interview by birgit moenke

Classic Albums Live is comprised of musicians hired to perform classic albums note-for-note, cut-for-cut, in a live show in the order the tracks appear on both sides of the original album. Classic Albums Live performs all over North America.

To give you an idea of how hectic producer Craig Martin’s life has become, on the same weekend that a Classic Albums Live: Bruce Springsteen Born to Run show was scheduled at The Rose Theatre in Brampton, there were two additional shows of this album scheduled in various locations across the country, in addition to one Yes show and two AC/DC shows.

Life must get pretty hectic for you, Craig.

It is chaotic, but good. I have musicians living in airports everywhere. They’re just in and out of cars, hotels – it’s just crazy. I was doing an interview the other day with Kim Mitchell [from rock band, Max Webster] and he said, ‘Where do you live, man? I said I live in hotels and airports – which is kind of crazy. Be careful what you wish for, I think.

Do the same musicians do the same shows?

Well, what happens is – the thing I do best is I find the right musicians for the right shows. I’ve got a closet full of them here. I’ve got about 45 core musicians that I keep running around pretty regularly, more or less full-time employed with me, and I marry the music with the album. I’m looking for what I call the DNA factor. These guys have to know this album, have grown up with it and just want to play it. I will hear something in their musical ability and style to be able to assign them a record. I’ll tell them that I think they’d be really good for this Doors record or this drum would be amazing for this Supertramp record. In this case, I put together this Springsteen show – the Born to Run show – all with guys who had never really heard Bruce Springsteen. Like most people, they think Bruce Springsteen’s that “Dancing in the Dark” video where he pulls up Courtney Cox out of the audience and dances – like a sugar-coated Bruce Lite. But prior to that, Bruce was this hungry, really poetic genius who was like a little bit dirty and greasy – playing the Jersey shore and all that, but he was poetically beautiful and the arrangements on the Born to Run album, in particular, are complex, involved and have a deep understanding of music theory. So I put these guys on this record, and they don’t know if they’re the right Bruce guy, so they all phone me back one-by-one after listening to this record – Born to Run is an opera, by the way – and they said, ‘This is unbelievable! I had no idea.’ And I said, ‘You do now. All has been revealed.’ It’s hard to believe that he actually released an album like Born in the USA when you hear this record. I guess it’s the growth of an artist. I guess he just wanted to grow.

Are you familiar with the record?

I am. I draw a lot of parallels between that album and your life, because that was the album that made his name, really.

That’s exactly right.

He was hungry, really hungry, as you say. That was kind of his last-ditch effort at making it big.

That’s right. They were looking at their lives wondering, ‘What are we going to do next?’ type of thing. Is this as big as it gets?’ Then it just exploded on them, right? Have you seen the Hammersmith Odeon video where they show up in London in ’75?

I haven’t.

Aw man, it’s in the box set. It’s like 60 bucks. If you’re a Bruce fan – this band arrived in London, England – I guess this was around the time of the hype when Newsweek and Time called us the future of rock and roll and all that, and he shows up at the Hammersmith Odeon with his band in ’75. It’s his first time overseas, and he’s starry-eyed, yet at the same time, scared, and at the same time, hungry.

He ends up pulling down all these posters that he didn’t like. He was being represented as the Saviour of Rock and Roll. He pulls all these posters down. Well, the band gets on stage, and they just start hittin’ it. I call him a steamroller on jet fuel, man. These guys can play, and Bruce is amazing – just amazing! They seem a little hesitant at first. The band’s playin’ hard and he seems a little bit controlled – and back then he wasn’t playin’ as much guitar. He was just singing. He had just moved from behind the piano, too, to in front of the mic.

Anyways, for my money, that performance at that show on that night with that band is the greatest rock and roll has ever been.

It’s shot really grainy with 8 mm cameras, and there are only three different camera angles. There’s just something so innocent and so wild about it that it just blows my mind. And again, before we started rehearsals for this record, I made the guys watch this. I said, ‘We gotta sit down and understand where we’re coming from here. Sometimes even though we don’t have a show with Classic Albums Live, I like to get the guys vibed up a little bit and understand the artist a little deeper than just listening to the record, you know?

