D'Arcy J.M. Cain - Music

We always had a piano in the house, even before we had a TV. While I never really learned to play more than a few clumsy chords on it or pick out a few simple tunes, I grew to love music listening to my dad play swing and boogie on that old Heintzman.

In the summer of 1967 I bought my first guitar. It was a six string which I bought for $5 from, of all places, the Russian pavilion at Expo 67. While I played it off and on and even formed a band called the "Purple Moss," I never really got serious about playing.

In the summer of 2003 I started to play bass with some seriousness. This led to forming The Cain Gang in February of 2005. At first I was the bass player but over time I became the lead guitar player as well as playing some keyboards and harmonica.

In early 2006, I was invited by Lee Van Leer to form a new band called Trill. Lee has been in the music scene for many years, has toured with acts such as the Platters and was the original organist and arranger for Jack London and the Sparrows, a popular Toronto band in the sixties that later moved to the USA and became Steppenwolf. I left Trill in September of 2006 to pursue other interests but occasionally still work with Lee and Trill.

In October of 2006 I was invited to join a band called Whoover as bass player.

In early 2007 Jeremy Ronson, Voodoo Walters and I formed a new band called Fire in the Greenhouse. That project is currently undergoing some changes as Jeremy and Voodoo have left to work on other projects.

In the fall of 2007 I was invited to join a blues band called Voodoo Walters and the Rhythm Method. Eventually I had to step down as I was spreading myself too thin.

While I have started playing seriously too late to expect to be a superstar in the music scene, I am happy to get out to play. I have found local musicians in Toronto to be very generous with new talent like myself. I have found most of them to be supportive and willing to give me a chance to showcase my playing and help me learn and grow as a musician.

In an effort to return some of that generosity, I have obtained and set up the web site Big Smoke Music as a free community online resource for local musicians. I haven't quite decided what I am going to do with it yet but I have a few ideas. Currently all it has is links to some local bands and the start of a weekly jam listing. It also has a database that allow bands to track their gigs and either link to a Big Smoke page for their schedule or use XML-RPC to extract their schedule for display on their own page.

The following list shows various dates that I have performed or will be performing either with one of my own bands or else sitting in with someone else. Following that is a partial list of songs that I perform on one or more of bass, guitar, harmonica, keyboard and vocals.

