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1987-1988
The history of the Shotgunn Symphony begins some
time in 1987 in Dawson Creek, B.C., Canada. Two young guitarists, Johnny
Gunn (Cameron Purvis) and Michael Symons, began playing together.
The two often collaborated on musical ideas for the next year. Then, late
in 1988, Johnny met Bobby Richards . Richards was a young lyricist and played no instrument
; Gunn had begun writing music the year before. The pair joined their skills
and ended up writing hundreds of songs over the next seven years. By early
1989, Richards took up bass playing and, with Symons and Gunn, formed a
trio that would eventually lead to a rock and roll explosion that the region
had never before seen. In May, 1989 the three musicians recorded a album-length
demo called Bad Trip.
1989
The new trio still needed a drummer. One local drummer,
Aaron Schindler, turned down the group's offer but there needs were met
by Braden Jones, a friend from school who played the drums and had a place
to practice. The group was finally complete - but not for long. Bobby Richards
and Michael Symons were having problems seeing eye to eye and Symons was
eventually replaced with a friend of Braden Jones. Reagan Wetherill was
a very talented young guitarist and added a fresh new sound to the band.
The four recorded some live rehearsal material in October of 1989 and called
the recording In And Out Of Tune which may or may not be
an appropriate name depending on your personal taste. Problems arose again
in early 1990 when Jones and Wetherill both left. Robert Fulk was a friend
of Gunn's and joined as drummer followed by the addition of Kyle (Stevey)
Smith, Bobby's younger brother, on guitar. Smith offered a new, heavier
sound as his heavy metal leads were nailed onto the duo's power pop catalogue.
Songs
For The Deaf became the next attempt at recording the garage twang
of the group. Fulk, however, left only months after joining and the group
was once again without a drummer.
1990
It was around March, 1990 when Gunn and Richards
came up with an idea for a project that would mix a regular rock sound
with a full member orchestra. The tentative name they came up with was
The Shotgunn Symphony. The project never materialized, but the name was
kicked around regularly from that point on. Chris Banser joined Johnny,
Bobby and Kyle on drums in late Spring.The music began to improve and the
band began playing at some parties in the area. Their first major appearance
was in August, 1990 at Unchagah Hall in Dawson Creek where they played
to an audience of 700 people as part of a talent showcase sponsored by
CJDC, the local radio station. Banser, however, had a falling out with
the group just before the show and Aaron Klein sat in on drums for the
show. They continued to work with Chris Banser until October when he left
for the last time. Before his departure, they recorded another demo series
called Divinyl which was an incredible improvement on their
earlier recordings. The cassette was the first to bear the Shotgunn Symphony
name.
1991
The group was quickly running out of potential drummers
when they hired Derek Umbach. The group rehearsed non-stop, playing parties
in between. They recorded a set called Roger Mortis And The Deadbeats
in
March, 1991 but were never quite satisfied with Umbach and called an old
friend for help. Aaron Schindler had turned down Gunn and Richards two
years earlier. He later worked with a group featuring Reagan Wetherill
and Braden Jones (who had switched from drums to guitar). Schindler agreed
to replace Umbach and in no time the Shotgunn Symphony was back in full
swing. The first major show they played together was in May as a part of
the province-wide Music '91 concert series. They began rehearsing more
and recorded new versions of Bad Trip and In And Out Of Tune along with
many other demos. Shortly after the concert, Gunn, Richards and Schindler
recieved some bad news from Kyle Smith who left the group and moved to
Red Deer, Alberta. Smith had been through everything with Richards and
Gunn and seemed impossible to replace. They decided to not replace him
and remain a trio though they did ask Karl "the immortal" Mattson to cover
Kyle's spot for a couple of shows, including a full concert at the Fall
Fair in August. The 'trio' recorded a new set in October called Wildest
Dreams before an even greater blow came to the band's destiny.
