Blue Rodeo: Lost Together (2024)

[bunniefuu]

The winner of the Juno,

Blue Rodeo.

Blue Rodeo.

Blue Rodeo!

Never thought this

could happen

But somehow...

Blue Rodeo! Yeah!

Ladies and gentlemen, please

welcome Blue Rodeo!

Here they are, Blue Rodeo,

live, right here.



You got sick of the pattern

And I got lost in this song

Let's get 'er now!

When I was in my 20s,

I loathed them, and now

that I'm in my 40s,

I don't know what I would

do without them.



Hey hey, I guess it hasn't

hit me yet

Fell through this crack

and I kinda lost my head

I stand transfixed before

this streetlight

Watching the snowfall

on this cold

December night



You've been beautiful,

thank you very much.

Thank you all very much!

You've been amazing, thank you.

Good night.

Two, three, four.



Strange and beautiful

are the stars tonight

That dance around your head

In your eyes I see

that perfect world

Hope that doesn't sound

too weird



I want all the world to know

That your love's all I need

All that I need

And if we're lost

Then we are lost together



Yeah, and if we're lost

Then we are lost together



Okay, ready to go?

Yeah.

Greg Keelor tribute video,

take one.

Well, our first actual meeting

was a bit of a confrontation.

We were both jocks, and we

met on a football field

where I was a defensive end

and he was a quarterback.

He was throwing the ball

and I was on his blindside,

and just as he was about

to let go, I creamed him.

Everybody liked to see

the quarterback get it.

Yeah.

A friend of ours died in a car

accident, David Soper.

At that age, 16, 17,

you had a total loss

of how to react,

and how to be with each other.

And we were sitting in Jim's

mother's house,

and there was a beautiful

parlour piano in there,

and Jim sat down at the piano

and he wrote a song

for David Soper.

And we're all just, like,

dumbfounded.

And I had never heard

Jim sing before.

I didn't know that he

was musical at all.

It was just like such a shock.

And the same voice that

he sang that day with

is the same voice he

sings every day with.

He had that voice from the

moment he started singing.

It's just an incredible

instrument

that he was born with.

I kept all my musical

stuff very private.

Because it was very

embarrassing at that age.

I can tell you that, you know,

we kind of dabbled in

music a little bit

because we were around

music all the time.

But when I finished university

in the spring of '78,

you very kindly came

to pick me up,

put all this stuff in, and

we're driving back.

And I was saying to you

that I was going

to devote a year to music.

And you said, "Why don't

we get a band?"

And I said yes.

And we've honestly had

a band together

ever since that moment.

You never please me,

you try to tease me

I know you're always there

I do

Love you

I do



Forty years, you know what

I mean, in a nutshell.

Well, that's sort of impossible.

That's why we're making

a documentary.

But a nutshell, two guys

meet in high school,

they discover a shared musical

intent and vibration

and started writing songs

that took us traveling

around North America.

Greg and I are living

in New York,

and we would meet other

Torontonians in New York,

and they'd come back, people

would come back and forth,

talk about, "I met Jim and Greg

down there.

They got a band, they're

playing CBGB's."

"CBGB's. Oh my God."

The Demics had that song,

"I Want to go to New York City,

they tell me it's

the place to be."

I wanna go to New York City

'Cause they tell me

it's the place to be

Ah, I wanna go to

New York City

I just know that it's the

place for me, yeah

It's a time in music

when bands

did a lot of different genres.

So we would play ska,

we played a little reggae,

we played pop, and we've

been in this band,

Fly to France.

She sees the world through

rose-coloured glasses



And we were tired

of doing that.

It didn't, wasn't that

natural for us.

We were seeing in New York

a kind of a neo-country

movement,

where a lot of rock musicians

were playing country music,

but very differently.

We finally came

back to Toronto in '84

and started Blue Rodeo.

We were shocked at what was

happening on Queen Street,

and it was all because

of Handsome Ned.

When Handsome Ned

arrived on the scene,

he brought that kind of revved

up country music.

And tongue tied Jill

Move over, Miss Ellen,

Run-around Sue



He had reinvented

himself as a cowboy,

and he was doing this high,

lonesome music,

and he's created a neo-country

roots scene,

and everybody starts coming out

and forming bands that,

that are doing that,

either rockabilly bands

or country bands.

'Cause when we had left in '81,

it was dead.

And we come back

to a scene that's,

that's already happening,

the Horseshoe,

the Rivoli, the Cameron.

So it was not the

old country crowd.

This was a much younger,

hipper crowd.

It was a time when college

students were experiencing

for the first time Canadian

bands that they liked

and that were a reflection

of their own lives.

When we came back

from New York,

we knew what kind of band

we wanted to be.

They said they had a name,

Blue Rodeo,

and they'd been playing

in New York,

and that they thought

I might work.

And I said, you know, "You guys

seem kind of serious."

And I said, "I got a kid now,"

and I was, already had like 10

or 12 years as a postman.

I said, "I don't really think

I'm gonna to be

what you guys need because

you probably want

to go on the road

and all that sort of stuff."

So they said, "Oh Cleave, just

do it as long as you want.

You know, you're not the only

drummer in the world.

You know, we'll find somebody

when you can't do it anymore."

I said, "Great. That sounds

fantastic."

We put an ad in Now Magazine.

"If you dropped acid

twenty times,

you lost two or three years to

booze and looking good,

and you can still keep time,

call Jim or Greg."

And then Bazil answers that ad,

calls my house, gets my wife,

who doesn't want to take,

even take a message.

"So just call back, he'll come

back another time,"

just, and Bazil says, "Please,

just take my number."

And they phoned me, said, "Are

you Bazil from the Sharks?"

I said, "Yeah."

Says, "Hey, Cleave's

our drummer,

we're the guys from the Hi-Fi's.

Can you rehearse tomorrow?"

And as soon as we got

with Cleave and Bazil,

we knew we were good.

I think we'd only rehearsed

twice, but we were a band.

It's not country, it's not this,

it's not that.

It's just a collection of the

individuals in the band.

You know, and what we've

listened to over the years,

and that sort of thing.

Do you think a lot of people are

getting into this country music

because of fashion?

I'll answer that one!

Okay.

I think it's very honest music,

and it's very rock and roll.

And I think that people

are really interested

in rock and roll again.

And it's a very good way

for original bands

to get their thing across.

They can talk about

whatever they want,

whatever issues they

want to talk about,

and it's packaged in a very

easy to digest form,

which is kind of

country rock-ish.

People are digging that again.

I just thought they'd be good

guys to work with,

that they were funny

and interesting,

and kind of different

than most people.

They had a quality that

was captivating.

Then one day,

we were leaving rehearsal

and Greg said, "Do you guys

like keyboards?"

I think I was like, "Well,

what do we want

a keyboard player for?"

And the next day,

we showed up,

and Bobby was all set up.

I'm on my way

to the first rehearsal,

I remember thinking, I'm

assuming I can do this

and it'll work, but they also

might find me way too weird,

like the way, the stuff

that I do, pianistically,

and that I've been doing

at music school.

Like, it's just dawned

on me that like,

oh, this actually might

be a train wreck.

But from as soon as we started

in the rehearsal space,

it was, it was awesome.

And Bobby had the most

beat up old Ace Tone organ

from the '60s.

It was that real cheap

organ sound.

And immediately it felt good.



And it was just like, oh my God,

like Bobby is a virtuoso.

