"The Barking Eye"

Brian Tremblay is a successful Sault business man, photographer, writer, father and musician.  His musical roots come from his total love of the Beatles and their music.  His music career actually started around the same time as mine.  Actually, we were in a few bands together in our highschool days playing Knack songs and tunes by The Cars.  His original goal in life was to be a broadcaster and he did do that for some time but along the way, he was bitten by the photography bug and has excelled at that throughout his life.  I remember Brian having a dark room for photography in his mom's home.  Throughout his musical career Brian has had his ups and downs with the local music scene just like we've all had, but at one point, he quit altogether.  BUT, music has a strange way of pulling you back in and that happened with Brian.  In the early years Brian wanted to do something unique with the creation of a "tributes style" show band but at the same time wanted to make money at it.  That is very hard to do in the Sault.  He found out that the Sault doesn't take kindly to change nor does it really give you a chance to explore that far from it's center ground.   With growing frustration, he quit.  I had long talks with him about the music scene saying you have to do it for the love of it first and if money happens, great but if you're out for the money first, the Sault isn't the place to be music wise.   Well, I'm not quite sure his opinions have changed but he did throughout all of his hard work discover the freedom and pleasure of writing and recording his own music.   Brian has already released one album "Road Hockey"  locally and he just released "Steel Man" his follow up album.

Brian just seems to love writing and I can only assume that it gives him a freedom that doing cover material never gave him.   I can relate to that. ;-)   Steel Man is an album of memories for Brian and even myself because I know some of the topics he's singing about because we both lived pretty much in the same area.
Brian and I have been friends for years and have experienced similar things musically.  Brian's music surprises me in that I don't hear his Beatles influences in the music but again, the lyrics I do relate to.   Some songs from his first album related  to growing up playing street hockey or when milk was actually delivered to your door every morning in glass bottles.   Yuppers, I remember those days. I'm old. |O|   Milk tasted so good back then. ;-)  His songs are almost a history lesson on life in the Sault in the late 60's early 70's.   Brian's new album "Steel Man"  has some darker subject matter which include, dealing with bouts of depression but also upbeat songs of his teenage years and the love in his life.   After listening to all the samples on his promo site you can tell his music has grown since his first album but he also keeps a light hearted fun approach to some of his songs too.  The title track "Steel Man" is about his dad Ted who passed away some years ago.  I knew his dad and I'm sure he'd be proud of what Brian has accomplished.

Brian has been involved with guitarist/ engineer Rusty McCarthy who helped him out with the production side of his albums and all the hard work shows in the final product.   Brian's live band is Buffalo Alice and some of his original material gets played at their shows.  This year, Brian's band finally hits the Rotaryfest main stage so his music will hit a wider audience.   His wife Lynn, a great singer in her own right,  is also in the band and contributes to his albums.

I've known Brian for decades and one thing I love about him is that he's not afraid to voice his opinion.  I respect that.  Some just beat around the bush with what they want to say but Brian lets you know what's on his mind without flinching.  Hmmmm. Kinda like me ;-)   Some frown on that but Brian is still recording and performing and most of all, doing it his way, while others have faded away.   That's gotta mean something. ;-)

Brian's music can be found on the CDbaby website at the link below.  You can buy his albums or individual songs. Be sure to check his band out at the Rotaryfest concerts this July.

http://www.cdbaby.com/cd/BrianTremblay1