The Charlottetown-based pop rock/pop band Haywire has taken the Canadian music industry by storm and in the process turned a lot of record company heads looking at the east coast for new talent. Traditionally Canada's east coast has been a bad place to be from, if you want to get a recording contract. But, that may all be changing thanks to Haywire, who will be appearing tonight at Roxy's on the Exhibition Grounds. Finally the Maritimes has a mainstream rock and roll band that has proven itself with a commercial success across the country.

     Haywire's rise to Canadian rock and roll stardom has been meteoric. In the tradition of great bands of the past, five friends, Sean Kilbride, Ron Switzer, Dave Rashed, Paul MacAusland and Marvin Birt, got together to form what they hoped would be their city's best band. However, it didn't take long before they were one of the best drawing bands in the Maritimes. In 1984, they won Dartmouth's Q104 Homegrown contest. The prize was an opportunity to record a single. The band pooled its own money and recorded a five-track EP which surprised industry experts by selling 5,000 copies in the Maritimes alone.

     In 1985, Haywire won the Battle-of-the bands in Saint John. the $10,000 first prize allowed them to take time off a hectic touring schedule to prepare the material, which led to their singing a deal with Attic records. The debut album that followed has stunned everyone. "Bad Bad Boy" has already produced two singles that have rocketed to the number one spot on the record charts and another soon to be released ,looks like it has the makings of another hit. The first two singles, "Bad Bad Boy" and "Standing in Line" are representative of the band's powerful pop sound, which squeezes the most from the slightly worn-out theme of unrequited love with melodic hooks and anthemic vocals from Paul MacAusland.

     To add to the band's recent success, the debut has stirred interest from a number of major labels from the United States. The band is currently negotiating and hopes to have a deal very soon. Haywire's success has opened the door for many of the Maritimes other talented acts that have been overlooked in the past. Bands like "The Screaming Trees" and "Steps Around the House" may get breaks now they wouldn't have had a year ago.