I told Jim, I said, this guy

is fantastic.

He was kind of

considered the wild man

on keyboards.

He'd hang from the pipes

of the Horseshoe

by his hands, and play

with his feet,

and he used to hit

that with drumsticks

and roll an orange up and down

it to go, brrrr, you know?

Like all sorts of crazy stuff

that would get people's

attention.

You know, a lot of reviews

would talk about

the crazy guy on keyboards.

And Bobby projected

the crazy genius vibe.

Like, he definitely, there was

something going on there

that wasn't, he was getting

different frequencies

than the rest of us, and that

was kind of exciting for people.

But I came from

a different place

of experimentation.

What was really unique

was that I'm a guy playing

that kind of music

that would, like, really kind of

happen more in art galleries.

It was really quite a lot of fun

to try and straddle

that space between melodicism

and dissonance

in the context of being

a pop band.

When Bobby joined

and added keyboards,

that expanded to the sound that

we had wanted to have.

And we had a couple

more rehearsals,

and then we said, "Okay,

we're ready to play."

And we did our first gig at the

Rivoli on February 8th of '85.

Our first gig at the Rivoli

was sold out,

and we were shocked because that

had not happened to us before.

You were never

the same way twice

I'm falling in love

So we're playing

the Rivoli,

to a full house,

and we played "Try."

No one had heard the song,

I think, before.

They started applauding.

And I remember,

the first time Jim hits

the falsetto part in "Try,"

the whole room levitated.

And I've actually never

experienced that before.

The whole crowd just

went, whoo!

There was an audible gasp

in the audience.



Try

Oh baby, try

Oh, try

We're very satisfied

starting to build an audience

and not having anything to do

with getting a record contract.

Nobody in those days thought we

were ever going to get signed.

You know, you know, these people

aren't interested in us,

they're interested in

hard rock bands.

That was the Van Halen days,

hard rock with hair bands,

that's what got signed.

We were really enjoying

playing to full houses.

And the audiences kept,

just kept getting bigger.

So we were filling in

every club we played.



We were now

playing in bars

that were super jam packed.

Being a successful bar band

felt pretty good.

And all of a sudden,

we're making a living

from traveling around southern

Ontario playing bars.

We all had other jobs, you know.

I had another job, and it was

a really good balance.

The publicist up at

Warner Brothers,

Joanne Keating, she was

a huge fan of the band.

Bob Roper, we had already

sent him a tape,

the A&R guy, and he had

rejected the band,

saying that they were

hiring different,

heavier types of music.

So we thought, okay,

we don't have a chance.

But Joanne Keating,

she kept on pressing,

and pressing and pressing.

Blue Rodeo got on my

radar because it was placed

on my radar by Joanne Keating,

my assistant at the time,

and she was active on

the Queen Street scene.

And she came and told us

about this amazing band,

Blue Rodeo, and that we

had to go and see them.

And she'd say, "I'm going

to The Horseshoe

to see Blue Rodeo.

They're the coolest thing

on Queen Street."

So with Blue Rodeo, it was,

they're amazing,

but, I don't know if this

will get on the radio.

She kept badgering Bob

all through that summer,

and I think he finally

acquiesced with, "Well, okay."

Well, finally, by the

time he got around to seeing us,

we were so popular,

the place was packed

and he couldn't get in.

So he came to see us,

and we had to sneak him

in the back door.

And miraculously, we got a deal.

And little did I know that I'd

be playing with those guys

for the rest of my life.

Night after night, yeah

I know I should leave

but there's something

Yeah, yeah, day after day

After day, after day

And I don't know why

Okay, we can go.

Go ahead, Bazil.

Such a maze

But we got the tempo for that.

Okay.

There we go.

One, two,

one, two, three, four.

Don't tell me I'm wrong

Because I've been watching

every move that you make

Hearts you steal, in your

makeup and heels

Trouble for the men

that you take

Every time you walk

in the room

I couldn't ever be

sure of a smile

You were never

the same way twice

Falling in love,

night after night

It's crazy, ooh

Two things that I've always

wanted to do in my life --

they happened both on

January 8th, 1987.

Devon was born, and that

was the first day

we were recording "Outskirts."

Going into RCA Studios

on Merton with Terry Brown,

it was a little mind blowing,

you know,

because it was

a big time studio.

We were very ambitious,

and we wanted to make

a big time record.

His credentials would not have

been the kind of music

that we were trying to play.

But he was very enthusiastic,

and he knew what he

wanted to do.

We wanted to make something

that was us,

and different from what

a lot of the music was.

Especially in those days,

it really was a hair metal

landscape in the music scene.

There was nothing like us.

I was thrilled to be

in a major studio,

recording a record.

To me, my dream had come true.

Terry did an amazing job

of sculpting our sound,

to rein it in a bit, and make

it more accessible

to a larger audience.

If we would have been

on our own,

it would have been

a little looser

and rambunctious, maybe.

The first time I saw them, I

think, was at The Horseshoe.

The musicianship I thought

was great.

Greg's earthiness

and Jim's sweetness

worked so well together.

I thought they were very

exciting and visceral.

But obviously that changes when

you go into the studio.

So it was, it was a little more

difficult than I imagined.

We were guided through

the record by Terry.

Terry was very kindly

authoritarian.

We did what he said, and

that's the way we thought

records were made.

He got his way.

That is his record, and

there's no arguing

with how successful it was.

Terry didn't really get the

whole retro thing at the time.

Him and Greg, they didn't

see eye to eye.

Greg had, like, rockabilly

sensibilities.

He really loved the

Dwight Yoakam record,

so he wanted things to go a

little more country and twangy.

But, you know, those are amazing

sounding records to me.

And I love '60s from England,

and '70s from California.

I like that sound.

And he kept saying

that, you know,

"We're making a record in

the '80s, right, Greg?"

Greg would say, "Yeah,

but I want it to sound

like it's 1969."

Bobby had a style that

was going to be difficult

to contain on record.

He was a consummate

musician,

and into the avant garde,

but he knew how to have fun.

You know, he was a huge addition

to the sound of the band.

We were cutting

"Piranha Pool."

There was a little bit of an

edge there between us.

Oh yeah, they locked horns.

Bobby just wanted to do

his own thing.

At some point, he took

a pair of drumsticks

and started crashing on this

beautiful Steinway

at the studio, and I kind

of lost my cool,

and let him have it.

I was shocked, I've never seen

a piano treated that way.

Well, I, you know, people like

me did things like that.

That insinuates taking drum

sticks to a grand piano

like it's not really my style.

That could like, that could

destroy things.

It might have seemed

like an attack

to an English gentleman,

but yeah, Bobby would have just

been improvising something.

When we were putting

the record out to radio,

we put "Outskirts" out first.



Warner put that

record out,

but they didn't have

a lot of hope for it.

I think in everybody's

mind, "Try" was a slam dunk.

Where we didn't have confidence

was the first single,

which was the title track

from "Outskirts."

Here on the outskirts

of life



The "Outskirts," the single,

was not picked up

by a single radio station

in Canada.

So we were taken

out for lunch --

no, it might even have

been snacks --

by somebody who was actually

part of the jazz department.

And told us that our record

wasn't doing very well,

and we probably wouldn't be

making another one.

And he basically

told us, you know,

"You've sold 5,000 records,"

which we thought, whoa,

that's fantastic.

He said, "If it doesn't pick up,

we're going to drop you."

