Technology helps resurrect late bandmate's vocals for debut LP
The Beatles were back in the news in November 2023 when a raw demo recorded by John Lennon in the late 1970s finally saw the light of day, thanks to artificial intelligence and a little help from his friends.
Using audio technology director Peter Jackson pioneered during production of the acclaimed 2021 Beatles documentary Get Back, surviving members Paul McCartney and Ringo Starr were able to isolate Lennon's vocals for the song Now and Then by eliminating all background noise, including a spotty piano accompaniment. The pair next headed into the studio to add newly recorded instrumentation to their late mate's singing voice, the culmination of which was a fresh-sounding track that turned out to be the first Beatles composition in 53 years to top the Billboard charts.
Lloyd Peterson is the owner of Paintbox Recording, a full-service studio at 600 Shaftesbury Blvd. that has hosted the likes of Fred Penner, Begonia and the Dirty Catfish Brass Band. In addition to being intrigued with the Now and Then project from a professional standpoint, Peterson also began to wonder whether he and his longtime collaborator Chris Maxfield could utilize the same creative high jinks, to assist them with a set of amateur recordings they'd been holding onto for 40-plus years.
Daniel Crump / Free Press
Maxfield (left) and Peterson spool up Go Jetter's original 1979 reel-to-reel recordings.
On May 13, following months of trial and error, Peterson and Maxfield unveiled From the Word Go, the debut album from Go Jetter, the band they formed in 1979 in London, Ont., with their pal Rob 'Iggy' Morningstar, who died by suicide in 1983.
'It's really hard to describe how fulfilling it was to bring this record back to life,' Maxfield says, seated next to Peterson in Paintbox Recording's reception area, where the digital release's lead single, the uptempo rocker Tuesday Night in the Morning, is playing in the background.
Peterson chimes in, saying there were definitely moments during the last year that were 'just magical,' as they played along — Peterson on guitar, Maxfield on drums — to Iggy's vocals and keyboard/bass lines, which they'd successfully wrested from a grainy reel-to-reel tape, using essentially the same AI app as the ex-Beatles.
'There Chris and I would be, counting a song in, and then Iggy would start singing through our headphones. We'd look at each other and be like wow, this is exactly how it was, 46 years ago.'
Peterson and Maxfield became friends while attending Westlane Secondary School in Chippawa, a community in Niagara Falls, Ont. They met Morningstar during their second year of high school, after he moved to Chippawa from Prescott, Ont.
'He could play guitar, he looked like David Bowie… right away we were asking ourselves, 'who the heck is this guy?'' Maxfield says, crediting a Sam the Record Man employee for granting Morningstar the nickname Iggy, for a coif resembling that of Stooges lead singer Iggy Pop.
Supplied
Rob 'Iggy' Morningstar died by suicide in 1983.
Peterson and Maxfield had already belonged to their share of upstart bands when they approached Morningstar to see if he'd be interested in jamming with the two of them. Sure, came his response, and in Grade 12, the trio entered a talent contest at their school, billing themselves as Dallas Cooper, a colourful unit that covered the catalogue of — you guessed it — Alice Cooper.
After graduating in 1977, Peterson briefly attended the University of Guelph, before moving to Winnipeg, where his parents had relocated. In early 1979 he received a call from Maxfield, who let him know that he and Morningstar intended to form a new group, with the goal of writing and recording original material.
Peterson announced he was in. They settled into a rented house in London, having chosen that burg simply because none of them had ever set foot there before, and they were seeking an entirely new adventure — one fuelled largely by popcorn and roll-your-own cigarettes.
'We had this 'cutting edge' two-track technology, so what we did was record guitar, drums and vocals on one track, then play that back and add flute, bass and synthesizer,' Peterson says, mentioning they adopted the moniker Go Jetter after a dog, Jetter, Morningstar brought home one afternoon as a surprise.
'We were just kind of making it up as we went along; it was basically us putting down ideas — beginnings, middle eights, endings — that would evolve into full-fledged songs,' adds Maxfield, noting because their musical influences were all over the map, from the Clash to Steely Dan to Gordon Lightfoot, the outcome was everything from 'punk blasts' to more folk-tinged arrangements.
