The Shakers are rocking again

Legendary Hamilton rock ’n’ roll quartet have reunited and will soon release their first album of new material in more than 40 years.

The Shakers are back, and they’re ready to “Shake Some Action” again, to reference the title of the classic garage rock song by The Flamin’ Groovies given fresh life by these Hamilton rock ’n’ roll heroes way back in 1981.

Word that The Shakers have reunited to release their first album of new material in more than 40 years, Left For Alive, is creating real excitement in the Hamilton music community and beyond. It is timely then for HAMILTON CITY Magazine to both explore the group’s reunion and new album and to reflect upon the fascinating history of their early career.

The Shakers original time in the spotlight was comparatively short, spanning just four years (October 1979 to November 1983) but they sure burned bright. Along with peers and good friends Teenage Head and The Forgotten Rebels, they flew the Hammer’s rock ’n’ roll flag during the punk and new wave era proudly and with distinction, leaving an indelible mark on our music community.

HCM recently conducted individual interviews with the four current band members: Vocalist/guitarist Dave Rave (Desroches), vocalist/bassist Rick Andrew, vocalist/lead guitarist Tim Gibbons, and drummer Claude Desroches. Gibbons joined shortly after The Shakers formed and left prior to the group’s disbanding, but this lineup is considered the quintessential Shakers formation.

This scribe and former HCM publisher Jeff Martin (one of the biggest Shakers fans around and a crucial early champion of the band) recently joined The Shakers at Valleyview Studio for an exclusive listening preview of the freshly recorded new material. Suffice to say, we were both knocked out by the quality of these new songs and a typically eclectic and energetic sound that transports the listener right back to the group’s heyday.

Andrew’s highly regarded recording studio Valleyview, located in his Ancaster house, was the logical place to rehearse and record the new Shakers EP. Left For Alive features six songs and one possible bonus cut. On the console was Andrew’s son James, an experienced audio engineer who has worked with all the group members and re-mastered the band’s self-titled double CD compilation of material from its original incarnation.

With three singer/songwriters in the band, coming up with material was not going to pose a problem. Adhering to The Shakers’ working method, Gibbons, Rave and Andrew all brought new original material to the table where, in ego-less and democratic fashion, the songs were discussed and either discarded or worked on in collective fashion.

One of the first selected, the Gibbons’ composition “Left For Alive,” became the EP’s title track. Rave recalls that “this reminds me a bit of The Traveling Willburys. We have Rick sing the first verse, then I do the Roy Orbison-style voice. I think it’s an amazing tune.”

Some songs Gibbons brought in sounded like The Swampbusters (the blues-based band Gibbons leads), “but Tim can be a chameleon,” says Rave. “He can find the sound, so with other songs, we could go, ‘Now that’s The Shakers!’” 

Another upbeat Gibbons song, “She’s On The Menu,” is also featured.

Andrew and Rave also introduced new songs that fit The Shakers sound. A quirky but fun Andrew song “The Source” made the cut, along with “Racing For Louisiana,’ primarily a Rave number. “We’d written that one way back in 1979 but had never recorded it properly,” Rave says. “We revamped it, and now it sounds like pub rock, with me and Rick singing the harmonies. Before we thought it was a bit silly and frivolous but now it sounds heavier as we’ve grown up and all played so much.”

Back in the day, The Shakers were never afraid to play and record covers of songs they loved, whether by such classic early rock ’n’ rollers, blues and country writers like Chuck Berry, Charlie Rich and Lieber & Stoller or rock ’n’ roll peers like good pals Teenage Head or The Flamin’ Groovies.

They continue that tradition on the new album with a spirited cover of “The School of Heartbreakers,” a 1961 song recorded by rockabilly great Ral Donner. A version of “A Mess Of Blues” by the great songwriting team of Doc Pomus and Mort Shuman and recorded by Elvis Presley, is under consideration as a bonus track on the EP.

The four Shakers agree that the process of rehearsing and recording went surprisingly smoothly. To Claude Desroches, “It felt so natural, even though we hadn’t really done anything together in a long time. Dave and I have done live shows and recordings over the years. I’ve played with Tim for many years and recorded with Rick, but not as a full Shakers lineup. This recording just came together instantly. To be honest, I was rather surprised at how easy it was.”