Whoa, okay. I mean,

you know,

we didn't have any skin

in the game, really.

Of your life



So "Outskirts" was a dud.

You know, radio wouldn't

touch it.

But the weird thing in all

this was so was "Try."

"Try" was a dud.

And we couldn't believe it.

You know, I know around

the building,

people were thinking if we can't

get "Try" on the radio,

what can we get on the radio

out of this band?

I mean, the record company

by this point had no,

they thought this is over.

So we were having

a lot of trouble.

It was sort of going down

the tubes.



So in the mid '80s,

MuchMusic was really

finding its groove.

Like, it was a huge time for

popular music, you know,

it was, it was Madonna,

"Like a Virgin,"

it was Wham!

It was, you know, David Bowie

and Mick Jagger,

"Dancing in the Streets."

Like big, huge productions,

big hair, big budgets.

It was full on.

And like MuchMusic was

remarkable at the beginning,

and I think it's under

celebrated.

You know, you could actually

go to MuchMusic

and hand them a cassette,

and if they liked it,

it would end up on air.

The magic sauce in "Try"

was a fellow

by the name of John Martin, who

ran MuchMusic at the time.

Blue Rodeo did

a video for "Try,"

and it wasn't added

yet at MuchMusic.

But Dave Tollington took

John Martin out for a beer.

John came back, looked

at the video again,

and put it smack into heavy

rotation on MuchMusic.

Now, this was unheard of

at the time

because we had a music committee

who was going through

hundreds of videos,

and suddenly "Try" is out there

being played alongside,

you know, those huge

acts like Phil Collins,

and Michael Jackson,

and Whitney Houston.

Oh, it's crazy

John hated the video,

but he loved the song.

It was his favourite song

that summer.

And he knew that radio

wasn't touching it,

that he was the lone guy

in the entire country

hammering this thing, and he

wanted to prove a point

that MuchMusic could sell

records on their own.

It hit a critical mass, and

we never looked back,

and neither did the band.

I mean, it just took off

like a rocket.

Oh, you got to try

Try

Try

In many ways, MuchMusic really

had a very fundamental role

in Blue Rodeo's success.

I don't think that we

really understood

how our lives were changing

because of the success

of that single.

Because the song was so great,

didn't hurt that they heard

that they had

a handsome lead singer.

And you know, Jim can still

hit that note today.

"Try"

Oh, baby, you try

Oh, try

Ooh



The many looks

of Greg and Jim.

Oh, oh dear.

Oh boy.

Yeah.

I'm sure glad you're

all here for this.

Yeah.

Couple of desperate dudes.

Jim Cuddy, this is your life.

What makes Blue Rodeo

fascinating artistically

are these two very

distinct voices.

Different style songwriters,

different vocals,

different performance,

I mean, and yet really

complementary.

And Jim and Greg have so much

respect for each other

that it's really foundational.

They're very different, and yet

they make a whole.

You could see that there was

a real partnership there,

but they were a little sort of

oil and water.

Maybe, you know, for Jim,

who was at private school

and had a lot of sports friends,

to have this interesting,

creative, alternative

thinking guy

would have been interesting

for him.

They're both practical

and together,

they're really good.

And I think that's just

really compelling.

I think Greg being out here,

pushing some boundaries,

is exciting for Jim, and

maybe for Greg,

having a little form that Jim

has balances him out.

Because they talk

to each other,

and really listen to each other,

and create something

that is stronger

than the individual idea.

Their voices together

create something beautiful.

Their harmonies are gorgeous,

like in a, in that special way,

and I think that solves

a lot of arguments.

I know it's cliche,

but they're like brothers.

They are, they had each other's

back, that's for sure.

Since high school, they've

been inseparable.

There's Tom Brady

playing with us.

And our love shines

Like a diamond mine

For "Diamond Mine," we

wanted to do something

completely different.

We did the studio

with Terry Brown,

and that was all fancy,

but I think Jim and I have that

sort of contrarian gene in us.

Even though we really

appreciated what he did,

we just didn't want

to do that again.

We didn't really like someone

telling us what to do.

You say the party's over

But like a drunken fool, I

never know when to leave

It's just that

in the eyes

The choices we made

for "Diamond Mine"

were a reaction to having

made "Outskirts."

After the making of "Outskirts,"

we felt that wanted to show

a little bit more

of our improvisational side,

and we had a lot of songs,

and we wanted a bigger,

messier live record.

They found a, an

abandoned movie theater

up on Donlands Avenue.

It was a construction site,

and there was no heat.

It was freezing.

We parked the truck

out back for a month

and cut the record up there.

And we would mostly set

the band up on the floor,

no headphones, playing

with monitors,

just the way they would

at a rehearsal.

And it puts the onus on the band

to play really well.

And, you know, they were playing

100 nights a year at that point,

they were a really tight band.

It was like the Beatles coming

back from Hamburg or something.

It felt like a healthy

process for us.

It felt very musical without

the structure around us.

It felt liberating.

A lot of what people

did like on "Diamond Mine"

was it gave Bobby a chance

to spread his wings,

and to show that jazzy, avant

garde side of the band.

I mean, that's like they

really did feel

like sort of that seal of like,

coolness.

And it was sort of like another

improvisational game to me,

to kind of explore what I could

do to surprise myself.

It would be a point of a lot of

excitement for me to do that.

I think that album

captured the essence of the band

better than some of

the studio work they did

because they are such

a strong live act.

Let it shine

Like a diamond mine

I love that record.

It was the only way we

could have done it.

That wasn't my favorite

record to make.

It was really cold in there,

and for the life of me

at the time,

I couldn't understand why we

were making a record

in a place that was freezing.

Like, couldn't we afford

the heat?

But we did it long enough

until it got so cold

that we decided okay,

well, why don't we go

to New Orleans and finish this?

It was very free form.

I mean, I think every record

has been a reaction

to something that

happened before it.

We went out one day into

the French Quarter.

Cleave said, "My time is up

for my leave of absence.

I took the leave of absence from

the post office for a year."

Our manager was

down there, John Katon,

and he drove me back

to the airport.

He gave me the sudden ultimatum,

or he says, you know,

"Cleave, we're going

to be on the road,

we're getting, you know,

serious.

And you know, you're going to

have to quit your postie job.

This is the second album, we're

going to do lots of touring."

He said, "You don't have

to tell me now."

He said, "I'll call you

in a couple days."

And I went home. I didn't really

have to think about it too much.

I just didn't want to be

on the road all the time.

He says, "I've got a

pension at the post office,

and I've got two kids,

and I can't give up

a sure thing like that.

What about five years from now,

when this is over,

then what do I do?"

You know, I often miss

some of the...

some of the experiences

I would have had,

but yeah, it wasn't

a hard decision really,

for me to make, you know?

The damn guys didn't have

to get so popular,

make it look shitty on me.

But, uh...

Oh, I admired Cleave leaving.

I mean, it was

a real cool story,

to the extent it was a story

in Canada at the time,

that the drummer in this band

is a mailman,

and they got a record deal,

and he's quitting because he

doesn't want to leave his job

because he's got kids.

And that was heartbreaking

because when you've got

something that's

unique and neat,

you don't want to mess with it.

You know, they always say, like,

you change one member,

it's not the same anymore.

The funny thing

about Cleave

is when he finally retired

from the post office,

he phoned me up

and he said,

"I just retired. So, tell

Glenn thanks."

