Western Mariner Magazine

Twelve-plus years of log towing on Gowlland Towing’s tugs has given Lorne Jones (now skipper on the GULF REGENT) lots of real life inspiration for his tugboating songs. Some of the titles speak volumes of his towboating trade: Sh!t Happens; When it Blows It Sucks; Running Light (with a heavy heart); Hours of Boredom (interrupted by moments of sheer terror; Jungle Fever; Get off the Boat; Tugman (a “day in the life” of a towboater). Lorne grew up in his father Merril (Bud) Jones’s Ramsay Arm logging camp and has been playing music since he was nine. Now his son, Dan, is mate with him on the GULF REGENT and is also a recording engineer. Together they’ve set up Desolation Sound Studio in Lorne and Debbie’s Campbell River basement. The CD Tug Man is their first project. Packaged with the CD is a booklet crammed with photos of tugs and towboaters that Lorne has been associated with over the years. And a nice touch is his dedication of the songs (in the form of a list of mariners) “to the memories of Tugboat Mariners I have known throughout my life and have now ‘crossed the bar’. Some have been my biggest influences.” Lorne’s band is The Tugs – “legendary players” include Jess Lee, Henry Crevier, Ray O’Toole, Kevin Nickel, Chris Allen, Randy Rayment, Bob Grant.