Blue Peter (band)
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Blue Peter was a
Canadian Canadians () are people identified with the country of Canada. This connection may be residential, legal, historical or cultural. For most Canadians, many (or all) of these connections exist and are collectively the source of their being ''C ...
new wave
synthpop Synth-pop (short for synthesizer pop; also called techno-pop; ) is a music genre that first became prominent in the late 1970s and features the synthesizer as the dominant musical instrument. It was prefigured in the 1960s and early 1970s ...
band founded in 1978 in
Markham, Ontario Markham () is a city in Regional Municipality of York, York Region, Ontario, Canada. It is approximately northeast of Downtown Toronto. In the Canada 2021 Census, 2021 Census, Markham had a population of 338,503, which ranked it the largest in ...
, by Chris Wardman and Paul Humphrey. In their heyday, Blue Peter opened for major international acts such as
the Police The Police were an English rock band formed in London in 1977. Within a few months of their first gig, the line-up settled as Sting (lead vocals, bass guitar, primary songwriter), Andy Summers (guitar) and Stewart Copeland (drums, percussi ...
and
Simple Minds Simple Minds are a Scottish Rock music, rock band formed in Glasgow in 1977, becoming best known internationally for their song "Don't You (Forget About Me)" (1985), which topped the ''Billboard (magazine), Billboard'' Billboard Hot 100, Hot 100 ...
. The video for "Don't Walk Past", directed by Rob Quartly, was No. 85 on MuchMusic's top videos of the century list, and was played on
MTV MTV (an initialism of Music Television) is an American cable television television channel, channel and the flagship property of the MTV Entertainment Group sub-division of the Paramount Media Networks division of Paramount Global. Launched on ...
in the
United States The United States of America (USA), also known as the United States (U.S.) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It is a federal republic of 50 U.S. state, states and a federal capital district, Washington, D.C. The 48 ...
, in spite of the lack of American record distribution for the band. Humphrey died on April 4, 2021, after a long illness.


History

Blue Peter was founded by guitarist/songwriter Chris Wardman and lead singer Paul Humphrey in the late 1970s, as a high school band. The initial lineup was rounded out by
bassist A bassist (also known as a bass player or bass guitarist) is a musician who plays a bass instrument such as a double bass (upright bass, contrabass, wood bass), bass guitar (electric bass, acoustic bass), keyboard bass (synth bass) or a low br ...
Geoff McOuat and
drummer A drummer is a percussionist who creates music using drums. Most contemporary western music ensemble, bands that play Rock music, rock, Pop music, pop, jazz, or Contemporary R&B, R&B music include a drummer for purposes including timekeepi ...
Ron Tomlinson; this ensemble recorded Blue Peter's first EP, '' Test Patterns for Living'', in 1979. In 1980, Mike Bambrick replaced Tomlinson on drums, and in the same year, the band released their first full-length album, ''Radio Silence''. Over the next couple of years, Blue Peter ran into difficulties with record labels and management, which led to them briefly releasing material on their own label, including "Chinese Graffiti" in 1981. Around this same time, McOuat left the band and was replaced by new bassist Rick Joudrey. After a year without label representation, Blue Peter returned to Ready Records in 1982, in time to release '' Up To You''. "Chinese Graffiti" was included on the ''Up To You'' release, and won the band a
CASBY Award The CASBY Awards were a Canadian awards ceremony for independent and alternative music, presented annually by Toronto, Ontario radio station CFNY, currently branded as 102.1 The Edge. CASBY is an acronym for Canadian Artists Selected By You. The ...
(then known as the "U-Knows") for Single Of The Year in 1982. When '' Falling'' was recorded, the band was fleshed out by the addition of Jason Sniderman on keyboards, and new drummer Owen Tennyson (replacing Bambrick). The album was their most successful, and would also prove to be their last. It spawned their biggest single, "Don't Walk Past", and its companion video, which won awards including "Best Video of 1983" from the Canadian Film and Television Association. The music video, inspired by ''
Blade Runner ''Blade Runner'' is a 1982 science fiction film directed by Ridley Scott from a screenplay by Hampton Fancher and David Peoples. Starring Harrison Ford, Rutger Hauer, Sean Young, and Edward James Olmos, it is an adaptation of Philip K. Di ...
'', was created at the insistence of the band who saw British and American artists making visuals for
MTV MTV (an initialism of Music Television) is an American cable television television channel, channel and the flagship property of the MTV Entertainment Group sub-division of the Paramount Media Networks division of Paramount Global. Launched on ...
. ''Falling'' ranked 24th on CFNY's Top 83 of '83. "Don't Walk Past", was ranked at number 92 in CFNY's Best 102 of the Decade, published in 1990. After ''Falling'', Blue Peter had some of the tracks, including "Don't Walk Past", remixed by engineer Kevin Doyle and released these remixes as ''Version'' in 1984. That same year, Blue Peter won another CASBY, this time for Male Vocalist of the Year, for Paul Humphrey. Later in 1984, Blue Peter demoed several tracks for a proposed new album (tentatively entitled ''Vertigo''), but the band broke up in 1985 before the tracks were completed or released. In 1997, the band issued the "best-of" compilation ''All Through The Night'' which featured one newly overdubbed and mixed track from the ''Vertigo'' demo sessions called "Equalizer". In 2006, Blue Peter reunited for a concert to commemorate the release of ''The Best of Ready :: 20th Century Masters — The Millennium Collection''. The following year, the band reissued their catalog as three compilation CDs. The re-release of ''Falling'' included eight of the ''Vertigo'' demos as bonus tracks. For the next decade or so, the band played a couple of concerts a year, including appearances at the
Toronto International Film Festival The Toronto International Film Festival (TIFF, often stylized as tiff) is one of the most prestigious and largest publicly attended film festivals in the world. Founded in 1976, the festival takes place every year in early September. The organi ...
in 2009 to promote the movie
Suck Suck may refer to: *Suction, the force exerted by a partial vacuum * .sucks, an Internet top-level domain Arts and entertainment Music * Suck (band), a South African hard rock group * Suck, drummer for the 1990s Japanese punk band Teengenerat ...
, which featured music by them on its
soundtrack A soundtrack is a recorded audio signal accompanying and synchronised to the images of a book, drama, motion picture, radio program, television show, television program, or video game; colloquially, a commercially released soundtrack album of m ...
. In January 2011, Blue Peter performed at the
Horseshoe Tavern The Horseshoe Tavern (known as The Horseshoe, The 'Shoe', The 'Toronto Tavern' and The 'Triple T' to Toronto locals) is a concert venue at 370 Queen Street West (northeast corner of Queen at Spadina) in downtown Toronto, Ontario, Canada, and h ...
in
Toronto Toronto ( , locally pronounced or ) is the List of the largest municipalities in Canada by population, most populous city in Canada. It is the capital city of the Provinces and territories of Canada, Canadian province of Ontario. With a p ...
as part of '' Juno Decades: Songs of the '80s''.


