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REGINA — Barney Bentall and the Legendary Hearts’ Regina stop brings the musician back to a city woven into his family’s story.
Bentall’s mom grew up in the Queen City, where she eventually met his dad.
“When they met, they moved to Toronto. Then I was born, and our family moved to Calgary. Later, they moved to Vancouver,” Bentall said.
Even though Bentall had a connection to Regina, he never saw the area until he was 30.
“It wasn’t until we started touring that I really got a chance to see this. I got to see Wascana Lake and see what it was like. My dad was a Baptist minister … at First Baptist Church, right downtown,” said Bentall.
Bentall said tracing his family’s origins through travel was a rewarding experience, and it’s one of the many reasons he’s continued touring with his band for decades.
“I really value travelling in the country and playing for people and hearing their stories. And I consider that a real gift.”
The band formed in Vancouver in 1980 released its first album in 1988.
Bentall admitted their first album took six to eight weeks to produce. Listening to it in the car for the first time, he felt it had turned out poorly.
“I put it in the car stereo, and I just went, ‘This sucks.’ I guess that's a common reaction. Then, all of a sudden, I remember hearing it on the radio for the first time. We were all together as a band, and I went, ‘Oh yeah, you know, maybe this could work.’”
The album includes the band’s most listened-to song, “Something to Live For,” which was written at a time when Bentall was close to quitting music because he had to worry about providing for his wife and four kids.
“We wrote that song, and then we recorded that song, and we were just hanging on by the skin of our teeth.”
MuchMusic picked up the song, which started gaining Canada-wide attention and helped save the band, Bentall noted.
“I'm very grateful for that song because I probably would have left this job, and to be honest, I don't even think it would have been a hobby for me.”
Bentall feels music has no defined pathway for writing songs and generating success.
“We had a big single called ‘Do Ya,’ which three of us wrote in about 20 minutes. We were sitting outside our studio in North Vancouver on a sunny day, looking at the big coal and sulphur piles, with a case of beer. That’s where our studio was, and somehow, we had the song finished quickly.”
As for performing, Bentall said he feels great joy in seeing people’s reactions to the band.
“Seeing the joy in their faces. I think that's an inspiration, and I like to party and also to feel good about life. I love being in the same room together, kind of sweating and sometimes dancing, sometimes listening, where the line between stage and audience gets blurred. I love that.”
Barney Bentall and the Legendary Hearts are set to perform in Regina on Friday for Shake the Lake.
