The Northern Pikes Resurface

10/14/08 11:07am

by Cameron Gordon (CHARTattack)

With a combination of strong songwriting, cute haircuts and genuine bar band sensibilities, The Northern Pikes were a leading light of CanCon radio rock last decade. The Saskatchewan-based outfit took full advantage of strong support from MuchMusic and parlayed that face time into a series of smart, memorable videos for tracks like "Teenland" and "She Ain't Pretty."

The band quietly slipped out of sight in the mid-1990s, since they were unwilling to conform to the vapid post-grunge swill that placated airwaves at that time. It's only been in recent years that the band have re-emerged, playing smaller rooms to ardent followers who appreciate the timelessness of the band's underrated output.

The Northern Pikes will be part of the upcoming Virgin 25th Anniversary concert at Lee's Palace in Toronto and founding guitarist Bryan Potvin says the band have approached a recent series of reunion shows not as a nostalgia trip, but rather, a rite of passage.

"Somebody came up to me after our last gig in Edmonton and said something to be that seemed really poignant: 'You've earned it.' I hadn't really thought of it that way before, but really, that statement pretty much nailed where we're at right now. We're not kidding ourselves. There's not a lot of demand for a new Pikes record or a cross-Canada tour. Instead, we can focus on having fun, playing shows when the urge hits and enjoying the fans that come out to see us. That was really our goal in the first place, so overall, I can't complain in the least."

With Potvin based in Toronto and the remaining Pikes (Jay Semko, Don Schmid and Merl Bryck) still toiling around Saskatchewan, reunion shows are sporadic but are always lively affairs, packed with radio hits and strong support from long-time fans. The Pikes' last studio full-length was 2003's It's A Good Life and there's no firm timetable for when or if another Pikes album will come out. Luckily, the Pikes' finest fillets still sound fresh in a far-different musical climate, either by luck or by design.

"We were really cognoscente of the production of our first few albums," comments Potvin. "It helps that we were listening to a lot of R.E.M. and The Smiths at that time, in terms of informing our approach in the studio. Even as a fledgling band, there was always the aim to create music that could be slotted into any era and even though there are bits and pieces on the first few records that sound a bit dated, the songs on the whole really do hold up today."

Explaining how a scruffy four-piece from the prairies ended up touring the globe and sharing stages with luminaries such as David Bowie and Duran Duran, Potvin continues, "We wrote basic, catchy pop-rock songs, we had a company behind us that was determined to break us and MuchMusic especially was a big, big help at that time. Not just to us, but other Canadian bands breaking out at the same time. A lot of people forget that in the 1980s, Much was playing a lot of bands that you wouldn't really hear on the radio anywhere and exposing bands like us to a lot of people, right across Canada. Needless to say, it was a different time."

There is no fixed timetable for future Pikes' activity and any upcoming live dates are a very much TBD at this stage. But even if the Virgin anniversary gig is the band's last, there's always a new generation of Canada bands to follow in The Northern Pikes' wake.

As Potvin confirms, "I picked up the new Black Mountain disc recently and reading about them, slogging it out across North America in a van, it really brings me back to a time and place. It really is a club that hands down generation after generation, everybody working the same touring circuits year after year. Honestly, I can't say I really miss those long van rides, but the memories I have from those times are amazing. We were really lucky in a lot of ways."

Catch the Northern Pikes while you can on Oct. 14 at Lee's Palace in Toronto with Colin James, Pluto and Choclair.