Haywire

Haywire
Origin	Charlottetown, PEI, Canada
Genre(s)	AOR/Hard rock
Years active	1982–1993, 2004-present
Label(s)	Attic Records
Members
Dave Rashed Paul MacAusland Marvin Birt Ronnie Switzer Scott Kilbride

Haywire is a Canadian AOR/hard rock band originally from Charlottetown, Prince Edward Island.

Biography

Haywire formed in Charlottetown, PEI in 1982 by Dave Rashed, Paul MacAusland, Marvin Birt, Scott Robers and Ronnie Switzer^[1]. While all the members of the band have been solid from the start, drummer Sean Kilbride was actually the fourth drummer in the group's short history. Ron "Bumble" LeBlanc had replaced the original Haywire drummer Scott Roberts in 1984. He remained with the band through their demo stages, EP, and can be heard playing on two cuts of the bands first record with Attic. LeBlanc was replaced by Mac Cole when he decided to move on from the group and pursue a formal education. Cole only played two months with the band when Haywire's long-time friend Kilbride appeared gunning for the job. In the summer of 1986 the group jumped quickly and signed up Kilbride and successfully pursued a record contract with Attic.

Their first full-length album, Bad Boys, went platinum in Canada, while the title track became a top-40 hit. The following year, they released Don't Just Stand There, which also went platinum and contained their biggest ever hit, the hard-driving "Dance Desire". Throughout the late 80's, Haywire toured with other popular Canadian rockers such as Helix, Honeymoon Suite and Kim Mitchell. They also represented Canada in the World Popular Song Festival in Japan, where "Dance Desire" won the award for best song. Despite their success in Canada, and interest stateside from Doc McGee (Management for Bon Jovi, Mötley Crüe, Skid Row, etc.), Q-Prime (management for Metallica, Shania Twain, Red Hot Chili Peppers, etc.) & Chrysalis Records (to name one prominent record company), they were unable to secure a US record deal; rumoured due to totally unrealistic demands from Attic.

The follow-up album, Nuthouse, was recorded in Norway with Bjorn Nessjo at the production helm; one of Europe's most sought-after producers at the time. Unsatisfied with the results, Haywire fired Nessjo, remixed the album themselves and released it in 1990. It was guitar-driven, had a much harder edge and was considered to be the style of music the band wanted to pursue, rather than the pop pap their record label thought was necessary. Though it went gold (eventually hitting platinum sales), it didn't generate as much interest as their previous albums (and received the least amount of support from the record label). They produced one more album, 1992's Get Off, which was critically well-received, but still didn't fuel the support from the record company (financial and otherwise) that they needed. After contractual struggles, the group refused to re-sign with their label Attic, and was unable to secure a new contract Stateside. To fulfill their contractual obligations with Haywire, Attic released a greatest hits CD in 1993 entitled Wired - Best of without any input from the band (even with offered input including rare & unreleased material from David Rashed). The band eventually broke up in the mid-1990s.

Continual radio play in Canada has brought the band together in recent years for smaller scale tours with other acts from the Eighties. The band has recently had their albums re-issued on CD through Unidisc Music Inc.. In November of 2006, Haywire were awarded the Music Prince Edward Island Lifetime Achievement Award^[2].

Original members

• Paul MacAusland - Vocals
• Dave Rashed - Keyboards, backing vocals
• Marvin Birt - Guitars, backing vocals
• Ronnie Switzer - Bass
• Scott Roberts - Drums

Additional members

• Sean Kilbride - Drums
• Adam Dowling - Drums
• Ron "Bumble" LeBlanc - Drums
• Mac Cole - Drums

Discography

Albums

• Haywire - 1985
• Bad Boys - 1986
• Don't Just Stand There - 1987
• Nuthouse - 1990
• Get Off - 1992
• Wired - Best of - 1993

Singles

• "Bad Bad Boy" (1986) #40 CAN
• "Standin' in Line" (1986)
• "Shot in the Dark" (1986 - no video)
• "Dance Desire" (1987) #21 CAN
• "Black and Blue" (1987)
• "Fire" (1988)
• "Thinkin' About the Years" (1988 - no video) #38 CAN
• "Operator Central" (1989)
• "Short End of a Wishbone" (1990)
• "Taken the Pain" (1991 - no video)
• "Get Back" (1992)
• "Wanna Be the One" (1992)
• "Buzz" (1992 - no video)

References

External links

• Haywire Comeback Fan Site
• Haywire on HeavyHarmonies.com
• Haywire on JAM! Pop Encyclopedia

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