Wednesday, September 28, 2011

Artist: Jitters, Album: Jitters, Song: Last Of The Red Hot Fools

The Jitters were a Toronto rock band that formed in 1981.  They were Blair Packham, Danny Levy, Matthew Greenberg and Glenn Martin.  The band was very popular on the local bar circuit and they actually had the opportunity to work with producer Bob Ezrin in 1982 but nothing came from the experience.  However, by the mid to late eighties, the band finally wrote and recorded this song, Last Of The Red Hot Fools, and entered it into a Homegrown Radio Contest in Toronto by Q107.  They didn't win but placed well enough to have the song included on the station's compilation release.  Following this, they landed an opening gig for Huey Lewis & The News at the C.N.E. which attracted the attention of Capitol Records.  Finally, after years of slugging it out on the bar circuit, the band signed their major label deal and released their self-titled debut in 1987.  This particular song became the lead single and it was a national hit, prompting the Juno nomination for Most Promising Group.  However, they lost out to Barney Bentall & The Legendary Hearts.  This wasn't the only single off the album as the band also released the album opener, Closer Every Day, which received a lot of airplay.  Their popularity would translate into some U.K. tour dates with Heart, opening for them at Wembley Stadium.  The band would follow it up in 1990 with their sophomore release which yielded another great single called, Til The Fever Breaks.  However, the band would eventually pack it in by 1991.  They have reformed in recent years to perform the odd show and Blair Packham continues to perform as a solo artist.  You can follow Blair at http://www.blairpackham.com/.  The debut album from the Jitters is available for download on Itunes.  You can check out the band performing the song, Last Of The Red Hot Fools, on a U.K. television show on You Tube (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zoD0eWBjxHk&feature=related).  You can also follow their story and hear some tunes at http://www.myspace.com/thejitterscanada.  Thanks for reading and enjoy!