In memory of John McGale

John McGale was one of my hometown guitar heroes. He was a couple of years older than me & my neighbourhood pals & was playing in a working band around the time I learned to ride a bicycle.
He was very popular both in the neighbourhood & at our highschool where he was elected to the student's council as social convenor. He would often entertain us at school assemblies playing guitar, flute & singing.
It was while he acted as social convenor at Widdifield Secondary Highschool that he connected with various booking agents while he booked bands like A foot in Cold Water, Edward Bear, Copperpenny etc. to play our dances.
It wasn't long after he graduated that John hit the road as a pro guitarist/singer & before long he was in the Quebec Juggernaut known as Offenbach. This band was already established as an iconic Francophone band before he joined but they had their biggest success with John on Guitar & Saxophone. He learned to speak French in no time & became a successful songwriter with Offenbach as well.
Long after the original lead singer Gerry Boulet passed away, John carried the Offenbach banner & was the president of all things business related for the band until the day he died in a car crash on his way home from a Halloween gig on his 66th birthday on October 30th 2022. He was not only a major infuence on me as a musician, he was a good friend.
In this memorial edition, I spoke with three of John's closest musical friends about his legacy.
Rest in peace John McGale

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Episode Transcript

(00:23):
On October thirtieth, twenty twenty two, the world lost an amazing musical artist
and great friend to many. Johnmcguil passed away on his way home from
a show in Quebec on his birthday. In this episode, I've pieced together

(00:43):
parts from a couple of interviews thatI was fortunate to have done with John
over the past few years, andwe've also included a few personal tributes from
friends of John who were with himalong the way on his musical journey.
From his humble beginning in our mutualhometown of North Bay, Ontario, John
managed to climb to heights that manyof us have only managed to aspire to,

(01:07):
rubbing shoulders with artists like Chuck Berry, Tommy Emmanuel, Les Paul,
and a great many others. Ofcourse, he is most known for the
many years that he spent carrying thebanner for the band Offenbach from Quebec.
Rest in peace, John. Hereis our tribute to you. It begins

(01:30):
with John's response to my statement aboutNorth Bay being a hotbed for talent.
Absolutely, I have always thought thatNorth Bay has a completely different way of
looking at There's a scene, funny, competitive in a way, but that's
because there's not a lot of placesto play at, so you know,
people are always kind of stepping oneach other's toes. It's funny to say,

(01:53):
because he's get you know, twoguys that put together and in the
band is really really hot and everythinggoing great, probably talk about on talking
each other the hate and then twoyears later they're back together again and they're
the great friends of our times,and it just goes on and on and
on like that. The music thatcomes out time is unbelivable, no kidding,

(02:15):
no kidding. So going way back, you were one of the few
guys that I've known over the yearswho's really never done anything but music.
I mean, I think, Ithink, I remember maybe you had the
neighborhood paper out before I did.That's right, I did. The North
been a nugget for six years.I believe that I was nine till all

(02:37):
the time I was fifteen. That'sbecause you know, my parents, we
had five kids, and we wouldan allowance if we wanted to buy anything
on her we had to raise themoney ourselves. So I used to go
out and cut grass or pick berriesand sell them to the neighbors, or
you know, do all kinds oflittle things, trouble snow and when the
paper roof came along, and thatwas a great way to cut them five

(02:59):
or six plucks a week, becausethat's about all you made. Yeah,
well, I definitely relate. Imean we grew up right around the corner
from each other. It wasn't weweren't exactly in a rich neighborhood, that's
right, Not that there is awhole other rich neighborhood. Yeah, well
it is a it's still kind ofa small town. But so you went
from playing with Axel in high schoolto a popular band from Sudbury Nickel.