To Gibbons: “As soon as we got together and started playing it was like being right back there, in the early days. When we did the Shakers music we were all just out of high school. We had all the energy in the world, so everything was fast fast. As we got together as seniors to play that music, it was almost like a heart attack, but now we’re back playing it the right way.”

Andrew adds that “as soon as we started doing the bed tracks of these new songs, it locked in really well. I was just comfortable with the guys as I’ve known them so long. Or maybe it is the thousands of hours that we practised in the ’80s. Now, it is just fun. You don’t feel you are just concentrating on what you’re playing, you’re just in sync with everybody else and having a good time, too.”

Rave notes that once the band decided to record, they spent over a month going over songs, writing, rehearsing and playing those songs and “becoming a unit again.”

Our interviews reveal that Gibbons was a catalyst in this Shakers reunion. Rave recalls that, after one Shakers reunion show, “Tim asked, ‘When are we going to do something again, Raver?’ So we all had a think about it, got together for a chat and everyone was serious that we were all on board.”

Gibbons admits that he was frustrated.

“We did one reunion that didn’t get any press. The word was you don’t have any new product, so you’re not news. I said, ‘Hey guys, we have to do something new or we’re just going to be a nostalgia act.’ We’ve always been a defiantly original indie band. There was talk of repackaging old outtakes, but I insisted we have new songs.”

Though the seeds of The Shakers were sown via the musical bonds of Rave and Andrew, the first connections between future Shakers members came long before that. You see, Rave and Claude Desroches are cousins.

Desroches is two months older. 

“Our parents were listening to rock ’n’ roll when we were in the womb. Thank god they had good taste.”

Rave got his first electric guitar and Claude got his first drum set the same Christmas, the year they were 12. “We’d jam for 12 hours in his basement, until our hands were swollen and bleeding,” says Desroches.

Both Rave and Desroches attended Westdale High School, and that’s where they met Andrew, who was a grade ahead. Rave and Andrew found they connected musically and after a short-lived stint together in the band Madonna Inc. (alongside Frankie Venom) in 1973, the pair started gigging in coffeehouses and bars in Hamilton, and then beyond, as an acoustic duo named Fulcrum.

An estimated 1,000 gigs together as an acoustic duo (initially complemented by bassist Cam MacLennan) saw Rave and Andrew hone their songwriting chops and perfect the vocal harmonies that became a Shakers signature. Listening to The Everly Brothers, early Beatles, and vocal groups like The Coasters had a huge impact on the pair and their vocal harmonizing, as did two ’70s British rock bands. 

“I call Badfinger, in the early ’70s, and Rockpile, in the later ’70s, our two biggest influences,” Rave says.

As the ’70s closed, Andrew and Rave decided to flesh out their songs by forming a full band, one they dubbed The Shakers. With Desroches a natural fit as drummer, they recruited Teenage Head guitarist Gord Lewis and ace session guitarist Bill Dillon (Robbie Robertson, Sarah MacLachlan) for their first recording sessions at famed Hamilton studio Grant Avenue in 1979.

Those sessions were with Daniel Lanois, not yet the internationally renowned record producer he is today, and the resulting single “Out The Door/’Til I’m Gone,” launched The Shakers with a bang upon its October 1979 release.

Gibbons notes that the single was played all over Ontario and on every kind of radio station, including CHUM, Q107, CFNY, 108 Oldies, and Hamilton’s CKOC AM, which was headed by big Shakers supporter Nevin Grant. 

“That airplay meant that when we came to town for a show, people were pumped to hear us.”

One of the first to hear that single was Jeff Martin. “I remember listening to the cassette single at Dave’s parents’ (house), and I was blown away. The band sounded so tight, great songwriting and their gorgeous, signature harmonies grabbed you and didn’t let go. And then there was Gordie Lewis playing guitar.”

“Out The Door” was actually the catalyst for Gibbons joining The Shakers. When the initial lineup recorded and released the single, Gibbons was living in Toronto, trying to break into the music scene there. He was aware of the other guys, though he had different roots.

“I didn’t go to Westdale, I went to Barton high school on the Mountain. All the musos coming out of that school were real blues guys, whereas Westdale was punk rock all the way. East Mountain is a part of town where it’s real easy to get punched in the mouth, whereas at Westdale they’d just insult you with sarcasm.”

