80s prairie rockers Queen City Kids stay in touch after nearly 55 years

The Queen City Kids emerged out of Regina in the late 1960s and hit their peak through the early 1980s playing their own brand of hard rock influenced by The Guess Who and The Beatles.

Bass player John Donnelly says they started writing their own songs at the early age of 12 and stayed together throughout high school, playing hundreds of shows.

Donnelly says after high school, they bought a tour bus and went full-time on the road, playing six nights a week and driving between 30,000 and 50,000 miles a year for seven years, never paying rent.

In 1979, the band signed a record deal, moved to Winnipeg and then put out their first album in 1981. That album went gold and included their biggest hit “Dance.”

The band broke up in 1983, but has still been known to play the occasional gig.

660’s Todd Kaufman sat down with Donnelly who has more on the band’s history…

Interview with Jeff Donnelly