By Sheri Block
the Carillon

There are few things that have stuck around since the 80's. Waterslides, VCRs, music videos and indoor amusement parks are some that come to mind. Blue Rodeo, the endearing band that has become part of Canadian culture, has also survived. Their current 2000 release the days in between has marked the third decade that they have been putting out records, something few can accomplish with such sustained talent and calibre.

The band formed in 1984 and released their debut Outskirts in 1987. Drummer Glenn Milchem joined the group in 1991 but he comments that when the other members started the band at this time they didn't think it would last this long.

"It's a funny thing because throughout the time I've been with the band I've heard people say that the band is kind of on it's way down. When I joined the band people were telling me that," Milchem recounts with a laugh. "But the band has sort of steadily maintained a certain degree of success...certainly as a live band we've gotten more successful as time went on."

"I don't think anybody saw it...I had a feeling when I joined, especially after I had been in it a couple of years, that this is something that could go on indefinitely. Now we all see this as something we could continue to do for a while."

The longevity of the band may have something to do with the fans. The group has enjoyed an immense following since their early hits. The music appeals to a wide age range and manages to blur the edges of the country and rock genre, attracting fans from both followings.

Milchem cannot exactly articulate the reason of their sustainment but says that comfort has something to do with it.

"Somebody once described the band as comfort music, there was this guy in this band called Reverend Horton Heat...[he] came up to us at one of the shows and said he liked the music because it was 'comfort music', like you know how people like comfort food, like chicken and mashed potatoes.

"I thought that was a good of description as any of what it is people like about us. Not everything we do is comfortable but our music is rarely confrontational. The lyrics are generally sort of positive...the songs are the kind that sound familiar very quickly. It's comforting music and I think that's why people enjoy it."

the days in between, Blue Rodeo's ninth release has a distinct new feel while incorporating the acclaimed melodic and vocal elements of Jim Cuddy and Greg Keelor.

Lots of experimenting took place with electric guitars on the album. They chose to do most of the rehearsing as a four piece, instead of a six piece, with concentration on the guitars and that in turn became the sound of the record that they wanted to stay true to. "There's less keyboards and less steel and other instruments, slightly less than on other records...it's just a more guitar oriented record. That has to do with a phase the band was going through, it was just before Kim [Deschamps] left. I think the next record, I see it being more of a six piece effort because now we have Bob Egan in the band who's replaced Kim and we're more together as a six piece."

Bob Egan (who's worked with Neko Case, Wilco and Super Chikan) replaced Deschamps at the end of last year, just before the days in between was released.

The first single of the album "Somebody Waits" was actually written after the recording process had begun along with the album's namesake "The Days in Between". One of the reasons this title was chosen according to Milchem is because everyone can relate to those days when nothing feels right. The songs on the album deal with unsettedness, while offering hope, but if there are any themes running throughout they weren't specifically placed at the time.

"There are themes, you could say the concept of the days in between is a theme but none of these themes were consciously placed there. The songs that were chosen for the record, the one thing they do have in common, is that they are all very personal. That is something we wanted to have there, because I think it's something people connect with more.

"I notice that a lot of the songs seem to be about personal experiences from Jim and Greg's past but they wouldn't necessarily agree with that," laughs Glenn. "If there are any themes there they were put there sub consciously, they're more there for the listener to discover than for anything I could particularly point out."

Milchem helped every step of the way with producing and recording of the new album.

"I really enjoy the whole studio process," says Milchem. "I really like being around for guitar solos. Playing a guitar solo in the studio is not just a matter of whipping of a solo, it takes a while. Sometimes it's something you have to construct from the ground up, it's a piece of music onto itself."

The song "Try" remains to be a fan favourite, much to the amazement of the band. It was actually one of the first songs that the band demoed back in the early 1980's and has remained part of the group's identity, at least according to the fans.

Milchem admits that Cuddy often gets tired of singing the song even though he does enjoy singing it and chooses to do so at times. "He's written probably a couple hundred songs since he wrote "Try" and I think he has other songs that he enjoys more. But at the same time we all appreciate what the song did for the band so nobody minds doing it.

"We can't play any of our songs every night," says Milchem. "We've got about 200 songs and we can only play 24."

Five of the members, including Milchem have released solo discs and he sees these side projects as a necessary thing for the band's survival.

"We couldn't just do Blue Rodeo, we'd go out of our minds. Jim and Greg started doing solo records because they had to at that point, they just sort of had to go off in their own direction for a while...Blue Rodeo is a wonderful, amazing thing but it can't satisfy all of your musical needs. It's sort of like when you're in a relationship. You can't expect that person to satisfy all of your needs, it's the same with being in a band."

Blue Rodeo plays Doris Knight Hall in Regina tonight and there are still tickets available.