New Wing

Websites:  No
Origin: Edmonton, Alberta, 🇨🇦
Biography:

The New Wing evolved from an Edmonton, Alberta group called The Sons of Adam — not to be confused with the more famous Los Angeles band of the same name. The Edmonton lineup was co-founded by John Ede, Al Wilson, and Henry La Liberte, and performed actively throughout Western Canada before heading south to California in the late 1960s. Upon discovering that the L.A. band already held rights to the Sons of Adam name, the group adopted a new moniker: The New Wing.

By the time they began recording with producer Gary Paxton at his Bakersfield International studio (operating under his Pentacle Records imprint), the lineup included:

Davy Peters: lead vocals
John Ede: vocals
Henry La Liberte: guitar, vocals
Al Wilson: keyboards, vocals
Doug Policha: bass, vocals
Leonard Saidman: drums, vocals

Their first single on Pentacle Records, “The Thinking Animal” b/w “My Petite”, leaned toward melodic psych-pop and was penned by the songwriting team of Ken Johnson, Jerry Ritchey, and Bob Hopps — the same trio behind Chocolate Tunnel’s cult favorites “The Highly Successful Young Rupert White” and “Ostrich People.” The record received modest airplay and a promotional push through a KRLA Beat ad placed by Paxton’s circle, possibly by rep Pete Manuele.

Their follow-up release in 1968, “I Need Love” b/w “Brown Eyed Woman” (Pentacle 45-1002), showed a much tougher garage-rock edge. Both tracks were written by Al Wilson and Henry La Liberte, with Doug Policha joining on the B-side, and produced by The Social Climbers — a Gary Paxton alias. “I Need Love” surges with jagged, fuzz-toned guitar and urgent vocals reminiscent of Steve Marriott of the Small Faces, while “Brown Eyed Woman” drives harder still, cloaked in gritty distortion and back-room attitude.

The band’s journey south became the stuff of lore. They piled their gear into a battered orange hearse still emblazoned with “Sons of Adam” in white paint and headed for California — only for the engine to blow near Bakersfield in a smoky finale that matched their music’s intensity. Once in town, Paxton welcomed them into his studio housed in a converted Bank of America building, where The New Wing captured their raw, high-voltage sound.

Though their time together was short-lived, The New Wing occupy a distinctive place in Canadian garage-rock history — a band of Alberta expatriates crashing headlong into the late-’60s West Coast scene under the eccentric guidance of Gary Paxton.

Following his tenure with the group, John Ede remained active as a performer, later achieving success in the U.S. during the early 1990s while working with Terry Sampson and Steve Daily on a television series for MGM/Disney. His work received a glowing Los Angeles Music Connection review, scoring 8 out of 10 in the magazine’s critique — a highlight of his ongoing artistic journey.
-Robert Williston