[Cover photo courtesy of Spoonsmusic Inc, photo credit to Matthew Deppe]
The Canadian new wave band Spoons, led by vocalist and guitarist Gord Deppe and bassist and vocalist Sandy Horne, released a half dozen albums and fifteen singles in the ‘80s, with “Nova Heart,” “Arias & Symphonies,” “Old Emotions,” “Tell No Lies,” and “Romantic Traffic” being among their most popular songs.
Deppe and Horne are back with keyboardist Scott MacDonald, drummer Chris McNeill, and more musicians on their new album Nightlife. Wildfire spoke with Deppe and Horne about the new album and their Canadian music roots.
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Warren Kurtz: Congratulations on the new album. I grew up in Cleveland, Ohio, listening to Canadian music across Lake Erie throughout the ‘70s. On the last weekend of the decade, I married my long-time girlfriend Donna and as the ‘80s began, we moved to the South for seven years, returning in the spring of 1987. I was thrilled to be able to listen to CHYR AM out of Leamington, Ontario again. For three weeks, I heard your song “Rodeo” every morning on the car radio as I drove to Downtown Cleveland and I loved it. That was my introduction to Spoons.
Gord Deppe: Of all the songs to learn of us, I would not have guessed that one. That was one of our final singles for the decade, and I didn’t realize it received that much airplay. That’s great!
WK: When I visited Canada later that decade and in the ‘90s, I watched MuchMusic, similar to our MTV here in the U.S. I understand that your ‘80s videos were featured on the station.
GD: We lived in Toronto, so we were at the hub of everything. We were one of the first bands to be on MuchMusic in 1984, so overnight everyone in Canada seemed to know who we were through our video content.
WK: Speaking of videos, your new one for “Take the World” is so fun, capturing old and current imagery. You sing lead and Sandy echoes the song title at the end.
GD: We’ve always had a great combination between our two voices. I sing lead on most of the songs, but Sandy sings lead on at least one song per album. The video and song are actually our story, a bunch of Canadian kids with dreams, starting out in high school. We all met in a music store which is why we decided to be surrounded by all those guitars in the video. In those days, that is where we hung out, not only dreaming about being a star, but even having a guitar. On the weekend, the owner would let us in after hours. We would grab the best guitars and basses and take them downstairs to the basement and play. I think our story is the same for a lot of people, to have that dream. How lucky we are 46 years later to have a little taste of that again. This album may be my favorite of any we have recorded.
Sandy Horne: When Gord and I met in Burlington, Ontario at Aldershot High School, we formed our high school band and practiced in the basement of The Sound Shop, as he mentioned. That is when our first band was formed, called Impulse. From there we morphed into a band called Tryst which was more of a progressive rock band, stuck in the basement with epic songs that were eight minutes long. Then we formed Spoons as the ‘70s was ending and the new wave sound was beginning. We would take bits of our Tryst songs and form them into Spoons songs.
GD: When new wave came, that was a game changer. All the misfits of the world had a chance to be rock stars.
WK: “Better Late Than Never Did It” has a wonderful “glad we made it” message. Having this song follow “Take the World” is a great placement on the album.
GD: It is a bit of an anthem for a band, but it could easily be for an athlete or anyone with big dreams not to give up. We thought that when the ‘80s were over and grunge music came in, that was it for our new wave sound, but how wrong we were. The retro thing is so strong. Now we have new music where people react to us like they did in the early days. I remember playing a club in the ‘90s, when I thought ‘80s music was over, and I had my little cover band. Some guy looked at me and asked, “Hey Gord, what are you doing here? You are Gord from Spoons.” I said, “Ah. The ‘80s are over.” He looked at me and said, “Gord, there’s always third period,” a hockey reference for a comeback. That stuck with me and he was so right. We actually submitted this song and “Phenomenal” from the album to be soccer stadium songs for the World Cup when it came through last year.
WK: “Push Repeat & Go” has great guitar and wonderful orchestral keyboard sounds.
GD: The album isn’t guitar heavy. I try to be tasteful with it, because sad to say, guitar solos aren’t really cool right now in pop music on the radio. It will come back. That song has a nice orchestra sound, like Sgt. Pepper moments. The message in the song is that in life there are moments which are so great that you wish you could put them on a VCR and have them for any time you would like to replay and relive them.
WK: Sandy, you sing lead on “Perfect Ending for a Perfect Story,” a catchy pop song.
SH: This is a song about relationships which can turn bad, but the message is that we had a good time and now we are moving on, rather than being negative. My bass solo is inspired by The Go-Go’s, to give it a little extra power.
GD: The song could be about a relationship, yet it could be about our band. It may look like the end, but we’ve had a long time in this business and we can’t complain. We’ve had a really good run, and it seems to not be over yet with the way things are looking.
WK: “Your Heart Not Your Head” is a great finale, with strong bass.
SH: That song is like a James Bond movie theme.
GD: It is very cinematic. I grew up listening to Henry Mancini’s music and Bond themes. It also has a good message to end the album; whatever path you choose, go with what your heart tells you. Sandy has her own melodies going on when she plays bass. That is a Spoons formula where the guitar, bass, and keyboards deliver separate melodies. That must come from our progressive rock days.
WK: You have concerts coming up, including a few early next year with another favorite Canadian new wave band who I have interviewed, Men Without Hats. That sounds like an ideal pairing.
GD: We play together quite a bit and fit perfectly together. Before that, we will have our brief album release tour on December 3, 4, and 5 in Montreal, Ottawa, and Toronto. We will have Rough Trade with Carole Pope and Images in Vogue playing with us.
SH: A few years back we put out our double vinyl LP and CD collection called Repeatable 1980-2022 of 40 years of our music and now we have new music for the fans, who will hear a mix of our songs at our concerts. Thank you very much for this fun time today.
GD: Thank you for listening to our music then and now.
Warren Kurtz, a long-time music journalist and author, can be contacted at fabulousflipsides@yahoo.com
