From the Hearts on Fire files today: one of my favourite interview subjects, Sam Roberts, a mensch of a man whose eponymous band plays History in Toronto on Friday, February 9.
(This week’s live music listings are here.)
After slogging it out in tiny Montreal bars in the 1990s alongside his friend Murray Lightburn of the Dears, Sam Roberts rocketed to national attention in 2002 with the single “Brother Down.” The accompanying six-song EP, The Inhuman Condition, featured two more songs that would be radio hits — “Don’t Walk Away Eileen” and “Where Have All the Good People Gone” — paving the way for his platinum-selling debut, 2003’s We Were Born in a Flame.
But you know that.
I would argue that Roberts is actually putting out the best music of his career now, judging by at least his last two records, 2020’s All of Us and 2023’s The Adventures of Ben Blank — as well as two records, in 2019 and 2022, with the supergroup Anyway Gang, with members of Sloan, Hollerado and Tokyo Police Club. All produced by Gus Van Go, the former Montrealer also behind recent records by the Beaches, Terra Lightfoot and Metric.
I had never interviewed Sam Roberts before writing The Never-Ending Present. He owes a good part of his early launch to an opening slot on a Tragically Hip tour; his band would be one of the Hip’s preferred openers in the next 15 years. In a book full of fascinating characters and some personal heroes, Roberts was one of my favourite interviews. Smart, funny, thoughtful, articulate — the man speaks in paragraphs! That’s when I realized how good his recent records were, and I (finally) became a fan of more than just “Brother Down.”
Further fuelling my recent fandom, in the earliest days of the pandemic he posted this family video of a 2014 single that had suddenly become all-too-timely. It was posted on March 27, 2020. Dark times. This was a light. Yes, dear reader, I wept. (As I did the day before, when Doctor Who chimed in.) Four years ago — feels like a century.
In this Hearts on Fire interview, he talks about his beginnings as “basically a Ride cover band,” his friendly competition with the Dears, pre-buzz Montreal attitude, bullshitting at the Biftek, drinking in L.A., bombing at SXSW, barfing in Lake Ontario on a video set, racing through SARSfest, American hype, Canadian socialism, freedom fries post-9/11, watching the Constantines almost get electrocuted, and how his second album was essentially a surf vacation.
He refuses, however, to tell us about hanging out at Kid Rock’s house with Mother Mother.
The interview was conducted in July 2020, over the phone in full lockdown times. “When this pandemic is over,” he joked, “we can look forward to going back to all the stability of a rock’n’roll band.”
Sam Roberts
July 14, 2020
In preparing to talk to you, it forced me to go back and think about a time that I’ve largely ignored. It was definitely the most exciting time, a season of possibility.
But in the interest of always looking forward as a survival instinct, you never want to spend too much time in the golden years. With the intention of moving forward and making new music, it’s often helpful to look back at the hard times you had, as a motivating force.
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