Date & Time	Location	Comment	Details
2008-08-23	Private Event	With The Cain Gang
2008-07-17 9:00 PM	J Walton House 323 Danforth Road Toronto	With Fire in the Greenhouse
2008-07-12 1:00	Special Event	With Whoover	Scarborough Music Festival
2008-06-28	Special Event	With Whoover	Whoover will be celebrating the Canada Day Weekend and the grand opening of Nando's at 7887 Weston Road, Woodbridge, Ontario
2008-06-07 TBA	The Pump On Rathburn 1891 Rathburn Road East Mississauga	With Fire in the Greenhouse	We are playing as part of the Ride For Sight Bandathon 2008
2008-05-30 9:00 PM	Route 66 55 Eglinton Square Scarborough	With The Cain Gang
2008-05-23 9:00 PM	Route 66 55 Eglinton Square Scarborough	With Fire in the Greenhouse
2008-05-04 9:00 PM	Private Event	With Whoover
2008-05-03 9:30 PM	McGradie's Tap and Grill 2167 Victoria Park Avenue Scarborough,	With Fire in the Greenhouse
2008-05-02 9:00 PM	Special Event	With Whoover	Port Credit H.S. Alumni Party
2008-04-25	Special Event	With The Rhythm Method	Charity event
2008-04-13 3:00 PM	Special Event	With Whoover	Scarborough Music Festival
2008-04-11 9:00 PM	The Waterfront Pub 150 Water Street Port Perry	With Fire in the Greenhouse
2008-04-05 9:00 PM	Ten Feet Tall 1381 Danforth Avenue Toronto	With The Rhythm Method
2008-03-14 9:00 PM	Route 66 55 Eglinton Square Scarborough	With Fire in the Greenhouse
2008-03-07 9:30 PM	Route 66 55 Eglinton Square Scarborough	With Fire in the Greenhouse
2008-03-01 9:30 PM	KC McFly's 1717 Victoria Park Avenue Toronto	With Fire in the Greenhouse
2008-02-23 9:30 PM	Axis Gallery and Bistro 3048 Dundas Street West Toronto	With The Rhythm Method
2008-01-12 9:00 PM	Ten Feet Tall 1381 Danforth Avenue Toronto	With The Rhythm Method
2007-12-22 9:00PM	Noah's Ark 2777 Danforth Avenue Toronto	With The Bayview Ghost	Part of the Beaches Blues Fest
2007-12-07 9:30 p.m.	The Sunshine Restaurant 2879 Danforth Avenue Toronto	With H to Oh!
2007-10-27 9:30 PM	Big Ronnies 1162 Danforth Avenue Toronto	With Whoover	Scarborough Music Festival
2007-10-12 9:30 PM	Axis Gallery and Bistro 3048 Dundas Street West Toronto	With The Rhythm Method
2007-09-02 6:00PM to 10:00PM	Big Ronnies 1162 Danforth Avenue Toronto	With Whoover	Part of the Danforth Music Festival
2007-09-01 6:00PM to 10:00PM	The Hargrave 1106 Danforth Avenue Toronto	With Whoover	Part of the Danforth Music Festival
2007-08-11 5:00PM	Special Event	With Fire in the Greenhouse	POW-MIA Poker Run. Call Judy at 905 884-7030 for more information.
2007-07-28 9:30 PM	Club 329 329 Queen Street East Toronto	With Fire in the Greenhouse
2007-06-09 9:30 PM	Jay Jay's Inn 2847 Lake Shore Boulevard West Etobicoke	With The Cain Gang
2007-05-06 4:00 PM	Private Event	Our anniversary	Carol and I are celebrating our 35th anniversary. We will have a number of bands and musicians including a few that I am a member of.
2007-03-30 10:00PM	The Black Swan 154 Danforth Avenue Toronto	With The Cain Gang
2007-03-02 9:00	Club 329 329 Queen Street East Toronto		Filled in on bass in Code Green while Ben was out of town. Pictures.
2007-02-16 9:30PM	Club 329 329 Queen Street East Toronto	With Code Green	I sat in with Code Green replacing their keyboard player who was unavailable that night.
2007-02-11	Special Event		Not actually a gig but I did sound for the 2007 WinterFolk Festival in Toronto. On Sunday I worked the Dora Keough.
2007-02-10	Special Event		Not actually a gig but I did sound for the 2007 WinterFolk Festival in Toronto. On Saturday evening I worked the board upstairs at the Black Swan.
