Ian Thomas will be 75 in July, and he's still writing songs. Not only that, this month he'll tour B.C. with Lunch at Allen’s, a "supergroup" of sorts with fellow singer-songwriters Murray McLauchlan, Cindy Church and Marc Jordan.
Chilliwack is a concert stop for the foursome on a 10-date "farewell" tour that kicks off on Thursday, June 12 at the Chilliwack Cultural Centre and ends June 24 in Vernon.
The musical gang first got together in 2004 for lunch at a joint on the Danforth in Toronto.
"It was Murray's favourite watering hole, and Marc joined us from time to time, and Cindy was invited later," recalled Thomas in a phone call from his home in Dundas, Ontario.
"We'd get together and grouse about the record business like the two old guys in the Muppet Show. Marc suggested (the band name), but you know, I don't think it served us all that well because people are always saying, 'Are you still doing that Breakfast at Tiffany's thing?' People don't seem to quite understand."
Twenty-one years and four albums later, it's time for Lunch at Allen's to say goodbye to live-performing songs that have helped shape the Canadian musical landscape over the past 50 years, dating back to 1973 and Thomas' first big hit, "Painted Ladies."
Together they aim to take concert-goers "on a journey with humour and stories," playing familiar hits and also new songs.
"What we do is almost a little bit of a revue, really," he explained. "It's not the kind of show where each songwriter does their own song and everybody, you know, sits in silence waiting for their turn, trying to look interested. We're all too ADHD for that, so we all back each other up singing harmonies on every instrument we do.
"We're all tall storytellers, tales people, you know," added Thomas. "So we shuffle around the instruments a little bit, and we since added Victor Bateman on upright bass, which is just wonderful because it helps hold the groove down."
The members of Lunch at Allen’s have written songs for Chicago, Josh Groban, Bonnie Raitt, America, Santana, Cher and Rod Stewart, to name a few stars, along with solo hits including McLauchlan's "Farmers Song," Thomas' "Pilot," Jordan's “Marina Del Rey” and more.
"I've been very fortunate with my songs, you know," noted Thomas, younger brother of SCTV's Dave Thomas. "Santana had a hit with 'Hold On' and Manfred Mann with 'Runner,' Chicago did 'Chains,' and Bette Midler did a song, Anne Murray did one called 'Good Again.'
"It's been a wonderful ride that way, and when I play the concert tours now people say, 'I didn't know that was your song!' So I got all of this kind of heavy-rotation airplay, but the catch-22 was, I was getting all the airplay of the heavy-hitters, but I wasn't getting the chart numbers that would mean your record would be front-racked in the stores. Consequently, you know, I say I am the ghost of CanCon because a lot of people know the songs but don't necessarily know it's me singing them, writing them."
These days Thomas is working on some new songs and has three books in the works, along with the Lunch at Allen's tour.
"There's just so many things to do, and the older you get, you just can't do everything anymore," he said. "We also wanted this to go out on some high ground, you know, while it was still good. Actually, I think the last tour we did, in April in Ontario, I think we've sounded the best we've ever sounded. It seems we're getting more into the detail.
"There's a best-before date stamped in us all somewhere," Thomas added. "You know, 25 years is a long time for a band and we're still friends, so that's wonderful."
The Lunch at Allen’s country-wide Farewell Tour is at the Chilliwack Cultural Centre on Thursday, June 12 at 7:30 p.m. Tickets $83.75 and can be purchased at the Centre Box Office, online at chilliwackculturalcentre.ca, or by calling 604-391-SHOW(7469).
