Special report by Martin Popoff

Canada’s legendary MAX WEBSTER (perennial touring mates of RUSH through the late ‘70s and damn near indescribable… ZAPPA-esque prog metal perhaps?) play a rare reunion gig tomorrow night at The Docks in Toronto as part of Q107’s 30th anniversary bash. The main connection there, is that Max’s singer and guitarist KIM MITCHELL is a popular DJ at the well-regarded classic rock station.

“This is the band that is on High Class In Borrowed Shoes,” says keyboardist Terry Watkinson referring to the band’s 1977 classic. “Gary McCracken, Mike Tilka, Kim and myself. And it's been quite a lot of work, really. Because that music is not easy to play, and this band hasn't played together for what, almost 30 years, I guess? So we've been working, pulling it together for a couple of weeks, and we just had our second rehearsal with Gary. Because he's in Sarnia. He just came down on Sunday. We did two nights with him, and tonight we're going again. And it's almost there. Everybody is feeling good, sounds great.”

Set-wise, look for all the Max classics to be played, says Watkinson, not offering specifics, other than ‘Battle Scar’. As a refresher, the albums sampled total five, issued from 1975 through 1980. The band also released a live album and a greatest hits record, and a good half dozen songs are perennial classic rock radio staples all over Canada.

“But there's another piece of lost authenticity in all this,” laughs Terry, “in that my old Yamaha organ, that I used on every Max album and toured with for ten years almost, has been resuscitated and it sounds great, so I'm using that, plus some newer stuff. It's been sitting on its end behind my bathroom door for several years. Last time I tried it, a few years ago, it sounded really sickly, but it just needed a bit of work. And all of a sudden there it was - the sound was there, and I love it.”

Having Mike Tilka back on bass is a nice touch. Last time Max Webster reformed, the band used Kim’s bass player, the ridiculously talented Peter Fredette. Says Terry, “I think Kim, last time, wanted kind of the security factor of having Peter playing, because Peter has been playing with the Kim Mitchell Band for a long time and he's a great singer and a great bass player. But yeah, so I'm not really sure. This is all Kim’s decision, and you never know exactly why he does certain things. Mike has been working really hard. It was kind of brutal the first couple of rehearsals… well, for everybody, but especially for him. Because he wasn't in the last reunion and he wasn't in the last two years of the band. So we're doing a certain amount of material that he’s never played. But he's worked hard and he’s gotten it all together and he is sounding good.”

Asked about his first impressions of Mike, Terry adds that, “Mike was one of the reasons that I joined Max Webster. Because he's very good at practicalities, and was taking care of getting equipment and dealing with agents and everything like that. And he's a good rock bass player too. And at that's time Kim was kind of pretty strange sometimes, and Mike Tilka had his feet on the ground and was shepherding the whole process along. So he was really important to the band in the early days.”

I asked Terry if this all bodes well for any sort of future for this beloved Canuck fixture.

“Yes, the situation now is Kim has just finished recording a new CD. I've only heard one track, but it's really good. It's going to be on the market shortly and he's going to tour off of that over the summer, with the Kim Mitchell Band. And then everyone seems to want to do more dates. They're probably going to happen in the fall or maybe early winter. Because, especially, in Toronto, a lot of people just can't get to this thing tomorrow night. You can't buy tickets, and a lot of people don't have the time or the patience to go through all these radio station contests, to get tickets. We have a huge guest list, but we've come to the end of that now.”

What about recording plans?

“Well, that's been mentioned too. What we really decided was that we would see what happened at the show tomorrow night, and then make plans after that. But if we do play together again, it won't be an extended thing. It'll just be half a dozen dates, unless, you know, it turns into a new CD and so on. Then who knows?”

See www.maxwebster.ca for all sorts of weird trivia on this Canadian rock treasure.