That’s amazing. It’s like you have this rock course that you’re offering that I’m sure other people would love to join.

Well, I tell you, I’m getting emails from musicians all over the world saying, ‘We love what you’re doing. Can I get involved?’ And I always get the one guy who says, ‘I can play Beatles. I can play Stones. I can play Zeppelin, and I’m thinking ‘Great!’ Then I get the one guy who says, ‘If you ever do Pink Floyd’s Animals record, I’m your guy, and that’s the guy I’ll call, because they’re usually the kind of freaks about detail that I’m looking for. I’ve been really lucky with my musicians – really lucky.

When did you first notice that you had this ability to match up musicians? Where did that evolve from?

Grade Two. When I was in grade two, I started my first band.

I was really into the Beatles. My mom was British. I’m 46, and in ’67/’68, it was the height of the Summer of Love and all that. I grew up in Scarborough, so we just saw flashes of it on the TV every now and then, and that was the ‘60s to me. The girl down the road had a boyfriend with long hair, and we used to freak out over that. I finally got a copy of the Beatles Help record. I put that on in class, and we made guitars out of rulers and made fake moustaches and I started my first band. At recess, all the girls chased us, and all the other guys said, ‘Can I be in your band?’ (laughs) I’ve just been doing a continuation of that ever since. I’ve always made my living in the music business.

So was that because your mom was playing the records?

Not so much.

What inspired you then?

You know, I have no idea. Looking back, it was just one of those things that finds you. For some kid it’s a chessboard. For another kid, it’s rock climbing or soccer, or something like that.

For me, it was always music. I’d always be like Homer [Simpson] sniffing a freshly baked pie – just mmmm…music! I made this inevitable move to guitar when I was 13, and that was it. No looking back!

I’ll tell you one thing about the series that’s really cool, and that’s a lot of the players are in their 30s and 40s or even late 20s, some of these cats. And you know, the music business has changed so much, and a lot of them are coming face-to-face with the reality that their dream of making it, or even carving out a living, is getting tougher and the door is slamming – if not closed already. Classic Albums Live allows these guys a place to come and flourish and meet their full potential and keep on challenging themselves and teaching themselves. We keep a really tight crew of musicians that we get involved with here. We’re not into egos or anything. It’s a very selfless thing we do, and we take it very seriously. This music is sacred to people. When we boast note-for-note, cut-for-cut, we better be able to back that up, because you know this is like church for some people, and we’re carrying the gospel. So these musicians come and they are able to have a career again. I’m able to offer them work, decent venues for decent pay, and it’s really rewarding that way.

It must be rewarding when you are doing something so positive.

Totally. Thank you for saying that. That’s exactly right. It feels positive and I am quite proud of that aspect.

How did you first get the idea for Classic Albums Live?

Oh, it was crazy. I was in a Stones cover band called The Midnight Ramblers, and we weren’t very good. We were like the worst cover band out there, because we didn’t dress up. We’d just show up in our street clothes in jeans and t-shirts, or sometimes we’d put on a nice shirt and that would be the extent of it, and we would play the Stones’ stuff.

What did you do in the band?

I was the singer, but what would happen was we’d start getting known as the guys that could play. That’s what everyone talked about: ‘Let’s go see the Ramblers. Those guys can play’ – whereas you had the other big Blushing Brides bands and all that, and they had the lights, the sound, the makeup, the hair and the costumes. That was never our thing, so we gained this reputation of this incredible place to go hear Stones music played properly.

So one night we’re driving home from this gig in Montreal, and the guys are all crashed out in the back of the van. I’m driving, and I hear this first song off Exile on Main Street, which is “Rocks Off,” and then they went right into “Rip This Joint” – two songs, one after another. I said to myself, ‘Man, I love that side, so I say, ‘Guys, we should do this one side of the album. It’s a perfect album side.’ They go, ‘Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.’ We’re drivin’ a little more, and I’m thinking, ‘We should do the whole record’ – drivin’ a little more – we should do all the classic albums!

In the course of two hours from wherever it was, I think we were in Kingston, to Toronto, I’d come up with this idea of taking the albums and doing them note-for-note, cut-for-cut and playing the entire record like you would hear them, live.

