THE EARLY YEARS
THE
CRESCENDOS
THE
FIFTH
 BROTHER
DIANNE HEATHERINGTON
& THE MERRY-GO-ROUND
ALAN SCHICK
PAPA
PLUTO
BURTON CUMMINGS
THE
GUESS WHO
YOGI & FRIENDS
THE WALSH TWINS
GUNS 4 HIRE
FREELANCE
WORK
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"Brother .. my favourite band,
because we wrote all the material we
played." -- Vance Masters
In the closing days of
1969, three of Winnipeg’s most distinguished
musicians gathered together around the kitchen
table at a friend’s house. All veterans on
the music scene, they had played virtually every
location available from community clubs to
arenas to international venues. And all
three had come to the same conclusion at the
same time. Tired of performing cover
versions of other people’s material, they formed
a unique partnership, based upon a verbal
agreement and a shared desire to prove to
themselves, and only themselves, that they had
what it takes to make a lasting difference in
the music world. Brother - the name itself
denotes the mindset that spurred Vance Masters,
Kurt Winter, and Bill Wallace to pen some of the
more memorable songs in Canadian music history.
Together for less than
six months, Brother garnered a cult following in
a very short period of time. Dubbed
Winnipeg’s only supergroup by John Einarson in
the book, “Shakin’ All Over”, they collectively
composed all their own material and became a
collaborative writing team that with any one of
the members missing, could not have produced the
same caliber of music. They were
musician’s musicians, and it was not uncommon to
see more than 50% of their audiences made up of
players. The quality of their performances
was such that when they were fired from one of
their jobs for playing too loud, the audience in
attendance that night protested by picketing the
club for several days afterward, tying up
traffic on one of Winnipeg’s busiest
thoroughfares.
Disenchanted by the
politics behind the booking agencies and the
musician’s union at that time, Brother refused
to join the union or to sign with any one
management team and set about arranging their
own gigs. The local agencies brought
pressure to bear on the club owners, advising
that if the rooms booked Brother, they would no
longer receive bands from the agents’ stables of
acts. But Vance, Kurt, and Bill played
anyhow, often performing for no monetary
compensation - just for the sheer pleasure of
getting their music out there.
And they were an
extremely close-knit group, choosing to spend
almost all their waking time together.
Outsiders rarely understood the inner circle
meaning of many of their comments. Some of
their ideas were outrageous, but that was also a
hallmark of the trio. It was an all or
nothing attitude that prevailed, and they fed on
each other, building upon a wisp of an idea put
forth by any one of the members. One such
plan was to 'invade' The Beatles’ Apple Studios
to record their material, with the justification
that when the finished product was heard, all
would be forgiven for adopting such a drastic
measure to get their music heard. Needless
to say, sanity prevailed.
The band wrote,
rehearsed, and re-worked their songs, frequently
recording their practice sessions.
Unfortunately, no seems to know what happened to
those tapes. They shopped demos around to
several record labels, but were rejected by each
and every one. Brother knew they had a
veritable gold mine in at least one of those
pieces, yet they were also acutely aware that
what they were lacking was a recognizable name
within the industry. They weren't, by any
stretch of the imagination, a 'formula act' by
industry standards. One of the record
labels that turned them down was RCA, which
would later make a considerable amount off those
same tunes when they were recorded by one of
their already-signed groups. That group
was The Guess Who.
Much has been written
about Kurt Winter’s entry into The Guess
Who. When Randy Bachman resigned from the
band, he left a huge writing deficit. Not
only would The Guess Who have to replace an
outstanding guitarist, it was imperative they
hired someone with songwriting talent, and
someone who preferably had a ready
catalogue. In Burton’s own words, “There
were umpteen things that The Guess Who ended up
kind of stealing from Brother’s repertoire once
Kurt joined the band.”
Regrettably, writing
credits were never attributed to Vance Masters
or Bill Wallace. It took 18 years before
The Guess Who finally revealed the following on
the liner notes to the album titled Track
Record, The Guess Who Collection:
We’re now THE GUESS WHO in all
capital letters and the leader of the band has
just been thrown out. It comes down to
being easier to get someone from Winnipeg
because we’re still really LOCAL
thinkers. Jim Kale and I both agree that
it should be either Leskiw or Kurt.
Peterson says why don’t we get them both …
Leskiw is with Wild Rice ...Kurt Winter is
with Brother, the all-time best band that EVER
WAS in Winnipeg. They are a trio … they
all sing … they write all their stuff and it’s
brilliant …
Brother
did Hand Me Down World about
six million percent better than I ever did,
but I was the guy who sang it for RCA and Jack
and Brian …
Share
The Land is a genuine song in some people’s
hearts and there’s a lot of plus signs around
us. The flip side is Bus Rider,
another Brother song that you should have
heard THEM do live … another two-sided hit
single.
Rain Dance … We need
songs constantly so everything becomes the
“next big single” … I come home to Lansdowne
one night and Kurt and Vance have had many
beers and they’re doing a bagpipe drone on the
old Nordheimer and they’re chanting
“DOAN-YA-WANNA-RAIN-DANCE-WITH-MEEE?”
