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Personality Crisis/Facebook
Archival photo of the Winnipeg punk band Personality Crisis.
FYI
Obituaries: Personality Crisis Punk Legend Mitch Funk, Singer-Songwriter Cris Cuddy
This week we also acknowledge the passing of veteran Vancouver music promoter Paul Hovan, with tributes from Canadian musicians and music scene members.
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Mitch Funk, a pioneer of Canadian punk rock as frontman of Winnipeg band Personality Crisis, died on Dec. 2, after a lengthy struggle with multiple myeloma. He was 65 years old.
Funk fronted Winnipeg bands Personality Crisis and Honest John in the 1980s and 1990s, with the first-named band having a major impact on Canadian punk rock.
An extensive CBC News obituary noted that "Standing six foot three, Funk was a towering figure in Winnipeg's independent music scene, both literally and figuratively. Personality Crisis, which recorded only one full-length album during its brief existence from 1979 to 1984, was among the first Canadian punk bands to attempt to establish themselves as a touring act, at a time when the genre received no airplay and minimal mainstream attention.
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Funk wound up influencing a generation of younger musicians, first as the leader of Personality Crisis and later as the frontperson for Honest John, a Winnipeg rock band that was active in the 1990s."
One such musician was Jason Tait, best known as the drummer for acclaimed Winnipeg band The Weakerthans. He told CBC that the first punk rock show he ever saw was the final performance by Personality Crisis, at Pantages Playhouse in 1984. "It was the most intense live music I've ever heard in my life," said Tait.
Tait, like other artists, credits Personality Crisis and Vancouver punks D.O.A. for building a North American touring network for independent bands in Canada by developing a network of venues and talent buyers that would book punk and other DIY genres. "Those two bands kind of carved those roots out through the connections in the early '80s. By the time I was ready to tour, in the late '80s and early '90s, that was well established because of the initial bushwhacking that they did," Tait said to CBC.
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Personality Crisis was formed in 1978 as Le Kille by bassist Mitch Funk and five others. Funk took over lead vocal duties in 1981, and would remain the group's only consistent member. Later members of Personality Crisis included Jon Card (SNFU, D.O.A.) and Richard Duguay, who later played in Guns 'N Roses. The band's only album, 1983's Creatures for Awhile, came out on Risky Records. In 1989, Overground Records reissued the LP with a new cover and five new tracks replacing five from the original.
Personality Crisis songs have been covered by SNFU and The Forbidden Dimension. In 2008, GFY Press published Personality Crisis: Warm Beer and Wild Times, a biography of the band by author Chris Walter.
Post-Personality Crisis, Funk went on to co-found Honest John in 1987 with John Campbell, Mark Langtry and Aaron Smith, and they performed together until 1998.
In 2017, Funk and Personality Crisis reunited for a concert at the Pyramid to celebrate a reissue of Creatures for Awhile, out via Winnipeg label Sounds Escaping. 44 years after its initial pressing, the album climbed to the top of the charts at campus station CKUW 95.9 FM.
Funk's peers were quick to pay tribute after hearing of his death. Interviewed by CBC, Jake Moore, who sang in the 1980s Winnipeg punk band Ruggedy Annes, stated that "Mitch Funk was a true original, and there's never been one like him or will be again. His appearance alone was something that would confound people. On the stage, he was nothing short of electric. He was one of those performers that you couldn't not look at."
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Aaron Funk, who records electronic music under the name Venetian Snares, cites his older brother as an influence. Mitch would take him to record stores as a kid and buy him whatever he wanted, he said. He told CBC that Mitch became a prolific visual artist in his final decade.
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To theWinnipeg Free Press, former bandmate Richard Duguay explained that Funk "was a total team player. We all suffered together or we all prospered together. The best bands always come out of a gang, and we all had each other’s backs."
Personality Crisis biographer and punk historian Chris Walter told the Winnipeg Free Press that “They were an electrifying band that set the bar for all other Winnipeg bands, and all other Canadian punk bands, really. The band had a tendency to blow out-of-town acts off the stage — even the Circle Jerks and the later D.O.A. lineups.”
