DEADLINE – Deadline (1992 Deadline Productions)
Old school adherents of the classic Pepsi Power Hour may remember the video for “Donna (Do You Wanna)” by Sarnia Ontario’s Deadline. This self-titled mini-album was not their first release, they did have an indi cassette before this. Their 1992 CD debut was impressive quality for the period. “Friction Addiction” (heard in re-recorded form on Raw M.E.A.T 3) is a cool, innovative hard rock number with a funky lead vocal. The guys were all musically and vocally talented: the Wood brothers Tim and Tom (vocals and drums respectively), Paul Albert (bass), and Shawn Meehan (guitars). “Friction Addition” was exactly the kind of song that could have become a hit in 1992. It was still upbeat, good-time hard rock, but with modern elements that the 1990’s demanded.
“Donna” sounds like an outtake from Extreme’s first album, a bit dated now. It’s a nice shuffle complete with harmonica blasts, and fans of that old time hard rock will still like it. The juvenile lyrics however are way below the quality of the music and playing. “Nothing Left to Lose” is a somber ballad, a cross between Europe’s “Tomorrow” and Dokken’s “Alone Again”. Bassist Paul Albert is credited as the pianist on the track.
“Imagine That” is one of those early 90’s Ugly Kid Funk Metal™ tracks. Paint a visual picture and you’ll probably be pretty close. Regardless of the dated sound, it is still a pretty fun song. Following that is the less-funky “Do You Believe”, a fun hard rocker that even quotes “Bomehian Rhapsody”. How 1992! Once again, Extreme comparisons are apt. Slaughter too, especially vocally. “Set Your Sails” is the “inspirational” track. You always had to have one of those, didn’t you? As such it’s upbeat and plenty good. The tricky guitar solo reminds me of Richie Kotzen in style.
The CD ends with the jokey acoustic jam, “I Hate Workin'”. It has that old Van Halen vibe of the “drunken party” in the background, and the singalong chorus. Their hearts were the right place, but the song is a bit on the corny side. Still, for a first CD? Not bad at all.
After this the band released an EP called So This is Limbo and an album called Tangible Vibe. These releases had a marked change of direction. Guitar solos were chopped and songs shortened; as the 90’s progressed so they did, right into pop punk. Both are pretty good releases, but we’ll have to look at them another time. Deadline, the debut, scores a respectable:
3/5 stars
Incidentally, this CD will not rip on any machine. No computer will play it, only an actual CD player. I have had that problem with a few Canadian made CDs from the early 90’s.
I think this is an elaborate hoax, you just invented these guys. Nice try Mike, but I reckon I’ve called you correctly on this one!
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I agree with Mr 1537. I started to smell a rat with the song title “Friction Addiction” hahaha I’m not falling for that one!
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Exactly, can’t pull the wool over our eyes!
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;)
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We shall see :)
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BUSTED!
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These guys were a great band and great guys too.
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Indeed they are Derek, and stay tuned because I’ll be posting a review of Raw M.E.A.T #3 in a few days. It had a new version of Friction Addiction on it, as you probably know!
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Hi…this bad is SOOO real! I watched them relentlessly whenever they would show up in Kelowna to play at Iggy’s 🥰. I dated Tim, the lead vocalist ❣. I have been trying to find him???? I have pics of us….
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I meant band
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Show us the pics!
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I get a lot of emails asking me if I know where they are. I am just a fan. Nice to meet others who know Deadline! I played Donne Do Ya Wanna on my show last Friday!
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Seen them many years ago Petrolia ontario opening for gypsy rose… remember them?
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Gypsy Rose of Simmons Records fame! I sure do.
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No computer plays this? Challenge accepted! (just kidding)
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Didja try a Mac? I was able to do that Cinderella for you, no problem, when yours wouldn’t do it.
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No dude Cinderella didn’t work remember? It still had that staticky noise through it.
No Mac will rip this, or Raw MEAT 3, or Cinderella without the noise. All three play fine on a normal CD player, which is weird.
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Really? I don’t recall that… I thought that that had worked. Did you tell me it hadn’t, because I think I’d have felt bad for the failure? It’s weird. It plays here with no static. Hm. That means I’ll bring back the original to you when we go to Taranna! At least then you could play it!
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Well you can keep the original, I have two copies. I bought another copy hoping the problem would have been confined to mine, but no luck.
Yeah I told you that a little while after you burned it. Bummer. Still don’t understand the problem.
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I think we even played it in the car on our last Taranna trip, so you could hear the tracks?
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It’s mostly noticeable on the last two tracks, the live ones. The rest of the CD sounded mostly fine.
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Wow I’m not recalling that at all. Sorry Dude! All this time I thought we’d gotten that sucker sorted.
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I went back and checked my rip of it. The album tracks play fine, but there is a wet slap to the snare drums on the live stuff. BUMMER!
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do you even have access to a Mac, Mike?
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Not one. Any time I upgrade to a new PC or install a new CD drive, I try again with no luck.
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You’ve tried accessing the files on the CD thru windows explorer? Or is the disc just not found?
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I have tried my sister’s Mac.
Depends on the machine, what happens. It usually starts ripping but stalls without progress. Some CDs will rip, but then are so noisy they are unlistenable. Usually with Canadian made indy discs from 1990-1992.
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Sorry I can’t help the skeptics, I don’t remember Deadline at all. But if they made the Power Hour, they must’ve been doing alright, right?!
Donna (Do You Wanna) is such a promising song title, I love it.
Also, this almost made me spit precious, precious morning coffee: “early 90’s Ugly Kid Funk Metal™” Bahaha!
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And you thought Friction Addiction resembled GNR right?
I hear that. GNR without the anger.