(03:22):
Now were you still in high schoolwhen you joined Nickel? No in grade
thirteen. I was actually fortunate becauseI was always the youngest member of the
youngest guy in my bathroom, mybirthday in October. Both they actually accepted
me in the year where the offdate was September. So I was always
the youngest kid in my class.And when I got to grade thirteen,

(03:46):
I was on I think steen yearsold, seventeen year. So I in
Ontario, grade thirteen is optional,so I decided I would take and I
want my h I'm trying to geton the Students Council organizing the dances and
stuff, which I did. Iwon the election. I became the social
compared Whitefield, and with that Igot to meet all the managers and the

(04:12):
booking agents for bands like Rush andTriumph and Ian Thomas, because they would
call my high school to try tobook their bands and so that way before
I actually set my foot out thedoor to hit the road and grew out
playing professionally, I already had alist of contacts. So I was a
pretty smart move for a sixteen yearold kid. I have to admit that

(04:33):
I was on the ball when Idid that, absolutely, and I ended
up meeting the Nickel guy because Ihired them and when they were looking for
a guitar player they managed to findme who. Actually the first place I
ever went when I hit the roadwas London. I moved to London when
I was only seventeen years old andstill play the bars. I've been doing

(04:57):
it for years, but nobody seemedto check IV back in the days he
could just walk in and play.I know, you know. So I
was seventeen and I moved down tojoin Stephen Marlow and a few friends of
mine that had a band in London, and unfortunately I couldn't join that band
because it meant that there would befive members and they didn't like five piece
bands because they didn't make enough money, so they only wanted four piece bands.

(05:18):
So I ended up playing with anotherband that was pretty crappy, and
I wasn't with any of my friendsand I had no place to stay.
So when Nicol called and said theywere looking for guitar players, said help
rescue me. Yeah. Well,that's the hard thing about being from a
small town. I went through thesame thing. And we'll be right back
after this. I've got a mutualfriend of both John mcguil and myself on

(06:00):
the line, longtime mutual friend fromNorth Bay, Ontario, Stephen Marlow on
the line, and Steve, whatcan you tell us about your personal relationship
with John and how you guys firstgot together as musicians. Well, first
of all, I'd like to thankyou Tommy for the opportunity here. If
I sound a little a little shakyor whatever, it's because I'm still in

(06:23):
the shock at all of the situationthat my brother, Johnny mcguhel's passed away
doing the gag, doing what heloved. He did what he loved to
do. Tommy John was a truemusician, minstrel. How can I put
this? When you went to seeJohn, he gave you a show.

(06:45):
He gave you everything he had,and he played from his heart. Tommy
John. Didn't matter if there wasone in the crowd or one hundred thousand,
you got what you got when yousee John. And it was professionalism.
And you know some people say,oh, some people get an ego
and everything like that. Well Johnnever had an ego. What you've seen

(07:09):
was self confidence on stage. Yeahit was. He wasn't He didn't have
an ego. He treated everybody justlike just equals, you know. And
like what can I say? Hewas He was a brother to me.
We go back to grade school,probably in the sixties. Me and John

(07:29):
went to the same school, SacredHeart School, which is just down the
street from where you live, Tonney. I think it was what he said.
I was around the corner from SacredHeart Catholic School. Yet I was
on Door Avenue, just around thecorner. Yeah, so you guys were
you guys were buddies like in thesixties, and you started playing together not

(07:50):
long after he met Is that right? That is true. We actually started
playing when we were at Sacred Heartin the Hooton Nanny little club. We
had stayed after school and John hadbe on his little acoustic guitarre and I'd
have my bomb goes going and we'dbe singing Kumbayah and stuff like that.
You know, it was. Itwas quite the time. And to make

(08:15):
a long story short, I wasplaying with guys around town actually, Paul
Pruno and Rody Knock and Tirre,Ronnie Boudreau filling in with a group called
Ike Voon Crane. And what hadhappened was my I introduced. I introduced
to my brother Ronnie, who playedbass for us in Axel. What had
happened was my brother Ronnie, hehad taken a job. First job,

(08:39):
they were going to do the graduationin his Grade A class. And what
happened is their drummer made an announcementthat he was quitting. And I was
upstairs doing my whatever, my homeworkor whatever, and I used to listen
to them. We're hairs downstairs atmy parents house, and Ronnie came up.
My brother ron said, our drummerjust quit, and we were just

(09:03):
wondering if you could fill in forthe gig, and I've been listening to
them and they were tight. Theywere good. They sounded really really good.
So I said, yeah, I'lldo the gig with you. So
I did the gig and went overreally well, and they were doing some
they were always doing some top stuff, you know, at the time of

(09:24):
credence and the who you know,stuff like along that line. And the
gig went really well and everything clippedand I ended up joining the band with
them, and that's we formed aband actual and played all over town.
We played the Northern Quebec, wewe toured, you know, and yeah,