That’s what people really wanted – to see and hear and experience the musicianship in a live setting – no lights, no flash, no costumes, no nothing like that – just a continuation of what we were doing in the Ramblers, and that was it!

I came to Toronto, I went and saw my friend, Enzo, who works at The Phoenix, and I told him my idea. We had a five-minute conversation. He says, ‘Yeah, let me get on this.’ He called his GM. We went and had another 20-minute conversation and had the blueprint for the series – once a month at the Phoenix, an album, note-for-note, cut-for-cut. I told them there would be no “show,” and it just took off. I wasn’t ready for it. I don’t have a degree in business, but man, it just started going. Next thing you know, I’m flyin’ musicians all over the place. When was the last time you heard of something new in the music business? Everything’s getting recycled, and here’s another singer/songwriter talking about his feelings. Who cares, you know? We’re offering my age group and even younger kids, too, a place to come and experience this music the way you’d go see Beethoven or Bach or something like that. This is the credibility I’m striving for. It’s that type of credibility.

Were you able to go ahead and put on a show once a month at the time?

Yes, I was. That’s all I did. I just automatically knew that this was – it almost wasn’t even a financial decision as it was a cultural decision. It’s almost like we had all these tribute bands – all these crap bands desecrating the music. Looking back on it now, I felt like I was on a mission – I gotta do this – I gotta do it right and I just called up all my musicians and booked five shows to begin with over five months. That’s all I did, and sure enough, by the fourth show, we were selling out the Phoenix theatre – jammin’ it. American agents were coming up, and people were phoning and all this stuff. It hit big when it did hit, so I was very cautious.

I knew the last thing I wanted to do – even to this day I’m very cautious of growing the business too big, because I want to keep the music real and important.

So, for the sake of having a show in St. Louis, I’m not just going to throw a boy band together and put it out there, right, and so that’s been the secret of my success – growing it slow, using the best musicians and not leaving anything on the table. I mean, if the album has a marching band in it, I’ll get a marching band – whatever it takes, I’ll do it. That’s the fun part of the show – doing that. For instance, we’re going out on tour with the Pink Floyd Animals show, and I’m asking every venue to ask all of their staff if they have barking dogs to come out on stage to bark (laughs), so that’s what we’re doing. They may not bark on cue, but God da--, there are gonna be barking dogs on that stage!

We did this show once before, and I swear to God, these dogs got stage fright. This is the show I told the guys to stay off the note-for-note, cut-for-cut, right? Just don’t worry about it. If we get out, just get that groove goin’. If the dogs don’t bark at first, just throw in an extra eight bars here, right, and so sure enough, the dogs come out and they’re just sitting there - two beautiful shepherds and they’re just sitting there looking around. The guy’s bouncing the ball, and the band’s vamping on the eight-bar stuff, and it turns into 16 bars. Then just as I saw the guitar player signaling, ‘Ok guys, let’s move up,’ the dogs start barking. You could not hear any music the crowd was cheering so loud. It was the magic moment of the series. It was pretty funny, and it was the one time we went off the note-for-note thing by adding extra bars. (laughs)

Have there been any other circumstances that were similar?

Like I’ve said, we’ve had children’s choirs, guitar players or we’ve just come off a tour with a 35-piece orchestra. It was fantastic! I was not prepared for how much sound an orchestra can make. We’re up there with our amps, our drums and things we thought we’d have to turn right down – man, these guys can charge, let me tell you that. Their conductor made us feel really welcome. He was really gracious, too.

There’s nothing we can’t do. I feel like we’re just hitting our stride. I also feel this is the very beginning of the series.

What was the first album that you performed?

Dark Side of the Moon.

Why was that your first choice?

Well, it was kind of a no brainer, you know. Everybody’s got a copy of that. We’ve got it on album, cassette, 8-track, CD. We downloaded it. That’s the one album that keeps coming up in everybody’s life and plus, it really lends itself well to the recital aspects of the shows. It has a strong start and a strong ending. There’s no room for improvisation in between. You don’t have to expand an ending or invent an ending. I really thought that would represent the recital aspect of the show the best. So we started putting this album together, and of course, every Pink Floyd band in the world, when they come out, even Pink Floyd – you press play on the CD and the clocks go off. I had 12 people onstage banging and clanging and tick tocking and it was amazing! The place went nuts, and that was the point I knew my life had changed – that first show in that moment - when the audience started cheering and appreciating the effort we put into it, I think, for going that extra distance.

