Riff Raff Canada

Its the early 1970s and youre in Vancouver, B.C. Imagine that one day a guitar player who is into music by Paul Kossoff and his band Free goes to get his hair cut at a place called the Vikings. The hair stylist is also a vocalist and introduces the guitar player to names like Lou Reed, David Bowie, Mott the Hoople. They decide to put a band together. Guitarist Jim Dyck, vocalist Paul Wickett, percussionist Jeff Taylor, and bass player Jim Bescott (who later was founding member of the Young Canadians). The band is named Riff Raff. They plan and execute a four set night in which every set is a trip to a different era of rock music. They do a fifties set in leather and grease. They take a break and come back to do an early sixties set in Beatlesque suits.l They do a later sixties (hippie) set in psychedelic gear. Then they finish off with a seventies glam rock extravaganza. This goes on for a year or so, gigs are played (including at the prestigious Bayshore Inn). Then it is decided that a membership change is required. Leaving for other projects is Jim Bescott. Joining the band are new bass player Kevin Redden, and keyboard player Dave Senior. The band begins working on original material. This could have been the birth of new wave in western Canada. In Ramones fashion, less than two minutes after the guitar slashes out the intro, Angel in Heat is over. Song titles like An Inch is a Mile. and Magazine Lover. Remember, this is the early seventies. Paul McCartney has just put together his new band Wings. Okay......so Riff Raff disbanded in 1974 when Jim left for Europe. Okay.... so they only recorded a couple of tunes in a ramshackle studio run by a hippie and a monkey. This is nonetheless rock and roll history. Most of the members of the band still exist and keep in touch with each other. Dave didnt survive the seventies, a car crash took his life a couple of years after the band folded. Jim Bescott died in an accident in Vancouver on August 31, 2005. The 4 tunes here at Soundclick were retreived from a cassette tape and an attempt has been made to digitally remaster them to a certain extent. When you listen to these tunes, remember where and when they came from. Its the early 1970s and youre in Vancouver B.C.

The band lived and died in the seventies.