2007-01-28	Jay Jay's Inn 2847 Lake Shore Boulevard West Etobicoke	With Cadillac Daddies	Played bass
2007-01-13	Jay Jay's Inn 2847 Lake Shore Boulevard West Etobicoke	With The Paul Storm Band	Played bass to help out Paul who was off sick.
2006-12-09	Private Event	With Whoover	House Party
2006-11-18 10:00 PM	The Black Swan 154 Danforth Avenue Toronto	With The Cain Gang
2006-11-09 8:00 PM	Z Bar and Grille 2527 Eglinton Avenue West Toronto	With H to Oh!	Filling in for bass player while she is out of town.
2006-11-04	Z Bar and Grille 2527 Eglinton Avenue West Toronto	With Trill
2006-10-28 9:00 PM	Z Bar and Grille 2527 Eglinton Avenue West Toronto	With H to Oh!
2006-10-27 10:00PM	The Black Swan 154 Danforth Avenue Toronto	With Whoover
2006-09-09 10:00 PM	Saini's East Coasters 2861 Keele Street Toronto	With Trill
2006-09-08 10:00 PM	Saini's East Coasters 2861 Keele Street Toronto	With Trill
2006-09-01 10:00 PM	The Black Swan 154 Danforth Avenue Toronto	With Trill
2006-08-26 10:00 PM	The Black Swan 154 Danforth Avenue Toronto	With The Cain Gang
2006-08-25 9:30 PM	Happy's Bar & Grill 498 Horner Avenue Etobicoke	With The Cain Gang
2006-07-28 9:30 PM	Happy's Bar & Grill 498 Horner Avenue Etobicoke	With Trill
2006-07-15	Private Event	With The Cain Gang	We performed a set for the Bikers Rights Organization Summer Bash.
2006-07-14 7:00 PM	Happy's Bar & Grill 498 Horner Avenue Etobicoke	With Trill	We are doing one set as part of Happyfest, a three day showcase put on by Happy's in aid of local youth softball and the Canadian Cancer Society.
2006-07-11	The Black Swan 154 Danforth Avenue Toronto	With The Cain Gang and Trill	A double bill.
2006-07-01 10:00 PM	Saini's East Coasters 2861 Keele Street Toronto	With Trill
2006-06-30 10:00 PM	Saini's East Coasters 2861 Keele Street Toronto	With Trill
2006-06-17 9:00 PM	Axis Gallery and Bistro 3048 Dundas Street West Toronto	With Trill
2006-05-26	Happy's Bar & Grill 498 Horner Avenue Etobicoke	With Trill
2006-05-21	Southside Johnny's Bar & Grill 3653 Lakeshore West Toronto	With H to Oh!	Filled in for the H to Oh! bass player, who was unavailable. This was a gig as host band for an open jam.
2006-05-05	Happy's Bar & Grill 498 Horner Avenue Etobicoke	With H to Oh!	Filled in for the H to Oh! bass player, who was unavailable.
2006-04-29	Saini's East Coasters 2861 Keele Street Toronto	With Lee Van Leer	Band consisted of members of Trill (Lee Van Leer and D'Arcy Cain) and H to Oh! (Benny Sanders and Robert Mahler.)
2006-04-28	Saini's East Coasters 2861 Keele Street Toronto	With Lee Van Leer	Band consisted of members of Trill (Lee Van Leer and D'Arcy Cain) and H to Oh! (Benny Sanders and Robert Mahler.)
2006-03-18	Beaches Blues Festival Toronto	With The Cain Gang
2006-02-12 6:00 PM	The Berkeley 315 Queen Street East Toronto	With The Cain Gang	We appeared at the hereandthere Benefit Concert for a short set.
2006-02-12 4:20 PM	The Berkeley 315 Queen Street East Toronto	With Trill
2005-12-10 8:00 PM	The Pilot Tavern 22 Cumberland Street Toronto	With The Cain Gang	Christmas party for the Southern Cruisers Riding Club, Toronto chapter. Performance was a great success. Lee Van Leer joined us as our special guest. Pictures.
2005-11-12 9:00 PM	Saini's East Coasters 2861 Keele Street Toronto	With The Cain Gang	Opened for H to Oh!
2005-10-29 Midnight	Beaches Blues Festival Toronto	With The Cain Gang	Closing act at midnight.
