Dark sentiments run through singer Art Bergmann's music

The Kitchener-Waterloo Record
Tuesday, April 8, 1997
By Nick Krewen

If Art Bergmann ever becomes prime minister, his first piece of legislation would undoubtedly enjoy unprecedented public support.

"I'd declare a statutory holiday," says the veteran Vancouver singer and songwriter. "It would loosen up everyone and we'd communicate better. Then it would be time to set all the budgets. People would actually get jobs that they're happy with."

Obviously Bergmann's party line is a different remedy from what political leaders such as Mike Harris and Jean Chretien envision for this country, but the former singer and co-founder of the punk rock group Young Canadians feels a little levity could go a long way.

After all, he suggests, Canadians have a dark sense of humor. And it's a type of humor you'll find on all four of his rugged albums, including 1995's brilliant What Fresh Hell Is This?

"I call it realism," says Bergmann, who performs solo at Mrs. Robinson's Wednesday night.

"Canadians have a black sense of humor. You know how Iggy Pop and Lou Reed often have the blackest kind of lyrics? It's the stuff of which novels are made."

Caustic wit

Dark sentiments run deep in Bergmann's music, but his slurry vocals and caustic wit always offer an unexpected detour to the truth. The song Sexual Roulette's message as an anti-AIDS theme is delivered with the surprising proclamation "This is my body/I'm doing time/Are you giving me something/I'll get in five years time."

On Buried Alive, Bergmann equates a breakdown with Humpty Dumpty imagery: "All the King's horses/All the Queen's men/Couldn't put me back together again."

Sometimes poignant, sometimes a satirical menace, Bergmann is a Canadian original: a surreal Stompin' Tom Connors. It's a comparison of which Bergmann approves.

"Stompin' Tom Connors -- he's a great songwriter, storyteller. I find that very flattering," says Bergmann, who tells his interviewer that he's "449" years old.

"I think that's what I'm trying to do with these solo shows. I admire great old country artists like Johnny Cash -- that's what I'm trying to get towards with the acoustic thing. It's not a bunch of rock 'n' roll songs."

Bergmann is hoping to take the intimacy of the live experience with him into the studio shortly to release an independent solo acoustic album. He says a fullblown band album -- hopefully on another major label -- will follow before year's end.

If he finds a label -- and he reassures that there have been some talks -- then Bergmann will have moved to his fourth label in five albums. There are no guarantees. Even winning a Juno for Most Promising Male Vocalist for What Fresh Hell Is This? didn't prevent Sony Music Canada from dropping him.

"I wish I had a long-term commitment," laments Bergmann. "Every time I switched companies, my record would be quietly shelved and that's that. We'd talk for a few months, and then they'd lose interest."

Enfant terrible

An admitted drinking problem also played havoc with his efforts to get ahead, earning him a reputation as an enfant terrible. Although he's been sober for a few years, Bergmann resigns himself to frustration with his prior skeletons.

"I've kind of realized I'm stuck with it," Bergmann sighs. "Although I know much more terrible infants than myself."

He also denies that alcohol enhanced his creativity, although he freely admits "I got a lot of great songs from hangovers."

However, that's all behind him. Art Bergmann says there's only one thing he's concerned about these days: building a healthy career.

"I just want to raise my profile, raise the stakes and go forward."

Art Bergmann

Where: Mrs. Robinson's
When: Wednesday
Tickets: $5