This is where date books come in handy; I’d forgotten I’d ever worked with these guys until I pulled out an old gig list.
Agent was the first Canadian band to sign with Virgin Records. Their debut was produced by Jeff ‘Skunk’ Baxter of Steely Dan and Doobie Brothers fame, and they had a modicum of success in Europe, but by then I was long gone.
I did a handful of live gigs, and one recording session, but it really wasn’t up my alley. The band was made up of session players who made their living doing jingles, and they knew how to sound like whatever was popular at the time. They played me some of the jingles, and proudly explained the legal intricacies of how one could play so many bars of what sounded like, say, David Bowie’s ‘Let’s Dance,’ before landing on shaky legal ground.
They were great at what they did, and good players, but I declined the invitation to become a full member.
I had worked with guitarist Bob Smart a few years before, so he probably brought me in. We continued to work together on other projects, and I worked occasionally with Andre Kunkel, the bass player, and Craig Zurba (keys) as well.