Rough Transcript of Dave Bidini Interview

DB	on our live album that is what we did with it on horses in the middle of it, Gary  		
ran it through a wah wah  pedal it sounds so good.

LR 	Did he control the wah wah pedal.
DB	Think so Don might have, when we were laying it down.  It was cool really cool.
LR	Sorry I¹ll go now.
DB	That¹s ok Stay. Stay
MM	It¹s really casual
DB 	Very casual.
MM	Here we go  
DB  	You can ask general questions of us.
MM	Yah I have... a few questions.
DB 	OK
MM	And at the bottom my station manager asked if I could get you guys to do a Station ID for us and stuff.
DB	Yep. No problem.
MM  	First QuestionThis tour is partly in support of your latest album the ³Night 			Sessions² one.
DB	The ³Nightline Sessions².
MM	Yah the ³Nightline Sessions²  I went to buy it on Wednesday.
DB	Keen
MM	I heard it was out on Saturday, it wasn¹t there at HMV so I haven¹t heard it.  Can 		you tell me a little about the recording of it, I know it is from CBC.
DB 	We recorded it...  We put together this hour of music because for Dave 			Wisdom¹s  Is this picking up OK...  
MM 	Yah it¹s good, I got it cranked.
DB	Is this for the Radio or for print.
MM	Print, I am just recording it so I don¹t have to memorize...
DB	We put together this, we peiced together a bunch of little things we had, on our own, sort of home studio type things, and structured this one hour concept for Dave.
MM 	So the album is...
DB	It¹s a radio show.
MM	Same as the concert.
DB	No it¹s a radio show.
MM 	Radio show.
DB	Yah Not a concert it is a radio show.
MM	It has some old songs and some new songs, Stolen Car is on there.
DB 	Yah. which is new.
MM 	I read that on the web page.  Your also working on a children¹s album, I know Martin¹s working on it.  Can you tell me a little bit more about that and when it is going to be finished.
DB	Ah... I don¹t know when it will be done.  It is 2/3 of the way finished now, so maybe it will be finished in the new year.
MM	Do you play some of those songs at shows?  
DB	Yah
MM	Cause I heard you play some of those songs at show.
DB 	Yah we do four songs from there.
MM	Kevin Hearn is playin on the album.
DB 	Yah, lots of keyboards.  He bought one of those a... he bought a Prophet Synth
LR 	Wow
DB	Yah he bought a new somthing 2000, a Record 2000 maybe an its got a batch bay so it¹s analog.  And it¹s also got a digital thing too, so its analog and digital in one.  It¹s like one of those, if you sat down with it.  You could sit down with it for two weeks and go, push that button and go like Wow this sounded so cool and play it for a long long time and get bored with it.  Every sound is mint, every sound is so cool and different. It¹s really neat.
MM 	You¹ve collaborated with Kevin Hearn a number of times.
DB	On Group of Seven.
MM	Yah on Group of Seven is he now a full time member of the Bare Naked Ladies?
DB	No, well he was.  He got sick, but he is gettin better now.
MM	Oh.
DB	Yah he was full time for a long time.
MM	He is on the Rock Spectacle album.
DB 	Rock Spectacular.
MM	Yah I checked the credits, I thought it was Rock Spectacal though.
DB	Yah he¹s on there though, he is on their new one too, Stunt.
MM 	Alright, for your recent live album, which I really liked, I thought it was one of the best albums of the year.
DB	Thank you.
MM	and then you recorded parts of various concerts rather then one whole show.
DB	That¹s true.
MM	What made you chose the one format over the other.
DB	Well we didn¹t really have one show that was...
MM	that you liked
DB	... from top to bottom, also there was a lot of different... types of clubs and stuff.
MM 	I know you played some smaller shows.
DB	real restaurants, we played this restaurant called the Quilted Bear in Banff, the Quilted Bear in Banff, we had a big fight the night before the show and stuff.  And then we kind of made up in the morning so the show ended up being really good and stuff.
MM	You were happy to have it on the album.
DB 	Yah
MM	Because I remember listening to Much Music.  Gord Downing they deliberately wanted one whole show rather then peices of...
DB 	Yes They took the easy way out.
MM	I wondered why.
DB	Yah we were talking when they said they were going to do a live album.  I said great you must have some great stuff in the vaults.  I don¹t want to listen to all that stuff.  ...It¹s weird though after every show they play, they listen to the show on the bus the whole show from top to bottom, all of them.  Which freaks me out especially because.  A lot of their songs are change and their is weird stuff in them, but a lot of them are pretty much done the same night after night after night right.  I just find that would be hard to do especilly if you did a show that you didn¹t think was very good, that just shows something about how they are, I thought they would maybe know.  You remember that song we did great version of that song in Detroit two years ago, hey lets put that on the live record, but then they just thought (letsjust put that one).
