Craig Webb's Recollections: George Olliver and The Mandala
By: Craig Webb
With Questions from Erick Nelson
Last Updated: Monday May 24, 2004
I emailed a few of Mandala buddies with your page and we all agreed that you were dead on with your 1st impressions.
I emailed you the flyer from their 1st Canadian appearance as The Mandala ( they had left TO as the Rogues and came back with the new persona.) I was standing stage center, second row with a young lady in fron to of me with her boyfriend. When they hit the part of their show that brought on the strobe light the effect was so shocking and mesmerizing, the young lady fainted and fell back right into me. Thankfully I caught her and held her til she recouped but the effect was spectacular especially with the strobe lights off the striped suits.
I got to see them a number of times and even on one occasion went into the dressing room pre show, and sat and talked with Dom as he fiddled with his telecaster and a small practice amp.
One show at a high school in New Toronto, the west side sort of, I was in the dressing room and Dom was talking about this new "toy" he had been given to try out. It was a wah-wah pedal. I was about 17 or 18 and was not as wise as I am now and the boyz and I had partaken of a few pre show drinks. They gave me the courage to give Dom a bit of heck and tell him that he was the best there was and didn't need any gimmicks. Just go out there and be Domenic Troiano. Turns out there were only two of these gimmicks being tried out. One went to Troi and the other to Hendrix!
Anyway he took it well and during the show he intro'd "Repossession Blues" as "Craig's Blues" as we had talked about my just starting a career in automotive finance. ( the 1st line goes " they repossessed my car this morning")I was King of the hill that night my own song intro'd by the Mandala!.
I have lots of questions about them - how did they come up with this approach? - is this how they always did it, or did it evolve? -
No, they previously were the 5 Rogues and then the Rogues. they were the toughest tightest R&B and soul band you could ever see. They were groomed, as were all of the R&B cats in TO , by the Hawks who went on to be The Band. Every guitar player in Ontario studied Robbie Robertson incl a young Domenic. Everybody good played a blonde telecaster and took the pick guard off it just like Robbie. Everyone played with finger picks, so there was a lot happening when a guitar solo came up. Hammond B3's with single and sometimes double Leslies were musts and some guys went even more soulful and added horn sections like the Majestics and the great Grant Smith & The Power.
Now there is very little in the music of The Band that would lead you to believe that they started the Rogues and everybody down this road but they were the baddest r&b band you ever saw. Just no show whatsoever.
What WAS their message, and did they believe it? That's where they seemed to me, at least, to differ from other groups. Did I read too much into that, being 17 and all? Did they always do the Seven Steps to Soul, or was that a brief phase?
I think you are but then again what's being 17 for if not to be impressionable. It began and ended with the Mandala. It didn't, to my knowledge, have any religious connotation. It was meant really to celebrate the beauty of Soul music.
I believe in their teenaged innocence they believed the world could be better if everybody got into soul and co-operated etc etc. but what they really believed in was R&B and soul and blues. It was almost impossible to see Dom without a guitar in his hands.
How did George leave the band?
Almost all of the money made was put back into the band and the word was Joey and George were tired of it. Joey's dad was an accountant and his advice was to get a job and make some bread. He and George left about the same time and it was financial. George has always been a good businessman type of musician, in my opinion.
If I can speak for them, and I shouldn't but I have followed them closely for about 37 years now, their mission was to play the music that really drove them, do it better than anybody and be a hit.
What was "Live at the Bluenote"?
Live at the bluenote is a lp. The Club Bluenote was THE R&B club in TO. The Rogues were the house band and it was hot! After a while it closed. Then about 82 or so it was reopened at a new location with George and Gangbuster as the house band. Gangbuster was quite literally the best big band I've seen short of my favourite band of all time Tower of Power. In fact the trumpeter had just returned to TO from 2 years on the road with Tower! Sat nite at the Bluenote, you never knew who would drop by. I was there when the finale had 12 singers on the stage sharing 4 mics. It was like a gospel event. One night Stevie Wonder and entourage dropped in, as it was The place to go, and sat for a couple of hours, Normally that would be a sign for the guests in the audience to join the group on stage but Stevie declined stating that he was enjoying the band and the show so much he didnt want to change a thing. And he was sincere, they were that good.
The lp has George doing 3 songs including the ballad duet with Shawn jackson., Roy Kenner does Midnight Hour and Loveitis and other singers are featured. Gangbuster opens it up with the best damn version of Mercy mercy mercy you have ever heard. It should have been picked as the theme song for Sat Night Live, it's terrific and the band is TIGHT!
I also did a compilation cd called My Toronto Sound which features singles by The Mandala, Jon & lee and the Checkmates ( by the way John finley is a friend of mine(in LA) and we contact each other quite regularly.), grant smith & the Power, the Majestics, David Clayton Thomas ( Blood Sweat & tears) and the Shays ( featuring Freddie Keeler on guitar. Fred was sort of the left handed version of robbie /Troi. He was on the most recent Blues Bros 2000 movie and cd)
The Hawks after they left Ronnie hawkins and before they joined Dylan, and many more. 27 cuts that I believe tell the true story of the Toronto Sound.