Ian Thomas worked in the little grocery store over in University Gardens. His brother Dave worked there too. Their dad was a professor of ethics and philosophy at McMaster University. The boys went to the local high school, and were students at McMaster. We call it Mac! After graduation Dave became a member of Second City, and went on to great success as one of the MacKenzie Brothers... the smart one! Ian has a funny side too -- he's been a semi-regular on the Red Green Show -- but in high school he started a folk group called "Ian, Oliver & Nora". When they got bigger and signed a record deal, man had visited the moon, so they changed their name to Tranquility Base. Then Ian went solo and had a big hit: "Painted Ladies," reminiscent of Neil Young or America.  That tune kicks off his greatest hits album.  Looking back is a collection of 20 years of his songs.  Songs that have been covered by Santana, Manfred Mann, and America.  There is a distinctive 70s sound to these tracks, with their synthesizers and echoed vocals, that traps the songs in a time tunnel.  The hits are here, though: "Pilot," "The Runner," "Right Before Your Eyes," and "Liars." This was the beginning of a career that has flowered more brilliantly in the past five years with the formation of a band as creative and inventive as any I've ever heard.  The Boomers is more than a combination of the four talents that make up the group.  They are a force to be reckoned with.

Peter Cardinali is an extraordinary bass player.  His playing is fluid and strong, as melodic as Paul McCartney, as sure and rhythmic as James Jamerson.  He owns his own record label, which features "music with a great feel, things that the major labels miss."  Alma Records is named Alma because Alma means "soul."  Every project Cardinali connects himself to is linked by this feature... it's soulful!  The Boomers YYZ carried a suffix on their first album.  There must have been another bunch of boomers who beat them to the punch, but these guys have proven to be the real thing!  What We Do was their first album and it's a fine example of exactly what they do!  They rock, they smolder, they play seamlessly as one.  The keyboards have virtually disappeared.  The Boomers are a guitar band held together by strong songwriting and solid arrangements.  Their group vocals are  velveteen.  Cardinali's bass provides a substantial foundation for Thomas' melodic songs.  Having said that, What We Do is a good introduction, but the Boomers take a quantum leap forward with their next album.

Drummer Rick Gratton is one of the most sought after session players in Canada.  He has gained international acclaim through his educational books and videos, which seek to pass on his encyclopedic understanding of percussion.   Art of Living has stronger songs; it's more memorable, more varied and more interesting than the first album.  The sound has been solidified, and it's recognizable as the Boomers' sound by this album.  Ian's lead vocals were somewhat subdued on the first album -- probably to avoid sounding overblown like he sometimes did on the early tracks --  but on this second effort he pushed in new directions.  Sometimes reminding the listener of Sting with his clear, crisp tone, at other times he just sounds like himself, a mature singer, confident and sound.  Under it all is the fine stick work of Gratton: subtle, sensitive, and dependable.  He's not flashy, but is capable of surprise; he provides the perfect complement to Cardinali's bass, making for a perfect rhythm section.

Guitar player Bill Dillon has a collection of instruments that looks like he has high jacked Steve's Music Store.  You want a sound?  Bill Dillon can get it for you.  He has produced  that sound for people like Robbie Robertson, Daniel Lanois, Peter Gabriel and more.  On Wednesday nights, sometimes, he sits in with a local Beatles cover band and plays George Harrison's parts on the exact guitars George used himself.  Bill Dillon is one monster guitarist.  He fills out the sound of the Boomers.  If the song calls for a Beatles-esque ringing chord, he provides it, but if you want the muddy blues sound, or a sound effect, he has a collection of pedals too.  The sound that Dillon gets is always, always, the one the song requires.  He plays the right amount, the right tone, the right volume.  All this comes through in 25 thousand days, which starts with the sound of a guitar, then the drums and bass come in, then there's a piercing note and the vocals. "I Feel a Change Coming" speaks about the world, the global village.  Many of Thomas' lyrics are informed by the philosophy and ethics he learned at his father's knee.  I studied with Dr. John Thomas and he was an extraordinary man, with an extraordinary mind.  Ian echoes the open-minded concern that his father sought to share with his students.  These are grown-up songs for the modern global villager.  25 thousand days is a collection of good melodies and great ensemble playing.  The Boomers sound like a band at all times, not a bunch of virtuosi -- which in fact they are.  But when they perform together, they are a group, and the songs are the thing. 

The new album is called midway, and it perpetuates the same Boomer philosophy.  Ian Thomas brings in the songs, and the band "boomerizes" them!  These four extraordinary musicians seem to have created a marvelous psychic link.  Thomas' humor rises in "I Don't Feel Particularly Old":  "I don't feel particularly old, but I look it...when I look in the mirror Keith Richards looks back at me." Well, like other boomers, these boomers are getting older together -- and maybe it really is the journey -- no matter who's staring back at you from the mirror.

[David Kidney]