90’s Canadian Alternative Rock. If I had a wheelhouse, this would be it.
There are a few people looking to document this time in music history with a film called Rave & Drool and I am all over it.
I have been following the campaign to make this movie quite closely and it’s triggered my nostalgia glands which, by the way, totally medically exist with symptoms including misty-eyed smiles and looking off into the distance.
I also recently purchased Apple Music and am finally starting to resign myself to the idea that I no longer need to physically “own” every song I listen to. Not everything has to be in a “playlist” created from my own versions of “mp3s” stored in “folders” on my “computer”. Maybe, just maybe, the music I’m listening to will actually from now on be forever available to me and I don’t have to worry about a format change sweeping everything out from under me any more.
As I dove into the wormhole that is streaming music I didn’t know where I would end up, following recommended links and albums continuously to see what else Apple Music would uncover for me.
Now, had I actually thought about it, I should have known exactly where I would end up. 90’s Canadian Alternative Rock. As I cycled through all the albums that have made their way through my collections over the years, from tape to CD to mp3 and still comprise a good chunk of my current playlists on iTunes, one album stood out as it was one that hadn’t survived the format changes over the years into digitalization.
Lik My Trakter by The Waltons.
I put some headphones on, turned the lights out and laid down in bed and suddenly I was 15 again, doing the exact same thing, only with a walkman instead of an ipad.
Every word from every song came back to me, even though I hadn’t listened to the album in probably 15 years.
The Waltons were a staple on the live music scene around that time as well. I had seen them at CFNY’s acoustic Christmas several times and they routinely played with other big names like Barenaked Ladies and The Skydiggers. They were winning Junos, they were all over the radio but after breaking up in the mid 90’s they just faded away.
Because I am nostalgic for pretty much everything and spend a lot of my quiet moments reliving and remembering the events that have led up to now, it’s a little rare for me to rediscover a full album in this manner.
If you don’t remember The Waltons I’ve got three songs here for you that, if you listened to the radio at all in the 90’s, you would have heard.
In The Meantime was one of the most played songs on Canadian Radio in 1993.
And this is why I do this blog. I don’t do it for people to read, I do it to relive and discover things anew about the music that has helped shape my life. I didn’t even know this next video existed until this exact moment that I’m writing this.
Mel Lastman Square, New Years Eve 1993. I was 15 and this was the first time I had ever gone out for New Years Eve to do something without my parents. I remember exactly where I was standing and I remember this song perfectly and the fact that someone has uploaded this to YouTube with whatever crazy size camera they must have been holding… well, the Internet is a special place sometimes.
The Naked Rain.
And, last but not least, one of the most popular songs off the album, Colder Than You.
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Further Listening:
I know I got a little sidetracked in focusing on The Waltons, but lots of good stuff to do with the Rave and Drool movie is out there.
Check out their Facebook Page where they have Cover Song Saturdays with 90’s Canadian artists doing covers.
They’ve also got a wicked Spotify playlist that rivals a few that I’ve put together myself; further proof that I need to let go of the idea of owning my own music library and just dive into this online world of subscriptions and sharing.