Sven Gali is a Canadian

hard rock Hard rock or heavy rock is a loosely defined subgenre of rock music typified by aggressive vocals and distorted electric guitars. Hard rock began in the mid-1960s with the garage, psychedelic and blues rock movements. Some of the earliest hard ...

/ heavy metal band which originally started as a

cover band A cover band (or covers band) is a band that plays songs recorded by someone else, sometimes mimicking the original as accurately as possible, and sometimes re-interpreting or changing the original. These remade songs are known as cover songs. Ne ...

in 1987 in

Hamilton, Ontario Hamilton is a port city in the Canadian province of Ontario. Hamilton has a population of 569,353, and its census metropolitan area, which includes Burlington and Grimsby, has a population of 785,184. The city is approximately southwest of T ...

, and

Niagara Falls, Ontario Niagara Falls is a city in Ontario, Canada. It is on the western bank of the Niagara River in the Golden Horseshoe region of Southern Ontario, with a population of 88,071 at the 2016 census. It is part of the St. Catharines - Niagara Census M ...

, Canada. The 2018 line-up includes all three remaining original members: Dave Wanless (vocals), Andy Frank (guitar), Shawn Minden (bass); as well as new members Sean Williamson (guitar) and Dan Fila (drums).

History

Early days and ''Sven Gali'': 1987-1993

Sven Gali played covers locally for several years. In 1989, shortly after changing their setlist to 20% covers and 80% originals, drummer Steve Macgregor left the band he named and formed and was replaced by Rob MacEachern. Sven Gali earned a reputation for their live shows. On the strength of their original songs and live shows, they were signed to BMG Canada, after playing some key gigs in

New York New York most commonly refers to: * New York City, the most populous city in the United States, located in the state of New York * New York (state), a state in the northeastern United States New York may also refer to: Film and television * '' ...

and Los Angeles. They were signed to a seven-album contract, with international release through BMG subsidiary Ariola. As they began recording an album, the band collectively decided to fire MacEachern and hire former

Billy Idol William Michael Albert Broad (born 30 November 1955), known professionally as Billy Idol, is a British-American singer, songwriter, and musician. He first achieved fame in the 1970s emerging from the London punk rock scene as the lead singer o ...

drummer Gregg Gerson. Gerson, their third drummer, had previously played with

Roger Daltrey Roger Harry Daltrey (born 1 March 1944) is an English singer, musician and actor. He is a co-founder and the lead singer of the Rock music, rock band The Who. Daltrey's hit songs with The Who include "My Generation", "Pinball Wizard", "Won't Ge ...

Mick Jagger Sir Michael Philip Jagger (born 26 July 1943) is an English singer and songwriter who has achieved international fame as the lead vocalist and one of the founder members of the rock band the Rolling Stones. His ongoing songwriting partnershi ...

, and Mick Jones. With this new line-up intact, they released their debut album in 1992. ''

Sven Gali Sven Gali is a Canadian hard rock/ heavy metal band which originally started as a cover band in 1987 in Hamilton, Ontario, and Niagara Falls, Ontario, Canada. The 2018 line-up includes all three remaining original members: Dave Wanless (vocals), ...

'' was produced by BMG Canada's

David Bendeth David Jonathan Bendeth (born 17 June 1954) is a multi-platinum award-winning record producer. Early life David Bendeth was born on 17 June 1954 in Stoke Newington, Hackney, London, England. He attended Parkhill School in Ilford, London and in ...

. The album included the singles and videos for "Under The Influence", "Tie Dyed Skies", "In My Garden", and the ballad, "Love Don't Live Here Anymore". It included a cover of the Teenage Head song, "Disgusteen", featuring guest vocals by Frankie Venom. The band made four

music videos A music video is a video of variable duration, that integrates a music song or a music album with imagery that is produced for promotional or musical artistic purposes. Modern music videos are primarily made and used as a music marketing device ...

, all of which were on regular rotation on

Much Music Much (an abbreviation for its full name MuchMusic) is a Canadian English language specialty channel owned by BCE Inc. through its Bell Media subsidiary that airs programming aimed at teenagers and young adults. MuchMusic launched on August 31, ...

