By Bob Zimmerman, (AOR Rock Entrepreneur), Rockin for more than 30 years with, what is called today, Classic Rock Bands. As you know, today I Rock for the Heart and Soul of our
American Defenders of Freedom!
The Men and Women who defend our Home of the Free and Land of The Brave

Long before I became a Veteran Advocate, I Rocked my way through
the late, 1960’s, 70’s, into the 80’s
Rockin my way around this world!

As of this writing I’m working with Dorn Beattie, to create Lifetime Opportunities for America’s OEF – OIF Veterans with Dorn’s new company called, Solara360 .
Solara360 Main Page

From Rock Music Entrepreneur to Veteran Opportunities with
Solara360 , the world’s best DIGITAL SIGNAGE NETWORK!

In 1971, while on a Farewell Tour with, The Chambers Brothers, CBS Records Recording Artists, who recorded the World Famous Song, “Time Has Come Today”, and a Number #1 Record on the Billboard Chart for weeks. The last date of the Farewell Tour was in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada.

I had arrived in Vancouver a couple of days ahead of The Chambers Brothers, and joined our Event Host for an evening out in Vancouver. He took me to a Night Club Called, “The Garage”. As we walked into the club I heard a “Lead Guitar Lick, so awesome, I thought it might be from Heaven! Hearing that guitar lick I immediately went to the back of the room to listen to this band called, “Painter”, that moment in time was about to become the most powerful moment in my Music Business Career.

I met “Painter” during their break between Music Sets, the next day we met, I listened to a Demo Tape of great tunes, in the coming days I took the tape to Los Angeles and obtained a Recording Agreement with Elektra Records. The band and myself moved to Seattle, Washington to record the “Painter First LP”.

During and in the course of recording the first LP, a new tune was born in the Kaye West Recording Studios in Seattle, “WEST COAST WOMAN”, written by “Painter” and Painter Manager, Bob Zimmerman. About 10 days after the official release of “WEST COAST WOMAN” the record entered the top 100 Billboard Chart. While “Painter” was still in the studio completing the first, “Painter LP, “WEST COAST WOMAN” continued to climb the Billboard Chart, and was a Top Forty Hit, upon release of the first LP named, “PAINTER”.

For your reading enjoyment, the below story is from a New Jersey Music Blogger, and Music Collector
Hi All, I’m 35 years old and I collect rare and obscure record albums and I’m also a guitarist, singer, and artist + I write about music. I create album sleeves, real ones, using real covers. Some should be up to view or for sale soon. Blake Michener – New Jersey – Music blogger

PAINTER – THE ULTIMATE POMP ROCKAOR/MELODIC METAL

-Painter: Revolutionaries Purveying The Original 1st Pomp/AOR-
My really good friend Dorn Beattie said I left him and Painter out of the last blog! Not so!
So here it is in brief, but in as full as I can make it Dorn- you and Painter start things off!
Painter formed in Calgary Alberta Canada in the early 70s from the ashes of the garage/poppsych group 49th Parallel, but unlike the Parallel this band wasn’t gonna be any run of the mill just-another-decent-band-from-Canada. No, with a lineup comprising Doran (Lead vocals), Danny Lowe (Lead guitar/vocals), Wayne Morice (Bass guitar/vocals), Barry Allen (Rhythm guitar), and amazing drummer Bob Ego Painter created Pomp/AOR as we know it or think we know it!!!!! Forget Boston- they ripped Painter’s album in full on their masterful debut. Forget Styx- they were a floundering hard rock band and Dennis Deyoung had hardly found himself when Painter came out. Forget Reo Speedwagon- a band who I can’t place anywhere near Painter when REO were seriously floundering in 1973 almost as bad as Styx. Painter got there first. Painter started a chain reaction and the great music known as AOR/Pomp Rock was done by them first and possibly by them best.

For starters these guys were one of the few Canadian bands wise enough to sign out of America and not Canada thus avoiding instantaneous commercial death. They signed with Elektra in 1973 and although things wouldn’t go quite as they hoped with the label their foresight was good enough for them to enter the charts with “West Coast Woman-” a song that reverberates with its power and energy today. Their album is quite a shock if you hear it for the first time and don’t know quite what year it is. Very much so Painter were playing 1976-1978 Pomp Rock/AOR before any of the above mentioned bands were doing anything of note. For starters Boston didn’t even exist yet! Painter’s soaring vocals, gritty slashing guitars, killer riffs, and great melodies all bear a striking resemblance to everything we’ve come to associate with the best American AOR from much later on. They also had a lot of tricks up their sleeve like the closing track “Going Down The Road” running for over 8 minutes and showing a true progressive side more Pomp or actual prog than AOR. Doran Beattie’s good looks were just the beginning of the assets he had. He could sing better than about a million other vocalists at that time or later and his passionate yet oftentimes understatedly charismatic voice is matched by some very impressive lyric writing. Take this for instance: on songs like “Crazy Feeling,” “Going Home To Rock ‘N Roll” (which Steely Dan ripped off note for note on “Do It Again”), “Song For Sunshine, “Space Truck,” and “Kites And Gliders” Painter had already perfected the kind of classy melodic harmonies, strong lead vocals, and brilliant musicianship which later bands like the very similar sounding Stingray from South Africa, Boston, Journey et all would take forever to get around to. I don’t know how Painter developed their sound, how it came about, but this is damned impressive music! Doran complains the production isn’t good enough and I’d say I’d meet him about halfway there as I think it sounds pretty good, but the vocal sound is made a little bit less full than it probably sounded in concert. That hardly matters when music was in a vast wasteland in the States and with more push Painter would have, to my mind at least, been even bigger than Styx or Boston would succeed quite a few years later.

Danny Lowe is a very creative guitar player. He came up with his own sound and style of playing that is both instantly recognizable and enthusiastic without turning suffocating. The whole band indeed are very together- everybody fits their own thing into the group sound and there are no slippages into self-indulgence or showing off. Painter are a very melodic kind of heavy band. They don’t come right up to you and smack you over the head with a lot of bombastic riffs and screaming vocals so it isn’t at all what most hard rock was at that time. AOR is hard to define and it’s even harder to say just what makes it click. Painter define it, but I don’t know how exactly to say what AOR is. It stands for Album Oriented Rock which is enigmatic sounding enough, but it has come to be associated with bands that aren’t quite heavy metal, aren’t quite hard rock, and aren’t quite soft rock. The best description I can give is a melting pot of the best aspects of all of the above and an emphasis placed on airbrushed shine and catchy great melodies when it’s done properly. Painter sum all of this up and got there before anyone else got to it or even had a clue. A great band who deserve much more credit than they have.

The Worlds Guardian The USA Peace Through Strength

God Bless America

In America We Thank Our Troops Past and Present
‘A country worth defending is a country worth preserving’
Major General Michael Lehnert USMC Retired

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