Rheostatics were a Canadian indie rock band, active from 1980 to 2007. Although they had only one Top 40 hit ("Claire" in 1995), they were simultaneously one of Canada's most influential and most unconventional rock bands, [1] a band whose eclectic take on pop and rock music has been described both as iconic and iconoclastic. [2] In particular, two of the band's albums, Whale Music and Melville , have been cited in numerous critical and listener polls as among the best Canadian albums ever recorded.

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History

Formed in Etobicoke, Ontario, the band played their first gig at a club called The Edge in February 1980. Originally called Rheostatics and the Trans-Canada Soul Patrol, the band consisted of guitarist Dave Bidini, bassist Tim Vesely, drummer Dave Clark, keyboard player Dave Crosby, and a large horn section. However, when Crosby left the band in 1981 and the horn section soon proved too unwieldy, guitarist Martin Tielli was brought in to replace them.

In the early 1980s the Rheostatics released a number of independent singles, and the three song demo Canadian Dream . The best-known of these early singles was "The Ballad of Wendel Clark, Parts 1 & 2", an ode to the Toronto Maple Leafs player Wendel Clark, which became the band's first hit on college radio and CFNY. In 1987, these songs were collected as the band's debut album, Greatest Hits . Only 1,000 copies of this album were pressed and released originally, and quickly sold out. However, the album was re-released in 1996.

In 1991, the band signed to the independent label Intrepid Records, and released Melville that year. The single "Record Body Count" garnered them significant airplay on radio and MuchMusic. The album also featured a cover of Gordon Lightfoot's "The Wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald".

The following year, the band signed to Sire Records and released Whale Music , which was inspired by Paul Quarrington's award-winning novel Whale Music . Quarrington himself was so impressed by Whale Music 's quirky pop—which was perfectly suited to a novel about a quirky, reclusive pop genius liberally based on Brian Wilson—that he chose the band to compose the soundtrack to the film version of his novel. Music from the Motion Picture Whale Music was released in 1994, putting the band in the odd position of having two almost identically-titled albums in its catalogue.

The centrepiece of the soundtrack was "Claire", a love song from the main character in the movie to a woman who'd moved into his house, which became Rheostatics' first and only Top 40 hit. The song earned the Rheos a Genie Award for "Best Original Song" in 1994. "Claire" was also featured on the band's album Introducing Happiness , released the same year. That album proved to be the end of the Rheostatics' association with Sire, however, as the label found the band difficult to market.

It was also Clark's last album with the band, as he left to concentrate on his own band, The Dinner Is Ruined. The resignation came very shortly before a cross-Canada tour. Clark has stated in interviews that he left because he was uncomfortable with the chart success of "Claire" and feared that the rest of the band would be persuaded to evolve in a mainstream direction. Clark was replaced by Don Kerr, whose first performance with the Rheostatics was an unannounced show at the Horseshoe Tavern in the spring of 1995.



Later in 1995, the band attracted the attention of the National Gallery of Canada, who commissioned the band to write music to accompany a retrospective celebrating the 75th anniversary of another group of artists whose distinctive-yet-accessible artistic outlook had redefined Canadian art, the Group of Seven. That year, working with pianist Kevin Hearn (later of the Barenaked Ladies), they released Music Inspired by the Group of Seven on the independent label DROG Records. Bob Wiseman would sit in for Hearn at the Art Gallery of Ontario show due to Hearn's illness.

The band also attracted the attention of The Tragically Hip, who invited the Rheostatics to open for them on tour. The Rheostatics thus returned to the studio, and released The Blue Hysteria in 1996. This album garnered airplay for the single "Bad Time to Be Poor". a scathing indictment of life in Ontario during the government of Mike Harris.

In 1997, the band released Double Live , a live album documenting the band in a variety of settings, from small in-store sessions to the large arenas of their tour with the Tragically Hip. The album was very successful on the campus radio charts and is amongst fans' favorites discs.

Later that year, they were invited to perform a live session on the last episode of Nightlines , a music show on CBC Radio Two. This performance was released on CD in 1998 as The Nightlines Sessions .

In 1999, the band released The Story of Harmelodia , an album based on a children's story written by Bidini. The album, which featured the band's songs interspersed with narration by Janet Morassutti, detailed the adventures of Dot and Bug, two children from the land of Harmelodia who fell through a hole into the land of Popopolis. The album was packaged with a book featuring Tielli's illustrated text of Bidini's story.

In 2001, the Rheostatics released Night of the Shooting Stars on Perimeter Records. Reviving their tradition of a week's club residency (formerly known as "Green Sprouts Music Week"), to promote the album the band played 11 nights in a row at Toronto's Horseshoe Tavern. This event was dubbed the Fall Nationals , and was repeated with the band playing 12 nights in 2002 and 13 nights in 2003.

