| BIO
In the Halifax, Nova Scotia suburb of
Waverly, Goodwyn was playing in a group called Woody's Termites. His
next door neighbor, Jimmy Henman convinced him to join a group composed
of himself and his cousins, Ritchie and David Henman. Jimmy and Goodwyn
had previously played together in several bands including East Gate
Sanctuary while David and Ritchie played in the Lower Sackville group,
Prism (not to be confused with the famous Vancouver group of the same
name). The name April Wine was coined by David for no apparent reason.
During the recording of the second album 'On Record', big changes were
developing as vocalist/bassist Jim Henman suddenly returned to college,
leaving Goodwyn to lead the band both musically and vocally. Jim Clench
was brought in to fill Henman's shoes on bass. Goodwyn and Clench soon
became allies for a shift in musical direction and internal struggles
with the Henmans led to the brothers leaving the act to form
Montreal-based band Silver and, later, The Dudes with Bob Segarini.
Veteran Mashmakhan drummer Jerry Mercer was added after a stint with Roy
Buchanan and guitarist Gary Moffet came from Pops Merrily. Typical
artistic differences splintered the group and
despite Clench's significant vocal and writing contributions, he left to
join BTO for several albums and tours. Steve Lang (The Cheeque,
Devotion, Mashmakhan) was his replacement. As part of a drive to make
April Wine tougher sounding, guitarist Brian Greenway, also of Cheeque,
Mashmakhan and The Dudes was summoned by his old bandmates to quit his
forklift job and join April Wine for the 'First Glance' LP. All along
the way April Wine became an institutional Canadian stadium rock act
with Top-40 hit after Top-40 hit.After their successive run, the
industry began shifting with techno-pop of the '80's and April Wine
found themselves a hard rock act with a dwindling audience. Their
farewell tour was in 1984 for the 'Animal Grace' album and it was
successful enough to spawn another in a long line of live albums Goodwyn
put April Wine to bed for a long rest with an eye to working on a solo
career. However, April Wine still contractually owed Capitol Records one
more album. Greenway joined Goodwyn in Nassau, along with Montreal
session musicians Barbe, Pellerin and Simon, to record what was supposed
to be the band's final album - 'Walking Through Fire'. While living in
the Caribbean, Goodwyn released a solo album to middling reviews and
zero sales. Soon, a serious discussion to revive April Wine followed.
Goodwyn returned to Montreal in preparation for the recording of a
second solo album, but interest was steamrolling for an April Wine
reunion. Greenway, also licking the wounds of an aborted solo career is
the first to sign on. Mercer leaves The Buzz Band and also returns but
Moffet is fully committed to his production company (including producing
the See Spot Run hit album 'Weightless') and his spot is filled by local
guitarist Steve Segal. After years away from April Wine, Jim Clench
returned from Calgary to Montreal to fill in the bass slot. The bend
would sign a new record deal with FRE Entertainment and released two
albums of mostly new compositions - 'Attitude' (1993) and 'Frigate'
(1994) April Wine still packs 'em in as a 4 piece and they play 100's of
shows yearly including the annual Classic Rock Festival in Minidosa,
Manitoba. Jim Henman continued writing and has worked on numerous
projects in the last 10 years including Terry Kelly, Anne Murray's
guitarist George Hebert, Jeannie Beks & Co. He also wrote
"Death: The Musical " which had at Halifax's Neptune Theatre
and did a stint in Ottawa in 2001; Jim Clench left April Wine, again, in
2007 and was replaced by Breen Leboeuf. |
