IT GIVES ME PURPOSE AND I LOVE IT
A CONVERSATION WITH KIM MITCHELL
If you ask many people in my age group who are from Southern Ontario ‘who was your first rock concert?’ A great many will say Max Webster. Max Webster was the music of my youth, and as I got older, Kim Mitchell solo became the soundtrack of my ‘adult’ years. Basically, Kim Mitchell has been a presence in our lives for, well, all of our lives. For the record, I can remember seeing Max Webster at The Civic Auditorium in Oshawa, Ontario.
“I remember playing the Civic Auditorium in Oshawa,” Mitchell said during our conversation recently. “Those were good shows, and I will tell you why I liked them. That was one of the few places where the acoustics sounded ok. I don’t know if they treated that place with noise enhancing things in the ceiling, I don’t remember. But I do remember that every time we played it sounded really good on stage. Not like an echoey gymnasium. Having said that, London Gardens in London, Ontario, which I think a truck driver ended up buying to keep his trucks in, that place sounded terrible. A week after we played there, I could still hear the echo,” laughed Mitchell.
“But you turned out okay, Aaron?” he asked. Well, having grown up with his music, I did just fine. “Some did and some didn’t, so I just thought I didn’t want to take responsibility for that. Some people say, ‘it was your music.’ Ah well, it affected me too, I think.”
It is hard to interview Kim Michell due to the fact I kept laughing. He is a fun guy and does not play rock star at all. And in fact, he is quite surprised when he sees young people at his shows.
PHOTO CREDIT: AL PETTMAN
“Young kids at the shows, holding up album covers. ‘Was it your parents that did this to you?”
Which brings us to the fact that Mitchell is heading out on the road for a few shows out west. But Mitchell is quick to point out that it is not a big tour.
“I don’t do big tours anymore. I do shows under my solo project. We have some stuff in December and January. You know, there is nothing like touring in December and January when the flu is at its all time high, sitting in airports and checking into hotels, touching everything and eating weird food. My gastroenterologist drops his glasses and looks at me. ‘You’re not going out on the road again?’ ‘Yes, I am!’”
And Mitchell prepares for going on the road.
“There’s a lot I need to do at home in order to prepare to do what I like to do out there. I try to take care of myself. I do pretty good most days. I start. For people who have a life of chaos in their work, which is pretty much what the music business is, and there are other careers that are like that. As soon as I come back from a tour, I love structure and routine. There are a lot of things I do during the day that are structured and by the time dinner rolls around, I have dinner with my girlfriend, the routine hits the dirt,” laughed Mitchell. “I’m kidding. I am up everyday between 6:15 and 6:30, I do some stretches. I go to a specific coffee shop everyday and meet a friend. He doesn’t do anything I do, but we have a coffee and a laugh. We all need friendships and connections. I call those my micro social connections. They are really important. The barista in the coffee shop, the mail person, you know you have a quick hello with, but those are so important. As are our close friends and loved ones.”
PURCHASE TICKETS TO MAX WEBSTER FEATURING KIM MITCHELL & FRIENDS AT THE OLG STAGE AT FALLSVIEW CASINO IN NIAGARA FALLS
On March 12, 2027, Mitchell will be playing Fallsview Casino doing a special show. It is being billed as Max Webster featuring Kim Mitchell and Friends.
“A year and a half ago, we played Fallsview Casino, and before we played that show. This Max Webster show was sealed. Agents and manager. My son is my manager and tour manager, and I feel sorry for him. I check in with him every few months, and say ‘hey, you don’t have to do this and look after your dad. If you want to go off and do something…’ and he is always ‘No no, I love doing this’.
But agents approached us and asked if we had considered doing a night of Max Webster? Now you have to remember when this was being negotiated Terry Watkinson was still alive, Gary McCracken was alive and so was Pye Dubois (we lost them all this year). We had been asked for a couple of years, and I said, ‘yeah, ok’. We’re not getting any younger. Maybe we could get Gary to sing “A Million Vacations”. I know he was pretty much a recluse in Sarnia at that point. And I knew Terry wasn’t doing too well. We lost them both, sadly. Well, let’s see if anyone would book it, right away Fallsview got back and said ‘we will take it, we’ll do it.’ It is such a beautiful room for an older Max Webster audience. There is parking, seats, a bar and people can enjoy a night of listening to Max Webster music exclusively and relive that period and we will be doing exactly the same on stage.”
PHOTO CREDIT: LISA GULIAK
Mitchell has begun getting ready for the show and figuring out the older songs again, some of which he has not performed as a solo artist.
“It is mainly as a guitar player. How did I do this? How did I swing this on stage? Playing this and singing that part? How do I handle this part? There may have been an overdub on the album, and they are both important parts, so there is a lot of figuring that stuff out. We have started to rehearse. I wanted to get together with the rhythm section. I want to do some stuff we have not done. I want the musical bar to be high. I don’t want to go out there and be hacky. Maybe I will just phone up and say ‘forget it. I can’t play anything, the show is canceled,’ laughed Mitchell. “That is not going to happen. It’s on!”
“You do relate to something that Alex Lifeson said about the new Rush tour. He said that during rehearsals, he thought a couple of times ‘what did I sign up for here?’ It is exciting, it gives me purpose and I love it and at the same time it is a bit terrifying.”
Terrifying is good, I remind him. “You’re right, Aaron. The day that is not happening, you may as well pack it in.”
“Say what you will about age. Let’s enjoy our lives. One day we are gone, so we might as well do what you want. I know David Lee Roth has taken heat because he doesn’t sing as well. So what? Do what you want, it beats sitting in a chair all day.”
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Main Photo Credit: Al Pettman | Background Photo Credit: Lisa Guliak
