Back in the 70”s we had our share of great Hard Rocking outfits producing solid riffs for the fans with the taste for something concrete. There was no shortage of Rush, Triumph and BTO. With the 80’s ushering in the new sounds of New Wave and Pop, was there still room for a Hard Rock band?
In 1981, a young band from Toronto seems to grab us by the neck and shake us, telling us the is the new Hard Rock scene. Coney Hatch was fresh and brought forth the ferocity of an April Wine meets Foreigner. Coney Hatch hit the clubs scene pretty hard and it paid off with packed houses all over the place. The crowd would come out to either see Carl Dixon with his great rocking voice that appealed to both guys and girls. Then you had Andy Curran who knew how to keep the party going, especially with the fast drinking song, Monkey Bars and the song that would get the crowd in the mood, Stand Up.
Carl Dixon would keep the crowd satisfied with such hits like, Hey Operator and Devil’s Deck. These would be the days when Toronto had a steady diet of those songs. They seemed to fit radio very well. When you have a team like the fantastic talent of Kim Mitchell producing your album, and Ray Daniels managing your career, you are in great hands.
I recall seeing them at places like Rock and Roll Heaven, and Entex and the places were always packed. This was where Toronto went to party. These guys kept the torch blazing with sharp hard licks, classic rock attitudes and the notion to keep the party going for as long as possible.
Also, you could not look away from their album cover. It was unique, very detailed for a Hard Rock Cover but had a bizarre way of welcoming you into this world of Coney Hatch. This was Toronto’s band and we loved the time they spent with us. This album went on to grab a Gold Record and cement the world of Rocking Hard in the 80’s!
Here are some images of Coney Hatch:
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