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Birdhouse rock >> Thrush Hermit survive the Halifax hype, Sloan's shadow and Elektra-cution by CHRIS YURKIW
So if Thrush Hermit were a largely undistinguished or indistinguishable group that got a bit of a free ride into the national spotlight with the great Halifax Explosion of '92, all of that changed with their first full-length album, Sweet Homewrecker (Elektra, 1997). In fact, just about everything changed for the little Hermit after its one-album dance with major-labeldom, but more on that later. Before came the not-so-little issue of them being virtual protégés of Sloan, signed to the Haligonian big bro's Murder label and everything. "I think in the beginning we had a bit of a chip on our shoulders," says Hermit guitarist Rob Benvie, "because everywhere we went it was like, 'Hey! Sloan Junior! You guys sound like Sloan. You guys look like Sloan. You guys are just like Sloan except you're smaller.' And to a certain extent that was probably true, but we were also pretty young and pretty impressionable and still finding our direction." And it was a long road from the proverbial garage--10 years ago as 13-year-old enthusiasts--to the suits and deadlines of Elektra, to the sessions in Memphis with indie-cred producer Doug Easley (Pavement, Grifters), to the great disappointment of a business-end crush that was simultaneous with a creative flush. "When you're at a big label like that it all comes down to whether you're a priority, or whether there's some sort of push behind you," says Benvie. "I mean, we saw memos saying, 'We are not working the Thrush Hermit album anymore. We are moving on to this.' It was very discouraging." But this kind of misadventure of little-band-meets-big-label, big-label-beats-little-band is old hat now in these post-alt signing days (see, um, Sloan). All the Hermit had to do was call their lawyer and bingo! They were free as a bird and even had money from the divorce to record their next album, which they promptly did with the premier Canadian indie Sonic Unyon. And somewhere in the great release that is Clayton Park, Thrush Hermit may have even surpassed Sloan--at least if you rate things on the Thin Lizzy scale. Or if you start listening to '70s hard-rock castoffs like Budgie or Cactus with your Zep and Sabbath. "A lot of that stuff is very flawed in that there are some good sounds but not really great songs," says Rob. "So our whole idea was like, 'Let's keep writing good songs but also try to incorporate some of this jammy, guitar aspect to it.' It's just that most people who attempt to be heavy get mired down in bad songs. And that's the problem with most '90s post-grunge bands. "We wanted to rock out. Thoroughly. And efficiently. And enthusiastically." With Tricky Woo at Petit Campus on Friday, April 2, 9pm, $5
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Thrush Hermit. Cute name. Maybe not a tough enough name for a band that's become such a hard-rockin' unit, but these four buds from Halifax used to wear their moniker well--if you were wont to think about it or look it up in a book. A thrush is "any of numerous small or medium-sized passerine birds which are mostly of a plain colour often with spotted underparts and many of which are excellent singers." Corny, I know, to do the definition thing, but it's pretty much on the money.