The Ugly Ducklings definitely had that British look down...a Yardbirds look for sure.
The Ugly Ducklings were a five piece garage rock group based in Toronto, Ontario, Canada, most notable during the mid 1960s.
They released six singles in 1966 and 1967 on the Yorktown and Yorkville labels, and one album, Somewhere Outside in 1967. In the summer and fall of 1967, the band's fifth single "Gaslight" became a Top 40 hit across Canada, peaking at #17 on the RPM Chart, and reaching #1 on CHUM 1050 in Toronto on October 2 that year, displacing The Rolling Stones 2 sided hit, "Dandelion/We Love You. Their first three singles also made the local 1050 CHUM AM charts in Toronto.
The group was formed in 1965 with Dave Bingham (lead vocals, harmonica), Glynn Bell (rhythm guitar), Roger Mayne (lead guitar), John Read (bass), and Robin Boers (drums). In their early days their music was partially influenced by The Who, The Rolling Stones, The Yardbirds and The Kinks, however the band was still able to create a rough individual sound typified by their solid garage-punk original material and raw delivery.[citation needed]
The Ugly Ducklings recordings have since been featured on several 1960s garage rock compilation albums, including the Garage Beat 66, Pebbles and Nuggets series. Perhaps in response to their wider recognition via these compilation albums, the band released an album in 1980 called Off the Wall that included new recordings of two of their 1960s songs "Nothin'" and "Hey Mama Keep Your Big Mouth Shut", and nine new original songs.
In 1998, three CDs of the band's material were released in a three month period. The first release, Too Much Too Soon, on Pacemaker was arguably superior to the subsequent Unidisc Releases, being much closer to the sound of the original releases. The Unidisc CDs suffer from doctored sound and overblown echo effects which destroyed the sound of the original mixes, especially on the tracks on Somewhere Outside.[citation needed] Also, in 2006, an exact reproduction of the original Somewhere Outside LP was reissued by Sundazed Records featuring the original cover art.
A previously unreleased live version of "I'm a Man" (recorded in the band's spacious rehearsal hall in Scarborough, Ontario in November, 1966) was issued by Sundazed Records in 2004. In 2007, YouTube videos of the band, were posted; including a performance sporting a previously unreleased song, "Hangman", from early 1968 and a "live" performance of "Nothin'#8201;" at the Peel Pub in Toronto in 2000. In 2007, lead singer Dave Bingham made available five unreleased albums by the band on eBay, as well as up-dated versions of "Somewhere Outside", "Off The Wall" and "S.N.A.F.U." All of these releases were dedicated to the memory of Roger Mayne (a progenitor of the fuzztone guitar), who died in September 2004.
In July of 2011, Pacemaker Records of Toronto released 2 CDs of Ugly Ducklings material. "Somewhere Inside" ( a "Live" radio show from Nov. 1966) & "Thump & Twang" a "Live" demo of the group from early 1968, featuring Mike McKenna on lead guitar. The disc featuring McKenna includes versions of "Hangman" & "You Can't Judge A Book" as heard on their respective videos on YouTube. The "Somewhere Inside" disc features a remastered version of the "Live recording of "I'm A Man" along with unreleased demos & "Live" performances from 1966.
