Mention the band Brighton Rock nowadays to any Canadian rivet-head that grew up in the '80s and chances are a fair number of them will be laughing in their beer upon hearing that guitarist Greg Fraser and bassist Stevie Skreebs have returned with a new band called Fraze Gang. Y'see, Brighton Rock was cursed with being a solid hard rock outfit with a killer live sound and energy that rose to fame via MuchMusic and radio through some of the weakest songs in their catalogue. We're talking wretched video channel / radio piffle selected by the record label to cash in on the whole late ‘80s hair band ballad schtick that had the girlies creaming in their spandex. Beneath the window dressing and in the clubs, however, was a mean nigh-on-metal machine that left your ears ringing for days, dishing out the kind of rock bar mayhem that easily trounced any of the more popular L.A. bands on the scene at the time. Brighton Rock fizzled out in the early ‘90s - yet another casualty of the grunge trend – and it’s been well over a decade since Fraser, Skreebs or anyone else from the band has made a noise. Until now.

Fraser offers the following look back on the last days of Brighton Rock, who turned in three albums (Young, Wild And Free, Take A Deep Breath, and Love Machine) and an EP before calling it a day:

“The ‘80s were over and we were old news, the ‘90s started and we got left behind,” says Fraser. “We fired our manager and there was a big transition at our record company, and anybody who was into us at the company was gone. We went on tour and people didn’t even know we had a new record out. We had no more radio support, no more advance promotion and our video for ‘Hollywood Shuffle’ got rejected by MTV and Much Music. Our fans would ask us when our new record was coming out and we would tell them that it is already out, and then we would find out that our records weren’t even shipped to the stores. It was a very frustrating time and very hard to see the light at the end of the tunnel. So we called it a day.”

Looking back, Fraser doesn’t have regrets even though Brighton Rock’s hit singles ‘We Came To Rock’ and ‘One More Try’ effectively painted them into a “chick rock” corner.

“It’s easy to say what I would have done differently, but having been there I know that we wouldn’t have been as popular as we were if not for the radio singles,” he admits. “Believe me, I wish they would have picked the heavier stuff (as singles) but the industry was a lot more safe at the time and the heavy stuff was not being played on the radio. Those singles got our name out there and if not for them you never would have heard of us because we would have never seen the light of day. I stand by everything that we ever did because we were lucky we were even given a shot. I don’t regret anything because regret is a waste of energy and dwelling on the past sucks.”

Which is one of the reasons Fraser has forged onward with Fraze Gang, although he does reveal a Brighton Rock reunion may happen sooner than expected.

“There might be a reunion gig before the end of the summer because Stevie asked everybody in Brighton Rock if they’re into it and we all said yes. But, because we have nobody pitching us anymore the offers aren’t there very much. For us individually to pick up the ball and try to get things going at this point in our lives is very difficult because everybody in the band is involved in so many different things. We really don’t have a lot of time to focus on booking Brighton Rock gigs. I’m sure if somebody out there put something together, you would see it happen because we really do miss it.”

Fraze Gang doesn't pick up where Fraser and Skreebs left off so much as hint at the past. Their debut is an album steeped in ‘70s rock with traces of an ‘80s good time roll. Definitely at odds with the current high aggression approach taken by bands trying to make a dent these days, but definitely of worth to their old fanbase.

“It all started to come together around late 2000,” Fraser says of the band’s origins. “Skreebs, Phil (Epp/drums) and myself would get together to have a few beers and jam in Skreebs’ basement. I had a lot of songs written and I asked them if they would play on some demos that I was going to record. They were in, so the next task was finding a singer. We started auditioning different guys and it took forever. Nothing felt right, so I ended up taking a shot at it and Fraze Gang was born. You mentioned needing an outlet for my music; you hit it right on the head. There’s nothing like getting an idea for a song, and watching it take shape and grow into something that takes on a life of its own. After all these years there’s nothing quite as rewarding as creating music. It’s still a rush.”

Fraze Gang’s debut album is charming do-it-yerself independently distributed affair featuring material from Fraser’s archives, but surprisingly no Brighton Rock leftovers.

“These songs have been around for about seven years. The riff for ‘Blow Me Away’ was written about 15 years ago when I was writing for Triumph after (guitarist) Rik Emmett left. Mike Levine (Triumph bassist) really liked that riff more than anything else I was showing them. None of my songs made it on their album but that riff stuck with me. Now it’s the lead off track on our CD. There are no Brighton Rock leftovers on this album, though. There are a bunch of BR songs that I wrote that would have been on the next record had we not broken up but are a little dated sounding. They’re also out of my vocal range. We’re starting to write for the next CD already and are very excited about what we’re hearing. We can’t wait to unleash that one on you.”

The debut has been received well by those fans paying attention, and on an international scale to boot.

“There’s been a great response from the Brighton Rock fans all over the world and we’ve gained a lot of new fans just based on their love of the songs,” says Fraser. “I’m sure there are people out there going in for the first time that are expecting to hear Brighton Rock 2 and are caught off guard, but we grow on you. With every listen we wear you down until eventually you’re a fan. That’s what we’re hoping for, anyway. And if you don’t walk away from a Fraze Gang show with a smile on your face then we didn’t do our job. As for hitting other markets, that’s a goal of ours and continues to be something we’re striving for, but we’re still playing the wait-and-see game. Things are moving in that direction and it’s just a matter of time before things fall into place.”