Haywire

About

Two platinum albums out of Canada's Maritime scene is no small feat, and Haywire pulled it off back to back. The Charlottetown rock band broke through with Bad Boys in 1986, scoring a Top 40 hit with the title track, then followed it up with Don't Just Stand There in 1987, which contained their biggest chart moment, the hard driving "Dance Desire". That song even won best song at the World Popular Song Festival in Japan, representing Canada on an international stage. They toured alongside Helix, Honeymoon Suite and Kim Mitchell, and had serious interest from major management camps and labels, though contractual issues with Attic Records kept a US deal out of reach. Their third album Nuthouse, recorded in Norway and then remixed by the band themselves back home, took a harder, guitar forward direction. It earned solid AOR airplay but the label was lukewarm, and a familiar pattern followed: promised videos not delivered, promotion pulled. Get Off in 1992 was critically well received but similarly undersupported. Haywire have since picked up Lifetime Achievement awards from both Music PEI and the East Coast Music Association, and the original lineup has been back together since 2004.