The Stampeders perform in concert April 5 at 7:30 p.m. at Centennial Theatre. For tickets visit nvrc.ca/centennial-theatre/whats-on/stampeders-concert.
He was trapped in a retail labyrinth with Michael Bolton.
“(I was) trying to figure out how I can get out,” recalls Rich Dodson, singer and guitarist for Canadian rock band The Stampeders.
Ikea’s roundabout architecture delayed escape, forcing Dodson to endure Bolton’s adult contemporary rendition of southern soul. It wasn’t quite like when the U.S. military tried to hasten the surrender of Panama dictator Manuel Noriega by blasting heavy metal, but it wasn’t a picnic, either.
But then Dodson heard a familiar banjo strumming: “Ating-tinga-ting . . . Sweet City Woman.”
“I went right back into Ikea and got a couple more glasses,” Dodson laughs.
In a conversation that veers from his chiropractor’s strong hands (“Yeeooww,” he yelps) to Dodson’s vision of an online exchange system where musicians can sell songs to fans without the intermediary of a record company, the talk keeps returning to the Stampeders’ biggest hit.
Dodson proudly notes that Jim Vallance, the composer who penned hits for Bryan Adams and collaborated with Aerosmith, recently named “Sweet City Woman” the No. 4 Canadian song of all time (Joni Mitchell’s “A Case of You” snagged his top spot).
“Everyone seems to have their ‘Sweet City Woman’ story,” he reflects. “That’s a book unto itself.”
In addition to being somewhat bilingual (“Bon, c’est bon, bon bon c’est bon”) the song and the band feel distinctly Canadian.
Joni Mitchell might belong to the world and every broken man on a Halifax pier might claim ownership of Stan Rogers but everyone with a Canadian birth certificate can claim a share of The Stampeders.
They sort of got together in Calgary but the lineup that rose to fame in the 1970s consisting of Dodson, bassist Ronnie King and drummer Kim Berly formed in Toronto. Even now, the members are spread between southeast Ontario and the Interior of B.C.
In their heyday, the band released hard rock hits like “Devil You” and a novelty version of “Hit the Road, Jack” featuring famed DJ Wolfman Jack.
As though responding to cosmic vibrations of the forthcoming age of music video, The Stampeders were one of a host of hard rock bands that broke up in the late 1970s.
They might’ve stayed that way if not for broadcaster Dini Petty, who invited the members on her show for a “What are they up to now?” episode in 1992, Dodson recalls.
“It was great to see one another again,” Dodson says.
They jammed at a spot on Queen Street in Toronto after the show and not too long after that: “the phone started ringing” with an offer to play the Calgary Stampede, Dodson recalls.
“We thought, ‘Well, what the heck? Could be fun,’” he recollects. “I guess the rest is history.”
The days of “song, write, record, tour, that’s it,” are over, Dodson says. The bandmates have families now.
Dodson’s daughter Holly Dodson is currently touring Europe with her synth group Parallels.
“They’re doing Stockholm,” he says, sounding like a father trumpeting his child’s straight-A report card.
They Stampeders play between 20 and 30 shows each year, usually touring in the pleasant gap between blizzards and forest fires, Dodson explains. Still in “reasonably decent health,” the shows allow them to reconnect with the “rock-solid following” they established in their years of playing “every high school on the planet.”
“I’m just amazed at how many people still go to these things,” Dodson laughs.
While there’s plenty of grey hair in the crowd, Dodson says a few Stampeders fans bring their kids. It’s a way of being able to say: “See, I told you they’re louder than that band you go to,” he explains.
Dodson already seems to have his stage banter ready, asking me: “What’s the best time (to get across the bridge)? Two in the morning?”
Asked why people should see the show, Dodson promises: “An entertaining evening with a bunch of old hit tunes and some new ones.”
