The people, the noise, and the light...

Trooper's keyboardist, Paul Gogo, has some great stories in his True Trooper Travel Tales, but their fans crave more!  "What about all those other years?!"  Well, we don't have a written archive of old travel tales, but I asked the guys to comment on a few things that people seem to always be interested in.  Let's face it, Super Duper Trooper Fans are a curious bunch .  Ra and Brian generously agreed..

Other Canadian artists...

{Brian} ; "I think Bill Henderson (Chilliwack), is just an amazing man, and an amazing talent.  I really like him as a person, as a friend, and I think that... his history of songwriting is just amazing!  He's got some fantastic stuff.  I've always thought of Burton Cummings as being a great vocalist. 'Not quite sure that I've always agreed with some of the antics... He's always been good to me, and a kind man. We all know of the excesses... but that doesn't make him any less a person. I think some of his songwriting is amazing, too."
{Ra} "Bruce Cockburn is one of the world's most underestimated talents. A man of great integrity and a brilliant songwriter and performer."

People they toured with...

{Brian}  "When we were touring the States during the early years when we were trying to break down there, we played with everyone from Aerosmith through Fleetwood Mac, Jeff Beck, Electric Light Orchestra, Mountain... I think probably one of the best though - I've always loved ZZ Top. They've changed alot over the years but they were always so much fun. We did quite a few shows with ZZ Top through the southern states of the U.S. 'Had fond memories of alot... New Orleans kind of sticks out in mind. They were great.
{Ra}  "The early ZZ Top tours we did through the southern states were awesome. They were one of the few bands that didn't force their crew to limit us in some way. Most headliners will seriously cut back the amount of sound power and candle power avaliable to the opening acts. ZZ  had the great confidence to let us use whatever we needed. We did many encores working with them (another thing that headliners don't usually let you do)."
{Brian}  "Many, many, many great touring experiences.  Obviously some of my fondest memories were some of the very first big tours that we did throughout the States and Canada off our first and second album.  I was in my twenties and it was the first big-time shows.  It was like.. 'My God', my eyes were like the size of saucers!  I couldn't believe that I was doing it, playing with all these famous people."

Opening bands...

{Ra}  "We did a show in Toronto once where we were supported by Sad Cafe and UK!!"
{Brian}  "Alot of the bands that open for us now, we quite honestly don't get to see 'cause we're still... getting ready back at the hotel.  The same with alot of the opening acts in the old days when we did the concerts.  But we did get to know alot of the bands back then alot better because we would do, say a 30-city tour, and we would have the same opening act.  There was some great opening bands.  Private Eye was really good, they only had the one album I believe... got to know those people very well.  I think it was the Lovitt (?) brothers.. they used to be in a band called "Foot in Cold Water".  They had a couple of hits for that band.  We're going back to the early '70's here!  I don't know... I loved them all {grin}."

The worst tour...

{Brian}  "There was a tour, I believe it was 1980 or '81, and it was when the band was starting to fall off... we weren't as popular as we had been.  There was some contention within the band members ourselves.. we had some real problems.  We were touring back in the Maritimes at the time when things started going crazy... the equipment truck (5 ton) rolled over and we had to get another truck on The Rock to get our equipment to St. John's, Newfoundland.  And IT broke down.. and then the tow truck was towing the other equipment truck and.. oh man.. just horrendous!  The band wasn't getting along too well, Tommy and Doni had started doing some stuff on their own.  There was some dissention.. some long drives.. a new road manager...  The vibes were SO bad... it was just awful!"
{Ra}  "[The previous stuff described] was not much fun, but, with the exception of that ... I really loved that tour! I love Newfoundland and Newfoundlanders.  The gigs on that trip were awesome - giant responses and TONS of fun. I remember one night we went to a bar in St. John's and at around 3:00am they cleared out all the guys from the bar. As in ... they threw out anyone male and let anyone female stay. After three, any one who came to the door was split up - girls could come in - boys couldn't!!! So there was us, the management and staff and a whole lot of women! The funny part was that the guys who were asked to leave didn't seem to have the slightest problem with it!"
Ra's worst tour memory was in the States in 1980, touring with "Head East".
{Ra}  "For some reason I still don't understand, they had a big following in the American Midwest. The tour we did with them was in the winter - we had this bad old bus that kept breaking down.  No one had even heard about our band in the places we were playing.  So we'd come to a gig after a day of driving in a freezing cold bus (that had probably broken down that day) to play for a bunch of fans of a shitty band who were, for the most part, anxious for us to get off the stage.  There wasn't much I enjoyed about that one!"

Music they listen to...

