The Rheostatics: one year after the last show

I love you/because you took a stand/for those of us who are the weaker/’cause we’re not fakes/we are wild and we are screwed – ‘In This Town’, from Introducing Happiness (1994)

It’s March 30th. One year ago, the Rheostatics played their last show at Massey Hall in Toronto.

I’ve already lamented at length about not ever having seen the Rheos play live, so this post is going to be about something more positive. Consider this my tribute to my favourite band on the first anniversary of their break-up.

I am a science boy/I grew up on dinosaurs/a million different species of birds, and aircraft – ‘It’, from Melville (1991)

The Rheostatics were a smart band. Their lyrics were clever and touching, and they wrote about smart things. The song that first clicked with me was a live version of ‘Saskatchewan’, from the 1997 Double Live album. I didn’t hear this song until 2001, when I was living in Toronto. My then-boyfriend-now-husband would play Double Live every night as we fell asleep… and in that comfotable drowsy territory between waking and sleep, I would hear Martin Tielli singing of sailors caught in battle, a spine-tingling ambush, and memories of gentler days before war.

Who are these guys? I thought, Who writes this stuff?!

I kept listening, and the more I listened, the more invested I felt in this band and their stories. I fell in love and I hungered for more.

In the back of the class, we giggled, sniffing rush/the best of friends, we rode the Islington bus/your gum was sweet but the chewing was tough - ‘Fat’ from The Blue Hysteria

Listening to the music of the Rheostatics was like being in the company of treasured friends. Like so many great writers and musicians, it felt like they were sharing a private joke with you. You felt that no one could possibly understand them as well as you.

I suppose that’s true, in a way. It seems every Rheos fan has a story to tell, about a concert, a song, or meeting the members of the band, which is intensely personal. But the emotion behind those stories – the respect, the love, the joy – is shared by all of us. To simultaneously be meaningful on an individual and a universal level is what made (and continues to make) the Rheostatics such a force of nature, and goes a long way to explaining why Rheos fans are as passionate as they are.

One fan in particular has been passionate enough to become the unofficial archivist of the Rheostatics. Darrin Cappe has painstakingly collected recordings of live shows, photographs and television appearances on his Rheostatics Live website; he has also assembled a Rheos ‘box set’ – a series of 9 compilations that trace the history of the band from their very earliest demos to the final curtain. This weekend, on the occasion of the anniversary of the last concert, Darrin released 2067, Covers, and the Last Whale, the final compilation of the box set.

All the clouds get together and cry/all the trees in the wind wave goodbye/bye, bye/all in a row – ‘Row’, from Introducing Happiness (1994)

The last show at Massey Hall was, by all accounts, an emotional affair. Dave Bidini (one of the singer/songwriters, and co-founder of the band) describes the final moments of the concert it in his book Around The World in 57 1/2 Gigs (2007): 

“For our encore, we did two acoustic songs in the crowd before saying goodbye. Everywhere I looked people were crying, and for the last verse and chorus of “Record Body Count”, they were both crying and singing…

Through an ocean of tears, it felt good, partly because we’d died an elegant and good death…” (p. 306-7)

The videos of the encore, posted around the internet, show those of us who weren’t there the weeping, giggling, nervous intensity of the final moments.

So The Rheostatics are gone. But the members of the band continue doing what they are best at, with Dave Bidini working on a solo album and writing books (and winning Canada Reads this year with his eloquent defence of King Leary by Paul Quarrington). Martin Tielli’s performing around the place (notably as part of the Art of Time Ensemble), Tim Vesely is frontman of The Violet Archers. The 3 drummers – Dave Clark, Don Kerr and Michael Phillip Wojewoda – all have their own projects too.

I still haven’t seen any of the members of the Rheos play live, either solo or in any combination. But I’m working on it. I hope they all keep at it for a long long time.

I’d love to hear from anyone about their thoughts on this anniversary, so please feel free to leave comments