On Facebook, another legendary Winnipeg punk band, Propagandhi, posted this tribute. "We’re extremely sad to hear of the passing of Mitch Funk. He was a legend in the Winnipeg music scene and more importantly a true and nice guy. Rest In Peace Mitch."
Cris Cuddy, an acclaimed Ontario country/folk/roots-rock singer-songwriter, died on Dec. 7, at age 77, of cancer.
On that date, a large group of his musical peers and friends had planned to play a benefit concert for Cuddy at The Social in Peterborough. With word of his death, the concert went on, as a Celebration of Life.
Cuddy worked as a musician and songwriter for over four decades, both as a solo artist and as a member of such bands as Jeremy Dormouse, Bacon Fat and Max Mouse and the Gorillas.
In 1967, Peterborough indie folk outfit Jeremy Dormouse recorded a debut album, TOAD, featuring four Cuddy originals alongside covers of Bob Dylan and Leonard Cohen songs and originals by other members. The group also included Cuddy pals David “Zeke” Mazurek (Sneezy Waters, Stringband) and Dennis Delorme (Prairie Oyster). Read more about that band here. Around this period, Cuddy was also a member of a short-lived folk group The Rejects, who recorded one now very rare album.
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Cuddy was part of country rock fusion band Bacon Fat in the early 1970s, and fellow group members J.P. Hovercraft, George Bertok, and Bobby Watson later joined him in Max Mouse and The Gorillas.
As their vocalist and songwriter, Cuddy led Max Mouse and the Gorillas.to a degree of fame in the late '70s when their song, “Reggae Love,” become a regular wake-up song on Toronto’s Q107 and received wide airplay on campus radio.
According to a bio on Cuddy's website, Max Mouse and the Gorillas sought a U.K. record deal in the late '70s, heading to the Bottom Line in New York for the “Stiff Records Revue. ” There, legendary British music journalist Charlie Gillett posed the question, “Ever heard of Dire Straits? They sound sorta like you.” The Gorillas consequently were invited into the sold out show to join the musicians on stage for the “Be Stiff” encore, displayed in the back page photo of the Rolling Stone Blues Brothers issue.
The Gorillas did earn a following via a highly entertaining performing style, and recorded two albums and an EP of original music. On the group's website, Cuddy noted that "We were definitely 'theatre of the absurd' in the early days...we wore some silly outfits and pulled more than our share of stunts. Eventually our mad leanings were somewhat curtailed by our immense poverty and since the music was so danceable we ended up being popular with that crowd, especially in college and university areas...The University of Guelph was a big hotspot for us."
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Other members of the group at various times included Bohdan Hlusko (later Michelle Josef) and Dennis Delorme of Prairie Oyster fame, Alan Kates ( later to become Prairie Oyster's manager), Gilles Cholette, J.P. Hovercraft, Joe Freedman, Bobby Watson, Buzz Thompson, Jim Leslie, George Bertok and Tony Quarrington.
The Gorillas debut album, Who Is This Max Mouse Anyway?,came out in 1978, followed by an EP, Stilla Gorilla, in 1979, and, in 1998, a live album, Alive, recorded at a bar in Peterborough.
Subsequent Cris Cuddy solo CDs veered into a folk-bluegrass vein and led to his songs being recorded by IBMA winner Claire Lynch (“Gone Again” on her Grammy nominated album, North-South), Prairie Oyster ("Tomcat" and “Long and Lonesome Old Freight Train"), Jim Hurst (“Long and Lonesome Old Freight Train”), The Spinney Bros. (“Sally’s Waltz"), Albertan singer Shaye Zadravec ("Dear Elvis"), Mickey Newbury ("What if Frankie Doesn’t Like It”) and Tracy Prescott-Brown.
Prairie Oyster frontman Russell deCarle informs Billboard Canada that "Cris spent a lot of time in the '90s in Nashville, writing and recording. He became close to Mickey Newbury around this time and they maintained a friendship until Mickey’s passing."
That relationship with the legendary American singer-songwriter is confirmed by Cuddy's partner, Heather Jack. She tells Billboard Canada that "Cris was a huge fan of Mickey Newbury. At one stage [top record producer] Brian Ahern gave Cris Mickey's phone number. Cris and I both spent many hours on the phone with Mickey who was ill at the time.