Daniel Crump / Free Press
Lloyd Peterson jams with fellow Go Jetter bandmate Chris Maxfield, in Peterson's Winnipeg Studio, Paintbox Recording.
When they weren't writing and recording, Go Jetter performed live here and there around the southern Ontario city. But after neglecting to pay the rent for a prolonged period, they received what Maxfield calls an official-looking letter from their landlord, instructing them to pack their belongings and vamoose — a set of circumstances that sealed the fate of Go Jetter.
'It's really hard to describe how fulfilling it was to bring this record back to life'– Chris Maxfield
In the wake of the band's demise, Peterson and Maxfield moved first to Toronto, then later to Winnipeg where they helped form the Cheer, an upbeat foursome that enjoyed a modicum of success during the 1980s. Meanwhile, Morningstar headed to Ohio, where he joined the post-punk outfit the F Models.
Peterson remembers getting set to board a van in December 1983 to leave for a Cheer show in Thompson when he received a call from Morningstar's brother Randy, to let him and Maxfield know their chum had been found dead, two days before his 25th birthday.
'If somebody gets taken from you at such a young age, they're always going to be the person you knew when you were 20; you're never going to see them grow old,' Peterson states, running a hand through his hair. 'Like lots of people, Iggy was complicated and had a lot of stuff to overcome in his life, but in his heart he was an entertainer, and he was very talented when it came to music.'
Daniel Crump / Free Press
Recording pro Lloyd Peterson was inspired to revisit Go Jetter's '70s recordings after AI tech helped resurrect John Lennon's vocals from a rough demo.
Peterson and Maxfield remained in touch after the end of the Cheer in 1989. Peterson eventually moved over to the production side of things — he established Paintbox Recording in the mid-2000s — while Maxfield forged a successful career as a travel executive and currently, as the owner of his own communications firm.
In January 2024, Peterson and Maxfield were out for breakfast when the topic of the aforementioned Beatles documentary came up. Specifically, they discussed back and forth how the producers had been able to clean up the Fab Four's old recordings by extracting individual vocal, guitar and drum tracks from existing tapes — an action Peterson equated with removing the flour or baking powder from an already-prepared biscuit.
'There Chris and I would be, counting a song in, and then Iggy would start singing through our headphones. We'd look at each other and be like wow, this is exactly how it was, 46 years ago'– Lloyd Peterson
'I did a bit of homework and found the applicable AI app,' Maxfield says. 'I happened to have a Go Jetter song on my phone and after running it through the app, I had this eureka moment… I couldn't believe we'd be able to pull Iggy's vocals out and rebuild the song, if that's what we chose to do.'
One song turned into two, two became four, until the pair had successfully recreated 11 Go Jetter tunes from a quarter-inch tape marked 'Go Jetter, Summer of '79.' (Thinking ahead, Peterson also commissioned a local production crew to film the goings-on for what turned out to be a nearly nine-minute-long documentary augmented with grainy snapshots of the three of them, taken with a 'crappy, $15' Instamatic camera.)
Prior to the album being released on streaming services, Peterson and Maxfield were in touch with Morningstar's siblings, who joyfully gave the undertaking their blessing. They also heard from Morningstar's adult nephew, who contacted them from his home in Alberta.
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The band in 1977, before they were Go Jetter
'He was too young to have known his uncle — he'd only heard stories about him through his mom — and he was really excited to learn more about Iggy, from Lloyd's and my perspective,' Maxfield says.
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For obvious reasons, Peterson and Maxfield don't have any plans to play live shows as Go Jetter, though attendees at a June 14 show at Blue Note Park, featuring a resurrected Cheer alongside Monuments Galore and Chocolate Bunnies From Hell, may be fortunate enough to hear one song off the LP From the Word Go.
'There were so many times we wished Iggy could have been a part of this and we're thinking of playing Minor Sins from the new album, a fresh one written years after he died, all about him and our time together,' Peterson says.
'It will be our tribute to him from the surviving Go Jetter members, carried on by the Cheer,' Maxfield adds.
Supplied
From left, Chris Maxfield, Lloyd Peterson and Rob 'Iggy' Morningstar perform together 40-plus years ago.
For more information, go to gojetter.ca
david.sanderson@freepress.mb.ca
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