Donnie
was wonderful to sing with. Kale had
slipped out of the groove around Paramount
time, and on bass these days was Bill
Wallace. We now had two thirds of
Brother in THE GUESS WHO. If Vance has
ever forgiven me, he’s a bigger man than I
think I could have been. ... Burton
Cummings 1988
Brother
material recorded by The Guess Who:
- Heaven
Only Moved Once Yesterday
- Rock
and Roller Steam
- Do
You Miss Me Darlin'
- Hand
Me Down World
- Bus
Rider
- Bye,
Bye Babe 1
- All
Hashed Out 1
- Rain
Dance 2
Kurt,
Bill, and Vance did eventually produce one
single under the Brother name, but as Bill
Wallace so succinctly summed up that session,
“All our good stuff was already recorded by
The Guess Who.” The studio recording,
financed by Kurt and recorded in Chicago,
received very limited airplay. The
record company failed to provide any promotion
at all for the release of Sending Money b/w Second Time Around the Woodpile.
Brother was also
responsible for putting on Manitoba’s first rock
festival. After reading in a newspaper
that an oxygenator had to be flown in from
California to treat an accident victim in
Winnipeg's General Hospital (later called Health
Sciences Centre), the three set in motion a
fundraiser for the Lynne Derksen Oxygenator
Fund. They organized the now legendary NIVERVILLE POP FESTIVAL
on a farm just south of Winnipeg.
Enlisting the assistance of the Mennonite
community to handle the financial side of the
project, the band took care of all other details
for the event. Nearly every one of
Winnipeg’s top acts donated their time for the
worthy cause, and well over $10,000 was raised
that afternoon.
POSTSCRIPT:
February 12, 1994
Get Back! The Evolution of Winnipeg
Rock
A Fundraiser for the Manitoba
Museum of Man and Nature
The highlight of the show
that evening was the much anticipated return of
local singer Dianne Heatherington with members
of her band The Merry-Go-Round. Unbeknownst to
the crowd was that in Dianne's set would be a
surprise reunion of Brother. Since Vance Masters
and Bill Wallace were part of the Merry-Go-Round
it was a simple thing to invite Kurt up to
perform a handful of Brother songs. -- John
Einarson
And from the book,
“American Woman, The Story of The Guess Who”,
also by John Einarson: In February 1994,
Brother made a surprise reunion appearance at a
Winnipeg benefit concert for the Museum of Man
and Nature’s rock ‘n’ roll exhibit. By way
of an introduction, drummer Vance Masters
announced, “Here’s some songs very special to us
that I think you’ll recognize, but here’s the
way they were supposed to be done.” With
that the trio tore into Hand Me Down World, Bus
Rider and Rock and Roller Steam (with the
Running Back To Saskatoon riff back where it
belonged) to an enthralled audience, most of
whom were likely unaware of the musical history
lesson before them.
EXCERPT from “Heart of
Gold: A History of Winnipeg Music", 2021 (Page 195)
The most significant musical aggregation
to emerge in 1969 was a trio of veterans from
several well-regarded bands (Gettysbyrg Address,
Shondels, Syndicate, Fifth, Crescendos) who took
the name Brother. Kurt Winter, Vance
Masters and Bill Wallace were the cream of the
crop of local players. When they joined
forces, they commanded attention. Playing
entirely original material and eschewing the
community club and pub circuit, they were a
musical force to be reckoned with and while the
band was only together a mere six months, the
music they created lives on.
"Brother were the best live band I ever saw in
this city," enthuses Burton Cummings.
"They were a ground breaking act. They
compromised for nobody."
"Hand Me Down World", "Bus Rider", "Heaven Only
Moved Once Yesterday", "Rock 'n' Roller Steam,
"Do You Miss Me Darlin'" all began as Brother
tunes that Kurt brought with him to The Guess
Who.
John Einarson
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Brother - Second Time
Around
The Woodpile b/w Sending
Money
Format: 45
Label: Nimbus 9 NNS 9014
Year: 1970
Origin: Winnipeg, Manitoba
Genre: rock
Keyword:
Value of Original Title:
$400.00
Make Inquiry/purchase:
email
ryder@robertwilliston.com
Release Type: Singles
Websites: No
Playlist: Rock Room,
Manitoba, 1960's
Reference: May 2021 - CITIZEN FREAK
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Vance Masters
Photo
credit: Ephie Bergman
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Kurt Winter
Photo credit:
Ephie Bergman
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Bill Wallace
Photo
credit: Ephie
Bergman
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Winnipeg Tribune July
3, 1971
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BROTHER MUSIC LIBRARY
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SENDING
MONEY |
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1. Brother - the band - was not in
existence when All Hashed Out and Bye, Bye
Babe were composed, but the core writing team
of Bill, Kurt, and Vance was still
collaborating. As per Bill Wallace,
November 20, 2011 on FACEBOOK:
"Duncan, Vance, and I practiced with Kurt
while we were still in the Merry-Go-Round, and
Hashed and Bye, Bye Babe were concocted."
2. Rain Dance was
crafted by Vance and Kurt. Once they had
the fundamentals arranged, the song found its
way onto The Guess Who's So Long Bannatyne
album. Reference also: LINER NOTES
above.
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