Pax Arcana reunites after 20 years – for old time’s sake
Another version of Pax Arcana. From left: Derek Sagert, MIke Binnendyk, Alex, Corey, Marek
The Pax Arcana reunion at least means a great deal to these particular musicians. It can’t be cheap to bring them all together for just the one last hurrah. But that’s not the point. Marek says, “Getting us all in the same room at the same time, it doesn’t get much better than that. It’s wonderful thing.” During a recent conference call, Alex concurs, “I love you guys,” or words to that effect. He says it’s also about closure.
“I have this sense of sadness that we didn’t take it where it possibly could’ve gone. It would be nice to finish was left unsaid, and undone.”
De Cartier gets bummed out talking about his fruitless efforts to help break local bands in the 1990s: “I spent most of my 20s in Edmonton and all I did the whole time I was there was try to get music off the ground for other people,” he says. “It was so frustrating. I couldn’t get anybody to jump on board.” He lists artists whose very names should trigger a trip down memory lane for fans of a certain age: In addition to the Nowhere Blossoms, there were Greyhound Tragedy, Minstrels on Speed, Kissing Ophelia, Mike Plume and – “the one that really broke my heart” – Welcome.
“These guys were all so fucking good,” Alex says.
Was it really all for naught? Steve Loree from Greyhound is now a producer and member of the reunited and revitalized Jr. Gone Wild. Drummer Lyle Molzan of Kissing Ophelia is on tour with Dean Brody. Mike Plume has a publishing deal and is paid to write songs from home in Nashville. And Welcome’s frontman Stew Kirkwood – “who was like Lennon and McCartney in one,” Alex says – chose to have a home and family instead of fame, and now runs his own recording studio.
Need we go on? You could argue that none of these artists would be where they are today were it not for dedicated music people like Alex and Marek and Corey and all the other unsung heroes on the local scene helping to open doors for worthy artists – even if they weren’t aware of it or even appreciated at the time. See? Not so sad after all.
It is unlikely Pax Arcana will play again after this gig, mainly because its members live in four different far-flung corners of Canada. Maybe they can heed the wise words of Mike McDonald – the frontman of Jr. Gone Wild who never planned to get the band back together for one gig, let alone several, let alone a new album upcoming and a tour behind it. He says, “Never say never.”
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