2005-09-05 3:00 PM to 7:00 PM	Danforth Music Festival Toronto	With The Cain Gang	In front of Canadian Tire just east of Main Street. Thanks to Gordon Walker who returned to the group to fill in for Stephanie who could not make it due to illness. Thanks also to Benny Sanders who sang a few songs with us and even picked up the guitar for a song. Mick from Dash also sang a few songs with us. Pictures
2005-09-04 5:00 PM	Danforth Music Festival Toronto	With The Cain Gang	We were the host band for the afternoon jam from 5:00PM to 11:00PM. Pictures
2005-09-03	Danforth Music Festival Toronto	With H to Oh!	I filled in as bass player for H to Oh! at Mr. Tasty Burger from 7:00PM to 11:00PM. Pictures.
2005-09-02 7:00 PM	Danforth Music Festival Toronto	With The Cain Gang	Mr Tasty's Drive-in from 7:00PM to 11:00PM Pictures
2005-08-13	Fiddler's Dell 781 Annette St. Toronto	With H to Oh!	Played bass for H to Oh!, the host band for this jam.
2005-08-06	Heads Or Tails 847 Browns Line Etobicoke	With Bridget Taylor	Played bass for Bridget with Robert on guitar and Al on drums. Pictures.
2005-07-24	Nomiya Restaurant 812 Dundas Street West Toronto	With Bridget Taylor	Andy, Jeremy, Tom and I formed the host band for Bridget's jam session at Nomiya. Pictures.
2005-07-03	Nomiya Restaurant 812 Dundas Street West Toronto	With H to Oh!	I sat in with H to Oh! as their guitar player for their hosting of this jam.
2005-06-24	Silver Cue 3032b Danforth Avenue Toronto	With The Cain Gang	Opened for Lee Van Leer and the Nouns with guest performers Benny Sanders on drums and vocals and Andy Fong on guitar.
2005-04-30	Private Event	With The Cain Gang	Private party at Marina Quay West. This was the first gig where we were the headline act. Great fun but the acoustics were challenging to say the least. Many thanks to Andy Fong who worked the sound board as well as playing with us. Thanks also to Benny Sanders who joined us for the last set and jammed with us after the concert.
2005-04-08	The Cabbage Patch 488 Parliament Street Toronto	With The Cain Gang	Opened for Lee Van Leer and the Nouns. This was our first public appearance with Stephanie Mott
2005-04-02	Beaches Blues Festival Toronto	With The Cain Gang	This was our first public appearance with Gordon Walker and Shaham (Fez) Kavah
2005-03-18	Only In Paradise 360 Queen Street East Toronto		Benny and I wanted to play that night so we called up Andy, formed an impromptu trio and offered Marcel at Only in Paradise a free band for the evening. Pictures.
2005-03-05	Smilin' Jack's 3482 Lawrence Avenue East Scarborough	With Lee Van Leer and the Nouns	Lee's bass player couldn't make it that night so I was asked to fill in for the first set until Andy Fong, his alternate bass player, could get there.
2005-03-04	The Cabbage Patch 488 Parliament Street Toronto	With The Cain Gang	Opened for Lee Van Leer and the Nouns.
2005-02-13	The Mod Club 722 College Street West Toronto	With The Cain Gang	hereandthere Benefit Concert. This was a benefit held in support of the Canadian Red Cross, the Stephen Lewis Foundation and the Daily Bread Food Bank. This was our first public appearance.
2004-12-11	Only In Paradise 360 Queen Street East Toronto	With H to Oh!	Benny invited me to play some guitar with them at this gig at the Paradise. Pictures.
2003-06-29	Beaches Blues Festival Toronto		First time performing in public. I showed up with my bass and guitar and wound up playing all night on the jams as I had the only bass. Really got my taste for performing here.

