RHEOSTATICS’ LOVABLE CANADIAN POP,
Lovable Canadiana music legends marking 38 years
Recording technology can be a music journalist’s best friend. Or not. Dave Bidini of The Rheostatics is a very busy guy.
“OK, you know what. It’s so funny. Honestly I would have been happy for you to just make up my answers,” says the acclaimed singer-songwriter. But Bidini was kind enough to do a second chat after the first one was lost.
The Rheostatics are one of Canada’s most beloved bands — this year marks 38 years for the Etobicoke Fab Four. They are lovable, Canadiana-driven iconoclasts with quirky, yet intelligent songs that continue to engage audiences.
In addition to Bidini on vocals/ rhythm guitar, they are Martin Teilli on vocals/lead guitar, Tim Vesely on bass and Dave Clark on drums.
Bidini adds that keys player Kevin Hearn often plays with the band when he is not touring. And violinist Hugh Marsh is with the band for this tour and at this stop at Maxwell’s. He has been playing with The Rheostatics since 2016.
“We are just doing a bunch of new songs,” Bidini says. “We are road-testing the material. We have five songs and five shows this month and next month. We are preparing for an album so we are going to work out a bunch of songs and see which songs arrive and which don’t.”
“I think the reason we are still together is that we have always had this weird, bizarre, chemistry,” notes Bidini. “We understand each other and the elements of the songs. We mine our material, and the four of us can just sink — go very deep down into the songs together and then come back to the surface.”
After three decades and a lifetime of experiences, Bidini says he does not really interpret the songs any differently.
“I think it is more about the craft and what is laid bare in terms of your limitations. You are a bit more aware of them. But at the same time you are also proud of the fact that the stuff written 25 years ago is still relevant enough to play.”
“Melville” (1991) featured signature indie hits “Record Body Count, “Saskatchewan,” “Northern Wish, and Lightfoot classic “Wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald.”
“Whale Music” (1992) featured “California Dreamline,” “Self Serve Gas Station,” plus “Dope, Fiends and Boozehounds.”
“Introducing Happiness” (1995) featured “Claire,” a single which temporarily took the band toward commercial airplay. That same year the band released “Music Inspired by The Group of Seven,” an album commissioned by the National Gallery of Canada to compliment its Group of Seven retrospective show.
The album “2067” (2004) had another signature Rheos cult classic track called “The Tarleks” — partially based on the character of Herb Tarlek from 1970s sitcom gold “WKRP in Cincinnati.”
Bidini is a fan of “WKRP” citing his favourite episode as “The Consultant” where Andy Travis locks horns with interfering “radio doctor” evaluator Norris Breeze setting him straight when he threatens to write a poor review.
The Rheostatics are also longtime radio darlings, and Bidini has actually done radio himself.
“I have not really been a host,” he balks.
“I just subbed on (CBC late night show) ‘Brave New Waves’ years ago.”
He says he likes radio because of the intimate connection with the voice.
“You only have one instrument to use. It is your voice and your mind. It is a real closeness between the listener and the announcer.
And that is something you do not get elsewhere. It’s true,” he adds.
The Rheostatics’ “Brave New Waves” session from 1988 was recently remastered and released.
Bidini is also an award-winning author/columnist who has published numerous books.
In 2015, he travelled to Yellowknife to write about the city and do research for a book. He also got to know the staff at city paper The Yellow-knifer which focused on local stories. He wrote for the paper covering everything from the weather and local stories, to writing a column.
That visit to inspired Bidini’s own Toronto publication, The West End Phoenix, a monthly broadsheet, nonprofit, ad-free newspaper.
As editor-in-chief Bidini writes editorials. Contributors include acclaimed scribes Russell Smith, Tom Wilson and Claudia Dey. Bidini is also excited about new writers including Alicia Elliott from Brantford whose work has been published in literary journal The New Quarterly, The Globe and Mail and Vice.
“She is doing a great job,” says Bidini, adding he is pleased to showcase a broad range of work from young writers to veteran voices.
“It is fun to come up with new concepts, for sure!”