SOUNDTRACK: RHEOSTATICS-The Horseshoe Tavern, Toronto (May 26, 2017).
Third of four shows at The Horseshoe Tavern dubbed Spring Nationals. 
This was one of the best Rheos shows I’ve ever seen. At the end of the show Jeff Robinson presented Martin with the custom made guitar he had been working on for the past 6 months. Martin then played an impromptu version of Indian Arrow which he had last played on his Farmer In The City tour 18 years prior. Indian Arrow is a 13 Engines song that to the best of my knowledge was never recorded, nor does Mike Robbins apparently recall writing it…but Martin knows it.
Lineup is: Dave Bidini / Dave Clark / Hugh Marsh / Ford Pier / Martin Tielli / Tim Vesely
There’s occasionally a lot of echo and reverb on the vocals, but the sound quality of the recording is excellent.
Before they start Dave B says, “Those people at the back don’t even know we’re up here, right?”
After a long guitar intro, martin sings “Self Serve Gas Station.” It builds really well although he doesn’t quite hit the note on “the morning time has come.” It’s followed by another Martin song, “California Dreamline.” This song also has a lengthy guitar and keyboard introduction.
When the song ends there;s some rousing guitar chords for almost a minute before the words of Dave Clark’s “AC/DC On My Radio” kick in.
It’s followed by a terrific “Soul Glue” with Martin joking about playing “jazz metal.”
Ford asks, Who is on lights tonight?
Dave B: I don’t know. Have we seen much of a light show tonight?
Ford: Last night you said his name three times in a row and that is messing with some dark force
Dave B: Ford Pier is our dark force attendant. Thanks for coming to night three. Lucky number 3. Dark force night.
Clark tells a lengthy story about someone farting behind him on a plane. Martin guesses it was Margaret Atwood. But Dave says he has proof of David Suzuki farting near him at a book signing and frightening all of the signees away.
Martin announces that the next song “P.I.N.” is called “Oh that Suzuki.”
They ask Tim Mech if he finds a lyric sheet in the back to bring it forward. They are doing a song for a Stompin’ Tom compilation, but they don;t know the words. Tim: So instead we’ll forget the words to this one” I’ve never heard “Gumboot Cloggeroo” before. Someone plays an amazing solo that sounds like it was done on a banjo but which might be Hugh on violin?
Dave wonders if it’s too early for shots? Martin “I’ll just get looser after this.”
Martin again states that Tim is sporting the gentleman’s instrument.
DB: “what does that make the bass?”
MT: “also a gentleman’s instrument. I just learned the mojo of the bass about 7 years ago.”
DB: “4 strings is tough”
MT: “it’s pretty well inexplicable.”
DB: “It took me a long time to pop and snap.”
MT: “Tim Vesely used to be the king of slapping on Queen Street.”
DC: “Tim Mech do you have Gaffer tape?”
MT: “Why would a guitar tech have gaffer tape?”
MT: “I had a dream I was gaffer taped.”
DB: “Dark Forces”
Martin and Tim play “Sickening Song.” It starts well, but then he stops.
Martin: “I got snot on my microphone.”
DC: “That’s because it’ the Sickening Song.”
Ford: “Is it yours?”
DB: “We had a gaffer stop and a snot stop, very professional.”
They resume and “Sickening Song” sounds great. There’s some wild drums and crazy echoed vocals in the middle (the punk rock section). There’s some big growling vocals at the end–it’s awesome.
Tim stays on the accordion for “What’s Going On Around Here?” and when it’s over, someone in the audience shouts “that was fuckin awesome.”
The Horsehoe is now 70 years old. It was really different back then when Hank Williams and Stompin’ Tom.
DB: “Me, Tim and Dave Clark played that stage over there in 1984. James Grey was on keyboards with us. It was our 6th or 7th gig of all time. We opened for The Government.”
From The Last Pogo:
The Government were a three-piece band rooted in Toronto and active between 1977 through 1982. The band consisted of: Andrew James Paterson (guitar, voice, and writing), Robert Stewart (bass, voice, writing), and three drummers (Patrice Desbiens from Sept.1977 to May 1978, Edward Boyd from June 1978 to December 1980, and Billy Bryans throughout 1981 and 1982.) The last version of the band was also occasionally augmented by scratch guitarist Jeremiah Chechik.
Robert Stewart wore pink spandex pants, Billy Bryans on drums he had synth drums.
