Ugly Ducklings (Toronto, Canada)

Here's one thats pretty close to home for me, I'll start with some info on the group from Canoe.ca's Pop Encyclopedia Entry on them.

Dave Bingham (vocals)
Glynn Bell (guitar)
Roger Mayne (guitar)
John Read (bass)
Robin Boers (drums)
Mike McKenna (guitar)

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.


I was at home around this time last year, and I noticed after bugging my father about them before, that his old 45s had appeared from nowhere near the stereo in my parents basement.
I came across 3 Ducklings singles among some other good finds:

1966 Nothin'/I Can Tell (Yorktown) 45001
1966 She Ain't No Use To Me/10:30 Train (Yorktown) Y-45002
1967 Gaslight/Rimb Nugget (Yorkville) YV-45013

As my dad grew up in Scarborough, these guys were pretty local and a big thing in Toronto obviously at the time. One of his good friends was the younger brother of the bassist (John Read, I believe according to above).
The band had some pretty instant success after the first few singles, and they signed a deal to put out an LP which was to be recorded in New York City.

Now in a pretty rotten money driven move, the record company decided to cheap out on flying the band to NYC.. Instead they just sent singer David Bingham, and used a session band to record their album Somewhere Outside. They didn't last much longer after the lp was pressed.

My dad told me that after they broke up, he bought the Gibson EB-3 bass used by John Read through his younger brother. That bass recorded on all the singles through 'Nothin' up until to their session band LP release, which included Gas Light. So there's always been a pretty cool piece of Canadian Garage Rock history right in my parent's basement.


Nothin'


Gaslight


Heres a live performance of a tune called Hangman: