Canadian drummer Paul Marangoni played with a number of acts in the 80s and 90s, notable Canuck acts like Coney Hatch, The Works, Kim Mitchell, and FM. The latter is currently preparing for a 50th anniversary show in November, with Marangoni behind the drums. Hopefully this 50th anniversary show will lead to more. Paul relocated to California decades ago, and played on a number of albums with guitarist Alex Masi, such as the 2001 Masi album, Eternal Struggle, and 2 albums of fusion instrumentals / covers under the name ‘The Trio Of Stridence’ (more on these in another post), and worked with former Alias frontman Freddy Curci (Zion).
This was a pretty casual disussion with Paul, and a lot of fun; we talked about the upcoming FM reunion show, a few other things he’s done since being in California, and what he’s listening to these days. Enjoy the read, and please check out all the links at the end.
I was going through those CDs you gave me (The Trio Of Stridence, Jazz Martyrs), and you did a lot of writing on them and a lot of producing them, so it’s kind of a…
Well, I think I wrote two songs on all those CDs. I arranged everything though, definitely.
Yeah, they’re very different. The Trio Of Stridence. I like that; I love the cover of “Red”. The other stuff is kind of straight up jazz. I put it on at one point, there is a Chuck Mangione song, and I was like, Wow, what is this?
Yeah, it’s too bad Chuck died. I was hoping he would hear my version, because my version is in seven as opposed to four.
Going back to when you were in the band FM (late 80s-early 90s), how long did that whole period last?
Not long, like two or three years. I can’t even remember. I really should have kept a diary. That was like 35 years ago or something. It’s scary to even say that number.
And you guys did recordings?
We were working on new music, but it was never recorded.
So, at what point did you relocate to LA?
January of 2000.
So you were still around then, in Toronto and that for much of the 90s then?
Yeah, definitely.
What else were you doing then? I have this on cassette (hold up The Works cassette).
Wow. Not much. I was just playing in a bunch of cover bands and I was doing the Genesis Tribute. Actually, at one point, we had a Yes Tribute, which Cameron Hawkins was playing bass and singing in. But we only did a few shows. And Phil Naro was singing in that band. I had a recording of a live gig we did at the Tralf in Buffalo. It was really good, but for some reason, that ended too. I don’t know what happened there. That was a good band. I love playing that stuff.
I saw Phil about 20 years ago, 15 years ago. He was playing in a club in Toronto, like an upstairs somewhere. It was him, Don Mancuso. I think his son. And so they’re doing a lot of Yes stuff.
I can’t believe he’s gone. Everyone’s dying, man. Holy cow.
Last time I saw him, he was doing an acoustic guitar duo, at a small place somewhere in Toronto. They were just doing acoustic tunes, the two of them. Would have been around 2007, 2006, (something like that).
There’s been other versions of FM. I saw them in ‘94 when they did the reunion tour, and there’s a few other things since then, live albums and the studio album from 2015… You weren’t involved in any of those. So how did this new line-up kind of come together?
Well, I kept in touch with Cam over the years because I was going up to Toronto like three or four times a year while my parents were still alive. And we’d get together now and then. And a couple of years ago, I was up there. And before I went up, I contacted him. I said, Hey, let’s get together for lunch. And he told me he was thinking of doing some shows to coincide with the release of this new documentary about Nash the Slash. And he said, It’s been 50 years. And I said, Well, if you need a drummer. I’m totally down. So that was when it started. So, the two of us were sending files back and forth on the tunes to work on. So he would have my drumming to along with. And then he set about to find someone to play mandolin and violin. It took a while.
I assume Ben Mink is not around anymore (locally)
Ben Mink is out in British Columbia. So, if for some reason this turns into doing a lot of shows, and if we ever end up on the West Coast, I’m sure we’ll get Ben Mink to sit on a bunch of tunes because I love Ben Mink’s playing.
Is the show going to focus mainly on the Black Noise stuff? Or is it going to be…
Yeah, it’s just going to be Black Noise and maybe a couple of other tunes. Some of the hits or other tunes.
When I saw them in 94, they put out that from it, but I always wonder, they called the FM Archives Volume One, there was no volume two.
(lol) Yeah, I don’t know what happened there. I got that too somewhere. They were kind of screwed over by labels all the time.
