Canland: Welland's Garage Rock Recording Studio

The Niagara Region has been home to a number of recorded musicians over the years. However, there have been relatively few recording studios in the area for them to work with. Some lucky Niagarans, like Tom Eldridge and Walt T. Toomey, recorded at the Earthland Studio in Niagara Falls, but most had to record in rudimentary locations - for example, the Caribbean Symphony Steel Orchestra recorded in a St. Catharines church basement. Others travelled to bigger cities to record, like the famous St. Catharines comedy duo Malton and Hamilton, whose records came out on the Scarborough-based Marathon Music label.

Any Canadian record collector can tell you about Marathon. Some know about Earthland. A few have heard of the Caribbean Symphony Steel Orchestra, better known in the Caribbean under their original name, the Chase Manhattan Savoys. But only the most seasoned collectors (and myself) have heard of the garage rock recording studio that operated in Welland in the 1960s - a little place called Canland Recording Industries, operated by one Mike Addario.

Addario's musical career began as a member of the Marquis, a local rock band from Lincoln, which never recorded. In the mid-1960s, he decided to enter a new side of the music business, and began to work as a booking agent for other local bands. At this, he was quite successful, managing several bands and booking gigs as far away as Cornwall. This led him to enter another new field by becoming a recording engineer, and he opened Canland shortly thereafter.

Despite its somewhat grandiose corporate name, the studio was in fact located in the basement of his parents' home. It was a rudimentary operation, but it worked well enough to attract quite a few local bands to record there (more on that later). He also managed his own record label, under the same name as the studio. It's unclear where the records were pressed, but my best guess is the Quality Records Limited plant in Toronto, which had a custom pressing division at that time. (The aforementioned Earthland Records also used this pressing plant).

Only two records are known to have been released on the Canland label, though there are likely more. The first, CL-0025, is True Love by the Barrons. The members of the group (based on the autographs on the label, which appear on most copies) were Paul Holmes, Augy Holmes, Bernie Holmes, Jim Robert, Bob Breen, and Gilbert Corveau. This recording is a rare example of 'white soul,' its lyrics dealing with a young man who meets a girl and falls in love with her, only to be told shortly afterward that she has passed away. The B-side of the single, Mending Our Quarrels, is classic garage rock. This single is the most common one released on the Canland label, though that doesn't mean it's easy to find. Copies online are typically priced at around $100. I was lucky enough to find mine at a thrift store for $1, and I only gave it a second look because I misread the label at a glance as GBI, a Bahamian calypso label that's more in line with what I usually buy. Only after having the record for a couple of years did I learn of its local origins.

The other single on the label, CL-0026, is See To Your Neighbor / Suzie Q by the Tree, who were also from Welland. The Tree were a trio, consisting of Mike Weaver, Chris Smith, and Ritchie Gauthier. This single is described as garage rock, but I have not heard it, and at $150 online it's far too expensive for me to track down a copy!

The members of the Tree had been associated with Canland years before releasing this single. A band called the Sinners - Ritchie Gauthier, Mike Weaver, Al Bartok, Jack Schaefer, and Andre Germain - had recorded at Canland in 1966. The two tracks they'd recorded were Sinner Man and Ten Dollar Woman, both of which were originals. Unfortunately, Ten Dollar Woman was rejected by ASCAP, who deemed it too vulgar (it was about a ten-dollar hooker who was too expensive for the singer, who had only five dollars in his pocket). Due to the rejection, the intended single was never released, and Addario lost the master tapes.

The Sinners returned to Canland the following year, now called The Mood and with Dave Pine in place of Germain and Glen Boscei in place of Bartok. They recorded a single, Train's Late / Who Do You Love. This single was released on the Cove Records label, produced by Pete Barbely. It is said that only 100 copies of the single were ever pressed, and as such, it is extremely rare and highly valuable.

Not long after the release of that single, Pine left the group and went to Toronto to find greener pastures. He was severely injured in a car crash and spent the rest of his life in a wheelchair. Boscei left the group at the same time, leaving the band as a trio that would, after one more membership change, become the Tree. That group ended suddenly in 1971 when Mike Weaver was hospitalized after collapsing on stage during a gig. Despite being instructed by his doctor to rest, he went back to the stage within the same week, only to collapse again shortly thereafter. The second incident was fatal. 

The three singles I've mentioned so far aren't the only released pieces of music from Addario's studio: he also produced at least three albums. Two of these are by Sundown Jim and the Willoughby Ramblers, an old-time country group who were popular in Niagara in the 1960s. Their two albums are both self-titled, distinguishable only by their catalog numbers, WL-0025 and WL-0026. These albums are relatively easy to find. The other known album is Another Soul Is Free by Chuck Kelford and the Western Rayders, a country band. The album consists mainly of covers, with the titular track being the only original. For all three of these, Addario used 'Concept Recording Studios' for the name of his company. It's unclear if these albums are older or newer than the singles, which could be the reason for the name change. It's also possible that he simply wanted to reserve Canland as a rock label. The second option seems more likely, as his name is also much less prominent on the country albums - in fact, on one Willoughby Ramblers LP, he's not credited by name at all.

Canland Recording Industries didn't last beyond the early 1970s, as it seems Mike Addario moved on to other things. Throughout all of this playing, managing, and recording, he'd been no older than his mid-twenties.

With that, I leave you with a recording of True Love by the Barrons - a real sixties gem that truly deserves to be heard:

 

Further Reading: 

• Article by Andre Germain, member of the Sinners: http://www.garagehangover.com/sinners/
•  Pictures and audio clips of the Mood single: http://citizenfreak.com/titles/292623-mood-train-s-late-b-w-who-do-you-love
• Michael Addario obituary:  http://yourlifemoments.ca/sitepages/obituary.asp?oid=393673