BY DAVID DeROCCO

On January 1^st, 1962, the Beatles auditioned for Decca Records at Decca Studios in West Hampstead, North London. The date is significant, because it marks the day the label made one of the biggest mistakes in music industry history by rejecting the Fab Four in favour of pop-chart footnotes Brian Poole and the Tremeloes. It’s another example of how wrong music execs can be, a lesson known all too well by legendary Canadian rock act, The Stampeders.

 After releasing three marginally successful singles between 1967 and 1971, The Stampeders finally scored a number one hit with the song “Carry Me,” the rootsy CanCon classic found on their debut album Against The Grain. Looking to duplicate that success, the band suggested “Sweet City Woman” as a second single, but the label was reluctant to release it.

 “I guess it sort of started off that the record company wasn’t too keen on putting it out,” said Stampeders cofounder Rich Dodson. “They thought it was sort of an odd follow up to “Carry Me.” And what station is going to play a song with a banjo in it. Yikes, the kiss of death.”

 In spite of their record label’s hesitation, The Stampeders released “Sweet City Woman” and watched as the song exceeded all expectations. Once added into rotation by legendary Toronto Top 40 AM station 1050 CHUM, the song began flying out of record stores so quickly that the influential radio station sent representatives out to verify sales.

 “It just started getting added everywhere,” remembered Dodson. “Sales took off. CHUM sent people to A&A Records and Sam The Record Man to count the sales to ensure the stores were counting them right because we were outselling every American release. A hit is a hit is a hit, you can’t stop those puppies!”

 The infectious, banjo-infused pop classic penned by guitarist Dodson would eventually go on to sell more than a million copies; it hit #1 on the RPM charts and climbed as high as #8 on the Billboard Hot 100 chart, where it stayed for over 16 weeks in 1971. The song helped The Stampeders earn the award for Best Group, Best Producer and Best Composer (Dodson) at the 1972 Junos. It also secured the band’s place in rock history as one of the most successful Canadian acts of the 70s, a decade that saw them release an incredible 11 albums – including four in a two-year period of 1973-74. Dodson agrees that’s an enormous volume of material by today’s recording standards, especially given the challenges of recording so fast so often.

 “We had to have at least one plus working on one every year,” said Dodson, who left the band in ’77 but reunited with the original members in 1992. “Plus you had to learn the stuff at rehearsal, then play them live to get into them a bit. And then rehearse our buns off before going into the studio so we wouldn’t go broke trying to record these things. We’d try to get the bed tracks down in one or two takes. We were playing live off the floor kind of thing. And there were limitations like eight-track recording. You didn’t have a lot of tracks so you had to move on, which is why we probably cranked out a lot more stuff than normal. And we had three songwriters in the band, so that helped. There was always a lot of material coming down the pipe.”

 That material included over a dozen Canadian Top 100 singles, with such AM staples as “Wild Eyes,” Monday Morning Choo Choo,” “Oh My Lady” and “Hit The Road Jack” featuring Wolfman Jack. It also helped Dodson and his fellow Stampeders earn the prestigious Lifetime Achievement Award from SOCAN at the 2011 SOCAN Awards in Toronto along with a lifetime of memories on the road performing some rather unique shows.  

 “We played a gig in the big soccer stadium (Maracana) in Rio. We had over 40,000 people in there, but it was part of a televised festival so there were 90 million viewers watching. That was crazy. We loved playing Ontario Place and we played the CNE all the time. New Year’s Eve in Honolulu we played in a crater to 25,000 people. We even got free tickets to see Elvis perform one of the shows from his Elvis in Hawaii special. Don Ho’s manager got us passes to see that.”

 While the perks of being guitarist for The Stampeders may be different in 2016, Dodson says “I still enjoy going out with the guys, reconnecting with the fans and playing live.” He’s also serving as a spiritual muse to his daughter and son, both of whom have their own bands (Parallels and Eyes of Giants respectively). “I’ve got two other bands in the house, so it’s fun watching them do all their recording and practicing. The place is hopping!”

October 30^th is the date FirstOntario Performing Arts Centure will be hopping as The Stampeders make a long overdue appearance in St. Catharines. “We’re usually up there for a couple hours,” said Dodson. “The music keeps you young, definitely when we’re up on stage we’re 23 again.”

And for the real 23 year olds who may be looking for advice on building a lengthy Stampeders-like career in the music business, Dodson offers this piece of sweet-city wisdom:

“I think there’s way more opportunity right now for someone who’s creative and has a little buzz happening. There seems to be an audience for every kind of music and they’re all on line looking for something. You just have to figure out how it works and record the best music you can come up with. Go on line and build that fan base. Stick with it, believe in yourself and do the kind of music you can do well. It’s always been tough. It’s always been that five percent that do well and the other 95 percent are starving. Nothing’s changed. It’s the same now. You have to really want it and work at it.”

For tickets visit https://www.firstontariopac.ca/.