Rick Scott says that Pied Pear is still pretty solid, despite the lack of folk venues in cosmopolitan Vancouver

ORIGINALLY PUBLISHED ON AUG. 12, 1983

By Steve Newton

“One thing about us,” says Rick Scott of Pied Pear, “is that we write in all styles. We don’t stay in one groove, and that’s one of the reasons we haven’t achieved the commercial success that people say you should be going for. Where the music calls us, we go”

Over the nine years that they’ve been together, Scott and Joe Mock–Pied Pear–have followed the “call of the music” with an adventurous and open-minded spirit, chasing what they heard in their heads and their hearts and not waiting for the ring of the cash register to signal where they stood. Their sound has, like music itself, been in a constant state of flux, shifting with the times.

But one thing has never changed for the duo–their ability to enchant both young and old through genuine, unadulterated song. And tonight (Friday) at the UBC Sub Ballroom, a Pied Pear for the ’80s will be continuing that tradition.

Pied Pear started out as Pied Pumkin in 1974 with Mock, Scott, and vocalist Shari Ulrich. The trio produced two albums before Ulrich signed a recording contract with A&M Records and launched a solo career. Then came the name change, three more albums, and constant touring.

“We’ve toured just about everywhere in Canada that you can tour,” says Scott, “definitely everywhere in B.C. We travel all over the province and rent halls and throw dances. We’re a two-person dance band and we can really get cookin’,  but in a theatre situation [like at UBC] we focus more on theatrics because people are focusing in on the band, not just the beat.”

Capturing an audience’s attention has never been much of a problem for Scott, who was MC at the recent Vancouver Folk Music Festival. He had his own kids’ show on CBC three years ago called Switchback, a 90-minute live show that featured videos, old movies, cartoons, and allowed children to phone in and talk to celebrities. And now Pied Pear are about to do a big Pay TV children’s show filmed in Toronto, called Trooper.

Music and fun have always been part and parcel for Pied Pear–they make a point of combining the two.

“For instance,” recalls Scott, “when the Olympics were in Montreal they had a songwriting contest for the Olympic song. So we wrote one but it was a real sendup–it wasn’t serious at all. I did this whole monologue before the song about being a starving musician and how this was my big chance to make a bunch of bucks. And that’s the approach we like to take in concert. There’s a lot of clowning around, a lot of mime, and a lot of little skits in between the music.”

Besides keeping Pied Pear rolling on the road and performing at elementary schools (they’ve played over 200 of them), Rick and Joe are involved in a project called the Clown Band, a 20-member marching band that is all clowns. Mock writes the tunes and Scott the theatrics for the band, which appeared at the Vancouver Folk Music Festival last month.

According to Scott, the VFMF provides an irreplaceable service to folk music lovers in Vancouver, a city where that type of music is finding fewer and fewer outlets.

“It’s an incredible event because the music is of international calibre–it’s not just coffeehouse material. And a good percentage of it is Vancouver talent–Ferron’s been there, Bim, us.

“The thing that’s happening with Vancouver right now is that it’s becoming so cosmopolitan. There’s so much to choose from as far as entertainment goes. And there’s not a lot of facilities for folk music here. The folk scene is strongest right now in Alberta. You can make a lot of bucks and get good audiences there.”

Pied Pear just returned from performing at the Edmonton Folk Music Festival last weekend, and Scott says one of the highlights of the festival for him was seeing blues great Willie Dixon.

“When I heard he was on the bill I thought, ‘Oh no, here we go, another burned-out old Black blues player who’s just gonna go up and shtick at you.’ And Willie got up there and he really put out. I mean, he can hardly walk he’s so old, but he’s still got it.”

John Hammond and former Byrds member Chris Hillman also performed at the festival, along with a group Scott describes as “incredible”–Nashville’s Riders in the Sky.

As well as playing the Edmonton festival five times so far, Pied Pear have done festivals in Courtney, B.C. and Sudbury, Ontario. At the end of this month they will be performing at the Powell River Music Festival.

Rick Scott plays dulcimer and “a bit of trombone” with Pied Pear, and Joe Mock handles guitar, keyboards, and–something new to the band–synthesizers.

“There’s two things happening now,” says Scott about the duo. “One is that we’re exploring a whole new musical trip with synthesizers. And the other is that we’re just now starting to get it together to make another album. We’re just now starting to think, ‘Okay, let’s get the money together and start the whole ball rolling, ’cause it’s a big project.’

“I’ve been getting into other areas as well. Lately I’ve been acting. I was in Reflections on Crooked Walking last winter, and tomorrow I start a show called El Grande de Coca-Cola at the Arts Club Revue Theatre.

“And Joe started back in the bunkhouse days in Vancouver, the Retinal Circus and stuff like that, so when I’m out acting he’s discovering being a solo act again–discovering that when he’s by himself it’s totally different than when he’s with me.

“So we’re diversifying a little but, but I think the Pear is still pretty solid. We’re still enjoying it a lot.”

To read over 100 of my interviews with local Vancouver musicians since 1983, go here.