Big Sugar

Big Sugar was a Canadian blues-rock-reggae band. The band, consisting of vocalist/guitarist Gordie Johnson, bassist Terry Wilkins and drummer Al Cross, officially formed in 1991, although the three musicians had already played together for several years as an informal jam band with members of the Bourbon Tabernacle Choir, and as a supporting band for Molly Johnson's jazz performances. (Molly Johnson and Gordie Johnson are not related.) After Molly Johnson returned to rock music with Infidels, she helped her former bandmates to secure a record deal; their self-titled debut album was released in 1991 on Hypnotic Records. Wilkins left in 1993, and the band recorded the album Five Hundred Pounds with the help of guest musicians, including Kelly Hoppe (also known as Mr. Chill) and Garry Lowe, who would subsequently become official members of the band. Big Sugar had slowly built a reputation as an outstanding live band, and Five Hundred Pounds consolidated it: the album sold 10,000 copies in Canada (the equivalent of selling 100,000 copies in the United States) without any real publicity or radio airplay. Hoppe and Lowe began to bring reggae influences into the band's sound as well. During this time, Gordie Johnson also recorded an album as Don't Talk Dance, with Tyler Stewart of Barenaked Ladies and Chris Brown from the Bourbon Tabernacle Choir. In 1995, the band released the Dear MF EP, which featured a cover of Traffic's "Dear Mr. Fantasy". Cross subsequently left the band and was replaced by Walter "Crash" Morgan, but Morgan wouldn't be with the band for long. During the band's tour that year, Morgan suffered an aneurysm, collapsing and dying on stage during a show in Iowa. Longtime band associate Raffa Dean was enlisted to finish the tour, and Paul Brennan subsequently joined as the band's new drummer, appearing on their most commercially successful album, 1996's Hemi-Vision. Brennan subsequently left in 1997, and was replaced by Gavin Brown. Hemi-Vision's single "Opem Up Baby" was a notable first for the band, who recorded a French version of that song, "Ouvres-Toi Bébé", for radio stations in Quebec. The song gained widespread airplay in the province, and for their next album, 1998's Heated, the band recorded a French version of each single they released; the French songs were collected on the 1999 EP Chauffe à bloc. Also that year, Johnson and Hoppe performed several acoustic shows under the name "Little Sugar" (and occasionally as "Two Fools On Stools"). Brown subsequently left the band, and Cross returned as drummer. The band also added a new rhythm guitarist, Mojah. In 2000, the band released a one-off dub album, Extra Long Life, under the name Alkaline. In 2001, they released Brothers and Sisters, Are You Ready? Taking their interest in writing and performing French material to its logical conclusion, a complete track-for-track French version, Brothers & Sisters, Êtes Vous Ready?, was released the same year. Both albums concluded with a blistering blues-rock rendition of "O Canada". Towards the end of this tour, Al Cross again left the band, to pursue percussion studies in New York state. He was initially replaced by Marks Lockhart (formerly of Big Rude Jake), and finally by Eric "Speedstick" Paul. The two-CD compilation Hit & Run, featuring a greatest hits disc and a live concert performance disc, followed in 2003. The band broke up in 2003, after, according to the band website, Johnson became frustrated with Canadian radio programmers who claimed his single "All Hell for a Basement" was "too Canadian" (the song references the province of Alberta). Johnson, a staunch nationalist, was disgusted and angry and left Canada to pursue music in a more "open, welcoming" environment. The newly re-named "Grady" Johnson can now be found in the Austin, Texas-based band Grady. Kelly Hoppe performs with Mr. Chill & The Witnesses, a roots music group. Mojah and Garry Lowe went on to form Truth and Rights Revue, a reggae band, and released one album to date. Eric Paul played with Truth and Rights, but has recently joined Ian Thornley (formerly of Big Wreck) in the newly-revised lineup of Thornley. Gordie Johnson is also in some demand as a producer and session musician. To date, he has produced albums and tracks for Joel Plaskett, Gov't Mule, Tim Chaisson, The Respectables, Wide Mouth Mason, Big Rude Jake, BTK, The Trews, Chris Duarte, John Ford and Ashley MacIsaac, as well as playing with Molly Johnson, Jonny Lang and Double Trouble, the Bourbon Tabernacle Choir, Big Rude Jake, Ashley MacIsaac, Wide Mouth Mason and many others. In 2010, Big Sugar reunited for a string of shows. The line-up: Gordie Johnson, Kelly "Mr. Chill" Hoppe, Garry Lowe, Friendlyness, and a revolving roster of drummers including Nina Singh (from Grady), Sean Dalton (from the Trews), and Safwan Javed (from Wide Mouth Mason).