Dave Bidini, acclaimed musician and author, is slowly but surely approaching elder statesman status in Toronto and throughout the land—he's a founding member of seminal Canadian rock band The Rheostatics, and author of 12 books including Writing Gordon Lightfoot: The Man, the Music, and the World in 1972, nominated for the Toronto Book Award. He formed Bidiniband in 2007 along with Rheostatics drummer Don Kerr, as well as Paul Linklater and Doug Friesen.

The band’s latest album, Motherland, was released May 27 and is a fiery, politically charged album that sets its sights firmly on Prime Minister Stephen Harper and his unique brand of conservatism. 

Tell me about the political side of Motherland. How did politics and your beliefs, and what you’ve seen play out over the last few years influence the album’s lyrical direction?
It’s a melodic album with political songs, but they’re not didactic. They’re about people. Canada is a changing place and it's the artist’s job, partly, to illuminate those changes.

What is your problem with Stephen Harper, in 50 words or less?
Transforming Canada into a paranoid America-lite filled with ‘courageous warriors,’ a mono-economy, prisons and weakened laws that protect our land and waterways.

And you see it as your role, as an artist, to combat people like Harper?
To ask questions of those in whose hands rest the soul of our country.

Is Canadian culture in a healthy state right now?
Yes and no.  

What inspired your song about Rob Ford?
Too good to pass up. Too unreal a character. Too epic a story. 

And who do you think should be Toronto’s next mayor and why?
Richard Underhill, because we toured China together. 

This is the third album for the Bidiniband. Any new and unique challenges with regards to Motherland, which has a hint of concept album to it?
Always a challenge when you’ve got 20 or so albums at your back: pressing to get better and better and better. Pressing until it hurts.