“It’s a really bizarre thing as a humble Canadian boy,” says Todd Kerns, speaking exclusively to BraveWords scribe Aaron Small about the official unveiling of his star on Granville Street, along the BC Walk Of Fame; which takes place this Saturday, October 20th, followed by a very special concert that evening at The Roxy.

“The most fascinating thing is that me and The Age Of Electric guys came to Vancouver (from Saskatchewan) for the first time in ’90 or ’91; I can’t remember what the actual date was,” continues Kerns. “We stayed on Granville Street, right on Granville and Davie, just over the Granville Street Bridge. We just wandered up and down Granville Street; we didn’t even know there was anything more to see in Vancouver. A year later, we would eventually relocate and live there. And then, being a part of the Vancouver scene, walking up and down that road a thousand times; being in those clubs and bars all those years… now to think – the Star’s already there. It’s already stuck in the street. It’s really surreal to me! There’s Bryan Adams, Sarah McLachlan, and Todd Kerns – what am I doing in there?”

Currently residing in Las Vegas, Todd will never forget his Canadian roots. Furthermore, he’s left his remarkable musical stamp on numerous bands including: Slash Featuring Myles Kennedy And The Conspirators, Toque, Sin City Sinners (now known as Original Sin), TKO, Static In Stereo, and The Age Of Electric.

“It’s funny because a lot of it has come from things like Toque, Prestige Guitars. As far as being a Canadian artist who has sort of led an international career. I suppose the pat on the back comes from being able to still fly a Canadian flag. I attribute a lot of that to the fact that I’ve been a big advocate of Prestige Guitars – I have my own designs through them, out of Vancouver. And then Toque is such a blatant romance with Canadian music, that a lot of people from Chilliwack and Loverboy, all those bands just love us because we’re noted, to some degree, international artists who are… the whole purpose of recording those songs was like, wouldn’t it be rad if some person in Japan or South America heard these songs? They would never hear these songs otherwise. Obviously, Loverboy or April Wine, some of those songs were international hits, but we purposely recorded a lot of deep-rooted, Canadian Prairie songs because we love them. And that’s what happened.”

“To me, to have somebody saying they love the Queen City Kids song, or a Streetheart song is amazing, cause that was the whole purpose. It’s like somebody in England, or somebody in Australia – what a trip! I think that’s a big part of this thing, is being able to still, even after all these years, being a huge advocate of Canadian music. It’s a multi-dimensional conversation when you’re Canadian. As soon as you start talking about music; I’m not just talking about American music or British music, the Canadian chapter is a whole other chapter of a book that a lot of people don’t have. The same way that Australians have their own chapter, and the Finnish and Swedes have music we will never be aware of. To us, as soon as we start having a conversation about Kim Mitchell, or whoever, it’s sort of like… it’s a bit lost on certain people. At the same time, a lot of stuff was regionally successful – ‘Go For A Soda’, ‘Fantasy’ by Aldo Nova; those songs did have some reach. A lot of that stuff is why the Star presented itself.”

After the induction ceremony, Todd will headline what promises to be a spectacular show at The Roxy in Vancouver, featuring a one-off Static In Stereo reunion. Much more than just another band, Static In Stereo is comprised of Todd, along with his brothers John Kerns on bass, Ryan Kerns on lead guitar, and drummer Scotty McCargar. The Dahle brothers from The Age Of Electric, and Brent Fitz from Slash Featuring Myles Kennedy And The Conspirators will also be performing on stage.

“Honestly, it started as… when it came up, I was like, oh, wow, that’ll be fun! We need to have my family there, because of what it is. I’m lucky enough to have both parents alive. My wife said, ‘We should probably get John to come out.’ Then it slowly turned into, what about a Static In Stereo show? We haven’t done that since 2001 or 2002; it’s a long time. Initially it was going to be a solo show… then I talked to The Age Of Electric guys. I wanted it to be a little bit of an overview of my career. I couldn’t get Slash to come down; he’s going to be doing Guns N’ Roses. If I can do some sort of mini-overview of my career, that’d be awesome! So, we’re having the guys from my solo band come up, I’ll do an acoustic thing. Fitz is going to get up.”

Returning to the aforementioned Toque, featuring Todd, Brent Fitz, Cory Churko, and Shane Gaalaas, the all-Canadian cover song quartet has released the first single from their forthcoming new album, a brilliant take on "Ironic" by Alanis Morissette, which can be heard below. “It’s funny because it was almost a novelty aspect,” reveals Kerns. “When we do those Toque songs, it’s all songs we grew up on and really love. Out of nowhere, it was actually me, I really wanted to do a version of ‘You Oughta Know’ – her first big hit. I don’t know how, but we ended up on the conversation of ‘Ironic’, and that just sort of happened. Not that it was a novelty in a comedy thing… I just thought it would be fun to do – because on the previous record, it was a lot of ‘70s and ‘80s Canadian music. So, why not pull it up a little bit more modern – which is still 20 years ago. And the fact that it’s a girl’s voice really made it fun. It is funny how we go into these things – and you’re never really sure how it’s going to go – but it really turned out great.”

“That Alannis record (Jagged Little Pill) is massive, it’s gigantic. It sort of culturally changed some landscapes. I’ve had a lot of people say, ‘That record was the biggest deal for me.’ And I get it, obviously somebody was buying it. It certainly was meant with as much love and admiration. Again, that’s a Canadian artist who achieved the unachievable in many ways. So, to be able to do that was really fun. When it became time to release a song and sneak something out there, it was a resounding ‘Ironic.’ It has gotten a lot of love. A lot of that credit has to go to Cory Churko; he’s an amazing producer! He does a lot of the laboring of the hard work, then I come in and sing it, and get all the slaps on the back.”

The second Toque album is expected to come out in November. “We recorded a whole new record. Some of it’s even deeper, and some of it’s familiar; it’s so much fun for us. I really have a good time doing that stuff, cause it’s all songs that mean the world to us. There’s a couple of wild cards in there; and three songs are actually sung by women, including ‘Ironic’. That was all very challenging.” Is “Black Velvet” by Alannah Myles one of them? “No, but that’s on my list. It’s so funny you say that because there’s still a giant list of songs that we have to do; ‘Eyes Of A Stranger’ by Payolas, I want to do a Rough Trade song – ‘High School Confidential’. Generally, what happens is there’s a mother of all lists, and we decide on what we all like, and go from there. But you’re right, ‘Black Velvet’ is a no-brainer as far as I’m concerned. Especially cause I think we would do a really cool version of it.”

(Artwork courtesy of Scooter Magee)