On a cold & rainy, in fact VERY rainy day in October 1988, two security
guards would meet for the first time at shift change, in a rustic,
dilapidated shack-or- "Security Office" as it was ambitiously titled.
Here, the humble beginnings of what would later become a lifetime
friendship & musical partnership between Dan Druff & Paul McGrannite were
forged. The site was a rather large, commercial trucking yard & the
security co. that Paul & Dan worked for held the contract for it's
protection.
Around 11:30 am, amidst a downpour, Paul Mcgrannite would arrive at the
site, for the first time & was to be trained on the sites security
proceedures by the veteran Dan. It was during a break in the training,
while huddled together in the security office/shack, a song came on the
radio, that sparked both of their attention, & the conversation quickly
turned to music. Both Dan & Paul quickly discovered that they had very
similar interests & tastes in music. Well, as they say one thing led to
another & before you knew it, Dan & Paul were writing music together.
At first, the songs were meant as a way to pass time, on the
unreasonably long shifts (12 hours) & the songs, mostly of a novelty nature,
dealing with the various aspects of being a Security Guard, were recorded on
ghetto blaster. IN the shack at work.
There was virtually NO supervision at this particular site, so Dan &
Paul were free to monkey about & record their songs with little toy
keyboards, that Paul began carting to work with him
The FIRST tape, appropriately titled: "The Master Key", was the first
collection of noises, thoughts & ramblings & the occasional song to be
assembled. It was also decided to come up with a NAME for the project &
since the songs were mostly about being a security guard, the name was
obvious. Security Guard.
The name might well have stuck, had it not been for Dan's bold venture
outside the Security Guard theme. The song: "Life In General" - Dan's take
on the subject, offered a brief glimpse into the vast song writing potential
of this surprisingly prolofic person. To counter, Paul offered his view in
a song he called: "Seek The Truth." The songs themselves, were of poor
fidelity, as they were recorded accoustically, using nothing more than a
ghetto blaster & Paul's toy keyboards.
The only saving grace of these early songs, was Dan's penchant for
comming up with catchy riffs, that inexplicably stuck in your head. A
classic example of this is: "Walk That Beat" Song # 1 in the long list of
Security songs. Although there was no mistaking the subject matter with
such a title, the main riff: Da-da-da-daa-da... stuck with you.
The name: "Security Guard" would stick through the first three tapes.
Although the fidelity improved little, you could hear the songwriting
improve with each tape, AND as each tape was recorded, there was less &
less thoughts & ramblings on each tape & more songs, as the two members
began to take their project more seriously.
By the time the FOURTH tape was recorded, it was decided the name:
"Security Guard" was too confining for the vast array of subject matter the
two were covering. With the completion of: Security IV, the "Guard" was
dropped from the title & the name of "Security" would carry on to the end.
In early 1990, the contract to patrol the truck yard that Dan & Paul had
recorded all their songs, was pulled. Suddenly, Security had no home. It
was at this point that Dan & Paul decided to plunge full-force into their
project & along with the purchase of a Korg M-1 keyboard & Fostex X-26, the
project was moved to Paul's rooming house in North Vancouver. Immediately
the fidelity began to improve as the recording metheod was now line-in &
multitracked.
Athough still a far cry from professional sounding, the songs WERE a step
up from the low-fi 2-track accoustic recordings of tapes past & the spectre
of multi-track recording would ultimately free the creative beast that was
Security.
It was late Summer 1990, when Dan came up with a song he envisioned
guitar on. Only problem was, neither Dan OR Paul played guitar. Enter Pete
Moss. Pete & Dan had played together in garage bands before & Dan suggested
Pete would be ideal for the part. Not only WAS Pete ideal, but his
personality fit in PERFECTLY with the sometimes bizzarre sense of humor of
the group. Pete made his memorable debut on: "Fallen Guards" on the Briefs
album & Security were now a three man act.
With the addition of Pete to the line up & the option of having guitar,
the sky was the limit for Security & the songs kept comming.
Inevetably however, there came a price. The songs were comming so thick
& fast now, that both Dan & Paul did little else. Virtually ALL their spare
time & days off were spent recording together. Fortunately Pete Moss had a
family to distract him, but Dan & Paul were rabid about recording & as each
seemed to be alienated from the fairer sex, their music was all that
mattered. Somewhat akin to a junkie needing a fix, but when that much time
is spent together, without a break - the result is predictable.
It was during one of the sessions for the "Alert" album, that Pete went
home to his wife one night & whined: "Security broke up!" To which his wife
replied: "Oh brother!" Her dispassionate take on the severity of the
situation, was in retrospect more accurate, but to the group it was
devastation. And that very well MAY have been the end, had it not been for
some tail-tucking & fence mending. The pull of music was just too strong &
six months later Security were back together again & learned a valuable
lesson in taking breaks!