Has the audience’s response surprised you in regards to how overwhelming it’s been?

Not really, because I feel the same way. I am the audience. I mean, I get to stand in front of the speakers and hear these records breathe. I’m completely thrilled at each performance. You can offer me a 10-star vacation in the middle of the Caribbean in the middle of the winter, and if there’s a Led Zeppelin show in Aurora, I’d rather go there. I’m not really surprised by the way people have grooved on to it.

After Pink Floyd, what did you do next?

Then I wasn’t thinking properly. I put the Rumours show by Fleetwood Mac in there.

Why weren’t you thinking properly?

I think my crowd – at first they didn’t want to be challenged too much. It’s a predominantly male crowd, and we were new. I should have followed up with a Zeppelin album, then a Beatles album, but the second show was The Fleetwood Mac Rumours album. It was an amazing show, but it wasn’t what the series needed right at that time, so that was my first mistake. The other mistake was touring too quickly, going to Montreal and thinking, ‘This is the best idea, ever! Let’s rent a tour bus and go to Montreal and Ottawa to do gigs.’ I lost all my money…whatever…

And then it was Exile on Main St., which was a strange album for a third choice, but I’m glad I did it, because what this album did is it brought out the music critics. The music critics love the Stones and they love Exile on Main St. It’s highly regarded as one of the top records of all time. So we hit that record – I sang that record. I had a big band with me, and that kind of put us back on track into the mainstream. We had some credibility again, and so it was a smart show to do.

Then it was Led Zeppelin IV, and that was unbelievable! You couldn’t get anymore people in the Phoenix. They were turning people away at the doors!

We followed that with the Who’s next record, which was great. Again, we brought out the violin player. It was so nice to hear Baba O’Riley played properly with a proper fiddle player – it was actually a viola used on the original recording. Everybody thinks it’s a violin. It’s not, it’s a viola. We researched and found a viola player – Owen Pallett from the band Hidden Cameras. When Owen came out and did that, it was a defining moment in the series.

Then we did Queen, and by that time, I started booking shows in the States. It was just nuts!

How did you expand into the States?

It was really weird. I had these American agents getting in touch with me. Word spreads pretty quickly in the music business. It’s a small little community, and like the musicians themselves, I guess one of my talents is, despite the fact that I don’t have a lot of formal training in areas, that I am able to tap into my gut and go on instinct. It’s never let me down. But this agent came to two shows in a row. He said, ‘I’m here again, because I didn’t get it the first time. I think I got it, but I just want to get it this time. He saw the Beatles White album, and he pulled me aside afterwards and said, ‘I love what you’re doing. I love that record. You’re doing a great thing here.’ He was just really genuine and warm. He’d been to two shows in a row, and he was a small agent from the States. He was booking some festivals and nothing special, but for some reason I liked him. He’s the one who stood out. We met halfway in Niagara Falls. We talked about it, and he said, ‘Don’t sign anything. Let me have a crack at it and see what I can do. There’s a place in Florida I think you’d be perfect for!’

So I said, ‘Sure man, go ahead!’

He booked us into the Hard Rock Café Live right in Universal Studios in Orlando! Let me tell you, you’re playing in the big leagues now. So here come these little Canadian boys. It’s a 2500 seater. This is our first show away from home…

What album were you doing at the time?

It was the White album, which is a strange record. It’s messed up. It would have been easier to do a Zeppelin or a Floyd album, but no, we go in there with the White album, with “Revolution 9” and all these crazy rag songs, and then you’ve got “Helter Skelter.” The album switches gears like crazy. So we get in there and we blow away 200 people in this 2500-seat hall. 200 people lose their minds and start clapping their hands, and it sounded like a pin dropping in there. I thought, ‘Well, that’s it. At least we gave it a try down here, but to their credit, The Hard Rock staff there – the bookers, the promoters, the managers; they were all backstage. ‘You guys are amazing! We had no idea you were this good. Let’s get on this and do this.’ So they stuck with it. The next show we had 350 people. Then we had 500 people. Now we’re selling out. We get down there – it’s not uncommon for us to have 2700 people in there once a month, and they are music lovers. It was a great thing, and because of that, he was able to phone other big venues like Vegas and Mohegan Sun [Casino in Rhode Island] and phone the theatres. He was really smart. Again, we grew it small and organically, and they all jumped on board.

It’s been this amazing ride and you know, the music business – so many people have this stereotype of ‘Hey, kid. We’ll make a deal. Sign right here’ and let’s take drugs and all that. I haven’t found any of that. I’ve found really committed, honest, decent family, music-loving people. Our guys in Vegas down there, they are so appreciative of the music. They just love the details. The guy who books us is a guitar player himself, and he’s on the stage asking the musicians about their tunings – ‘What kind of guitar is that?’ It’s really cool. Really nice people. Even at the Rose [Theatre]. Look at the Rose. The staff there are so gracious and nice to us. They make us feel so welcome.

Have you done all the albums you want to do yet?

No, I really want to do Purple Rain one day, and do it up right. I bought Thriller recently by Michael Jackson, but it’s not that good of a recording. The hits are okay, but I don’t like the rest of it. It doesn’t stand the test of time like Purple Rain does. I’d like to branch into some more – maybe even What’s Going On? by Marvin Gaye – which is kind of a concept album, I’ve learned. I’d also like to revisit some of the more recent stuff. Early in the series, I was doing some Seattle albums and Nirvana, of course. We did OK Computer by Radiohead. I don’t think the timing was right for those records. Maybe we were too early. Maybe we didn’t promote them right, but the shows themselves were spectacular. But I’d really like to do Nirvana’s Never Mind album again and Radiohead’s OK Computer again to give them another shot.

Do you do U2?

We did The Joshua Tree, which was a really tough record, technically. There are all these delay settings on the guitar that need to be done properly. You have to have another amp a millisecond behind to get that sound. I just saw Daniel Lanois [Canadian producer/singer & songwriter] recently at a club here in Toronto, and I really wanted to approach him and just tell him, ‘You son of a --. Why would you do that to us?’ But I didn’t get a chance. That was a tough record.

We did War, a straight ahead rock album. I played bass on that record. It was like going to school again. It was so cathartic, because it’s so percussive, and the bass on that – really simple, but you really have to dig in, and that’s what I can do on bass guitar. I can really dig in, so that was a fun album.

Who sang Bono?

We had an opera singer come out and do Bono – a guy named Murray James-Bosch, and Murray – big Murray – he looks like a miniature version of Pavarotti, and of course he walks on stage and everybody’s wondering, ‘Who’s this guy? He doesn’t look like Bono’ – and then, of course he opens up his mouth and everybody goes, ‘Oh, okay.’

Awesome (laughs). What do you think the most unexpected part of this venture has been?

There hasn’t been one, to be honest with you. I don’t know. We don’t have any surprises. We show up at venues, do what we say we were going to do – everybody shows up knowing how the album’s going to sound… Unexpected, in that I never thought I’d have so many friends. I don’t know. I’m happy with the success. I knew it would be well-received…I’m surprised we’re not in China!!

That’s true – or Japan. Go to Japan.

Why aren’t we in Europe? That’s what I’m surprised at! But we will get there, make no mistake about it. In 2008 or 2009, I’ll be in England.

How far do the shows go right now?

Just North America, in every nook and cranny – Glace Bay to Victoria; Las Vegas to New England – criss- crossing all over the place.

Was there an audience with an unexpected response in your experience?

No, what’s so nice is, after each show, I go out in the lobby and just stand there and talk to people. I find two things I really like: a lot of families bring their children to these shows, which is exactly what I wanted from the get go, and also people are so appreciative of this. They’re just so thankful, and I tell them, get on the message board. Get on the website. We do a lot of online work. We get a lot of emails, and I return every single one, no matter what.

Like I always say, we get people involved one-by-one. We’ve got a fan club now. People have started their own fan clubs!

