02/23/10

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A Short History of Wailin' Wayne...

Wailin’ Wayne Pattern was born in Winnipeg and grew up in Montreal.  At 19 he took his harmonica to Thunder Bay to find work in the paper mills.  There he found his first real musical collaborator in David (where are you, anyway?) Garbo, a serious blues aficionado and fellow shift worker.  Looking for something more interesting than pulp wood, Wayne attended the broadcasting arts program at Confederation College, creating music videos at a time when Much Music was in its infancy, and finished up with a short stint working on Arthur Black's radio show at the local CBC.  Radio work was scarce at the time, so upon graduation he operated heavy equipment in the north woods or worked as a longshoreman at the Port Arthur ship yards, depending on the season.  He moved to Alberta for a while, working construction and hiking in the Jasper area mountains, and then returned to Northern Ontario.  In 1981 he took the road south to Toronto and for a year played music, bartended, and took odd jobs.  Later in '82 Wayne returned to Edmonton and immediately volunteered at the U of A radio station CJSR, hosting an on air record review segment, writing commercials, and recording music in the station’s studio with the Jim Gibbons Project (now of Amber Brewing fame).  Two years later he was on the road again, this time to Vancouver, where he hooked up with future members of the musical group The Cheshyres.  This band relocated to Toronto in late '85 and played the down town clubs from ‘86 to ’89, achieving varying degrees of success.  Interviews of the band appeared in several issues of What Wave Magazine, where Wailin’ Wayne was described as “…the ultimate front man”!  The Cheshyres recorded at Toronto's at Comfort Sound, and tracks from that recording have shown up on several compilation recordings, including Time Machine (1998) and Thee Cave Comes Alive (2002).  After the Cheshyres disbanded, Wayne left Toronto for London to raise his son, and later, attend university.  He fronted several musical projects there, most notably The Evil Hoodoos.  After graduating with a masters degree in engineering Wayne returned to Toronto to find work in his new career.  He continued to play music and record as a session player and backing vocalist, most notably with various configurations of the Jamie Browning Band.  Moving west to greener pastures, Wayne arrived in Edmonton and immediately headed to the Rose Bowl for Mike MacDonald's Church of the Sunday Open Stage.  It wasn’t long before Wayne’s vocal and harmonica talents were noticed, and he was recruited into the Whiskey Kings after jamming with the band one night at the Blind Pig.  This successful combo played repeat performances at such venues as the Crown and Anchor, the Tap House Grill, the Newcastle Pub, and had a long standing monthly arrangement at O’Byrne’s on Whyte avenue.  After a year and a half Wayne decided to take a break from the Whiskey King’s to pursue the long overdue Wailin’ Wayne project.  The CD 'Whacked' was recorded at Sound Extractor Studios, just off Stony Plain Road.  Repeated trips to the west coast, and the fact his son had somehow ended up on Portland, Oregon, finally convinced Wayne to relocate to Vancouver.  After some initial forays into the local scene, Wayne hooked up with some like-minded East Vancouver talents.  After several months of intense rehearsal, this band has found it's voice and is poised to take on a role in the West Coast music scene.