Kim Mitchell has always been a weekend warrior. He will be spending one of his weekends at Whoop-Up Days on Saturday, Aug. 25, playing an array of ’80s hits like “Patio Lanterns,” “Rock and Roll Duty,” “Easy To Tame,” “Go For a Soda,” and maybe even some from his days with Max Webster in the 1970s.
“I’ve always been a weekend warrior,” said Mitchell,” who has been the drive-time DJ on Q107 in Toronto for the past seven years and just signed a new five year contract with them.
“I’m getting to the point in my life where I just don’t want to get on a tour bus,” he said adding his still loves playing music and guitar.
“It’s like Keith Richards said ‘I live for the two hours on stage every night, but I wouldn't wish the other 22 on anybody,’” Mitchell laughed.
“Most big festivals and concerts take places on Friday and Saturday or Sunday or it is a long weekend.”
Though a weekend warrior, he is still writing new material.
“I’ve written some fresh stuff, softer stuff that I always had but never recorded because I was too busy recording rock records. But I might do something like John Mayer,” he said adding now his priority is his family and the radio show.
“I kind of fell into it. It’s just something I wanted to do on Sunday nights— something to get me out of the house, so I talked to Q107, it a classic rock format, then I forgot about it until they called me up and asked if I’d like a full time job,” he said.
He has some fond members of playing Lethbridge in clubs like the old Alec Arms.
“I’ve had some great memories there. I’ve had great memories in both clubs like that and at festivals. I like it when the band just connects with people,” he said.
His plan for Whoop-Ups days depends on the audience.
“I’ll be doing a cross-section of material. I’ll look at the crowd. Max Webster seems to mean less to people you get further west. But I’m not a self-indulgent artist, who will play side B of the album that sold 30 copies just to make a musical statement,” he said.
His first big band, Max Webster broke out in the ’70s with a variety of hits including “A Million Vacations,” and “High Class In Borrowed Shoes,”and “Paradise Skies.” He never expected it to take off like it did.
“Max Webster was just an offshoot of taking guitar lessons. I’d just moved from the islands, Rhodes in Greece. We thought it was just a little band we started to make $150 a week, then we started to get heard by record labels and opened for Rush,” he said.
And while there have always been offers to reunite, it is definitely not in the cards.
“No. The other band members are hobbyists now. it would take a lot of work and rehearsal to get it back to the level that it was. I’m just happy to leave it as a wonderful memory,” he said.
Songs come to Mitchell in a variety of ways. “Rock and Roll Duty” was written in 10 minutes
“Me and an old friend, Pye Dubois, were reminiscing and Pye Dubois came up with it. So we went upstairs to the studio and recorded it in 10 minutes. When we came back downstairs, my wife at the time asked what we were doing. We said ‘just writing a tune,’” he laughed.
Pye Dubois, who also wrote a lot of lyrics for Rush had a big role in many of Mitchell’s greatest hits like ‘Go For a Soda.’
“We were at a party and it was really boring. So Pye said ‘Let’s go for a soda, nobody ’s hurt, nobody dies,’ I said you’ve got to write that down.‘it’s better than slander, better than lies,’ He was always writing things down on matchbooks or kleenex. He’d say I’ve got millions of these,” Mitchell reminisced.
“A lot of people think it’s about drinking and driving, but it’s totally not,” Mitchell said.
So who would Mitchell like to go for a soda with?
“Great question. There’s lots of people, but if I had to choose just one, it would be Jimi Hendrix. I know a lot of people expect me to say the Rolling Stones or the Beatles. But he really changed the world for guitar players. He reinvented guitar playing,” he said adding he likes musicians like Hendrix and Frank Zappa who have a signature sound which sets them apart from the crowd.
“ They really come up with something different from those 12 notes on the guitar,” he said.
While songs like “Rock and Roll Duty,” came together quickly, others, like “Patio Lanterns,” definitely did not.
“‘Patio Lanterns’ is like one of those slow songs,” he said.
“What I remember about it is what a pain in the ass it was to record. It took like three days just to record the vocals. I just couldn’t do it. It was the complete opposite of ‘Rock and Roll Duty,’” he said.
“It was just hard to get and we told the record company if you have to drop one song from the record, then drop ‘Patio Lanterns,’ Of course, then it took off. Some tune you write and you play before you record them, others you don’t. We didn’t have the melody or the lyrics before we recorded it,” he said.
Mitchell never was one to shy away from expanding his sound.
“Easy To Tame,” was his foray into country music.
“My mom asked me what I was working on , so I played her ‘Easy To Tame.’ She said that’s a country song and started to dance to it. It was the sweetest thing ever,” he said.
“Songwriting is about quantity not quality. Write a country song, or a rock song or a jazz song or a death metal song. Get it out there and edit yourself later,” he advised.
“It is important to just enjoy those 12 notes because if you‘re goal is to make it big, you’re setting yourself up for future disappointment. If you have to have a day job but enjoy it that’s good. If you turn out to be the next U2 then congratulations.”
He never gets tired of playing the old songs.
“No, never, they are all my kids. If it gets boring we definitely reinvent it a little bit,” he said.
He also can’t choose his favourite kid.
“On songs like “In My Shoes,” I get to blow on guitar, but I love playing all of the songs. And when I see people light up listening to them I light up. So I’m looking forward to taking everybody to ‘rockland wonderland’ and hope it is a great night weatherwise. I know we‘re going to have a great time.”
Kim Mitchell plays at 9:30 p.m. on the Gas King Stage for Whoop-Up Days. Admission to Whoop Up Days is $10 in advance, $15 at the gate.
