Along with the Haunted, the Ugly Ducklings were probably the best Canadian rock group of the mid-'60s. Like the Haunted, they drew heavily from the Rolling Stones -- as well as bits of the Kinks and Pretty Things -- for their raunchy R&B/rock sound, but had the edge over the Haunted in that they wrote stronger original material. Scoring a national hit with "Nothin'," the Toronto band recorded an album in 1966 and a few singles in 1966 and 1967, perhaps gaining their greatest international exposure when their "Just In Case You Wondered" made it onto one of the Pebbles compilations. ~ Richie Unterberger, All Music Guide
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“Nothin’’ is is their classic punk raver. This is a beautiful example of transistorized snarl. A tasteful addition to your jukebox.
The Ugly Ducklings formed in Yorkville Village in 1965 and became a driving force in getting the area noticed based on their Rolling Stones-inspired 'bad boy' reputation.
In 1966 they released their first single, "Nothin", on the Yorkville label and followed that with several more singles concluding with the chart topping "Gaslight" in 1967. Written by Robert Hailey, a Yorkville Records staff member, the song went 1 in Toronto and parts of eastern Canada. It was recorded in New York utilizing Doc Severenson's Tonight Show Band and without the benefit of all the band members present -- only vocalist Dave Bingham appears.
In 1968 Yorkville released the band's debut album, 'Somewhere Outside', and Mick Jagger proclaimed The Ugly Ducklings as "my favourite Canadian band". By this time, they had already disbanded.
In the late '70's, Roger Mayne would manage and produce some material for notorious Toronto punk act The Viletones.
The Ducklings reunited in 1979 for a new album -- 1980's 'Off The Wall' -- which led to plenty of press and a new revival. A short batch of live dates first with drummer Robin Boers (who managed only one gig before a previous lounge commitment called him away) and then with former Diode John Hamilton who got the gig after Viletones drummer Motor X recommended him to the band.
In 1982 the band reformed again, this time with four original members Bingham, Mayne, Bell, and Boers with Ron Cameron on bass, for a sweep of the Ontario club scene and promotion of a single, "War Babies", on Razor Records.
All this attention prompted ARC Records to re-issue the band's material as a self-titled album featuring several previously unreleased tracks.
After being out of print for decades, two companies reissued the band's material on three CDs, all within a month of each other in 1998. Pacemaker was first out of the gate with 'Too Much Too Soon', which consisted of the first album plus a handful of singles, including "Gaslight".
In December 1998, Quebec-based Unidisc put out two CDs simultaneously: a straight reissue of 'Somewhere Outside' and a revamped version of a previous, self-titled reissue which included material from the first album along with an alternate version of "Gaslight" and three later bonus tracks.
Throughout the 1990's Dave Bingham was an auto mechanic in Fenelon Falls, Ontario but has most recently been performing in pick-up acts and a reformed version of the Ugly Ducklings who've been performing at Yorkville Revival shows throughout southern Ontario in 1999; Roger Mayne died in 2004.
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