Discography

Currently Accessable:

• Boom Boom on Made In Canada 4 CD
• Brainwashed on Made In Canada 3 CD
• Brainwashed on The Magic Cube, People Of Tyme, Essential Pebbles #1
• Brainwashed on Made In Canada 3 CD

Original Issues:

• Boom Boom/I'm A Hog Her You: Atca 1965
• Barbie Lee/Lucy: Atca 1965
• Walk That Walk/Hey Hey Hey: Red Leaf 1965
• Take Me Back/Send Her Home Roman 1965
• Born With The Blues/Out Of The Sunshine Roman 1965
• Brainwashed/Barbie Lee Roman 1966
• Brainwashed/Born With The Blues Roman 1966
• David Clayton Thomas And The Shays A Go Go Roman 1965 LP
• David Clayton Thomas And The Bossmen Roman 1966 LP
• The "solo" LP (with a color picture of DCT singing on the front) is NOT recommended.

Related:

• The Shays: This Hour Has Seven Days and He Will Break Your Heart on Midwest vs. The Rest and Somethin' Else

History:

David Clayton Thomas began as one of the first Toronto "sound" artists to successfully blend his bluesy rock 'n roll style with hard driving white soul sounds. Unlike many of the young Toronto garage groups, David Clayton Thomas always wanted to give the appearance that he was a professional, and instead of opting for Yorkville, he played the nightclubs and strip joints of Toronto's Yonge Street, who housed show bands. Cursed with a love of booze, bad choices and an inflated ego, he often found himself down and out on Toronto's streets. One night having a fabulous back up band, great local recording career and money in his pocket and the next singing for food money on street corners.

It all started...

In the Millbrook reformatory. David Clayton Thomas, had borrowed a guitar from another inmate. He learned how to play fairly well, but mostly, he learned that he could sing, and his voice had a rough and tough sound to it, leading him to r&b and the blues. David was eventually released from Millbrook, near Ottawa and headed for Toronto hoping that he might be able to start some kind of a musical career. He ended up on Yonge Street, the cities center strip housing bars, strip joints, adult night clubs who always had a job for anyone needing to make a quick buck. Thomas frequented Yonge Street, watching southern rock 'n roll transplant Ronnie Hawkins an his young backing band. One afternoon, David was asked to get up and sing a number, which caught the attention of Bigland booking agent, Ron Scribner. Soon, Scribner set up the Shays, an instrumental r&b group to back Thomas live. At the time, the Shays included:

Scriber had connections to DJ Duff Roman, a DJ at CKEY radio. He hired David Clayton Thomas And The Shays to play his Brave New World after hours club, and to cut cut a record. Roman was able to get the group two releases on the ACTA label. "Boom Boom/Hog For You" covers of r&b/blues standards are done in an excellent, up beat tuff show band style while "Barbie Lee", from the second release is an excellent 12 bar r&b original with rich, soulful vocals and a searing guitar lead. CHUM, the coolest teen oriented radio station in Toronto picked up on the records and "Boom Boom" hit #16 on their charts.

Meanwhile, fellow Canadian Paul Anka had become the talent scout for the Hullabaloo Show, and was always willing to help his fellow canuck get some exposure. He had David Clayton Thomas and the Shays play "live" (lipsincing) on stage set like a hockey area with beautiful girls posed (standing completely still) in hockey gear all around the band who gave it their all. Very few Canadian groups were able to play on American TV, and when the boys returned to Toronto, they could do no wrong. Their manager, Roman began his own record label releasing their 1st LP (all their singles minus "Hog For You"), mainly comprised of blues covers aside from their absolutely amazing originals "Take Me Back" by Thomas and organ player Gord Flemming, and lead guitarist Fred Keeler's "I Don't Want You" plus "Walk That Walk" and, of course, "Barbie Lee".

First big mistake...

Although the group was very successful at recording (and catching a live and untamed sound), Roman did little to help back the group, and they floundered in small time gigs in Ontario bars mainly sticking to the Yonge Street strip. Just when things were getting very frustrating, David was given the opportunity to fill in for Ronnie Hawkins, backed by the Hawks. This was his dream come true! But it left the Shays feeling abandoned and second rate. The group had recently replaced organ player Gord Flemming with a second guitar player, Richie Cates, whom they discovered could also sing. So the Shays dumbed DCT.

For the next few months, David Clayton Thomas was back on the streets, without a band an not professional gigs. For money he busked, migrating a little up Yonge to the happening Yorkville area where he began to absorb the varied influences that were hip in the Village. Yorkville was Toronto's answer to Greenwich Village, Haight Asbury and Soho all rolled into one. It was a musically diverse, street living scene. DCT began to explore anthemic teen rock, and folk-rock, while firmly remaining on r&b ground. By 1966, the soul and r&b influences bands of Yorkville were beginning to take an interest in afro-jazz and Thomas proposed a new (and the first of many) r&b jazz rock band.

Big Bossmen...

Thomas met Tony Callacott, a local jazz pianist, and that got the ball rolling. Eventually they also found Jack Craig, Al O'Brien, Billy Ross and Jamie Todd and developed into a tuff, jazz influenced r&b band - the tightest group on the scene.Thomas was still managed by Roman, who eagerly release a 2nd LP "David Clayton Thomas and the Bossmen Sing It Like It Is" which includes the absolutely frantic r&b punker "Brianwashed", in the style (predating) Bob Seger's "2+2=?". The anti-vietnam anthem had to be "beeped" for radio airplay, yet it was still an astonishing hit. But once again, the group couldn't get beyond touring parts of Ontario. Roman just didn't have the connections. Slowly the frustrated group fell apart. David Clayton Thomas went on to form Blood, Sweat and Tears a year later.