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| L to R: Ed Henderson, Jerry Adolphe, Bill Henderson, Doug Edwards |
July 4 – Legendary B.C. band Chilliwack played Sound Academy in Toronto on Friday night, June 29th. Chilliwack today is singer/guitarist Bill Henderson and the band he’s assembled, which includes brother Ed on guitar, bassist Doug Edwards and drummer Jerry Adolphe. According to Wikipedia, the band formed in 1964 as the Classics and changed their name to The Collectors in 1966. After singer Howie Vickers left the band in ’69, they became Chilliwack in 1970 with guitarist Bill Henderson taking over on vocals and acting as primary songwriter. Only Bill Henderson remains from the original line-up, but as lead vocalist and with a tight backing band, the songs sound as good now as they ever did. Amazingly, the band is now two years into its 40th anniversary tour.
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| Bill Henderson |
The set began around 10pm with Lonesome Mary and covered a slew of hits like Whatcha Gonna Do, Getting Better, California Girl, Arms of Mary, Crazy Talk, Communication Breakdown (no, not the Zeppelin song), Baby Blue, My Girl (Gone Gone Gone) and came back for encores of Rain-o and closed about an hour and 40 minutes later with Fly At Night.
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| Ed Henderson |
Rolling Stone Magazine once wrote “At their best, Chilliwack was the finest Canadian rock band, outrocking BTO and outwriting Burton Cummings. But a lack of consistency kept it from international success.” Anyone who lived through the 70s would be singing along to all these songs as they were staples of Canadian radio.
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| Doug Edwards |
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| Jerry Adople |
Another interesting song was Patent On The Wind a song about a legal battle between Canadian farmer Percy Schmeiser and biotechology giant Monsanto, who sued Schmeiser because some genetically modified, patented Monsanto seed blew onto Schmeiser’s property.
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| Chilliwack was joined by Howard Froese’s son Tyson for Baby Blue |
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| Ed Henderson |
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| Bill Henderson |
Review and photos by Steve Mallinson, Video by Michael Litt
