30 years ago: Blue Oyster Cult & Aldo Nova play Vancouver, I get stuck with Nova

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      Thirty years ago this Friday—on December 27, 1983—Blue Oyster Cult and Aldo Nova played the Pacific Coliseum. (That gig is not to be confused with the one they played at the same venue in August of ’82)

      I was pretty psyched about seeing B.O.C.

      Nova not so much.

      I must admit that I didn’t mind his 1982 song “Fantasy”, though. I also liked the fact that he cowrote Blue Oyster Cult’s “Take Me Away”, the lead track off B.O.C.’s then-new album, The Revolution By Night, produced by Vancouver’s own Bruce Fairbairn.

      I wound up interviewing Nova on the phone from Shreveport, Louisiana before the tour hit town, and looking back at that story now it’s pretty obvious that the Montreal rocker with the leopard jumpsuit had a bit of an ego thing going on.

      You may find some of his quotes on everyone from Iron Maiden to Ritchie Blackmore to KISS kinda interesting.

      If not, hey—it’s Christmas Eve. Go open a present or something.

      On the difference between his self-titled debut album of ’81 and his new album, Subject…Aldo Nova: “My voice is a hundred times better than it was last year. It’s not as wimpy as it was. And there seems to be a certain intensity on the album that wasn’t there on the last one. I mean, my blood and guts are in the grooves.”

      On my wrongful impression that “Take Me Away” was about suicide. “No, ‘Take Me Away’ is a song about extraterrestrials. Originally that song was an outtake from my first album. They copied it note for note from my demo. I gave it to Eric [Blue Oyster Cult vocalist Eric Bloom] when they were looking for songs for the new album ’cause I thought it fit them really well. It sounded like a Blue Oyster Cult song. And he came up with the lyric ‘take me away’. It’s more of a Close Encounters of the Third Kind type of thing, ’cause me and Eric—if they ever come down with the saucers—we’re the first ones in line [laughs]. We’re gone.”

      On what Eric Bloom and the other Blue Oyster Cult members are like to hang around with: “They’re not as wild as you’d think. I went out with the guys in Cheap Trick, and we used to get gassed every night. These guys are pretty quiet in comparison.”

      On the recent quote in British rock mag Sounds where he says that Deep Purple’s Ritchie Blackmore is “a bad guitar player.” “No. I think Blackmore’s a good guitar player, I just did 25 dates with him with Rainbow. I don’t really like his new album, but he’s a really nice guy. All those horror stories that you hear about Blackmore, there’s not one of them that’s true. I was misquoted, because I never criticize anybody else—that’s one thing I don’t do is criticize other groups or other players.”

      On the other recent quote where he claims “I don’t like heavy metal. “That’s another misquote. I’m constantly misquoted by the press. I don’t like heavy metal as in Iron Maiden—that brainless, unmelodic stuff. I like melodic heavy metal. The stuff I play is a cross between heavy metal and pop music.”

      On whether his band members ever feel neglected with him taking the spotlight all the time: “Well no, because they’re a touring band. And they each get to shine on stage. As far as playing on the record, each one of them played on one track: the guitar player played a solo on ‘Armageddon’, the drummer plays on almost all the tracks, and the bass player plays on ‘Hey Operator’. So we’re really happy; we get along really well. The guitar player went to audition for KISS today, for some reason–I don’t know why. God knows why he’d want to go audition for KISS. I don’t think they could sell a record to save their lives.”

      Comments

      5 Comments

      A. MacInnis

      Dec 25, 2013 at 12:03pm

      Hey, thanks for clearing up that there were two very similar gigs by BOC and Nova in close proximity. I *think* was at both of them, but I was 14 in 1982, and memory is vague. I didn't have much memory of "Fantasy", either...

      HellSlayerAndy

      Dec 26, 2013 at 10:22am

      (That gig is not to be confused with the one they played at the same venue in August of ’82)

      I hate that too.

      I saw Queen twice!
      Thin Lizzy Opened for the FIRST show...but wags who read the Straight think Queen only played Vancouver solo.

      Loverboy opened for KISS and Loverboy got booed big time, but were much loved when their shitty album got released a month later.

      AC/DC opened for Aerosmith too! Saw that!

      The Clash played the Gardens/Wrestling Arena...along with Devo and the Talking Heads!!!!

      (Heart w/ big screen, Elton John, etc etc etc)

      Biggest regret...
      Passed on free tix to see Nirvana at the Com...hated Bleach...they had some new CD...F'em I thought.

      Nice career you have writing about OLD MUSIC!!!!

      Martin Dunphy

      Dec 26, 2013 at 2:38pm

      My biggest regret was forgetting I was holding two tickets to the Clash at Kerrisdale Arena in June 1982 for a friend up north who couldn't make it down for the show.
      Combat Rock.

      Wade Marwood

      Mar 24, 2015 at 10:47am

      I had front row for that show and Aldo cancelled and wasn't there. I remember as I am a huge fan. He was replaced with a local metal band Kradle.