Merryweather - Merryweather / Word Of Mouth (Reissue) (1970/1993)

Neil formed his first band in high school and played with a handful of bands throughout the 60s. He was awarded an art scholarship and attended the acclaimed Centra Tech Art School in Toronto. But the lure of music was too strong. Gigs quickly took precedence over art, and Neil left art school to make music his sole endeavor.

Neil’s first band was called “The NightTricks”. Their agent, who referred to his other band, “Gary Mear and the Reflections”, as his “A” band, got the better gigs. Neil turned up at one of The Reflection’s rehearsals, but Gary wasn’t around. Neil sat in on vocals and wound up as the lead singer, joining forces with Edward Roth (keyboards), Robert Ablack (drums), Bill Ross (guitar), and Brian Hughes (bass). Neil used his first two names, Bobby Neilson, and the band became “The Ookpics”, named after a native Canadian stuffed toy owl that was a souvenir sold to tourists.

The band got a deal with Quality Records and recorded a lone single. The Canadian government owned the rights to the “Ookpic” name, so the band changed their name to “Just Us”, as suggested by Ed Roth’s mother. “Just Us” appeared on a local “American Bandstand” type show promoting the single “I Can Tell”, with the flip side “I Don’t Love You”, and went on for a year or so playing the Ontario circuit. Brian Hughes left the band to go to college, and Neil and Ed let the always angry Bill Ross go.

Neilson, who now went by the name Neil Lillie, befriended ex-“Mynah Birds” singer and keyboardist Jimmy Livingston in Long and McWade’s music store where he worked in the backroom as an amp and guitar repairman, and asked him to join a new lineup of “Just Us”, (the Mynah Byrds frontman was Ricky James Mathews, later known as Rick James). To complete the new lineup, Neil recruited former “C.J. Feeney and the Spellbinders” member Stan Endersby on guitar and Wayne Davis on bass.

“Just Us” became a popular draw on the Toronto scene. Wayne Davis dropped out to join “Bobby Kris and the Imperials”. “Just Us” was booked to open for “The Byrds” at Varsity Stadium. Neil got a bass and learned to play the band’s set in two weeks. They opened for “The Byrds” as “Group Therapy”, but for a short while, went on as “Just Us” to fulfill already-booked dates.

At one of the gigs, the band played on a bill with a group called “Richie Knight and the Mid-Knights”. Neil befriended the piano player Rick Bell (who went on to play with Ronnie Hawkins, Janis Joplin’s band “Full Tilt Boogie”, and “The Band”), and persuaded him to join. Neil had a concept for a new band with two keyboards. He designed red Edwardian suits and came up with the name “The Tripp”. The band signed with manager Tom Wilson, who headed up the Big Land Agency. “The Tripp” had a successful run, playing the top clubs and concert venues on the circuit. One night, they opened for Toronto’s top band at the time, “The Mandela”, and blew them away! The Mandela’s manager, Raphael Markowitz, signed them to his management company (“Riff” Markowitz went on to produce shows including “The Hitchhiker”, and is currently the producer of the Fabulous Palm Springs Follies, one of the only surviving and profit-making vaudeville shows worldwide).

In order to make the management legal, they pretended to disband to get a release from their management and contract with Tom Wilson. The breakup made the Toronto Star newspaper’s entertainment page, complete with a pencil portrait of “The Tripp” that Neil had sketched.