The Jades (Canadian band)
- This article is about the band formed by Neil Young. For the Irish band of the same name, see The Jades (Irish band).
| The Jades | |
|---|---|
| Origin | Fort Rouge, Manitoba, Canada |
| Genres |
Instrumental rock Rock and roll Folk rock |
| Years active | 1960–1961 |
| Labels | Unknown |
| Associated acts |
The Squires 3's a Crowd Buffalo Springfield |
| Past members |
Neil Young Ken Koblun John Daniel David Gregg Jim Atkin |
The Jades were a rock band formed in late 1960, and consisted of musicians Neil Young, Ken Koblun, John Daniel, David Gregg, and Jim Atkin.[1] The band formed out of Earl Grey Junior High School in Winnipeg.
History
When Neil Young arrived in Winnipeg from Toronto in the summer of 1960 at the age of 14, he already knew what it was like to be uprooted, since his family had gone wherever his father's career in journalism had taken him. But after the break up of his parents' marriage, Neil and his mother Rassy settled into the working class suburb of Fort Rouge where Young enrolled at Earl Grey Junior High School. It was there that he met Ken Koblun, later to join him in the Squires, and there that he formed his first band the Jades.
"I knew when I was 14 that music was all I wanted to do," he has said although he did manage to trade his skills on the links for a few guitar lessons from classmate John Daniel. Daniel, in due course, joined The Jades, whose one and only performance came in early January 1961 at the Earl Grey Community Club, but he soon fell out with Neil's single minded determination. "I had to go to hockey practice when Young wanted to play guitar, and he told me I had to choose one or the other, hockey or music. I guess I wanted to play hockey."
Young's next move was to form a band to play Winnipeg's booming community club circuit. By 1963 he and his mother had moved to the more well-situated Crescentwood area, where he attended the illustrious Kelvin High School and formed the Squires, who specialised in instrumentals by their idols the Shadows and the Ventures. Young was particularly taken by melodic guitar style of Hank Marvin and the use of the tremolo arm, both of which remain a trademark of his playing today. "The Shadows became the major portion of our repertoire, "he recalled. "We did "Apache", "Wonderful Land", "FBI", "Shindig" and another one called "Spring Is Nearly Here".
Young and Koblun ultimately went on to join the Stardusters and the Esquires. The Esquires eventually became more of a folk rock group, incorporating more influences from the Beatles[2] and folk music.
After playing together in the Esquires, Koblun began playing bass for folk musicians, while Young struggled to start a solo career.