The Painted Ship

On June 2, 2005, The Pspot asked William "The Captain" Hay (vocals/harmonica) of Canada's 60's garage/punk band The Painted Ship a few questions. He was kind enough to answer them:1-The band was started in the summer of 65.I met Rob Rowden(guitar) at the University of B.C.When we met I was writing poetry and we thought it would be fun to see what might come out of a collaboration.We recruited Rob's brother, Barry,to play drums and Ken Wain on keyboards. At first I called this band THE WEE BEASTIES but later changed the name to THE PAINTED SHIP. We tormented the neighbors during our summer break and then decided to see how many more ears we could offend.This is the band you hear on the first single:FRUSTRATION/LITTLE WHITE LIES.2-Most memorable preformances? hmmmm I just can't reduce it to one so here are a few in no particular order. THE WHO and HERMAN'S HERMITS came to see us one night and stormed the stage about half way through the set.We all did a raucous version of SATISFACTION and Keith gave the drum kit the beating it deserved.Gigs with THE YARDBIRDS,JEFFERSON AIRPLANE-STARSHIP,STEVE MILLER,GRATEFUL DEAD,COUNTRY JOE were all fun.But as I'm thinking about your question I think the most memorable times occured when we were just starting out and we were still playing smaller venues.It was really intimate-you felt the connection with the people.I liked to wander out into the audience and behave like a loon(it comes naturally)Later , after we got a bit of a name we started to play larger venues.It was I suppose success,but at a price.I always missed the intimacy of the smaller places.3-The inspiration for FRUSTRATION? I've always been interested in esoteric psychology.One of the themes I find fascinating is the push-pull between individuation and enculturation.Of course, we all have to understand our culture in order to fit in but, at the same time, its equally important that we remain authentic, be true to who we really are and who we want to be.Thinking about this conflict ,this essential and inevitable push-pull, was the wellspring for FRUSTRATION.4-Is there still contact between band members? I can't speak for the others but on my party no.It seems that life has taken us down different paths.And remember, there were four different versions of THE PAINTED SHIP.Many guitar players ,keyboard players and drummers. I was the only crew member who managed to survive all of the perilous voyages, ship-wrecks and mutinies.