Hard Rock Miners

The Hard Rock Miners were a Canadian rockabilly/hillbilly/country/folk band based in Vancouver, British Columbia.

Hard Rock Miners
HRM busking in Calgary, Alberta (circa 1989)
Background information
OriginVancouver, British Columbia, Canada
GenresRockabilly/hillbilly/country/folk
Years active1987 (1987)–
LabelsEpic/Sony Music Canada
Past membersMichael Phillips, Scooter Johnson, Oliver Metson, Ingrid Mary Percy, Michael Turner, Peter Carr, Bill Ryan

History

In 1987, members of The Hard Rock Miners started out busking on the streets of Vancouver, particularly on trendy Robson Street in the city's Downtown West End. Their music could be best described as eclectic. As they moved to gigs at Vancouver venues, their instrumentation included acoustic and electric guitars, banjo, fiddle, washtub bass, washboard, tambourine, harmonica, and drums amongst others. This essentially electrified bluegrass lineup played standards, including 'Pistol Packin' Mama', the Brothers Johnson's 'Get The Funk Out of My Face', Nancy Sinatra's 'These Boots Were Made For Walkin', 'Rock Island Line', 'Wasbush Cannonball' and speedy punked up and humorous versions of other country and western, funk, punk, and pop classics.

The band was officially formed in 1987. The original members were singer and guitarist Michael Phillips, bassist and vocalist Scooter Johnson, vocalist Oliver Metson who also played the washboard, singer Ingrid Mary Percy, singer Michael Turner on guitar and banjo,[1] percussionists and singers Peter Carr, and Bill Ryan.

Turner later became an author, penning several books, including Hard Core Logo, which was about his experiences while fronting the band.[2][3]

Carr went on to producing film and television including Gough Lewis's 1997 controversial Sundance Festival winner "SEX: The Annabel Chong Story".

After retiring from the band in 1993, Ingrid Mary Percy completed a bachelor of fine arts in visual arts at Emily Carr University of Art and Design, Vancouver, British Columbia and a master of fine arts in visual arts at the University of Victoria, Victoria, British Columbia. Percy went on to become a contemporary Canadian visual artist and to teach visual art at the post-secondary level. She currently lives and works in Corner Brook, Newfoundland and Labrador where she is an associate professor in the School of Fine Arts, Grenfell Campus, Memorial University as well as a practicing artist. Percy is also involved in arts advocacy and serves as president of Canadian Artists’ Representation/Le Front des artistes canadiens (CARFAC), the national voice of Canada’s professional visual artists, based in Ottawa, Ontario, Canada.

In 1991 Carr and Johnson opened a comic, cult video and cappuccino bar called Pop Media Culture. The store featured independent press comics, fanzines and cult videos. The store also served as a hub for up and coming bands who would perform at their "make rent" parties. Turner and Percy left the band in 1993.

The band performed several cross-Canada tours,[4] both headlining and opening for international acts such as The 'Proclaimers', 'Country Dick Montana', 'The Pixies', 'D. O. A.',[5] 'The Pogues' and continued to perform with fluctuating membership. All of the band's original members eventually left; replacing them over the years have been long time stalwarts Rob Thomson (guitar / vocals), Ike Eidsness (drums) and Paul Gould (mandolin / banjo), as well as Keith Rose (Roots Roundup), Ford Pier (SNFU, D.O.A.) and Linda McRae (Spirit of the West). The band also features guitarist and fiddler Sexy Pierre Lumoncel who joined the band in 1990 and toured and recorded with the band throughout.

In 2017, the Georgia Straight named The Final Frontier (1992 Sony/Epic) one of "The 50 albums that shaped Vancouver" in the past 50 years.

The Hard Rock Miners performed frequently at Vancouver's Railway Club;[6] in later years, the band hosted a monthly singalong there.[7] Currently, the band performs only upon request for music industry functions and charity events.

Discography
  • Making The Bedrock (cassette)
  • The Final Frontier 1992 (Einstein Bros./Sony Music Canada)[8]
  • Rock 'n Roll Welfare 1995 (Hypnotic/A&M Records)
  • Play City Billy

References
  1. Quill & Quire. Canadian Magazine Publishers Association. 1994. p. cover, 16.
  2. Peter Dickinson (2007). Screening Gender, Framing Genre: Canadian Literature Into Film. University of Toronto Press. pp. 188–. ISBN 978-0-8020-4475-4.
  3. "Og Records". Exclaim!, By Michael Barclay, Jun 01, 2000
  4. "Michael Turner Interview". January Magazine, Linda Richards, February, 2000
  5. Paul McEwan (23 July 2011). Bruce McDonald's 'Hard Core Logo'. University of Toronto Press. pp. 38–. ISBN 978-1-4426-6077-9.
  6. "Eulogy for the Railway Club". Grant Lawrence, Westender, April 4, 2016.
  7. "Vancouver's thriving alternative nightclub scene". BBC Travel, By John Lee , 9 May 2012
  8. " Hard Rock Miners The Last Frontier". AllMusic. Review by Roch Parisien
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