The closer to the East Coast they got, the more band’s two Maritimers, Tim and Danny lapsed into good ol’ down-home speak.
ACTUAL TRANSCRIPT
Tim: So? How ya makin’ er?
Danny: good, good; very best, sir
Tim: alrighty, so now, tell us a bit about the pickin’ and the grinnin’ part
Danny: allright, don’t get yer kilt all about the ankles now. I had me first record collection when I was but a wee spud - 5, I think it’was. I was handed down Mom and Dad’s old record player when they got the “hi-flyin’” stereo with the detachable speakers.
Tim: by the Jesus! You musta been crankin’ er, eh?
Danny: Why, all the Don Messer ya could handle, ’bye! We’re talkin’ the big time here. Mom had this Johnny Cash album, eh, so I asked her to play for me but eventually learned to play myself - the guitar parts.
Tim: you just learnt the pickin’ eh, you already had the grinnin’ part down?
Ace of bass - and cod
Danny plays both kinds of music: country and western
Danny: that’s right! You got ’er, lad. That and her Perry Como Xmas album were played to death.
Tim: Some would say “Como” rhymes with “homo”
Danny: But they would be in error
Tim: Amen to that, you Comosexual
Danny: So anyways, before I was born, when Mom and Dad were growing up in PEI, they had no record collections or record players. No digital cable, internet, home theatres, etc.. They got together with local friends, brought a guitar and a fiddle, there was probably a piano - since there always seemed to be one at everyone I met in PEI - and they would get down to a good old fashioned sing-song. This usually was accompanied by several reels on the fiddle which usually brought on some jigs or square-dancing, which was somehow made easier by a little something to drink... Mom and Uncle Dee orchestrated many of the sing-songs that people still remember and talk about today. To this day, Mom and Dad still get together with friends where there is usually a fiddle, a couple of guitars, a piano, lots of singers and lots of dancers. Following Mom and Dad to these parties is where my desire to play music was first kindled.
Tim: well, that’s some mighty fine kindlin’ yer ma and pa got the home fires burnin’ with eh? Hey, do you know what’s the difference between a Gretsch and a Fender?
Danny: do tell.
Tim: A Gretsch burns longer *chortle*
Danny: *guffaw* Good one, good one. Well, I first picked up the guitar when I was 11. The first tune I learned to play was Stompin’ Tom’s - Bud The Spud. I somehow through experimenting got some sounds out of the guitar that were close to G & C chords. I learned every tune on *that side* of the album. Where I really managed to break ground was one night when Mom and Dad had some folks over, I guy by the name of Jack MacDonald, also from PEI, was over with a guitar and a fiddle. He saw how I was trying to play my chords and showed me how to clean them up a bit and showed me 3 others. So, one year while down in PEI - I was about 14 - I was over next door at the Doyle’s place hanging around with Chris and Phillip. Their Mom Anne had this great Album - Songs of Kristofferson. Chris put on the tune “Help Me Make it Through The Night”. It was a tune that I absolutely had to learn. That summer holiday I was next door every chance I had to listen to that album. I ended up learning all but two tunes off that album. Chris’ Mom saw how much I loved that record and the night before we left to come home to Montreal, she brought it over and asked my Uncle John to give it to me. She wrote on the album cover, “John, please give this to Danny, it’s something we share”. Thank you Anne Doyle, I know you’re there. I still take it out and play it and love every tune on that album as much as the first day I heard it.
The Life of Riley Band
Tim: (wiping tear and grabbing another beer) *snif* aw Danny, God love ya ’bye. That kinda story does a fella good, you know, with all the fightin’ and hatin’ and scratchin’ and bitin’ in the world eh?
Danny: don’t I know it, sir! Well, the story continues.
Tim: it’s a pretty lengthy one eh?
Danny: yah, but we’re not even half way there yet.
Tim: you’re right, we’re not even
Danny: so, anyways, I’ve known Goran pretty much since I moved to Chateauguay. We’re good buds, but holy did we used to fight over amplifiers and how country music sucked or not. Regardless, I played 3 years of trumpet in the high school orchestra. That was really the first time I’d picked up any musical theory. To that point it was pretty much playing by ear. I suppose my first real go at playing in a rock band was Playing in Pete’s basement.
Tim: ah yeah, Pete; good fella, he.
Danny: you know Pete?
Tim: nope.
Danny: *snicker* Well, we weren’t really a band, just a bunch of guys getting together smokin’ and drinkin’ playing the same 10 tunes over and over again. We never seemed to get tired of them. From there I really got into Zeppelin and Rush and all sorts of stuff. I had every Rush album up to Signals. My crowning glory at the time was one day finally playing La Villa Strangiato off the Hemispheres album. I’m sure that drove my parents nuts. Ever since that time I have managed to be in one band or another. Sometimes with 2 or 3 groups on the go. The seeming shortage of bass players meant there would be a call every once in a while from a band in need of bass.