For holding my place, but I'm,

I'm coming back now.

For filling in for him.

For 20 years.

We got our first major American

tour after he left the band,

where we went out for

a long period of time.

Now the focus was on making

our mark internationally,

as opposed to making our mark

only in Canada.



You can live

in the house

And I will find

a little place

Around the corner

Oh-oh

Trouble comes from the

strangest quarters

It snuck up on us now

Without a warning

Oh-oh, oh-oh, oh-oh



The songwriting

is one of the great inspirations

of my life,

and when the God of songwriting

shines its light upon me,

I'm just in the happiest place

that I could imagine being.

It is one of the most pleasant,

calming things I do in my life.

Songs are like little miracles,

you know,

the way they fall into place.

I know everybody writes songs

in their own way.

You know, from my experience

of working together,

Jim's songs generally

come in quite formed.

Lyrics, done. Melodies, chords,

everything is there.

He's much more constructed

when he comes in.

Greg comes in a lot of times

with very sort of raw ideas.

So the process can be a little

bit more unknown.

There's a lot more potential

for, you know,

kind of going around,

and around, and around

to figure out where he feels he

wants the song to go.

You know, and I don't know

if Barry Manilow

would agree with me, but they

feel like they come

from somewhere else,

and you got to get

your antenna up,

and just sort of let the songs

come through you.

They've charted their life

through songwriting,

and they bring their

audience along

through those passages.

And they've all dealt

with broken hearts,

death, birth.

The process of songwriting

is sitting with a guitar

like I've been doing since

I was ten years old,

and playing til I find

something interesting,

and then that suggests a song.

Songwriters have an aptitude

to marry melody and story,

and I'm not sure if everyone can

describe where it comes from.

You know, writing a song is like

unwrapping a present,

and that's a sort of sweet

metaphor for the joy

and the surprise that

comes with songs.

It's the, it's the fuel

for a band.

Jim and I realized that

to keep the band going,

you got to have songs.

There's a couple of

clunkers in there.

They're still your children.

I remember seeing

the interaction,

the relationship between

Jim and Greg.

There was some weird friction

there, like brothers.

But I think a lot of times,

out of friction

comes that creative spark.

I think that there is a subtle

competition between us,

the same way that

many brothers

have the sort of emotional

entanglements.

I think Jim competes

more than I do.

It came naturally to me, and it

was a little harder for him.

That's a joke. I was putting

that in to bug him.

I don't think we compete

as songwriters,

but we push each other.

You know, if Greg has a

particularly fertile time,

and he's writing a whole

bunch of songs,

I think, oh my God,

I better get going.

They used to write together, but

they write separately now.

And then they come in, and

the band will play around

what they've written and

complete the song.

Jim's going to hate me for this.

I once told him this as a joke.

I mean, here's a guy who

was quarterback

on the football team,

married the beautiful wife,

and I said, "You, you have no

right to write sad songs."

He didn't laugh.

I don't think Paul McCartney

would have been

Paul McCartney without

John Lennon, and vice versa.

It took the two of them

to be the Beatles.

But together there

was a magic

that was bigger than

the two of them.



Yeah, I've often asked

myself that.

Why do you ask that question?

Well, I think it's, I asked him

to ask that question.

I want to know.

I have no idea why that is,

but we were heavily,

Lennon/McCartney influenced.

And I think if --

But that's alphabetical.

Keelor/Cuddy's not.

You bullied me in it,

just admit it.

And even though you do

point out that, rightly,

that it's alphabetic, the

personalities of Lennon

suited me more, and

McCartney him, right?

Where I'm a little more loose,

and not as focused and,

but can write some okay stuff,

Jim is more of a music machine,

and in the same way that

McCartney shows in that,

in the "Get Back," he's a bit

of the engine to the band.

You know, and they all

sort of tag along.

But it never bothered me

one way or another.

And, you know, early on

we decided

it'd be just easier if we

tagged everything

with the same ownership.

And that's a Beatle

hangover, too.

Yeah, but don't you think

Keelor/Cuddy sounds better?

Like, I think that's why,

I mean,

it never bothered me

one way or another,

but Cuddy/Keelor doesn't

sound right.

Yeah, Cuddy/Keelor sounds

like farm equipment.



After "Diamond Mine" was

sprawling and, you know,

like a suitcase with clothes

hanging out of the side

when you close it,

we wanted to have

a more concise record.

Well, "Casino" was

a concerted effort

to try and break the band

in the States.

I hate to use the term

"clean it up,"

but maybe the songs

were a little shorter,

there weren't as many excursions

into Bob Wiseman land.

We went down to

Hollywood to Studio B,

and Capital Studios,

and Frank and Dino,

and the Beach Boys,

it was just fantastic.

Pete Anderson

was our producer,

and he has had hit records

with Dwight Yoakam,

and he planned on having

a few with us.

Pete's approach was different

because he didn't want

to waste his time on stuff

that he didn't think

was going to get on the radio.

The challenge to me is,

whoever I work with,

is let's make an

aggressive record

that we can get on the radio

without losing the band,

without losing their identity.

Pete was not a fan of the

improvisational side

of Bobby Weisman, and

really tried to contain it.

Pete Anderson did not go for

Bobby's weird outside,

as he called it.

Bobby played in a style that,

just, Pete just didn't get.

And he called it,

"the wacky stuff."

He says to us,

"What you need is,

you just need a keyboard

player,"

and then get Bobby to just

put the wacky stuff on.

It was really, it was really

traumatic for me.

So by that point, that record,

I wasn't really present.

So although we made,

I think, a good record,

I think it was also

a bit crushing.

You watch the video for

"Till I am Myself,"

Bobby is definitely

somewhere else,

because Bobby is absolutely

without expression.

He just...

'Til I am myself

'Til I am myself again



"Casino," there are

songs on that record

that are such popular songs

in our catalog,

and yet it was not a successful

record for us at that time.

To have a real hit in America,

when you're already a legend

in your home country,

means that a lot of things

have to align.

It's timing, its chemistry,

its money.

It's the eve of the release

of the brand new

Blue Rodeo record. This is a

record called "Casino,"

which is why a lot of people

are going to be

gambling tonight.

And then there's probably

a little, tiny other gamble

that's going on as to whether

or not this is the record

that's going to launch Blue

Rodeo in the United States.

Was produced by Pete Anderson.

It's a lot more, shall we say,

radio accessible.

A leaned down, stripped

down version

of what we love best

about Blue Rodeo,

which is great melodies,

and k*ller harmonies.



I want to know where

my confidence went

One day it all disappeared

And I'm lying in a hotel room

miles away

Voices next door in my ear

We're on tour

down in America,

we get the call we're doing

The Tonight Show.

Now what, up until that point,

Jim and I had alternated,

and he'd sing a song on TV,

I'd sing a song on TV.

The record company wanted us

to do "After the Rain,"

but it was my turn.

So I had a little hissy.

Greg has this idea that in

order to have the guitar

up where we want it, I have

to play really loud.

He does that in soundcheck,

and we're in separate

dressing rooms,

and I get a call from our

management saying,

"The Tonight Show has

called me and said,

'You need to tell

the guitar player

to turn his guitar down."

I played so loud

at soundcheck

that they took me

out of the mix.

They just turned me off.

Oh, one day

When you discover

There's a certain point

where you realize

you cannot influence your

partner's behavior.

But yeah, it was, it was

so much fun.

