MR ANDY CURRAN
Andy Curran first exploded onto the Canadian rock scene in 1982 as a founding member of CONEY HATCH. After the release of their debut album the bands rocket rise saw them sharing stages with Judas Priest, Iron Maiden, Cheap Trick, Peter Frampton, Ted Nugent Eddie Money, Frank Marino and Edgar Winter earning not one but two coveted special guest slots at Toronto's legendary Maple Leaf Gardens in a single year.
Riding that wave of success Curran struck out on his own in 1992 with his self titled solo debut. The album earned him two Juno award nominations including Most Promising Male Vocalist, which he proudly took home that year. The record spawned three top 10 hits - "No Tattoos", "License to Love" and "Let Go" - making Curran and his band fixtures on Much Music and rock radio across Canada. Touring continued with Notable Shows alongside Glass Tiger, Rik Emmett and RUSH.
MR CARL DIXON
Carl hails from Northern Ontario, (The Soo), Sault Ste Marie His powerful vocals, energy and sheer determination have landed him in three iconic Canadian bands CONEY HATCH (1981-present), APRIL WINE (four years) and THE GUESS WHO (8 years). A CBC radio description of Carl: “He remains one of Canada’s stellar rock voices.”
Fresh out of school Carl was accepted for enrolment by Guitar Institute of Technology (GIT) in California, but declined to attend, instead he focused on performing live. A move to Montreal to play in a constantly touring bar band, Firefly, helped Carl prepare for the big step that followed…
Coney Hatch. Carl came to prominence after answering an ad in Toronto’s classified ads, joining Andy, Steve and Dave to quickly rise in the Canadian 80s rock scene. Featured on MTV and opening for the likes of Judas Priest and Iron Maiden’s North American tours. Their debut self-titled album produced by Kim Mitchell went gold with eight of the ten songs on the album co-written or written by Carl. Outa Hand and Friction followed in ’83 and ‘85 with Carl making his singing, playing and song writing contributions central to the band’s sound.
When Carl left Coney Hatch he found a new career as a staff songwriter for Universal. Based in NYC and LA Carl co-wrote with Brett Walker for Jimi Jamieson, “Taste of Love” featured on Baywatch and Jersey Girl. Carl has since penned songs for feature films and television series including Dawson’s Creek, Degrassi, Saddle Club, Tornado Hunters and more.
Carl joined April Wine on tour through 2001-2004, (appearing on the release April Wine Greatest Hits Live 2003). He also opened for April Wine playing solo acoustic - paving the way for Carl’s solo career. Carl accepted the offer to tour as singer for the Guess Who, a role he had for eight years for hundreds of shows mainly in the USA. In 2008 the charmed music life nearly ended. Carl was broken to pieces in a horrific car accident in rural Australia. While Carl was comatose with 52 injuries, band brother Andy Curran spoke to him and said “ You gotta live, the Hatch still has more rockin’ to do”. When Carl emerged from the coma, he remembered Andy’s call. They both kept their word. Carl’s determination to return to full- time music pushed him through years of recovery. He now sports a few titanium implants and a glass eye. Never one to sit still while in recovery, Carl became an inspirational speaker and an author. His autobiography “Strange Way to Live” was published by Dundurn Press in 2015.
Along the way Carl has released seven solo albums, most recently UNBROKEN (2020) Carl’s opened for Frampton, Heart, Grand Funk, Hootie and The Blowfish, Styx, Rik Emmitt and many more in a journeyman career. According to Andy "Carl could sing the phone book and make it sound good". Carl plays across Canada and the USA solo, and an acoustic duo with Hatch band-mate Sean Kelly in NORTHERN STRUM also in his five-piece band WILD NORTH ROCK.
MR DAVE KETCHUM
Dave "Thumper" Ketchum started playing drums in public school, and his parents signed him up for lessons almost right away. Dave still uses those early rudiments to this day for warming up before hits the stage. He started playing professionally when he was fifteen, and was playing full-time by the age of eighteen.
