"We went to the places nobody else went lives."

FTFY

heh, nice headline

Just between you and me, it's the nature of the beast.

Every mid-level Canadian band did that circuit. April Wine was just running with the pack.

Well, they are Canadian. Of course they are going to be playing in the venues they deserve.

Like Forrest Gump said:

Crap is as crap does.

Valdes just resents living in the one place colder than Canada, while also having to be an American.

/and can probably see Russia from the porch

Upon further research, my joke unwittingly invoked the equally cheese-filled Bad Company. My apologies to our good-natured neighbors to the north. At the very least, I could've confused AW with Loverboy instead.

maybe i'm missing something but all of this doesn't sound particularly amazing. they played smaller cities/venues, which, unless you only like playing in five places in the country, is pretty hard to avoid in canada. and $15 for a concert sounds great now, but that was still ~$60 in mid-seventies dollars. nothing against them or anything, it just doesn't seem like worlds apart from a lot of other bands out there.

It's too bad Myles Goodwyn couldn't embiggen himself to make up with his embittered drummer. It would be an embettered situation.

wanna get drunk and stoned while we sit in the back seat and listen to April Wine? you bring the chicken fingers

suicide: maybe i'm missing something but all of this doesn't sound particularly amazing. they played smaller cities/venues, which, unless you only like playing in five places in the country, is pretty hard to avoid in canada. and $15 for a concert sounds great now, but that was still ~$60 in mid-seventies dollars. nothing against them or anything, it just doesn't seem like worlds apart from a lot of other bands out there.

Damn straight. This is still the case... and as an occasional low-level Canadian touring musician, I gotta say that the small towns are often waaay more fun than the cities.

/Nanton, Alberta FTW!

Seulement entre toi et moi... know what i'm sayin?

Screw this, Stompin Tom is the only Canadian musician worth listening to.

The drummer for April Wine is 70 FRIGGIN' YEARS OLD?

PresentCompanyExcluded: Seulement entre toi et moi... know what i'm sayin?

I'd be embittered if I were the drummer on that particular song.

They play in the hockey rinks during the summer.

johnnyboog: They play in the hockey rinks during the summer.

Both days?

My city is Edmonton, and a cultural backwater it is.....never mind the identity crisis too...."Hey look at us..aren't we special, huh? Aren't we relevant? Please notice us!"....

April Wine, before "Just Between You and Me" was a damn good rock and roll band.

I'm probably forgetting somebody obvious, but can anyone think of another band that featured three lead guitar players?

They call it the burnout factor and only the good die young.....

I got to see these guys at the Fergus Truck Show last summer! It was awesome. Saw David Wilcox and Kim Mitchell there too.

Journey to the stars, rock n roll guitars, yeah
I like to rock, some like it hot, baby
I like it, you like it
I like to rock, I like to rock

Ooh, I like to rock
Some like it hot, baby
I like it, you like it
I like to rock, I like to rock


That's just epic.

Wookie Milson: I'm probably forgetting somebody obvious, but can anyone think of another band that featured three lead guitar players?

Skynyrd, Iron Maiden, Blue Oyster Cult.

/threeeeeeeeeeeee

Hey, I've been to Edmonton. It's a pretty swinging place, considering that it's only about fifteen feet from the North Pole. There was a great nudie bar there called "Wally's" back in the day. Had the best-looking dancers I've ever seen in such place -- not a skank among them. Cheap cover charge, but expensive beer.

Rickenbacker: Wookie Milson: I'm probably forgetting somebody obvious, but can anyone think of another band that featured three lead guitar players?

Skynyrd, Iron Maiden, Blue Oyster Cult.

/threeeeeeeeeeeee

Good ones. I considered 'Maiden, but ruled them out because the one dude joined twenty years after the fact, or whenever it was. I forgot about BOC and guess I never cared enough to know anything about 'Skynyrd's line-up beyond Van Zant.

suicide: but that was still ~$60 in mid-seventies dollars.

$27 or so, assuming 3% inflation across a span of 30 years.

The drummer for April Wine is 70 FRIGGIN' YEARS OLD?

So is Ginger Baker, what is your point.

mekkab: suicide: but that was still ~$60 in mid-seventies dollars.

$27 or so, assuming 3% inflation across a span of 30 years.

um. uh. good thing i put the ~ in there or i'd look like an idiot. yeah.

all the same, the tone of the article seems to really try to convince us that April Wine were some heroic anomaly by only charging $25-30 for seats and not playing arenas every night. meh.

dstanley: Journey to the stars, rock n roll guitars, yeah
I like to rock, some like it hot, baby
I like it, you like it
I like to rock, I like to rock

Ooh, I like to rock
Some like it hot, baby
I like it, you like it
I like to rock, I like to rock


That's just epic.

