Lost In Tyme Blog

THE HAUNTED - 1995 - The Haunted

Tracklist:
1 - 1-2-5
2 - Shake
3 - Horror Show
4 - Untie Me
5 - I Can Only Give You Everything
6 - Eight O'clock This Morning
7 - 1-2-5 (Original Version)
8 - Out Of Time
9 - Searching For My Baby
10 - A Message To Pretty
11 - Twist
12 - Montreal Blues
13 - Porquoi (Talk Talk)
14 - Vapeur Mauve (Purple Haze)
15 - Come On Home
16 - I'm A Man
17 - Run Down Every Street
18 - Land Of Make Believe
19 - An Act Of Lovin'
20 - No More Lovin'
21 - Mona
22 - I'm Just Gonna Blow My Little Mind To Bits

"Classic, scratchy, itchy garage rock from Montreal circa 1966. That was the year The Haunted's first single, "1-2-5" was released, making it to the Canadian charts and raising some eyebrows in the US and Europe. But subsequent years saw their label's lack of support push the band to obscurity (an old story).

Finding obvious inspiration in the Stones, Them, and the Kinks, the Haunted added their own stamp to the hot sound of that time and were unafraid to tackle classic-bound material ("Out of Time" by the Stones, "Purple Haze" by Hendrix (um, in French), Sam Cooke's "Shake"), unafraid to add a soulful edge to their garagey sound, and most refreshingly, knew exactly where to use those tambourines and harmonicas to near-excess ("1-2-5", "Eight O'Clock This Morning").

There are blatant rips of classic melodies that are so obvious one would think the band was working some kind of in-joke at the time: Donovan's "Season of the Witch" becomes "Run Down Every Street". At any rate, this stuff makes one long for a time when soul/punk/garage/pop, all rolled together into one glorious whole, ruled rock 'n' roll airwaves, and you could hear The Haunted right next to Otis Redding on your radio. Boy, I bet those were the days." - Lorry Fleming

"The Haunted came out of Montreal, Quebec, with a dirty and scruffy bad boys image. Formed by Jurgen Peter, it has previously been reported that the band formed as an instrumental group called The Blue Jays in late 1963. This is now known to be incorrect, although the band did start out playing instrumentals, with Bob Burgess on bass, The Blue J's were a separate high-school act for whom Jurgen Peter stood in on guitar once for one gig which was broadcast on local radio.

Jurgen Peter:- "In Canada, in the early '60s, there was no such thing as a commercial music industry. The DJ's played only American records and it was common knowledge that they lived off "payola" from the record companies. When we, The Haunted, started to play as a band in the Montreal area, there was no way to get a recording contract, no one to play your records, no booking agency to book us, no large shows and paying gigs to play at, no music magazine or anything like it to promote a local band."

"I had to scout out large halls and skating arenas and rent them from the local communities for a Friday night show/dance. Then I went to the local school commission and rented six or seven school busses for that night in order to 'import' our home based Fan Club. I soon found out that if you hired the local DJ to be the master of ceremonies at your show, and gave him a percentage of the gate, he would plug that show all week long without having to buy airtime at a ridiculous price, and if you did have a record, he would actually play it on the air. With the explosion and dominance of the British bands Canada wanted to follow suit and soon the local record companies and radio stations smelled money and latched on to the bands that had the most following."

"I also realized that I needed a 'vehicle' that would promote The Haunted so I got together with one of our Montreal DJ Dave Boxer from CFCF. (He later brought The Beatles into Canada) and formed and incorporated both a bi-weekly music paper ('Music Trend') and a booking agency (Groups And Sound Service aka GASS.) After a successful show, the public wanted to come back the following week and it gave me an opportunity to book some of the other local bands."

In 1965, David Wynne joined from The Rabble, swapping places with Brian Robillard. David:- "I played with The Haunted at the Montreal Forum when we won a Battle of the Bands competition. The prize was a recording session where we cut 1-2-5. Afterwards, Mason left and Michel St German of Les Sinners was hired temporarily to fill-in. Other bands in the competition included David Clayton-Thomas, The Shays and Les Classels etc."

Their first 45, the garage classic 1-2-5 was a hit in Canada in April 1966 and was subsequently released in the U.S.A., Australia and some European countries. On early pressings the group's name was erroneously spelt as The Hunted. Co-written by Burgess and Peter, the 'A' side was a garage punk effort noticeable for its harmonica. The flip was another relatively catchy punk rocker.

Shortly after recording the second 45, David Wynne, left the band. (Though soon afterwards he joined Influence.) A new Haunted line-up (E) came into place, but after the release of, I Can Only Give You Everything which was in a similar style to 1-2-5 and also a minor hit, they left Quality Records for Trans-World. Burgess left too after a row with Peter." - Haunted website