Local

pro

iucer

iakes records
sfosstown

UST ABOUT every post-

Elvis era teenager has

dreamed about being a
‘ock musician at one time or
another in his or her life.

. By Kevin Gillies
Now Spotlight

While most of us have rele-
gated the thought to the shower,
North Vancouver record produc-
ex Al Rodger ‘gets to play the
dream daily.

Rodger is a multi-instrumen-
talist. who produces albums for
-local musicians out of Crosstown
Studios on East First Street in
North Vancouver., ~.

 -.“Pmay-have taken it to the
7 exireme vy, practising and play-
ing all those-instruments full-
time,” according to Rodger, “but
a good. working knowledge of all
instruments and singing and
songwriting — those four or five

6 2 re eapiremenss — get you in the

| park: of even hoping to be

Paine. ‘useful, known asa.

producer. Until then. you "re just a
nuisance.”.
Rodger. has done production

"work for'the tikes of Dougyand |

' the Slugs, Barney Bentall and the

Legendary’ Hearts,-Doucette, .

Lovena Fox; The Odds, Upper
’ Levels and Spirit of the West. °°

He has mixed and engineered
music for Gary Fjellgaard, ‘Valdy :
and: Sue Medley.’

His television and: film musi-
cal. score’ credits
Cadillac -Girls, Northwood,
. Cycles, Reel Love, Spilled Milk.
“and The Journal. °

-His score for Cadillac Girls:

‘won him and partner Simon
‘ Kendall (of-Doug and the Slugs
. fame) a Genie Award.’ -.-
’ He has also done a lot of tele-
vision work for the CBC as well.
“1 like doing that work,” he
says. “I’ve got an excellent part-
ner.to work with and him and |
get-a-lot of good, solid work
* done with a minimum of fuss.”
' All of his work for the last six
years has been out of Crosstown.
St is where he plays his music
— whether it’s with the drums, a
guitar, keyboards or his voice.
The bass is his latest challenge.
“Before you can coach some-
body on something you have to
have a really good working
knowledge ‘of how" thal ‘works to

-ONLY THE BEST STYLE,
QUALITY & VALUE
PERMITTED AT YOUR
MENSWEAR STORE™

Our quality control department
has rejected delivery of the
foilawing item, shown in
our Canada Wide
Soring Savings Spectacular
flyer in today's newspaper:
PEACH TOUCH CASUAL
PANTS 2 FOR $60
This item simply didn't meet our
‘high standards, so therefore it
won't be found in our.stores.
Period. In its place we suggest
our leg length twills, now
2 FOR $45.

We sincerely regret any
inconvenience this may cause.

_include:.

make the performance better out
of the other person.

To produce a three-minute
song with four instruments can
take anywhere between four
minutes and eight days depend-
ing on how prepared the;rausi-
cians are and how efficiently
they work,

He usually has six to eight

projects on the go.

But playing rock is what iv $s

~all-about, he says.--

“Rockin’ is the most fur —
slashin’ a six-string, screaming, at
the top of my lungs and jumpin’
off of PA stacks. That’ s the only
reason that | got into it.”

The 33-year-old maintains
that drums and guitar are his
strong suits, but says that singing
is his true passion.

“! just learned to play every-
thing and record it out of the
notion that i coule write songs
and sing them,” he says.

He started playing drums at
the age of six in Penticton when *
he was playing with his 10-year-
old brother. When he.was eight
he was playing drums in a band
with 16-year-olds.

“We would rehearse, we

would do a little recording on

their primitive four-track and
‘when they'd leave, | just couldn't
stop,” according to Rodger.
“it-was like a drug. I’d keep
working on. it until all hours of
the morning.”

By the age of 20 he was writ-
‘ ing songs full-time and had spent
enough time recording that he
could now produce whatever he
played.

‘While he is a producer now,

itis making music that he still

Jooks forward to and considers
his true calling.

With his TV and film work
taking care of any extra time he
may: have, time for. personal

music is not available.

His latest personal project is
singing and playing in a,duo
with colleague Paul Casano
called Creator.

The final product compares
with early Alice Cooper work
and is a testament to his studio

. abilities.

We'll pay you $3(

‘tion and writing ...

NEWS photo Cindy Goodman -
LOCAL PRODUCER AI Rodgers (left) works the sound board with colleagues Jeff Bond (centre)

and Simon Kendall. Crosstown Studios, located at 266 East First St. In North Vancouver has
been busy producing Independent albums and demo tapes for local musicians since 1986. pee

“It’s picking up so that (per-
sonal) writing time is a bad scene
because what's happening is I’m
getting Jess and less of that and |
enjoy writing for myself and writ-
ing songs for other people, but
mostly just girls,” he says.

He admits that he prefers the

female voice, “especially in the .§

modern ‘country, motif,” to the

mals but claims it's because the ;
female voice is sound. hie an te

make himself. :

Recently Rodger, has been fx

writing for,.and producing,-a

country artist named Suzanne: §

Gitzi.

He wrote her.a song, Fallen
Angel, which has been nominat-
ed for-song of the year by the
B.C. Country Music Association,

“Because | love women’s
voices and the way-a woman
can sound doing vocals,on a
modern country selection often
just slays me to my knees.”

But singing is what it’s all
about. -

“| just love producing vocals,”
he says.

“That's why I get into produc-
to get all the
s*** out of the way so we can get
to the good stuff which is the
singing of a really good song by
an excellent singer.”

Meet gg ee ee

There’s an aging second tridge chomping up energy

in the basement. Or perhaps you're thinking of

buying a new fridge but you're not sure what to

do with the old one. In either case, B.C.Hydro

will pay you $30 and haul it away.

Free pick-up of your old
energy-guzzler.

We'll pick up any fridge as long as

it’s in working condition and between
10-24 cubic feet.* And using environ-
mentally sound methods, we'll safely

recycle the ozone depicting CFC

refrigerant and all the metal.

BChydroe

4DOOR 4-WHEZLER EXTRAORDINAIRE!
Luxury, elegance, prestige and all purpose utilitylAN

comfort amenities including leather sport seats, sunrooh,.
‘trailer tow and integrated running boards.

- $33,595
| or *5 S35 imo. |

pa-Mo:
FORD PLAN.

4 +*Based on 24-month lease with a down, payment or trade equivalent of $5,000 plus 1st payment and secunty deposit.

Total ouigaton is $17,640, some mulenge conditions apy, wenee. insurance, faxes & ‘applicable feea exciuded.

'94 EXPLORER 4DR. 4x4 XLT §
H “XLT" Edition with auto, AIC, PW.; PLitilt, ~ &
& cruise, cassette; capt. chairs, trailer tow and °

qf pert. axle, #4X021

95) ci '28,405 |

Land haul it away

You could save a cool sum of money.
Old fridges use up to twice as much electricity
as today's energy-efficient models. By tuming
in your old fridge, youcan reduce
your Hydro bill by as much as $100
per year, And the energy you save
also takes a load off the environment.
‘To arrange for free pick-up.
y7 call the Refrigerator Buy-Back Hotline at

1-80)-663-2274 thrauigh- ewe
} out B.C. or 683-2274 in "OAL

the Lower Mainland.
- Saves: More
Than Money

f Mason io per customer &.CAbadre reserves the right ie
change ur cancel the aifee utany time without print arnice,