Farewell to a Five Man Electrical Band original
Hull’s Brian Rading ‘loved being on stage, that’s where his heart was’
Ottawa’s Five Man Electrical Band produced one song, Signs, that is part of rock’s canon, and an opening shout-out — to “longhaired freaky people”— that embedded itself in our catalogue of absorbed lyrics.
Brian Rading was the bass player in the band, led by Les Emmerson, and sang backup vocals, meaning millions have heard his amplified artistry, and always will.
Just weeks shy of his 70th birthday, Rading died June 8 in a rambling old house in central Hull, where he lived with multiple cats, which he adored.
Since news broke, friends and musical mates have come forward to talk about his incredible output in Ottawa’s music scene for the past 50 years.
“He loved being on stage, more than anything,” said his daughter Jennifer, 41. “That’s where his heart was. That was his soul.”
Being the only child of a ’70s rock Dad had its moments, like her graduation in Girl Guides, when Rading showed up in his concert get-up: leopard-print pants, makeup and earrings. “I mean, Dad, really?” she said Thursday, her horror now softened. “I have so many stories like that. You can’t embarrass me anymore.”
His musical lineage is quite breathtaking. At age 15, he was touring with a band called The Regals. Not long after came The Staccatos (1963), who became legitimately successful nationally, only to morph into Five Man Electrical Band, which had a couple of hits that broke into the Billboard charts, reaching No. 1 in some markets.
They toured North America widely, moved to Los Angeles for a while and — to simplify many episodes into one phrase — became a big hairy deal in Canadian music.
Well, it is the natural evolution with bands to break up, isn’t it? And Rading left Five Man in 1973. There were other bands in succession: Powerhouse, Backyard Symphony, Messenger, many others. He went through a glam phase with the band Crucial Moments, which was heavy on invention and theatricality.
Brian Sim, 63, was a member and, oddly enough, plays with a reborn Five Man to this day.
“Brian was warm, friendly, thoughtful, helpful. He did a lot of things for a lot of people,” said Sim, not skipping over the man’s musical talent. “He was one of the best bass players I’ve ever played with.”
Sim said Crucial Moments stuck together until 1992, but Rading was busy as a bass-forhire at all kinds of gigs, often bringing Jennifer along.
Rading, meanwhile, like many professional musicians in a relatively small town, had to find “straight” work. He became an expert painter and drywall man, his friends said, and eventually a landlord with a kooky-coloured place on Stirling Avenue.
He usually drove an old, big-ass Cadillac and Sim said it was nothing to open the trunk and find musical equipment mixed in with paint cans and reno tools.
Gary Latendresse, 47, is a former roadie for Five Man and now hosts his own Internet radio show, which is devoting three hours to Rading’s music this Sunday.
In 2001, he said he was stuck for a place to live for himself, his wife, a dog, a rabbit and a couple of birds. He called Rading, who nearly had enough cats to field a baseball team, a relative said.
It sounds like a terrible combination, but Rading said they could work things out and in moved Latendresse with his portable zoo.
“When you look at him, you think he’s going to be tough to talk to,” said Latendresse, referring to the once-long hair, and Fu-Manchu, “but once you get to know him, he had a heart of gold.”
He was, certainly, a character who loved a good line. An old bandmate recalled his rallying cry when it was time to get serious with a song: “Let’s cook this turkey!”
He crossed paths with musicians great and small and the locals tell tales of encounters with Van Morrison and offers of work from Eric Burdon and the Animals.
“Everybody in the music scene in Ottawa,” says Latendresse, “knew Brian.”
Rading told a Citizen reporter in the 1980s that he saw a pamphlet for guitar lessons when he was 12, hanging around the schoolyard at York Street Public. He took a series of 14, at $2 each. Before he finished high school, he turned pro. He never knew wealth or fame from his music, such were the times.
Rading developed throat cancer in the past couple of years and died of natural causes. A memorial service is being planned for later this summer.
The long-haired freaky people, truly, are a good man down.