Prankster pop

>> The Gerry Alvarez Odyssey
floats downstream

REVIVAL OF THE FITTEST: Gerry Alvarez

by LORRAINE CARPENTER

When the Gruesomes brought their brand of garage goofiness to the local scene, a bit of the mid ’60s in the mid ’80s, they captured a certain spirit that had been quashed in the ’70s, when rock started taking itself too seriously, and punk pushed cynicism to the fore. They led Canada into the (first) garage revival, and 10 years later, there were bands of damned kids across North America who’d raided their parents’ record collections (and closets, in some cases) and hit the road with music that was fun and easy to play, and almost always guaranteed a good time. And 20 years later, a second revival has come and not quite gone, and the style is nothing less than a staple. Likewise, bands everywhere have been mining the psychedelic sound that branched off of both garage rock and British-invasion pop in the ’60s, and that’s where Gerry Alvarez comes in.

The former Gruesomes guitarist always aspired to the surreal streams of consciousness and Eastern intonations of Revolver (the Gruesomes, in Beatles terms, were always more Help!), a tendency he’s explored in the solo material written during the band’s many hiatuses. In 2005, Alvarez selected his greatest hits, assembled a band and released his debut album, Candy Prankster by the Gerry Alvarez Odyssey, on Montreal’s Ricochet Records. The Mirror tracked him down in Toronto, where he’s been living for four years, pursuing a career in graphic design for advertising.

Mirror: I gather there’s more of an audience for your music in Toronto.

Gerry Alvarez: Oh yeah, a lot more people understand what it is that I do, and there’s a lot more musicians, so it’s way easier to get a band together to record an album.

M: When you and the Gruesomes first got going, did you think the style would still be going strong 20 years later?

GA: We just did what we really liked. We were ’60s music nerds, so we started off with mod music, and then we got into garage stuff and said, “Hey, let’s just do it.” And it just so happens that there were these American bands like the Chesterfield Kings and the Fuzztones doing it too, but they didn’t inspire us, we just did it because we loved those old ’60s records. And we were practically the only ones doing it in Canada. It does surprise me when I read in glossy magazines that people are into ’60s music now, but obviously I can relate.

M: So you’re playing more shows with the new band—do you still enjoy touring?

GA: Yeah, I enjoy it when everything works out and the places we stay are comfortable and the shows are fun. At the beginning [with the Gruesomes], it was sleeping on floors and in bars and in the van, anywhere. Then, after a while, we got the nice hotels and got to be flown around too.

M: So are you starting over with the new band in that respect?

GA: Well, I’d prefer not to, and I don’t think it’s so necessary. I wouldn’t want to do all the punk bars across North America. I’ve been through that and that’s pretty rough [laughs].

With Sonic Avenues at le Divan Orange
on Friday, Aug. 17, 9:30 p.m., $7