"I'm going to miss Big Sugar"

Mick Sleeper reviews Hit And Run for SEE Magazine (October 2003).

I'm going to miss Big Sugar. Yes, the rumours are more or less true -- Canada's loudest band is calling it quits. With all of the members interested in other projects and playing in other bands, it seems like a natural time to call it a day. So it's no surprise for the band to release a "best of" collection just before they leave the building. It's not very often that a band combines really eclectic music with commercial success. Whatever hits Big Sugar came up with have stood head and shoulders above your usual pop music dreck, and even at their most posturing moments, they've remained as that rare commodity in modern music: a great rock & roll band.

Hit And Run is a two CD set that includes 13 songs from Big Sugar's five albums as well as three new tunes. Hit distills the best Big Sugar songs: from the lazy blues of "Sleep In Late" to the distorted, fuzzy rock of "Diggin' A Hole", to the melancholy lament of "All Hell For A Basement". Not much to say about the selection of tunes, except that these are the songs you know and love. As far as the new songs go, "I Want You Now" is the first single from the album, a minimal love song that's destined to be their last hit. The best of the bunch is "Trouble In The City", a rocking Caribbean number co-written by Johnson and Trinidad's Lord Nelson. The final tune on Hit is the most interesting number, "Three Minute Song". I'm sure it was chosen as the last song for a reason: it's a raucous, semi-punk number in which Johnson plays all of the instruments and belts out what could be an epitaph for Big Sugar: "I'm getting sick of living like a wheel".

The second CD, Run, features a collection of live jams, which serves as a great souvenir for anyone who has been pinned to the wall by sheer volume at a Big Sugar gig. Seeing the band live can be an amazing experience, as they weld together songs with sheets of feedback or dubbed out echo, and that's all captured on Run. Thus, the bluesy "Groundhog Day" suddenly turns into the reggae anthem "Armagideon Time" and back again before you even notice what's going on.

Before their "final" Edmonton gig at Cook County last Wednesday, I sat down with Gordie Johnson for a short chat. When I asked him about the end of Big Sugar, I was surprised when he said "I'm feeling a bit constricted, musically." Given all of the genres that have become a part of Big Sugar's sound -- blues, rock, reggae, funk, country -- that seems hard to believe. If it is the end of Big Sugar, Hit And Run serves as a reminder of what a truly great and unique band they were.

Sleeper: So, they're calling this the "farewell tour" and the rumour is that Big Sugar is finished. What's the deal?

Johnson: Well, I have to stay a little elusive on this topic. This is fixing to be our last tour for awhile, and possibly for good, in this format, anyway -- the five of us playing together. I've got other musical horizons that I'd like to explore. The guys are all doing their own thing -- Garry and Mojah have a reggae band, Mr. Chill is playing in a bluegrass band... It kind of feels like we've come to the end. I kind of want to tear it down and start all over again.

Sleeper: Are the three new songs really new, or are they out-takes from previous albums?

Johnson: They come from a variety of sources. "I Want You Now" is an entirely new song. "Trouble In The City" is a song that I played with Mojah back in the 80s at Caribana. It was written by Mojah's uncle, Lord Nelson, who is a big calypso star in Trinidad. "Three Minute Song" is actually a John Ford song. I produced an album for them last year, and they're one of my favorite bands. I helped with the composition of the song, and I just really identified with it.

Sleeper: So what's next for you?

Johnson: I just feel like I need to come up with something that's... (Pauses) I have to dig down deep to pull something out that's really raw. You cut into a big juicy steak, the outside is all cooked and yummy, but right down in the middle there might be a cold, bloody part. That's what I'm digging to find.

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