Who needs America’s Bruce Springsteen when you’ve got Canada’s Todd Kerns?

kevin statham photos

By Steve Newton

Vancouver rock fans had a couple of concert options last night (Friday, November 22).

The biggie was all-American music legend Bruce Springsteen, who was bringing his world-famous E Street Band to Rogers Arena.

Not quite as high profile was the gig by Canuck-rock cover band Toque, featuring former Age of Electric member Todd Kerns, at Coquitlam’s Great Canadian Casino.

Now, I don’t know if the 75-year-old Springsteen’s show proved that he’s still one of the world’s greatest frontmen, but I can definitely say that Kerns is an heir apparent.

Amidst a flurry of flying black hair, the lanky Saskatchewan native was an unstoppable party-hearty force, leaping about, flicking picks, and cranking out rhythmic riffs on his signature Prestige Anti-Star VI guitar while paying tribute to the vocal stylings of such Canadian crooners as Ra McGuire (on Trooper’s “The Boys in the Bright White Sports Car”), Mike Reno (on Loverboy’s “Turn Me Loose”), George Belanger (on Harlequin’s “Innocence”), and–trickiest of all–Geddy Lee (on Rush’s “Tom Sawyer”).

The latter tune featured some amazing in-honour-of-Neil Peart drumming by Alberta-born Shane Gaalaas, who has rattled the skins for such hard-rock guitar heroes as Michael Schenker, Yngwie Malmsteen, Slash, Uli Jon Roth, and Vinnie Moore.

Another highlight was when Kerns brought out former Queen City Kids member John Donnelly to play bass and sing backups on the much-admired Regina band’s funky old hit “Dance”, off the 1982 Black Box album. The diminutive Donnelly looked quite the pipsqueak alongside six-foot-four Kerns, but the joy and appreciation emanating from the current event-marketing specialist while he rocked out was massive.

Rounding out the Toque lineup were Winnipeg-bred bassist-keyboardist Brent Fitz–whose credits include Alice Cooper, Gene Simmons, and Vince Neil–and Moose Jaw-born lead-guitarist Cory Churko, who spent over 25 years working with Canadian country-pop superstar Shania Twain.

The all-Canadian lovefest also featured some original Toque tracks–such as the impressive 2019 show-opener “Never Enough For You” and the new single “Broken”–but the biggest crowd response was for the classic-rock gems, which also included covers of April Wine, Aldo Nova, Prism, Streetheart, and my old hometown of Chilliwack.

And as if that wasn’t enough Canadianness for ya, the night ended with a jubilant singalong on that ultimate hoser anthem, “Oh Canada”.

Kudos should also go to opening act Spendo, a Vancouver-area quintet that comes off kinda like a poppier, organ-infused version of the Black Crowes or something, with lotsa vocal harmonies and a lead guitarist who really knows how to rip it up on the ol’ cherry-red SG.

To hear the full 29-minute audio of my 2016 interview with Todd Kerns–and my interviews with current and former members of such Canuck-rock bands as Rush, Saga, the Guess Who, April Wine, Big Sugar, Triumph, Blue Rodeo, and Max Webster–subscribe to my Patreon page, where you can eavesdrop on over 500 of my uncut, one-on-one conversations with musicians since 1982.