Podunkian Music Club-October 14

The Northern Pikes-The Things I do for money

The Northern Pikes-The Things I do for money

One of those prairie gems of a band that never seemed to catch needed huge break to propel them on to greater stardom. The Pikes were a staple of the rock scene in Manitoba and Saskatchewan of the late 1980’s.

Starting out on their rock and roll journey in 1980 they have wandered in and out of recording studios bars and concert halls for over twenty years now. Occasionally disappearing only to resurface later on, back on the road to rock and roll salvation.

They found success early on with a 1987 release called Big Blue Sky, which gave radio a couple of big hits Teenland and tonight’s selection the Things I do for money, which features some great guitar work, a driving drum selection and some pretty good lyrical content. It was almost the perfect FM radio song.

They have had other songs make an impression on the Canadian music scene over the years; She ain’t pretty found a receptive audience, as did A place that’s insane. Girl with a problem and Hopes go astray also found favour with an audience or two as well.

But it’s still The Things I do for money that I prefer, it was dark and had a forceful sound that made you listen to each chord struck, each beat of a drum and every single word that followed.

The Pikes toured until 1993, when they performed their final concert in Fort Frances, Ontario.

The Pikes it seems took a sabbatical from the rock and roll game until 1999 when they reunited. It would appear however, that they tend to ebb and flow as far as holding to a set schedule of releases or tour dates.

The last listing for a new CD on their website is 2004, the last blog entry from the Pikes journal seems to be from January of 2006, so who is to know whether they continue to tour or have put the bands sound to bed for good, they do promise a CD by 2006, but time is a ticking.

If you’ve never heard them before they’re worth a listen or two, they made some petty great tunes over the years and seemed to set a standard or two for the music scene on the Prairies over the last twenty years.

Group-The Northern Pikes
CD-Big Blue Sky