Hawkins / Plewman "Nash the Slash" lineup The band's original 1976 lineup consisted of two people: Cameron Hawkins on synthesizer, occasional bass guitar, and lead vocals, and Jeff Plewman (aka
Nash The Slash) on electric violin, electric mandolin, and backing vocals. The group did not use guitars. The duo first met each other while jamming with a band called Clear. The group first recorded in July 1976. A few months later,
TVOntario recorded an in-studio performance for the
Night Music Concert TV show, first broadcast on November 3. It is very likely this was also the date of recording. The half-hour show, shown with no commercial breaks, presented the band playing three long pieces: "Phasors on Stun", "One O'Clock Tomorrow", and "Black Noise". It also included a nonsensical biography of the group resembling
free-association poetry, recited by David Pritchard (electronic musician, record producer, and
CHUM-FM DJ, 1960s-1970s), accompanied by electronic background music and a collage of photos and artwork by Paul Till, appearing between the first and second songs. Neither this music, nor any performances by the original two-person lineup, were released on an album until 2001. FM's first public performance took place in November 1976 at the
A Space art gallery in Toronto shortly after the TV show first aired.
Hawkins / Plewman "Nash the Slash" / Deller lineup No. 1 Some time after February 1977 Sometime in 1977, Plewman, after recovering from a severe car/bike accident, decided to leave the band and resumed his solo career as Nash the Slash stating that the addition of a drummer gave the band a sound which was too commercial for his liking.
Hawkins / Mink / Deller lineup Before the end of 1977, Plewman [now 'Nash The Slash' solo artist] was replaced by
Ben Mink, who also played electric violin and electric mandolin. Their first record was
Direct to Disc (also released as
Head Room, or
Headroom), and was made using the
direct to disc recording method, in which recording tape is not used. Several editions of the album exist. Later in 1978, the group got its first proper record contract with Visa Records in the USA, and Passport Records in Canada, the latter distributed by GRT Records. (Passport was a sub-label of Visa, although Passport was the more prolific of the two labels.) Their first release for these labels was a reissue of the CBC album,
Black Noise, now made available in stores for the first time. The USA edition was released in the summer of 1978, while the Canadian edition came out near the end of the year. A single from the album, "Phasors on Stun" helped to promote the album, for which the group were presented a
gold record award. However, Cameron Hawkins claims they never received royalty payments from any of the Canadian LP editions, as their contract specified all payments were to come through Visa Records in the USA, and none of the three Canadian distributors passed royalties on to Visa.
Black Noise was followed by
Surveillance in the summer of 1979, the first widely released album with the group's then-current lineup, although it was delayed because GRT Records went out of business one week before the intended release date.
Hawkins / Nash the Slash / Brierly / Cooke lineup In 1988,
Randy Cooke replaced Greg Critchley on drums. This lineup disbanded after touring the
Tonight album.
Hawkins / Shaw / Brierly / Marangoni lineup In 1989, FM consisted of Hawkins and Brierly, augmented by the new members Martin Shaw (also known as Marty Warsh) on mandolin and violin and drummer Paul Marangoni. Information on this lineup is scarce, and though Marangoni has stated that this line-up planned to record, they disbanded in the early 1990s. Marangoni has since shared footage of this lineup on YouTube.
Hawkins / Nash the Slash / Deller lineup No. 3 In 1994, Cameron Hawkins created a new record company called Now See Hear Records (initially self-distributed, but later distributed by
MCA Records as of 1996), and purchased the rights to
Black Noise which was still owned by the CBC, but ownership was set to expire that year. Hawkins was surprised to find a competitor bidding for the rights, but his label emerged as the winning bidder. By this time, the CBC no longer possessed a master tape of the album. A search for the tape at the CBC turned up a reel tape box with an inferior cassette copy inside. Hawkins then travelled to the USA to search the former Passport Records vaults for the tapes of this, and the other Passport albums, without success. Ultimately, the Now See Hear reissue of
Black Noise was made from a transfer from vinyl. The new lineup included Italian musician
Claudio Vena on electric violin and electric mandolin. New CD and DVD recordings by this lineup have been issued, and the band's website has not been updated since 2006.
2011 to 2014 Since 2011, Cameron Hawkins has worked on material with a new incarnation of FM. Joining Hawkins are Paul DeLong on drums, Aaron Solomon on violin, and Ed Bernard of Druckfarben on viola and mandolin. The band is putting the finishing touches on songs for a new album that is to be released by Esoteric Recordings. On May 12, 2014, Nash the Slash died at age 66.
2015 FM's first studio album in 28 years,
Transformation, was released in April, 2015 via Esoteric/Cherry Red Recordings. The lineup was Hawkins (bass, keyboards), Paul DeLong (drums), Edward Bernard (viola, mandolin), and Aaron Solomon (violin). ==Members==