Tim: that’s funny that you mention that; there *does* seem to be a shortage of good bass players in Montreal
Danny: well, I don’t know about good players, but definitely a shortage of players. Word of mouth and talking to people found me a few leads. One day at Lafleur’s golf course after a game and several beers, I met Larry Riley. He had taken a break from music for a while and Part Time Country had recently disbanded and I think talking about music gave him the urge to get back out and do some Pub and lounge gigs. So we decided to make a go of it. I was impressed by the number of tunes Larry would bring to a gig with no set lists or plan of action. It was “fly by the seat of your pants”. Larry was a solo player playing acoustic guitar and singing with some harmonica complimenting some tunes.... Oh ya, don’t let me forget Stan.... the drummer.... drum box.
Tim: ah yes, good ol’ Stan. How is he anyway?
Danny: well, he wasn’t doing so well for awhile; couldn’t get the stop button to work.
Tim: kinda like this here interview eh?
Danny: *chuckle* How’m I gonna know what to think before you write it?
Tim: *baha* Hey, isn’t Gilles’ dog weird? I mean, it really thinks it’s a human, eh?
Danny: (pass me another cold one there) yah, well that dog I’ll tell ya is super smart, but I never really been introduced. She’s always so hyper when we get there.
Tim: *burrp* yah, I dunno why.
Danny: weird; just a lot of people around I guess.
Tim: yah.
Danny: so anyways, back to Larry - my contribution was also guitar and vocals. I never felt comfortable as the other guitar player. I made some attempts at guitar breaks/solos but it really wasn’t my thing. I had been a bass player and that *was* my thing. We still went out and gigged but I continued to feel uncomfortable with the format. Then along comes Goran. That was the touch the group needed. It put me back on bass, we now had some great vintage guitar sounds from Goran, and I felt right at home. We had a third voice to the harmonies and as much as we played to some quiet pubs, we did rock the hell out of the same pubs when there was a crowd.
Tim: yah I seen you fellas playin way back when- rocked the bejesus outta Macleans! It was like bein’ back home, I tell ya.
Danny: yah, well, it wasn’t always shits and giggles now; now there’s a feud that Larry and I were quietly fighting for a good part of 3 or 4 years. I was still a big country fan and still am. Larry was a pub tune, folk music, old rock & roll kinda’ guy.
Tim: yah, what’s wrong with that Riley fella?
Larry: hey keep it down there or we’ll be having a Stan Reunion Concert tonite.
Tim: *snicker*
Danny: *mahahah*
Tim: ok, so?
Danny: well, that pretty much spelled out *anything but country*. The thing that bit my ass about it all was that the sound that we were putting out was best suited for country more than anything else. And I had people tell me that after shows. “Why don’t you play more country, it’s really your sound”. Well that led to an *Umpire/Manager* type of nose to nose havin’ it out verbal brawl one night at Old Orchard Pub in NDG. Larry and I had each had just enough beer in our bellies to tell each other exactly how we felt.
Tim: that’s the stuff! Someone open up a can or two o’ whup-ass! *burrp* scuse me; pass me another there
Danny: sure; nah, no whup-arse, just Larry leavin’ the pub in disgust - and rightfully so, I do suppose. We had both had a wee bit too much o’ the licker’. I thought that that was it - what was truly the end to what had been a great little band. But what ended up happening was we both blew off steam and got some important stuff off our chests.
Tim: well Danny, there’s something I need to tell ya, to get off my chest then.
Danny: oh boy, here she comes!
Larry: *lafflafflaff*
Tim: you’re a country music lovin’ bastard; you suck Merle Haggard’s toes, you cod kissin’ bastard!
Entire van: *guffaw*
Tim: just kiddin’; I love Merle. When’s his next record
Goran: I think he’s dead
Danny: oh he’s awake, sleepin’ beauty!
Goran: I’ve been awake with you two fishermen going on and on; first it was Anne and Jesus, now it’s Dan and “Jesus you guys talk alot.”
Tim: by Christ, don’t take the lord’s name in vain!
Danny: that’s mighty white o’ ya there, ’bye
Tim: *chortle* that one’s funny; what’s that mean? it’s not racist is it?
Larry: guys, please just finish the interview so I can concentrate on driving
Tim: yah, you just want to listen to some Merle Haggard, secretly on your walkman! You Closet Haggard freak!
All: LOLz
Danny: so anyways, we had at ’er, Larry and I - he needed it, I needed it and it led to a positive compromise that may mean that we will play music together until we physically can’t anymore.... what ever that means. Since ’93 we’ve taken a few breaks due to different circumstances but we’ve somehow gotten back together since Larry’s phone never really stopped ringing. There had been just enough activity to get invited back out months later, a year later, etc.. I feel lucky to have met up with Larry which has over the years added many great music memories - and they continue.... Being part of the Life of Riley Band project has been a privilege and an honour. It isn’t often that one gets to play a part in such a cause. I hope it continues to grow and that Larry reaches every goal he has set out to achieve. I don’t doubt for a second that he will. Good luck just the same there old boy.
Larry: thanks Danny.
Danny: right up yer kilt
Larry: I woulda kicked your ass so hard
Danny: I think that happened once - in your *dreams*
All: ROFLz
Danny: pass me another there, bartender
Tim: crap; there are none more
Danny: oh boy! bummer; jeet yet?
Tim: not since the picnic. Shit - where’s Glenna?
Danny: Lar’, can you pull over, I gotta take a leak.
Larry: as long as I get to put Merle Haggard on for the rest of the trip
Danny: you got ’er laddie
