The
Viscounts
were formed circa 1958 by Terry Coan, Gene Gillott, Steve Bonar, and
Earl
Davies. The name "Viscounts" is credited to Earl Davies
(Guitar).
We were a weekend garage band that played rhythm and blues based rock
and
roll. We played all the local clubs, high schools, and community
centres around the lower mainland until 1967.
Terry
Coan, December
2002
Nicely done
site.
Its great to see all the old familiar faces. I still stay in
touch
with Gene Gillotte and Terry Coen from the "Viscounts". I ran in
to Harry Walker from the "High Fives" about 2 years ago, but lost touch
when he moved.
Keep up the
great
work.
Bruce
Nielsen,
December 2003
We were
practicing at
a small hall (Hendry Hall) in North Vancouver one weekend when a white
Caddilac convertable pulled up ouside and one Gene McCormick introduced
himself and offered to manage us. It was like something out of a
dime store novel. "Small group gets discovered!"
That is when we
started to get some real "money jobs" - I think it was $10 each per
gig.
For a while the whole group lived together so we could practice (and
party)
without having to leave home.
The
Mysterians also
had one other novelty: we would turn all the lights off and had a
black light (untroviolet) lamp that would be the only source of
illumination.
There was some element of the robes that would glow but the real reason
was to hide the fact that the "second group"
was really the
Viscounts.
I still stay
in touch
with Terry Coan, Bruce Neilson and Steve Bonar. Also had an
occasion
to talk with Bob Hodgson a while back. I have not played much
since
the Viscounts except for a couple of "sit ins"...still, there is always
that chance of getting together with some of the guys for one last
stand.
Gene
Gillott,
December 2004