Partial list of songs that I play

634-5789 A Whiter Shade of Pale Act Naturally Ain't No Sunshine Ain't No Use All Along the Watchtower All Right Now Annie Mae's Cafe Another Saturday Night Back in the USSR Because Before You Accuse Me Big Boss Man Birthday Black Magic Woman Blue Angel Blue Suede Shoes Born Under a Bad Sign Born to be Wild Built for Comfort C.O.D. Caldonia Can't Get Enough of Your Love Can't You See Chain Gang Chain of Fools Cheap Sunglasses Checkin' Up On My Baby Cherry Tree Blues Chicken Shack Choo Choo Ch Boogie Cocaine Cold Shot Cold Sweat Come Together Cottonmouth Crazy Little Thing Called Love Crosscut Saw Crossfire Crossroads Dancing in the Street Dark End of the Street Day Tripper Dead Presidents Dirty Love Do You Love Me Don't Be Cruel Don't Mess With My Man Downtown Came Uptown Empty Arms Every Day I Have the Blues Evil Evil Ways Feelin' Alright Fever Fire Fire ('Cause When We Kiss) Fire On The Bayou Fire on the Bayou Flip, Flop and Fly Folsom Prison Blues Freddie's Dead Funk #49 Gangster of Love Georgia On My Mind Get Off My Cloud Goin' to New York Good Morning Blues Got My Mojo Workin' Green Onions Hang On Sloopy Happy Hear That Guitar Ring Heartbreaker High Heel Sneakers Hold On, I'm Coming

Honky Tonk Woman Hotel California Hound Dog Hound Dog (Thornton) House is Rockin' House of the Rising Sun Hypnotized I Can Hear You Calling I Feel Good I Heard It Through the Grapevine I Put a Spell on You I Saw Her Standing There I Thank You I Will Survive I'd Rather Drink Muddy Water I'm Not Your Stepping Stone I'm Tore Down I'm a Man In the Jailhouse Now In the Midnight Hour Jailhouse Rock Johnny B Goode Jumping Jack Flash Just My Imagination Just a Little Bit Kansas City Keep On Rockin' in the Free World Keep Your Hands to Yourself Killing Floor Knock on Wood Knockin' on Heaven's Door Lady Marmalade Land of 1000 Dances Last Two Dollars Layin' in the Alley Linda Lou Little Sister Little Wing Lollypop Mama Louie Louie Louisiana Blues Love Me Two Times Lucille Matchbox Maybellene Mercury Blues Mercy, Mercy, Mercy Messin' With the Kid Money Money (That's What I Want) Moondance Move it on Over Murder on Your Hands Mustang Sally My Eyes Keep Me in Trouble Nadine New Orleans is Sinking Nobody Knows When You're Down and Out Oh Pretty Woman Oh What a Feeling Old Time Rock and Roll On Broadway Outskirts of Town Oye Como Va Papa Was a Rolling Stone Papa's Got A Brand New Bag Peter Gunn Theme Picture Politician Polk Salad Annie Poor Johnny Powderfinger Pride and Joy Proud Mary Purple Haze Red House

Rescue Me Respect Riders on the Storm Roadhouse Blues Rock and Roll Music Rocky Mountain Way Roll Over Beethoven Runaway Season of the Witch Secret Agent Man Sharp Dressed Man She Ain't No Use to Me She Caught the Katy Shotgun Blues Sitting On the Dock of the Bay Sitting on Top of the World Sitting on the Dock of the Bay Sleepy Time Time Slow Down Smoke on the Water Some Kind of Wonderful Something You Got Son of a Preacherman Soul Kitchen Soul Man Spirit in the Sky Spooky Stand By Me Stormy Monday Blues Stray Cat Strut Summertime Sunshine of Your Love Super Bad Superstition Suzie Q Sweet Home Alabama Sweet Home Chicago Sweet Little Angel Sweet Thing T-Bone Shuffle TV Dinners The Bluest Blues The Cisco Kid The First Cut is the Deepest The Hoochie Coochie Man The Message The Sun is Shining The Thrill is Gone The Weight Them Changes They Were Swinging Thirty Days Three Hundred Pounds of Joy Tin Pan Alley Trampy Boy Try a Little Tenderness Turn the Page Tush Twist and Shout Twistin' the Night Away Twisting by the Pool Twisting the Night Away Unchain My Heart Under the Boardwalk Up Around the Bend Wang Dang Doodle Watermelon Man When I Lay Down Who Do You Love Wishing Well Wonderful Tonight You Can't Judge a Book by its Cover You Raise Me Up Young Blood Your Precious Love