MM	It was a Buffalo show they took.
DB 	No Detroit.  We played the open for them at Cobalt? hall, where they recorded Kiss Alive and Yes Songs.  And it was a fucking, it¹s pretty famous, it¹s pretty great place.
MM	(Like) Filmore East?
DB	It¹s big, but it¹s small.  When you look up you can see people in the upper deck and stuff.  It is really on you, its round so the people are right on you.
MM 	It¹s got balconies or whatever?
DB	It¹s got a balcony but it doesn¹t go [whistling and hand motions]  It¹s got a balcony that kinda goes like this  it¹s got a circular roof.  It¹s cool.
MM	Never been to Detroit.  Also you recorded some of the tracks here (Vertigo Night Club) for the live Album.
DB	Yah we did.  We had a good show here, it was the first show of the tour.
MM	Yah I missed that show.  I was trying to recollect, either I had an exam the next morning so I deliberately chose not to come.
DB	right
MM	... or I was out of the province.
DB	Those are two good excuses.
MM	That¹s that only reasons I missed it.
DB	I wouldn¹t want you to fail school on account of us.  Not like my friend Gordie Hannah, who failed school because we went to see the Ramones in Ottawa.  He missed two exams, he failed.  He had to do grade thirteen over again but to this day he said it was worth it.
MM	It was a good show then?
DB	Totally worth it.
MM	I was just wondering if the sound in Vertigo¹s is good?
DB	It¹s good, well yah, it¹s good, it was good that night, yah.
MM	Because they built this like when the added on to the SUB.
DB 	It is a good sounding room.
MM	Yah they designed it where as the rest of the clubs in Victoria are like old buildings that they made a club into.
DB	Right.
MM	They have posts in the middle.
DB	Right, but this is a ladder right near the front of the stage, which is kinda a bit of a problem.  But other then that it is pretty good.
MM	The ladder might be gone.  They might have a small group of people down there instead.
DB	Thanks for letting me know...??? I had no idea.
MM	My next question, on the Dessert Island Disks song you didn¹t have any Neil Young Albums...
RB	right.
MM	I wanted you to explain this oversight.
DB  	Well!, if you had been their you could have said Neil Young, You could have said a Neil Young Album.
MM	Well... I heard a rumor that you and Martin actually met at a Neil Young concert.
DB	AHHHH!!!   That¹s pretty (funny).
MM	That was where you first met and you didn¹t have a...
DB	That¹s pretty funny.
MM 	And you didn¹t have a...
DB	That¹s a good story but it¹s not true.
MM	Wow.
DB	I met my wife at a Jam concert.  And Tim and I met kinda kinda at a Yes cocert.  Actually Tim and I met in a weirder place then Yes.  Tim and I met at Walt Disney World, when we were both like 13 years old, at a Bo Donaldson and the Haywoods concert.  This is the fucking God¹s honest truth, I was on a vacation there with my family.  And he was on a vacation there with his family.  And I kinda of knew this guy from around the neighborhood, but I never talked to him, never not once.  And I was watching Bo Donaldson and the Haywoods thinking wow this is really cool.  They did a song called ³Billy Don¹t be a hero.²  And I looked across the crowd like this.  And at the same time I looked across the crowd like this he looked across the crowd and we saw each other.  And we both kinda went like ³Fuck there¹s that guy².  Right, then we went back to high school.
LR 	How old were you?
DB	Like thirteen, 
LR	OK
DB 	and for two years after that we did¹t say anything to each other, and when we passed each other in the hall you could tell.  Fuck there¹s that guy man I saw in Walt Disney World.
LR	Laughing.  That¹s so funny.
DB	Little did I know I was going to spend half my life with the guy.
MM	It¹s a small world after all.
DB	That¹s right my friend.
MM	I had to wait to use it though.  There, the next question is your favorite Neil Album, as I thought you might have met at a Neil concert.
DB 	Aaaahhh.   Zuma¹s good.
MM	Zuma 
DB	Yah it¹s a good one.
MM	I like Zuma.
DB	We are not Neil Young Freaks or anything.  Martin was at one (time). When I first met  Martin he dressed up as Neil Young.
MM	That is what I heard, it was part of the same rumor...
DB	Right, right, right.
MM	You mentioned a pile of Inbreds Albums on ³Dessert Island Disks² and you toured with them.
DB	Right
MM	And now they have called it quits.
DB	Defunct.
