From its earliest days, even before it was a city, North Battleford enjoyed a vibrant social life – parties, movies, concerts, sports, picnics, reunions, fairs, travelling road shows (Chautaquas at the Opera House in Battleford) and especially dances.
On Dec. 31, 2012, a large crowd gathered at the Civic Centre in North Battleford to ring in the new year. One of the city’s historic great bands, Blue Denim (and two other bands) provided the music. What a night it was. Music, food, drink, laughter – North Battlefordians doing one of the things they do well, socializing and enjoying each other's company.
Clearly, our citizens love music and love to dance, and over the course of our 110-year history, many great dance bands whose members were drawn from the ranks of the local citizenry had their hour in the sun. It is not my intention to try to catalogue all of these bands and artists. Most of the knowledge of the dance bands from the first half of our city’s history has been lost in the shifting sands of time. Rather, beginning with the late 1940s and ending with the present, I will profile some of our city’s truly great, and notable, bands. I begin with Blue Denim.
At the outset I am indebted to Don Tatchell, who played with this great band. He gave me the story. Blue Denim was formed around 1975. The original members were Don Tatchell (drums), Ken Hartfield (organ), Roman Waines (guitar) and Alan Tatchell (bass). The band played a couple of gigs and then Ken moved away. But the band resolved to keep playing anyway. They played for a couple of years as a trio, but then took an extended break.
Don Tatchell put together a new group of players in 1978 and resurrected the Blue Denim name. Don was still on the drums. The new guys were Rob Hildebrand (bass), Jack Tatchell (guitar), Bob Oborowsky (accordion/organ) and Don Ross (saxophone). Blue Denim played for many dances all over. Sadly, in 1984, Don Ross passed away. The band sustained a huge blow. Shortly thereafter George Armstrong and Garnet Speer joined the band as the Melatones were winding down. George and Garnet added a whole new sound to Blue Denim since the group was able to sing in three parts. When Gord Hildebrand (guitar) joined the band, Jack could put his guitar down and play trumpet. The band now had a horn section.
Blue Denim played all over northwestern Saskatchewan and in many parts of Alberta. They had a one-ton bussette school bus that was completely redone inside and out, with Greyhound-type reclining seats and a sound system. They also had a custom-built trailer painted fire engine red with fancy wheels to haul their equipment. It was the perfect setup. It was a most memorable and fun time for the guys, but a dance every weekend, often in a locale a long distance from the Battlefords, began to wear on them. Finally, the decision was made to shut down the band in 1994.
Blue Denim never did get back together except to play for the centennial New Year's dance on Dec. 31, 2012 at the Civic Centre in North Battleford. Don phoned all of the guys and they were all excited to play for this dance. George came from Victoria, B.C. and Bob came from Medicine Hat. The other members of the band still lived in the Battlefords. New Year's was on a Monday so the guys got together on the previous Friday and Saturday to run a couple of practices since they had not played together for 18 years. It was like riding a bike. It was as if they had never stopped playing. Everything just fell into place. The guys had an incredible amount of fun playing for this huge New Year's dance. It is not likely to happen again. But as Don said, “never say never.”
Members of the band sometimes get together – not to play, but to reminisce and tell stories about the good old days when Blue Denim was the biggest draw in the Battlefords and area.