Even though I was

having a hissy.

I like having a hissy

at The Tonight Show.



One of the great tools in the

Blue Rodeo tool kit

was the constant touring.

Oh, if I had my way

I would never go back



With my back to the wall,

just let myself fall

Watch the daytimes

turn black

But now and again I find

You cross my mind

Unfortunately for me, that was

sort of the beginning

of my really bad troubles.

So, that just ushers in a very

bad phase for me.

Oh, if I was a train

I would never slow down

For us, we never

really had breaks.

We would put a record out, and

we would tour that record

for probably a year,

year and a half.

Then we would start doing

demos for our next record.

We didn't take long periods

of time off.

As I write one more

letter to you

No, I can't change

the things that I do

Whoa, whoa

One day, when you discover

Just why I ran

Ran away from you, lover

Well, I know I'm to blame

Feel so ashamed

Called out your name

Oh, after the rain



We were on

the road all the time.

There was constant touring.

Like I remember one time

doing a coast to coast run

in Canada, and it was over,

and we had one day off

before we started

the American tour.

You know, we were up to

about 250 shows a year

for a few years.

It was too much.

Well, it took a toll on

our emotional lives at home.

By the end of the

"Casino" tour,

there's lots of people

having trouble

with their relationships.

You know, I know that

Jim had trouble,

Greg had changed

partners as well.

We were gone a long time.

I had a girlfriend when

I left for tour,

and by the time I came back,

she was dating her roommate.

By the time '90 rolls around,

we've been doing

it for a long time.

That's the most turbulent part

of my marriage.

We had two kids quite quickly,

my father passed away

unexpectedly,

and Jim was gone

and touring a lot.

And we really couldn't afford

a babysitter at this point,

and I felt like I was

going to implode.

And finally I just said, don't

come home. I'm done.



Rena and I are at

the breaking point.

So I think that Rena

actually did not want

to stay married to me.

We are not really talking,

and I come home

to what I think is going to be

our arrangement to split up.

I walked you to the corner

Stood beside the bus

And the tears rolled

on our faces

As the driver stared at us

Typical summer

That time of year when you

go back to Toronto

And I stay here

I miss the way you wake up

And the way that you sigh

And I miss the way you

turn your head away

When you cry

I don't think

this time will fly

Here comes

Sad nights again

And here comes

Sad nights again



You know that song, so I wrote

that song for Rena,

I wrote a lot, I've written a

lot of songs for Rena.

She doesn't like the fact she

takes the bus home.

She said, "I never took

a bus home."



Summer girls,

they sure are fun

Get so golden in the sun

That they could block out

any other thought



Dry your eyes and turn away

Because there's nothing

we can't say

'Cause we were never

meant to talk a lot

Blue Rodeo is

beloved by Canadians,

and it's the connection

with the audience

that, that is consistent

wherever they play.

When "Outskirts" was released,

we were seven years old.

We were, we were,

we were kids,

and not yet in control of, like,

what our musical,

you know, influences or

experiences were going to be.

We were really relying

obviously on our parents.

And I think, you know,

it doesn't,

it didn't stand out to

me then as much,

but the difference between

Jim and Greg's voices.

And as I've gone back

and revisited,

and sort of re-fallen in love

with Blue Rodeo.

I hate to tell Jim this,

but I'm, I'm a Greg.

I'm a Greg, voice person.

Damn!

I'm just being honest!

I'm just being honest.

The music sounds --

if somebody said to me --

in fact, years ago my

manager said, I said,

"I want you to hear this band,"

and she fell in love

with Blue Rodeo.

And 'cause she was

sort of a little country,

she was a little this,

she's a little that,

she said, "Is that,

is that Canada?"

And I said, "You know what?

Yeah.

Whatever you're responding

to is Canada."

When I think of Blue Rodeo,

the first thing that pops

into my head is,

we started to be allowed to

have co-ed parties

at our house when we were 12.

And we would like, listen

to our parents' music

at these parties.

And I slow danced with my

boyfriend, Bobby,

to like, "Five Days in May"

and "Hasn't Hit Me Yet."

Like, I have like this memory.

And then the next year, he

and I put on those songs

because he was like,

"These are our songs."

Like, he'd remembered

that we danced to them

the year before.

Like, it's so sweet

on his side of things

that he had, like, he thought

we had songs,

and it's cringe for me because

I'm like, so g*y.

So it was like, for me,

it was like,

"Oh God, I got to dance with

Bobby again!" you know?

I think just that openness,

and that inclusiveness

that they showed me early on,

they're like that with

everybody,

and there's not a lot of airs

with either of them.

They're just good, solid guys.

The other day, I posted

on social media

asking people what moves

them about Blue Rodeo,

and it went viral.

Sarah Dundas wrote: "They came

on our first date with us.

They were with us for

our worst break ups.

They are a part of our lives."

This one is from Nola Simon:

"It's the emotion and the

relatability of the songs,

along with tiny little Canadian

details sprinkled in."

From David Andrew Rosenberg:

"Honesty, integrity,

authenticity in every molecule

of this band. And that is

why we love you."

The band. Not you, David.

When summer's gone, ooh



It felt like we'd been

on the road forever.

And we were playing

in a suburb of Detroit,

and it was some

sort of rib festival

because we did a lot of rib

festivals in those days.

And it was of the most pathetic

gigs we had ever played.

We were, there was this, we were

on this side of a canal.

Oh, that's right.

And then on the other side

were the rib fest people

who were, you know, barely

knew we were there.

And so a few times big boats

came down the canal,

and so they couldn't

hear us, or see us,

for an extended period of time.

So it just seemed so useless.

And after a certain point of

touring in America,

we were sick of it.

And the chorus came

quickly that night to me

because it, just, well,

if we're lost,

at least we're lost together.

Two, three, four.



I remember Greg coming

in with "Lost Together,"

coming on the bus saying,

"I got this song,"

and he started singing

the chorus.

And we were, we actually

kind of made a joke of it.

And I remember making fun

of him in the bus.

I don't know whether

it was too tender,

or I can't remember why.

And he was definitely offended,

and I felt bad for doing it.

They thought it was

too sentimental.

Because it was such a singsong

type thing, you know?

But then when we rehearsed it,

we realized,

no, no, this is actually

a good song, you know,

because we, we heard him

singing the chorus

over and over in the back

lounge of the bus,

and we'd be kind of going,

he's still Lost Together, is he?

And if we're lost



We are lost together



There was a couple of times

when Greg's instincts

about music were just so right,

and the band and me

were so wrong,

and I was so wrong about

"Lost Together."

You have to just look back

with embarrassment

at how off the mark you were.



I was playing with

Andrew Cash,

opening for Blue Rodeo

in Guelph University,

and they were looking

for a new drummer

before they recorded

"Lost Together."

I was really into thrash metal

at the time.

I played double kick

drum pedals,

which sounds like the drummer

from Megadeth.

First of all, I got a call from

Andrew Cash saying,

"Glenn, I think your ship

has come in."

And then I got a call

from Jim Cuddy

asking if I'd be interested in

coming in and auditioning.

When he came in, he was

probably too muscular

for us at that point.

I don't think I was an

obvious choice for Blue Rodeo.

I think the fact that I also

had other possibilities

in my toolkit musically

was of interest to them.

I remember doing

"Rain Down on Me,"

and I thought, I guess this

isn't a good song.

I should just, I should

just dump it

because it wasn't working.

