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Dave Bidini cares about Lake Ontario, and you should, too.
The former Rheostatics singer/guitarist is part of an “online music and audio experience” dubbed The Swim Drink Fish Music Club that will see him release 30 short songs about Lake Ontario.
The project was developed by the Lake Ontario Waterkeeper in collaboration with other Canadian Waterkeeper organizations. The goal is to feature songs by different artists every month.
Bidini is the first artist to take part in the project with his 30-song suite.
“A lot of the songs are about living close to water — youthful summers on Toronto island; a misspent teenagehood hanging out at the Leslie Street spit; as an adult sailing with my dad out of the Etobicoke yacht club — as well as the polluted soup that is our city’s lake,” Bidini says.
“Almost all of the pieces here were created through the ‘instant song’ technique — basically writing and singing whatever came to my head — although a few were obviously crafted.”
You can join the Swim Drink Fish Music Club at its website. Members can download Bidini’s entire 30-song suite. Membership costs $9.99 annually, and those who join the site access episodes of Living At The Barricades, a weekly radio program produced by the Lake Ontario Waterkeeper.
Proceeds go to the Lake Ontario Waterkeeper and other Waterkeeper organizations like Fraser Riverkeeper and Ottawa Riverkeeper. Waterkeepers and Riverkeepers are grassroots organizations that defend local lakes and other waterways.
Apostle Of Hustle, Attack In Black, Gord Downie and The Sadies, Great Lake Swimmers’ Tony Dekker, Land Of Talk, Neko Case, Ohbijou and Wintersleep are among the artists who will contribute to the Swim Drink Fish Music Club in the future.