Spike's
tales from the road
On
tour with Glass Tiger on the 1986 Julian Lennon Canadian tour
It
was 1986 and Julian
Lennon, the son of one of the world's most important song
writers of the past century, was touring across Canada and
your pal Spike was there operating the mixing console for
the opening act, Glass
Tiger.
It was the morning after the first show in Ottawa at the Civic
Center. After loading our luggage into the van, we were beginning
the drive to the next show. I was traveling with the band,
and as we were moving along the highway out of Ottawa, we
got into a discussion regarding the previous evening's performance.
Now, I should have known better than getting into an honest
open conversation with the musicians. Just the evening before,
a comment was made by one of the Glass Tiger band members
while we were backstage. "Why do we have to open the
show for Julian Lennon, we're bigger than he is........"
This is a band who had just released their first record (The
Thin Red
Line), on their first concert tour, and the attitude is already
more extreme
than Platinum Blonde, (until Mark went off to Hollywood California,
to be an
actor, that is!)
So, when I was asked my opinion of the show, I said, "I
thought everyone
played well, and Alan (Frew, lead vocal) was right on the
money. The only
problem I perceived was that the harmony vocals by Michael
(Hanson, drummer) were somewhat flat!"
Michael's head snapped towards me, and he said in no uncertain
terms, "I NEVER sing flat!"
Upon hearing this, I turned to the rest of the band and said,
"Ok, then, the rest of you are all playing and singing
sharp!"
Needless to say, Michael and I didn't speak much following
my honest comment. And it wasn't too long before I was asked
to leave the Glass tiger family. Some people just can't handle
the truth.
Spike,
September 2005
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