Simply Saucer is 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 ...

rock band formed during the 1970s. Based in

Hamilton Hamilton may refer to: * Alexander Hamilton (1755/1757–1804), first U.S. Secretary of the Treasury and one of the Founding Fathers of the United States * ''Hamilton'' (musical), a 2015 Broadway musical by Lin-Manuel Miranda ** ''Hamilton'' (al ...

Ontario Ontario is the southernmost Provinces and territories of Canada, province of Canada. Located in Central Canada, Ontario is the Population of Canada by province and territory, country's most populous province. As of the 2021 Canadian census, it ...

, the band consisted of guitarist and vocalist Edgar Breau, keyboardist John LaPlante (billed by the

stage name A stage name or professional name is a pseudonym used by performers, authors, and entertainers—such as actors, comedians, singers, and musicians. The equivalent concept among writers is called a ''nom de plume'' (pen name). Some performers ...

Ping Romany), bass guitarist Kevin Christoff and drummer Neil DeMarchant. The band's style has been described as a hybrid of

proto-punk Proto-punk (or protopunk) is rock music from the 1960s to mid-1970s that foreshadowed the punk rock genre and movement. A retrospective label, the musicians involved were generally not originally associated with each other and came from a variet ...

and

psychedelia Psychedelia usually refers to a Aesthetics, style or aesthetic that is resembled in the psychedelic subculture of the 1960s and the psychedelic experience produced by certain psychoactive substances. This includes psychedelic art, psychedelic ...

and they form a "Rust-belt punk" style, along with

The Stooges The Stooges or Iggy and the Stooges, originally billed as the Psychedelic Stooges, were an American rock band formed in Ann Arbor, Michigan, in 1967 by singer Iggy Pop, guitarist Ron Asheton, drummer Scott Asheton, and bassist Dave Alexande ...

MC5 MC5 was an American rock music, rock band formed in Lincoln Park, Michigan, in 1963. The classic lineup consisted of vocalist Rob Tyner, guitarists Wayne Kramer and Fred "Sonic" Smith, bassist Michael Davis (bassist), Michael Davis, and drummer ...

and

Alice Cooper Vincent Damon Furnier (born February 4, 1948), known by his stage name Alice Cooper, is an American rock singer and songwriter whose career spans sixty years. With a raspy voice and a stage show that features numerous props and stage illusion ...

. The group's references also included German

progressive rock Progressive rock (shortened as prog rock or simply prog) is a broad genre of rock music that primarily developed in the United Kingdom through the mid- to late 1960s, peaking in the early-to-mid-1970s. Initially termed " progressive pop", the ...

, or

Krautrock Krautrock (also called , German for ) is a broad genre of experimental rock that developed in Germany in the late 1960s and early 1970s. It originated among artists who blended elements of psychedelic rock, avant-garde composition, and electron ...

, and early

electronic music Electronic music broadly is a group of music genres that employ electronic musical instruments, circuitry-based music technology and software, or general-purpose electronics (such as personal computers) in its creation. It includes both music ...

pioneers such as

Karlheinz Stockhausen Karlheinz Stockhausen (; 22 August 1928 – 5 December 2007) was a German composer, widely acknowledged by critics as one of the most important but also controversial composers of the 20th and early 21st centuries. He is known for his groun ...

. According to Matt Carlson at

Allmusic AllMusic (previously known as All-Music Guide and AMG) is an American online database, online music database. It catalogs more than three million album entries and 30 million tracks, as well as information on Musical artist, musicians and Mus ...

, "Though Simply Saucer had the guts to bring together tremendous influences from rock's past, including the Velvet Underground, early

Pink Floyd Pink Floyd are an English Rock music, rock band formed in London in 1965. Gaining an early following as one of the first British psychedelic music, psychedelic groups, they were distinguished by their extended compositions, sonic experiments ...

, and the Stooges, the band was hardly noticed outside of its local area."

History

Formed in 1973, the band was originally a six-piece, largely improvisational, outfit featuring Dave Byers and Paul Collili. The name Simply Saucer was chosen in tribute to the

album ''

A Saucerful of Secrets ''A Saucerful of Secrets'' is the second studio album by the English rock band Pink Floyd, released on 28 June 1968 by Columbia Graphophone Company, EMI Columbia in the UK and in the US by Tower Records (record label), Tower Records. The menta ...

''.Michael Barclay, Ian A.D. Jack and Jason Schneider, '' Have Not Been the Same: The Can-Rock Renaissance 1985-1995''.

ECW Press ECW Press is a Canadian book publisher located in Toronto, Ontario. It was founded by Jack David and Robert Lecker in 1974 as a Canada, Canadian literary magazine named ''Essays on Canadian Writing''. They started publishing trade and scholar ...

