Music views, news and reviews for Surrey and Greater Vancouver. Email tom.zillich@surreynowleader.com with story ideas and tips.
Call the band Trooper 2.0, whatever. The 2023 version of Trooper rocks. Hard.
All of the original members of the ’70s-era hitmakers have retired or otherwise left the band, but the beat goes on with Surrey-raised singer David Steele, Surrey-based guitarist Steve Crane, bassist Scott Brown, drummer Clayton Hill and keyboardist Paul Gogo.
Trooper raised a lot of hell as Friday-night headliner during the Rock Maple Ridge concerts, Aug. 11-13. It was the band’s first public concert in this region since the 2021 retirement of singer Ra McGuire and guitarist Brian “Smitty” Smith, and the Aug. 11 “homecoming” seemed special for Steele and Crane, in particular.
For Trooper it’s been a busy summer with “fly-in” concert dates across the nation and induction in Canada’s Music Hall of Fame — reason to keep rocking because, as the song goes, we’re here for a good time, not a long time.
Just a sample of the ace bass of @normstockton tonight at @LongMcQuade’s North Surrey store. Great player from Orange Country, Cali., and a fine 90+minute lesson about bass groove for peeps like me. #SurreyBC pic.twitter.com/w7vk7rCHGR
— Tom Zillich (@TomZillich) August 17, 2023
BASS ACE IN SURREY
After a COVID-triggered hiatus, North Surrey’s Long & McQuade music store is back doing in-store clinics featuring pro players.
Orange Country-based Norm Stockton dazzled with his ace bass skills in an evening workshop Wednesday, Aug. 16.
The session was small — only a dozen people attended the free event on a hot August night — but it was a welcome restart for such clinics at the Chris Friesen-managed music shop, on 104 Avenue.
For fellow bass players in the room, Stockton shed light on “the art of groove” he’s mastered on the instrument, and told stories of his career, which began with a passion for Rush and Geddy Lee’s playing. He’s since graced a thousand stages and studios, and entertains with a “Grooves & Sushi” series that involves world-renowned musicians playing and talking over a meal of sushi, in the style of Daryl Hall’s excellent “Live from Daryl’s House” webcast. Check out normstockton.com.
‘YACHT ROCK’ REVIVAL
Lately I’ve been grooving to the sounds of “Yacht Rock.” Not sure why, but maybe it brings me back to my late-’70s days of listening to AM radio in my dad’s green Ford pickup truck. For breezy summer vibes, it’s tough to top Rupert Holmes’ “Escape” or Little River Band’s “Reminiscing.”
White Rock’s ultra-intimate Blue Frog Studios is set to highlight some of those grooves during a sold-out “Ultimate Yacht Rock Concert” on Sunday, Sept. 17. Featured is The Crew band, which includes studio boss Kelly Breaks on bass along with six others including Tom Arntzen, Alex Whitaker, JT Platt, Ian Paxton, Tristan Paxton and Aimee Ayotte. Expect plenty of Hall & Oates, Christopher Cross, Toto and more.
Later at Blue Frog, on Oct. 6-7, I’m intrigued by L.A.’s The Laurel Canyon Band, billed as “an extraordinary group of musicians curated by the executive producer of the acclaimed ‘Laurel Canyon’ movie.” Details on bluefrogstudios.ca.
‘SQUARING THE CIRCLE’
What do album covers from Pink Floyd, Led Zeppelin and Paul McCartney have in common? Some are creations of Hipgnosis, the long-gone London design company responsible for many of rock’s best known album covers.
This summer I watched “Squaring the Circle,” a new documentary movie about Hipgnosis filmed by Anton Corbijn, who photographed U2’s landmark The Joshua Tree cover. For Raindog Films, Corbijn has made a fascinating 101-minute movie about Hipgnosis and its creative duo, Storm Thorgerson and Aubrey “Po” Powell. Only one of them is still alive to tell the story, with help from Robert Plant, Jimmy Page, McCartney, Noel Gallagher and others.
Drug binges, creative battles and unlimited budgets are part of the Hipgnosis story, including the time Po climbed a mountain and nearly froze while shooting the Wings’ Greatest Hits cover. I love the Houses of the Holy cover-shoot story, too, with the naked kids “repeated.”
“Squaring the Circle” includes insight from Sex Pistols bassist Glen Matlock about the geezers across the lane who worked on dinosaur-rock album covers when the Pistols were getting started. Funny stuff.
