Dave Rosin is calling it now. There will be a surge in the sale of lozenges on Friday, if he has anything to do with it. His goal as a member of rock band Hedley is to get the audience singing along. When he gets to do it in his hometown, he wants the crowd to overpower the group.
"I want to hear about a lot of sore throats at work the next day," he said with his customary laugh.
The high-energy, good-natured P.G. boy with all the guitar skills and backup vocal talent was a natural fit for frenetic lead singer Jake Hoggard when he was firming up a band after his solo success on Canadian Idol (Hoggard finished in the Top 3).
Rosin had been in previous bands Day Theory and Everything After prior to getting the call in 2005 to work with Hoggard as a unit. It has been almost nonstop since then, and on Thursday they bring it all around to the arena where Rosin used to play minor hockey and watch the Cougars play before he moved to the Lower Mainland after high school.
"The thing about going to the Cougars is - and I've really gotten into baseball now, so it's across all sports - that right there is unscripted drama," Rosin said. "When two teams step out onto the ice or the field or at the Olympics, you never know how it's going to end."
That's the kind of excitement and spontaneous chemistry he and the Hedley members try to produce as performers - the same thrill as a sports event.
Pleasing audiences at live shows has been the band's forte over the years. They've had radio hits, video hits, won Juno Awards and gotten critical acclaim rarely applied to pop-punk rock bands. But Hoggard has always been a musician's musician, an old-school composer and crafter of songs. He insists on quality material in the recording studio and delivering quality showmanship on the stage, so he, Rosin, drummer Jay Beni and bassist Tommy Mac get to attack every moment on tour.
Rosin said the new album and tour are different in a lot of ways. It's not a clear departure from past material, but the songs on Cageless have a maturity and broad appeal that feels fresh even to the Hedley guys. The world is already driving the hit single Better Days up the charts, but the other songs on the album all have single potential. It is one of those rare top-to-bottom records that feels full and timeless right from the first spin.
"Jake really wrote a hell of a record," Rosin said, adding that he's noticing Better Days "becoming a mantra for people" it is so popular wherever they go. The key, Rosin said, was Hoggard was not intent on writing hit songs. He was trying to push back against social forces none of them wanted to lay off of.
"When Jake first brought it up to us and said he wanted to call it Cageless we didn't feel this (burst of rebellion) like we were in cages before and now we're free. I think it was more a sentiment of what's going on socially these days, and be it personally, or sexually for equality, or for (Aboriginal) reconciliation, it feels like there is a taking back of who we are personally and with what's going on in the world. It's not about 'hey parents, you can tell me what to do;' it is more about being who we want to be, being able to express the feelings you want to express."
Rosin is the proud papa of a young son, now, so he was fully in support of using their art to paint a brighter picture of the future, and rage against the injustice and intolerance showing its colours in society right now. With their years of creativity and personal experience, now, though, the songs do that on Cageless by throwing a party, not throwing a tantrum.
Rosin's adulthood shows up a bit in nostalgia. He asked as many questions as he answered, wanting to know all about how P.G. looks and feels these days. He wanted to know if The Citizen was still located in the same building, and when he heard we'd moved a few blocks he suddenly calculated that the printing press would have been hard to adjust. He was relieved to know the complex machine could remain where it always was.
That reminded him of how his paper route got him his first guitar. He won a Citizen paper carrier contest, the prize was a video game system, but he flipped it for the guitar that would eventually lead him into an international career.
He misses this city so much that last time the band was in town, he went on a sentimental journey. His family moved away from Prince George, so he went to his childhood home and knocked on the door.
"I don't recommend people do that, but I had a really good experience seeing the old place where I grew up," he said.
He also drove around to see the parks where he played youth baseball and the venues where he performed in musical theatre shows and sang solo songs.
Letting himself feel gratitude is one of the values he appreciates most about his caring and progressive family life and Prince George social life. As massive as Hedley is on the world stage today, he never loses sight of that.
He never forgets a conversation he once had with a dirty, calloused labourer who came up to him one day in some town on the Canadian landscape. He recognized Rosin and told him he was looking forward to seeing the concert that night, and he was excited to bring his daughter along as an experience they could share.
"That guy has gone and put in hard-earned hours of his time, worked his ass off, so he could buy a concert ticket and bring his daughter, and that wasn't lost on us," Rosin said. "So if you're coming to the show, thank you. Prince George always goes off for us, I'm a very proud hometown boy, and we can't wait to see you at the CN Centre."
Hedley headlines the event on Thursday night along with special guest performers Neon Dreams and Shawn Hook.