MM	I wondered what were your thoughts on that?  As you know them fairly well.
DB	On the break up?
MM	Yah
DB 	Well when you do like five tours in a small car with only one other guy with ya.
MM	They used to tour in a civic.

DB	Yeah
MM	Isn¹t that the legend?
DB	Yah that has got to be pretty harsh.  And I think probably now, it just like.   I can see them getting back together no problem.  Because I mean Mike¹s a hard guy to understand, and nobody understands him better then Dave.  And probably nobody is as good at putting up with Mike as Dave is.  Mike¹s a pretty good guy, but like all of us, we have severe weaknesses in our character and stuff.  And that is why we get along well.  And the same with these guys as everyone knows each other pretty well.  So I don¹t know.  I mean Mike¹s apparently playing solo at the Halifax on music.  But if your playing solo I mean you might as well play with Dave.  Like I mean you know.
MM	Because I told my friend that, I heard the rumor on Much Music.  One of there little things.  Supposedly they were offered an opening spot on the Foo Fighters, as David Grohl was with them on that.
DB 	Edgefest.
MM	Yah Edgefest, David Grohl was there and he said they were the best band there.
DB	Do you know about?  (Looking at Local Rabbits)
LR	Yeah
DB	 He liked them, he really liked them.
LR 	Yeah he did.
MM	He offered them the opening spot on his North American tour.
DB	Shut up.
MM	Yeah that¹s the story but they had broken up.  He¹s like guys are the opening band and their like oh we have broken up.
LR	I didn¹t hear that.
DB	I didn¹t hear that.
MM 	I don¹t know if they heard it.
LR 	I don¹t know if it was as extensive as that.
MM	I don¹t know if it was timed quite so well.  He might have thought of offering it to them after they had broken up.
DB	Interesting.
LR  	I think he probably offered them to travel with him, but I don¹t know if the tour was as extensive as all of North America.
MM	I don¹t know if it was a North American tour, but his next tour he wanted them as the opening band.
LR	Yeah
MM  	This is just a retelling of what Much Music said...
DB	Who knows it could be true.  I know they were going to do shows with the Hip in New York City but they didn¹t do them because they broke up I know that, but I didn¹t know abouy the Foo Fighters.  But everybody seemed to kinda love the Inbreds.
MM	Yeah they were on Another Roadside Attraction.
DB	Yeah
MM 	First slot.  They just been around.  My friend goes to Queens, and he¹s in a band , or he used to, he¹s always in the Queen¹s music scene.
DB	There kinda like the little band that could you know.  Like the little train.
MM	 He heard it from me.  When he came back out here.
DB 	Weird.  But I don¹t know... sorry
MM	Sorry 	OK  This is related to the recording of ³Double Live², your also writing a book.
DB	Mmm huh
MM	Sorta on the tour experiences can you update me on how that is comming along.
DB	It will still be out October tenth.  On Collin and Stewart.
MM	And it will be easy to find?
DB	Yah, it will be way better distributed then any of our records  I think.
MM	Yah I don¹t know.
DB	It should be around. Definitely
MM	HMV carries your records pretty good.
DB	Yah that¹s true yah.
MM	 I don¹t know about A&B Sound...
DB	Ah I don¹t know, actually there alright too.
MM	HMV generally has them They  usually have the Group of Seven one and that would be the hardest to find.
DB	Yeah
MM	Or maybe Mellville would be the hardest to find.  Anyway the opening band is the Local Rabbits
DB	Who?
MM	These guys are them apparently I didn¹t know that, but now I do.  My last radio show which was Wednesday night I played a Rheostatics career retrospective.
DB 	Yeah
MM	 I played eight Rheostatics songs in a row, I staged them up.  And then I also did the Local Rabbits too.
LR	Oh really?
MM	Yeah so I got every Local Rabbits thing we had which was an EP, two Albums and a single
LR	Yeah that¹s it.
DB	That¹s pretty good.
MM	and I played one song from each.
LR 	That¹s everything.
MM	And I was reading up on you guys.
Another LR	We got two singles.
MM	We only had the one.
LR 	Laughing.
DB	And the Rip Chords song right.
LR 	Yeah, oh yeah.
MM	The Rheostatics had some rairer stuff.
DB	I liked the Rip Chords song!  
LR	Really
DB	Sorry...
MM	I dug out that Truck Songs.
DB 	Yeah.
MM	I had that and I also played. the Neil Young tribute album.
DB	Good stuff.
MM	That was about all I could do for rare Rheos  
DB	Good stuff.
MM	But I just noticed that you were always thanked in their liner notes.  Like every single album.