Live

Blue Peter performed across Canada between 1979 and 1985. Some notable opening slots included
the Boomtown Rats The Boomtown Rats are an Irish rock/ new wave band originally formed in Dublin in 1975. Between 1977 and 1985, they had a series of Irish and UK hits including " Like Clockwork", " Rat Trap", " I Don't Like Mondays" and " Banana Republic". T ...
(Toronto at El Mocambo),
the Jam The Jam were an English rock band formed in 1972 in Woking, Surrey, consisting of Paul Weller, Bruce Foxton and Rick Buckler. They released 18 consecutive top 40 singles in the United Kingdom, from their debut in 1977 to their break-up in ...
(Toronto at the Concert Hall, and Ottawa),
Simple Minds Simple Minds are a Scottish Rock music, rock band formed in Glasgow in 1977, becoming best known internationally for their song "Don't You (Forget About Me)" (1985), which topped the ''Billboard (magazine), Billboard'' Billboard Hot 100, Hot 100 ...
at (
Massey Hall Massey Hall is a performing arts auditorium in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. Opened in 1894, it is known for its outstanding acoustics and was the long-time hall of the Toronto Symphony Orchestra and the Toronto Mendelssohn Choir. Although original ...
in Toronto, and Montreal) and
The Police The Police were an English rock band formed in London in 1977. Within a few months of their first gig, the line-up settled as Sting (lead vocals, bass guitar, primary songwriter), Andy Summers (guitar) and Stewart Copeland (drums, percussi ...
at "The Police Picnic '83" in Toronto. In 1984, the band played a sold out show at Toronto's
Ontario Place Ontario Place was an entertainment venue, event venue, and park in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. The venue is located on three artificial landscaped islands just off-shore in Lake Ontario, south of Exhibition Place, and southwest of Downtown Toron ...
Forum.


Discography


Albums and EPs

* '' Test Patterns for Living'' EP (1979) * '' Radio Silence'' (1980) * '' Up to You'' EP (1982) * '' Falling'' (1983)


Remix EP

* ''Version'' (1983)


CD compilations

* ''All Through the Night'' (1997) * ''The Best of Blue Peter, 20th Century Masters — The Millennium Collection'' (2006) * ''Burning Bridges'' (released May 8, 2007) - ''Up to You'' and ''Version''
remastered A remaster is a change in the sound or image quality of previously created forms of media, whether Mastering (audio), audiophonic, Cinematography, cinematic, or Videography, videographic. The resulting product is said to be remastered. The term ...
+ bonus tracks * ''Falling'' (released May 8, 2007) - ''Falling'' remastered + 8 demos for an unreleased album to be called ''Vertigo'' * ''Radio Silence'' (released May 8, 2007) - ''Radio Silence'' and ''Test Patterns for Living'' remastered + bonus tracks


Compilation appearances

* ''The Best of Ready Volume 1 :: 20th Century Masters — The Millennium Collection'' (released 2006), Ready Records compilation * ''The Best of Ready Volume 2 :: 20th Century Masters — The Millennium Collection'' (released 2006), Ready Records compilation * ''Retro Active 4 Rare & Remixed'' (released 2005) includes "Don't Walk Past" (F Version Original 12")


References


External links


Blue Peter
* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Blue Peter Canadian new wave musical groups Musical groups from Toronto Musical groups established in 1978 Musical groups disestablished in 1985 Musical groups reestablished in 2006 Musical groups disestablished in 2011 Canadian alternative rock groups 1978 establishments in Ontario 2011 disestablishments in Ontario