Mike McDonald has been rabidly active in the Edmonton alternative scene since its very beginnings. He actually put on the very first gig at Spartan's Men's Hall with his Malibu Kens and The Urban Surfers. Now his band Jr. Gone Wild are on the verge of further expanding on a successful music career.While they don't play alternative music themselves, they are serious about what they do and put a lot of feeling into their music. The Prairie Surf caught up with Mike on a breezy Thursday evening at a local watering hole.

interview by Ron Kuipers

PS- How did your tour go?

MM- It was alright. Well, we lost a lot of money 'cause we didn't play very much. We played maybe forty-eight percent of the time. It was the longest tour I'd ever been on and, ironically, it was the least amount of gigs on a tour. And when you're not playing on a tour, you're spending money you're not taking in. So we went broke a few times.

PS- You're obviously influenced by Dylan and Young, but are you influenced by any more obscure artists? Maybe something in a more alternative vein?

MM- When Dwight Yoakam came out, I was really impressed with his singing style. So I started cracking my voice at certain parts of songs, singing through my nose a little more, you know. I sort of got out of the Dwight Yoakum thing, but there's guys like Billy Cowsill. He's the greatest singer I ever seen or heard. If I could sing like him I'd be a fulfilled individual. And The Ramones are a big influence on me for sure. Hank Williams.

PS- So a pretty big country influence then. Not just folk.

MM- Yeah. That's what I grew up with. My dad listened to country music. My mother listened to country music and fifties and sixties rock. That's all I heard when I was a kid.

PS- I want to get this Island record thing out of the way. Perhaps you could give us a bit of an update on that.

MM- Well, we signed an agreement not to talk to anybody else.

PS- Did they give you any compensation for that? I can't see you doing that for free.

MM- No. Well, they want us to wait for awhile because the A&R man for Island Canada wants an international deal. They're talking lots of money and stuff like that. They wanted us to wait so he could take some time in putting this together. So I went up to him and said, "Yeah okay, but we want some kind of compensation for waiting these eight months you're asking." They basically wanted us to go home and rehearse and write more songs. "While we wait for you guys, why don't you pay for our rehearsal studio and a way to record and stuff." So they shot us a bit of money.

PS- So you're pretty confident that that Island thing is going to happen?

MM- Well, it looks good. I'm not even going to say yes or no, really. I don't even want to think about it too much. If it doesn't go, then we've got other avenues to follow. We'll get a record out in 1990 for sure.

PS- That's good. Because it's been a long time since Less Art More Pop.

MM- A couple years. Two and a half or something. I can't remember. The whole thing was a big nightmare.

PS- It was a cool result.

MM- It was an amazing learning experience. Amazing.

PS- Now you won't let any record labels push you around anymore, now that you know what's going on a bit?

MM- No, actually. Well, the league we're in now, talking to Island, if they want to push us around there'd be nothing we could do about it. You'd just have to, like, quit or something.

PS- Yeah. About the time thing. Is that getting on your nerves? It's been a long time since you've released anything.

MM- I'm resigned to it. I signed that piece of paper.

PS- You can't record anything independently?

MM- We can do something on our own. In fact, we're going to make a tape, just a tape, that we'll self produce. There'll probably be some live recordings, and some acoustic guitar stuff. Not your general, usual Jr. Gone Wild stuff. Sort of a little self indulgent trip. But if (Island) signs us it ain't gonna matter how long it's been since our last record.

PS- Is it kind of scary thinking about signing with a major label? As far as taking away your artistic freedom, things like that.

MM- Well, Island's into artistic development. They don't wanna make you into something. They want to take what you already got and refine it, make it better.

PS- Thats a pretty cool label for a major.

MM- Yeah well, a lot of the majors do the same thing.The first thing they do is target the main songwriter. They'll suggest that he get rid of the band and just, "You come and you write songs, and we'll give you all the musicians you want." They did that to me, and I just went to bat for my guys and told them no. It was a little idealistic thing.