DB	Yeah
MM	So I just wanted to know how long you have known the guys for and what not?
DB	I guess in 92 we met these guys for the first time.
LR	MMM Yep.
DB	It¹s an good story acutally.  The story is is my book  about how we met them.
MM	So you better not give it away.
DB	That¹s ok.
MM	I won¹t print it.
LR	The story of Dave Bindi the guardian angel of the Local Rabbits.
DB	Laughing.  I came down on a flaming pie
MM	My interview is only so long, so that can be left out of it.  
DB	OK
MM	It was just a question.
DB	Fine.
MM	Save that one for the book I¹ll just have a big trailer.
DB	Go for it.
MT	wild thing.
LR	They like to call him spoon man.
MM	Spoon man?
LR	Yah
MM	Isn¹t that a..
DB	Yep Soundgarden
MM	Yah a Soundgarden song.
DB	Laughter
LR	It¹s base on him.
MT	Ready to do buisness.
MM	Wow, I only had so many questions, I think we are almost done after this.  OK what are your plans after this tour, as this is close to the end, this date.
DB	No, this the third show.
MM	This is the third date.
DB	Yah then we go to Hali... no Montreal, I think we are playing Montreal, I don¹t know if you guys are playing with us.
LR	Montreal What date?
DB	...Street festival in Concordia on McKay, or McKay, on September 18th.
LR	Ah no we are not playing there.
MM	I¹ve been to that street, that is right by the Hostel, 
DB	Yeah
MM	I stayed at that Hostel.
LR	That would have been cool.
DB	It would be Great eh?.   Bluesteen(??) was talking to your agent to see if your, I think.
LR	Oh
DB	So if your talking to Tommy tell him to get on that.
LR	Yeah that would be a good show for us to play, in Montreal.
DB	Totally, totally.
LR	That would be really good.
MM	So this is the start of the tour.
DB	Yes, then we go to Hallifax and do the East Coast after that.
MM	Because you did an Ontario tour not to long go.
DB	Sorta were always kind of on tour.
MM	But you never came to Ottawa.
DB	Yeah we play in Ottawa.
MM	But that particular tour, 
DB	I don¹t know.
MM	I was in Ottawa at the time.  You came to Kingston and where ever.
DB  	Yeah.
MM	 You played AJ¹s in Kingston.
DB	Yeah that¹s right.
MM	I was in Kingston
DB 	Yea that was a fun show.  A good show.
MT (wandering in (back?)) 	Bobby.
MM	Next Question.
DB	Bobster.
DB	Two ³m¹s² in chemmis by the way.
MM	Pardon
DB	Two ³m¹s² in Chemmis.
MM	Campus security did they spell it wrong.
DB	No his name is Bob Chemmis, never mind.  None you could ever catch on to.
MT 	Very cutting edge.  (referring to the Graffiti on the wall)
MM	Wow it¹s new.
DB	It¹s kinda like that.
MT	Street level kind of shit.
MM	It¹s just a big grey box.
DB	When he said he didn¹t like it that other day it was kinda
MM	They¹ve added more the last time I saw in here.
MT	I like it, It¹s neat
MM	I was away for 12 months.
MT 	It¹s definitely new.
DB	Yeh Totally
MT 	I was saying I don¹t like the... tags
DB	Oh yeah it¹s just name, that¹s stupid.
Stuff drowned out by the drummer.
MT	Yah that¹s all it is.
MM 	Alright the next question was, I was writing a friend in Belgium an e-mail.
DB	Yeah
MM	I was trying to explain who you were, she had never of course heard of you guys.  So have you ever toured overseas or are you planning on touring overseas?
DB	I would like to go over to Europe but I don¹t know, that is something we have to get together, but I don¹t know.  
MM	I had never heard of you guys going over.
DB	We played over there we played in the UK.  England, Ireland and Scotland, not Wales though we are anti Wales.
MM	Your anti-Wales?  You don¹t like the Welsh?	 (kidding)
DB	(Kiddingly)	I don¹t like the dirty, the Welsh
MT	Yeah they don¹t wash.
DB	Their foul, nah I¹m just kidding.
MM	I was just trying to think of so many questions, and that was one I came up with.
MT?	 (in background)	Tomorrow I will be high
DB	You got good questions.
MM	Well, I try.  I thought them up this morning mainly.  What CD¹s have you been listening to as you tour across the country?
DB	Well we have been we just flew out here so we haven¹t been listening.
MM	Well what have you been listening to lately, because I thought you were coming East on the road.
DB	Yah I know, I don¹t know.

Words and Images © Andrew "Muskie" McKay.
Last Updated: