The Boomers grow up

Enduring Canadian rock veterans return with CD Midway

More than ever before, pop music is a young person's game. Call yourselves The Boomers and release an album (Midway) full of songs reflecting upon middle-age, and you're not going to grab MuchMusic play or music magazine covers.
The members of this Toronto band are quite aware of this. "It remains to be seen how the album plays in a Britney Spears world," notes singer/songwriter Ian Thomas. "Sex is being marketed much harder than ever. Madonna exploited her own sexuality to move product, and the multi-nationals were looking at that, going OK, we can do that. Britney's navel can sell CDs, mine can hold a couple, so there's a bit of a disconnect there!"
Thomas's sharp wit comes as no surprise. The brother of comic Dave Thomas (SCTV), he's long been known as one of the funniest men in Canadian music, as well as one of its top writers.
The Boomers revenge comes from the knowledge that they've all enjoyed fascinating and lucrative careers in the music biz, while today's pop tarts will quickly reach their expiry date.
Midway is the group's fourth and arguably strongest album. This is melodic, mature and polished pop-rock of a kind now in short supply. Tandem chatted with both Boomers bassist/co-producer Peter Cardinali and Thomas recently.
It has been six years since the previous Boomers album, and they're candid about the reasons for the delay. "In the middle of making it, Ian's dad died. He had a horrible time getting over it, so we had a bit of a hiatus," says Cardinali. "We won't put anything out until we are either totally happy with it or just totally sick of it [laughs]. In this case we are happy with it."
Ian acknowledges that "I threw out a lot of stuff we started with. I just said 'hang on, some of this sounds like stuff written by a guy who is still grieving.' I didn't want any of that to be there, so I went back to the drawing board with my writing."
Prior to the formation of The Boomers in 1990, Ian Thomas had a successful solo career (he won a Juno as Most Promising Male Vocalist in 1974). As a writer, he's had songs covered by such stars as Chicago, Santana, Bette Midler and Anne Murray. His comrades (drummer Rick Gratton and guitarist Bill Dillon round out the line-up) are amongst the elite of session musicians, while Cardinali also works extensively as a producer and arranger and heads Alma Records, the group's label.
They formed at a recording session for what was intended to be a solo Thomas album. Their chemistry was so positive they became a band. "It was like a meeting of the minds," says Cardinali. "We felt we had something different and special, with Ian's great writing and our combined playing and production ability."
There was some initial friction. "We nearly broke up after a week," reminisces Cardinali. "It was hard for Ian to get over the idea of tearing the songs apart, but that is the whole idea of a band. That's how we Boomerize the material."
The Boomers first album was initially ignored here, but became a surprise hit in Germany. That market has remained the band's best, as they've scored gold albums and toured successfully there.
"In Canada, they said 'oh, it's just Ian Thomas and a bunch of sidemen,' but the first German review said 'this is one of the most interesting combinations of people we've heard in a long time'," recalls Thomas.
"It's that typical Canadian approach to smothering our own before they've had a chance to walk! The best example was when we were going over to Germany on our second promotional trip. It was a Lufthansa flight, and the purser came on the plane in Toronto, recognized me, and took me up to first class. When I came home I had a few CDs in my case. Customs hauled them out, and the customs officer looked at me in a very belligerent way and said, 'am I supposed to know you or something?' I just thought, 'welcome home'."
After diversions into other areas, Ian has now rediscovered his love of songwriting. "I wrote and sold a screenplay two years ago and then I finished a novel. To me, though, the song remains the most concise and creatively satisfying package. The joy of discovery is just as exciting to me at 52 as ever before."
Midway is out on Alma Records. Peter Cardinali appears regularly with The Dexters at The Orbit Room. Solo Ian Thomas dates will be announced soon.

Publication Date: 2002-10-06
Story Location: http://tandemnews.com/viewstory.php?storyid=1835