I got my love of music from my parents. My father is a life long jazz fanatic with a wide range of tastes, and knowledge of different artists and idioms, and my mother loves classical and traditional music.

I was drawn to drumming at age eight, partly because my neighbor was a drummer, but mostly because I just had an affinity for it. It makes me feel good. I got my first kit at age ten and started playing in school bands. I took drum lessons and also started playing the guitar, toying with song writing and singing. More on that later.

I started drumming with real bands once I got out of high school, in the early 80s. I eventually found my way on to the Queen Street circuit in Toronto, playing with Simple Minds / Gang of Four influenced band, called Vital Sines, and then joining several including Whitenoise, the Garbagemen, Groovy Religion, the Plasterscene Replicas, and many others. Most of these bands released independent records.

In 1986, I released an independent cassette of my own, called “Acting Natural”. It received universally bad reviews, which frightened me from putting my own songs out in public for another ten years.

In ’88, I joined my first major label act, Andrew Cash. I played on his second album called “Boomtown”, and toured extensively with him through Europe, Canada and the U.S. While with Andrew I continued to play with other artists, including Colin Linden, Malcolm Burn (who produced “Diamond Mine”), Andy Curran and Change of Heart, among others.

In December ’91, I got a call from Jim Cuddy to audition for Blue Rodeo. I recorded ‘Lost Together’ with them and became a fully-fledged member shortly after. Playing with Blue Rodeo has been one of the great experiences of my life, not just because they are one of the few Canadian bands to sustain a respectable degree of success for several years, but because there is genuine honesty and integrity in the music, and in spite of hundreds of arguments, ego clashes and hissy fits, there is a lot of love in the band. At the time of this writing (December ’99), we are on the eve of releasing a new record, “The Days in Between”, which I’m very proud of, and feel is one of our best records yet.

While playing with Blue Rodeo I have continued to play with other bands, including my twin brother John’s project Starvin’ Hungry, Big Sugar, Mary Jane Lamond, Blurtonia, Lonnie James and many others. In ’97, I finally got the nerve to record my own songs again, and made a CD which finally came out this year called “Turning Blue” by The Swallows. (It’s gotten much better reviews than my last solo release, thank you!) I played most of the instruments myself, with guest appearances from Blurtonia’s Ian Blurton and Cellist / Vocalist Anne Bourne, who many Blue Rodeo fans will remember from the “5 Days in July” album and tour.

Subsequent to finishing the CD, The Swallows have become a real band with John Borra from the John Borra Band on bass & backing vocals, Randy Curnew from the Cash Brothers on drums, Clive MacNutt from the Laura Rego Band on guitar, and myself on guitar and vocals. The Swallows’ live dates will be posted on this website, and the The Swallows’ “Turning Blues” CD will be available at Blue Rodeo and Swallows’ shows, as well as selected retail outlets. - Glenn Milchem