"They’ve come over the water from Canada… Max Webster Band!” That was Radio 1 DJ Peter Powell introducing the Websters on Top Of The Pops in May 1979. Like many watching at home, Powell clearly didn’t have a clue who this deliciously odd band were, and might conceivably have thought – erroneously – that one of them was actually named Max.
Led by flamboyantly dressed singer/guitarist Kim Mitchell, and big on unique, often surreal lyrics written by poet and honorary band member Pye Dubois, Max Webster had somehow hit No.43 in the UK singles chart with Paradise Skies. A breezy, virtuosic single from their fourth album A Million Vacations, it was a beguiling gatecrasher on a TV show which that night also featured ABBA and Art Garfunkel. The backdrop to the Websters’ chartgrazing coup was their ongoing UK support tour with long-term pals Rush, then out promoting their sixth studio album, Hemispheres.
Chatting to Max Webster’s Kim Mitchell today, reminds him of the flexi-disc samplers of his band’s music that were placed on seats when they played at Glasgow Apollo that year, and of that heady time when, for just a moment, it seemed that the Websters, sometimes
