Baritone-Loc

>> Is Crash Test Dummy Brad Roberts insane?

by CHRIS BARRY

It's crossed my mind that maybe, just maybe, Crash Test Dummies' singer/lyricist Brad Roberts has suffered a nervous breakdown of sorts.

Think about it. Here's a guy who's sold zillions of records with this eloquent, slipper-wearing, pipe-smoking Dad image, charming the pants off CBC-listening housewives everywhere, going ahead and potentially throwing his career away for a newly discovered passion for all things funk.

Okay, I tip my hat to him for taking a chance on something a little different, but it still seems a tad curious to me--like maybe Brad's hamster is running in the wrong direction on his treadmill. I mentioned my concern to him over coffee recently and he assured me that he was "no crazier than he's ever been." A sure sign of mental illness.

"It's like this," says Roberts. "I've been living up in Harlem over the past little while and I just couldn't help but be inspired by all of the culture surrounding me. Every time I step outside my door, I'm surrounded by music: people singing on the street corners, in the subway, sounds blaring out of ghetto blasters. There's a rhythm to Harlem and it's definitely had an effect on my work, a positive one I hope."

Okay, I guess, but what about the falsetto he's using all over the disturbingly catchy and highly acclaimed new Dummies record, Give Yourself a Hand? Every urban dweller knows that the falsetto is the favourite howl of the homeless. And clearly, the link between homelessness and mental illness has been well established. Explain this, Brad: why the falsetto, huh?

"Well, I just kept hearing people in the neighborhood singing falsetto all the time. Inevitably, I started fucking around with my own voice a little bit and one thing just kind of led to another. Besides, even I can get irritated with my lugubrious bass baritone after awhile."

Lugubrious. That's a pretty big word for a nutcase. Maybe our boy's going to be all right after all.

Crash Test Dummies open for Alanis Morissette at the Molson Centre, Saturday, May 15, 8pm, $29.50/$39.50+taxes. $1 per ticket goes to the Tourette's Syndrome Fuh-fuh-fuck'n-Foundation