(09:48):
it was that was the beginning ofa long friendship. You and John
played together for years. And I'mtrying to kind of pin it down in
my mind. Point John kind ofleapt ahead of the rest of us,
like he he took off like arocket while the rest of us were trying
to figure out where the launching padwas. That's right, Well, I'll

(10:09):
tell you a little. What happenedwas we had a little falling out.
You know, who doesn't. Everyband has their falling outs and that.
But the reason for it was becauseme and John were tight. We me
and John used to do. Wedid everything together, you know, we
were we built equipment, we builtlighting systems. You know, it was
I even built on a talk box, you know. I went and got

(10:33):
an old hatlas horn and took thedriver out of it. And so we
were doing Joe Walsh and we hadthe talk box the whole nine yards.
So it was it was unbelievable.But what happened was we the band,
we weren't progressing fast enough for John, like John was, John was our
leader. I got to say thatbecause he came in with the songs for
rehearsal and showed everybody their parts,and you know, and he just he

(10:58):
was moving along. And I guesswe weren't moving fast enough for him.
You know, he wanted the guysto do vocals back up and that,
and I guess we weren't cutting themustard. I guess, as you can
put it. So we had afalling out and he quit the band.
Well we got together. There wasme, my brother Ronnie, and Danny

(11:20):
Trelevins, the other guitar player,and we sat down and we said,
well, should we phone him andask him to come back or should we
just leave it and see what happens. So we didn't bother calling him back
and that was the end of withJohn. With Axel, we did continue
on, but it was never thesame. You know. John was the

(11:41):
magic in the band really, youknow. And yeah, so that's what
happened with that. And then Johnwent on to play with a band called
Calico Silver that was with Charlie McNamara, Mike Sullivan and Ross Hamilton and they
ended up recording and doing very veryvery well. And John played with a

(12:03):
couple other little groups around town,but then was asked to join a band
called Nickel from Subbury and they wereused. They were on the same circuit
as Triumph Rush, you know,top notch entertainment, and the rest is
history. He got a phone callto join Offenbach. He went down to
rehearsal and joined the band and restwas history. He's been there ever since.

(12:30):
Yeah. He definitely carried the Offenbachbanner with pride and dignity and vigor,
that's for sure. If you couldsay anything to John today, Steven,
what would you say to John today? Still fresh there, Tommy,
I tell him I love him.Yeah. John was a brother to me.

(12:50):
He was We were close, Wewere very very close and we'll be
right back after this. Once Johnarrived in Montreal and actually got an apartment

(13:16):
there while playing with the band Offenbach. It didn't take him long to get
in with all the local Montreal artistsand to meet some really top shelf players.
And of course he would combine hisefforts with Breen Lebouf, who had
been with Offenbach at the same timeas John and April Whinds Jerry Mercer on

(13:37):
drums and formed the Buzz Band.The Buzz Band was somewhat successful and actually
had captured the media attention from boththe CBC and CTV, the two top
media outlets in Canada at the time. And here is John mcguil on lead
vocals and guitar, along with JerryMercer and Breen Lebeuff the Buzz Band and

(14:00):
from their self titled album Touching Down. Maybe I can hardly wait. I'm
coming on to see or smiling face. It's been so long I have been

(14:24):
away, just asking no come goingto stay driver and some new ten Thousan

(14:45):
files from where my new made plansfilled can chase away my This fame touches
down all to its being a loveworld. I've been trying like a mad

(15:35):
man, tries fly across the countryside. I've been wanting you here, describes
in bout things that I can sidewith. This flame touches down, been

(16:00):
on to the world, spend itsbow when it's flight, touches down on

(16:47):
my to. Maybe I can noway, Maybe a cane away, maybe

(17:15):
a canneway, Baby, I canway. I'm here with mutual friend of mine

(17:52):
and John mcgil's Ross, Hamilton Rosswas one of the earlier drummers had played
with Welcome Ross. What can youtell us about how you first met John
and your experiences playing with John?Good morning Tom. Yes, I first
knew of John mcguiale from the bandActual, and I was a big fan

(18:15):
of that band. They were reallyawesome, playing the most difficult tunes for
anybody, never mind fourteen or fifteenyear olds. But I was lucky enough
that he had left that band andwas starting a new band, and I

(18:36):
auditioned for it and surprisingly was accepted, and I was really flattered by that.
Actually, So that was probably inaround seventy three seventy four time frame.
I think I was sixteen years oldor something like that, and he
was the same age as me.And we hit it off really well right