Other than Black Noise, what might you play or what do you like out of that catalog?
I really like Surveillance a lot. That was my favorite record. And then off of City of Fear, there’s one tune off there we’re probably going to play, “Surface to Air”. We’ll probably play that. We’ll probably do “Shapes of Things”; that got a lot of airplay. And that’s it. We’ll be extending solo sections and stuff like that, so it’ll be a lot of fun.
I don’t see much of Cameron Hawkins online, so I don’t… I never know what he’s up to.
Right. He said he’s going to probably put up an Instagram account one of these days. That was the plan, to do that and start promoting, but without any promotion, the show sold out in like three days.
Wow. So…
And there’s talk about, hopefully a show at the El Mocambo in January. And then if these shows go well, we’ll see where it goes next. We’ll probably stick to Canada for the time being, especially now that this arrangement in the US and Canada has kind of gotten pretty messy.
I wonder if the band ever actually played outside of Canada in that whole period of the late 70s, early 80s.
I’m not sure. I know they did a lot of shows with Rush.
And there’s some people that have posted some of those shows online pretty wild. It’s funny how fast they played a lot of those tunes.
I think it was Con-test that must have been the album that was current when I saw them. And then they did Tonight, which is funny because I watched an interview with Nash where he did not like that album. He mentions that they brought in a “hair guitar guy”.
Simon! (lol) Apparently Simon is now doing pyrotechnics for Katy Perry or something.
Really?
Yeah. That’s what Barry Connors was telling me.
He’s not playing?
I’m not sure. He was a good guitarist.
I know he did those albums with Andy Curran, post- Coney Hatch.
Yeah. He was the one that got me the FM gig. Because I was hanging out with him and Andy, and Simon said, We need a drummer for these shows coming up. And I said, Dude, I know all that shit. I grew up listening to FM. So, I jammed with them and got the gig.
What else are you doing? Are you playing a lot live?
No, I moved to Indio three years ago, and I can’t find players around here to do anything. I was working on doing more Trio Of Stridence stuff or some jazz stuff; working on my own and then sending files to people either in Europe or in LA. I love doing stuff with Alex (Masi), and before I left LA, me and Alex, we were thinking of doing a Jeff Beck Tribute thing after Jeff Beck died. We rehearsed a bit. I put together a little promo video. I sent it to a bunch of booking agents. No one was interested. It was too bad. It would have been cool.
I saw him over at Artpark (Lewiston, NY). the last time through here.
Yeah, I love Jeff Beck. And, like I said, I was working on writing some stuff, working on my own thing, and then the FM thing happened. So, I’ve just been focused on that since then. Rehearsing all the old FM stuff and working on making sure it’s going to sound good.
Do you know these other guys that are playing with you guys?
No, I’ve never met them, Kevin (Breit) and Hugh (Marsh). Actually, I did a recording with someone in the ‘80s that Hugh Marsh played violin on, but we weren’t in the room at the same time.
I imagine Cameron found them somehow(?)
We were trying to reach him through social media. Couldn’t do it. And then I was having lunch with Andy, and he said, Well, let me talk to Alex Lifeson, he’s a good friend of Hugh. So, he got Hugh’s email from Alex Lifeson. And that’s how we got in touch with Hugh.
Wow. So that was like more recent?
Yeah, that was like last December.
That’s interesting, all the connections with all the Toronto bands. I like picking up some of the late 70s Canadian stuff. I picked up the first Hunt album.
Wow. I remember seeing them at the Gasworks….
And you posted something recently about a band called Teaze.
Yeah, I saw them last week.
I remember them being big at some point, and I remember the logo. The logo looked cool, and the name was cool, but I didn’t know much about the band. And when you posted that stuff, I was reading something, and I said, Holy shit, these guys are Canadian! I didn’t know that.
(Talk ensues about Teaze, their comeback, and Canadian rock festivals)
It seems like most of these Canadian bands, especially from the last few decades, they tend to play a bunch of festivals. Three or four times a year, there’ll be a festival in Alberta or Newfoundland or Quebec, and then they all get together.
I hear about these things from Barry. Do you remember the band Alias with Freddy Curci?
Yeah, I’ve got that somewhere.