I Like to Rock (new window)

go kingston whig!

panamahighway: go kingston whig!

I'm just doin' my rock n roll duty...

/ you're welcome

FTA: He is still compared to Neil Peart of Rush in the pantheon of Canadian drummers.

Must be a small pantheon.

//If You See Kay

I have to agree about the little towns being far more fun than the big ones (spent two years on the 11 and 17 highway in Ontario).

April Wine is also responsible for what I can only assume was a huge crime wave of stolen fire alarm bells, so that drummers could play "Ooh What a Night". If memory serves me right, ours came from a Howard Johnson's in Sault Ste. Marie...

April Wine is a fantastic classic rock band.

Link (new window)

RockofAges: April Wine is a fantastic classic rock band.

Link (new window)

I almost linked that video, but then I went off on a tangent looking for a copy of the album cover to the one I bought way back in the day. I'm pretty sure it was Harder Faster, but it doesn't look familiar. Plus according to Amazon, that one didn't come out until 1980. I'm half tempted to go tear apart my storage shed to find out, but only half.

Bugfuque? Someone please tell me the right way to pronounce that, because I'm pretty sure it's not what I think it is.

ragnarqk: Bugfuque? Someone please tell me the right way to pronounce that, because I'm pretty sure it's not what I think it is.

It's the sister-city to Buttfuque, Idaho.

Yes, of course he's 70 years old. Here's Jerry banging away in one of his previous groups,
Mashmakhan (warning: long noodley intro until 1:30)

helpdeskguy: Yes, of course he's 70 years old. Here's Jerry banging away in one of his previous groups,
Mashmakhan (warning: long noodley intro until 1:30)

I was just going to come and blab about Mashmakhan! I loved the noodly shiat they did in the Festival Express video. Their first LP is in fairly regular rotation on my turntable. Awesome video.

Ok, I've been as patient as I can be.

Jerry, I know that dealing with Myles' ego can be daunting at times, but you of all people should know that Rock and Roll Is A Vicious Game (Pops).

Off The lawn...The stage is going there.

Dorf11: It's too bad Myles Goodwyn couldn't embiggen himself to make up with his embittered drummer. It would be an embettered situation.

Myles had an ego when they were doing High School gigs in the '70s.

But I still try to catch them at least once a year.

JJ Money: helpdeskguy: Yes, of course he's 70 years old. Here's Jerry banging away in one of his previous groups,
Mashmakhan (warning: long noodley intro until 1:30)

I was just going to come and blab about Mashmakhan! I loved the noodly shiat they did in the Festival Express video. Their first LP is in fairly regular rotation on my turntable. Awesome video.
That dude is a badass drummer, check him out at 68
April Wine Jerry Mercer Drum solo (new window)
I had no idea that was the same guy, I love that movie, I love April Wine, people should check out their cover of 21st Century Schizoid Man
April Wine 21st Century Schizoid Man (new window)

Loved the April Wine concert, we got drunk and torched the Dartmouth ferry.

Or was that the Helix concert?

suicide: um. uh. good thing i put the ~ in there or i'd look like an idiot. yeah.

Only one of us looks like a tool, and trust me, it ain't you! ;)

tonight im gonna get drunk as fark and high as fark and listen to april wine and screw lucy in the back seat of my car

eviljimbo: tonight im gonna get drunk as fark and high as fark and listen to april wine and screw lucy in the back seat of my car Trans-Am

Is that you Gino Vanelli?

My April Wine anecdote:

I work at a camp up in the Laurentian hills north of Montreal, and have been working there for several summers. As it turns out, Brian (Greenway) went there as well when he was a kid. Anyways, a few years ago he came up for this end-of-summer concert that we put on every year and I got to jam with him a bit.

Seems like a nice guy. It was fun.

Ha. That guy tuned my drums for me once at a tiny studio in Watford, ON. Nice guy...

I played in a band that opened for April Wine in a dive in Salina, KS back in 1999 or 2000. Mercer, as a person was pretty cool...according to our drummer and bassist...I had to work that day so was a little later getting to the gig....but overall...these guys were jerks to their fans. There were several people there with vinyl albums wanting to get them signed....BUT...after April Wine(rs) got off stage...they had there security (Security?!?!?! this was small town Kansas for Christ's sake) form a wall so they could get to their bus which was parked directly outside the front door to the club....I along, with several others waited for quite awhile to meet them (Hell, my bandmates got to meet Mercer at least)...however, after about 20 minutes or so, there bus simply backed up and left the parking lot.....Farking Arses if you ask me.