Cover of Painted Ladies by Ian Thomas

A couple of months back, I was driving around in my car listening to the radio when the song “Painted Ladies” came on. Painted Ladies was released by Canadian musician Ian Thomas on his first self titled release in 1973. We had a couple of Ian Thomas albums at my home when I first got into music as a teen and I remember listening to them a lot, so the song Painted Ladies was pretty well ingrained in my brain. It is one of those songs that if you ask someone if they know it, or the artist, they will say no - but if you start singing the chorus to them they will say, “oh yeah, that song, I know that”. It is just an all around great song!
So I did a search of the internet to see if anyone had ever done a remake of this great song, and I could not find anything, which was very surprising! So I thought great - I need to do a remake. The original is so classic in its instrumentation that thought I would do something different. So I had the idea of taking this song from the 70s and dragging it through the 80’s, 90’s and 00’s, adding elements from each era, and turning it into a rock song - sprinkling in some elements of 80s rock/metal, 90s rock/grunge, and 00’s pop rock.
I had added a mediocre Organ track to the song (at this stage in my life I think any great rock song needs a good Hammond organ track). When my brother and talented keyboard player, Steven Wilcox, heard the track, he graciously offered to play the organ on the recording. His playing brought the song to the next level and inspired the organ/guitar solo at the end of the song.
Next, I asked a good friend and former Oval Window band mate Brad Cain to add vocals, and what he came up with was pretty spectacular to my ears. His voice is still as strong as ever - and I hope we hear more from him soon! This is the first time Brad and I have done something together musically in 20 years!
Hopefully Steven and Brad will collaborate with me on some more projects in the near future. Thanks so much to the both of you! I had a lot of fun working on this with the both of you.
And most importantly, I hope that this recording brings some enjoyment to all that take the time to give it a listen!
Here is a link to video of Ian Thomas (from 2016) talking about writing the song:
• Behind The Vinyl: "Pai...
And here is a link to Ian performing the song live:
• "Painted Ladies" Ian T...
…and finally, a piece of trivia - Ian Thomas is brother to Canadian comedian Dave Thomas - Doug McKenzie to you “hosers” out there.

[@Mo_Taser]

I was directed here by Ian Thomas himself on Facebook who suggested we check this cover of his song out. Love it!

[@bhawk3504]

Man that is gold!! What an awesome cover of that song!! Represent Nasis! Great job Brad, Steve and Andrew!!

[@ShawnWilkieMusic]

Wow! Blew my little old head! What a Rawker.. Awesome job.. Love it..🤘

[@damanband3018]

Man, I love your interpretation of this great tune… I haven’t heard it in forever… wow

[@mementomori2540]

Fantastic choice

[@dashriprock3737]

Great job guys!...Killer everything!

[@bobchristopher7383]

Pretty cool rendition of Painted Ladies…Well conceived and performed…Cheers Bob

[@NoName-bq3gu]

Awesome!!!

[@andrechampagne6888]

That is incredible!!! Hats off Brad, Steve and Andrew!!

[@leed8192]

Bad. Ass. Love it when musicians take a great tune, supercharge it and make it their own. Nice!

[@Thick719]

Killer cover, very well done!
Great production!

[@marksibley4546]

You guys Rock!!!!!!

[@wakejaugh9597]

Thanks for sharing mark,

[@aaronhazlett6799]

Wow you guys absolutely knocked it out of the park!! im blown away! great job fellas

[@frplumsri]

Well done!!! Great job, fellows :)

[@dondavis3937]

wow!!that was awesome...gameday and tbone are gonna love it..

[@jondnicolle]

Very nice! Great musicianship.

[@troygoodine83]

Holy ol` blistering F guys, that was F`n AWESOME !!!!! You guys kicked it HARD !! Very well done .

[@blaundy86]

Freakin' Amazing job ! Well done !

[@graemeyoung5280]

This is fantastic, what a great Job Stev and Andrew, and Brads vocal is outstanding!! Too cool!!👍👍

[@mikeleger9424]

Awesome job Andrew, Steve & Brad .... kudos

[@chuckdoiron8416]

That was bad ass guys! Great job and great production!! Can’t wait to hear more… and maybe live?? 😁🤘

[@seasons56]

I love this! Perfect collaboration on an excellent song. So impressed!

[@raymonddunham8269]

Amazing cover of one of my favourite songs! Good stuff guys!

[@tamclowater6261]

Woo hoo! Awesome job 👏

[@angelaflynn6239]

I prefer this over the original so much more life to it

[@rickflinn6869]

Fantastic cover!

[@wakejaugh9597]

This is awesome!

[@pamelaallen5699]

Awesome 🙂

[@davidmcneill11]

GREAT JOB GUYS

[@casparuskruger4807]

Good!

[@johnathanraye5346]

If Ian likes it.....

[@Maloma12]

This is amazing, guys! Should be on the radio!! M

[@memoryhero]

B3 riffs were pretty fat.