. The video for "Under the Influence" won the MuchMusic Best Metal Video award in 1993. ''Sven Gali'' eventually went

gold Gold is a chemical element with the symbol Au (from la, aurum) and atomic number 79. This makes it one of the higher atomic number elements that occur naturally. It is a bright, slightly orange-yellow, dense, soft, malleable, and ductile met ...

in Canada. In 1992 through 1994, the band toured Canada and the US, Germany, Belgium, Ireland and the UK, headlining and supporting acts including Wolfsbane, Foreigner,

Meat Loaf Michael Lee Aday (born Marvin Lee Aday; September 27, 1947 – January 20, 2022), known professionally as Meat Loaf, was an American rock singer and actor. He was noted for his powerful, wide-ranging voice and theatrical live shows. He is on t ...

April Wine April Wine is a Canadian rock band formed in 1969 and based in Halifax, Nova Scotia. Led by singer-guitarist-songwriter Myles Goodwin since its inception, April Wine's first success came with its second album, '' On Record'' (1972), which reac ...

and

Def Leppard Def Leppard are an English rock band formed in 1976 in Sheffield. Since 1992, the band has consisted of Rick Savage (bass, backing vocals), Joe Elliott (lead vocals), Rick Allen (drums, backing vocals), Phil Collen (guitar, backing vocals), a ...

''Inwire'' and breakup: 1994-1996

The 1993

Juno Awards The Juno Awards, more popularly known as the JUNOS, are awards presented annually to Canadian musical artists and bands to acknowledge their artistic and technical achievements in all aspects of music. New members of the Canadian Music Hall of ...

recognized Sven Gali and they were nominated for two awards, "Most Promising Group", and "Hard Rock Album Of The Year". Shortly after this, the band began to work on their second album. They recorded in

Seattle Seattle ( ) is a seaport city on the West Coast of the United States. It is the seat of King County, Washington. With a 2020 population of 737,015, it is the largest city in both the state of Washington and the Pacific Northwest regio ...

, with production duties handled by future

Queensrÿche Queensrÿche is an American heavy metal band. It formed in 1982 in Bellevue, Washington, out of the local band the Mob. The band has released 16 studio albums, one EP, and several DVDs, and continues to tour and record. The original lineup ...

guitarist

Kelly Gray Kelly Gray (born April 7, 1981 in Palo Alto, California) is a former American soccer player. He does commentary for San Jose Earthquakes games on Comcast Sports Net Bay Area Career College Gray played forward and midfielder at the University ...

. Prior to this, Gerson left the band and was replaced by their fourth drummer, Mike Ferguson. Ferguson and Gray had previously played together in a Seattle band called Dog Daze. The album, called ''Inwire'' (1995), featured guest musicians Christopher Thorn of

Blind Melon Blind Melon is an American rock band formed in 1990 in Los Angeles by five musicians: three from Mississippi, one from Pennsylvania and one from Indiana. The band currently consists of guitarists Rogers Stevens and Christopher Thorn, drummer G ...

, and

Candlebox Candlebox is an American rock band from Seattle, Washington. Since its formation in 1990, the group has released seven studio albums, several charting singles, a compilation, and a CD+DVD. Candlebox found immediate success with the release of ...

's Kevin Martin and Scott Mercado. This second album had a distinctly different sound, which the band called an experiment, and which was influenced by Gray. Old Sven Gali fans did not respond well to their change of sound, and the band were heavily criticized for what was perceived as jumping on the

grunge rock Grunge (sometimes referred to as the Seattle sound) is an alternative rock genre and subculture that emerged during the in the American Pacific Northwest state of Washington, particularly in Seattle and nearby towns. Grunge fuses elements of p ...

bandwagon. The band toured behind ''Inwire'', until 1996, when the group disbanded.

Reunion and ''3''

On August 11, 2007, Sven Gali reunited and played live for the first time in over 11 years at The Moose N Goose in

Thorold, Ontario Thorold is a city in Ontario, Canada, located on the Niagara Escarpment. It is also the seat of the Regional Municipality of Niagara. The Welland Canal passes through the city, featuring lock 7 and the Twin Flight Locks. History The first su ...

. Rob MacEachern returned on drums as a member. The concert was recorded and is planned to be released on

DVD The DVD (common abbreviation for Digital Video Disc or Digital Versatile Disc) is a digital optical disc data storage format. It was invented and developed in 1995 and first released on November 1, 1996, in Japan. The medium can store any kind ...

in the future. Guitarist Dee Cernile was diagnosed with

cancer Cancer is a group of diseases involving abnormal cell growth with the potential to invade or spread to other parts of the body. These contrast with benign tumors, which do not spread. Possible signs and symptoms include a lump, abnormal b ...

