Thursday, September 18, 2014

AccuRadio Song Of The Day-Haywire

Artist:Haywire
Song:Dance Desire
Album:Wired: The Best Of Haywire





The hard rock band Haywire had modest success in their native Canada. Their biggest problem was they weren't able to get a US record deal and that's what killed them. Dance Desire was their biggest hit in 1987. Haywire were from Charlottetown, PEI. They have always had a strong following in the Maritime provinces. The lead singer and main songwriter was Paul MacAusland. Other members were Dave Rashed on keyboards, Marvin Birt on guitar and Ronnie Switzer on bass. They went through three drummers before settling on Sean Kilbride in 1986 and he was the drummer on all the albums. Haywire won the 1984 Q104 Homegrown contest. The prize was the chance to record a single but they added their own money and released an EP. Then in 1985 they won the Labatt's Battle of the Bands. This led to a deal with Attic Records in Canada. They recorded their first two albums with producer Brian Allen who produced the group Toronto. The albums Bad Boys and Just Don't Stand There did well in Canada. Dance Desire reached #10 on the Canadian charts in 1987. It would turn out to be Haywire's biggest hit. They had two big problems. One is they couldn't seem to get a US record deal. The other was conflict with Attic over promotional support and money. When Attic refused to finance music videos, Haywire would use their own money. And then when Chrysalis Records expressed interest in signing Haywire to a US record deal, Attic wanted too much money. With their 1990 album Nuthouse, Haywire tried to soften their sound to appeal to an older audience. When that didn't work, the 1992 album Get Off received no promotional support from Attic. Haywire split up soon after and Attic immediately released this comp CD. They have reunited occasionally but I'm not sure if they are active right now. Their website is mostly empty. Here's the video for Dance Desire by Haywire.

No comments:

Post a Comment