"One time I asked Mickey if I could send him some of Cris' songs. Polite as he was, he said yes. A few weeks later I got a call. Mickey said 'people send me all kinds of awful music, but what you sent me by Cris, man, I wish I had written those songs.'"
"He so wanted to connect Cris with Kris Kristofferson. With no money, and me with an almost tapped out credit card, I bought Cris a ticket and off he went to stay and visit with Mickey and his family in Oregon. Mickey used the intro for 'What If Frankie Doesn't Like It' on his final recording."
Cuddy continued to release his own albums through the 2010s, receiving positive reviews for such releases as 2010's Diamond Shine and 2013's The Boy From Beaumont. These recordings feature well-regarded players like Prairie Oysterites Keith Glass, Dennis Keldie and John P. Allen plus Dennis Pendrith (Murray McLauchlan).
He remained prolific through the decade, releasing the albums The Best Kept Secret (2014), Dear Elvis (2015), Time Bomb Baby (2017), Dream On ( 2018), Rusty Dusty ( 2020) and Cris Cuddy: Concert at the Slab 2020). Dear Elvis featured members of The Tom Russell Band, alongside legendary guitarist Albert Lee and pianist Gene Taylor (The Blasters, Fabulous Thunderbirds), whileTime Bomb Baby was recorded with George “Tonechap” Bradfute and featured ace Nashville session musician Fats Kaplin (Jack White).
Testimony to the peer respect Cuddy enjoyed was the turnout of area musicians who performed at his honour in Peterborough on Saturday afternoon. The benefit/celebration of life was organized by local singer-songwriter Dennis O'Toole, and featured Pat Temple and the HiLo Players, former Prairie Oyster frontman Russell deCarle and his longtime guitarist Steve Briggs, Washboard Hank and Sweet Muriel, O'Toole fronting his new band Old Soul, Al Black, Dave MacQuarrie, Andy Pryde and Pineapple Frank Barth, and more.
Russell deCarle informs Billboard Canada that "it was a very emotional afternoon indeed with many dear old friends. Fitting that it happened in Peterborough where Cris has been a major influence on the music scene there since the '60s."
Prairie Oyster guitarist and now a solo artist, Keith Glass forwarded this tribute to Billboard Canada: "Cris was one of those people that just always seemed to be the magnetic force in the middle of whatever scene. People were drawn to him for his energy. He had a huge presence. A musical alchemist kind-of. Always putting people together. He kinda was the Peterborough music scene in the early days.
"We met him when we played a club there over 50 years ago and have been friends since. My band recorded a couple of his songs over the years ('Tomcat' and 'Long and Lonesome Old Freight Train'). He was an influence on me in so many ways: as a singer, guitar player, and songwriter. He had a funky persona.
"I was also fortunate to have played a bunch of times with him on stage, and on several of his recordings. Always unpredictable, always challenging: just show up and play the songs. Spontaneity ruled. I produced one CD for him about 20 years ago, which I am extremely proud of. He left a big mark. One of a kind. I will miss him."
Prairie Oyster frontman Russell deCarle provided Billboard Canada with this tribute: "It’s impossible to pigeonhole Cris’s life and influence in a few paragraphs. Music was truly his main passion. Not only as a great singer, writer, guitarist and harmonica player, but also as a supporter and influencer who was way ahead of the curve. A case in point being time spent in England in the '60s and coming home and turning people onto Nick Drake and a host of other artists from the U.K. long before it was fashionable.
"Another of Cris’s talents was an unparalleled eye and ear for good guitars. Years were spent on buying trips to the North East States, and his song 'Long and Lonesome Old Freight Train' recorded by Prairie Oyster documents one of these trips. Early mornings waiting for the arrival of the latest Buy and Sell classifieds. He had an affinity for buying up what were once deemed oddball brands that have since become highly collectible, again ahead of the curve.
"Cris was also very generous and supportive of other musicians he believed in. The proof being in the number of instruments he gave away. Cris spent a lot of time in the '90s in Nashville, writing and recording. He became close to Mickey Newbury around this time and they maintained a friendship until Mickey’s passing. He leaves behind a wealth of recorded material waiting to be discovered. Truly a pretty remarkable fellow and a soul partner. We also recorded a song of his called Tomcat on our first album, Oyster Tracks."
