It's a good thing The Arrogant Worms didn't sprout south of the 49th parallel. If they did, they probably wouldn't be celebrating that nation's birthday like they will be this July 1st when the trio from Kingston, Ontario bring their collection of good-natured, irreverent songs to headline the 2014 Steveston Salmon Festival.
"I can't imagine that in the U.S. an act would be hired to perform on the Fourth of July then have funny songs about their country," said Trevor Strong by phone from his home in Kingston. "I just don't think Americans have the same sense of humour to laugh at themselves as easily as we do.
"As Canadians, I think it's a point of pride to be able to take a joke."
One of them is how ridiculously large Canada is in the aptly named Canada's Really Big.
We're bigger than Malaysia Almost as big as Asia We're bigger than Australia and it's a continent So big we seldom bother to go see one another Though we often go to other countries for vacations Our mountains are very pointy Our prairies are not The rest is kinda bumpy But man do we have a lot! (we got lotta land, we gotta whole lotta land) So stand up and be proud And sing out very loud We stand out from the crowd 'Cause Canada's really big! "We're fun and funny in an upbeat way," said Strong, who along with Chris Patterson and Mike McCormick formed the Arrogant Worms about 22 years ago. "And we'll be
performing a lot of songs about Canada on July 1. I think we've got about five different Canadian anthems we've written. Plus, we'll play whatever else passes for our hits."
The trio met at Queen's University in Kingston and became members of a group called the Queen's players.
"It was a campus group that did really poorly organized shows in local bars," Strong said. "We also started doing sketches and songs for campus radio."
The exposure led to a string of live performances that was noticed by the CBC.
Two decades on, the Arrogant Worms have gathered a following from coast to coast and are familiar with the Metro Vancouver area, but have never been to Steveston before and are looking forward to the live audience at Steveston Park.
"We change what we do a bit if we are playing in front of an audience who already knows who we are," Strong said. "At a Canada Day festival, there will be a lot who don't know us. So, we'll be a little more careful to make sure we warm them up to the fact we're meaning to be funny."
Annually, the group performs between 30 and 40 gigs.
"We used to do well over 100, but we all have kids now. So, we've dialled it way back," Strong said, adding it's still fun to experience the feedback from audiences.
"Everything is fun but the travelling," Strong said. "As you get older physically moving your body from place to place gets more annoying each year. But the shows themselves are great.
"I tell people that my job is great, but the commute is a killer. Although we no longer do the jump in the van and drive across the country type of tour," Strong said. "One year we did the coast to coast drive about four times. But the novelty wears thin pretty quickly. But every year now we cover most of the provinces."
The Arrogant Worms play July 1 at the Steveston Salmon Festival's Main Stage starting at 1 p.m.
