harmonies and the Banjo and Accordion talents of Randal Hill and Ron Cole respectively.
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Ferguson Young has enjoyed a long-standing residence at The Corktown Pub in Hamilton, drawing a boisterous crowd every Friday from 6:30-8:30pm for more than ten years. Over the last 3-4 years, it was not unusual to have reservations at capacity up to two weeks in advance.
And it was about three years prior to the Pandemic, that Fried Balogna started weekly Matinees at Pub Fiction in Ancaster at the request of Mark Hodge (former owner of The Coach & Lantern), which was growing into a Saturday afternoon Kitchen Party that would rival the legendary Lower Deck in Halifax.
And it was about three years prior to the Pandemic, that Fried Balogna started weekly Matinees at Pub Fiction in Ancaster at the request of Mark Hodge (former owner of The Coach & Lantern), which was growing into a Saturday afternoon Kitchen Party that would rival the legendary Lower Deck in Halifax.
James Ferris & The James St North
2019
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With so much music going on, I started to write again, on my own, or quite frequently teaming up with Ron Cole. I’ve recorded two projects with this arrangement, Written in the Kitchen and Fake it So Real with the multi-talented Anthony Vaughn, who Engineered, Co-Produced and performed on all seven songs. Most recently, I have put together James Ferris and the James St North for strictly original shows. Also performing on the recordings are the incomparable talents of bass aficionados Owen Mahoney and Michael Lumsden.
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Since the Pandemic started, I have done the only thing I can do to keep the good times rolling, performing three Live Stream Shows per week. I feel there may be more of this story to come…