(18:57):
from the get go. So wewere practicing with this new band. We
have got pubably four or five membersin it, and when he decided he
needed to change the bass player,so we auditioned and we got Charlie mcnamuro
showed up. So we liked Charlieinstantly. I mean he was probably eight

(19:18):
years old senior. He played professionallyand was obviously very good, and so
we offered him the job and heturned around and said, wow, how
would you guys just come and joinmy band instead? Meaning me and John.
So he was he had a bandwith Michael Sullivan. Actually it was

(19:38):
just the two of them, andthey were basically writing original tunes and they
wanted to start a band. Itwas all original and I can see today
why John really jumped at that,you know, the ability to write your
own songs, arrange your own songs. And at the time I was frankly

(19:59):
a little bit apprehensive because trying toget work as a band that plays all
the original tunes were not an easytask. But anyway, John was determined
and I went along. So westarted practicing and the tunes were just coming
together, reading quickly and even thoughthey were originals, and we were practicing

(20:22):
at Charley's place, and then wethought, well, Charlie and Mike,
Mike Sullivan both did this professionally fora living, or at least a good
part of the living, if notall of the living. So we had
to get this band up and runningpretty quick. So what we ended up
doing was saying, well, let'sgo practice at the Blue Spruce Hotel.

(20:47):
Nobody will know who we are.We can go up there in Carnedo and
practice our strips, you know,while getting paid a little bit. So
we went up there and there wasthe usual you know, five to ten
people on a Saturday night, andwe practiced and practiced, and we started
getting pretty good. And then theowner realized that Mike, Charlie and John

(21:12):
were quite popular in the music scene, entertainment scene of North Bay. So
instead of just putting the band's nameCalico Silver, which nobody knew, she
put our names in the ad inthe North Day paper. Well, the
next weekend, the Blue Spruce wentfrom you know, the five to ten

(21:33):
people to fullhouse and it was happened, and that was the beginning of the
revival of the Blue Spruce as well. As the start of Calico Silver,
and I think at that time wehad signed a contract for every weekend for
either six months or a year andplayed there and just had a five ulous

(21:56):
time. And from there, Imean was really good for both of us
because now we're making money that wellwe loved to do, and we decided
that well I needed an apartment tolive in. He was still going to
school at that point. I'm noteven clear of when we did it,
but we actually went down and renteda couple of apartments, apartments till they

(22:21):
knew about previously that the owner wasnot renting anymore because he had so much
trouble with previous tenants. So wewent to him and convinced him that we
were different than you know, weshould have rent the apartments to us.
And that place was the place thatbecame the Rits, and we were definitely
different than the previous problem tenants.We were much louder. I went to

(22:48):
a party or two at the Ritz. Yeah. Yeah, it was quite
a place. I mean it was, you know, John was really artistic
in every way. We cleaned upthose two apartments. They were pretty sad
shape and our doors were open allthe time. People were stopping by all
the time, music was flowing allthe time. He could cook up a

(23:14):
storm, mostly killing comfort foods,but they were absolutely delicious. And then
Michael sull of Them would stop byand drop off curtains of records and John
would just devour this stuff. Ontop of every week, John bought no
less than five and probably closer toten albums. It was like, this

(23:37):
is all we did. Go downto the music store, check out the
equipment. Go down to the recordstore, check out the albums, buy
albums, listen to music, goaround here all the good days when we
weren't playing, and yeah, itwas it was really a time for us
to so we formed a really goodbond back then. We were like brothers.

(23:59):
Frankly, you know, the friendshipthat we had back then was just
starting to develop again in terms ofyou know, seeing one another after so
long and it just felt so goodand friends you remain friends through the years.
It is so sad that John isno longer with us. If you

(24:22):
had the opportunity to say anything toJohn today, what would you say to
John today? Ross I would say, boy, John, thanks for all
the great memories from our our youth. The expansion of my musical knowledge and
enjoyment and lasting friendship for all theseyears that I really look forward to,

(24:48):
you know, enjoying further and restin Deece until we come to join there,
all right. I do remember theCalicos Silver Band up in North Bay
featuring John mcgul along with Ross Hamiltonon drums, Charlie mcnamaron bass, and
Michael Sullivan on guitar. They wereactually really awesome. Now Here is another