I recorded with Freddy a few years ago, and I was actually… I got together with him about a year ago, and I told him, I think it’s time you should go out on the road again, get the band going. He considered it. I haven’t talked to him in a while, but I think that would be good, too.
I find the connections with the Canadian band interesting. There’s so many… It’s kind of like the British bands where you have some of those connections between Whitesnake and Deep Purple and Rainbow, all those bands.
That’s right.
But, I mean you look at Helix and Honeymoon Suite and a few others. It’s almost like they (occasionally) share members.
Actually, I remember I auditioned for Helix when I was 17. I drove out to….they were playing a gig somewhere in London, I think. I played some tunes with them. And it went well, but they said, You’re just too young. We can’t take the chance. Yeah, I was a fan of Helix.
And their drummer and the guitarist were twins. Brian Doerner was the drummer, and he recommended me for a gig. I didn’t even know he knew me. And then me and a guitarist named Lawrence Falcomer flew down to LA to try putting a band together with Brad Gillis and Mark Free. So, for a week, we rehearsed and wrote some music. And the guy that was paying for it all was the producer from Night Ranger. And at the end of the week, he told us what the deal would be where he was going to take 50 or 60% of all proceeds from the songwriting. And we just couldn’t come to terms with it. Nothing ever happened of it.
(Talk about Brad Gillis being on Rick Hughes album).
What are you listening to these days? Is it mostly jazz type stuff?
Let me see what’s on my phone here (lol)
You know what I got recently, Genesis The Lamb Lies Down box set. And it has a live concert that they did in L.A., and the live concert is amazing! I don’t know if they touched up a bunch of stuff, but it sounds better than the studio record. It’s amazing.
I haven’t got that.
It’s actually all on YouTube, too. Simon Phillips’ latest record, I got that. That’s more of a fusion thing. Pat Metheny’s latest; I’m on the fence with that. A guitarist named Nir Felder. I really like his stuff. It’s kind of a fusion-y kind of thing. I probably listen to mostly jazz lately. I got the Jethro Tull Bursting Out re-release. That’s pretty good. Yeah, mostly jazz stuff.
You mentioned Genesis. Have you picked up any of the Steve Hackett live albums where he recreates each of the albums?
No, I haven’t. I saw Steve Hackett in Toronto. It was probably 1978 or 79 at the O’Keefe Center. That was amazing. love Steve Hackett. Speaking of Steve Hackett, You’ve heard of this Cruise to the Edge thing!? (No) It’s a cruise out of Miami, and it’s a bunch of progressive rock bands for like a week, and Steve Hackett is the headliner. I think Kevin Labrie is playing with the keyboard player from Dream Theater. Check it out, CruiseToTheEdge.com. Anyway, I figure it’s all progressive rock, and they leave port in April, so I sent an email to them, see if maybe I can get FM on the gig. But I never heard back from anyone as far as who to contact about booking, so maybe we’ll try to get the next year. They do it every year, apparently.
That’d be quite the slot to get on.
(Talk ensues a bit about Genesis, Phil Collins, Paul – “He was my favorite.”)
Any other Canadian bands you were really into?
Kim Mitchell, Saga, FM. I was a huge Rush fan from the beginning. I can’t really think and differentiate which ones were Canadian. I mean, going downtown and seeing stuff at the Gasworks. Dave Bendeth, he was kind of doing like a Jeff Beck thing, that was cool.
Well, did you keep your vinyl over the years or did you get rid of it?
I sold a bunch of it. Since I moved to California, it’s been like 26 years now. I’ve moved 11 times. So, you just keep throwing stuff away every time.
At one point, when we sold my parents’ house in Toronto, I had all my albums there, so we had to get rid of stuff. So, I took them all downtown to some vinyl place and sold them all and whatever they didn’t want to buy, I gave to friends of mine who were collecting vinyl. So, I don’t have any more vinyl.
(Further chat about records, Unidisc, Wireless – “I remember seeing them open for Rush, they were really good too.”)
*photos of Paul borrowed from his website: https://www.paulmarangoni.com
LINKS:
https://www.theredwoodtheatre.com/event-details/fm
https://www.paiste.com/en/musicians/paul-marangoni
https://www.youtube.com/@PaulMarangoni