He took off to Toronto to “get away from my boozing buddies in Hamilton and get my chops together,” Gibbons says. “There I heard ‘Out The Door’ on the radio. It blew my mind, and I wondered why it felt familiar. I went to Sam The Record Man, saw the single with Dave and Rick on the cover and just started laughing. It was those ramrods I knew from Hamilton. I bought it, took it home and put the picture on the mantle.”

In a delightful twist of fate, a knock on Gibbons door in Toronto the very next day revealed Rave and Andrew standing there, offering Gibbons a place in the band. “I remember Rick saying, ‘Congrats kid, you’re a Shaker! We’ve got gigs and a drummer and we want you to play guitar,’” says Gibbons. “Dave had somehow heard the demo I’d made in Toronto and went to Rick, saying, ‘This is our guy. He’s playing way more cutting edge than anyone else around here.’”

Gibbons quickly agreed to join, and an intense period of rehearsing, recording and playing shows whipped this quintessential lineup of The Shakers into shape. The addition of Gibbons’  fluid guitar, virile vocals and songwriting chops escalated the band to that next level.

The debut single was released on The Shakers’ own independent label Warpt Records and all subsequent recordings came out on that imprint. Other labels were approached to sign The Shakers but they failed to see their potential. The DIY approach would suit the band well. 

“The Shakers were indie pioneers before indie was a thing,” says Ralph Alfonso, a veteran manager and record label head at Bongo Beat. “They created one of the first Canadian indie labels, Warpt Records, with no major label affiliation, and racked up Top 40 airplay to the point that some majors threatened some stations to remove The Shakers from their playlists for their own big-name acts.”

Gibbons confirms Alfonso’s recollection, noting that “having those labels going around blackmailing little garage bands so they don’t get airplay was pretty pathetic.” 

As the band gelled as a unit, their self-confidence grew quickly. In a July 1980 Radio Times interview with Martin, Rave declared: “I’d go see us myself. It’s a real good show.” That conversation took place while The Shakers had a three-night stand at famed Hamilton rock club Bannister’s, their first local shows as headliners, following previous slots on bills at Bannister’s and the phys ed complex at McMaster University. Thanks to the wide airplay for the single, The Shakers had already played successful shows at top Toronto club Larry’s Hideaway by then.

As word spread that The Shakers were a thoroughly entertaining high-energy band, gig offers accelerated, and for the next three years, between writing and recording sessions, the group put in serious road miles playing all over Ontario and beyond.

As well as playing their own shows, The Shakers supported other acts, from New York City punk legends Jayne County & The Electric Chairs to Toronto new-wavers Martha and The Muffins to English rocker Nick Lowe (Rockpile), a musical hero of the band.

Most memorable were the tours The Shakers played in tandem with hometown comrades Teenage Head. In the early 1980s, Teenage Head was a strong concert draw, and supporting them proved an ideal situation for The Shakers. Both the band and those concertgoers recall those shows with great affection today.

“It was always fun hanging out with those guys, and we were all really into what the other band was doing,” says Andrew. 

Gibbons concurs, noting that “Teenage Head were such a great band with an infamous reputation. There was all this excitement and buzz around them. Young kids going crazy on the dancefloor, hi-jinx in the hotel rooms. Those were mind-blowing times. It really was that whole rock ’n’ roll dream and full speed ahead.”

Desroches says echo of those shows saw The Shakers playing for thousands of people.

”We sometimes got encores as the opening act. You don’t see that very often, but it helped that we all knew each other since we were kids. Hamilton is like that. Musicians here help each other.”

The two bands were musically compatible, but with just enough differences in their sound to keep things interesting. During this period, Teenage Head was firmly in the punk-meets-garage rock camp, while The Shakers drew more upon old school rock ’n’ roll, rockabilly and pop and English pub rock. “We were two rock ’n’ roll bands with similar roots but totally different approaches,” observes Gibbons.

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Following their breakthrough debut single, The Shakers went on to record and release three albums. Their full-length debut In Time was recorded with Lanois and released in 1981. That same year, again with Lanois, the band released the Rock and Roll EP, featuring versions of some favourite classic rock ’n’ roll tunes, recorded live to master. 

