RICHARD SAVOIE
Richard Savoie was born in Moncton Hospital on October 7, 1950 to Bertha and Nazaire. His life has been filled with music ever since. His siblings and he, who were raised in Dorchester, NB, sang on stage and TV. Bertha loved classical music and Nazaire loved jazz and he listened to it all in his formative years. Other kids were into rock and roll; to them, Elvis was King. He wasn't exposed to rock and roll until he was in his early teens. The radio was all Lesley Gore and Pat Boone until the Beatles came along. The world changed then and he soon realized that music was going to be his life. So, at the age of 14, he was in a band called the Mystical Spectrum, playing drums. They were into Led Zeppelin, Hendrix, Cream and Steppenwolf. And strobe lights.
After high school, he went to Saint John Vocational School to take a special art class. While there, he met the Boyer family who would become a great influence on the way he looked at music. When he'd finished his course, he went back to Dorchester to find himself in another band, Rocklyn, which featured his brothers Gilles and Roland and Ivan Boudreau on drums. Around that time he met John Goobie (John E. Ellis) and Danny Greene who went on to be songwriting collaborators with him, a partnership that continues to this very day. He left the band to take part in the development of a thing called The Confederation Musical. John, Danny and he composed the whole score for the show.
In 1980, he joined a group called Hoot n' Hollerthr. It was a good year; the gigs were plentiful and the money was ridiculously good. He learned to dislike the road. After going through this experience, though, he eventually decided to leave. He was adrift for awhile until Pierre Belliveau, a good friend of his who lived in Oshawa, said he'd help him to go to Los Angeles to "seek his fame and fortune", where he ended up living for 4 months. His stay there was educational but was basically a disaster. He was lucky, though, to have a friend, Steven Forbes (of Brunswick Builders in the LA area) to lean on when things got tough.
He went back to Canada and after another year in Oshawa, went back to Moncton perform and, after several years of basically no money, he got a 9 to 5 job. He played on Rogers Songwriters Circle in 2004, and met Vonnie Mann. He credits her with starting the ball rolling on the MotherFeedback project. His brother Roland had the equipment and he and Gilles and Robert had the talent but it was Vonnie who put the idea in his head that they could actually do it. And thanks to Decent Studios, this adventure into music came true.
In the Seventies, he met and befriended singer / songwriter Gene McLellan. Through Gene, he learned a lot about humility and perhaps more than he needed to know about the dark side of the music business. He is missed by all the people that he touched.
LINDA BOYER
Linda Boyer is the one to call if you want a good, solid bass behind you. She's reliable, eager to please and creative. She has been part of the Saint John music scene for a lot of years in different bands like Night Shift, Snowdonia (who backed up Great Big Sea) and, of course the Boyer Band which consisted of her brothers Lee, Mike and Doug over a period of years in various lineups.
Linda's first professional gig was at the age of 20 with a folk trio called DOULINDAR at the Fairville Tavern in Saint John. She listened to Bonnie Raitt, Aretha Franklin, Peter Gabriel, and Simon and Garfunkel in her musical formative years, but she cites her greatest influence was and still is the Beatles. She adds: "But I think R&B moves me the most." When she was a child, she was greatly influenced by her ancestors, mainly her Dad's parents and their siblings who hosted many a kitchen party complete with piano, guitar, banjo, ukulele and fiddle, accompanying their amazing voices. Considering how music keeps her from home nearly every weekend and many evenings, it has affected her personal life heavily. Her husband, Willy, "was not intially thrilled" with her hanging with the boys and jamming. But it didn't take him long to understand that that's who she was and eventually got behind her 100%. "For that," she says, "I am very grateful."
She also played in Debbie Adshade's Adshade Cafe. Linda played bass and sang backup vocals, making substantial contributions to the songs' arrangements.
After helping to write and record the Boyer Band CDs, "Drivin'" and "Connected", she's thrown herself into family life and simple survival. In the dark days of rising oil prices and electricity rates, music doesn't pay the bills the way it used to. Still, she is making some kind of a living playing music these days at the Waterstreet Dinner Theater, where she works as bass player / musical director / actor / place mat manager for their productions. In her spare time, she watches baseball and the odd movie, and learns classic songs on guitar for her playing and singing pleasure.