Wow!

I know, it’s crazy, eh? Canadians are still Canadians: ‘It was a great night out, Craig. Thanks very much,’ but Americans respond differently. ‘This is amazing! We’re starting a fan club! We’re booking flights to Vegas!’

Do you think it’s worked to your favour to not have the lighting and costumes?

Oh, yeah, because that just cheapens the music. Let me tell you what’s going on: the wigs, the costumes – it gets in the way of the music. I’m doing a Led Zeppelin free show on October 11. Come see something real (www.classicalbumslive.com). It’s a very rewarding experience. It’s something that will stay with you and something you’ll seek out in the future. I’ve got seven musicians on stage. When we do Zeppelin IV, I bring out a woodwind section to play “Stairway to Heaven.” It’s important to follow the music.

Do you hold auditions for musicians?

Yeah, right now I’m looking for a Paul McCartney singer. I need that effortless – I’ll know from the way the guy answers the phone whether he can sing McCartney or not.

Really?

Well, McCartney’s just so musical. Listen to him in an interview. It’s like he’s speaking Chinese – he’s just bouncing all over the place. His voice – everything that guy does is music. It’s unbelievable! I’ve got two guys right now who can do it. One guy is really, really busy, and the other one is booked. I have another Beatles show, but I won’t book it out until I find a guy who can step into McCartney and hit it. He doesn’t have to play bass or anything like that. He just has to sing it.

Getting back to the Bruce show – what do you think is special about Bruce?

For me, it’s the poetry of it all combined with the drama of the music. That album’s like an opera. This album was also made before there were videos, so you have your own – the screen door slams; Mary’s dress waves [from the “Thunder Road” lyrics]. You know what that looks like in your mind. There’s no image on TV. You imagine them getting in the car and driving away. You have your own car, your own radio, your own setting and it’s like that for the whole album. “Tenth Avenue Freeze-Out” - the idea of a small boy standing on the shores of Manhattan, looking at it going, ‘Holy cow, you know, Manhattan here I am.’ And then “Backstreets” – I just figured out that I think Terry is a girl. I always thought it was a guy, but I think it’s a girl who left him for another guy. I think it’s the same girl he’s been singing about ever since in “Bobby Jean” and all those songs. Then, of course, there’s “Born to Run.” We’ve all put ourselves into that mental video. “Meeting Across the River” is about a drug deal, and then it ends with “Jungleland” – and everybody has their own version of what the Magic Rat looks like. It’s like a Beatles record. You have your own painting of the songs in your head, and that’s what I think, makes Bruce special to me. The album fires our imagination, it’s an opera, and it’s important. I think Classic Albums Live honours that. When you go and listen, you still have those same paintings in your head, and you can honour them.

When I sing this record, I tell my musicians, ‘Don’t move on stage.’ But when I sing this record, I have to move a little, because there’s so much air going in your lungs verse after verse. I have to pace it a little, but we stand pretty still on stage. We just want people to be sent back to that time when they were in their basements with the album open in front of them spinnin’ on a turntable, and we just want to trigger that memory – that whole feeling.

Are there any other Bruce albums you’re going to do or want to do?

I will do Born in the USA one day. It’s a good record. It’s such a different departure. It took me a long while to get back into that record. I got it when it came out, because I was already a Bruce fan, and that was people’s first introduction to him in big venues and all that. I saw him in ’77 on the Darkness tour. As a kid, I was the only one in my school who was into him. He gave me an identity, so it goes far back. I’ll pick up Born in the USA down the road a bit. Like I said, it took me a while to get back into that record, but it’s a good one.

What kind of criteria do you use to choose your albums?

Well, they have to be popular. That’s the lowest common denominator. People decide with their dollars. I like the 12 Dreams of Dr. Sardonicus by Spirit, but I would never put that album out there – even though it’s a classic one.

Well, maybe you should start a little underground Classic Albums Live?

Wouldn’t that be great? I want to, but I just don’t have the time! One day we were actually tampering with a songwriting series – like a Joni Mitchell, Leonard Cohen, and James Taylor type of series at the smaller venues.