(25:15):
of my favorite Buzz Band favorites,and I believe this is one of John
mcgale's favorites from that era as well, Rising Up. It's unfortunate that I
don't have any Calico Silver music toplay right now. However, I do
know that one of John mcgil's personalfavorites from his time with the Buzz Band

(25:37):
is Rising Up. Here. Itis, once again from the Buzz Band
album Rising Up. What you don'tuse, what you don't choose, Honey

(26:08):
Redus, He's lesson said, Ilearned the bid way, but I know
that truth. When something happens init slaps it down and tends her arm
kicks it around the kind of catup the sand. John ground don't con

(26:29):
used to damn some like gonna letme come up turn that's that O,

(26:51):
man, deliver it. But Ican't do got lot that I do pay
bother my tirt it dad. Isaw a friend of mine back in the
don it's perfect. Mary turned fuckingball said it bucking's out in the runnest

(27:12):
cars. That's like you an.I got my paw got noting time.
She's not another down the family.He's still hold up and sometimes I'm file.
Still can't drink your tea. Justfeel out of the sad. Go

(27:40):
you'll take y'all put I'll see youdag now, I said, he out
of the ho very delivered. ButI can't. I said that I ain't
come come with me. You wantedmy chat, I'll come it up so

(28:33):
that you tell me your song.Don't know, don't don't doesn't it?
Oh? Where's de living? WhatI came true? Doesn't there? And

(28:55):
that was in trouble me more thanmyself coming. Okay, O, Bernie
deliver about I can't people, Isaid, never, that'sn't trouble me.
Your mother, I said, comein about out of the boat. There's

(29:26):
delivering for canyle. That's a mattherthat's a trouble being mother myself come in
about my love out of Bernie Deliver, but I can't you call. I
said that that's it t me tomother myself coming about my God that I'm

(30:04):
here with Michelle Laundry, another mutualfriend of John mcguil and fellow musician.
Michelle was the last full time drummerwith Offenbach and Michelle. Why don't you
tell us about your time as afriend and musician with John Well. I
started out with John when I waseighteen or nineteen years old, and John

(30:26):
actually hired me first as a guitartech for him and then by the same
token as an entire back line techfor the whole band. And I started
working with him when it was,you know, just eighteen or nineteen,
around two thousand and four, Ithink it was. And through the years
we were working together as you know, he's my boss and I'm the tech
working for him and stuff, butit never felt heavy. It was always

(30:48):
a friendly relationship and it was funto be able to bounce ideas off,
you know, one another. Andat the same time I was working for
him as a tech, he hiredme in his blues band called him as
a John mcgail blues for us withRobbie wilt Dick on bass, and that
band was killer Man. It wasa great little trio. What was really
fun about that band is we hadwhat we called the School of Fish mentality,

(31:11):
where one guy goes one way andeverybody follows, but nobody knows why,
but we just instinctively go with it, you know. And we knew
each other like the back of ourown hands, and we just we just
knew where each guy was going togo and what to do. And it
was so so tight, and itwas a great little band. And through
the years of working with that bandand working with John as a guitar attack

(31:32):
and then eventually graduating to a tourmanager as well with ouprom Back and stuff,
our drummer was off them back atthat point left and decided he wanted
to pursue other ventures. And atfirst I didn't want to pounce on it,
but I waited a few weeks,maybe about a month before I told
John. I said, John,you know, we have a really good
working relationship and if you want,I'd like to try out for the off

(31:56):
and Back spot. And it lookedat me and he said man, I
was expecting you to tell me justlike the night of you know, you
waited a while, you know,but yeah, absolutely, you can get
the gig in the Vocalill give youa try out and see what happens.
And that ended up being in twentyand eleven. In twenty twelve, we
recorded the last off and Back record, which was called The Na Sounds,
which really was a great album.It took a long time to make,

(32:20):
but it was a really good album. We really had good sounds for,
you know, the drums in thebass. And then John went off to
a friends recording studio in North BayI think it's a studio Patch Bay it's
called, and he recorded all ofhis guitars and then we waited around for
some lyrics that really made sense forthe off back vibe, and that was
just Once it came out, itwas really really great. And I'd been