For the MotherFeedback project, she co-authored the song "Am I There Yet?" with Doug Boyer, MIke Boyer and Richard Savoie. Her brothers Mike and Lee performed on and co-composed (with Richard Savoie) "Strange Paradise." Richard has expressed a desire to collaborate with her in some songwriting venture. You never know.........
JERRY WYLIE
Jerry Wylie was born on July 31, 1948. Music was his life almost immediately; throughout his years, he followed jazz, blues, rock and roll; The Beatles, Jimi Hendrix, Larry Carleton, Robben Ford, Wes Montgomery, Joe Pass and countless others. His first gig was in 1963 at the Truckers' Club. He was only 15 but he says that "it was quite an experience." In 1965, he joined the BlueNotes, a popular local band. In 1970, he was on the road in Ontario and the eastern United States and even doing studio work.
In 1973, he had the privilege of meeting the head of the Guitar Faculty at Berklee in Boston, the late Mr. William Levitt. Jerry remembers the last thing Levitt said to him: "Practice all new material slowly." Jerry says today: "In this age of instant gratification, that's good advice." In his youth, all he cared about was playing music, going to high school and hanging out with friends. Then he wanted to go on the road and see life through that perspective. In 1974, he became a Christian and now his life is more focussed.
Jerry is now a music teacher working in and out of Moncton. He loves his work and plans to continue with it in the future. Although he can't imagine a world without music, he thinks that if it wasn't in his life, he would have liked to have been a teacher. "I love teaching and commuicating information, " he says today. His top priority now is to maintain healthy relationships with the people in his world.
His advice to aspiring young musicians: "Stay clean, go out of your way to meet and play with other musicians, preferably with more experience than you have. Stay focussed, practice smart, and don't compare yourself to others."
Jerry's is politically conservative but you're still likely to find him somewhere jamming with friends and filling the Moncton nights with music. He is also doing some studio work as he has done for this project. On this project, he played lead and rhythm guitars on "You're the Cure." and some sweet guitar in "Halifax Harbour" which also features Chris Colepaugh on steel guitar. He continues to do more studio work at Decent Studios with the Savoie brothers, Gilles, Robert and Roland.
See you at the mall, Jerry.
JEAN-GUY MELANSON
Jean-Guy Melanson takes his music very seriously. He says that it is "the sustaining force and the essence of (my) life." Nothing would make much sense to him without music. Growing up, there was always a radio playing and his father played and sang. Through the radio, he heard the Beatles, Three Dog Night and Rod Stewart.
He was always a reluctant performer. He could sing and play but wasn't really interested in playing on a big stage. Still, he became a member of what was to become a legendary local band called The Missing Lynks. They enjoyed a good following and played a lot of gigs in the local and surrounding area. They even got to open for the Staccatos before they became the Five Man Electrical Band. In this time, Jean-Guy's brother Bernie, managed to promote a concert in the Moncton by Mandala, a group that was very big nationally at the time. They performed at Moncton High School and could very well be the first taste of a real rock concert that a lot of Moncton kids got.
In later years, based on his love of Cajun music and all things Louisiana (where he eventually went for a visit) he decided to make some extra income and make and sell gumbo at the Moncton and later, at the Dieppe Market, to the masses. He did this for years with varying degrees of success.
He recalls the events of his past: He remembers going to Edmonton, Alberta one year to find a "real job" (he was trying to get away from music) and he found himself hitchhiking in Edmonton to go into town. When he got inside the car, he noticed that the man was dark, an East Indian, perhaps. The driver asked Jean-Guy what he was in town for. "Looking for a job," Jean-Guy replied. The driver said: "What do you do?" Jean-Guy couldn't think of anything except: "I'm a musician." The driver replied, "Music is madness." What the driver meant wasn't clear at the time.....
Nowadays, he listens to Lucinda Williams a lot. She fills his heart with every note she sings when he's not playing and singing in the privacy of his home. He has no real ambitions now; he no longer sells gumbo (too bad; it was pretty good!!) so that he can have more free time and live his life out as a musician. Every breath he takes has a musical phrase in it.
His contribution to the project is the French spoken in the middle of "Cajun Radio". The Savoie brothers really needed someone to say something there, like a radio announcer would do it. This seemed impossible until Jean-Guy (Mugsy) Melanson was brought into the picture. What he recorded was something that he had fabricated one night and used on the day of the recording. His contribution was small but important and greatly appreciated.