So, we asked Glenn if he would

come and play with us,

and he changed everything.

The demos sounded great.

We just righted the ship.

Rain on me

Oh, rain down on me

The song,

"Rain Down on Me"

all of a sudden made

sense to me

and, and we could go forth.

So I think that that

was a testament

to how good Glenn is

as a drummer.

We had to get him away from

the double bass drum.

That just, that was

not right for us.

Jim told me years later that he

went to Greg and he said,

like, "What about this

double kick thing, man?"

And, and Greg was like,

"Just give him time,

just give him time,"

which was nice

because they could have

just said, like,

"You gotta lose a double kick,"

and I would have lost it.

But it did eventually

occur to me

that this is really on the

wrong side of tasteful.



Didn't know what

to bring you

Yeah, when I started

rehearsing with them,

it seemed like the band

was in some disarray.

Jim and Greg seemed really

intent and focused

on what they were doing.

And then there was Bobby Weisman

on keyboards,

who was clearly unhappy with

being in the band.

He just didn't really seem to

want to be there anymore.

I think he'd had enough of, of

Greg and I guiding the songs.

That's not the way he envisioned

Blue Rodeo going.

I think I was trying to

figure out how to leave

for more than a year.

Because even though

it started beautiful,

and even though I loved

those guys,

the relationships changed

over time.

That kind of broke my heart.

But the relationships

in the beginning

were really beautiful and really

about friendship, you know?

Bobby was not someone

who was necessarily cut out

to be a side man.

Bobby had gone from

this guy who was like

this animated jumping bean

on stage,

and then one day he stopped

doing all of it.

People are coming in

expecting to see

the wild man on keyboards,

and now the wild man's

just sitting there

with a straight face.

I was surprised when he called

me and said he was,

he was leaving.

And Jim was really awesome.

I mean, I remember really

clearly that he just said,

"It was great making music

with you."

And it's a very nice,

it's a really nice thing

about Jim's personality.

In the video, was it a little

homage to him

in the, in the solo section.

We built this little keyboard

altar for him.



In the silence of this

whispered night

When Cleave left,

it was tough.

And then when we got Glenn,

you know,

you can't help but wonder,

is this going to work?

I remember talking to Greg

about how difficult

this was going to be

because Bobby

was such a big feature in the

band, especially live.

And he said, "Don't worry,

we'll never go back.

We'll never go backwards."



And I want all the world

to know



That your love's all I need

All that I need

And if we're lost



Then we are lost together



Yeah, if we're lost



I loved it all. It was like,

it was amazing.

I mean, those guys, they were

like my brothers.

It was like an incredible

experience.

I loved, I loved them, I loved

everything about it.



Then we are lost together

Together, together



Thanks so much, Halifax!

Always a pleasure.

Thank you all very much.

So beautiful to see

your faces, thanks.



We were playing Australia

frequently.

That's a long way, it's a very

exhausting travel.

And we were just burnt out.

Around that time,

Jim came to me.

The band needed a break.

It's money, how do we exist,

and still be able to take

a year or two off?

So I went to my boss, "We need

a little bit more money

than usual for the next record.

In fact, what do you

think of this?

We give, we give Blue Rodeo

this signing bonus

for a new contract, and then

when they're ready

to make the first record,

we'll give them another

big chunk of money,

which is more money than

we've ever given them.

And, and then the band's going

to disappear for two years.

What do you think?"

Five Days started off as

Jim coming to me in a rehearsal

and saying that he and Greg

wanted to make

an acoustic EP, and I was like,

"Okay, sure, let's do that,

and get that out of the way,

and then do a proper rock

record," you know,

which was, that was my

mentality at the time.

You know, in my mind, we were

still post grunge Rodeo,

and I was still kind of hoping

we were gonna go,

go in that direction, I think.

You know, on the way home

from Australia,

I'm thinking I'm going to go

home and relax for a bit.

Greg comes and sits beside me

in the plane,

"We've got all this

new material.

I think we should go and record

it as soon as we get home."

He said, "In fact, we can

do it at my farm.

We can get Doug McClement

to bring his truck out."

Harkening back to

enjoying the experience

of the "Diamond Mine"

sessions so much,

where they were just kind of

set up in a circle,

no headphones, and we'd

just like to record

a whole bunch of tunes over

the course of a week.

And since we've done

all this traveling,

let's make it fun.

And we'll just do

this side record.

Won't be a big deal.

I'd never been in a house

where it was just,

like, full of instruments.

Like, he had all these guitars,

he had a couple of drum sets,

he had amps everywhere.

We set up in his living room,

and there's people all around,

there's Mimi, our favorite

restaurateur is cooking for us.

People are in the pool, and

we're just doing songs live

off the floor.

Everybody's changing

their style a bit,

I'm learning how to play

mandolin, harmonica.

We didn't really have

traditional room dividers

that they'd have in the studio,

so we set up microphone

stands in a t-bar setting

and hung sleeping bags and

packing blankets over them.

On paper, a recording engineer

would be horrified.

He would say, that album

came out of that room?

You know, there were

people camping,

people coming out for the day,

or just an overnight.

And a lot of the Queen Street

sort of people

would be hanging out.

We had

Sarah McLachlan there,

and Anne Bourne on cello

and backing vocals,

and, and the five of us.

I was invited in, and everybody

was super warm

and inviting, and inclusive,

and that was kind of the first

time I felt something like that

within a musical community.

So when I say it was

influential,

it was incredible for me to feel

part of something

bigger than myself

for the first time.

And, I think that Blue Rodeo --

Greg and Jim in particular --

really showed me that that is

how it is to be a musician

in the world.

Again, it's one of those

moments where it's like,

is this a dream? Because

it seems so ideal.

You know, I still kind of

get emotional when I,

when I think about it.

Of all the experiences I had

over 25 years in the business,

that's kind of at the top.

And I was sitting on the floor

with Michael Hollett,

and the backyard is full of

family and friends and dogs.

And then Greg yells

out the screen door,

"Okay, everybody shut up.

We're going to do a take."

And if you put headphones

on, you can hear dogs barking,

you can hear birds, you can hear

thunder and lightning

some nights.

Also, there's almost

no overdubbing

on that record whatsoever.

That's five guys in a room

playing songs.

It was live off the floor.

If somebody made a mistake

three minutes in,

they'd start over again

and do it again.

But it isn't cut and

pasted together

the way records are

being made now.

It was very much like

documenting a live event.

And I think that

we thought of it

as just a side project.

It wasn't until I heard

the playback,

and these acoustic songs had

a beautiful landscape,

and they were powerful because

they were beautiful sounds

with space in them.

It was pretty apparent

that "Five Days"

was going to be

something different.

I think pretty much any musician

who plays in a band

goes into the studio.

You're hoping to catch

something,

and they caught

something magical.

All of a sudden our palette had

so many more paints on it,

so many more colors. So it

changed us forever.

It was a complete work.

Kind of like Sergeant Pepper,

you know,

if you put it on, you went

from the track one

to the last track as

a full piece of work.

And I guess the punch line

was, it was,

in terms of Blue Rodeo's goals,

it was a complete

and utter disaster

because it took off like the

second rocket in their career.

And the the offers

to tour were so big

that they couldn't take

the two years off.

And they just went

straight back at it.

So, failed mission. I'm sorry.