(32:40):
the drummer with him ever since,you know, I was like, the
album wasn't waiting until, you know, we started working on it in twenty
twelve, and then in twenty eighteenit finally came out. But all between
those two points we've been working togetheras a band with often back doing shows
everywhere, and it was just great. You know, what can I say
about John that hadn't been said already. I Mean, the guy's a monster

(33:01):
guitar player. He really knows hisway around a fred board. I really
always loved the way he, youknow, played a He never played a
bad note. I mean, eventhe bad notes that he did play,
he found a way to make itwork and it always sounded great. You
know. It's just he's just amonster, monster player. But on top
of everything else, he's really areally nice guy. You know, like

(33:22):
he's very generous with his time andhe's very like patient with the new guys.
I mean I was eighteen or nineteen, I didn't know what the hell
I was doing, but he tookme under his winging, you know,
became my boss, but also amentor and a friend and kind of a
father figure or a big brother kindof figure, helping me along, and
it was really really great. Whatelse can you say? I Mean,

(33:45):
all I can say really is I'mgoing to miss him like crazy, because
that guy was amazing. He certainlywas an awesome talent, and his legacy
will live on, that's for sure. Now. It's obviously it's a very
sad time for all of us,and we're all going to miss him a
lot. If you could say anythingto John today, Michelle, what would

(34:05):
you say. Well, I mean, first and foremost, I want to
say, John, I love youbecause the guy gave me a career.
I mean, there's no if,end or but about it. If it
wasn't for him taking me on,I don't think I would have had the
success in my musical career as Ihad or I have now. And you
know, so first and foremost Iwant to say thank you and I love
you, But mostly I want tosay thank you for your trust in me,

(34:29):
for all those years of making mistakesand working it out, and you
know, building the learning curve andtrying to beat the learning curve as fast
as I could to make sure thatI was a professional musician along the side
of him and guys like reading thebest and all that, and you know,
it's just an amazing opportunity. Sothank you and thank you for your

(34:49):
trust. That's all I can reallysay. And you know, other than
that, I will forever miss you. The following is from the last conversation
that I had with John mcgre onthis podcast. This was right after vaccines
were introduced to combat COVID last timewhen we were a year ago, we
did this right. Yeah, wewere talking about how we were hoping deep

(35:12):
down that this might be a boostfor the music business because you don't know
what you got till it's gone.Maybe you'll pay for tickets now, you
know, Maybe you won't ask fora comp you know, or or to
be put on a guest list.Maybe people are going to be happy and
to celebrate music with us again likethey did in the Roaring twenties. Yeah,
but the only problem is the ticketprices are so ridiculous now. I

(35:35):
mean, I was so fortunate tobe, you know, in my twenties
when I moved to Montreal the firsttime, because you could go and see
ac DC for five dollars, youknow, and then Genesis the next weekend,
and then Super Tramp and then allthese guys. The ticket prices were
five bucks, four fifty five dollarssix bucks. That's what the cost to
go see shows at the Forum virtuallyevery week. Because Atome back being the

(35:55):
most popular French Quebec to Bequah bandactually North America, I mean the singing
in France rock and Rome music forthe only ones basically you know that did
it, especially back in the eighties, so we would only do twenty or
thirty shows a year, which mayhave I had quite quite a bit of
time off and often these concerts tome on a Wednesday or Thursday night.
You know, you can see DeepPurple with Dream Theater as the opening act.

(36:19):
It was amazing. And I wasjust talking to Michelle Caussoon earlier today.
We were talking about when the Gthree came to Montreal. Michelle Cussou,
the guitarist from yuzeb he was doingthe opening act and Robert Fripp was
also there. It was really somethingto see Steve Vy, Joe Satrianni,
who else is there? I forget, you know, for like six bucks.
Yeah, sounds way awesome either way. But now now it's she it's

(36:45):
twelve hundred dollars to go see,you know a concert. Yeah, I
know, but you know what itis, what it is. I think
things will level out a little bitonce we can increase capacity. So yeah,
again, once we've got enough peopleon board, you know, getting
vaccinated and when you have true herdimmunity, then you can lift some of
the safety restrictions even further, wemight not have to wear masks, we

(37:08):
might not have the physical distance.We might have to get a booster shot
every year. But you know what, I'm in whatever it takes to get
back to some sort of normal.I don't know if you remember, way
back in the day when you hadfirst moved to Montreal to join Offenbach,
and I was off in Toronto turnand make my own dreams come true.
We would often end up at homeat the same time in North Bay for