On Facebook, rock singer-songwriter Bob Bryden (Christmas) posted this: "Devastated here. Cris is one of my oldest friends. His musical output is staggering. He is one of Canada’s most unsung musical heroes. He’s released an album per year for decades. The songs are amazing. I go back with him to 1968, before Reign Ghost, when my then girlfriend Lynda Squires sang on his legendary Jeremy Dormouse LP. The first ‘indie’ record with a silk-screened cover!
"He and I never stayed out of touch. I recently compiled his complete discography with his help including dozens of rare tracks. New Wave people will remember him as Max Mouse of the Gorillas (‘Can a Gorilla Sing the Blues’). Just this week I’ve been planning several videos of his songs to help get his name out there."
To Kawartha Now, Dennis O'Toole recalled that "Cris exposed me to a whole lot of music that I never would have run across otherwise … some of the great obscure singers and songwriters. He was writing and performing in a fashion that nobody I bumped into was. He turned me onto all sorts of wonderful stuff — stuff that was a little bit out of the mainstream.
“When I first met with Cris, he just tore my head off. One man and a guitar … I had never felt that kind of musical power up close. He was very supportive of my early writing. On his (2018) recording Dream On, he covered a tune of mine that I wrote when I was 16 or 17 years old.”
Veteran roots singer-songwriter Pat Temple offered this tribute to Billboard Canada: "Twenty five years ago my partner Elayne and I moved to the Kawartha Lakes area and we became fast friends with Cris Cuddy. He had incredible creative enthusiasm and was always very encouraging to both of us in our work. Cris and I had a very similar musical taste and could rave on for days about certain songs and players.
"Over the years I’ve been asked to produce and record a handful of other artists and when CC asked me I jumped at the opportunity. We recorded his album Dream On live off the floor in my wood shop studio, and I’m truly proud of this one. Cris was one of those people who could fire everybody up to get at it. He truly gave it his all."
Paul ('The Hatman') Hovan, a veteran Vancouver music booker and promoter and record label head, died on Dec. 4, a day shy of his 75th birthday.
Hovan had a major impact on the live music scene in Vancouver for many decades, including a long stint in the '70s working with the legendary Commodore Ballroom, booking and promoting acts.
His close friend and associate Mark Fancher compiled the following bio information for Billboard Canada: "Paul 'Hat' Hovan first discovered and fell in love with the Vancouver music scene in the late 1960s, managing local acts and producing live shows at local universities. This led to the founding in 1971 of the Vancouver Musicians Co-op, a network for musicians to find and get work at non-union clubs and bars in the city.
"In the early '70s, Hovan began producing larger shows and festivals including Greenpeace benefits that featured among others Joni Mitchell, James Taylor and Valdy; as well as several of the popular Stanley Park Easter Be-Ins. Around this time, he also began promoting and producing several successful shows in Vancouver clubs which led to a meeting with Drew Burns, manager of the Commodore Ballroom, the premier Vancouver venue favoured by club acts touring in the 1970s."
A handshake partnership resulted; with Burns handling the front office and Hovan booking and promoting the acts at the Commodore from 1973 through to 1981. Major names featured included Tina Turner, B.B. King, the Duke Ellington Orchestra, Buddy Rich Big Band, Hoyt Aston and dozens of others. Additionally, local bands always filled the opening act slot, usually hand picked by Hovan to complement the headliner.
In 1975, Hovan formed “The Producers Co.” Ltd. which promoted and produced shows across Canada and Northwestern U.S. by such major artists as Waylon Jennings, Billy Joel, Alice Cooper, Jimmy Buffett, Leon Russell and Emmylou Harris.
In the early '80s, Hovan changed career, leaving the Commodore and forming Quest Advertising Ltd., a social marketing and advocacy agency serving NGOs, regional and national trade unions and political parties at provincial and national levels.
