* Brighton Rock | The Official Brighton Rock Website *

Bio

It all began with a dream. Back in 1982 two Niagara Falls musicians, guitarist Greg Fraser and bassist Stevie Skreebs joined forces to form a new project called Heart Attack. After many various personal changes, Fraser and Skreebs had finally found the frontman they had been looking for in Gerry McGhee who had formerly been singing in a Hamilton based band The Rockers, he was looking for a new band and the rest is history. The trio began working together and received instant recognition from WEA records once their song “Breaking Down The Barricade” was chosen for the Q107 Homegrown album in 1984.

The band was completed when drummer Mark Cavarzan and keyboardist Martin Victor joined the band. The band changed their name to Brighton Rock , then released a self titled Ep on their own label, Flying Fist records. Soon to follow was the band’s debut album, Young Wild and Free (produced by Michael Wagner), it was released throughout the world on WEA Records. Just as the band was preparing for their world tour another personnel change was needed, out was Martin Victor as he was replaced by John Rogers.

The band hit the road with the success of their first single “We Came to Rock,” soon to be followed by the ballad “Can’t Wait for the Night.” After a successful debut tour the band retreated to the studio to record their second album, Take A Deep Breath (produced by Jack Richardson). The next tour began taking the band over to England, on the strength of the first two singles,” One More Try” and”Hangin High and Dry,” the album was soon to be certified gold in Canada. The band toured for the next year and then prepared for their third album. As the band began writing tunes for the next album, John Rogers departed from the band. Instead of hiring another keyboard player, the band went for a heavier guitar sounding album and Love Machine was born. The band co-produced with Toby Wright , hired Greg Boileau as a rhythm guitarist and once again hit the road. After a grueling tour the band decided to part ways and officially break up. Here we are ten years later and guess what, Brighton Rock is back with their original lineup and things could not be better. After recording a few live shows the band released “A Room For Five Live” in May of 2002 on Z-Records. In 2006 a greatest hits package was released titled The Essentials. In January 2007, Fraser and Skreebs formed a new project known as Fraze Gang. Their Self-titled album came out in early 2008 and Fraze Gang 2 album was released in 2012.

The band regrouped again Thursday October 30, 2008 at the Phoenix Concert Theatre in Toronto for a benefit concert for fellow Canadian rocker Carl Dixon who was injured in a car crash.

In late Jan 2012 it was confirmed that the band would perform at the Firefest Festival in Nottingham, England in October 2012.
On Saturday October 13, 2012 the band regrouped again for a sold out show at The Rockpile in Toronto and announced that they would be coming back to The Rockpile in May of 2013.

October 2012: The band is currently working on a new CD to be released sometime in 2014 with a tour to follow.

Stay tuned….

  1. Scott Gordon August 21, 2013 at 5:27 am

    Let me say that I never heard of your band til my friend had me listen to your haunting version of Creatures of the night. I was blown away. Needless to say I had to listen to all your old stuff and wondered why I never heard of Brighton Rock before. I have now listened to Love Machine 5 times and in my opinion is an under rated rock album of the ninties. i have a rock discussion every month with my friends and I played love machine. They were also blown away. One friend asked what kind of manipulation was used for Gerry’s voice til we watched some live stuff. Now love machine is in heavy rotation with all of us. We feel Gerry’s voice is up their with Coverdale and Bach. The range is amazing. hearing their is a new album in the works gets us excited. My 18 yr old son’s new fav song is Love in a bottle. Cheers from a couple of old rockers and new fans.

    Reply
  2. Tony Lee August 23, 2013 at 9:17 pm

    05.17.1989 – Manchester International – Manchester, England ………. A great night, a great band. I’ll never forget.

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  3. Ken Prior November 30, 2013 at 6:07 am

    City Lights Is Long Gone, But TAKE A DEEP BREATH is still fresh in my mind. Hopefully you guy’s will hit Sudbury, Ontario again. Hey Stevie, I was the only guy who knew you in Sudbury…remember…Ah…but that was a long time ago!

    Reply
  4. John Tanchuk July 6, 2015 at 11:45 pm

    I just want to say Brighton Rock IS CANADA’S MOST UNDERRATED BAND….. EVER…. These guys just rock period. Thank you for Being Canadian and Thank you for the great music you have made. Please please please make another Album/CD. And when you tour…. PLEASE COME WEST… US B.C. people would love to see ya. Take Care boys and Thank you.

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  5. [email protected] September 25, 2017 at 9:36 am

    are you guys playing aron T.O. or specifically oshawa in 2017 or 18 cuz im nobodies hero

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  6. Dave June 21, 2018 at 5:11 pm

    Love your music , when is the new CD going to be out?

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  7. Mike King July 25, 2018 at 2:11 pm

    Was lucky enough to see these guys twice back in the day . They rocked big time and I had to go out and buy Take a Deep Breath and very glad I did. Me and a buddy drove across Canada and absolutely killed that cassette in my car . Still love their music to this day. Really hope they come back to Vancouver island .

    Reply
  8. AJ September 8, 2019 at 7:11 pm

    WoW I never hesrd of BR until about a week ago…O M M F G ! ! ! Y’all are frikkin awesome. I’m am old 80s rocker. Why have I never heard of y’all before. I’m a fan for life now! I’m a vocalist in a band and when I came across your version of COCAINE…I was abso6blown away. The vocals were amazing as well as the rest of you guys. Keep it going bruthas.

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  9. Mike Hardy August 27, 2020 at 9:28 am

    RIP Gerry
    An amazing singer…You did come to rock and did a great job.
    My condolences to Gerry’s family and to his band mates
    Its a Brighton Rock shuffle on the iphone today

    Reply

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