Following that album, Kerr departed the band, and was replaced by the band's frequent producer, Michael Phillip Wojewoda. Their tenth and final studio album, 2067 , was released in the fall of 2004, although two live albums followed in 2005.

Style

The band's style was highly eclectic, feeding off the creative cross-pollination of each member's distinct musical style, and was marked by a willingness to experiment with just about any musical idea. Tielli's material tended toward progressive rock, Bidini brought quirky humour and New Wave influences, Vesely pursued a relatively mainstream pop-rock orientation which meant that his songs garnered nearly all of the band's radio airplay. While this eclecticism appealed to the band's fans, it also made them difficult for a major label to market — some of their later albums, especially Introducing Happiness , were described by critics as playing more like compilation albums than the work of a single band with a coherent and unified vision.

The Final Show

Tim Vesely announced his departure from the band on September 8, 2006, citing his desire to concentrate on his side project The Violet Archers. However, Dave Bidini has indicated that Vesely made his intentions to leave known to the band in January 2006, after they had played a series of concerts in Calgary. Bidini and Martin Tielli had explored the possibility of continuing the band with Michael Phillip Wojewoda and collaborating keyboardist Ford Pier, but that these plans collapsed after Phillip Wojewoda declared he did not want to commit to the band ^[3]. Subsequent press indicated that the band would not continue following Vesely's exit. A farewell concert was planned, and on March 30, 2007, the Rheostatics played Toronto's Massey Hall, the largest venue that they had played as headliners. The concert was recorded for later broadcast on CBC Radio 2's Canada Live , which aired the show on April 7 and again on December 6. Ford Pier substituted for Vesely in some live performances between Vesely's announcement and the final show.

On March 16, 2007, Canadian web label Zunior released a Rheostatics tribute album, The Secret Sessions , whose release had not been publicized in advance so that it would be a surprise for the band.

Bidini subsequently embarked on a solo tour, and published the book Around the World in 57½ Gigs about his experience.

Bidini and Tielli have stated that they plan to continue collaborating after the Massey Hall show. In a CBC Radio One interview, Bidini stated that they would be undertaking a tour of their collaboration with One Yellow Rabbit. Bidini, Tielli, Pier, Selina Martin and Barry Mirochnick subsequently collaborated on the album Music from Five Hole: Tales of Hockey Erotica , released in February 2009 on Zunior. ^[4]

Critical reception

In a 1996 reader poll published by Chart to determine the 100 best Canadian albums, Whale Music placed fifth, behind only Neil Young, Joni Mitchell, The Tragically Hip and Sloan, and Melville placed 16^th.

When the magazine conducted a follow up poll in 2000, Whale Music placed fourth and Melville placed fifth. In all of the magazine's three polls to date, Neil Young is the only other artist to have achieved the distinction of placing two albums in the top five in the same year.

In the 2005 poll, Whale Music placed 10th, becoming one of six albums to place in the top ten all three times, and Melville placed 44^th.

In Bob Mersereau's 2007 book The Top 100 Canadian Albums , Whale Music ranked 19^th and Melville was ranked 38^th.

Discography

• Greatest Hits – 1987
• Melville – 1991
• Whale Music – 1992
• Music from The Motion Picture Whale Music – 1994
• Introducing Happiness – 1994
• Music Inspired by the Group of Seven – 1995
• The Blue Hysteria – 1996
• Double Live – 1997
• The Nightlines Sessions – 1998
• The Story of Harmelodia – 1999
• Night of the Shooting Stars – 2001
• 2067 – 2004
• The Whale Music Concert, 1992 – 2005
• Calling Out the Chords, Vol. 1 – 2005

Of the band's 14 releases, five (Melville , Whale Music , Music from the Motion Picture Whale Music , 2067 and The Whale Music Concert, 1992 ) depict whales on the album covers.

Compilations

• Moose: The Compilation , 1991 ("Woodstuck")
• Borrowed Tunes , 1994 ("Everybody Knows This Is Nowhere (with The Bourbon Tabernacle Choir)")
• Truck Songs: Volume 1 , 1995 ("Secret Red Canoe")
• CBC Radio 3 Sessions, Vol. 1 , 2004 ("Harmelodia (Easy to Be with You)")

References

1. Dave Bidini: Our troubadour of hockey, the hinterlands and sweet home Canada
2. Ben Rayner. Mar 29, 2007. ''Toronto Star'' online. "Rheostatics' swan song".
3. Dave Bidini, March 28 2007, Interview with CFRU, Guelph, Ontario. Retrieved 28 April 2008 from http://www.rheostaticslive.com/Interviews.shtml
4. "Rheostatics Alumni Put One Through the Five Hole", Zunior, December 29, 2008.