I’M ON MY WAY TO A PERFECT DAY
A CONVERSATION WITH DREW ARNOTT & ROB BAILEY OF STRANGE ADVANCE: PART ONE
After a lengthy, decades long hiatus, Strange Advance, the Canadian Juno-nominated, gold-selling band is back from their β80s carbonite-like slumber. The recent release of their 4th studio album, rightfully titled 4, has been very well-received by the Strange Advance fan-base. 1988βs impressive release The Distance Between has for a long time appeared to be Strange Advanceβs final studio album, strangely, just as they were building on their solid fanbase and library of music. The synth, new wave rock bandβs impressive resume of catchy, radio-friendly songs, include classics such as βWe Runβ, βWorlds Awayβ, and βLove Becomes Electricβ, which by all indicators hinted there eventually should be more to come. Founding member Drew Arnott and Rob Bailey spoke to Spill Magazine about the second coming of Strange Advance.
Strange Advanceβs patriarch, Arnott, explained the thought process for 4. βThe record has a very β80s sound to it. It turns out that is what comes out of my head. So Iβm just a very old-fashioned guy. I thought, oh no, this is going to be laughed at. And the fans, of course, theyβre enjoying it. They say βThis is the best record youβve ever done.β. What I find as a songwriter is I would kind of consider myself the curator of the Strange Advance catalogue and what ends up on a Strange Advance record. Iβve got one of those minds that canβt turn off and itβs not fun, sometimes. Thereβs way too many ideas. Thereβs lots of material but when I write it could be any particular style. Iβm not writing as Strange Advance, itβs whatever occurs to me at the time.β
The independently released 4 contains vintage remastered and new material. Times and technology have changed and Strange Advance has adapted, using technological advances in their favour, while producing an album and for upcoming live concerts.
Arnott detailed βMastering was one of the most difficult aspects, making everything sort of smoosh together. We went through a lot of mastering and re-mastering and re-mastering until finally we got it where we were happy. In the past, I got to go to New York with tapes under my arm and sit down with Bob Ludwig at Masterdisk and watch the maestro at work.Β Not to mention, I donβt have the worldβs best ears. Rob is an engineer; heβs got a full-on really nice studio. I just need to hear things, they have to reach a really low bar for me and then Iβm happy. But this time I had to be a little pickier. If I didnβt love them, they wouldnβt be on the record.β
βOne of the biggest things about some of the older material thatβs on the album is the formats, because so much time has gone. It wasnβt like you could just go βOh thereβs the reel with two-inch tape with everything on it.β. Nooooo. You had to go βOh, I think this track is on this hard drive and then the bass partβs on this other tape for a machine they donβt make anymore.β. Itβs quite an archaeological expedition to get stuff together. On the computer where you could have all the tracks line-up in synch and then be able to do some stuff with them.β explained Bailey.
An exasperated Arnott recalled βI got the shock of my life. Iβve got a big box of dat tapes, because DAT (Digital Audio Tape) used to be sort of the pro studio standard for a while. A short while. But to find out neither of my DAT machines work! It took a long time to find somebody who would loan me their DAT machine. Back in the day, everything went to tape, and tape is surprisingly robust. It can deteriorate, but you know, you can bake it and you can pull whateverβs on it. But then when we went digital, my god, itβs like everythingβs gone to the dogs that way.β
4 is dedicated to the memory of the legendary Canadian music executive, Deane Cameron, who sadly passed away in 2019. Cameron was made a Member of the Order of Canada in 2010 for his many contributions to arts and music. Cameron was nicknamed βCaptain Canadaβ for his passionate support of Canadian music and was president of Capitol Records/EMI Music Canada for nearly 25 years.Β He had an impact on a wide-range of Canadian artists, including Stompinβ Tom Connors, Tom Cochrane, Rush, Max Webster, Corey Hart, April Wine, Anne Murray, Moist, The Tea Party, Buffy Sainte-Marie, The Rankin Family, Nickelback, k-os, and, of course, Strange Advance.
Arnottβs fond memories of Cameron were extensive. βDeane Cameron was an awesome guy. The funny thing is Deane was maybe three years older than me, but I always looked at him like a father figure. I went to LA a couple of times to try to shop demos. I got shot down a lot, but when I went to Capitol Records, I can remember being at the tower, and being in the A&R guyβs office. When I dropped the cassette off, they had enough interest that they sent it to the Canadian label, and weirdly enough, the Canadian label did not have an A&R guy. Well, yes, they did, it was Deane Cameron, except he didnβt work for the Canadian label. He worked for the Americans but was based in Toronto. Itβs a very strange set-up. Years later, Darryl (Kromm) was on the road with Bryan Adams, his local cover band was Bryanβs first back-up band. Bryan liked the tape and he gave it to Bruce Fairbairn. Bruce Fairbairn sent it to Deane Cameron, and heβs going βI know these guys, Iβve got this tape, I love these guys.β. The cassette didnβt show up with any contact information. So heβs like βI didnβt know what to do with this.β. We actually signed to Capitol LA, after all. Deane was our hero, our own personal hero. And nowhere is that more evident than when we recorded βWe Runβ, because Deane took a personal liking to the song and wanted to get a good mix of it. At the time, Scott Litt, who was an engineer/producer, heβd had some success but no major success, but he was hungry, he wanted it. He said βDeane, I love that song, give it to me, Iβll do a great job.β. So, he took it and our master tapes and went to the Power Station in New York, itβs a very famous studio and a very expensive studio, and he spent not one, not two, but three days mixing that song, which was unheard of for an act of our stature. You had to be The Rolling Stones in order to spend as much time as you wanted. He did a great job with the mix, and thatβs because Deane was willing to sign the cheque. Although, in the end we had to pay for those expenses (laughs).β
βDeane was a champion of all kindsβ¦ I mean Ross, our drummer and I had a band (3D) in around that same era, and we were doing our best to write our own stuff and Deane financed a demo with us with Randy Bachman. Said βHereβs a cheque, go do four tunes, letβs see what you guys can do.β. We didnβt do what Strange Advance did, cause we kinda sucked (laughs). But he was a guy behind the scenes doing all of that stuff. He was a hugely important figure for a lot of Canadian bands.β vividly recalled Bailey.