The final album, Weekend, was recorded with legendary Canadian rock producer Jack Richardson (Guess Who, Alice Cooper) and released in 1983. A self-titled 20-song collection of the best of The Shakers was released on CD in 1995, then expanded to a two-CD, 36-song collection in 2016, a recommended purchase for anyone interested in the band.

Gibbons left The Shakers at the end of 1981.

“I wanted to go back to the blues, try something different on my own and see if I could carry a night as a front person. I was starting to get grouchy with the guys and I didn’t want to lose that friendship. In a band you become closer than buddies. In the van together, staying in shitty motels, you’re all you’ve got.”

Rave says Andrew left after a year and the band used John Lewis and Bernie LaBarge as guitarists. The Shakers officially broke up in November 1983.

Post split, the four Shakers principals remained prominent on the Hamilton music scene, and beyond, and often worked with each other on different projects.

Known as one of the hardest working artists in Canadian music, Rave continues to front the current version of Teenage Head and plays regularly in the U.S. and England leading his own bands. And he frequently gigs or guests with other acts in club venues in Hamilton and Niagara.

Andrew remains active with his studio work at Valleyview, Gibbons records and performs with The Swampbusters, the blues-based band he fronts, and Desroches remains an in-demand drummer for such outfits as The Lowdown Dirty Mojos, TG and The Swampbusters, and, previously, The Hellbent Rockers. He also made a mark on the local scene via Mermaids Lounge, the Hess Village bar/music venue he owned and ran from 1999 to 2006.

Some 40-plus years after their heyday, The Shakers’ music continues to find receptive ears around the globe, so the band is optimistic the upcoming album will find a home when it is released in late summer or early fall. Details of a major Hamilton album launch concert are still being finalized.

Let’s Shake!

The Shakers: The Impact

HCM also contacted some leading local musicians and music biz notables for their take on The Shakers and the important role the group played on the Hamilton scene.

Ed Michael Roth (a veteran Hamilton musician/photographer who played on some Shakers sessions): “I love these guys. They keep alive a spirit of rock ’n’ roll I experienced as a kid back in the ’50s – the all-out liberating exuberance, the hot, tingling beats and riffs, mixed with the teen dreams of romance and unfettered independence.

“The Shakers draw on this, but filtered through the sizzling rawness and hipness of the early Beatles in Hamburg and the Cavern. They love and respect the genre and its history. They play with the same joy, energy, musicality and fearlessness as when I first met them in the ’70s. When they’re onstage, they’re 18 years old. And watching and listening to them, so am I.”

Jack Pedler (former Teenage Head drummer): “I did a stint with The Shakers in summer 1996, playing a bunch of dates. It was a lot of fun. Dave was great as always, Claude is the perfect drummer, Rick is the icing on the cake, and Tim, what can I say. A great band perfect for any occasion. They came around at the perfect time in Hamilton.”

Lou Molinaro, a veteran Hamilton rock promoter (The Corktown, This Ain’t Hollywood): “When Teenage Head started becoming a favourite in Oshawa, my hometown back then, their visits often included The Shakers. To me, that was the new refreshing one-two musical punch.  It was up to the minute, vibrant and FUN!  Both bands complemented each other so well. Being present at these shows gave us coolness and ‘cred.’  Two hot Hamilton bands waving the flag representing a new direction for Canada. Luckily many of us followed along.

“The Shakers sound was very much power pop, influenced by Nick Lowe, Dave Edmunds, Flamin' Groovies, Real Kids, with great singing and harmonies. Following The Shakers early on made me branch out and become more astute about "real" pop music. They had that vintage rock ’n’ roll style and sound that kept many camps happy. You could never go wrong buying albums by The Shakers.“

Tom Dertinger, a veteran area music promoter: “Along with the likes of The Florida Razors and Bob Segarini back then, The Shakers rounded out a rock/pop style that was emerging in the Hamilton and Toronto region.”

Tom Wilson (Junkhouse, Blackie and the Rodeo Kings): “To me, The Shakers were like The Coasters with Marshall amps!”

Jeff Martin, former HCM publisher and a life-long friend and fan of the band: ”The Shakers are Hamilton through and through. A lot was happening in the city's music scene in the late ’70s and early ’80s. Music was blowing the doors off Westdale High School: Teenage Head, The Shakers and the Forgotten Rebels were all coming on the scene at the same time. It was punk, it was rockabilly, it was rock and roll. And it was so exciting.”