Cancer claims Gar Gillies

My old studio space on Sargent was next door and above Gar Gillies' workshop. The ninieties saw a tube amp revival with guitarists and Gar was the only one who knew how to fix'em. In the process just about anyone who was ANYONE playing music eventually made a visit to his workshop.After awhile I didn't even notice the radio cranked at a molar vibrating volume below the office. He told some great stories about playing in the big bands of the old days, playing the dancehalls, picking up girls on the train home from Winnipeg beach!

Cancer claims Gar Gillies
By DAVID SCHMEICHEL -- Winnipeg Sun

Local music legend Gar Gillies -- who helped define Winnipeg's rock 'n' roll sound with the Garnet amplifiers he invented -- passed away over the holidays at the age of 86.

Gillies, a somewhat reluctant local icon immortalized recently in a West End mural, was battling cancer and had been in hospital for about a week prior to his death on Dec. 23, according to friend and local music historian John Einarson. He is widely credited with helping create a unique sound for early Winnipeg acts -- in particular the Guess Who -- with his trademark amps.

"When you look back on Winnipeg music, in particular the glory years of the 1960s, Gar Gillies is intrinsically a part of all that," said Einarson. "He was a father figure to the music scene. In fact, people even called him Papa Gar."

Gillies, a trombone player, originally invented the amps so that people could hear him perform. He began singing and playing in the 1940s with the Gar Gillies Jump Band and continued to work at his electronics store on St. Matthews Avenue almost to the very end, according to a family member.

The shops Gillies ran over the years were hubs of activity for those involved in the burgeoning local scene, according to Einarson.

"Those were the places where musicians hung out," he said. "Everybody in there were guys who played in bands around the city ... Gar had a heart of gold and was always helping bands out with equipment, even if they didn't have the money."

In December 2003, Gillies was honoured with a mural on the side of Second Encore Music on Portage, depicting a younger Gillies playing trombone with his early bandmates, while a later version of him leans over one of the famed amplifiers. At its unveiling, a typically modest Gillies said he wasn't exactly thrilled by the prospect of driving past a 15-foot version of himself every day.

"I'll probably go around the block," he quipped to the Sun, when asked how he planned to deal with the larger-than-life depiction.

Gillies is survived by his wife, Rita, and six children. It's unknown how friends and relatives will pay their respects to the legend, although one family member says a memorial is "in the planning stages."