Already at home in Hamilton

Brad Roberts, the baritone lead singer of folk-rock group Crash Test Dummies, chose our city when he decided to move north of the border again. One of Canada’s biggest acts of the ’90s, he and his bandmates are busy touring to mark the 30th anniversary of their second smash record God Shuffled His Feet.

The recent relocation of Crash Test Dummies leader Brad Roberts to Hamilton reaffirms that the influx of notable artists into the Hamilton music community continues apace. Roberts recently sat down with HAMILTON CITY Magazine for coffee in his Durand neighbourhood to discuss his move as well as the ongoing success his band is enjoying internationally, 30-plus years on from their commercial heyday as a multi-platinum selling entity.

Roberts and his wife bought a house and moved here a couple of months ago, but the extensive touring schedule of Crash Test Dummies this year has not allowed him much time to settle in. We chatted two days after his return from dates in the U.S. – “16 shows in 18 days that went very well,” says Roberts – and 10 days later the group was off to the U.K. and Europe for more shows.

He has already been made to feel welcome on the Hamilton music scene, he says. “I got my feet wet in the music community here by playing at the JR Digs Acoustic Christmas show last year (his appearance was a show highlight). I met a lot of people that night at that show, and they were all very welcoming. There was no attitude at all, no snobbery or cliquishness or any of that nonsense.

“We have made a lot of friends here already,” Roberts adds. “Our realtor was very chit-chatty with us during the transaction and she invited us out for tacos. She introduced us to all her friends and we became part of this nice close-knit little community in Hamilton. I feel more at home here than I do in my old hometown.”

Roberts was born and raised in Winnipeg, and earned a bachelor’s degree with honours from the University of Winnipeg as he was forming the Crash Test Dummies, the quirky folk-rock accented group that quickly launched him to national, then international stardom as the band’s lead vocalist and primary songwriter.

He left Canada 30 years ago, explaining that “when I was 30, I moved away from Winnipeg and relocated to New York ’cause I was in love with that city.”

 He eventually met his wife there.

“However, in the last 10 years, NYC has, in my view, lost all of its charm. It is priced out of anyone’s pay scale who is not extremely wealthy. I had rent control, so was not paying exorbitant rents but my neighbours were paying $15,000 a month. All of the creative people who used to flock to New York are gone as they can’t afford to be there. All the groovy restaurants have been rooted out and generally it is just not a fun place to live anymore,” he says.

“I also did not want to grow old in the U.S. The healthcare system is so poor there. You can buy as much insurance as you want there and it will never cover you for everything you need. If you get really ill, it can cost you a million dollars.”

Once the decision to move back to Canada was made, Hamilton topped Roberts’ choice of locale. He has friends here and his wife would be miserable in cold Winnipeg, he says. 

“People ask me, ‘Why the hell did you move to Hamilton of all places?’ Hamiltonians ask me that and I say to them, ‘Why do you have such a low opinion of your hometown?’”

But he adds that Hamilton has attracted too many “outsiders” too quickly and that’s driven up the housing market. 

“That must piss off the locals quite a bit. I don’t blame them. I feel I’m part of that problem.”

Much of the touring this year of Crash Test Dummies has been to mark the 30th anniversary of their second album God Shuffled His Feet. Fuelled by the hit status of its infectious single “Mmm Mmm Mmm Mmm,” that record brought international success, selling 6 million copies worldwide and earning them three Grammy award nominations in 1994. “Mmm Mmm Mmm Mmm” became so ubiquitous that it was parodied by Weird Al Yankovic, as “Headline News.” 

“That was a great milestone for us, and one of the biggest compliments I could get,” says Roberts.

The 1991 CTD debut album The Ghosts That Haunt Me was a huge success in Canada, thanks to the group’s other signature smash hit “Superman’s Song.” Though the record did not make a big splash internationally, it sold five-times platinum (500,000 copies) in Canada, and helped them win the 1992 Juno Award for Group of the Year.

In candid fashion, Roberts admits: “I don’t think much of our first record. I don’t think it stands the test of time. Those were my first attempts at songwriting. With ‘Superman’s Song,’ I think I came up with a good one, but a lot of the others are just so so. The playing is poor, with a drummer who we fired shortly after we made the record. Having said that, I feel our second record does stand the test of time.”

Those two records are characterized by Roberts’ distinctive deep baritone voice and intellectual and somewhat idiosyncratic songwriting. He credits his university studies in English literature and philosophy as having a deep impact on the latter. “I’d not have been able to write any of those songs without the education I got in those subjects. I learned to scan poetry, find out how rhyme works and I learned a lot about philosophy. All that informed my songwriting.”

A third Crash Test Dummies album, 1996’s A Worm’s Life, sold over a million copies worldwide, but subsequent releases did not fare well commercially. In the 2010s, CTD scaled down their activity, with some of the lineup departing and Roberts recording and touring as a solo artist, as well as working as a songwriting instructor and studying and teaching yoga in New York City.

He reunited with core members Ellen Reid, Dan Roberts (his younger brother) and Mitch Dorge in 2018 for the first full Crash Test Dummies North American tour in nearly two decades, and performing has been their primary focus since. The lineup now also includes east coast guitar ace Stuart Cameron (a longtime Roberts collaborator), and new keyboardist Leith Fleming-Smith, and Roberts says he feels lucky to play with musicians he gets along with. 

He’s no longer a prolific songwriter, says Roberts, but is proud of one recent song “Sacred Alphabet.” 

“It is very classically-influenced and is going over like gangbusters, with standing ovations at our concerts. I’m not sure why, as nobody is familiar with it, and usually people want to hear the songs they know. I’m surprised and pleased at that. At this point, I don’t know if we’ll be bothered with writing a new record anymore. These days I don’t think people listen to full records, just tracks.”

He continues to stretch himself musically, however. “I have been studying classical composition with a teacher in Connecticut. He is familiar with all orchestral instruments and has taught me how to write for them. Right now, I’m writing a string quartet. That is extremely challenging because all the best were already written by Beethoven hundreds of years ago, but it’s a lot of fun.”

As well as being the primary income source for Roberts and Crash Test Dummies, international touring is more enjoyable for Roberts now than during the band’s heyday. “When we first started touring I had an enormous amount of press to do. I’d have phone interviews every morning, then go to radio stations all afternoon, then play the show.”

He’s grateful for the experience but it was gruelling. Now, with an established name, he does any press before the tour starts.

We can be hopeful of some local dates at some point, but CTD are touring Europe and the U.K. through November and then Australia and New Zealand next spring.

Asked whether he ever gets sick of having to sing his two blockbuster hits at every show, Roberts gives a thoughtful response. “Doing them stays fresh for me because even after a million times, I know I’m singing them for a crowd of people that have paid good money to come and hear them. They are very happy to hear them and their enthusiasm is infectious.”

The fascinating life and career of Roberts could make for a memorable memoir, but he has no interest in that. “I would rather let the dust of the past stay where it has settled,” he explains with a chuckle.  

He remains content with his career choice. He considered academia but after getting his BA, he decided to try music first.  

“Looking back now, I really think I’d have been miserable teaching, so I’m glad things worked out the way they did.”