Although each musician came from a different place in the musical spectrum they created common ground in the roots-inspired songs they composed and performed. Spontaneous and full of humour, performances by the Flying Mountain were interactive events, where the audience inspired the band and helped create the music.

At first Flying Mountain performed in and around Vancouver. During a residency at Sofia’s folk dance restaurant they established their distinctive style and developed original songs of great versatility and power. With each member singing and taking his turn as songwriter, their repertoire soon expanded to encompass a wide range of musical styles.

With the help of their manager Nora Specht, Flying Mountain was soon headed for wider audiences, traveling east to perform at the Winnipeg Folk Festival and similar events in Alberta, then north to the Yukon, Northwest Territories and Alaska. But it was in rural British Columbia, in the small towns laced along the coastline and scattered through the valleys of the mountainous interior, that Flying Mountain developed its strongest support.

Following in the footsteps of their friends in Pied Pumkin, the four toured BC to perform for dances and concerts in towns like Vallican, Kaslo, Silverton and Nelson, returning to the coast to play for outdoor events, festivals and in community halls in Vancouver and Victoria, on the Gulf Islands and the mainland. In its first two years, Flying Mountain appeared in performance more than 300 times.

The collection of instruments played by the four is another indication of the breadth of their musical tastes. Vocalist and songwriter Satoru Kuba Suttles played guitar and keyboards but doubled on saxophone. Ferguson Neville played trombone in a marching band before he joined the group as harmonica player and drummer, adding a menagerie of percussion instruments that ranged from conga drums to air drum to Coca Cola sign; he also doubled on dulcimer. Rawn Mongovius, a traditional bluegrass bass player contributed pedal steel and flute. Dan Rubin, classically trained on violin, added guitar, mandolin and bouzouki. This combination created a broad palette of musical textures that underscored the original lyrics of the songs.

The subjects and styles of the songs were also broad. Flying Mountain could shift from a foot stomping fiddle tune to an ocean-flavoured oriental ballad in a heartbeat. Their playful sense of celebration often led them to interweave music from many different cultures. As they traveled they also absorbed local images and the stories from places they visited, and transformed them into new songs, to be passed along by the four peripatetic troubadours.

During the years they performed together they made appearances on radio and television, participated in two theatre tours with the Brass Tacks Choir and finally became house band for a children’s television series developed by Leon Bibb.

After Dan left the group in 1980 to pursue a solo career, Flying Mountain continued, then toured in Europe with the addition of Ferguson’s brother Drew on keyboards and other instruments, but once Kuba left, the group’s career arc drew to an end.

Those who remember Flying Mountain speak of the tremendous vitality of their performances, the beauty of the music and a deeply intimate link with their audience that made listeners feel they were part of the group.

In 2006 we started to receive new requests for our recorded music.  After the producer for Sounds Like Canada (CBC Radio) told us Earth and Sky was the only cassette that he had saved when he threw his collection away, we knew it was time to rerelease our recordings.  Our new CD, The Zest of Flying Mountain, is now available.  We welcome your orders, comments and requests.