to buy records at places like Sam The Record Man on Yonge Street. I get a kick out of this when I look back on it today. I used to take orders from anybody in Owen Sound who wanted records when I knew I was making a record-buying trip to Toronto!
I’d go down to Toronto every so often and I enjoyed those trips very much, since I was very excited about getting the latest records from the groups I loved. So, I think I probably heard about The Yardbirds from CHUM. As well, the Toronto Star newspaper had a section for teenagers and that’s maybe where I saw that The Yardbirds were coming to Hidden Valley.
REDDON:
That’s very interesting. It would be incredible to hear such an old radio ad, for such a great group in a rather remote location! It’s impressive that you would take record orders for people. Very considerate.
HEWITT:
I don’t know about that, but I didn’t mind getting records for other people from Owen Sound because I was going anyway and it was fun. Yes, that would be quite novel to hear the old radio advertisement today. That was a long time ago now.
REDDON:
So you mentioned you were the bass player in your high school band, The Rembrandts?
HEWITT:
That’s right. I played bass guitar and I still have that bass from back then. Oh, by the way…the bass I played is a bit of a collector’s item. I contacted the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in Cleveland, Ohio to find out more about it in recent years. It turns out it was a “first edition” Fender Bass, made in 1951 and it was only made for the first six months of that year. After that, it was changed. So that’s pretty interesting to have a piece of Fender history like that.
REDDON: I’ll say!
HEWITT:
I played a lot of Yardbirds and early Led Zeppelin from their first album with our band locally, on that bass! I was shocked to learn that The Yardbirds were playing at Hidden Valley. It’s a pretty remote place in northern Ontario, between Huntsville and Algonquin Provincial Park. The Yardbirds didn’t play in a big city like Toronto that time around when they were touring. Hidden Valley was the only Canadian place they were playing at the time I saw them, to my knowledge.
I was totally surprised and couldn’t believe our good fortune that The Yardbirds were actually going to play there! I don’t want to say that only “second rate bands” played in our area or places like Hidden Valley, but most of the bands that passed through on a tour were hardly what you would term as “headliners”, either. I guess the most accurate way to describe the acts that stopped in our area and farther into northern Ontario, is to politely refer to them as “second tier” acts. Groups like The Dave Clark Five, The Turtles, etc.
This was in 1967, I believe. We get some unbelievably harsh winter conditions with lots of snow up this way in the winter, so I definitely know it was in the spring or summer of the year when we went to Hidden Valley to see The Yardbirds because the weather was nice. Otherwise, we wouldn’t have gone because of the formidable winter weather we usually get. We took Highway 11, north to Huntsville and then east toward Algonquin Park. It’s a bit of a haul at the best of times.
REDDON:
You’re right, Ray. From what I’ve been able to research, The Yardbirds gig you saw was on August 25, 1967 at Hidden Valley. The Yardbirds had just finished playing the Village Theatre in New York City. After Hidden Valley, they went to play in Warwick, Rhode Island. Do you recall who the opening act was for The Yardbirds at Hidden Valley?
HEWITT:
That’s right…that rings a bell. I knew they had come from New York. I think the opening act was The Five Man Electrical Band. The Yardbirds went on stage very late. It was about 11:00pm and the announcer said that they were so late starting because The Yardbirds had been held up at the U.S./Canadian border crossing!
REDDON: Gee, I wonder why?
HEWITT:
Yeah, that’s right…good question! Like I mentioned, they were apparently just coming from New York City where they had been performing. It was a bit strange. It wasn’t the usual crowd of rock’n’rollers at Hidden Valley that you would expect to be attending a gig in the 1960s…especially to see such a high-voltage act as The Yardbirds, who were right into the experimental sounds and psychedelia.
Most adults at that time would cringe at the thought of that kind of music. Instead, it was mainly a resort crowd which was very odd to see, for such a band as The Yardbirds. Everybody was in shorts and tourist clothes. I’ll never forget how strange that all seemed, not only to me but to the friends I was with, too. We couldn’t believe it.
REDDON: What was your reaction when The Yardbirds kicked off their performance?
HEWITT:
Absolutely astounding, from the first note. Since I was a bass player, that’s what I was most interested in while watching The Yardbirds play. We were always trying to learn things off records and when we had the opportunity to see someone play live, we were riveted to pick up what we could from them. It’s a great way to learn.
Of course Gord Cottrill, who I’m sure was very happy to speak to you, was crazy about Jimmy Page and what he was into…so the lead guitar was what Gord watched. Gord probably told you in much more detail what Jimmy Page was doing on guitar…that’s who he was focusing on. What I do remember, and what probably made the biggest impression on me, is that Page and his guitar work completely dominated everything The Yardbirds performed. It was that loud! He was amazing in every way as he played.
REDDON: Do you recall any of the numbers The Yardbirds played at Hidden Valley?
HEWITT:
They did Train Kept A Rollin’, Mister You’re a Better Man Than I, Shapes of Things. Looking back on it, a great deal of what they were doing would become early Led Zeppelin ideas when Page went out on his own with his new band. Bits and pieces of what we heard turned up as developed musical ideas on Led Zeppelin. Even though it was a bit of a trek for us to get to this concert, we were glad we did it, I’ll tell you that! Before we knew it, the gig was over. It went by really fast because we were so into what they were doing and they were so great.
We had driven up that day and, as I said, it was quite a hike from Owen Sound, up north to Hidden Valley. Gord and another friend had gone with me. By the time we got out of there, it was very late. The Yardbirds show had finished around 1:00am. I was driving and I recall pulling off to the side of the road in Collingwood on the way home and sleeping for a few hours. I was that exhausted. In fact, I recall passing my father, who was going to work just as we were getting back into town the next morning. That was quite a night!
REDDON:
Do you think The Yardbirds were staying at Hidden Valley or just passing through?
HEWITT:
I would imagine they probably stayed at Hidden Valley. Again, I’ve always been kind of puzzled why they even played there in the first place. By the time they would have loaded up their equipment and everything at 1:30-2:30 a.m. or so that night, it was probably best to stay put. I imagine
