Although I have lived in North Battleford since 1970 and have connections with many local dance band musicians, I never got to know Garnet Speer personally. I heard Garnet play saxophone 50 years ago at my graduation dance in Meadow Lake and at a couple of other Mellotone dances in the Battefords over the years, so I knew he was a gifted musician. Not knowing Garnet personally changed abruptly when we met at Tim Hortons in Battleford on Dec. 1 to discuss Garnet’s life and remarkable musical journey. I found Garnet to be a genuine and engaging individual with a great sense of humour. And his fascinating life story and musical odyssey is extraordinary.
Garnet Speer was born on Oct. 8, 1939 to Bertram Speer and Margaret Speer (nee Barkwell) at White Fox. Shortly thereafter, the Speer family moved to North Battleford. Garnet took Grade 1 to 8 at King Street School and Grades 9 to 12 at North Battleford Collegiate Institute in North Battleford. Garnet noted principal Harry Sharp and teachers Miss Fletcher and Maurice Campbell were “unforgettable” and were influential in determining who he became in adult life. Garnet graduated from the NBCI in 1957.
Garnet began his career in music early in life. He took his first lessons on the clarinet from Robbie Robinson when Garnet was eight years old. He fell in love with the clarinet and saxophone. With daily practice, he became proficient in a short time and an exceptional player by the time he was in junior high school.
In the summer of 1958, Garnet found employment as a musician playing saxophone and clarinet at the Waterton Park Hotel in Waterton National Park, Alta. The pay was good at $80 per month. Garnet recalled that there were girls everywhere and all of them were attracted to the boys in a university band.
In 1961, before heading for university, Garnet landed a job playing music with a band at Concentration Mill and other locales near Uranium City. The working men and their wives and girlfriends were starved for entertainment so the band was extremely popular. Garnet and the band members lived at Gunner Mines and were flown out to the surrounding communities to play. The pay was high at $350 per month. More money than Garnet had ever seen in his life.
In 1961-62, Garnet took engineering at the University of Saskatchewan. It wasn’t a good experience, so he switched to sociology with the College of Arts and Science. He logged two years in arts and science before he reentered the real world of work. In 1963, he went back to the university and studied sociology for another year. He was successful this time around but still came up short (missed biology and physical education) of the requirements for his degree.
In the fall of 1963, Frank Dudley, the African-American boss of Art Thomas shows, hired Garnet and his best friend, Brian Abbott, to play tenor saxaphone in an all-black show. Dudley was able to get Garnet a green card, a requirement for work in the United States. The work was demanding – three shows daily. But the wages were excellent at $125 weekly with hotel, meals and sundry expenses covered. The band’s itinerary included both Canadian and American destinations – Lethbridge, Alta., Thunder Bay and Fort William, Ont., Fargo, N.D, Huron, S.D. and the Iowa State Fair.
At the end of September, Dudley extended Garnet’s contract to include shows in Jacksonville and Miami, Fla. Garnet didn’t realize it at the time, but this adventurous part of his life laid the foundations for a future career in music. He was already good or he wouldn’t be playing in an international band.
In the next phase of the great adventure, Dudley asked, “Garnet my boy, how would you and Brian like to play in Puerto Rico for a seven-week run?” Garnet’s response was, “I’m in.Yahoo!” The young musicians played with heart all night long until six a.m. Dudley had laid off an errant musician and hired both Garnet and Brian to replace him. This development demonstrated that Garnet and Brian had stature as musicians.
The Puerto Rico gig lasted seven weeks. The group’s musicians, singers and dancers played the harbour-front bars in San Juan. Upstairs were hookers, sailors, drunks and crooks. All of them loved Garnet and his band, who played stylized Miles Davis jazz, rhythm and blues and Chuck Berry rock. The gig was an endurance test – half-hour sets all night long until 6 a.m. The bars were supposed to close at 1 a.m., but Dudley paid the cops off so the band could play longer and continue to haul in the cash.
