Goddo

GODDO was formed by Greg Godovitz (ex FLUDD) in 1974. The original line-up featured Greg Godovitz (Bass & Vocals), Gino Scarpelli (Lead Guitar) and Marty Morin (Drums & Percussion). After about a year Marty left to take a regular job (The song "Bus Driver Blues" is about Marty). Marty was replaced by one Doug Inglis, and the classic GODDO line-up was formed. The band played clubs & pubs all over Canada before securing a record deal with Fatboy Records (part of Polydor, Canada). Their debut album "GODDO" was released in 1976. This album features 'Let That Lizard Loose', in my opinion GODDO's ultimate song! 1977 saw the release of "WHO CARES", considered by many to be their best album (it certainly was their biggest selling album!). GODDO's third album "AN ACT OF GODDO" was released in 1979. In 1980 GODDO released a picture sleeve single "Fortune In Men's Eyes", a song co-written with long time friend Brian Pilling. The single was released as a tribute to Brian who died of leukaemia in 1978. A blistering double live album "GODDO LIGHVE - BEST SEAT IN THE HOUSE" recorded at Toronto's Roxy Theatre in February 1981, was released later that year. GODDO's final album (until their reunion in the early 90's) was 1982's "PRETTY BAD BOYS."

THE REUNION Greg Godovitz reformed GODDO in 1989 after securing a new record deal. The band returned to the studio and recorded two new tracks 'Was It Somethin' I Said?' & 'Quicksand' which were featured on 1990's "12 GAUGE GODDO", a Best Of Album. The following year they returned to the studio to record a new album (the first since 1982's "PRETTY BAD BOYS"). Finally in 1992 the new album "KING OF BROKEN HEARTS" was released in Canada on the Justin Entertainment label (part of MCA). GODDO were all set for a new start, however the new album sales were disappointing. By 1993 GODDO were once again disbanded and Greg had formed the CARPET FROGS with old friends.

Goddo are once again signed this time to Bullseye Records of Canada. Greg Godovitz has writen a book titled Travels With My Amp. The band has a new live CD soon to be released called 2nd Best Seat In The House. Goddo currently are playing selective tour dates all over Ontario and in to Manatoba.

"If indeed it is lonely at the top, who cares," quipped Goddo on its second album. "It's lonely at the bottom, too." That rusty one-liner could have been the band's motto. It succinctly sums up not only the tumultuous career of this long-serving, hard-rocking Canadian power trio, but also the fatalistic humor with which the group viewed the whole affair. Goddo's technicolor dreams of global domination never came true, but that never seemed to stop the band from enjoying its decades-long rollercoaster ride through the Canadian music industry. Goddo's long, arduous slog to the middle began in 1975, when bassist Greg Godovitz left Toronto pop outfit Fludd. Intent on forming a harder-rocking group, Godovitz recruited Hendrix disciple Gino Scarpelli (of glitter rock outfit Brutus) on guitar and former school chum Marty Morin on drums. Adding a consonant to Godovitz's nickname for clarity -- too many people said Go-do instead of God-o -- the trio braved the Canadian bar-room grind, playing three shows a night, six nights a week, with day-long drives between gigs. A year in these trenches was enough for Morin, who became a school bus driver, making room for Ottawa drummer Doug Inglis, a rock-solid timekeeper who also happened to be a dead ringer for Morin, thus saving the group the cost of new publicity photos. With a secure lineup in place, the group's career began to accelerate. A self-titled debut album (featuring "Bus Driver Blues," Godovitz's parting shot at Morin) appeared in 1977, introducing the group's hybrid of meat 'n' potatoes rock, poignant balladry, and lascivious lyrics. It was followed in 1978 by the outstanding Who Cares. Produced by Godovitz under the pseudonym Thomas Morley-Turner -- reputedly to snow label execs who wanted a "proper" producer -- Who Cares was Goddo's high-water mark. An ambitious album for its time, Who Cares fused poppier hooks, classical passages, and comic vignettes with libidinous rockers such as "Sweet Thing," a groupie ode that became the band's signature song. Who Cares' success spiked the band's popularity. But as their income and touring increased, so did their drug intake and egomania. While cutting their third CD, 1979's An Act of Goddo, at the Bee Gees' studio, Godovitz supposedly rebuffed collaborative overtures from Maurice Gibb by calling his music "disco crap." Godovitz cut his throat deeper by including the anti-music biz screed "Sign on the Line" on the album. An Act of Goddo garnered little critical or commercial attention, and not surprisingly, Goddo was soon label-less. The band landed briefly at Attic Records, which issued 1981's Lighve: Best Seat in the House, followed later that year by a fourth studio album, Pretty Bad Boys. Its poppy title-cut earned Goddo its first (and only) hit single, along with a Juno Award nomination in 1982 -- ironically, for Most Promising New Group. But it was too little too late. Continually broke and at each other's throats, the band imploded in 1983. Scarpelli and Inglis went on to other bands, while Godovitz unsuccessfully tried to float a new version of the band (now called Godo) with different members. By 1989, tensions had eased and the trio reunited, joined by original drummer Morin on percussion. In 1990, Goddo issued the best-of CD 12 Gauge Goddo, followed in 1992 by the studio album King of Broken Hearts. When it tanked, the group split again. In the late '90s, Goddo regrouped once more. In 2001, Goddo issued its first CD in a decade, 2nd Best Seat in the House: 25th Anniversary Lighve, on Canadian label Bullseye. After terrorist attacks in the U.S. that year, the band wrote and released a single, "New York City's Burning," to raise funds for the Red Cross. ~ Darryl Sterdan, All Music Guide