Nowadays, Bergmann directs his own career

The Hamilton Spectator
Thursday, February 27, 1997
By Bruce Mowat

The last time Art Bergmann was in town, he was accepting a Juno award in the Best Alternative Album category for his 1995 opus, What Fresh Hell Is This?

That was just short of a year ago. As of late, dame fortune has been a downright witch to the 43-year-old veteran songwriter, whose recording career of 20-odd years was interrupted in November when he was officially dropped by his label.

"For eight months (after winning the Juno award) I was kept in record-company limbo," recalls the Vancouver songwriter, who gives his age as "443 (give or take 400) years old."

"But you know, it's just as well. I should have stayed independent all the time."

Bergmann speaks from the point of view of someone who has spent the better part of his career working as an independent artist, starting with the punk group, The Young Canadians.

That group's entire output is, ironically enough, still readily available on a 1995 compilation CD released by the Zulu label.

"They did an amazing job with that," says Bergmann. "They managed to get material - transferred from video tape - from both our first and last shows."

"They've got stuff on there I had completely forgotten about."

Back then, Bergmann recalls pumping out new songs almost every day. These days, the writing process is considerably slower

"I'm lucky if I can come up with one song a month that I'm happy with," he says.

"The thing is, I don't want to end up repeating myself. And that's difficult to do."

Over the past few months, Bergmann has been performing as a solo acoustic artist, something he started doing when it became apparent to him his back-up band wasn't going to stick around someone without the backing of a major label.

These, however, aren't your standard garden-variety unplugged shows.

During these shows, Bergmann makes a point of not only giving the audience an overview of his career, but also detailed dissections of the songs in question, sometimes explaining mid-way through the performance what in-jokes and musical references are alluded to in the song's melody and lyrics.

There's also a sprinkling of covers from the artists that shaped Bergmann's music, including selections from the songbooks of Neil Young, Gram Parsons, and The Replacements.

"Working with a band disguises who you are," says Bergmann, of his acoustic shows. "When you do it alone, you're up there naked."

NEED TO KNOW

WHO: Art Bergmann, Chris Houston
WHEN: Saturday night. Show starts at 10.30 p.m.
WHERE: La Luna, 228 King Street W. in Hamilton.
TICKETS: Admission is $5 at the door.