Being in a band is hard...keeping a band together is harder still...and if a band can keep it together for more longer than a decade, they should get some kind of medal...

Let’s give props to the Red Hot Chili Peppers, still going since their establishment in 1983...Metallica has been with us since 1981...both new order and Depeche Mode go back to 1980...

The current lineup of U2 has been the same since that day in March 1978 when they changed their name from “The Hype”...as they were doing their thing in Dublin, the cure was coming together in England...

Pretty good...here are a few more longevity champions...Blondie, formed in 1974...Kiss, 1973...The Eagles, 1971...The Who, 1964...The Rolling Stones, 1962...The Beach Boys, 1961...

Now let’s look at just Canada...Sloan has been with us since 1991...The Tragically Hip, 1985...Loverboy, 1979...April Wine, 1969...Rush lasted a full 50 years before they broke up...they were formed in 1968...and we there’s still a version of The Guess Who out there, maintaining a streak that started in 1965...

I should also point out that the Nanaimo Concert Band has been a going concert since 1873—not with the original members, of course...there have been some lineup changes...

Another name that needs to be added to this list is 54-40...they were established in 1980 and are still going...there have been some changes in personnel, but the core of the band is still intact, still touring, still recording, still on the radio.. 

They outlasted the original wave of punk, new wave, 80s hair metal, grunge, the resurrection of indie rock in the 2000s, the rise of the internet, the demise of music video channels, and—well, you get the idea...

So this is as good a time as any to sit down with the band to let them talk about their decades in the Canadian music business...this is “54-40, in their own words, part 1”

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