In her eloquent Facebook tribute, Hovan's daughter Nadia noted that his career detour "was to become a loving and loyal family man to provide for Mom, Blake and I. A difficult and selfless decision that I'm eternally grateful for (because he gave us an amazing childhood)... but I'm relieved he eventually got back into the music industry. It's truly his heart and soul."
Over 25 years, Quest Advertising Ltd. produced hundreds of radio, TV and print commercials as well as several nationally syndicated radio programs, hosted by local personalities David Foster, Terry David Mulligan, Dr. David Suzuki and others.
In 2003 the ad agency created Quest Publishing and published Terminal City Weekly, a city scene newspaper focused on music, art, culture and entertainment.
In 2007, Hovan formed Quest Records as a philanthropic legacy label for veteran artists and performers who contributed to the local scene but did not have a legacy recording to represent their presence and music. He explained at the time that "we found the opportunity to record some of the performers we have worked with over the years. These include Dalannah, Jim Foster, formerly of Fosterchild but now performing as a solo act, singer-songwriter Warren Marx and Robbie Steininger, probably one of the best guitar players in the country." Quest Records allowed artists to retain all of their publishing rights.
Quest launched with a reissue of Dalannah Gail Bowen’s jazz influenced I Just Want To Talk To You in late 2007, followed shortly after by Dalannah’s most successful release to date, Mamma’s Got The Blues. 2010 saw the release of Jim Foster's album Lone Bird, with subsequent years seeing the release of more albums by Foster and Bowen, plus Robbie Steininger’s first solo CD. Bowen's release, Been Around a While, was selected by Downbeat magazine as one of the best Blues albums of 2015.
Alongside his label work, Hovan also produced 10 annual tribute shows for local legends like Robbie King, Long John Baldry and Billy Cowsill; eight Blues For Christmas concerts in the Commodore, six community theatre concerts and almost two dozen benefit concerts.
By 2018, Quest Advertising was winding down and Hovan prepared for retirement when he learned of a small North Vancouver bistro close to where he lived that hosted live music. He soon began helping the Corner Stone Bistro with bookings, attracting such major names as David Gogo, Jim Foster and Shari Ulrich. Artists at the Thursday Night Music series would play for a small guarantee plus whatever the audience dropped into a top hat that would be passed around.
Fancher explains that "in August of this year Paul’s health began to fail and although he continued to book shows, his attendance on Thursdays dropped off. By late November, when it became clear that Paul was not coming back, audience members and Corner Stone Bistro performers began a 'Hat Carries On' campaign. With bookings already made to the end of February, it would appear that the impact Paul Hovan has had on Vancouver’s music scene for more than half a century will continue."
Many of the artists and music industry types Hovan worked with paid tribute on social media and to Billboard Canada.
Veteran B.C. singer-songwriter Jim Foster (Fosterchild) offered Billboard Canada this tribute: "Paul Hovan was an integral part of the Vancouver music community from the late sixties to 2024. A promoter, producer, supporter and cheerleader for decades. When Paul formed Quest Records he helped me produce three CDs of my best work. Paul was a great friend, mentor, sounding board and raconteur. He was extremely generous with his time and energy. What a legacy he leaves behind. The long line of artists and performers he helped encourage to do their best work and his help to find them a platform on which to do it. He will be dearly missed."
Canadian music publicist and industry executive Rebecca Webster (former Director of Industry Relations & Communications at CMRRA) told Billboard Canada that "Paul was a much loved promoter on the north shore of Vancouver, and the first to talk to me about the music business in my early days! Always passionate about those he was putting on stage, his love of music was unshakeable. He will be missed."
B.C. blues star David Gogo posted this on Facebook: "We lost another gooder last night. Mr. Paul Hovan. A true friend of music. I had the pleasure of getting to know him better over the last few years, super interesting man. In 2023 I was fortunate to have him be my podcast guest. We could have chatted all week."
Juno-winning B.C. folk/roots music star Shari Ulrich paid homage to Billboard Canada, noting that "I’ve known Paul since I started in music in Vancouver in the very early '70s with the Pied Pumkin and he booked the Commodore and Rohans. He was always, always doing whatever he could to champion musicians - creating opportunities for them to play. There was no one else in Vancouver who was as much of a fan and entrepreneur through all those years, right to the end. He had a huge heart."
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