Wise up!

>> The multi-talented Bob Wiseman
makes art out of his pain

by JOHNSON CUMMINS

Toronto musician, songwriter and filmmaker Bob Wiseman, of Blue Rodeo fame, seems to be kicking at the dirt, with his humility well in check, and adds remarks such as, “What do I know” or, “Not that I’m better than anybody else” after each question hurled at him. Wiseman’s gee-shucks attitude is indeed endearing, but a little offputting, as the man has released Theme and Variations, one of the best break-up records since Afghan Whigs’ utterly heartwrenching Gentlemen.

Before you reach for the Kleenex box, know that Wiseman manages to use the horrible experience to his advantage, and is living proof that what doesn’t kill us indeed makes us stronger. “I was talking on the phone with [musician/painter] Mendelson Joe,” says Wiseman, “and he said that I should take all of this pain I was feeling and turn it into art. He said, ‘Bob, that’s what we do as artists. We have a distinct advantage over, say, a mechanic who would be in similar situations, because we can create something with it,’ and that’s when I started writing the record.”

If there is a certain detachment in Wiseman’s voice when he’s talking about the difficult theme of the record, it’s because he has indeed come out the other side a—ahem—wiser man. After exiling himself in the country for years, Wiseman finally returned to city life after his break-up, with the proverbial knife still twisting in his back, and began seeking solace in friends and family. Once there, he fell madly in love and married Magali Meagher, singer in the band the Phonemes, and got to such a happy place that he almost didn’t release his ode to his tumultuous relationship.

“I had the songs for awhile and thought they were really strong, and I had played them to some people who really liked them, but I just felt weird putting out these songs about another woman when I was married. My wife said she didn’t give a shit, and just told me to put out the record. Now it’s just a little strange, because I waited for so long to put this record out, years after the songs were written. It really feels like a snapshot of another time and place now, and you can return to it when you sing it, but you’re really not connected to it anymore.”

Although Wiseman is primarily known as a musician, he wears many hats. In live settings, his animation clips (including a farcical meeting between Wiseman and record mogul David Geffen), super8 films (such as the one in which the audio of Robert De Niro and Al Pacino in the film Heat is grafted to footage of clowns) and high-def video collaborations with Kids in the Hall’s Scott Thompson are screened during or between musical performances. Over his hour-long set, Wiseman summons up both humour and political awareness and, as he puts it, can even get downright “entertaining.”

“As a filmmaker, I still feel like a bit of an impostor. I don’t think I’m a great director, but when I watch films now, I’m always thinking about how they lit the scene and decorated the set. I guess with films or music, although they are very different, I still really enjoy being forced to think creatively.”

With Geoff Berner and Great Aunt Ida
at casa del popolo tonight, Thursday, Feb. 22, 9 p.m.