, and two benefit concerts were held for him on August 1 and August 7, 2009. Originally it was not known if Cernile would be able to play, so his brother Walter was tapped to fill in if need be. Cernile did play guitar on both nights, and according to former Slash Puppet vocalist Mif, "if I didn't know any better I wouldn't know that there was anything wrong with the ..guy. He was shredding all ..night." Dee Cernile died of

lung cancer Lung cancer, also known as lung carcinoma (since about 98–99% of all lung cancers are carcinomas), is a malignant lung tumor characterized by uncontrolled cell growth in tissue (biology), tissues of the lung. Lung carcinomas derive from tran ...

on February 25, 2012, aged 46. A new single called "Kill the Lies" was released in 2018. The band also announced tour dates in Canada and Great Britain. "You Wont Break Me" followed in 2019 and the latest single "Now" was released in 2020. The album '' 3'', the band's first full album in 25 years, was released on June 12, 2020.

Discography

*''

'' (1992) BMG Canada *''

Inwire ''Inwire'' is the second album by Canadian rock band Sven Gali, released on September 26, 1995 through RCA The RCA Corporation was a major American electronics company, which was founded as the Radio Corporation of America in 1919. It was ini ...

'' (1995) BMG Canada *'' 3'' (2020) RFL Records

Singles

*"Love Don't Live Here Anymore" (1993) o. 6 Canadian (Anglo) Single of 1993*"Kill the Lies" (2018)

Videos

*''Whisper In the Rain'' (1990) *''Under the Influence'' (1992) *''Tie Dyed Skies'' (1993) *''Here In my Garden'' (1993) *''Love Don't Live Here Anymore'' (1993) *''What You Give'' (1995) *''Keeps Me Down'' (1995) *''Kill The Lies'' (2018) *''You Wont Break Me''(2019) *''Now'' (2020)

Members

* Dave Wanless - lead vocals (1987–present) * Andy Frank - guitar (1987–present) * Sean Williamson - guitar (2018–present) * Shawn "T.T." Minden - bass (1987–present) * Dan Fila - drums (2018–present)

Past members

* Dee Cernile - guitar (1987–2012; Died) * Steve Macgregor - drums (1987–1989) * Rob MacEachern - drums (1989–1991, 2007–2009) * Gregg Gerson - drums (1991–1993) * Mike Ferguson - drums (1994–1996) * Roger Habel Jr. - drums (2008–2017; touring)

Member activity

Most of the members of Sven Gali are active elsewhere. * Dave Wanless has, as of 2005, also fronted The Betty Ford Band in the Niagara region. * Andy Frank has also been working in

China China, officially the People's Republic of China (PRC), is a country in East Asia. It is the world's most populous country, with a population exceeding 1.4 billion, slightly ahead of India. China spans the equivalent of five time zones and ...

as of 2005. * Shawn Minden has been working with George H. Ross the VP to the Trump Organization NYC to raise funds for the Billie & George Ross foundation and is the founder of GS Maher Property Holdings Ltd an Investment real-estate company with ties to NYC and playing with

Forgotten Rebels The Forgotten Rebels are a punk rock band from Hamilton, Ontario, Canada. Founded in 1977,

since 2005. *Steve MacGregor left Svengali to form Electra records recording artist Monkey Head whose debut album was produced by

Beau Hill Beau Hill is an American record producer who is best known for his work with Alice Cooper, Kix, Winger, Streets, Warrant, Fiona, Europe, and Ratt. He also played instruments and sang backing vocals for some of the artists that he produced, as ...

. * Rob MacEachern joined

Helix A helix () is a shape like a corkscrew or spiral staircase. It is a type of smooth space curve with tangent lines at a constant angle to a fixed axis. Helices are important in biology, as the DNA molecule is formed as two intertwined helices, ...

in February 2009 and stayed until October of that year. He has performed on three Helix albums. * As of 2005, Gregg Gerson has been an educator as well as composer of music for TV advertisement and film. * Dee Cernile had been living in

Los Angeles Los Angeles ( ; es, Los Ángeles, link=no , ), often referred to by its initials L.A., is the largest city in the state of California and the second most populous city in the United States after New York City, as well as one of the world' ...

since 2005, but he died of cancer in 2012.

References

External links

Official Sven Gali website

The Betty Ford Band

The Forgotten Rebels

Official Greg Gerson website

Shawn Maher GS Maher Property Holdings Ltd
{{Authority control 1987 establishments in Ontario 1996 disestablishments in Ontario Canadian glam metal musical groups Canadian hard rock musical groups Canadian heavy metal musical groups Musical groups established in 1987 Musical groups disestablished in 1996 Musical groups reestablished in 2017 Musical groups from Hamilton, Ontario