MT: “There’s never been a better drum tone since.”
DB: “I’m merely trying to drive away the dark forces.”
DC: “Patting a Bengal cat is like patting the back of Tim’s head.”
Martin: “Tim has the nicest hair of anyone I’ve ever stroked…. Here’s a new song by Timothy Waren Vesely.”
They play the nice folkie song “Rear View.”
Then comes “Northern Wish” which opens with a pretty acoustic guitar melody. and sounds great. It ends with a cool buzzy guitar sound at the end.
For “Here Come The Wolves” DB asks, “Hey Marsen, I’d like a little more light on stage. I’m not reading my lyrics or anything, honest.” The middle has a great fiddle sound from Hugh, thundering drums and lot of intensity–when they get this song tight it will be fantastic.
There’s a very long intro to “Dope Fiends.” It sound great and then there’s a long drum solo lasting over 2 and a half minutes). The song ends after Martin singing Dark Side of the Moooooon with someone whispering The Dark Side and then Martin speaking backwards nonsense (you can hear “Satan” a few times). This all culminates in some wild improv.
Tim recites “Halloween Eyes” then they return to “Dope Fiends.” This segues into an introduction to “Queer” in which Dave starts singing Trooper’s “Here For A Good Time” and then Dave says, “Uh oh Tim’s got something.” They play “Halloween Eyes” properly and the chugging guitar leads Dave to sing “You Shook Me All Night Long” but he doesn’t know the words (!) and no one else seems to either!? No one knows it?
Paul Linklater? You don’t know it?
Kurt Swinghammer? You must know it. Kurt gets up there to sing it and his lyrics are “I don’t know that song, I don’t know that song at all.”
Finally Ford gets up there and sings a really strained voice (and misses a lot of lyrics) but they play it pretty well: “Ford Pier saves the day!”
They finally get to a romping, “Queer.” It’s so good that Clark says, “I’m giving you the [cow]bell brother.” There’s great harmonizing on “he put his fist through the kitchen door.” There’s a cool pizzicato solo from Hugh.
And then Hugh plays a great violin as the introduction to Clark’s fun new song “Super Controller.”
Dave: We’re gonna do one more. We might not do one more. Give us an encore.”
After the encore, Ford comes back and sings “Thursday Morning” on acoustic guitar. He confesses “after the Brian Johnson vocals, I have a bit of a frog in my throat, help me out? Oh, you sound like a chorus of angels. Am I having a stroke?) This segues into a romping fun version of The English Beat’s “Save It For Later.”
When it’s over, Ford says, That must have been enough time for a Cuban cigar (depends on who’s smoking it, Ford).
Dave talk about the Brave New Waves recording that’s for sale and then discusses the very first single that Dave Crosby, Me, Tim and Dave Clark made at Round Sound in 1980.
Tim: It’s available on wax cylinder.
“Saskatchewan” has lots of echo on the vocals. It’s kind of a slow version with pizzicato violin until the roaring ending (which gets a little messy). It segues seamlessly into “Horses.” It’s still got the intensity of old. There’s a quiet middle part with Martin doing a falsetto of what Dave sang.” It hasn’t been played much and Dave gets into it but his rant isn’t that long: “They’re all going to jail, Jared fucking Kushner.” [Please, please, please be true.]
They tack on the ending for “Queer” and then Clark starts a drum beat that leads to “Legal Age Life At Variety Store.” They invite Paul Linklater on stage to play with them: “You can tell he’s good because of his green hat.” Thee’s also Jeff Robinson on lead guitar. Ford gets a solo and when Dave sings, “Eagleson ripped off Bobby Orr,” Tim again comments, “Get over it.”
As they leave, Martin says that Jeff Robinson made him this new guitar. It has a piece from his paleontological collection. This is a mammoth tusk and it makes it sound prehistoric. It could be 80,000 years old.
He starts to leave bu the crowd asks him to play something and he plays a little of “Indian Arrow” as noted above.
This is a great show, the band sounds fantastic.
[READ: May 21, 2018] “Calico”
This is a story about death and a life that, to me, seems much worse.
Sara lives next door to Sands, “an old bitch.”
Sara doesn’t like to say such things but she had seen Sands hose a cat once to get it out of her yard.
Sands never said a word to anyone, just stood in the doorway and glared if you parked in front of her house. (more…)
