British Modbeats’ Fraser Loveman dies
At one point in the early ’70s, Fraser Loveman’s St. Catharines pad on Glenhurst Circle became a music scene mecca.
Fans of the British Modbeats singer would flock to the place. Alice Cooper, Grace Slick and Burton Cummings all slept over. During one memorable party, he and some friends held a séance to try and contact the spirit of Janis Joplin. He called it off when lightning struck the house.
For decades afterwards, Loveman’s home became the gathering spot for local music buffs, either to talk tunes or drool at his massive record collection.
Loveman, who died Friday of complications from pneumonia and influenza, was known as
‘The Professor’ to his friends. He loved music, and he loved talking about music. In the early ’90s, he was the obvious choice to teach a course on the history of popular 20th-century music at Niagara College.
“Every time I go to his place, there’s something I learn,” said Fraser’s longtime friend and British Modbeats bassist Joe Colonna in a 1991 interview with The Review. “Going to Fraser’s is like going to a classroom.”
During that same interview, Loveman fondly recalled turning the St. Catharines music scene upside down after forming The British Modbeats (no, none of them were British) with some St. Catharines friends. Their legendary live shows at local club The Castle were psychedelic events.
“We cleaned up in this area,” Loveman said. “We became the main band.”
They were soon one of Canada’s main bands, a step ahead of trends in the mid-’60s with their long hair and wild attire. Their 1967 debut album, “Mod … is the British Modbeats,” made a lasting impact on Canada’s garage rock landscape.
At the centre of it all was Loveman, the band’s singer and visual focal point.
“Fraser knows what is going on long before North American fashion designers pick it up,” raved a bio writer on the album’s back sleeve. “With the longest hair, the wildest bell bottoms, and a ring on nearly every finger, he is the style-setter of the group and the focal point of their show.”
In a 1968 music magazine poll, Loveman was ranked Canada’s second favourite male vocalist, behind Leonard Cohen.
The Modbeats burned bright but not long. After a disastrous trip to New York, where they were met with indifference, they soon split upand Loveman formed the bizarre psychedelic band The Village S.T.O.P. .