Aerial - Easy Love (1978)
Aerial with their Canadian top 40 single “Easy Love”, from the album “In The Middle Of The Night” released in 1978.
Brian Meissner (bass, guitar)
Laurie Currie (drums, vocals)
Gary O’Connor (vocals, guitar)
Malcolm Buchanan (keyboards)
Tim White (guitar, vocals; replaced O’Connor 1979)
Saskatchewan natives Brian Meissner and Laurie Currie originally found notoriety in Winnipeg showband Sugar & Spice. By 1972 they had changed their name to Spice and soon relocated to Toronto where they were managed by Ray Danniels (Rush). The band fell apart about 9 months later.
Meissner and Currie stayed in Toronto and formed Beatles tribute band Liverpool with former Cat member Gary O’. They were soon recognized as one of the first Beatles clone bands who toured across North America and even played sold-out shows at the Whiskey-A-Go-Go in Hollywood. Legend has it that they were the inspiration for the producers of the Broadway show “Beatlemania!” in New York.
They were signed to do several singles of original material, including the radio hit “Dolly”, on Ray Danniel’s Taurus Records in 1975 but the label soon had financial problems. O’Connor briefly formed a new band called Kid Rainbow before re-connecting with the members of Liverpool to form Aerial and to re-sign with Danniels under his second label project Anthem Records (Rush, Max Webster).
Their debut album, ‘In The Middle Of The Night’, was released in 1978 and spawned two singles: “Easy Love”, which was an instant Top-40 hit, and its follow-up “If Only I Were Older”. O’Connor’s frustration at lack of song representation in the band led him to leave shortly thereafter.
Aerial brought in Tim White to replace O’Connor for their Ian Thomas produced 1980 follow-up album ‘Maneuvers’. The record spawned two more radio singles in “Moments Like This” and “Tears That You Cry”.
Following the band’s demise in 1981, Gary O’Connor would be signed to Capitol Records for a self-titled debut LP, and release a second solo album on RCA before becoming world renowned as a songwriter for such acts as .38 Special, Molly Hatchet, and Eddie Money among others; drummer Laurie Currie returned to his home in Saskatchewan playing in a band called the Doug Boomhower Quartet (2001) and The Maurice Drouin Jazz Show (2002); Meissner’s whereabouts is unknown.
with notes from Vic Giggani, Bob Walker, Dave Sampson, and Chris Stask.
Author: mrbrian1965
Keywords: 70’s canadian rock pop
Added: July 3, 2008
Thu, 03 Jul 2008 00:39:40 -0700
July 22 at Sweetwater Station: Marin Songwriters Collective Presents Reed Foehl, Gregory Alan Isakov & Putnam Murdock
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