{Brian}  "I don't listen to alot of music.  That might come as a surprise to you and others.  It's funny, but my wife plays most of the music in our home.  I've never listened to alot of music.  I have it on on the radio when I'm in my car.  I don't play tapes in my car, I don't have a CD player in my car.. when I'm on my boat I play more music than anything and it's usually mixed tapes, and not always current.  I probably get most of my current Canadian artists via my daughter who's very much into Sarah McLaughlin, Paula Cole.. stuff like that.  I don't know.. 'Bruce Cockburn' was always kind of a good standby for me.  But like I say, I don't listen to alot of music.  Crazy, isn't it ?!   :-) "
{Ra}  "My tastes in music run all over the place - and I'm real fickle about who I like. F'rinstance - I was a HUGE Radiohead fan for two or three years, and I love the OK Computer disc, but I'm kinda off them right now (maybe
I've just burned them out).  This past year I've been going through a big Burt Bacharach thing. This will all come to some kind of orgasmic climax any minute now when the Burt Bacharach / Elvis Costello (another former-favourite) collaboration comes out - I've been phoning record stores in every city on the tour since it was released. There's also a Rhino Records Burt collection coming out in October. It's 3 discs and it took FIVE YEARS to assemble. All the very best stuff.  The thing about Burt is that he wrote all these amazing songs that were sung by a whole bunch of different people... so you really have to know his body of work in order to appreciate the magnitude of his impact on popular
music.

My top ten changes every couple of months - right now I'm listening to the new Lucinda Williams - Car Wheels on a
Gravel Road, The new Medeski, Martin and Wood - Combustication, a Bill Laswell acid/dub re-mix of some Bob Marley
stuff called Dreams of Freedom, the new album by the singer of Kings X (I'm a HUGE Kings X fan) Doug Pinnock ...
for some reason he's calling the project "Poundhoud" although I think he played most of it himself  ...  the disc
is called Massive Grooves - I really like this one. I like the band Wilco a lot and am waiting for their next one.
I've recently become a big Louis Armstrong fan and have a growing collection of his work - I think he may be one
of the greatest singers ever. Dave Mathews Band, James (as in the band James, from England), Coldcut, DJ Shadow,
Bill Frissel, James Taylor ... and then they'll be something new come out and ...

As for Canadian artists, I've recently become a Tragically Hip fan (didn't like their early records but I love the last three), Bruce Cockburn is one of the world's most underestimated talents. A man of great integrity and a brilliant songwriter
and performer.  I love that Bran Van 3000 song "Drinking in LA" but haven't bought the disk yet. They're from Montreal.  I share a love of Our Lady Peace with my son.  These are all records that I actually listen to - I also admire a ton of other Canadians bands although they don't make it to my personal top ten."

So many questions, so little time ...

Well, there's the obligatory one..  Where did the name "Trooper" came from?
The guys were at Harry Kalensky's place (original bass player) after playing the night before, then a morning grad, and then a noon hour concert, crashing before playing yet another show that evening!  One of Kalensky's roommates commented on the guys being real troupers, the term coming from old vaudeville 'troupes' where acts carried on through everything.  The spelling was changed to avoid mispronunciation and TROOPER was born.

Who is the Boy With A Beat ?
This is about a guy who was a band member in the late eighties, "and the hundreds of beautiful women who don't hang around us anymore since he's gone."

What can you tell people about Raise a Little Hell ?
{Ra}  "I wrote the words to Raise a Little Hell when I was 17 years old.  And it's interesting that I have a philosophy that has developed since then that kind of mirrors that.  The song wasn't meant to be instructive or motivational ... it was more a response to whiny people."

In Real Canadians, there is reference to homosexuality.  In general, do you think artists are more accepting people (don't care about race,gender,sexual persuasion, etc.)?
{Brian}  "I don't know... yes, I do believe that.  I think the reason, possibly, is that in our jobs we see so much, we meet so many people, and over the years... see the quality of people, rather than their sexual persuasion.. their race.. their colour.. gender.. religion.  Those things quite honestly don't enter my mind.  It's how that person is, and how I react or inter-react to those people.  I think artists are just exposed to more and have a bigger picture to make up their mind."
{Ra}  "Music is the great equalizer. In all things - but maybe more so in this area. Who is 'better'? : Elton John (gay),
Aretha Franklin (Black), Stevie Wonder (Black and blind), The Artist Formerly known as Prince (half Black) it goes
on and on ...  I've loved them all - their music has trancended those narrow-minded categorizations and maybe
helped to open our minds."
 
Who is Pretty Lady about?
This was originally a song about a person looking to a statue of the Virgin Mary for guidance in life.  A few of the words were changed and it became a love song, but phrases like "A face of clay, and yet so warm" remained.

The song Knock 'Em Dead, Kid is "in memory of Frank's Leslie".  Leslie who?
"Leslie" is a what, not a who.  A Leslie is a particular kind of speaker and, in the making of that song, Trooper 'sacrificed' it by sticking a drumstick through it.  The result was a very unique sound and distortion.

Is Thin White Line about cocaine?
The guys are pretty public about the fact that they went through a period of experimentation in the past, but luckily they were able to make the decision that that lifestyle was not for them.  Sadly, some other band members through the years haven't been as fortunate.

In The Boys in the Bright White Sports Car , Ra got into a bit of hot water with his family when it was pointed out by his brothers, Dan and Gary, how similar their names are to "jack-of-all-trades Stan, and Jerry the garbage man".   It was purely unintentional.