One of Canada's most beloved indie rock institutions, the Rheostatics are an eclectic and wide-ranging band whose unconventional catalog has ranged from quirky odes to hockey players, smartly constructed power pop, futuristic concept albums, children's music, and an album inspired by a novel which in turn led to them scoring that novel's film adaptation. From their early days as a teenage funk and soul band in Toronto to their mid-'90s heyday as critical and college rock darlings, they have made a habit of left-field choices, earning heaps of respect without ever breaking into the wider mainstream. As well-known for dynamic and spontaneous live shows as for their creativity in the studio, the Rheostatics were championed by the Tragically Hip who brought them out on an arena tour, even as they dazzled their own smaller hardcore fan base through countless headlining tours of small Canadian clubs, both aspects of which were presented on the 1997 highlight Double Live. They remained a creative force well into the 2000s before disbanding in 2007. The group remained friendly and surprisingly active via a number of reunions over the coming years before making their official return with 2019's Here Come the Wolves, their first album in 15 years. The Rheostatics were formed in 1980 in Toronto suburb of Etobicoke, Ontario, while the bandmembers were in their teens and still too young to drink in the clubs where they played. Initially the songwriting and vocals were split between guitarist Dave Bidini and bassist Tim Vesely, with drummer Dave Clark holding down the back end. Their early sound showed a strong funk and R&B influence and up until 1985 they often toured with a horn section called the Trans-Canada Soul Patrol. With the arrival of second guitarist and singer Martin Tielli, the Rheostatics gained a third contributing songwriter and cemented the core lineup that would represent their most successful period. For their first official release, 1987's cheekily titled Greatest Hits, the band offered a compilation of highlights from their early singles, including fan favorite "The Ballad of Wendel Clark, Pts. 1 & 2," honoring Toronto hockey legend Wendel Clark. Although it fared decently on college radio and late-night CBC programming, the Rheostatics disbanded a year later and went their separate ways for a couple of years before re-forming in 1990 with the same lineup. Re-energized, the quartet hit their creative stride with 1991's Melville. Accomplished and confident, the album showed the band stretching out into longer, more complex songs with less conventional lyrical matter. After signing a major-label deal with Sire, they delivered career highlight Whale Music a year later. Named after the novel by Canadian author Paul Quarrington, about an eccentric Brian Wilson-esque recluse who creates symphonic pop masterpieces in his basement studio, the similarly eccentric album inspired Quarrington to hire the Rheostatics to score the 1994 film version of Whale Music. This put the band in the curious position of having two consecutive, though totally different releases under the same title. While mostly instrumental, the Whale Music soundtrack spawned a hit single in the lushly harmonic "Claire." The song also appeared that same year on their fourth studio outing, Introducing Happiness, a colorful mixed bag that featured several of the movie's instrumental tracks set to lyrics. Not long after its release, drummer Dave Clark bowed out of the band to pursue his own interests, and the Rheostatics were subsequently dropped from Sire, which couldn't quite figure out how to market them. After a shakedown period with new drummer and multi-instrumentalist Don Kerr, the Rheostatics were commissioned by the National Gallery of Canada to compose a 40-minute piece honoring the painters the Group of Seven. Released in 1995, this mostly instrumental work became their next album, Music Inspired by the Group of Seven. Shortly afterwards, the more pop-oriented album The Blue Hysteria brought the band back into more familiar, if still eclectic territory. While the Rheostatics hadn't achieved widespread commercial success with their albums, they had earned a great deal of respect and critical acclaim for their live shows, both from fans and other musicians. Much of the tour supporting The Blue Hysteria was done while supporting the Tragically Hip's cross-country tour. Mixing in some of these arena performances with smaller concerts ranging from small clubs to in-store performances, the Rheostatics documented the unique breadth of their on-stage magic with 1997's Double Live which, in addition to including many of their better-known numbers, also included a number of rarities and long-lost gems. Long favorites of late-night radio in Canada, the Rheostatics were asked to contribute to the last episode of CBC's long-running Nightlines program. For this special show, the band put together a sound collage consisting of new songs, some older material, and bits that played more like skits. It was released in 1998 as The Nightlines Sessions, though it remains more an oddity than a substantial contribution to the band's catalog. Having long since dispensed with the pretense that they were a conventional rock band, the Rheostatics chose a different path once again with 1999's Story of Harmelodia album. Ostensibly a children's album, the CD came packaged inside a jewel-case-sized hardcover book containing a story by Bidini and hand-painted illustrations by Tielli (who had also contributed artwork to nearly all of the band's previous albums). Prior to the release of 2001's Night of the Shooting Stars, Kerr announced he was leaving the Rheostatics to focus on his engineering work and his efforts as a member of Ron Sexsmith's band. Although he contributed to the album, the group's longtime producer, Michael Phillip Wojewoda stepped in as the band new drummer. Over the next few years, they focused largely on their live set, reviving a residency tradition they'd previously dubbed Green Sprouts Music Week to play an 11-night stand at Toronto's Horseshoe Tavern, which then became a new annual tradition they called the Fall Nationals. This yielded both a 2003 DVD, Maple Serum: Rheostatics Live at the Horseshoe Tavern, and a 2005 live album, Calling Out the Chords, Vol. 1. In between those outings was the studio album 2067, a loose concept record set in the future during what would be the bicentennial of the Canadian Confederation. It would prove to be their last album for 15 years. In late 2006, Vesely announced the group's retirment and the Rheostatics played their farewell show at Toronto's Massey Hall in March of 2007. Over the next decade, the band reunited a number of times to play various events while its members continued to focus on their own projects. At the end of 2016, another reunion show at the Horseshoe Tavern revealed a number of new Rheostatics songs as well as the return of original drummer Dave Clark, an indication that they were essentially once again a working band. They cemented that status in 2019 with the release of a new studio album, Here Come the Wolves. ~ Timothy Monger & Sean Carruthers