albums w/ jackets & lyrics
Originally called Common Bond, the band was based out of Toronto and fronted by Ted Trenholm. They shortened their name in 1970, when John Roles joined. The lineup changed often in the early days, and featured Trenholm on keyboards and Roles initially on the bass. He soon traded it in for the six-string guitar variety, with Bill Dunn taking over, and Jeff Hamilton came in on drums. They briefly had Barry Cobus and Alex MacDougall on guitars, but before long both were gone, and Gerry Mosby was in.

Cobus became their manager and they were playing the Ontario b-circuit when Kim Hunt replaced Hamilton on drums in the early '70s. Covering the usual mix of the day's bar hits, they gradually mixed their British influences own experimentations, and soon their shows contained a growing amount of original material.

They signed with Columbia and CBS in the fall of '74. After spending a couple of months in Toronto's Manta Sound and Captain Audio studios with producer Bob Gallo, the result was their 1975 self-titled debut. Mostly Roles/Trenholm compositions, the single "Dancin On A Saturday Night" cracked the top 20 at home. They toured the country, including dates with Lighthouse and The Stampeders. The somewhat surprising warm welcome to the single spawned a quick successor. But "When You're Up, You're Up" was anything but that, virtually ignored by radio. The third single, "Hold On," fared no better.

Still, they put out one of the better albums from Toronto that year. With MacDougall's "Gallo's Dreams Sitting Here" (a sort of tale of a day in the life in the studio), and lead off "Come On Home," it was generally sanitary, non-offensive pop that often utilized horns and piano.

A pair of more singles were released in '76, but "Back Seat Driver" got poo-poo'd because it was deemed there could be a chance its inspiration could possibly potentially offend someone. "One Lives In My Life" was a ballad that the label had requested, but failed to make a dent in the charts. Roles was gone that summer, where he moved to the West Coast, teaming up with Chilliwack and then Doucette in the '80s, and The Groove Corporation in the '90s.

The band fell out of favour with label execs because of the familiar irreconcilable differences, and the revolving door was open for a few years. Brian Mitchell became the singer for awhile, and MacDougall went on to play with Crowbar, then King Biscuit Boy throughout the '80s. Colin Walker sat behind the drums after Hunt left to co-found Zon, then Urgent.

The band was cut from Columbia's roster after one last single, "I Can't Help It" fizzled before it ever burned, after Jim Lamarche did time as guitarist for awhile before going solo on A & M for one record. He later became a successful studio engineer and session play around Toronto. Mitch Lewis and Chris Livingston (later of Lawrence Gowan, The Hunt, and Ian Thomas).

  • with notes from Kim Hunt, Pete Roach

    bond
    BOND (1975)
    Dancin' On A Saturday Night
    I Love The Things You Do
    We Are Not Free
    Hold On
    Mardi Gras
    When You're Up, You're Up
    I'm A Lonely Man
    Don't You Love To Dance
    Gallo's Dreams: Sitting Here
    Come On Home

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