The Rheostatics

Last night, Julia and I saw The Rheostatics play what they claim will be their last show together (or, at least, their final show with founding member Tim Vesley and former producer Michael Wojewda) at venerable Massey Hall in Toronto. With former members Dave Clark and Don Kerr, as well as a few other peripheral associates of the band, making guest appearances on stage, it certainly felt like a farewell performance, and the end of an era.

The first time I heard The Rheostatics, who started playing together as teenagers in 1980, was in my third year of university, when I saw the video for their single "Record Body Count" on MuchMusic. To be honest, I wasn't impressed, but I had a lot of friends who were fans of the band, and slowly but surely I grew to appreciate the group's mix of quirky pop and proggy extravagance. I also admired the fact that they were probably the most Canadian band ever, with song titles like "Saskatchewan" and "The Ballad of Wendel Clark, Parts 1 & 2," concept albums about the Group of Seven and Canada 200 years after Confederation, and Martin Tielli's signature double-necked maple leaf-emblazoned guitar. Dave Bidini also built himself an admirable second career as a chronicler of all things Canadian, including hockey, Canuck rock history, more hockey, and sex and hockey.

With only one Top 40 hit to their name ("Clair"), The Rheostatics were best known for their live shows, which usually stretched out over two hours, featured the band members taking turns on different instruments and lead vocals (just like The Band), and included lots of amusing stage banter (Julia and I owe our in-joke "the fur coat of success" to a Rheostatics show we saw at a movie theatre in Waterloo which included a reading by Bidini and a screening of Face-Off, an amusingly dated flick about a doomed romance between a folk singer and a young Toronto Maple Leafs star that featured lots of scenes in Yorkville, back when it was a hippy enclave). Last night's show, which lasted for over three and a half hours and ended with the band members standing with their family members in the audience and leading a singalong version of "Record Body Count", was no exception. If this truly was their last show together, they definitely went out on top.


From left: Martin Tielli, Tim Vesley, Michael Wojewda, Dave Bidini

These are a few of my favourite Rheostatics tracks. As such, they're not necessarily the band's "best" (although "Saskatchewan," which was last night's opener, would probably end up on a Rheostatics greatest hits album) or representative of the group's sound (which is too diverse to pin down to a specific genre, anyway). "Saskatchewan" is a sprawling number from Melville, which a lot of fans would probably say is their favourite album. "Bad Time To Be Poor," a more traditional rock tune (and a modest hit), is a scathing protest song about life in Ontario under former premier/scumbag Mike Harris, on The Blue Hysteria. "We Went West" is another longer number, a self-mythologizing tale about the band's first cross-country tour from 2001's Night Of The Shooting Stars. And "Baby, I Love You," from The Nightlines Sessions, is a goofy parody of a power ballad that serves as a nice example of the band's lighter side.

Saskatchewan
Bad Time To Be Poor
We Went West
Baby, I Love You