METHOD 2 MADNESS STILL LOVES TO ROCK
Regina band marks 30th anniversary with special show Saturday
Of the four musicians in Method 2 Madness today, Gord Smith is the newest among them. The drummer joined the Regina band about 25 years ago.
As the group celebrates 30 years of existence, Smith reflected on the past and future in a phone interview this week.
Q How did Method 2 Madness get together?
A Those three guys (his bandmates, Tom Kiefer, Paul Gillard and Gord Macmurchy) have been in the band from the get-go. It was that typical thing, you know, you’re growing up and you’re in high school and you gotta start a band because there’s nothing else to do in Regina. … The two Macmurchy brothers, and Tom and Paul, and they just all got together and started playing. (When their drummer left) they approached me about playing with them and I said, ‘Yeah, yeah, OK, no problem, I’ll just fill in with you guys until you can get someone permanently,’ and that was 25 years ago.
Q What’s a standout memory from your time in the band?
A I don’t remember which particular corporate show it was, but they took us all down to Montreal and we ended up being there for about three or four days. We were playing at the Palais des Congres in Montreal. One particular party that I remember in Regina — I’m not sure if it was a Grey Cup one or not, I think it was — one of the members who’s no longer in the band was getting into it so much that he ended up tripping over the monitor and falling right off the stage ... There was so many people in the audience when he tripped and fell over, they just caught him and floated him right back up onto the stage.
Q A lot of bands have come and gone since 1990 — what has kept M2M going all this time?
A The biggest thing would be the song choice. … We tend to play songs that people want to party and dance to. We’re not necessarily going to play the flavour of the month, because people like that for a couple months and then it’s gone. We play songs that have classic staying power, and that’s what keeps people coming back I think.
Q Do you have a favourite song to perform?
A No, I hate them all. I hate them all at this point. I hate them all equally (laughing). That’s the old joke, right? I always look forward to playing a couple of the classic Tragically Hip songs that we still do because, you know, like Tragically Hip, we were probably the only Canadian band that had two Gords in it. The ones that we enjoy the most are when other people are having fun. Because it’s a lot easier to enjoy yourself when you see the audience is having fun and enjoying themselves.
Q What’s the newest song in your repertoire?
A The last one that we added, that would be Iggy Pop, Wild One. So it’s not a new song, but it’s a song that it’s going to come up on the radio a lot … it’s got a great beat and you can dance to it. That’s basically the deciding factor; if people are going to enjoy themselves when we play it, that’s what’s going to make it stay in the set list. The newest songs (we play), they probably top out in early ’90s kind of thing, not soon after the band was formed.
Q Do you have any superfans?
A There’s a core group of folks that come out and see the band. … We’re of a vintage now where a lot of our friends and contemporaries, a lot of the issues that kept people away from having a good time, like kids and life and all that stuff, that’s been a little bit simplified. We’ve had fans we know that have gone back right to the beginning. And they’re still kind of hanging around. … And music, it’s a great social generator. You create all of these relationships and networks of people through that, that you never would have if you hadn’t been in that in the first place.”
Q What’s your favourite venue?
A The Venue, when it was a venue, that turned into The State, and it was a few others (most recently The Distrikt, which closed in 2012). … That was one of our favourites, for sure, because that was around the time when live music and live touring music, that’s what everybody did. It was the focal point of social interaction. (Now, at Revival Room) the stage is nice and big and deep and sounds great. So just a selfish aspect for a musician, it’s really great to play there. And everybody there is awesome, the crew is awesome, the sound’s great, all of the things that you want.
Q Will M2M’S show this weekend be special or different from the rest?
A The biggest thing is that we’re making a whole evening of it . ... There’s going to be a meal provided. … Then after that, we have an MC who is one of our alumni that used to play in the band; he’s going to be leading people through a little presentation that will be sure to embarrass every band member completely, because there’s going to be photos and videos and antics of us from when some of us still had hair. We’re going to play; we’re going to have some of our old alumni come up and play a few just for old times’ sake. It’s going to be on the big stage downstairs at the Turvey, so 80,000-watt PA system, big light rig, and we’re going to do it up right.
Q What’s next for M2M?
A At this point, we kind of take it day by day. … We most definitely aren’t stopping anytime soon, as far as I know. Because in spite of the fact that we’ve been doing this for that long and maybe we’re not necessarily that keen on all the tunes, but we still have a lot of fun. We’re still really good friends and that’s kind of been the key, too. There’s no guarantees that we’ll be around for the 40th, so this (weekend) is probably a good idea to come out.”