Garnet met Paul Anka and his musical director on the harbour front. Arrangements were being made to host the superstar singer.
Despite this great adventure, Garnet decided to pack it in. In 1964 he flew back home to Saskatoon and the Battlefords. Garnet did not leave Dudley high and dry, however. It’s a testament to his character that he continued playing in the band until arrangements were made to hire another musician.
The plane ride home was a watershed moment. Immersed in thought, Garnet took stock of his life. He came to the sobering conclusion he did not want to be a professional musician. Most professional musicians did not enjoy professional independence. They were beholden to and dependent on a manager or boss. Managers dictate and determine which songs are played, when they are played, and even how they are performed. As a consequence, musicians without artistic freedom and under contract, never self-actualize or reach their potential.
In 1968, Garnet married Eva Millard, a wonderful woman and his best friend. Garnet and Eva recently celebrated 49 years of marriage.
In his other life, Garnet was a partner with his father and brother Don in the family interior furnishings and carpet business on 101st Street. Garnet became an expert in home furniture and floor covering. He logged year after year in the family enterprise, from 1964 to 2005 when he retired.
Garnet may have set playing in international gigs aside, but he did not give up on playing music. During the late 1960s, Garnet played with a number of bands including Don Ross and the Top Hats and the Ron Campbell Band. Then in 1965, Garnet was asked to step in with the famed Melody Ranch Boys. He played one gig in the basement of the Beaver Hotel. The band members were suitably impressed. He was in. The Ranch Boys subsequently morphed into the Mellotones in 1966. Garnet was with this extraordinary band for the duration, 1966 to 2003 when the Mellotones disbanded.
Notable band experiences included playing for the Federated Co-op annual Christmas parties in Saskatoon, playing for 1,500 people in a theatre next to the Midtown Plaza in Saskatoon. On one occasion the Mellotones were booked to play in Vermilion, Alta. A fight broke out – a long fight. Two well-matched pugilists went at it, blocking access to the stage. The dance and festivities started late.
The majority of Garnet’s musical career was with the great Mellotones band. But interestingly, he also played with the Battlefords first rock and roll band in the late 1950s, Don (Don Watts) and the Teenagers. Band members included Don Watts (drums and vocals), Garnet Speer (saxophone), Dave Jordan (stand up base) and Vern Thompson’s sister (piano). The band was popular, especially with teenagers and young adults. Don remembers playing at the Battleford Opera House for a NBCI graduation dance.
Don isn’t out of the local music scene at the present time. Until recently, after a 10-year run, he played with the Meota Hobby Band. I know from comments heard on music coffee row at the Co-op cafeteria that the Meota Hobby Band was, and is, a very good and popular band.
Garnet has played with many good bands in addition to the Mellotones, and others over the years. Some of them include the wildly popular Varsity Jazz Band. Gigs included various college balls and dances at the Bessborough Hotel, other Saskatoon hotels and dance halls, Zyoegogo, a New Orleans style band in Saskatoon, and Jump Me Martha in the 1970s, a mix of big band, rhythm and blues, and New Orleans jazz.
Garnet also played with the Blue Denim band from 2004-11. He also put a German oompah band together for a huge Rotary Club Octoberfest extravaganza. And we can’t forget the famous Humperville all-girls (temporarily girls) high school band, in the parade during the evening before the annual agricultural fair. They were hilarious. Finally, Garnet still plays with the King Street Station Jazz Band.
At age 77, Garnet hasn’t slowed down much. He still enjoys music and plays music. He enjoys life.
Garnet has surrounded himself with music in his remarkable, extensive library downstairs in his home overlooking the beautiful North Saskatchewan River Valley. His collection includes long play records, CDs, cassettes, eight tracks and cassettes and eight track decks, turntables, a keyboard and organ and eight saxaphones, and a number of clarinets. Garnet enjoys life to the fullest.
It was a distinct pleasure to engage in a conversation to discuss the life and musical journey of one of the Battlefords great musicians.
