Tag Archives: HEADPINS

HEADPINS – Line Of Fire (1983)

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Released in the summer of 1983, Line Of Fire was the Headpins 2nd album on Solid Gold Records. Founded a few years prior with (then) Chilliwack members Ab Bryant (bass) and Brian MacLeod. The band went through a few changes, with drummers Matt Frenette (Loverboy) and Bernie Aubin essentially changing places, and singer Denise McCann being replaced by Darby Mills. The band’s debut Turn It Loud, gained a lot of attention and radio play with the hit single “Don’t It Make Ya Feel”, as well as the title track – “Turn It Loud” and “Breakin’ Down”. The Headpins sound centered around MacLeod’s guitar sound and Darby Mills powerful vocals (dubbed the “Queen of scream”). Line Of Fire took on a bit more of a radio friendly approach in the songs and a bit of keyboards on a few tracks. The album’s cover is a photo of the band on and around a motorcycle, with the back cover being another band photo, but geez, the small red lettering on the back, makes a good bit of this hard to read!

Anyway, I saw the Headpins open for Loverboy in August of that year. During their set Darby Mills announced that the new album would be in the shops the next day before the band played “Feel It (Feel My Body)”, which was the only new song included in their set!

Line Of Fire was a very good album, all around. It featured 2 classic dark, hard n heavy side openers in “Mine All Mine” and “Don’t Stand In The Line Of Fire”. Then there was the 3 singles, all melodic rockers – “Celebration”, “Just One More Time” (the band’s only single to crack Billboard in the US, @ #70). The more poppy “Feel It (Feel My Body”) featured a bit more keys and horns, and received a good bit of radio play. “Double Trouble” was another fine rocker. 8 tracks, all written by MacLeod (with Mills co-writing 2, and Ab Bryant another). Line Of Fire gave the band their 2nd platinum album in Canada.

The band’s label Solid Gold went under before the band’s 3rd (and final) album 2 years later. Head Over Heels was recorded for MCA records, a bit lighter, featuring the single “Stayin’ All Night”, as well as favorites “Never Come Down From The Danger Zone” and “Still The One”, but it didn’t fare as well as the previous 2 records. Still well worth checking out. Darby Mills left the band soon after, and released a solo album in 1991 (Never Look Back), while McLeod wrote & recorded with Mike Reno (Loverboy), and recorded an album with Chrissy Steele (Magnet To Steel) in ’91. MacLeod passed away in 1992. The Headpins would eventually reform with a few new players, and still play today (albeit with a different singer as well).

APRIL WINE – Live in 2025 (St. Catharines)

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Went and saw APRIL WINE as part of the BTO ‘Back In Overdrive‘ tour. I will say I was not there, so much to see BTO, so I won’t comment on them. I did include a few photos I took (apologies for quality, but hopefully you get the idea). The HEADPINS were also on the bill; the Headpins were the first band I ever saw when they opened for Loverboy in 1983, at the CNE in Toronto. This version of the Headpins doesn’t include Darby Mills, and sadly, founder/guitarist Brian McLeod passed away years ago, which leaves original members Ab Bryant and Bernie Aubin. They sounded good to me, as they played a short set of favorites like “Feel It (Feel My Body)”, “Line Of Fire” (outstanding!), “People” and closer “Turn It Loud” (plus a few others). Singer Kat Lawrences did a solid job on the classics, would be interesting to see if this version of the band records anything new. (Headpins pics)

Now… I really was interested in seeing APRIL WINE, who I first saw in 1984. I saw them again in ’92, oddly enough also in St Catharines, at a place then called ‘Route 66‘, about 2 blocks away from the arena, and no longer there. From those days only guitarist Brian Greenway remains. Bassist Richard Lanthier and drummer Roy Nichol have both been there for years, and upon retiring, band leader Myles Goodwyn (RIP) picked his replacement in Marc Parent. I last saw April Wine in 2018, a good show, but a bit tired at that point. While Goodwyn had a fairly distinctive voice, easily recognizable to fans, and hard-core fans may take issue with a new guy stepping in, Parent brought a lot of energy to the show, sounded great, and got the crowd going. Judging from crowd reaction, fans were enthused and happy to hear those classics again. And for anyone who likes April Wine it is mainly about the songs; the band has a huge catalogue, and a long list of hits in Canada, starting in 1971, and anyone that grew up listening to the radio here has heard all the hits (and more). They only played 45+ minutes, but it was packed with the hits that Canadians are familiar with most — “Oohwatanite” (w/ Brian Greenway singing) “You Could’ve Been A Lady”, “Bad Side Of The Moon”, “I Like To Rock”, “Say Hello”, “Sign Of The Gypsy Queen”, “Just Between You and Me” (with Parent making a brief speech about Myles Goodwyn, then bringing out Myles’ guitar to play), “Enough Is Enough”, “Before The Dawn”, and the inevitable closer “Roller”. For the time allotted, I don’t think the band could’ve chosen a better set-list! BTW, dug the Trailer Park Boys intro for the band, and the Littlest Hobo theme song playing as the band left the stage…..

Most impressive was the turn-out for this show, a nearly full arena. Hopefully promoters or whoever will take note and put together more such tours featuring a number of Canadian acts.

*April Wine returns to Europe, in October, to open for Uriah Heep (on their farewell tour)

https://aprilwine.ca/

BTO, APRIL WINE, HEADPINS to tour Canada in spring

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Three big names in Canadian rock will tour coast to coast in the spring. BTO – featuring Randy Bachman headlines the Back In Overdrive tour, along with APRIL WINE and The HEADPINS.

Check out the dates below, and more recent clips…