Rockin’ on the


Rideau The Esquires: Ottawa Rock ‘n’ Roll hits the big time


By JIM HURCOMB The early 60s were rough years for


rock and roll in North America. Elvis came back from army duty in a tux, singing duets with Frank Sinatra, and made a string of bad movies. Buddy Holly was dead, Bill Haley old news. Jerry Lee Lewis was blacklisted after he married his 13-year-old cousin. Chuck Berry was in jail and Little Richard was preaching God instead of screeching “Lucille”. Despite the positive contributions of


Phil Spector, Dylan, the great Motown artists and the Beach Boys, squeaky clean “Bobbys” ruled the pop charts, and rock and roll was safely locked back in its cage, much to the relief of parents and the conservative music industry. Thankfully, there were some remote


outposts that didn’t abandon rock and roll. Liverpool, England, was boiling over with basement bands playing American rock and roll: bands like Rory Storm and the Hurricanes and the Quarrymen (soon to be The Beatles). Ottawa kept the faith as well. The Jive


Rockets, Hughie Scott, Maury Logan, The Fairmonts, The Hi-Tones and the Regals laid down the beat at local hot spots like the Oak Door, The Mid-Town Ballroom, The Tower, The Rideau Ferry Inn and The Roost. And on Friday and Saturday nights, the place everybody wanted to be was Pineland. Ritchie Patterson had a rule of thumb


when his band played Pineland. If the cars were lined up illegally down Riverside


20 BOUNDER MAGAZINE


Drive it was going to be a good night. Most nights the tail lights went for miles. Ritchie, alias “The Round Mound of


Sound”, played drums for the Esquires, who held court at Pineland every Friday and Saturday. Pineland started life as a family go-cart


track near Uplands Airport. In 1963 new owners brought a new vision: a multi-use entertainment facility with rock and roll shows for the kids on Friday and Saturday nights. It was a no-brainer to hire the Esquires,


who were undeniably the hottest band on the local circuit. Fairmont’s guitarist Gary Comeau started the band with buddy Clint Hierlihy in 1961, with a repertoire based heavily on records Clint’s dad brought back from England. The biggest influence was Cliff Richard’s slick backup band, The Shadows − England’s equivalent to the American instrumental band The Ventures. Ritchie Patterson and Brian Lewicki


came over from the Vibra Tones and the Electrons in 1962, just as the band started becoming familiar faces on the local concert scene. No surprise that the first Esquires


single, “Atlantis”, was a Shadows cover, but it was the second instrumental, “Man From Adano”, that was the game-changer. Written by Ottawan Dave Britten, “Man From Adano” hit No.1 on the local charts, thanks to solid radio play and some great promotion support from Manager Sandy Gardiner, who just happened to have a teen-oriented feature page every week in the Ottawa Journal. Gardiner is best


www.bounder.ca www.bounder.ca


known as the man who coined the term “Beatlemania” in a Journal article in September 1963. 1964 was a magical year for the


Esquires. With vocalist Don Norman now fronting the band, The Esquires toured Canada with The Dave Clark Five. They became the first Canadian Rock act to be signed to Capitol Records, the home of the Fab Four and the Beach Boys. Their home- town rivals, The Stacattos, would become the second. “Introducing the Esquires” was the first album by a local band on a major label. They were the best rehearsed and best dressed band in Ottawa, and, making the competition jealous, had the latest Vox amps. By the end of the year, Ottawa


had been conquered. It was time for The Esquires to become national stars. The only problem was that the


Canadian scene wasn’t ready for the Esquires. There was no system set up for home-grown music to


spread across the county. There were no Canadian content regulations on the radio, and with the British Invasion saturation, it was nearly impossible for a Canadian band to be heard outside its hometown. The first step


towards changing that came in 1964 with the arrival of RPM Magazine and the RPM Music Awards, that later evolved to become the Juno Awards. The magazine focused on the Canadian music industry, as it was, and exposed new Canadian bands to readers across the country. The first winner of the RPM “Group of the Year” award was the Esquires, making them, in essence, Canada’s best known rock and roll band. The Esquires had more hits,


more packed halls and cross-Canada


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BOUNDER MAGAZINE 21


airplay up until their breakup in 1968. Out of the ashes of the Esquires came Don Norman and the Other Four, James Leroy and Denim, Canada Goose and Three’s a Crowd. Bruce Cockburn was part of the final lineup and has since carved out an amazing career as a solo artist. Aside from their musical legacy,


The Esquires showed other local musicians that an Ottawa band could continued on page 60


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