By Brock Weir
They had just passed their local library, when they popped a cassette into the car's tape deck to listen to their latest recording.
The Burlington high school students knew what they were about to hear and, satisfied with the sound, they popped the tape out to listen to the radio. But, despite the cassette being firmly back in its case, their song continued – this time, on the radio station to which they had tuned in. As they absorbed what they were hearing, they went over to another station, heard their song again – just in time to see a man walking down the street with their latest EP under his arm.
This is when Gord Deppe and Sandy Horne of The Spoons knew they had hit the big time with Nova Heart and, 40 years, later they are still wowing the crowds with their classic hits and acclaimed new material.
This Saturday, August 24, the iconic Canadian band will hit the stage at Machell Park as headliners for the second night of Aurora's Ribfest.
The Spoons are no strangers to Ribfest, having first played the event in its early days. Not many people got to see them, however, as inclement weather turned the park into nothing short of a mud bowl, but heartier fans stuck it out for their favourite band.
This time around, they are bringing with them not only the New Wave sounds that became their signature, but hits from “New Day New World”, their first album release in over eight years.
Released this past March, “New Day New World” evokes the fun, pop sounds of “Romantic Traffic” and “Tell No Lies” but brings their work directly into 2019.
The Spoons, founded by Deppe and Horn as high school student, are about to mark their 40th anniversary.
Starting off as a New Wave electronics band, their style has evolved over the past four decades to encompass rock and pop. With technological advancements, Ms. Horne tells The Auroran that their 80s sounds are still so popular with new and long-time fans, they are relishing being able to re-create the sounds in a way that is better and cleaner, straddling the line between modern and New Wave.
“We're family,” Ms. Horne explains. “I've known Gord since I was 14 and in high school, so he is like an extended brother to me. We all just get along. Music keeps you young, young at heart. In high school, rather than hanging out in the mall, being in gangs, or even playing sports, we were basically a basement band and we just always wanted to play music.
“I have always known I wanted to be on stage performing, but I just didn't know how I was going to get there. From as far back as the age of three or four, I was inspired by Judy Garland and I remember saying to myself, ‘I want to do what she's doing,' but not knowing how to get there.”
With seven studio albums, numerous singles, and accolades picked up along the way, Spoons provided that path, and it is a path that still fuels the creative passions of the group's founding members.
“I just can't imagine not doing the Spoons,” says Ms. Horne. “Heaven forbid anything should happen to Gord or I, but I can't imagine not playing. I will probably be doing this until we're way up there, at least I hope to be, anyway. We have newer fans because a lot of the time our older fans from back in the day are introducing our music to their children, and they have become big fans. Putting our music out in vinyl again has opened up a whole new avenue, so younger generation people are discovering is.
“We're looking forward to seeing everybody in Aurora again. We hope the weather will be good because the last time we were there it poured buckets, but the fans were still there and we are thankful for that. We're hoping for really good weather and hoping to see people who couldn't make it out last time because of the weather!”
For more information on Ribfest, The Spoons, or Friday's headliner Honeymoon Suite, visit www.aurora.ca/ribfest. The event runs Friday through Sunday and admission is free.
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