Haywire

Haywire is a Canadian rock band, originally from Charlottetown, Prince Edward Island, Canada. History Haywire was formed in Charlottetown in 1981 by Paul MacAusland (vocals), Marvin Birt (guitar/vocals), David Rashed (keys/vocals), Ronnie Switzer (bass/vocals) and Scott Roberts (drums). Ron "Bumble" LeBlanc replaced Roberts in 1984, playing with the band through their demo, EP, and three cuts on their debut Attic release before leaving to continue his education. Mac Cole filled the drum seat briefly until Sean Kilbride (a long-time friend of the band) rounded out the line-up. In 1984, they won the "Q104 Homegrown" (Volume 1) contest; the first prize was the chance to record a single, but the band took the opportunity to invest additional money of their own and record a five-song EP, Haywire (1985), which eventually sold over 5,000 copies in the Maritimes. In 1985, they won the Labatt's "Battle of the Bands" competition, and used the $10,000 first prize to record more material. In 1986, the group signed a recording contract with Canadian independent label Attic Records. Their first album, Bad Boys (1986), went platinum in Canada, while the title track became a Top 40 hit. The following year, they released Don't Just Stand There (1987), which also went platinum, and contained their highest charting hit, the hard-driving, "Dance Desire". A promised third video was not forthcoming from the label, so Haywire financed the video for "Fire" themselves. Throughout the late 1980s, Haywire toured with other popular Canadian rockers such as Helix, Honeymoon Suite and Kim Mitchell. They also represented Canada in the World Popular Song Festival in Japan, where "Dance Desire" won the award for best song. Despite their success in Canada, and interest from managers Doc McGee (Bon Jovi, Mötley Crüe, Skid Row) and Q Prime (Def Leppard, Metallica, Queensrÿche) and label interest from Chrysalis Records, they were unable to secure a U.S. recording contract due to limitations related to their contract with Attic Records.