Airborne - Songs for a City
circa;1977
Airborne was a pop/folk band from the Vancouver area of Western Canada Originally started by Darryl Bohn, Ron Hjorth & David Giddings in 1974. All played Acoustic Guitars, Sang, and eventually wrote their own songs. Similarities were made to the bands America & CSNY. Bruce Johnston joined shortly after, contributing his Falsetto vocals to create a very vocal rich group with tight harmonies.
After cutting their teeth with performances in Coffee houses', Pubs, Theatre events, Outdoor concerts around the Vancouver area. Airborne recorded their one and only (self produced) LP, titled "Songs for a City" in 1977.
Two musicians joined with us at this time to complete a true band sound.
Lorne Fiedler on Keyboards.
Donn Tarris on Bass & Vocals.
The Songs for a City LP was recorded at Ocean Sound Studio in North Vancouver over a period of three weeks and a budget of $2500. A total of 1700 LP's were sold out of a pressing of 2000. "Marie" was released as a single and received moderate airplay from "MOR" format radio stations. Royalties, although small, were enough to cover the cost of production.
CKVU , a local TV station, used a 60 second except of music from the LP as background to their job search feature they ran three times a day for three years.
Airborne had the honour of being on the same billing as Valdy, during two performances at the "B-in".
Malkin Bowl in Stanley Park.
Airborne appeared as musical guests on a CBC TV Vancouver production "What's a nice show like you" comedy (1977) featuring Jackson Davies & Rick Honey. We played about 6 songs, one of them being a cover version of a Barry Manilow song "Copacabana" for one of their skits.
Airborne's final concert was in March 1978 as an opening act for Sammy Hagar at the Commodore Ballroom. This was the first of a new concert series called "Cheap Thrills" promoted by Periscope productions. At the time of this show our manager was Sterling Faux of CFOX Radio.
The LP has been remastered and is available on CD
Here are a few mp3's from the Song's for a City CD
Airborne - Marie.mp3 (darryl bohn)
By the time we had decided to call it a day, Darryl & David were the only two original members left.
In this photo L-R: Gaymond Wong, Darryl, Deborah Gibson, Pat Caird, Lorne Davidson, Bruce Watson, David.
Some musicians who were apart of the band through the four year ride were.......
David Giddings Guitars, Vocals, Songwriter, Producer
Darryl Bohn Guitars, Vocals, Songwriter
Ron Hjorth Guitars, Bass, Vocals, Songwriter
Bruce Johnston Vocals, Equipment manager
Lorne Fiedler Keyboards
Donn Tarris Bass, Vocals, Songwriter, Producer
Gaymond Wong Keyboards
Bruce Watson Drums
Lorne Davidson Bass, Vocals
Deborah Gibson Vocals
Pat Caird Sax
other musicians who helped us with our recordings and some performances were....
Greg Kelly, Mike Zilber, Dave Rogers, Paul Sheck, Kenny Gustafson, Doug Fitch, Bill Ayers, Ray Ayote, Chris Clayton, Chris Warren, Kathy Hamada,
any others we've missed?
David & Darryl along with a few friends (John Nightingale) recorded an additional single only. It was released under the name of "Future Yanks". The songs recorded were an original, "Suite for a Nation" (aka Oh Canada), and a cover of the Animals hit "Don't bring me down". The label of release was Andromeda Records.
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The Cover Art for the Songs for a City LP was created by Nicols & Bentham of Kelowna, BC.
A very large man with guitar is sitting in the bay between Kitsilano, Stanley Park & West Vancouver. Can you spot the Lions Gate Bridge, (lower right side)?
The songs on the LP...
Marie / Someone Like You / Old Man / You / Sail Away / Loving You / Never the Same Love / Song for a City / Dance, Lads Dance / Lamplighter / Someday
Old Man by Neil Young, all others written by Airborne.
Thanks for your interest in our History. We'd love to hear from anyone with a story about a performance you saw, or who in the group you may have known.
This page was created October 2002.
Last Updated Dec 29th 2008
email contact: davidgiddings@shaw.ca
cool links
Donn Tarris at my space
Lorne Fiedler at my space
David’s son Jesse with Swingset Champion at my space
http://profile.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=user.viewProfile&friendID=3383450
