Wednesday
Websites:
No
Origin:
Oshawa, Ontario
Biography:
A chance meeting in Oshawa in July,1967 of Paul Andrew Smith and Randy Begg set the seed that became Wednesday. This was Paul’s second day in Canada, having spent the previous two years as a member of The Trolls, a British-based band along with Vic Collins (Kursaal Flyers, Ugly Guys), Steve Prout and Michael Langridge.
Randy and Paul spent the summer hanging-out, playing impromtu concerts at local Oshawa parks and drop-in centres until meeting up with Mike O’Neil and John Dufek. The Cellophane Spoon was formed and managed by John Hall until 1971 when the task was taken over by Bill Diel, a former keyboardist with Ronnie Hawkins and Fats Domino. In 1970 the name was changed to Wednesday with the release of their first single ‘Hang On Girl’, recorded in Toronto and produced by John Driscoll and released on Ampex Records. But the label couldn’t garner the record significant airplay except in the eastern provinces where it was a minor hit and led to a successful east coast tour.
Wednesday continued to work the Ontario circuit honing their live show and building a loyal following. In late 1972 they recorded the Wayne Cochran song ‘Last Kiss’ at Toronto’s Manta Sound Studios, engineered by Lee DeCarlo (Lennon’s ‘Double Fantasy’, Aerosmith). The single was soon picked up by local radio stations. CFTR-AM played it immediately and indefinitely. Influential 1050 CHUM-AM jumped on the track and the song went to No.2, giving way to an avalanche of Canadian radio support. The song reached the number one position on Billboard’s Canadian chart and stayed there for six weeks earning them an ‘RPM Maple Leaf Award’ (the precurser of the JUNO), a Gold Record in 1973, and were nominated for several Junos.
The buzz spilled over into the US market and reached #34 on Billboard’s ‘Hot 100’, selling well over a quarter million copies and topping the charts at many American city radio stations. A debut album was cut in 1974 at Manta Sound, Toronto and furnished Wednesday with a second hit, ‘Teen Angel’ (1974) reaching No.15 on Canadian charts.
Touring dates in Canada and the U.S. led to massive fan support. A new single in 1975, ‘Fly Away’ made it to No. 21 on the charts and was followed by a cover of the Beatles classic “She’s A Woman”. But Ampex was having problems and the next single ‘Here Today, Gone Tomorrow’ became the first single on Driscoll’s newly formed label Skyline Records.
In 1976 Wednesday released their second album ‘Loving You Baby’ which topped at No.17. The album went on to produce four more charted hits which included ‘Doin’ The Best That I Can’.
By 1977 the band began including more of their own compositions. They broke away from remakes of cover tunes and concentrated on more progressive material. To that extent, ‘the powers that be rechristened the band ‘Wenzday’ and released ‘I Nearly Made It With You, recorded at Eastern Sound, Toronto and engineered by Mike ‘Tea-Bag’ Jones. The album included ‘Dream Queen’, a song later included in the soundtrack of 1984 movie - ‘Odd Balls’ starring Foster Brooks, Les Emmerson’s ‘I Was Built For Comfort’, Dion’s ‘Ruby Baby’, and Martin-Coulter’s ‘Fancy Pants’, which all garnered strong chart positions.
In 1980 Wednesday were back in the studio recording two songs for Skyline Records - ‘Sheila’ and ‘Eleanor’.
Wednesday’s complete catalogue was re-release in 2003 on Unidisc Music, Quebec, with the addition of two unreleased tracks, ‘House of the Rising Sun’ and ‘The Sun Ain’t Gonna Shine’ Also three compilation CDs were released in 2004 - ‘Limited Edition’ , ‘The Singles’ and ‘Afterlight’ in 2017.
Their vinyl is still available and can be found selling in many countries around the world. Their music is also available for streaming such as Spotify, Apple, Amazon Music and Qobuz.
Mike O'Neil: lead vocals, acoustic & electric guitars
Paul Andrew Smith: acoustic & electric guitar, vocals
John (Jose) Dufek: bass, vocals
Randy Begg: drums, percussion, vocals
Fred Duvall: drums, 1980's version
