aplanetofsound

That’s the cryptic image that met visitors to www.imotherearth.ca Tuesday morning. I discovered this when I noticed someone on my friends list sharing it with multiple other people on Facebook, so of course, I promptly did the same.

If R.E.M. defined my teenage years, I Mother Earth was the band of my mid-20s. A Toronto-based Canadian rock band, they were known for tremendous musicianship and extremely energetic live shows. Their music was a unique mix of trippy lyrics, Latin rhythms and hard rock. Between 1997 and 2001, I managed to catch them in concert about 15 times. Not bad for someone who lives in a relatively geographically isolated area, when you consider the regions of Canada where bands tend to tour.

I’ve seen IME perform in four provinces. My first show was Feb. 8, 1997, the day before my birthday, at St. F.X. University. I had arranged a pre-show interview with guitarist Jag Tanna for the small community weekly where I worked. The band at the time also featured the singularly named lead singer Edwin, Jag’s brother Christian on drums, Bruce Gordon on bass and percussionist Daniel Mansilla regularly toured with them. I was always a fan, but this was the first time I would successfully be able to take in a show. That night the metal barricade collapsed and I ended up with huge black bruises all over my legs. And I was also hooked. Ten days later, I braved a snowstorm to see them in Sydney. The next month, someone I met through the IME site and I packed up my car and took the ferry to Newfoundland, sleeping in my car (yes, in March, it was fucking cold) to see IME at Much Music’s Snow Job 97. I was in the front of the crowd and for months afterward had people calling to tell me they’d seen me on Much Music re-broadcasts.

Shortly after that came word that Edwin, the band’s lead singer, of whom I was never particularly fond, was leaving the band and IME would look for a new frontperson. But first they would do a few final shows with him, including Edgefest in Barrie, ON. So I packed a bag, bought a plane ticket and went to Ontario, where I was lucky enough to have some great people who I had met through imotherearth.com put me up for the week I was there.

Brian Byrne at a show at Mount St. Vincent University in Halifax. Nancy King Photo

Then a guy from Newfoundland with blonde spiky hair joined the band. I got to see them perform pretty early on in Brian Byrne’s tenure in the band, when they played the Summersault 98 festival in Shediac, NB. Brian was a force of nature from the beginning and the band seemed to have a lot more on-stage chemistry than with Ed.

Then came the 1999 spring tour. I went to see IME three nights in a row – twice at The Marquee in Halifax, the third at Smooth Herman’s in Sydney. It was the second night’s show that I think was the best IME show I had ever seen. The bar was packed to the rafters and there was an amazing energy between the band and audience that night.

I loved all four records that IME put out – Dig, Scenery & Fish, Blue Green Orange and The Quicksilver Meat Dream – before going on hiatus in 2003 after a reportedly epic final show in Barrie (I wasn’t able to go).

IME also had a very active online community through their website. I was a moderator on their message board for years. Those of us on the site made friends, made enemies, annoyed each other, made each other laugh, and we all came to know each other only because of the band. At least one longterm romantic relationship (and an “IME baby”) resulted from people meeting on the site.

Jagori Tanna at Summersault 98 - Nancy King Photo

The other cool thing about IME was the relationships that developed between band members and their fans. There were some fun times hanging out on the tourbus after shows, getting to know people whose music you really admired on a personal level. Bruce Gordon, the band’s bass player, regularly arranged for me to take photos of their shows for my website.

So it remains to be seen precisely what will happen when that clock ticks down to zero, but after years of no real IME news, it’s exciting to have something, anything on the horizon.