Blue Rodeo — The Things We Left Behind Interviews, Part 1: Greg Keelor

Here’s part of my recent conversation with Blue Rodeo’s Greg Keelor about the band’s brand new double album, The Things We Left Behind. To read the full transcript, go to Heartbreak Trail. Part 2 with Jim Cuddy to follow. Enjoy!

The new album sounds fantastic, and I have to say that putting it on two discs actually makes it more engaging.

That’s sort of what we thought. We hate CDs that are over an hour. I don’t have the time for them. They just don’t hold my interest. I listen to records probably more than I listen to anything else, and twenty minutes pretty much taps me out. So, I like a CD that’s about the length of what an album would be. We’ve put out some records in the past that have just been too long. They wear people out. So, it’s nice to make two shorter CDs.

I could imagine as I was listening to it how much fun it must have been trying to sequence it, knowing it was going to be a double album.

Yeah, it was fun. It was pleasant to think about it as being four sides of vinyl.

The overall vibe of the record sounds pretty laid back too. Was it a relatively easy record to make?

Well… Was it easy? I don’t know if it’s ever easy making records, but you really enjoy the little challenges that records present to you. Part of the great fun is solving those little riddles, at least it is for me. It all went pretty smoothly, but I don’t think it’s ever easy making a record.

Right. I guess what I really meant was that there’s a warmth about this album, from the cover art right through that really resonates. I just like the whole early ‘70s California vibe about it.

That’s good. You can’t beat that.

I’d say your songs convey that best, which is what I guess I should ask about.

I’d rather talk about Jim’s songs. Whenever someone says to me ‘It’s a good record,’ I say, ‘Yeah, every other song.’ [Laughs]

I will ask you about Jim’s, but your songs this time really stand out with the strings and the psychedelic touches. Did you write them all around the same time?

A lot of them had a certain air to them. A record that I was listening to a lot this year was the third Big Star album. I loved the combination of the darkness and the orchestration on that record – I think it’s a Jim Dickinson production – and the songs have that certain melancholy about them. I find that a very pleasant place to be when people are that melancholic.

That certainly comes across. In addition, there are songs like “Million Miles” and “Venus Rising” where you really stretch out.

Yeah, we hadn’t done that in a while.

Was that a challenge to get the right atmosphere for those songs?

I think “Million Miles” might be my favourite thing on the record. I love that it’s an acoustic sort of rock song. It just sounds great to me. We recorded that at my place, which is where I always think the drums sound the best. I was listening to a lot of Fairport Convention this year too, so “Million Miles” was kind of like my version of that, although it also sounds like The Who once in a while to me too.

Since you brought up Jim’s songs, was there a point when you got together and presented your material to each other, and the concept for the record was born?

When we got together last April, instead of sitting down and playing all the songs we’d collected, we just decided to start sculpting it, knowing that everything would eventually fall into place. We knew that we wanted to be fairly acoustic on this record. And also, I had an ear infection just before then, which had left both of my ears really sensitive. My left ear was really sore, so I couldn’t play loud music at all. Even playing acoustically when we were learning the songs, I had to wear earplugs, and while we were recording, I could only wear headphones on one ear. That contributed greatly to this being a more acoustic sort of record. I sort of like that; you know, you sometimes read stuff about why records turned out the way they did, and it was because the guy was in a body cast or something. So, my screwed up ears definitely contributed to the acoustic-ness of this record.

You’re fully recovered?

No. I don’t think my left ear is ever going to be right again. I think I’m going to have to wear a plug in it around loud music for the rest of my life.

How is that affecting the live shows?

I think when we tour, we might have to change the stage configuration. I might have to be on the outside of everything, so that my left ear isn’t taking in any information. We might even have it like a reverse Band set-up – you know how Levon was on the right? We might put Glenn more on the left, closer to Baz, so I can have a bit more separation from the drums.

I think a move like that would surprise a lot of people, given the consistency you guys have always maintained throughout all the changes that have occurred. Are you surprised at how consistent you’ve managed to be?

Yes, it’s sort of weird. You never think of longevity when you’re putting a band together. You think, I’ll do this for so many years and then something will happen and I’ll move on to the next thing. But this band has just kept going and going and going. Everyone’s had their side projects, while Blue Rodeo has kept up this momentum that’s sort of weird. I think we’re over twenty-five years now, and that’s a very strange thing. The nice thing about being in a band is you just take it all for granted. Seldom do you have a guy asking you about it, so when you actually reflect upon it, it’s pretty amazing and special. When you’re doing it day-to-day, you’re totally taking it for granted.

I met Michael Boguski for the first time this summer, and that’s another thing; he seems to have just fit seamlessly into the band. He’s on a lot of the new record?

Yes, both he and Steve O’Connor play keyboards. Jim plays some too. Did you hear the story of how Bob [Packwood] left? You’ll love this… We were doing sessions with Garth Hudson for his record, and had done a song on, I guess it was a Wednesday. The next day Bruce Cockburn was coming in to do a song… I should say that sometimes this band is ridiculously busy, and everybody has other things in their lives they have to attend to. So, Jim didn’t know the second song we were doing to do when Bruce would be there. Meanwhile, Packwood is thinking about his father, who’s on his deathbed. His father was the attorney general of Montana, appointed by Nixon, so obviously he was a big time Republican. Bob and his brother were hardcore, acid-eating Deadheads, and so it’s fair to say that he didn’t have a great relationship with his father. Even as he was dying, Bob wouldn’t go see him or talk to him. So we’re there the first day recording with Garth, and for Bob this was like being with God or Moses – his iconic father – and he was just so happy. Then the next day, Jim’s not totally prepared, but it’s no big deal. So we’re sitting down to learn the music and Bob gets so pissed off that Jim doesn’t know the song. They have this little flare-up, Bob runs out of the studio and we never see him again. The great irony is that Jim ended up playing piano on the song.

Wow. I guess you and the Dead really do have something in common when it comes to keyboard players.

At least we don’t kill them.

The thing about getting a guy like Michael to be able to step in right away is that Blue Rodeo seems to have nurtured this community of musicians around you. I’m thinking of how Wayne Petti [from Cuff The Duke] sings on the record too…

Doesn’t he do a good job?

Yeah, definitely. I mean, you must be proud of how many young musicians have grown up following your example.

Well, I don’t know how direct our influence is. I think that people would be writing those songs either way. There’s always been that community in Canada, and Toronto especially. Obviously, you can trace that back to Ian & Sylvia, and Lightfoot.

Sure, but when Outskirts came out [in 1987], you guys made such an impact right away. I think that’s the thing that a lot of people still look upon as a moment that kind of changed the rules of the game at that time, in Canada at least.

Right. So, let’s just say that Gordon Lightfoot and Ian Tyson sort of invented the thing that we do, through their combined talents and the influence they had on each other, whatever that is. They were writing songs in Toronto in the early ‘60s, and that vein really took off. Then there was a bit of a drought during, let’s say, the early ‘80s. So, yes, I’d agree that we in some ways replanted the seed a little bit, or picked up the torch for whatever that style of music is.