The Smugglers return to Amigos to help celebrate Saskatoon club's 30th anniversary
The first time Grant Lawrence came to Saskatchewan in 1988 as the frontman for The Smugglers, he was just a wide-eyed teenager from the West Coast.
They had planned a tour during that March spring break. Being young and naive, they thought the weather across the country was just like in Vancouver. "I remember the heat in the VW van didn't work," Lawrence told Shauna Powers of CBC Radio's Saskatchewan Weekend this morning.
"When we got to the Prairies it was like a scene out of Game of Thrones. In the Prairies when it is a full-on blizzard, the snow kind of weaves like snakes on the highway.
"The condensation from our breath froze the inside of our windows over. It was like we were in a rolling igloo to get to our gig. But we made it!"
Legendary club
That gig was at the legendary Amigos in Saskatoon.The club is celebrating its 30th anniversary this year, and Lawrence and his Smugglers bandmates will be back on stage tonight.
"Not only was Amigos one of the first venues to book us, but more importantly, it was one of the first venues to not fire us!" Lawrence laughed.
"Which is one of the big reasons I feel a lot of gratitude and loyalty toward Amigos because they believed in us very early on when a lot of other clubs were basically saying, 'This is the worst band of all time. Get out. Never come back.'
"Jim Clarke from Amigos and his partners saw some glimmer of potential with our band, and it is our honour coming back 30 years later. Not only their 30th anniversary, but it is also in perfect synergy as its The Smugglers' 30th anniversary in 2018 as well.
'A rock 'n' roll nirvana'
Lawrence remembers being told about this club Amigos in the Prairies that would let you play your own music, pay you and even treat you nicely.
"In the late '80s, early '90s, this sounded like a rock 'n' roll nirvana."
He said one person described it as a kind of CBGB of the Prairies, a reference to the famous New York City punk rock club.
"So we were picturing a kind of a dark, den of sin. Something maybe out of a Quentin Tarantino movie."
They were in for a surprise when they arrived.
"The directions took us to this leafy neighbourhood in the Broadway area and we thought, 'Wow there is a rock 'n' roll club around here?'
"We turned down a residential side street and pulled up to this non-descript building. We went in, and we thought, 'This has to be the wrong place.'
"It was a brightly lit room with skylights, hanging plants and a chalkboard menu. At the cafeteria-style tables there was softball teams eating nachos, and we thought, 'This is the wrong place. This is some sort of Mexican restaurant.'"
'Lots of smiles'
Little did they know the transformation after dark.
"When the sun goes down, this place really does turn into a rock 'n' roll nirvana."
And the reception they received made them want to come back.
"I remember people came out of the woodwork.
"We didn't have any records out the first time we were playing there. But they were accepting of us, and they were having a lot of fun. And there were lots of smiles."
Lawrence said he has kept in touch with some of the people who attended those early shows and will see them again at tonight's gig.
Tonight's gig
Known for wearing matching suits and rubber boots (an homage to their West Coast roots), Lawrence promises a high energy show.
That's despite 30 years that has seen the collective birth of nine children and one heart attack. He's doing fine.
"We have the suits and the rubber boots," Lawrence said. "We want everybody to dance and party.
"So our challenge to ourselves to this day is that we try to constantly move. That our body, our feet, our hands, our head, our whole bodies are in constant movement the entire time that we are playing music with the hope that it is infectious."
"And it's been proven to be so over the past 30 years or so."