PS- Well, that's cool.

MM- Well yeah. I spent six years building this group, you know.And I'm not gonna fuckin' trash it now. There's no way. You can't make me do it. We've been through a lot of shit and stuff, and I'm not gonna waste all that experience. I've got a really good band happening, so...

PS- Yeah. It seems that way. Recent interviews have described you as quite autocratic. You're in charge of the band. Does what you say really go? Are you that much in charge? And does that cause any problems?

MM- I'm the spokesman.I don't make all the decisions. I'm incredibly fair when it comes down to what we do with our money. Everybody gets an equal share. I have authority to make unilateral decisions when they need to be made.

PS- And everyone's cool about that.

MM- Yeah, well I haven't made any mistakes and I'm not an asshole. I can be a big prick when we're working and stuff, but in general I don't treat people unfairly. They understand that my main priority is getting the job done properly, and everyone realizes that. I'm just a real bastard when it comes to getting the job done, that's all.I've noticed though, I used to have democratic bands, and if one person didn't want to do something, you never did it. And a lot of ideas weren't getting done and I didn't want to work that way anymore.

PS- But are you receptive to ideas from other members?

MM- Oh, for sure.I'm not interested in monopolizing the lead singing or the lead songwriting or the lead guitar playing.I'm just in charge of making sure this band is ready to play at all times.

PS- So you've been doing Jr. for six years. I even remember you playing Spartan's with punk bands. Back then, did you ever see it as becoming something bigger? Were you focused back then already?

MM- Back when I was in grade eleven, I knew I wanted to do music for my living and that's just whart I've been working towards.Back then, all I can remember was thinking that Jr. Gone Wild was not going to be the band,'cause we've had a real shaky career as far as band interrelationships goes. That's why so many people have been in and out of the band too. I don't know. It wasn't until recently that I decided "Heck, this band could probably go." I mean, if you got Razorbacks and 54-40's and Grapes of Wraths doing quite well, not trying to boast or anything, but I think we stand up to those bands. Blue Rodeo or whatever.

PS- Do you worry about playing too much cover material or do you just play whatever you want?

MM- Yeah, well lately we've been worried about that. We had to do a lot of covers because the gigs we were getting, we had to do three or four sets a night. That's a lot of songs. At any rate, we've cut 'em down. We've still got 'em, and we still play them, you know. But we got a lot of new, original material, so...

PS- Can we expect a lot of new material in your next show here?

MM- Oh yeah. And it's a little progressive, too. It's not quite the same. The songs I've been writing are a lot slower, a lot more country. But everybody's writing more. Everybody's kickin' in a few tunes here and there. I just write more than everybody else. That's why we do more of my songs, eh. I just write quicker or whatever. We've brought back a couple old, old songs from the Edmonton archives. We still do Moe Berg's "Make The Rich Pay" song from his Troc '59 days. I remember one Jerry Jerry wrote that the band Jerry Jerry never did - about how Bobby Brady kills his whole family, called "Suicidal Dreams". I guess those are still covers, but not too many people have heard them, so...

PS- What's your opinion of the music scene here? Is it stagnant?

MM- No way! Do you know that Minneapolis is the cultural rock hotspot in the world right now? With The Replacements, Prince, Husker Du. I think Edmonton is the next Minneapolis. Killing Time, those guys are amazing. And they got drive and desire.They're gonna go and do something, Killing Time. They're very dedicated people. They released a tape by themselves, and they don't even have a bass player! They moved me. They're really young and they're so into learning and going out and playing.

PS- You dig SNFU?

MM- Oh yeah. They're friends of mine. I wrote the lyrics to a song on their first album.

PS- My personal beef with Edmonton's music scene is that not enough bands are serious.

