Posted: May 5th, 2010 | Author: | Filed under: These Days | No Comments »
Canadian rocker Neil Young famously sang the words, “It’s better to burn out than to fade away.” Well, our final story today is about a Canadian rocker who didn’t take Young’s advice. The World’s Jason Margolis met him in Victoria, British Columbia.
When I travel alone for work, I like to eat dinner at a brewpub, sit at a bar and listen to music. It’s less lonely that way.
I was recently eating in a pub in Victoria. On stage was this tall, gangly guy with a mop of curly hair. He strummed his guitar, played harmonica, and sang some covers.
When you go to pubs, people eat their meals. They have conversations. Meanwhile, the poor, forgotten musician toils away in the corner. But when this guy was playing in Victoria, man…People stopped talking.
He was way too good to be playing for 30 people eating burgers and fries.
I asked the bartender: Who is this guy?
It was Tom Hooper.
The name may not any bells for you, but in the 1980’s, Hooper and his band The Grapes of Wrath were on top of the Canadian charts. Their albums went gold and platinum. A young Sarah McLachlin opened for them!
I met Tom Hooper for lunch the day after I heard him play. He told me about his rock star life back in the day.
HOOPER: “When we had our first really big hit single in Canada, we kind of got this Grapes of Wrath mania kind of thing happening with like teenage girls screaming. And I remember playing this first gig after this single had been a big hit song and we were playing this gig. And all of a sudden there’s like 2,000 people, screaming girls so loud, you couldn’t believe it.”
That’s their hit song Peace of Mind. It was one of several chart toppers. But just as quickly as they burst onto the scene, Hooper and his band faded away.
HOOPER: “Yeah, we split up right at the height of our popularity, which is a really smart to do. Well, we started playing when I was like in grade seven or six or something like that. We were all little kids. So by the time we actually got famous in Canada, we’d already been together for like 10 years. So, you know, by that time, when we broke up it seemed like we’d been together forever. But I think I was only 25 at time. I thought I was old. You know, it’s hilarious.”
Hooper is now 43. He lives on a small island off the coast of Vancouver with his wife and two sons. The Grapes of Wrath, and the glory, are gone. But for many Canadians, the band isn’t forgotten.
RAYNER: “Even if you’re not a serious music fan, I think you’d remember the name. And if I hummed you a few bars, I think most people would go, Oh I remember that!”
Ben Rayner is a rock critic with the Toronto Star. He was a pre-teen when the Grapes of Wrath came onto the Canadian rock scene. Rayner says the Grapes were never a household name. But they had a following that never quite gave up on them.
RAYNER: “It’s been long enough that they should cycle back into coolness now. That gap is usually about 20 years. Now grunge is coming back, you know? There’s a gap. It’s almost time for some young, plucky Canadian band to come out and actually cite the Grapes of Wrath as a direct influence and kind of get that whole ball rolling again. They really are due their little revival.”
That revival may be coming in the form of Tom Hooper himself. Hooper is writing and recording original solo music. He releases his songs through iTunes. Between that, playing at bars, and living off proceeds from his glory days, Hooper says, it pays the bills.
This is his recent song, “Cardboard Man.” Hooper says a good song these days sells a few hundred copies. That’s a far cry from the days when he once recorded for the record-label giant EMI.
HOOPER: “I like to think of it as I had a really great moment in my life, well all moments in life are great I suppose, but my band had a lot of success, considering how many bands there are out there who have zero success. And I don’t know, the fact that I can still play music and make a living at it, I’m just happy about that. It doesn’t matter. I don’t sit back and say, ‘Oh, I wish I was as famous as I used to be.’”
The night I saw him play, he played this tune, “A Song For You,” written by Leon Russell.
For the World, I’m Jason Margolis, Victoria, British Columbia.
To listen to the interview and hear the songs go here:
http://www.theworld.org/2010/05/04/tom-hooper/
The Hooper Family Band (Tom Hooper and wife Suzanne along with kids Owen and Shane)is releasing “A Hooper Family Christmas” in the next few weeks.
54 40 at the Commodore Ballroom. Dave Genn, Neil Osborne, Tom Hooper