It is with heavy hearts that we announce the passing of our founding drummer, Ted Farant. We practiced together for countless hours and played shows together once or twice each year. Fortunately, we have many hours of video of those shows and we’ve published many of them here on our site for you to enjoy.
Ted reluctantly decided to retire early in 2023. Despite that, we were able to continue practicing with him once every month or so until his health prevented him from continuing his passion for drumming.
When Ted retired, we took a snapshot of our Frozen Echo home page and created Ted’s Page to hold that snapshot. This preserves the home page from then and includes the videos of the band playing with Ted.
History
I (Scott) met Ted and Marc at the Fall 2016 Ottawa session of the League of Rock when we were put into a band together along with a singer, Karen. My best buddy from high school, Rick, also joined as the second guitarist. Because we were, by far, the oldest band members of all the bands, we settled on the name Shades of Grey. We went through the roughly ten-week school practicing our songs with the goal of performing them live at three shows, culminating in a show at what was then Greenfield’s Pub. A video of that performance with Ted, captured by Christopher Paine, is featured on the Shades of Grey home page. Also on that page is the studio recording of our cover of Take Me Down, by The Pretty Reckless.
Karen, our singer, decided to do heavy metal music and then Joe and Kelly joined the band. Ted continued as the founding drummer of Frozen Echo until his retirement in February 2023.
Tribute
Kelly and Joe wrote a beautiful tribute to Ted that summarizes his impact on the band:
A truly kind and gentle man who loved music and his family. As the drummer in our band, Ted brought a special joy and energy to all of our practices, performances and get-togethers. Ted was a founding member of the original band and those of us who joined the band later owe a debt of gratitude to Ted for creating a band that is still playing today. Ted loved music and shared that love with the rest of the band. He introduced us to the music of Lighthouse and playing their songs has always been a highlight of our practices and shows. After some time, Ted took on a singing role in the band, singing harmonies for several songs. I’ll always remember the amazing job he did on Michel Pagliaro’s Lovin’ You Aint’ Easy. That will always be Ted’s song.
In addition to the music, Ted loved his family. He talked about them often and his face always lit up whenever he recalled the various stories about his children and grandchildren.
Ted, you brought a special light into our lives and we will always remember you fondly. And always remember, it’s 1, 2, 3, 4….
Joe & Kelly
Farewell
Farewell, Ted! We miss you already!
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