They were too polished to be punk and too smart to be corporate rock. Vancouver’s Doug and the Slugs carved out a unique space in the North American music scene of the 1980s. Many of their hits like “Too Bad,” “Day by Day,” and “Makin’ It Work” can still be heard on the radio today.
Now, nearly 50 years after their formation, comes a new book that celebrates that legacy. Real Enough: The Unlikely Story of Doug and the Slugs was written by original Slug Simon Kendall and historian Aaron Chapman.
Kendall was the founding keyboardist and the band’s musical director for the first 15 years of its existence. Chapman has written several books about the history of Vancouver’s nightlife, including Vancouver After Dark and Live at the Commodore.
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“I think [the book] really started for me at the band’s 40th anniversary, which was at the Commodore in 2019,” said Kendall.
“Aaron was working for Live Nation at the time, and I had already been interviewed for his book about the Commodore. And I had this idea, ‘Gosh, I’d like to do a little memoir.’ And I prodded Aaron, and that got the ball rolling.”
“Why now? Well, because, gosh, we better not wait too much longer.”
There has been a reappraisal of Doug and the Slugs in recent years. First, there was the 2022 documentary Doug and the Slugs and Me from filmmaker Teresa Alfeld. Then the following year came Doug and the Slugs: 50,000 Slug Fans Can’t Be Wrong, a self-published memoir by Kendall’s bandmate John Burton.
It all started in late 1977, when a Toronto expat named Doug Bennett, who had been working at The Georgia Straight at the time, met up with a group of musicians who would become The Slugs.
Kendall admits Bennett didn’t impress him much at first.
“I just thought, ‘Well, I really like these songs, but the guy can’t really play very well,’” he said.
Kendall points out Bennett had never been in a band before, couldn’t play guitar, but even then, he had a good ear for lyrics and an unconventional sense of melody.
“He was a graphic artist, a singer-songwriter, [though] not a great musician. But that was our end [of the deal] because we got to take these diamonds in the rough and polish them into the masterpieces that we all know and love.”
One of those masterpieces was “Too Bad” their debut single, released in 1980.
“That single started climbing the charts. We were blown away. We had no expectation when we made the record, but it got to national radio and suddenly we were a hit.”
“Too Bad” was also one of the songs former rock critic Fiona McQuarrie highlighted in her 2023 book Mixtape: 21 Songs from 10 Years (1975-1985).
“Doug and The Slugs were just starting their rise to national prominence when I was working at the Vancouver Sun, so yeah, I interviewed Doug several times. I also saw the band play live several times,” she said.
“It was very exciting to see a band from Vancouver that was so unconventional have that much success.”
“I think they’re one of the great underrated bands from Vancouver. They sort of acquired this reputation as a party band which is fair enough because they’re a lot of fun to see live. But they deserve so much more credit than that because the songs that Doug wrote are so deep and so intricate while still being very listenable and clever.”
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Chapman describes the band’s enduring appeal this way:
“There is an appreciation of Doug and the Slugs from tot to pensioner. You know, they’re one of those bands that everybody seemed to like, and even the punk rockers seemed to like them because they were sort of self-deprecating.”
As a Vancouver musician himself in the 90s and 2000s, Chapman admits the Slugs were something of an inspiration.
“I thought if you could be as big as Doug and the Slugs and fill the Commodore…to me, Doug and the Slugs were as big as the Rolling Stones.”
Real Enough not only covers the band’s 1980s heyday but also the lean years afterward. Kendall talks about leaving the band in the early 90s.
“I started getting into music directing for live theater and composing for film and television, which was something that I’d actually done before the band, but had been totally sidelined by my time with the band,” he said.
“I was frustrated with touring and not being, not feeling as creative as I wanted and I had these opportunities…either producing or recording or writing for film and TV. And I just thought, ‘That’s the outlet.’”
“I was ready for a change, and that’s the direction that I took. I really got out of live music performing for a few years, and I enjoyed studio work and composing.”
Frontman Doug Bennett continued with replacement players in what some would call Doug and the Subs. He passed away in 2004, the year after the original band reunited for a pair of 25th anniversary performances.
“We realized what it was that was special about the band and special about those six guys. And we got together and we had that shared history, and we had a lot of fun. And then we sold out the Commodore twice. It was amazing,” said Kendall.
“Doug was not in good shape, but he rose to the occasion and that was the last time that we played with him. So, I’m glad we did it.”
“I thought he would pull himself together. It just didn’t happen, and I certainly never thought that the band would get back together.”
Today, the original band is joined by singer Ted Okos standing in for Bennett and they continue to perform today.
“When you hear somebody else singing those songs with the wrong kind of tone, it just does not work. And I went, ‘Okay. We knew he had a unique voice, but it must be the right voice.’ And Ted was the right voice.”
Real Enough is a wild ride through the history of the band that is complemented by entries from Doug Bennett’s personal journals.“There are moments where Simon and him are recalling the same moments again, and they’re almost in conversation after X many years. So, it’s kind of Doug’s return and it’s fun to hear that voice again,” Chapman said.
Kendall is just happy his story is finally on paper.
“I’m very happy that it’s reached completion. It was a long and winding road,” he said.
“I’m still too close to it to know what I think about it. I think there are some funny stories in there. There are some poignant stories [too] and it’s the history of the band. So, I hope that people enjoy it.”
Real Enough: The Unlikely Story of Doug and The Slugs is published by Anvil Press.
Simon Kendall and Aaron Chapman will be hosting a reading, q-and-a, and book signing at the Book Warehouse on Broadway in Vancouver on Wednesday May 13th.