So one hears different things about Art Bergmann. I've had people I trust tell me that it's hard for him to stand with an electric guitar now, because he has issues with his back; I recall hearing similar things (though not from Art) at the Rickshaw, the last time I saw him there. It was a great show, that long-away night a mere six years ago -- you never would have guessed Art had physical issues, especially as he was reaching down to haul people onto the stage to join in the festivities; it was a committed, passionate performance -- but it also didn't seem to be an idle rumour: I remember people telling me that it would be his last ever rock show, and that any further shows he did would be acoustic.
Again: never heard Art say that himself. But it seemed a good place to start my questions, especially given that people he polled on Facebook -- "what do you want to hear"-type questions of his fanbase -- were requesting driving, electric rock songs like "Gambol" and "Bound for Vegas," or maybe some of his Young Canadians material for his Rickshaw return on Friday. Hard to imagine those as acoustic songs!
Art Bergmann at the Rickshaw, May 2017, by Erik Iversen, not to be reused without permission.
They also didn't seem very much in keeping with Art's very personal new album, ShadowWalk, themed around his surviving last year's loss of his long-time partner, Sherri Decembrini - whom Alex Varty describes as "the musician’s wife, muse, and de facto manager." The first song completed, "Death of a Siren," is rooted in acoustic strumming. Some other tracks have swirling soundscapes, rather than riffs; they're more spoken-word-set-to-ambient-music than songs per se. Art explains, when I ask if that's down to the influence of Paul Rigby -- who did some amazingly delicate work on The Apostate -- "As you can see from the album credits Paul Rigby was involved but the ambient feel you reference is my work with Russell Broom who sat with the lyrics, before bringing the tonal soundscapes you hear. Russell is a magician."
A prime example of Broom at work would be "Impotence." Introspective and brooding, it's some of the most pained and haunting material in Bergmann's catalogue, fairly far away from, say, the meaty riffing on his previous album's lead single, "Christo-Fascists," recorded with with the MC5's Wayne Kramer. With lyrics written by poet Patricia Kay, "Impotence" -- "a snapshot of my mindset before finally deciding life was liveable," Art says -- is in keeping with the isolation, staggering loss, and deep pain he suffered after Decembrini died, which he was very public about on social media; those of us who follow him on Facebook were afraid for him. In fact, when the title of Jason Schneider's authorized autobiography of Bergmann, The Longest Suicide, was announced, it seemed at the time like it could be referencing the expected outcome of Art's plunge into the abyss (Varty comments aptly that it seemed "in the worst possible taste," but otherwise is quite praising of the book. Note that the author will be on hand to launch the book as a sort of opener to the concert) .
So the first question to Art: was this going to be an acoustic show? Would he be playing his "more rockin' songs" at all, or would this be something completely different...?
Before he even replied, Art addressed Facebook in general, in case my misapprehension was shared, writing in caps that "THIS IS GOING TO BE A ROCK AND ROLL SHOW!!" To me he added, "The band I have assembled for The Rickshaw gig is ready to blow the doors off," and directed me to recent Calgary Folk Festival footage where he is very much electrified. So we might, indeed, be hearing songs like "Bound for Vegas," or other favourites, as part of what Bergmann says will be "a 75+ minute set, with a bit of everything, ShadowWalk included."
Good to know!
For those curious, Friday's band includes Adam Drake and Murphy Farrell, on drums and percussion; Bradley Ferguson on bass; Paul Rigby and Steven Drake on guitar; Leo DeJohnson and Aidan Farrell (and Art!) on vocals; and Dave Genn on keyboards. I know someone for whom the strength of the backing band was the key to deciding between Art at the Rickshaw and Pansy Division at the Biltmore, the same night; sorry, Pansy Division -- I had considered seeing you too, but having listened to ShadowWalk in full (now available for streaming on the weewerk bandcamp), I can't miss this.
Art Bergmann by Bob Hanham, Commodore 2014, not to be reused without permission
And by the by, it turns out I'm kinda wrong about ShadowWalk. It's a departure for Art, but not totally unrecognizable. I had taken "Death of a Siren" and "Impotence" as typical tunes, but there's also the jagged-edged rock of "Killing Sunday" -- lyric video here. It's the song that stands in the closest sonic relationship to the more harrowing moments of 1990's Sexual Roulette, seeing Art taking issue with the sanctified nature of the holy day itself -- "and the cult that made it" -- given that his wife died on a Sunday. "This song is raw grieffy lashing out and I am sorry, yea, it hurts," he wrote on Facebook, saying elsewhere that he no longer recognizes Sunday as a day of the week. Note that bandcamp gets the words a bit wrong, but in an interestingly telling way. I'm copying the lyrics below, in case they get fixed; I'm not sure if Art or Patricia deserve credit on this one but I love the substitution of "Christian," given here, with "chickens," in the actual song, because "chicken" is a slang for coward, and also the cutting of chickens heads is part of some pagan rituals -- a more evocative (but slightly less violent) way of getting at the same core idea.Not one true word was said
So we made a collective incision
Slashed some Christian throats instead
And “Sundays are no more”
Became Our Monday morning cheer
The cult was dead, food was shared,
And women were not scared
So "Killing Sunday" is a standout - a powerful tune, one of Art's most biting, but there's an even more striking track, "Raw Naked Monday." Hearing it for the first time, I was surprised to discover it was such a pop song, I observed to Art via email.
Art -- always a bit spikey -- came back with, "Why are you surprised that a career songwriter has written a pop song? Have you heard my back catalogue? RNM is no anomaly. Can you hear The Kinks influence?"
Actually, I can, but on reflection, it seems more akin to a song by Australian band the Angels (best known here as Angel City), "Am I Ever Gonna See Your Face Again," which also connects to someone's sense of loss for their departed partner (lyricist and vocalist Doc Neeson, whose voice sometimes reminds me of Bergmann's, explained a bit about the history of the song here). You just don't hear many catchy pop songs - "a good time summer song," Art calls it -- about loss and death. I didn't think it was a dumb question! "Of course I know your back catalogue," I wrote back, "but I was still surprised at how cheerful 'Raw Naked Monday' is. I expected the album to be mostly sombre and brooding!"
Art's response: "The album is a journey. 'Raw Naked Monday' is part of it, the new holy day after Sunday is killed...Revivification, then back to the future revolution of Kali, then acceptance and Love of the Hymn and 'CandleLight'...its epic, man...written over 8 months...you need to live with it a while...ever read Nick Cave’s description of grief? Do it... we all will live it; that is the deal...It never leaves, but there is a way out and I am describing it."
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