Big Houses

Eight Seconds came out of Ottawa's bar circuit in the early 1980s with a sound Canadian record companies of the day had little use for: keyboard-driven, literate and dramatic, closer to Ultravox and Simple Minds than to the arena rock filling Canadian radio. It took a hometown radio contest, a music video, an independent EP and an English producer to break them, and in 1986 and 1987 'Kiss You (When It's Dangerous)' made them one of the most recognizable new bands in the country.

Singer and guitarist Andrés del Castillo and keyboardist Frank Levin met as players in Ottawa cover bands. In the summer of 1982 they decided to try writing their own songs, brought in drummer Scott Milks, and with bassist March Cesare began working originals into their bar sets. Del Castillo wrote the lyrics and read constantly (Dostoevsky, García Márquez, Günter Grass, Umberto Eco and Dickens were favourites), while the band's listening ran from Ultravox, Japan, Simple Minds and Depeche Mode to Genesis, Yes, Pink Floyd and Gentle Giant.

One of their first originals, 'Where's Bula', won CHEZ 106's Sharechez '83 homegrown competition. The prize was a music video, made through Allan White's Ottawa production company, which aired on MuchMusic and on MTV's Basement Tapes and was named best music video of 1984 by the Canadian Film and Television Association. White became the band's manager and backer. In 1985 Eight Seconds also competed on Rock Wars, CBC Television's battle of the bands series.

The lineup changed in 1985. The band was cutting demos at a small studio newly opened by Manfred Leidecker when it decided to find a new guitarist, and Leidecker played them a jazz-trained young player from Aylmer, Québec, whom he had just recorded. Marc Parent already knew the group: his neighbour was dating Cesare and had taken him to see them about a month earlier. He auditioned, got the job, and played his first show with Eight Seconds opening for Luba at the Ottawa Congress Centre.

White financed the band's first record, the five-song EP Ottava Rima, released late in 1985 on his Apprentice Records label. Its title is the name of an Italian verse form built on eight-line stanzas. Produced by Levin and the band, engineered by John Cybansky at Altair Four Studios in Lanark, Ontario, and remixed by Bob Federer at Round Sound in Weston, it held 'Progresso Expresso', 'Where's Bula', 'The Life That's Mine', 'Kiss You (When It's Dangerous)' and 'We Set Him Free'. CHEZ 106 and CFRA both charted it in Ottawa.

CHEZ music director Greg Torrington sent the EP and video to Rupert Hine, the English producer behind the Fixx, Saga, Howard Jones and Tina Turner's 'Better Be Good to Me'. Hine flew to Ottawa, watched the band headline an outdoor show, and told an interviewer afterward that he wanted to work with them. Del Castillo later explained that Canadian labels had passed on Eight Seconds because the band was built around keyboards while they were hunting for the next Loverboy or Bryan Adams. Hine was a keyboard player himself and heard what Levin could do with MIDI and new synthesizer sounds. With his name attached, international labels came calling, and Eight Seconds signed with PolyGram in New York.

In March 1986 the band spent two weeks rehearsing in London, then moved to Hine's Farmyard Studios in Little Chalfont, Buckinghamshire. Hine kept much of the band's own instrumentation and arrangements, sang additional vocals, and had Stephen W. Tayler record and mix. Parent contributed melodies and parts of choruses. 'Where's Bula' and 'Kiss You (When It's Dangerous)' were recorded again; 'Progresso Expresso' stayed behind, though it remained in the live set. Almacantar, named for an astronomer's circle of equal altitude running parallel to the horizon, came out on Polydor on October 27, 1986, in a sleeve designed by Stewart Dudley with airbrush art by David McGregor and photographs by Richard Desmarais.

'Kiss You (When It's Dangerous)' spent 28 weeks on the RPM singles chart, peaking at No. 14 in March 1987. It was especially strong in Québec and reached No. 72 on the Billboard Hot 100 in the United States. Almacantar climbed to No. 87 on the RPM albums chart, followed by the singles 'Where's Bula' and 'Sincere (I Shall Return)'.

The band toured hard through late 1986 and 1987, playing across North America with Wang Chung and Paul Young. On August 28, 1987, they were on the bill at Lansdowne Park in Ottawa for David Bowie's Glass Spider tour. Del Castillo remembered those years as tremendous: he could not recall a single angry word on the road, and Levin was the ringleader of the fun. The 1987 Juno Awards nominated Eight Seconds for Most Promising Group, and the CASBYs added several more nominations.

Parent was let go in 1987, and the band decided to continue without a full-time guitarist. He moved to Montreal, earned a music degree at Concordia University, formed the blues band Wang Dang Doodle in 1989, and toured Québec as guitarist and singer with Breen Leboeuf, Luce Dufault and Marie Carmen. Decades later Myles Goodwyn chose him to take over his vocal and guitar role in April Wine. Parent was announced in December 2022 and has fronted the band since 2023.

Early in 1988 the remaining four recorded Big Houses at Le Studio in Morin Heights, Québec, with Paul Northfield, known for his work with Rush, producing alongside Levin. Bill Beaudoin played guitars and mandolin, del Castillo wrote every lyric, Scott Price arranged the orchestra on 'Happy Endings', and Bob Ludwig mastered the album at Masterdisk in New York. It opened with the six-and-a-half-minute 'Here Stood Troy' and included 'No Picasso', 'Chopin's Heart' and a new recording of 'We Set Him Free'. A management dispute and contract trouble then kept it on the shelf for two years. When ATCO and Apprentice finally released Big Houses in 1990, radio had moved on, and 'Tell Diane' stalled at No. 76 that October. The label arrangement fell apart soon after and the band stopped working together. Parent, who was not on the record, has called it their best album.

Levin became one of Ottawa's busiest producers. He was among the first in the city to build a studio around MIDI, at his Fishtank studio, and he worked with anyone regardless of style: the rock bands Mr. Bones, Persona and Batstone, the pop group One to One, and a teenage Alanis Morissette, with whom he shared a writing credit on 'Walk Away' from her 1991 debut album. Known to friends as Fish, he later spent about ten years in Shanghai pursuing business, and he died in China late in 2017 at the age of 55. Del Castillo travelled there to bring his ashes home to Ottawa. Del Castillo himself founded r+d creative, a video production and live event company whose clients have included federal departments and Crown corporations.

Eight Seconds never fully disappeared. A fan-run site, the Almacantar Project, went online in 2002 to campaign for the album's return, and the band regrouped to record 'Hey Jude' for Bullseye Records' 2004 tribute It Was 40 Years Ago Today. In September 2024 Strange Advance brought del Castillo onstage at Ottawa's Bronson Centre to sing 'Kiss You (When It's Dangerous)' for his hometown.

-Robert Williston