Chapter XII (Until You Do) 2/02/23.

Download PDF

The times  were a-changin’
it was plain to see
Time to get Bruce Ray & Terry
to join Rolly and me.

We became the Jury
with a brand-new sound
So we cut a few records
and toured more towns

When I was in my early twenties, I had the time of my life.
Not only did I play for one of Winnipeg’s top bands, but I also worked at my favorite radio station. How cool was that?

Playing with the Jury and working at CKY worked so perfectly that I had no idea that in the not-too-distant future, I’d have to choose between them.
That not-too-distant future showed in the form of my baby daughter Candis, and that’s when I realized that I had to do one or the other.

Even though we had the #1 Canadian record on the charts and Randy Bachman was recruiting me for The Guess Who, I reluctantly left my band days behind.

Looking back on it now, my decision was a no-brainer.
CKY had offered me a full-time position as their Music Director, and as it turned out, I was a hell of a lot better at radio than I was at guitar.

Having that Music Director title ultimately led to my becoming the Program Director of CKOM in Saskatoon, and it was there that my radio career caught fire.
Before too long, I was off to CKSO in Sudbury, CFRA in Ottawa, and CFTR in Toronto, where I wrapped up the Canadian portion of my radio tour as their station manager.

Things were going well in Toronto, but  America called, and in my world, if you didn’t make it in the States, you hadn’t made it.
I had no choice; I turned in my station car, put Canada in the rearview mirror of my beat-up old T-Bird, and headed south to Indianapolis.

I was hired by my old Boss from CKY, Jim Hilliard, to be the National Program Director of Fairbanks Broadcasting. which was headquartered in Indianapolis.
Shortly after I arrived in Indy, we launched a new format in Dallas on KVIL that changed radio forever.

Because of the success of KVIL for years, my phone had been ringing off the wall about how KVIL worked.
So after eight years, I left Fairbanks and, along with my brother Reg, we started a consulting company based in San Diego.

Over the next twenty-five years and forty radio stations later, I was so busy working that I never thought very much about my old band days.
However, by this time, I was living in South Florida, where I was the in-house consultant at WRMF in West Palm Beach.

The main reason I’d moved to South Florida was to be close to my newborn daughter, Cami, which is another story for another time. 
Anyway, one day, while visiting WRMF, a box set of CDs showed up, which caused my old band days to come rushing back.

What made this box set so special was that it contained seven cuts by The Jury.
However, not knowing if our tunes had stood the test of time and not wanting to be embarrassed, I’d listen to them in the car on my way home.

Ok, my meetings are done; time to jump into the old Benz, pop the top, put the CD called “Buried Treasures’ into the player, and crank it up.
As I rolled north on I-95, I had no idea I was about to discover what Sir Paul meant when he said, “I’m more amazed now about the Beatles than I was when I was one.”

As Terry’s guitar intro for “Until You Do” blasted out of the speakers, I was magically transported back in time.
There we were on this frigid December evening, being led down the dimly lit hallway of CKY by Chuck Dann (Riley) and Daryl ‘B’.

Unfortunately, we’d recently lost our vocalist, Donny Burns, so we were only there to cut some instrumentals.
Even though we’d already replaced Donny with Bruce Walker, Bruce was still a few rehearsals away from being prime-time ready.

I can still hear the swoosh and thud of the studio door behind us as it closed, and it felt like we’d just entered the cone of silence.
As I looked around, I noticed that all the acoustic tiles were yellowed from the hundreds of cigarettes smoked here by those who came before us.

In the center of the studio stood a large black grand piano which seemed to be crying out to be played, so I couldn’t resist banging out a few bars of “A Whole Lot Of Shakin’.”
While we waited for Chuck and Daryl to set up, Terry and I were tuning our guitars when Bruce, our new singer, asked if we could help him with a song he was writing.

The song was called “Until You Do,” and he was hoping that if we finished it up, maybe we could tag it on at the end of our session.
The recording of our instrumentals went quickly, so we decided to have a go at the new tune and after laying it down a few times, we headed into the control room to hear what we had.

When “Until You Do” burst out of the speakers, we were shocked. Not only did it sound pretty good, but it also sounded very British.
It was good enough that Chuck and Daryl suggested I bring the tape back tomorrow to play it for their boss, Jimmy Darin (Hilliard), because, as they said, if anybody knew what to do with it, it would be him.

Once again, there I was at high noon, back at CKY, hoping that the dawning of a new day hadn’t altered the sound.
As soon as Jim showed up in the studio, Daryl hit the play button, and “Until You Do” once again poured out of the speakers and it even sounded better.

When “Until “You Do” finished up, Jim asked me if I could bring the tape back at 6 when he got off the air. He wanted to play it for Hal Ross.
Hal Ross, he explained, was an executive of London Records who was coming by to take him to dinner, but I’ll make him listen to your tape first.

When Hal showed up and heard “Until You Do,” I can still hear him say, “Hell, I’ll release that!” And, just like that, we were London recording stars. Wait till the Stones hear that we’re label mates; I bet they’ll want us to open for them.

Then, with the standard contract stuffed into my jeans, you know, the one where the record company gets everything, and you get nothing, I headed home to share the incredible news.
As I was almost flying down the stairs, I noticed Neil Young, guitar in hand, making his way up, and as we nodded at each other as we passed, I remember wondering, “What the hell was he doing here? Surely he won’t be recording vocals; he can’t sing, I know, I’ve heard him try.”

 

 

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *