Shadowy Men on a Shadowy Planet to return at Sled Island
by Mike Bell, Calgary Herald
Their roots are in Calgary, so it seems fitting that they should reunite in the city from whence they sprang.
The surviving members of Juno-winning instrumental indie rock act Shadowy Men on a Shadowy Planet have announced they'll be getting the band back together for a handful of shows, the first of which will be dates to coincide with this year's Sled Island festival.
The reunion will feature original members drummer Don Pyle and Calgary guitarist Brian Connelly — with Dallas Good from the Sadies taking the place of founding bassist Reid Diamond, another Calgary musician who died a decade ago — and it actually came about thanks to yet one more area connection.
"It was entirely instigated by Mammoth Cave," Pyle says of the upstart Lethbridge-based music label, which will be reissuing the entire Shadowy Men catalogue beginning June 1, and whose co-head, Evan Van Reekum, also works with Sled Island. "It was this very tantalizing carrot that was dangled in front of us and just felt like it was everything good about the playing experience… And doing it in Calgary also felt totally right, as well, with it being where I met Reid and Brian, and where they're from. The circumstances all came together."
Which pretty much describes the formation and career of Shadowy Men. The band members met when Braeside boys Diamond and Connelly were part of local '70s punk act Buick McKane, and Torontonian Pyle came out west to visit his brother.
When the pair skipped town for the more welcoming or liberal attitudes T.O. offered, they teamed with Pyle, the only person in the Big Smoke they knew, to form the band Crash Kills Five before becoming Shadowy Men in '84.
Together, the three-piece went on to record a trio of albums, more than a dozen singles and EPs, and found a modicum of fame, thanks to recording the theme and music for the TV show of the Calgary-stacked comedy troupe Kids in the Hall.
They split up in 1997 because, as the drummer says, musically they were growing further apart and had gone as far as they could, with the final straw being Connelly's balking at the idea of the trio recording an album with Half Japanese frontman Jad Fair. Still, despite the members going on to work in acts such as Connelly's Atomic 7 and Phono-Comb, the Fair collaboration, which saw Pyle and Diamond teaming with Good, the legacy of Shadowy Men continued to grow.
"It's something that has continued to live on without really (stopping)," Pyle says. "It feels, in some ways, like it never really ended. It's amazing the number of people I run into who say, 'Are you still in Shadowy Men?' … For some people I think we've remained present and we're so honoured that young people that are appreciating our music and what we did. That's where the Mammoth Cave thing is coming from.
"I'm definitely aware that things have taken on their own life and it's happening with people that never saw us. And it's kind of nice."
But still, Pyle admits that while the reunion — which will also feature a Toronto show — holds excitement and has been relatively easy, with the trio having already worked out about 40 of the old tunes, it is somewhat bittersweet with the absence of Diamond.
"There's been so many times when the three of us have been rehearsing together which, like I said, feels totally natural for the three of us to be doing, but in my head I can totally picture Reid being there and the whole physical sensation of the three of us together," he says. "It's definitely sad that Reid is not here, it really feels, in a way, not like Shadowy Men without Reid. I feel like we are the best Shadowy Men cover band ever."
Spotlight: Shadowy Men on a Shadowy Planet will perform at this year's Sled Island festival running June 20-23. Tickets, passes and information available from sledisland.com.
mbell@calgaryherald.com
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