Wednesday, December 8, 2010

Artist: The Fuse, The Six, The Big Beat & Other Stories, Album: Trying Must Count For Something, Song: Nowhere At All

The Fuse, The Six, The Big Beat & Other Stories seems like a strange name but it actually represents the various names the players adopted over the course of their careers together.  The principles are brothers, Jeffrey, Don and Paul Hatcher along with Dave Briggs.  They formed in the late seventies in Winnipeg playing old time rock and roll.  Their sound could be described as alternative county or roots rock.  They had quite a cult following in Winnipeg as The Fuse in the late seventies.  They quit briefly at the end of the seventies but resurfaced as The Six in the eighties.  Later, they became known as Jeffrey Hatcher and the Big Beat.  The band didn't have many albums and struggled with label support and distribution throughout their careers.  Major labels just weren't supporting their brand of rock at the time and had they been from the UK, I wonder if their story might have been different.  Elvis Costello actually saw them live on one of his tours through Winnipeg and joined them on stage.  Trying Must Count For Something is a compilation of their music under the various band names.  The song, Nowhere At All, was supposed to be released on their second album as Jeffrey Hatcher and the Big Beat but I don't believe the album was ever released.  Thankfully, their music has been preserved through this compilation and it is available on Itunes and at CD Baby.  You can hear the song, Nowhere At All, on You Tube (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qbmML-yfg4E).  As always, you can hear this song as well as others that I blog about each day on Live 365 (http://www.live365.com/stations/raisedoncndnradio).  Thanks for reading and enjoy!