Dave messed around in a couple of bands before putting Coney Hatch together with bass player Andy Curran in 1979. In Dave's words: "We picked up lead guitar player Steve Shelski and singer/guitar player Carl Dixon fairly quickly. In the early ’80s, the bar circuit in Ontario and Quebec was fantastic and a band could work six nights a week, and Sunday was travel day. It was a great way to learn your craft."
With Kim Mitchell helping to secure their first record deal with Anthem Records, he then produced the first self-titled record, Coney Hatch, in 1982, which went gold in Canada. In America, the Hatch were signed to PolyGram Records, around the same time Bon Jovi was signed. The second album, Out of Hand, released in 1983, was produced by Max Norman of Ozzie Osborne fame. Throughout the two albums, Dave realized that he much preferred to play live to playing in recording sessions. With family on the way Dave took time out from Coney Hatch and took on other jobs.
Dave returned to Coney Hatch after Carl Dixon's accident. Thumper pleasing fans at a music festival in Hamilton which opened the door to Coney Hatch playing Firefest England. Fans came out in droves and they rocked the house. Back home, Dave and Hatch started getting offers to do another album and eventually inked a deal with Frontier records out of Italy.
So after almost thirty years, Dave returned to the recording studio - now purely digital recording. Vic Florencia engineered and co-produced the album, along with bassist Andy Curran. Dave says Vic helped him get back into the mindset of recording. The basic tracks were done in two five-day sessions. It was grueling but Dave reckons for the first time he had fun making a record.
Dave's had artist deals with Pearl and Sabian. He uses a Vision VBL birch kit. "I have a 22″ kick, 12″ and 13″ rack toms, which I prefer mounted to the kick, 14″ and 16″ floors, and an Ian Paice signature snare. The hardware is double-braced 1000 series, except for the kick pedal, which is a 2000 series Power Shifter. My cymbals are AAX models: 21″ Stage ride, 14″ Stage hats, 18″ and 19″ Metal crashes, and an 18″ Ozone. For the past twenty years or so, I’ve used Promark Millennium II 5B drumsticks and Remo drumheads."
MR SEAN KELLY
Sean Kelly is a Juno award-nominated Canadian musician, educator, and author with an extensive career that includes touring and recording with renowned artists such as Nelly Furtado, Lee Aaron, Coney Hatch, The Tenors, Helix, Gilby Clarke, Rough Trade, Alan Frew (Glass Tiger), Harlequin, Honeymoon Suite, Canadian Brass, Northern Strum, and his own band Crash Kelly. Beyond his musical achievements, Sean has authored three books: "Don’t Call It Hair Metal: Art In The Excess of ‘80s Rock" (ECW PRESS) and "Metal On Ice: Tales from Canada’s Hard Rock and Heavy Metal Heroes" (Dundurn Press), and his new book “Battle Axes : A Hard Rockin’ History of Pointy Guitars” which will be published in Summer ‘26.
Sean was a Top Ten finalist in Guitar Player Magazine's inaugural GUITAR HERO competition, earning kudos from celebrity judges Joe Satriani and Steve Lukather for his performance at the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in Cleveland. Sean has recorded Top 10 US Billboard charting classical guitar albums, and has also worked as a composer, music director, producer, and session musician in Toronto, Canada.
In addition to these pursuits, Sean showcased his guitar and performance skills in the 2023 Toronto production of "Rock of Ages" and had a major role Twisted Sister frontman Dee Snider’s "Rock N Roll Christmas Tale." Recognized for his contributions, Sean was inducted into the North Bay Entertainers Hall of Recognition in 2022. Furthermore, in 2023, he earned induction into Canada’s Walk of Fame as a member of Lee Aaron’’s band. Currently, Sean serves as a dedicated Music Teacher with the Toronto Catholic District School Board.