Mirage

As Benzene Jag began to wind down as a band, drummer Dave Jones (AKA Michael Allen Guild), his long-time buddy Neil Bishop began to experiment with recording some of their electro-pop pieces. I came aboard and wrote concepts, lyrics and vocal melodies on top of their compositions. The result was the first Age of Mirrors album, 'Mirage', which was released at the end of August, 1985 and received considerable attention locally. Alternative radio station CFNY played tracks quite regularly and one track was even adopted as a theme for one of their regular radio programs. For fun, we decided to present ourselves mysteriously as some 'big hair' band - possibly from Europe, so we gave ourselves pseudonyms. I was Simon De Beaupre and Dave was Michael Allen Guild. Another reason for this was that we wanted to distance ourselves from past releases so as not to be pigeonholed.
released August 31, 1985

Michael Allen Guild: synthesizers, electronic drums
Neli Bishop: synthesizers
Bob Bryden (AKA Simon De Beaupre): vocals, lyrics

Technical note: The sound varies due to the different source materials accessed for the tracks. Some tracks from the original 'Mirage' album are from a 2007 remastering session done at Studio J in Hamilton, Ontario. Others are from earlier transfers to digital and still other demo tracks were recorded in quite different (i.e. homemade) circumstances. No attempt has been made to homogenize the tracks but rather, from tune to tune, they honestly reflect the manner in which they were recorded and/or remastered.