. . By October 1973, the band contracted into a four-piece. DeMarchant left the band in 1975, and was replaced by Tony Cutaia, who in turn left in 1976 and was replaced by Don Cramer. Romany left the band in 1976. Guitarist Steve "Sparky" Park, formerly of Teenage Head, joined in 1977. In its lifetime, the band only released one 7" single, "She's a Dog/I Can Change My Mind" in 1978 on fanzine magnate

Gary Pig Gold Gary Pig Gold (born May 30, 1955 in Toronto, Ontario) is a Canadian singer-songwriter, record producer, filmmaker, author and journalist. His fanzine ''The Pig Paper'' was Canada's second independently published music magazine, and among the recor ...

's Pig Label, before breaking up in July 1979. Following the band's breakup, Breau continued as a solo artist, while other band members went on to form The Other One. Breau later ran as a candidate for the

Family Coalition Party of Ontario The New Reform Party of Ontario (NRP; ) was a minor provincial political party in Ontario, Canada, that promoted a populist, fiscally conservative, socially conservative, libertarian, and localist ideology. It was formed in Hamilton in 1987 ...

in the 1999 provincial election. An abortive recording session with producers

Daniel Lanois Daniel Roland Lanois ( , ; born September 19, 1951) is a Canadian record producer and musician. He has produced albums by artists including Bob Dylan, Neil Young, Peter Gabriel, Robbie Robertson, Emmylou Harris, Willie Nelson, and Harold Budd ...

and Bob Lanois from 1974 and a June 28, 1975 concert performance on the roof of Jackson Square were later compiled for the 1989 album '' Cyborgs Revisited''. ''Cyborgs'' quickly came to be regarded as a lost classic of Canadian music, being named one of the greatest Canadian albums of all time by the magazines ''

Chart A chart (sometimes known as a graph) is a graphics, graphical representation for data visualization, in which "the data is represented by symbols, such as bars in a bar chart, lines in a line chart, or slices in a pie chart". A chart can repres ...

'', '' Forced Exposure'', ''

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'' and ''

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'', as well as appearing as the 36th best Canadian album in

Bob Mersereau Bob Ellis Mersereau is a Canadian arts journalist.Rockingham, Graham �"Randy Bachman: lord of the song"''The Spec'' He is a music columnist and longtime arts reporter for CBC Television in New Brunswick.The Top 100 Canadian Albums ''The Top 100 Canadian Albums'' is a book by journalist Bob Mersereau, published in 2007 by Goose Lane Editions. Mersereau surveyed 600 music journalists, retailers, musicians and disc jockeys of all ages, from all parts of Canada, who each subm ...

''. The need to capture the band's unconventional sonics has also been credited as one of the first catalysts for the development of Daniel Lanois' distinctive production style, which would eventually make him one of the most influential record producers in the world. ''Cyborgs'' was subsequently reissued on Sonic Unyon in 2003, with several bonus tracks including the 1978 single. Breau, Christoff and Park reunited for a show at Hamilton's Corktown Tavern on September 17, 2006, with Joe Csontos on drums. Park works in Montreal, and could not commit to a full-blown reunion, so new members Stephen Foster on guitar and Dan Wintermans on guitar, keyboard and theremin, were brought in. The group released a new album, ''Half Human, Half Live'', in April 2008. After a short tour of the U.S.A, which included a June 15 appearance at Terrastock, drummer Csontos left the line-up, followed by Dan Winterman and original bassist Kevin Christoff in August 2009. Still, a version of Simply Saucer featuring drummer Peter Lacey and bassist Chris Jamieson performed a couple of live dates in October 2009, including the Scion Garage Festival. Current incarnations of the band have been playing shows in the Hamilton area as of 2012. In 2013 and 2014, their singles "Bullet Proof Nothing" and "Reckless Agitation" were reissued on Mammoth Cave Recording Co."Hamilton psych legends Simply Saucer finally release 'Bullet Proof Nothing' single"
Aux, January 23, 2014.

Discography

*''She's A Dog/I Can Change My Mind'' (1978) *'' Cyborgs Revisited'' (1989; reissued on CD by Fistpuppet/Cargo 1991) *''Cyborgs Revisited'' (2003; expanded to include 45 and post 1976 demos) *''Half Human, Half Live'' (2008) *''Saucerland'' (2009) *''Baby Nova'' EP (2014)

References

External links

Simply Saucer
official website {{DEFAULTSORT:Simply Saucer Musical groups established in 1973 Musical groups from Hamilton, Ontario Canadian noise rock groups Canadian protopunk groups 1973 establishments in Ontario Sonic Unyon artists