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Boys Brigade
Melody / Africa - 7"
Anthem - 1983
Mike Milner
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In the aftermath of the initial upheaval caused by the punk movement, especially in the Toronto area, a number of groups who would be categorized as new wave started to become popular. Punk may have altered the musical landscape, but it was these new wave acts who benefited from the changing musical tastes and who, more importantly, achieved commercial success.
One of the groups that rose to prominence in this genre was a darling of the Queen Street West scene, Boys Brigade. They were formed in 1981 around Malcolm Burn (vocals and keyboards) and Tony Lester (vocals and guitar). Completing the lineup was bassist Wayne Lorenz, drummer Billie Brock, and David Porter and Jeff Packer as backing vocalists and percussionists. The band hooked up with an enterprising booking agent who managed to get them into not only the usual clubs on Queen Street but also venues such as the Rex Hotel, which had only recently started booking live music. They continued working on their sound and writing original material, and they submitted a song in a competition being held by one of Toronto's bigger FM radio stations. This effort succeeded, and the song 'Mannequin' was included on the 1981 Homegrown compilation album released by Q107.
Boys Brigade built upon their success and eventually Rush's Geddy Lee, after having heard them, agreed to produce their initial self-titled album. Interestingly, Burn, who would later go on to work extensively with noted Canadian producer Daniel Lanois and who would later have his own international success as a producer and engineer, revealed in a 2004 interview that while it was his wish to have Lanois produce the record, their manager at the time along with other band members were not interested. Of course, Lanois would go on to work quite successfully with other Canadian acts of the day, such as the Parachute Club and Martha and the Muffins.
In 1983 the debut Boys Brigade was released in Canada on Anthem Records (and in the US and Europe on Capitol). One of the singles from the album, 'Melody', with its spoken word verse and keyboard textures, enjoyed some chart success, especially in the Toronto market. There was also a video created to support the song, which gave the group considerable exposure with the advent of the MuchMusic video channel. Boys Brigade would hit the road for a couple of years of touring, but by 1985 everyone had decided to go their separate ways.
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