In late November, Bobby Richards called Johnny
Gunn to tell him he was leaving temporarily for personal reasons. Now it
was down to two and Gunn was the only original member left. He began writing
on his own for the first time. The results were great and with Schindler's
push, Gunn decided to rebuild the group. Karl Mattson was called upon again
to take over as lead guitarist but the real search would be for someon
to replace Richards. Gunn wanted someone who would offer the same qualities
to the group - a bassist with his own tunes and a singing voice. There
was virtually no-one around who could pull it off until Gunn came up with
an idea. Braden Jones had songs, a great voice and was musically talented
with good stage presence. He didn't play bass but he had played both guitar
and drums for some time. Bass would be easy - and it was. Johnny Gunn,
Karl Mattson, Braden Jones and Aaron Schindler became the new Shotgunn
Symphony.
1992
By this time the group was getting airplay with "You're
All I Need", one of the last tunes they had recorded with Richards. They
played their first show in December, 1991 at Unchagah Hall. The next six
months would become a never ending string of concerts and shows for the
Symphony. In April, 1992 they began recording at Moberly Sound with producer
James Oldenburg and created a wonderful set of songs Gunn refers to as
Just
Another Weekend and other hits. Richards later called it SSVII
as many of the songs included had been leftover from the Wildest
Dreams material and was tentatively named SSVII. "Just
Another Weekend" became the band's first radio hit followed by "Love
For Sale" and Braden Jones' "I'm Only Dreamin'". The band began to catch
the eye of local TV, newspaper and radio and recieved interviews and other
coverage frequently from that point on. The wild success came to a head
in the summer of 1992. Johnny Gunn needed a break from it all.
1993
During his time away from Shotgunn, Bobby Richards
joined the other three on guitar and rehearsals began, though they never
made it to the stage. Gunn and Richards began writing together again and
came up with a number of songs that would perhaps fit their original concept
of the Shotgunn Symphony which was to make it symphonic. They attempted
the feat with James Oldenburg in the studio in the spring of 1993. Contemporary
Rennaissance would be both a success and failure for the two writers.
"Strangers"
was a instant hit on the radio and was followed by "Somethin' To Hide"
and "I'd Really Love To Break Your Heart". The symphony idea had perhaps
gone too far in the eyes of Gunn and Richards and though it recieved good
reviews, the two were never quite happy with it. They began to tour for
it over the next year and were backed by Schindler, Jones and Mattson as
well as drummer Lorne Loiselle and bassist/vocalist Tim Naylor for a few
months. The two had met Tim when they did some playing on the side in a
group called Mr. Cain which also featured local musicians Richard Mineault
and Todd Hinecker. Richards was away for part of the touring and Gunn,
Mattson, Jones and Schindler played the last show of the run at the Urban
Coffeehouse in Prince George.
1994
Throughout 1994, the Symphony jammed, performed,
wrote and recorded a heap of material that was not all Shotgunn. Some of
it was recorded together, some was more solo efforts of Gunn and Richards
and some was part of a series of spin-off groups. "Destination Paradise"
had been a regular on the set list back in early 1991 and finally made
it as a single in the spring of 1994 with Tim Naylor on bass, acoustic
guitar and back-up vocals. Richards recorded a number of tracks, some with
Schindler on drums, some with Lorne Loiselle. Among these songs was "My
Nose For Mayor" which may be more appropriately called his first solo single.
The recording continued and included a set of tracks recorded at Gunn's
home with Richards, Jones, Mattson, Schindler and Gunn himself. The five
also appeared in a rare and unparalleled form at the RockShow at the Performing
Arts Centre in Dawson Creek.
1995
Exploring in the studio became regular and performances
less so which definitely led to the end of the Shotgunn Symphony in 1995.
Among the last work of the collective musicians was a cover version of
the Beatle classic "Please Please Me" performed by "the Eggmen" a group
which featured Richards with other local musicians Aaron
Grant, Murray P. and Brett Kurjata. Gunn and Richards did record a
few demos that year, some with ex-Shotgunn Kyle Smith. The two co-founders
saw the demise of the group in June, 1995.
WHERE
ARE THEY NOW?