Keep up the good work, Mugsy!!
MIKE BOYER
Mike Boyer is a genuinely nice guy. He's spent his whole life playing and writing music, going through its valleys and pitfalls and he still manages to be a genuinely nice guy! He was born to become an integral part of a fine musical family in the city of Saint John. (Thank you, Betty and Cliff!!) He started playing harp at the age of 12 and was introduced to the general public when he was 19 years old in a high school variety show. He sat in with bands for a song or two after which he started a theater troupe, did that for a year and then started playing music for real, and---after 30 years--he's still at it.
"My influences are many and varied," he says. "From the Archies to Zamfir." It's true that his tastes are very broad; his influences include the Allman Brothers, King Biscuit Boy, Frank Zappa and "of course, The Beatles." He worked for many years with his family, playing gig upon gig. This culminated in the recording of two CDs, "Drivin'"" and "Connected" by the Boyer Band. Performance wise, he had more to do with the former than the latter. On the latter, he contributed some keyboards, vocals and collaborative songwriting.
These days, he's one of the driving forces of Lancaster Studios (with his wife Mary Ann). He has really found his niche, helping to make music happen for many of Saint John's youth. He has found the technical side of music is "much more stable", so he's happy to be where he is. "Musicians and writers are not given the credit they deserve," he says. "They have to do it for love because 99% of players and writers would starve, despite a lot of hard work and even moderate success."
"If I had to do it all over again", he says, "I would study music while I was young; I would not have had to 'reinvent the wheel' so many times and would have met other like-minded people younger." He admits: "Without music, I would have gone crazy. It is an excellent outlet for stress and frustration and helps you to attain clarity about the things that cause these problems." Amen to that, brother!
His top priority now is to wake up in the morning. This is a lofty ambition, considering the complexities of life in general, let along trying to make a living doing what you love. So if you walk by 536 Dunn Avenue, where Lancaster Studios is located, and hear the wail of a harmonica or the sound of a synthesizer, it's probably him warming up. Saint John's lucky to have such sweet sounds fill the morning air.
Mike, the proud owner of the Mikemobile, contributed vocals (with his brother, Lee) to the song "Strange Paradise". He co-wrote this song and "Am I There Yet?" He has been a constant supportive voice in the MotherFeedback project and a shoulder to lean on "in times of stress." If anyone deserves to do well, it's him.
So when you see the Mikemobile, just wave. You never know, he just might wave back........
DOUG BOYER
Doug Boyer can always be relied on for a good performance. It's a rare night when he can't dazzle a crowd with his jaw-dropping guitar work. He is, of course, the brother of Linda, Mike, Dave, Lee and Todd. He prefers to follow his own path. And that path is rich with great music.
Not only does he play beautifully but he's also a prolific songwriter. He has composed songs by himself and with others, proving his adaptability to any given situation to produce a new piece of music. He just simply has it all; rock and roll, jazz, blues, pop--it's all the same to him and he plays it all well.
He has quite an impressive resume: he played lead guitar for the Saint John Theater Company production of "Jesus Christ Superstar" (his brother Lee was Jesus), appeared on New Faces on ATV in the Eighties performing original material, was a finalist at the CBC Songwriting Contest in the same time period, won first prize at the UNB New Talent Songwriting Competition (1990), performed on the main stage of Festival By the Sea (3 years), the Harvest Jazz and Blues Festival (4 years), nominated for an ECMA Award with the Boyer Band, played the ECMA jam stage (1997, 2002, 2003); appeared on the Rogers Songwriters Circle twice and was nominated Guitar Player of the Year (2006) at the Saint John Music Awards.
He is now a member of the band db Junkies and you can see him play regularly at the Barnwood in Quispamsis. There's no doubt that he and his fellow musicians will provide a night of top-notch grooves for your listening pleasure. And if you're serious about guitar, Doug will not disappoint!
Doug's contribution to the MotherFeedback project is his words and music to the song (co-written with Linda, Mike and Richard Savoie) "Am I There Yet?", which is also featured on the Boyer Band CD release, "Connected".
,Thanks for all the music, Doug!
