After receiving this e-mail
report from one of our magazine's contributers C.P. Roth,esq. who is
vacationing in the Yukon, I decided to investigate:
"Okay,
kids, here's the scoop!! Mont's original lineup appeared
Thursday night at a small eskimo bar near Moosejaw, that's in Canada
by the way. Pictures from this & other shows have been smuggled
out of the Great White North & will appear on webpages within a
short trime. Mont has stated in interviews that he is doing an
"Arctic Circle Tour" this summer. The reason for all of this is that
nobody knows who the hell he really is up here, & if all goes
well...he may bring the band south. I'll tell ya boys & girls,
these guys can still rock the casbah, er, igloo that is! Stay tuned
for more" -C.P.
YR: What
brings you & your band way up here from the U.S?
HM: We
figured that no one who remembered us would ever be
here!
YR: I know of
you from browsing the web. Are you in trouble with the
law?
HM: No, not
at all..we just wanted a place to get the band "tight" You said that
you have never heard of us except on the web, but we had a huge cult
following in several countries during the seventies.There has been
an upswelling of interest in the band recently, so we figured it may
be time to put it back together.
Slim Boggins:
(guitarist): Let me add to that. Mont has been incognito for over
two decades. Even the rest of us guys in the band didn't hear from
him. This was the shock of a lifetime.
YR: So, you
hadn't seen each other for more than twenty years? What have all of
you been doing during that
time?
Slim: Well,
when Mont vanished in '77, I was pretty strung out on drugs. I'm
clean now, by the way, have been for fifteen years. In those days, I
loved a song by Frank Zappa called "Montana". It told about a guy
leaving the rat race to raise up dental floss. So, that's what I
tried. I moved out to Montana, bought some land & started
raising dental floss. It didn't work out with the floss, but I still
have a small ranch out there near Boseman.
Larry
Laugerhead: (keyboardist) I've been working in retail shoe sales
& playing music on the side since '77. I even played in a Hot
Mont tribute band in Ohio for a while...pretty ironic for a founding
member to do a tribute to his own band!
con't |
arctic circle tour con't. pg
2
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B. C.
Whackerman: (drummer): When the band broke up, I had a tough
decision: to stay with music or follow my family military/law
enforcement traditions. I chose the latter & I've only started
playing again this year. I love being back out here on the road
again!
H.M.: Local
& federal statutes may prohibit me from speaking of my
past.(laughs)
YR: What
happened to the horn section you all refer to?
H.M. I have
never heard from them. You know, the definition of an optimist is a
trombone player with a beeper. (laughs). Not a lot of call for four
piece trombone sections these days.
YR: Any plans
to record new material? And, on the same note, what's the story on
this "greatest hits" collection being remastered from scraps of
tape? Some guys in Pennsylvania are doing it?
H.M. As far
as recording new stuff, we're not to that point yet. We've gotta
decide if we're even gonna continue this touring down south when the
cold hits in September. This tour is over in late August, it get's
too cold for us ! As far as the guys in LaTrobe remastering my
stuff, I have never met them, but let them go for it . Sniff Brown
(Sniff Brown Records-Mont's label) is dead now, he's the only one
who would try to stop them. More excerpts from this
interview next month.. gotta run
-Bill Del
Rumple/7-30-01 |
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AN INTERESTING E-MAIL REGARDING
THE ARCTIC CIRCLE TOUR:
By Rabbi Ruben Glessteanosh /
8-3-01 It was a
warm summer day in 1978 as I was fishing for some kosher Yellow Pike
up yonder in the North Bay of Canada when a puddle-jumping plane
landed by my boat. Some lad stepped out of the plane onto the
floatation and asked me how the fishing was. Before I could answer a
lady stepped out of the plane and said, "My name is Icecat Sally and
me and the Mont have been trying to get some "gigs" up here in the
Arctic Circle." She seemed
quite gregarious, but he just kind a smiled. Me being a Rabbi and
all, I said, "Hey! Shalom! I got a whole fishing tackle box full of
"jigs" if you are after Yellow Pike like I am." They started
laughing, jumped back in the plane and flew off. They said they were
heading south to Florida. When I
returned to shore and told some fellow fishermen about the event
they explained the difference between a gig and a jig. I was so
embarrassed and always wondered how those kids made out. I was glad
to hear Hot Monti finally got a tour at the Arctic circle. Go Hot
Monti! Do you think Icecat Sally is still with
him? Shalom!
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