Facebook page devoted to Cape Breton’s music history
For those who may have questions about the history of Cape Breton’s music, a Facebook group devoted to the bands of Cape Breton might be the place to start.
Since May 4 of 2016, close to 2,100 Cape Breton music lovers have been relying on Cape Breton Bands to link them to photos, videos and general information about local performers.
“It’s trip down Memory Lane for most,” says Mike Hussey, 46, of the group that he and his brother Lloyd Hussey, 48, administer on Facebook.
The group was started by Lloyd Hussey in 2016 and he’s the one who does most of the site’s maintenance, says Mike. Both brothers are longtime musicians who have played with many of the performers who are highlighted on the site’s pages.
In addition to their own musical backgrounds, Mike credits their father, Lloyd Hussey Sr., also a musician, for their interest in the subject.
“My dad is a record collector and he’s been collecting since he was a little kid,” says Mike. “But he started collecting some memorabilia too … He asked all his own friends if they had pictures of the bands they played in so he accumulated
about 100 hard copy photos or scans of the old photos of some of the bands. I in turn scanned them to put them on the computer and then I ran the idea by dad to see if he was OK with it and I ran the idea by my brother, Lloyd Jr., to see what he thought about making a page. I’d put my old photos on it, Lloyd’s been in umpteen bands, put his on and see if any of our buddies who play music want to put them on — it will be like a little archive.
“Well, it started to blow up and people wanted to join the site. Initially we had it open but you get the scammers and the advertisers coming in so we had to make it into a private group.”
The response to the group has been far beyond what he ever expected. He’s hopeful more people may now contact the page with information about other groups. Information, videos and photos of all genres of music is welcomed.
“It brings back with the old photos the bands that people went to see back in the day. We’re happy that it blew up. Maybe it will draw more people to be contributors to the page. It might trigger a good memory.”
Mike says his father, who’s not on Facebook, thinks the response to the whole idea of the site is “pretty neat.
“It’s quite fun to see it grow like it did.”