It’s completely endless. You could go on forever doing different series and different this and different that.

I have bookings in 2009 right now. I’m just looking at my life going, ‘This is great!’ but at the same time, ‘Oh my God!’

Let’s get to some more personal questions. How would you define the Art of Living?

That’s a great question. Well, strive to be happy, of course! By making yourself happy and prosperous, human nature will let you spread that around. You’ll just want to start making everybody around you happy and prosperous. So that’s the way I kind of look at it.

What’s the best advice you’ve ever been given?

That’s a good question. I’ve been given a lot of advice. Take your time, I guess, would be the advice from my dad. Slow down. My dad would say, ‘Slow down, son.’ I’m probably just going to die at 50. One day that will be it. Clock’s run out. Ticker’s used up. You’re done.

Who would you really like to sit down and talk to, living or dead, and why?

John Lennon, for sure, just because he was such a radical, and he taught us all to fight for what’s right. He was also unafraid to make mistakes and let the whole world into his life on those mistakes. Ultimately John taught me that it’s our frailties and our sensitive side – our mistakes that bring people closer. Plus, a lot of what he said, I believe in.

Anyone else?

Yeah, yeah. I’d like to sit down with my dad one more time. He passed away six years ago. Again, there’s just so much I would have said to him six years later. He ran his own business as a man growing up. He had his own family business, and that was really a great time in our family. Now I’m doing exactly that. My sister is my operations manager. My mom does my books. It’s all in the family, and I think he would have really been proud of that.

Do you think he would have been surprised at what you’re doing now, or do you think he would have expected it?

I think he would have expected it. When I was in grade 12, in high school and in my last year, I was a nobody. I was going to community college back then, and I was unsatisfied with my life, a bit. I knew I wanted to be in a band. My dad always said, ‘You’re going to school. You’re getting an education.’ Blah, blah, blah, and I thought, ‘Sure, yeah, right.’

I played in a Battle of the Bands in high school – ’77 or ’78; whatever it was. Being in a band was a big deal back then. My dad came to the show in the middle of the day, walked in the house afterwards and said to my mom, ‘Maureen, we’ve got a problem.’ He was exactly right, man. That was it.

A problem in the sense that you were hooked?

Hooked. ‘I saw a spark up there,’ [his dad realized]. He’s not going to school for very long.’ I lasted two years and that was it.

I quit school, quit a job, and broke up with a girl, all to take a one-week gig in Parry Sound. I was nineteen, and that was it – no looking back!

‘My God, he’s going to be a musician. Help us all!’ (laughter)

Exactly.

Do you think you’ve covered the most influential albums of all time?

Yes, I do.

Do you think there are any more you need to cover that should be on that list?

No, I think I’ve got ‘em all. I think I got the big ones, and I did them all justice. Every single one of them. Every single one.

Nobody can say anything about that then. That’s amazing!

I feel really good about that now – even just saying that out loud. That’s a good question, because even saying that out loud made me think, ‘Man, that’s heavy.’

It is heavy. You should be very proud of what you’ve done.

Thank you.

What would we be surprised to find out about you?

I’m really into my family – my kids, my boys – I put them first. People think that my life is all about the running around and going crazy: in and out flying everywhere, rehearsals and interviews. It is all that, but I think people would be surprised to see how much time I spend with my boys, three and nine. My boys are still my Number One priority.

Would you change anything if you could?

No, I learned from all my mistakes. I earned all of these gray hairs. I made some colossal mistakes, but now I wouldn’t change anything. I’m pretty happy and content with all that.

These are good questions, holy -!

It’s therapy, man. (laughing)

Exactly. Send me the bill!

You were amazing. This was one of my best interviews I’ve done, and I can tell you’re really into music, too, which is nice. ..Hey, you know what music holds up great? Disco, and I was a Disco Sucks kind of guy.

Not me. I love disco!

I do, too. The playing on those records is unbelievable! I mean, so much fell by the wayside, but now when I go to a wedding or a party or something like that, I hear some of those disco songs and I’m like, ‘Good God. Listen to the bass player on this song. It’s unbelievable!’

So it’s kind of funny. See – that’s one thing nobody knows. I secretly like disco.