Throughout the early 1990's, Security's arsenal would improve, as they
continued to find their sound. Various studio relocations produced some
interesting songs from time to time & in 1994, Security would find their
permament home in Dan's basement.
1994 also saw the first semi-conceptual album by the group. "Kill" was
originally intended to be an all guitar album. A complete 180, sound to the
"easy listening" label of the pre Pete Moss era. Although ambitious, the
idea was impractical, as Pete's family commitments just simply wouldn't
allow him to be around to lend his talents to every song. So "Kill" would
have to settle for being a Security album with a litte harder edge than
perhaps some other albums of the past. Some memorable songs from the album
include: "Puke Song", "It Doesn't Happen", "A Long Time Comming" & "Mommy
Don't Know" to name a few.
In 1995, Security DID their first concept album: "Undercover" An album
of all cover songs including:"Jailbreak", "The Other Side Of Life" & an
unfortunately pale version of: "Lido shuffle" (more like: Lido SCuffle!)
One song in particular; "Terriffic Trance" was a cover of a song recorded
years before by Dan & Pete in one of their garage bands; THIS version kicked
ASS! It was beautifully engineered by Pete & his vision shone thru. It is
perhaps one of the hardest rocking songs ever done by the group.
PARTICULARLY the end vamp & Pete's DARK solo;
"Bamp,bamp,ba-bam-ba-bamp-bamp,ba-n a-na-na-bamp...
Yes, the songs were flying around & with various guest musicians from
time to time, there was no shortage of material.
In 1998, Security entered the digital age, with a serious investment by
Dan of a Roland VS 880 digital recorder. With such a serious investment,
more & more effort was being put into the recording of each song & although
the fidelity could no longer be questioned, because of the work involved at
such a level - songs were becomming less frequent, but no less interesting.
In late 1997, Dan met the woman, whom would ultimately become his wife.
Now, the subject matter of Dan's songs went from being alienated from women.
A subject that both Dan & Paul had bonded together with over the years, to
songs written for his wife. Here we see the in-love side of Dan, in such
songs as: "How Many Ways" - in which Dan pours his heart out in song &
delivers a beautiful performance.
In 1999, Security would produce their second & last concept album:
"Maturity" Beleive it or not, the title was more than just a gratuitous
rhyme, but a genuine reflection on the group's sound. Paul was a big fan of
the 70's sci-fi series: Space: 1999, in particular the soundtrack. Paul had
purchased the soundtrack on CD & was so captivated by it, he wanted to
record his OWN version on keyboards. The group discussed it & ultimately
Paul recorded his versions, with pain staking precision & the orchestrations
were interwoven between each song on "Maturity". Because each song was
interwoven with each orchestration, the entire album was recorded as one
piece. Later, when the album was re-mastered to CD, the songs &
orchestrations were broken up.
The millennium saw the start of the last Security album: "2000-20001"
On some level the group must have known it would be their last, because it
is arguably their finest piece of work ever produced. The fact it took aver
a year to record, is further testament to it's quality. It was the first
album that each member agreed they were completely happy with. Some
memorable songs include(there are many):
"Emotional Scar" - A song basically stripped down from it's original
piano-ballad form & completely re-recorded in it's final reggae-type
version. Not bad for the groups first sojurn into this field. "Eleven
Cent's" - Pete captured a rather funky drum loop & with his renowned ear for
world music, produced Security's first funk-rock tune. Again, a nice job.
Combined with Dan's catchy chorus, you can't HELP but groove to it!
"Lock & Load" -This one's ALL Pete. Pete had become enamoured with
the world of on-line gaming. Particularly WAR Gaming & became so inspired,
he started with a riff he had in his head (alot of Pete's songs started that
way) & presented his vision to the other members. They didn't dissappoint.
The other members stepped up to the plate & delivered. Paul gave his
perhaps BEST performance ever on keyboard drums, to ultimately drive the
song & Dan delivered one of the LOUDEST chorus's in Security history & Pete
became an overnight rap star with his inspired performance. Move over Rage,
Pete's in the house!
"The Wreck Of The Edmund Fitzgerald" - Paul had long been a fan of the
song & wondered what it would sound like if Crosby, Stills & Nash were to do
a cover of this Canadian classic. Once again, the other members were up to
the challenge & Dan's SPOT ON vocal trace of the original Gordon Lightfoot
version, made it easy for Pete & Paul to harmonize. And Pete, yet AGAIN his
incredible ear, was somehow able to duplicate, almost EXACTLY the lead
guitar sound from the original version. Paul, as always was up to the task
of real-time keyboard drumming & well, what you hear speaks for itself.
As was said earlier, the group must have realized the end was near,
because they couldn't have gone out on a higher note.
Security disbanded at the end of 2001, but leave behind a legacy of
music that will live with each of the 3 members forever.