End of an era for Prozzak and its fans
Guitarist McCollum talks about duo’s final show, moving to Hamilton
Hamiltonians of a certain late-millennial vintage could be forgiven for not recognizing James Bryan McCollum biking past them on the rail trail.
But they’d surely recognize his alter ego. McCollum is a member of Prozzak, the band responsible for such late-1990s earworms as “Sucks to Be You” and “Strange Disease.” In the band’s animated music videos, McCollum appears as tall, brawny, tight Tshirt-wearing, house musicloving Milo, playing wingman to his forever unlucky-in-love pal Simon, a character modelled off Jay Levine, a Prozzak and Philosopher Kings band member.
Today, much has changed for McCollum. For instance, he now lives in Hamilton.
“I grew up in St. Catharines so I only ever saw Hamilton from the QEW,” McCollum said. “Back in those times it’s like, ‘Ooh, you don’t want to go into Hamilton.’ ”
His impression of Hamilton shifted two and a half years ago when he and his wife contemplated leaving Toronto.
“We were just like, ‘What about Hamilton?’ ” he said. “All of our friends kept talking about it. All the musicians were moving out there.” Now, he’s hooked. “I just like the atmosphere,” he said. “There’s young entrepreneurs, there’s room for them to try out businesses. There’s everything you want in a city, but it’s not too big. I love the character, the architecture.”
His life these days is fairly different from single, hard-partying Milo’s — McCollum’s been with his wife, Stella, for more than two decades and together they have two kids, ages 15 and 12 — but he’s still very much still in the music scene.
In the last two decades, McCollum has toured with Nelly Furtado as her guitarist, cowritten songs for Lisa Marie Presley, and performed everywhere from Wembley Stadium to Madison Square Garden.
Prozzak is no longer a part of his life, as of this past weekend.
The band’s final show was Saturday at the Danforth Music Hall. A tour poster shows a tearful Simon and an aging Milo waving goodbye.
“There’s been a lot of love,” McCollum said of the atmosphere at the shows. It’s the end of an era. Sucks to be us.