Bongo Fury

Two of my favourite bands in the late 70's early 80's (and today for that matter) were two local Southern Ontario bands, Goddo and Moxy. I saw both several times live, had all their albums, and knew most of what there was two know about them. That is why I was so surprised when I came across this LP a few months ago on Ebay. I was doing a search for one or other of the two, when this Bongo Fury LP came up in the search results.
I read the item description and it said that it was made by members of the two bands. Billy Wade was the drummer for Moxy and Gino Scarpelli, the guitarist for Goddo. The vocals were attributed to Bongo Fury who it turns out is Billy Wade with the other members doing backing vocals.
The record was still factory sealed so I bought it. What a great decision! The album rocks with a bunch of fun songs and it sounds like they were having a great time recording them.
I asked Gino Scarpelli about the LP via Facebook ...

Hi John,
Bongo Fury was me and Billy Wade recording for fun. We wrote those songs impromptu. I'm glad you like the album. Enjoy Peace,
Gino.

The rest of the band members were Buddy Caine (guitarist also from Moxy), Terry McKeown (guitar and bass) and Paul Lachapelle (bass)
The album was recorded at Paul La Chapelle's Quest Studios in Oshawa, Ontario and released on Pure Noise Records. The band also toured under the name Pure Noise before recording as Bongo Fury in 1979. The record contained the song "Young Legs" which was a cover of the Moxy song released two years earlier on their "Ridin' High" album.
Bill Wade had also played with Gino Scarpelli in the Canadian band "Brutus" (Ooh Mama Mama)under the alias Hally Hunter. Sadly, Billy died of Cancer in July of 2001

One copy for sale

Vehicle

Hailing from Stoney Creek Ontario Canada, (the singer lived across the street from my grandmother's house) Vehicle sadly only released this one LP. I was under age the times I saw them play at the Collins Hotel in Dundas. The album is nothing unique but with it's hard edged Styx-ish sound it is certainly a lot of fun to listen to. My personal favourite track is the hard rockin' "Da-Nite Shuffle" written about the Da-Nite Tavern a couple blocks from my house (where I also drank regularly, under age and over, growing up in Stoney Creek). They also made the best HOT wings in town. Too bad it burned down a few years ago but it is immortalized in this great song.

Da-Nite Tavern burns (YouTube)

This LP is a real gem if you can find it!