Desert Fox

Fred Newton, Bob Loomis, Phil Scott (1976)

In 1969, seventeen year old friends Phil Scott and Fred Newton were members of the band ‘Mandarin’ when they were at the arcade in the Brantford Mall. Previous to Mandarin, Phil had played with ‘Subterranean Explosion,’ a trio with guys from B.C.I. and Pauline Johnson High Schools. This band played classic rock, and had worked the grade eight graduation and church dance circuit. At the arcade, while still members of ‘Mandarin,’ Fred admired a new pinball game called ‘Desert Fox.’ He turned to Phil and said, “That would be a great name for a band!” And thus was born Desert Fox, with a sound that some could only compare as a psychedelic combination of Deep Purple and Steppenwolf.

Fred Newton was born in Brantford in 1952 and although he was still part of Desert Fox, he was also a member of ‘The Morticians’ beginning in 1972 with Garry Munn, guitar, Wayne Greve, drums and Terry Ford, vocals. This band ran until February of 1975, when Garry and Fred left, and joined up with drummer Phil Scott to form ‘Night Life,’ who immediately went on tour until May of 1975.

In the background Desert Fox continued as an entity, and by 1974 consisted of Conrad Habing, guitar, Phil Scott, drums, Barry Soper, saxophone and vocals, and Fred Newton bass and lead vocals. Phil’s father, Alvin Scott, had heard that local musician Jim Allison had begun his own record label. He excitedly told Jim about his son’s band, and in June of 1975 Jim signed the group as his 9^th act. Two months later both Conrad and Barry quit, and the boys replaced him with guitarist Dave McCooeye.

Dave was born in Brantford in 1955 and went to Pauline Johnson High School with keyboardist Steve Beach. Dave got his first electric guitar at the age of ten. He played in several different Top 40 dance bands and some garage groups before meeting Fred and Phil in August of ‘75. They would meet at Phil’s place for practice, jamming out for extended sessions. They played at high schools and some bars as well, performing covers of the Allman Brothers, Steve Miller, Slade, Rush, and ZZ Top, mixed in with some of their own songs.  Over a three month period the trio wrote four original songs; Mystic Man, Understand, High School Rock and Roll, and People.

In October of 1975 Jim whisked the band up to the Mercey Brothers Sound Studio to record their debut single, ‘High School Rock and Roll/People,’ cut in three hours and issued on TBR 1020 in December of 1975. The band financed all the costs, and thought it was pretty neat to have a single to sell at shows. They then decided to pool their money together and record a full album.

This was music to Jim’s ears, and by this time he was using Thunder Sound Studios in Toronto. Thunder Sound utilized 24 tracks while the Mercey’s could only offer 16 tracks.

In February of 1976, after returning from a Northern tour, Dave was replaced with Burford native Bob Loomis, who was a very fast guitar player, and had two of his own originals to add to the planned album. The band travelled to Toronto and recorded a nine track record.

Once the album had been recorded Desert Fox went out on the road. Phil asked both Fred and Bob for money so he could pay back his father, who had fronted all the recording costs. The two musicians wern't too eager to part with their own cash. After the tour Bob Loomis was quickly replaced by Gordon Mimms, and later a female vocalist, Nanci Moffatt was added to the line-up. Jim Avon was the guitarist when Desert Fox finally packed it in over 1977.

Bob Loomis asked for his two songs that were cut at Thunder Sound, but Phil would only release them if Bob paid his share. He opted not too. The album was never released, but unlike the failed Charlie Louvin record, this was not Jim Allison's fault. In 2017 Phil Scott played the full album for the author and his wife Bernice. It is still a great sounding effort from the boys. 

For more information on Fred Newton and Phil Scott after ‘Desert Fox,’ please refer to the author’s third Thunderbird volume, ‘That Brant County Sound! The Discographies.’ 

Fred Newton, Phil Scott, Dave McCooeye (1975)