APRIL WINE – Biggest Canadian Crowd Ever, Roughly SpeakingBy Martin Popoff
Canadian hard rock legends
APRIL WINE are busy touring the states and Canada this summer in support of their Roughly Speaking EP/LP featuring eight songs, but tapping out at 25 minutes and being sold at a budget price.
The band however reached a Myles-stone, so to speak, a few days ago. According to guitarist BRIAN GREENWAY, “We just played in Surrey, BC on the weekend, for Canada Day, and according to this promoter, there were 40,000 people there. Which makes it the biggest April Wine audience we’ve ever played to in Canada. There were other bands there as well. We were the headliners, with KIM MITCHELL and IAN TYSON and WIDE MOUTH MASON, but it was pretty neat to see all those people out there on a holiday.”
“We’re very busy this summer,” continues Greenway, who in the course of our chat, spoke of a possible follow-up to his well regarded Serious Business solo album from 1988. “All over the place; it’s all weekend stuff, outdoor shows, in the summertime. They’re fun, and that takes us right through until - as far as I know - into October and November. We played with Kim Mitchell a couple of times, actually twice this weekend, on both ends of the country (laughs). And we did a date just a week ago with DENNIS DEYOUNG in Montreal. We did a whole bunch of dates with Canadian bands in Mount Forest, Ontario - Kim, LOVERBOY, TROOPER, but nothing major. Nothing really excitingly major.”
The new record could be categorized as both bluesy and poppy, but definitely not heavy. Last time I spoke to Myles Goodwyn, he was threatening a heavy record. I asked Brian if Myles has gotten any closer to that sort of album.
“No he hasn’t. In fact he’s getting further and further away from it. Himself, right now he’s doing a blues album. But no, the rock record hasn’t materialized yet (laughs). Our fans are saying bring back the beast, the nature of the beast. And I guess we didn’t, although there are a couple on there, like ‘I Am, I Am’. It’s not a rock record. It’s a fun record.”
Roughly Speaking was actually driven by the process, more than stylistic considerations. “Yes it was; we did it all analog. We record at Myles’ studio, and he’s got a bunch of old machines there. And he said, ‘Hey, let’s do it analog. Let’s go back to tape and record the way we used to record back in the ‘70s.’ Which is off the floor, most of us together, least overdubs as possible. No computers. We had fun doing it. Whether the average person can hear the difference, I don’t know, but it was very loose. It was how we used to do things. We were playing for ourselves. It’s like you’re just having fun, a nonchalant atmosphere. You’re not going, ‘Oh boy, this is going to be hit; I can feel it.’ No, you just play the music.”
See
www.aprilwine.ca for more.
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