(37:30):
Christmas and various other occasions. Weused to share a cab as we were
bar hopping way back then. Yes, I remember that, Yeah, that's
right. We had a lot offun, right, Nobody ever got totally
loaded, nobody got beat up,and al was just good times. And
it sure was man and the bandsused to play five sets up here in

(37:51):
North Bay. And you had aband at the Saint Regis, you had
a band at Cortinas, you hada band at the Elbow Lounge, you
had a band at the Commodore.It was amazing, Cash and the Blue
Spruce parked you all these places thathad music. I mean virtually any day
of the week he could go outand see a band. It was great.
Yeah, and some of the legendaryacts to pass through, man,

(38:14):
I mean the Saint Regis so manyOh yes, of course, the Blue
Spruce. It was the Stamp Petersfirst gig in Ontario. That's hilarious.
And Jeff Jeff heally played a numberof times. It's part few. Yeah,
some legendary and you know Max Webster, we had Triumph at the Saint
Regis thunder Mug. When Triumphs playedat the Saint Regis, they saw the

(38:37):
truck that we had with Axel,not axle with Nickel. When I was
playing with the band Nickel from Sudbury, we had a really nice truck and
Triumph came the week after us,so they saw us when we were leaving
and they really really liked our truck. So when he found out that the
band was breaking up, they boughtour truck. We sold our touring truck

(38:59):
to Rick I met in the boys. Wow, that was well. That
worked out for everybody, that synergy. I guess I should just let the
folks know that before we started recordingthis episode, we agreed to have a
virtual beer together. So yes wedid. And I've been looking at mine,
looking at the SuDS dripping over theside of the glass, going when
is he going to stop? Yappings? Like? Yeah, so I'm drinking

(39:22):
the cheap stuff. I've got acurling logger here. Oh well, and
John has got the Primo. Tellhim what you got, I've got the
supporo from Japan. I love it. First time I ever had a support.
Hold on here one second, letme join you. Here we go,
all right, cheers. Ah,oh boy. That's the way you

(39:45):
do it, Tommy. That's theway you do it. That's the way
you do it. And we'll beright back after this. Well, since
I've asked everyone else who's so graciouslyagreed to be a part of this tribute
to John, what they would sayif they had one more opportunity to speak
with John, Here's what I wouldsay. I would say, John,

(40:07):
thank you. Thank you for beingsuch a wonderful inspiration to me and all
the other kids in the neighborhood byshowing us that if you wanted to pick
up a guitar and sing in theband, you could do it. Thank
you for being such a wonderful inspirationto everyone that you came into contact with.

(40:27):
Thank you for the music, Thankyou for the buzz. Thank you,
John for being you. Now Hereto end off this tribute, I've
chosen an Offenbach classic AOI and thisbecause it shows a side of John Miguel
that many of you may not havebeen aware of. In this song,

(40:49):
John plays and absolutely blistering wonderful saxophonesolo. It also bears mention that the
lead vocal on this song is fromJerry Boulet, the original lead singer in
Offenbach, who welcomed John mcgil manyyears ago into the band and passed away
many years before John did. Andall these years later, John proudly carried

(41:14):
the Offenbach banner in his name,and I'm quite sure that Jerry and John
are now jamming among the stars.Rest in peace, John McGale. We
all love you, Yo, numerom go Daddy bar leaving dead the lady

(42:35):
zim brother did do no sim moelkano sun bob vy for the oh synor

(43:00):
fay your main brand a name manohnme couture you no all So sound came
the sound bank, say seevo fromDonavo f s some my TV con o

(43:42):
siday I see me by meaning sowhat's at fun? That's a god along

(44:06):
I saw the w scared, sorted, I don't don't bat the do I
since them, I won't go anymore? Ceball about the ball the hold all

(45:44):
say all sat the ball in sortof, I said so the sult fas

(46:13):
I did not along. I sawthem escape sad, I don't don't got
the diy sivamant, I don't goanymore. Tommy Solo's Famous Friends is a

(47:31):
one man production, meaning that I'vedone all the work, including recording,
editing, guest acquisition, etc.The theme song for Tommy Solo's Famous Friends
is a clip from my original compositionThe Burn. All rights reserved. And
Hey, if you like this show, why not help us out? Buy
me a coffee, subscribe, hitthe like button, and until next time, cheers