They met in a hurricane

Standing in the shelter

Out of the rain

She tucked a note

into his hand



Later on, they took his car

Drove on down where

the beaches are

He wrote her name

in the sand



Never even let go

of her hand



Sometimes the world begins

To set you up

on your feet again

And I know it wipes the tears

from your eyes

And the winner

of the Juno goes to...

And how will you

ever know

The way that

circumstances go?

Always gonna hit you

by surprise



But I know my past

You were there

Everything I've done

You are the one





With this record,

so much happened,

and there was, there were

so many possibilities.

When you get into

making a record,

there's so many possibilities

at a certain point

that it's very easy to lose

sight of what you started out

trying to do.

And, and the dust is just sort

of cleared for me now.

Yeah, I wanted to do something

totally different.

I don't even know what,

but I just wanted to try

to go in another direction.

Part of the painful thing was

it was the mirror opposite.

It was the evil twin

of "Five Days,"

done under the same

circumstances.

We thought, oh, a winter

version, this will be cool.

By the time we were doing

"Nowhere to Here,"

we were indoors all the time.

And you know, we had

a big bag of weed.

It's kind of a stoner record.

And partly because we

were all really stoned,

except for Jim, who was,

poor Jim,

who had his patience

tested greatly.

He lived a different

life than us.

We'd pull into a town,

Jim would get up

and go for a jog in the morning.

You know, he's going to

take care of himself,

he's going to exercise

every morning,

and we're just taking it day

by day on the road.

He expected us to be doing

more at the farm.

I remember him saying, "What

if you worked a day job?

Like you'd have to put in a

solid eight hours, you know?"

I remember Glenn just saying,

"That's why I don't work a day

job, that's why I do this."

And we were working at

a tremendous rate,

we really were.

But we'd all go out

and smoke a joint.

He'd go, "Can we take

a music break now?"

Okay, Jim.

It was not the best

environment for Jim.

There was a wood burning

stove that was leaking smoke

all the time. So for me,

just physically,

it was an incredibly difficult

atmosphere to be in.

I mean, if you ever listen to

the tapes of that record,

there's, you hear the song,

and then it stops,

and then I go,

and I'm coughing like crazy.

I could not thrive

in that setting.

Just around the time that

the bed tracks were done,

I fell from the loft. And I was

in rough shape.

That was when we found out

Greg was diabetic.

He fell, cracked a rib,

went to the doctor,

and they said, "You should be in

a diabetic coma right now."

I'd probably been a diabetic

for a large part of my life,

but I never got my blood test,

I didn't trust doctors

at the time.

So poor Jim had to come out

and do all his vocals

at my place while I'm

upstairs in bed,

moaning in pain.

Yeah.

We made some of that record

with him up in his bed,

and he'd all the sudden

he'd bang on the floor

for us to be quiet.

And yeah, it was, it was so

crazy dysfunctional

at that point.

And I could sense

the frustration in Jim

where he was just like,

"I can't do this anymore."

I'm an accomplishment

oriented guy,

so I wanted to finish

the record,

and I wanted to get

my songs on there,

and I wanted to help Greg

as much as I could,

but I didn't like the

direction of the band.

Greg used to be the guy who

always had incense burning,

always had candles burning.

Lots of them!

One night at the farm, he

had all these candles lit

and everything,

and he fell asleep,

and they caught fire.

And he woke up and

his bed was on fire.

That's how he woke up

to a flaming bed.

So he wrote a song about it.

Last night I woke up

In a flaming bed

It's not a record that's fondly

remembered by Jim,

that's for sure.

When you have two people

leading a band creatively,

there are times when I feel like

I'm doing the leading

and there's times when

he's leading,

and so I think that,

that was just one

where I was just along

for the ride.

I think they were kind of

pulling in different directions.

But I also think they had

just reached a point

in their relationship where

a reckoning was required.

I mean, I think that's

the first time we had

very divergent ideas about

how to make the record.

And your eyes,

they were in my mind

And I just want to

hold on to you

Yeah, your eyes,

they were in my mind

And I just wanna

hold on to you



I think the first big crisis

was when Greg left

to go do a solo record without

sort of telling us

what he was doing,

and there was no surety

that he was coming back.

"Gone" represents

something for Jim

because all of a sudden

his partner

was doing something

on their own.

I thought he was gone.

I didn't think he was coming

back, but I wasn't sure.

I didn't really talk to them

too much about it

because I was sort of driven.

So he was quite comfortable

being somewhat mysterious

and leaving Jim to guess, which

I think Jim likes to know

where things are going,

so it might have been a little

challenging for him.

That was less challenging

in my mind

because it doesn't surprise me

that artistic people

want to make art

in a different way.

Greg needed to do

something for Greg,

but it's always unsettling

when someone starts

exploring something

outside of the unit.

Well, I get the impression from

that listening to music,

and doing some of the reading

on you guys

that that there may have been

some conflicts in style,

and, but it sounds

like a lot of that

might have been relieved by

having the chance to go solo,

where you could do exactly

what you wanted to do,

and you could do exactly

what you wanted to do.

And now you can come back

to Blue Rodeo

and it's, you're happy to,

to blend again.

Everything we've gotten

out of music has been,

you know, like Siamese twins.

But certainly a band

is like a family.

Yeah.

And you really, you spend every

minute with your family.

You tell me what that's like.

And in hindsight,

it was the best thing

that I think they

could have done.

So, I think, I think

"Nowhere to Here"

was a bit of a catalyst

for that.

Has the band ever had an

existential crisis?

Oh God, sure.

Oh that's, that's pretty...

- You're looking at him.

There's been a few

events in my life

that I thought I had

hit the wall,

and like, I just couldn't do

what I was doing anymore.

And when you hit those walls,

it really feels like the end.

Greg developed tinnitus,

and it is distracting

because you have this sound.

But also he developed some

other hearing challenges,

which were painful.

The migraines were so bad.

I couldn't go anywhere

without ear plugs in.

All those things I sort of loved

to do was all taken away.

And it got to, I thought I was

gonna do living room parties

for people, but they weren't

allowed to applaud.

It would just...

I'd play a song,

"Don't! It hurt my ears."

Greg was only doing

a few songs per show.

He'd come out and do

the shows acoustically.

Being on stage, the sound

would, it would,

like, literally t*rture him.

He reached a point where he's

like, "I can't do this anymore."

I thought that that part

of my life was over.

How I viewed the band

around that time

when Greg's hearing challenges

became something

we had to deal with

was more of a, okay,

what are we going to do?

How are we going to do this?

Number one, we have to rally

around and support Greg,

and then what do we do to

change things on stage

so that we can continue to play?

We tore everything

off the stage,

and figured out how to put

our amps and isocabs

off the stage. Glenn

behind plexiglass,

Bazil on a vibrating pad

so his volume can be low.

Just looked like a normal setup.

There's no sound on our stage.

You can, we could talk like this

in the middle of a rock song

because everything's being

channeled out to the board.

And of course, it allowed Greg

to survive on stage.

It was a big adjustment

for everybody.

The only one that has any sound

on stage is Greg.

Greg has an amp because

he can't wear headphones.

So it's a little bit ironic, but

that's the way it works.

Greg was like, "I'm just going

to switch exclusively

to acoustic, and I want

someone else to,

to play electric guitar," and

Colin was the obvious choice

because both Jim and Greg

already kind of love Colin,

and he just, he just

fit right in.

You know, we had this long

relationship as friends,

and that combined with the work

that we'd done together,

it was a comfortable situation.

