Transcending fad and fashion, the Shimmering Guitars spring from a historic Continental ambiance of elegance and simplicity.
The rich, vibrant sound of the '65 Fender Jaguar electric guitar evokes images of the Continent that only the shims and the listener, are privy to. When the guitar bites into a thick chord, it is today saluting yesterday for beneath the essentially European and American harmonic structure of the music is the ferocity of a primitive beat of Bohemian origin, powerfully rhythmic, as is the Cuban Negro dance music from which the guitarists borrow liberally.
Now the SG 's are bringing their brand of sophisticated swang to a whole new arena of endeavor. When the elevator stops, the ride really gets interesting. From the topmost venues for some of the most swinging, ring-a-dong-daddiest sounds (nothing tops them for miles around) The Shimmering Guitars have arrived at the threshold of international acclaim without a hint of scandal! Bravo!
Cut from coarser cloth, the Lougheed Men's 1969 "Pan-National" tour was a milestone in reckless momentum when everything seemed possible for the five incorrigibles playing dates at select venues in Idaho, Montana, Wyoming....AND Hamburg, Germany. "The Hamburg gig was a last minute twist at the end of a wild-west tour of the colonies that left seven ranchers holding the haggisbag when sheep flop boogie failed to chart sending authorities in 3 US states and Germany into turmoil... Yeah, that was a great tour..." remembers Donny "bonnibong" Robertson last legally surviving member of the original Lougheed Men.
Johnny Echo, "Shims" guitarist, renews the tale: "Notwithstanding Donny's sentimental recollection of the Hamburg events, we had all heard, by drum, of what was happening in Wyoming and when they asked who we wanted for an opening act Sims piped up with 'Get me the Lougheed Men'! How were we to know two KGB moles had infiltrated the entourage and would take us all so seriously? Really, he was just kiddin' around. Anyway the Lougheed Men turned out to be a bunch of right blokes or 'koolenkinder' as the local hepvolk used to say".
DR: I was a free-lance swanhandler in Burnaby B.C. before joinin' up with the Lougheed Men ,but it was outlawed in Montana back in 69! Even so the band rocked hard and long until that night a bit too much scottish wine and locoweed got us right pissed and we stormed that government thing in Wyoming.
Echo: "Aye, thru the mists of time it seems so colorful and carefree but the band was trouble from the start, drinking heavily, de-flowering local serving wenches, swan handling, influence peddling, ale guzzling, etc. And that panic over the protein-conversion fungus that Wee Willie McPherson would brew in his Tenor sax bell ? Egad mon! Authorities experimenting with new ways to quick-deport da' Lougheeds".
