Ron Hawkins.
Ron Hawkins, former front man for The Lowest of the Low, now records his own CDs in his home just off Ossington Avenue.
Staff photo/ERIN HATFIELD
Ron Hawkins' story is an anti-rock star story of sorts. His career has taken a road reversed to what one might expect, but it has all lead him to exactly the place he wants to be.
Eleven records into his musical career, Hawkins has gone from doing big studio albums on labels and leading the fast-paced life of a rock star to now making records in his home just off Ossington Avenue, and heading out on tour with nothing more than his guitar.
"I can treat the song as a work, and with much more dignity in a way," he said. "These are things I have learned after a long time of seeking to do it the other way because that is the way you think you should do it."
Hawkins, who grew up in the east end of Toronto, has played the Queen West music scene in various bands since 1983. He is most notably the former frontman of The Lowest of the Low, one of the most influential bands on the Canadian alternative music scene in the early 1990s.
The Lowest of the Low sold more than 100,000 copies of their two independent releases, Shakespeare My Butt and Hallucigenia.
"Our first record was initially run on our own and then as that groundswell happened we got picked up by AandM which became Universal," Hawkins said. "Then we did what a lot of bands do, which was tour non-stop across Canada."
Being in a popular touring band, in ways, took the innocent fun out of making music, he said.
"It was all about, 'You guys have some great songs that are really popular. Let's make as much money off them as we can'," he said.
The tension of weeks surrounded by people you have or haven't chosen to be surrounded by can be taxing, and it eventually lead to the break up of the band.
Then came his band Ron Hawkins and the Rusty Nails, which also met success: winning awards and garnering praise on the Canadian music scene.
But his more recent years as a troubadour of sorts has brought out audiences who are there for the reasons Hawkins wants them to be there: to listen to the music.
His latest recording 10 Kinds of Lonely was released last spring. He recorded it at home, in the basement, dining room and the bathroom, on an old-school recording device.
Hawkins now tours mainly with just his guitar, recently playing across Canada with British rock legend Billy Bragg.
"That tour was great. It was right across Canada and it was just him with a guitar, which I prefer," Hawkins said. "He was as close to an idol as I had when I grew up."
Hawkins said he was worried what time on the road would reveal about Bragg, but the idol bubble didn't burst.
"Luckily I learned he is the real deal and he is full of integrity," Hawkins said.
At live shows, Hawkins said there are no bells and whistles now. He plays smaller venues like Graffiti's Bar and Grill in Kensington Market and recently performed at the Free Speech, a west-end reading series event at Tinto's in Parkdale.
"As a songwriter and a lyricist they are the kind of shows where every person in that room is there to hear every word," he said. "I love venues like that."
Next he is heading to China and Australia.
"That is something I would never have been able to consider doing with a band because it would be so expensive," Hawkins said.
Hawkins is also a painter and is currently working on a show set to launch in June at the Drake Hotel General Store. He explained the show is an alphabet of musicians, each one a small portrait of musicians from A to Z. In conjunction with the show, Hawkins will do a residency of sorts at the Drake Underground on Thursdays during June.
"I am going to try to make that kind of a carnival of people I haven't played with before or maybe that my audience hasn't seen," he said.