So they asked if I wanted

to come in and help out.

I said, "Of course," you know.

And so he switched entirely

to acoustic guitar,

and then I took all the

electric guitar roles.

Colin's a great player.

And now we have

Jimmy Bowskill too,

so like, we have an

embarrassment of riches

in the guitar department.





It was pretty

natural, man.

I mean, they're just such

a great bunch of dudes,

so it was good vibes

right from the start.





And then, but at

the end of the tour,

we all found out that he

was suffering again,

headaches again,

and I kind of felt like,

well, we've kind of failed him.

Over the years, it just got

worse, and worse, and worse.

The world that I

had inhabited,

the life that I had lived,

I couldn't do it anymore.

Greg was anxious about

injuring himself,

and he called Jim and said,

"You know, I can't do this

anymore. It's too difficult."



The phone call in 2016

to Jim, when I said I quit,

I was just sort of

mildly hysterical,

and I was crying a lot.

I was just saying,

"I can't do it anymore."

So we hung up and,

and I thought that was it.



I was at home, I called

Rena from the kitchen.

I said, "Greg just quit."

There was always that

undercurrent of possibility.

So when it happened,

he was ashen.

Like, everything just

dropped out of him.

I think, I mean, I was shocked,

but I was also, I was wounded.

I was wounded that he quit

over the phone to me,

but I was also kind

of tired of it.

I was, I was tired,

tired of the drama.

You know, tired of

all the fighting,

and then, and the uncertainty.

It was devastating. I mean,

this is a, you know,

you're not just creative

partners, they're friends.

You love your friend. This is

like you're losing a lover.

If someone's quitting, it's hard

not to feel rejected.

It was like everything

had been pulled out

from underneath him.

He had worked so hard

to make this happen,

he had really reinvested

for it to happen.

And he was really devastated.

You've been here before

a couple of times,

why is this one hitting

you so hard?

There are many reasons

for either one of them

to be sad about the

partnership dissolving,

but I think at its heart,

it was toughest for him

to be losing a friend that way.

Well, if your high school buddy,

that you have been literally

through thick and thin,

through the wars, through

everything together,

is telling you he doesn't want

to play anymore,

it's pretty devastating.

You know, I thought,

okay, well, if this is the way

it's going to be, all right.

I have a good solo career,

and I'll just keep going,

and that'll be the way it is.

And because I'm okay

with change, I'm like,

"That's great, that's fine.

You know, you got your

own solo career.

That's what he wants.

It's okay."



Greg's such a consummate

professional

that he said, "I will meet all

of our existing obligations."

He agreed to stay through

the summer shows.

And then one thing was added,

another thing was added,

another thing's added.

But we get to Vancouver,

and we're playing a show,

and Greg says to me, "We should

make another record,"

and I'm like, "What?"

I didn't think we were

a band anymore.

And so, whatever made Greg

need to quit at one point

was no longer circumstance

for him then,

so it seemed like we carried on.

I don't know that there

was a definitive time

where we said, is this, are we

still a band or are we not?

I think, like, too many bands

break up not realizing

that like, hey, just give each

other some space.

Go write a solo album,

go, go meditate.

You know, you'd be surprised

in six months

how people's perspectives

can change.





When I quit the band, I

think everybody was a little,

"Oh my god," and that

seemed like a setback.

I think Greg came back

because he missed it.

He missed Blue Rodeo.

I think it was hard for him

to think of a, a life

without that available to him.

I think he loves Jim; I think he

loves what they do together.

You'd be giving up so

much to give that up,

and I think he still loves

to create with Jim.

It took a while to do

the adjustment,

but once the adjustment

was made,

the band has been

playing fantastic.

The band has never

been better.

Just trying to remember

The better times

Back when you were

Wild



Back when you were

Wild

Back when you were

Wild

Back when you were

Wild









'Til I am myself

'Til I am myself again

And here we go, we're going in.

Yeah!

Have fun!

Thanks!

Bye, Jim! Good luck!

Thank you, Stella!

Not that you need it!

Stella!

Jim!

Wish us luck.

Blue Rodeo's legacy is ongoing.

It's still being written.

This band is defying the odds

in a lot of ways.

We're playing to more people,

we're playing larger venues.

They just leave it all on the

stage every night.

And so audiences feel that

if they stay connected

to that through joy and sorrow.

I think that they are one

of the greatest groups

to ever come out of Canada.

I love them.

So when I think about

Blue Rodeo,

I think that in some ways

they are really

Canada's band, right, because

they're a little ragged,

they're very real and authentic.

They're definitely cheeky.

They're just like us.

Blue Rodeo was a big

chunk of that

for the Canadian industry

to believe in itself.

And Blue Rodeo showed

that other model,

which is, you know, just work

your a*s off in Canada

and you can have a great life

as a musician.

We love them. Like they're

a part of our family.

And in fact, our families have

grown up with Blue Rodeo.

There is a real affection

for this band.

Blue Rodeo is certainly the

soundtrack to my life.

That sense of community,

I think,

is not only what binds them

to be collegial

with other Canadian artists,

but also with the fans

themselves.

Canadian fans are very loyal

to their bands.

They stay loyal and want

them to do well.

You work hard for them, they

repay that with their loyalty.

There's a lot of love

in the band.

And when we're playing,

you know,

the first couple of songs

every night,

I feel this sort of

wave of love,

and a large part of that

energy is the reflection

of the audience.

The other thing that is

really special for me

kind of happens at

every show now.

I think there was a period

in the band

where I kind of took

it for granted.

You know, when we were

touring a lot,

and it was it was

kind of wearing

and, you know, we get on

each other's nerves.

And Bazil and I would

just walk off stage

and b*tch for like an hour,

you know?

You know, which

is not something

I look back on proudly,

but I, you know, I just think

it was something

we had to go through.

Blue Rodeo is the type of band

that we can have tension

and that, but we get

over it quickly

because at the end of the day,

we knew that there was all this

love too, we were brothers.

But I don't think there's

ever been a time

when I didn't want to be

Greg Keelor's partner.

And I think that we had this

kind of perfect partnership.

I don't imagine he feels

the same about me,

but that's just the way

I feel about him.

Jim is one of the great

inspirations of my life.

He's just one of

the inspirations

of why I picked up guitar.

Look at all that's

happened to us.

When I think back on Greg and I

starting this life together

and, and how many good things

have happened to us,

that was our life.

I think even doing this,

going over everything,

I realize how fortunate

we've been.

As you get older and you

start to appreciate

what a rare opportunity it

is to make your living

playing in a band, I think that

you, your gratitude,

you know, fuels your

will to stay.

So now, after 32 years,

when I play a show,

now I sort of just feel like,

I can't believe this

is still happening.

Like, I can't believe

how lucky we are,

I can't believe how lucky I am.

I can't believe that...

You know, there's still

people up there,

singing along, you know?

And...

Obviously, I'm getting emotional

talking about it now.

So, you know, I feel

really grateful.



Strange and beautiful

are the stars tonight

That dance around your head

And in your eyes,

I see that perfect world

I hope that doesn't

sound too weird

And I want all world to know

That your love is all I need

All that I need

And if we're lost



Then we are lost together



Yeah, and if we're lost



Then we are lost together

Together, together







No, that was good, all good.

Congratulations.

Okay, sweet. Thank you, Dale.

I think we said enough.

Jim's said enough.

Okay, we can

cut that, please?