Simon Kendall.....
Hi, this is Simon -- I first met Richard Baker when we were seven. My family moved into a house in Vancouver and he was feasting in the cherry tree. We later met John and Wally in high school, and played in various garage and basement bands with them over the years.
I sat in on a rehearsal with John and Doug in the summer of '77, and made the prophetic announcement: "Doug's songs are great, but he can't play guitar, he's not much of a singer and he'll never make a front man." A year later John recruited me for the historic Dec.8, 1978 gig with the "Doug Bennett Band" (the name was a short-lived and futile attempt at respectability. The group included all my old pals plus Steve, a rocker from the east side.) At our first rehearsal, John made the prophetic announcement that I would quit my country rock band, quit tree-planting (my income for the past 5 years), sell my Kootenay house, and move to Vancouver with my wife and daughter and join the Slugs - "We're going straight to the top." Yeah right......... the rest is apparently history.
Highlights for me include the recordings, the sold-out Commodore shows, The Horseshoe Tavern, Barrymore's in Ottawa, The Bottom Line, NYC, and The Forum at Ontario Place.
In '89 we took a hiatus after ten years of touring and recording and I got back to other pre-Slug musical interests including music-directing theatre and composing for film and television. After 5 years of juggling a freelance career and my life as a Slug, I replaced myself in '94. Since then I've composed extensively, frequently collaborating with Al Rodger. We recently scored "Exhuming Mr. Rice" starring David Bowie. Our score for "Cadillac Girls" won a Genie award. I music-directed several shows at the Playhouse Theatre in Vancouver including John Gray's "Rock and Roll" which starred Doug Bennett and had Richard Baker in the band. I've produced "Fallen Angel" for Suzanne Gitzi, "Trouble With the Moon" and "Fret Lizards" for Rick Bockner, "The Turning" for Tom Arntzen and "Hall of Memories" for Jenica Rayne.
In '97 I released a solo piano album "Sweet Compulsion" and will soon release a jazz/r&b solo recording called "Jalsomo."
In '97 I formed an instrumental r&b group "Sharkskin" with three members
of The Odds in which I finally get to play Hammond organ on stage! It's a fun
band, and great to be performing again. We recently recorded an album at
Mushroom Studios which will be released this spring. I hope to have a website up this year, I'll
keep you posted!!!
Added July 13/99: please pay visit Simon at his new website.
~Ellen~