MM- Well, there's a lot of talent in the songwriters in this city. There's a lot of people I know who aren't playing in bands that I know are great musicians and songwriters. They still want to write songs.Maybe they don't like the politics of being in a band, but like...If there's one thing I can do, if I can get a high enough profile and enough pull and stuff, I'd like to expose some of these songwriters I know in Edmonton.Ed Dobek and Dave Lawson, who used to be in my band, for two examples. They're both really great songwriters. They can't really adapt to being in a band situation that's serious. They're impossible, actually! I had to play with those guys for three years! And there's Al Boyd,who's struggling to get his Kentucky Church Bus happening. He keeps having bad luck.

PS- Wasn't Dave Lawson in that band?

MM- He was. Al didn't like him being in the band. I think me and Dove are the only two human beings on this earth who could actually be in a band with Dave and Ed. Those guys are pretty volatile personalities!

PS- Yet, there's no real animosity? It just didn't work out in a band situation. Because there were a lot of rumours flying around about why those two guys were asked to leave the band.

MM- Well, basically because the band was shit and I was tired of being in a shit band. I just wanted Ed Dobek to be my peer, and not my business partner. Because businesswise, me and him are a fuckin' abortion.

PS- Your active involvement in the Edmonton music scene shows you're interested in more than just your own band.

MM- Oh, very much. I like talking to guys that are in other bands. I've been playing for eleven years and been across Canada four times, and had things happen to me and stuff. And when people tell me what the problem with their band is, most times I can relate to what their problem is and offer some advice. I really stress to anybody who's interested that your band is only as good as your songs. You should just write as many and as good songs as you can, and play as much as possible. Keep working. You've got to have a good work ethic. You've got to do quality performances, and you've gotta perform a lot. I truly believe that. That's how a band gets better, you know. Send a band on tour. If they play twenty shows in thirty days, they'll come back thirty times as good as when they left. Guaranteed. They'll look like hell, and they'll be in bad moods, but they'll be a lot better!

PS- What you say is ironic, because, although this isn't my criticism, one criticism that a lot of people have of your band is your work ethic. A lot of people say you're a lazy band because you haven't released anything for the last two or three years.

MM- Well, they should walk a mile in our shoes first. I mean, it's really hard to just "put out a record." You can't just "put out a record." I'm sure there's a little resentment. We make more money than most alternative groups in this city. But our overhead is also a lot higher than most bands. We came off a tour $6000 in debt that we still haven't cleared off yet. We were grossing $6300 in the month of July, and that's not even going to get us out of debt. But hell, I've done a million gigs, and I think it's about time my band got paid some money. I mean we are providing a service. And we're selling lots of beer for the bar owners. We are entertaining the people who come to see us. The fact that we don't have a record is strong on our minds too. We want another record really bad. Like really bad. But it's like good food. It takes time to prepare!

PS- That's still cool that people enjoy you, and get up and dance, or whatever.

MM- Oh, I really love the people who come and see us play.We've got all kinds of different people coming to see us play all the time. It's really great.

PS- So you really feed off that, when the audience is really getting into you?

MM- Yeah. That's a gas. There's nothing quite like it.

PS- What is it about you guys that makes me want to drink so much?

MM- I don't know. It's no secret we drink quite a bit. We like to have fun. And our songs are mostly about how women shit on us and how much beer we drink. Well, there's a little more substance than that. I don't know, we're fortunate that people like to drink and have fun when we play, because that's one reason we get gigs in some of the places we do. 'Cause we move beer, eh. That's why the guy hired you to play in his bar, so you can bring people in who are gonna buy beer. I've done gigs where the guy who runs the bar is sittin' there getting the tape that's coming out of the cash register and I go "So, what do you think?" And he says "I'll tell ya in a minute." The thing stops running and he tears it off and he rips it off, reads it, and goes "Oh, you guys were pretty good." That happened to me once. That's when I knew, that's when I basically realised what my job actually was. The best I can do to maintain my integrity is to keep my art to myself. At least this damn bar manager can't fuckin' tell me how to write my damn songs.