Gerald Markman - Dawn/Max
Born and raised in Montreal, Markman began playing music when the folk scene broke in the early 60’s. Soon after he would participate in friend’s groups when they needed an extra hand. Shortly after that Gerald started his own group called DAWN, but due to conflicting titles with Tony Orlando they would change their name to MAX and the rest is history! It was great speaking to Gerald about his life before, during and after DAWN/MAX. If your not familar with MAX, you can listen to their incredible track “Run Run” over at Ancient Grease Records. Enjoy!
MAX:
Ian Lebofsky - Vocals
Sam Borsuk - Bass
Colin Jacques - Drums
Ed Borsuk - Sound & Lights
Gerry Markman - Guitar & Vocals
19 y/o Gerry Markman.
I was born in Montreal in 1950. There was very little music in the public schools, but a lot of music in the summer camp I attended. By 1962 the folk music boom was in full swing and I was surrounded by guitars, banjos, mandolins and autoharps. My sister and cousin bought some cheap instruments and had difficulty tuning them. I could ‘hear’ the notes and so, started to play. There were bands playing the high school circuits, so I got to see a few. One of the bands I remember was MG and the Escorts. The bass player was the late Les Leroux who I had the pleasure of playing and recording with while working with Tapestry, a folky country group from Montreal. The ‘MG’ was Mike Gauthier who became a recording engineer that I worked with on some sessions. The drummer was the late Billy Bryans (Parachute Club) who produced a live to video of The Cameo Blues Band featuring Malcolm Tomlinson and me. Small world. There was a large unlicensed venue where I saw a lot of Canadian Bands like The Haunted, The Coachmen, and The Staccatos (later, The Five Man Electrical Band).
Ian Lebofsky on lead vox.
They all influenced my playing and introduced me to some original music they played as well as the AM covers. I occasionally subbed for my friends when necessary, but I didn’t play in a band. MAX was originally called DAWN. I legally registered the name but had no resources to take on Tony Orlando so we changed the name to MAX, named after my cat. I knew Sam from high school and the bands he played with. He was a great bass player then. He introduced me to Colin, drummer of The Fyve. We started out as a blues band but Colin was into The Rolling Stones and liked ‘heavy’ music. Slowly, our sound changed. We met Ian. Everything changed. Ian was a bodybuilder and used his physique to emphasize his frontman image. He had a great range to his voice that was Jim Morrison husky to belting it out like Robert Plant. I could concentrate on my guitar playing and still sing.
DAWN/MAX.
We covered a variety of artists from Chicago Transit Authority to Blue Cheer. There was always a blues element in everything we did. Gigs were difficult for four Anglophones in the midst of Quebec nationalism, but we had a 5th member. Sam’s brother Ed was an excellent sound man and light man. He brought first rate sound gear when bands were still using columns. So now we were visual and clearly audible and started writing songs. We met Hilly Leopold and he wanted to manage us, so we gave it a go. We were still getting our own gigs for pennies, but he managed to bring us into a recording studio and he produced The Flying Dutchman and Run Run. He did a great a job of that and brought in Lorraine Zimmerman to do backup vocals on the session.
Ian Lebofsky on lead vox during an outside gig.
One Years later, I formed a band called Dandy Batt that featured Lorraine as the primary vocalist. She was amazing. We never dealt with Trans World. We’re not even listed as writers although the songs were protected by CAPAC. The only credits on the single are Hilly Leopold, producer, and Canadiana Music, publisher ( a company owned by Hilly Leopold). I got to hear the record played on FM radio {very different in those days} a couple of times… Then Hilly disappeared. We never heard from him again and have no idea what deal was struck with Trans World. Fortunately, all management and publishing deals have long since expired, and all rights to the songs belong to the writers… US!
“The Flying Dutchman/Run Run”. Trans World 1970.
Like many bands, we ran out of steam. Gigs were few, far between, and virtually moneyless. We were also living together in a large Montreal flat and that provided additional friction… So bye bye MAX. Ian played in some bands after and became a sought after session singer, and later became a certified voice instructor. He has also worked as a choir leader. We have stayed in touch over the years. We went our separate ways and I had no contact with most of them for almost fifty years until I was contacted about a re-issue of RUN RUN. I was able to reach all band members and everyone was excited to re-acquaint and see what happens. Sam became the spokesperson and chief negotiator for all of us and it’s he who has dealt with Adam and Ancient Grease Records. Until my retirement in 2015, I was a senior manager of Steve’s Music Store in Toronto. My responsibilities were hiring, training, sales, product evaluation, and customer service. I also managed to sneak in a lot of playing since MAX:
TAPESTRY
DANDY BATT (originally SUNRISE)
MARGHIE EVANS BAND
PAMELA CANNON
CAMEO BLUES BAND
MALCOLM TOMLINSON BAND
THE LINCOLNS
ALLANAH MYLES
RUANNE’S HOUSE BAND
THE FRENCH CONNECTION
JANET NESS BAND
TAMICA HEROD
VIRGIL SCOTT BAND
THE FREAKIN’ BAND
Max/Tongue split on Ancient Grease Records - AGR002. 2021
Dakota Brown
