The Silver Darts

The Silver Darts were an Ottawa power pop band active in the early 1980s, centred on keyboardist, songwriter and musical director Matt Horner. Their 1981 lineup consisted of Horner on Yamaha electric grand, Oberheim synthesizer and vocals; John McReynolds on guitar and vocals; Michel Pouliot on drums; Ron Sures on bass; and Charles Sauvé and Alan Van Wart on vocals. Sures had come to the band from Single Malt, the instrumental group that won CHEZ 106’s first Sharechez competition for unsigned Ottawa talent in 1979.

Horner and Sauvé formed the group’s principal songwriting partnership, writing seven of the ten songs on the band’s album Feel Like A Target. McReynolds joined them on “Hot Ice,” Van Wart co-wrote “Cyanide” with a writer credited only as O’Connor, and Horner wrote “Just A Glance” with Morrison. The Silver Darts arranged all of the material themselves.

Although based in Ottawa, the band made its record in Montréal. Feel Like A Target was recorded and mixed at Studio Six on April 8, 9 and 10, 1981, with Quentin Meek producing and engineering for Chuck Gray and Six Productions. Chuck and Judy Gray had previously operated an Ottawa coffee house containing a small recording setup before moving to Montréal in 1969 and establishing Studio Six at 1180 St-Antoine.

Released on Six Productions as SS-1422 and distributed in Canada by RIO Records of Willowdale, Ontario, Feel Like A Target contained ten original songs, among them the title track, “Hot Ice,” “Cyanide,” “Spiderweb Logic,” “Just Like In America” and “3-D Glasses.” Every song except “Cyanide” was published by 3-D Music; “Cyanide” was published by Ixtlan Music. Robert Boffa handled the album’s art direction and photography, while Wm. M. Malmo was credited as staging consultant.

The band remained active into 1982. In January, the Glebe Report reported that The Silver Darts, David Wiffen, Heaven’s Radio and Ian Tamblyn had agreed to perform at a benefit for Bank Street merchant Eric Rusmisel, who was facing imprisonment in Texas over an eleven-year-old smuggling case. About $7,000 of a $30,000 legal-cost target had already been raised, and the National Arts Centre had offered facilities for an accompanying art auction.

On May 22, 1982, The Silver Darts appeared with British band The Jam at the Verdun Auditorium in Montréal. Later that year their music reached the screen in George Mihalka’s Québec film Scandale. The film’s credits list “Voyage à Istanbul” as performed by The Silver Darts, with music by Matt Horner and lyrics by Alex van Wart.

Ron Sures went on to work extensively as a musician, arranger, producer and composer, ultimately scoring the Canadian television series Rookie Blue. Al Van Wart later appeared as a background vocalist on The Arrows’ 1984 album Stand Back. Horner kept the band’s name on the Canadian trademark register long after the group stopped playing, letting it lapse only in 1998.

-Robert Williston