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And don’t forget the cowbell. MORE COWBELL!! ;)
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Is it true that the Canadian music TV shows had to play a certain percentage of Canuck music?
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Yes, radio too. It’s called CanCon.
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So that’s what that means!
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I did wonder. It’s the only plausible reason for the existence/success of Sloan.
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Hoo! A jab at Sloan!
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Heh Heh I’ve got plenty more where that came from. I love poking fun at those guys.
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Oh Scott, you keep poking at Sloan, but we all know you love them. It’s OK. We’re all Sloan fans here. Come on out and join us!
As for Can Con, it’s a cool requirement, actually. We wouldn’t have half the music on the radio that we do without it. American content would just take over.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Canadian_content
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Sloan is on the radio right now. Scott would hate what Craig calls them: “Canada’s greatest band, of all time.”
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Urgh. Come on! Everyone knows that’s Kick Axe!
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I’m hoping they’ll play some Kick Axe this weekend, on the 80’s weekend. Always a blast.
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Canada’s Greatest Band Of All Time. Wow. There’s a post in that, alright.
KICK AXE!! Awesome.
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Incidentally I’ve finished the next two reviews in this series already, so there is more Deadline coming soon, really soon.
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The most important thing is you’ve met the DEADLINE for this series!
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Of course he did! He’s just making all this shit up.
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But… but he sent you PROOF!
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I think he just recorded that himself.
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Not only did I send proof, but on the next installment, I include a music video and interview with TDM on MuchWest.
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Also, you gotta admit, that was a pretty sweet pun. I rushed to get that in there before anyone beat me to it.
I… I think I’m a geek…
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Nah, he’d have had even more cowbell in there.
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Exactly. That’s how you’ll know.
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This review reminds me of the slew of bands out here in SF during the late 80’s/early 90’s Totally riding the crest of the wave that included acts like Primus, Faith No More and RHCP. Bands like Psychefunkapus, Fungo Mungo, the Limbomaniacs and Mordred. Look em up.
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Don’t have to, I remember the names! Mind Funk too.
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Welcome to the Encyclopedia Lebrainica.
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There were a shit-ton of bands named Deadline:
http://www.last.fm/music/Deadline/+wiki
I remember getting a piece of mail from this band saying they were changing their name to WAVE and they had a new logo and everything. But nothing happened, that was it, and as you know, another band came along with the name Wave shortly after.
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Saw them supporting King’s X – they had Jason Everman (ex-Nirvana) in their ranks, although this was a year or two before we’d ever heard of Nevermind.
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Ex-Soundgarden too, I seem to remember.
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Mordred were great.
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In This Life was a fine album.
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Hi Jay,
If I can ever get this CD to successfully rip to mp3, I will be happy to oblige.
I still haven’t been able to rip this. I have one CD player that will play the disc, but none of our computers will even read it.
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Hey. I got up this morning, and after about 25 years, I wondered what ever happened to Shawn, Tim, Tom, and Paul. . . So I googled them and came across your review and band bio.
For anyone who thinks this was not a real band, believe me, it was. I was a member of the band up until the first album was released. I was the sax player. Yes, they had a sax player. Shawn, Tom, Paul and I were in a bar band in the late ’80s called Mikey and the Mudcats. We toured the Southern Ontario bar scene on weekends, and toured much of the province in the summer of 1990. We were all students in the jazz program at Humber College, and we decided to move in together when school started up in the fall. Tim joined us, and we immediately started the band. All of us dropped out of college on Halloween day of 1990.
We originally called the band “Mankind”, but ultimately ended up with Deadline. Donna – from the song “Donna Do You Wanna” – was about a girl I met in Dryden, Ontario while on the road with the Mudcats. I had a part in all of the tunes on that debut album; and like I said, I was rehearsing with the band right up until the recording. But when it came down to it, the band was going in a direction where the saxophone just wasn’t going to work. Originally, we kind of had that Extreme (Get The Funk Out) sound, with the sax playing riffs with the guitar. It was pretty cool, but it ultimately want where the band wanted to go. I left – the band and the house – in February of 1991.
I had heard that the guys moved out west, but that was it. In the early ’90s there were no cell phones or email addresses, so we lost touch completely. I wonder what they’re doing now. If you’re ever in touch with them, please say hello for me. That was a good time in my life. Great guys, and fine musicians. Life goes by so fast. . .
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WOW thanks so much for these stories! I had no idea they used sax at any point, but I can totally picture it in my head. It would have been pretty current. I would have enjoyed it!
Your memory is incredible. Again, thanks for posting!
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My pleasure, Mike. It is good to re-live your past now and then – to remind yourself of some of the cool and crazy experiences that you had. That was an interesting era. The guys from Gypsy Rose were at our house quite a bit. Lots of great stories . . . So much tequila. . . .
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Gypsy Rose, I was just thinking about that band and how I STILL need their CD! Should have bought it in 1990!
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I don’t think I had a CD player until 1994, so my Gypsy Rose album is on cassette! It won’t rip into my computer either!
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With the proper cables, a tape deck, and a DAW, you can rip that cassette onto your computer.
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Such an amazing trip down memory lane…
I took guitar lessons from Shawn Meehan back in the day as well as lessons from Craig from Gypsy Rose.
Sarnia, Ontario was quite the rock and roll hotbed back then.
Mike Ross from Gypsy Rose is still in town and writing and recording. I played guitar on a couple of his tracks on his recent release and will be doing so again on his new stuff.
Deadline and teh guys from Gypsy were (and still are) extremely talented.
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Sorry it has taken me so long to respond. My wife was sick when you posted this and I was taking a break.
I need to get the Gypsy Rose album. It’s never been easy to find. I’ll check out the Discogs!
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