Skip to main content

April Wine - I Like To Rock

April Wine. There. I said it. Lately, when no one's looking (or listening) I like to take a quick swig of their intoxicating (or adrenalizing?) mid-70s Canadian adventure rock... especially when I'm washing dishes. It's my guilty pleasure. But it shouldn't be and I want to be upfront about this.

Recently I was reading some Chuck Kosterman. The way he framed things really struck a chord with me. "The term 'guilty pleasure' is simply ridiculous; there is simply no band or artist (or movie or hobby or…) that exists that one should feel guilty for liking; to say otherwise implies that a) allowing “insecure” people to dictate your likes and dislikes is alright and b) being involved with certain aspects of life is somehow unacceptable, based on an unreliable, and often times bizarre, scale that you are keen on following."

I first heard about April Wine while reading "Trouble Boys," the recent Replacements biography. Turns out Bob Stinson was a big fan of their guitar riffs and an early incarnation of the Mats even covered some April Wine. Of course, I'd always seen their records at the thrift store, but imagined they were a late 70s soft rock clone of Player or Ambrosia. The Replacements connection prompted me to explore their tunes. Listening to their classic albums (Nature of the Beast and Harder... Faster!) I drew immediate connections to some of my favorite 70s rock bands like Thin Lizzy and Sweet. Right across the Atlantic on the stormy shores of Nova Scotia, they weren't too far from their U.K. rock brethren. There's something totally unambiguous and unpretentious about April Wine's sound. But, at the same time they're not as simplistic and bland as Bad Company or Foreigner. April Wine is somewhere between Grand Funk Railroad and Rainbow.

"I Like To Rock," was filmed at the late, great Le Studio in Morin Heights, Quebec. Unfortunately, the studio was burned down last year. You might recognize it from Rush's Tom Sawyer video.


This live version features an extended drum solo!

Comments

Post a Comment

Trending Tracks

U.K. - In The Dead of Night

In the late 70s, as punk and post-punk bands spiraled towards their new wave destinies, prog dinosaurs stood paralyzed in the shadows. Bands like the Sex Pistols were meteors, igniting a global firestorm that would trigger prog's extinction. The British music press (Melody Maker, Sounds, NME, etc.), once proponents of prog darlings Genesis, Yes and ELP, now bashed any band releasing songs in odd time signatures and singing about aliens and whales. The punk revolution had turned the U.K. music industry and press on its head within a year (1976-1977). For me, this is one of the most interesting times in pop music. Although prog groups saw their audiences rapidly dwindle (Yes audiences had dropped from 20,000 to 3,000 by 1980's Drama tour), many record labels had built fortunes on the works of prog artists and were willing to foot the bill for some interesting transitional experiments. Yes' Drama , ELPs' Works , Genesis' . ..And Then There Were Three... were p...
Post a Comment
Read more

The Alarm - Marching On (Live)

Never underestimate the power of corporeal politics. Today, hundreds of thousands of people marched through the streets of American cities demanding political action on gun control. In downtown Portland, ME thousands streamed down Congress St. and gathered at City Hall. I was there. It was powerful. When you are united with others in your community, marching, there is an energy -- a sense of unstoppable momentum. It is also reassuring. We are not alone in standing up to the insanity. We are one. I am inspired by the Americans (especially the women and young people) who have once again discovered the power of peaceful, non-violent protest. If we continue to march in these numbers, politicians will hear us. The continuing volume of our chants and rhythm of our marching feet, knocking at their door, will remind them to legislate on behalf of us -- the people. All of the money in the world can't pay back the moral deficit and heal the wounded conscience of NRA-backed legislators...
Post a Comment
Read more