TRURO, N.S. — Jeff Douglas is having a lot of fun musically reviving the 1980s.
As a member of the band Height Requirement, he’s been playing at venues across Nova Scotia.
"I was really looking forward to being home but never dreamt I’d be making music,” said Douglas, the former As It Happens co-host who returned to Nova Scotia to become host of CBC Radio’s Mainstreet. “In Toronto, my focus was always on acting and I kind of let this go, so this has been a really sweet thing about coming home.”
While a student at the Cobequid Educational Centre, he performed in a jazz band and took part in the school’s musicals. He and three friends also played together as “Eight Feet Under.”
“I was never a singer, per se, but I wasn’t afraid to sing,” he said. “When I found out I was moving home I sent a message to Jim and Peter Davison, who I was in a band with in the '80s, to see if they wanted to get together and jam sometimes. When they lost a singer from their band they asked if I wanted to join and I started singing with them in August.”
Now they’re performing some of the same songs that were part of their repertoire during the '80s.
“They’re tunes I grew up with,” he said. “We play everything from Dwight Yoakam and Dolly Patron to the Beastie Boys and Queen. There’s a lot of great rock and roll, new wave and country. The only rule is it has to be from the '80s and you have to be able to dance to it.”
Jim Davison said he was excited when he heard from Douglas, and the band members didn’t hesitate about inviting him to join.
“I’ve known Jeff a long time, we went to pre-school together, and I was sure he’d fit in,” he said. “This is something we do for fun, but we take it seriously.
“These are songs we knew and loved so it lets us relive our youth. Some think the '80s was the last decade of great dance music.”
Davidson said the group can perform a wide variety of songs because band members play guitar, keyboard, saxophone, synth, slide whistle, mandolin, banjo, harmonica, drums and fiddle and include both male and female singers.
Jade Bennett, who is in her mid-20s, is the only band member who didn’t grow up with the music. But she remembers her mother singing the tunes she’s now performing.
When Douglas learned Height Requirement was scheduled to play at the Truro branch of the Royal Canadian Legion on New Year’s Eve, he was especially excited.
“That, to me, is like playing the Metro Centre,” he said. “Growing up, that’s where everyone wanted to be so it’s really fantastic to perform there.”
Along with singing, he sometimes plays the acoustic guitar.
His first weekend as part of the band, they had two gigs, although they typically perform two or three times a month.
More information on band can be found on the Height Requirement-Totally 80s Facebook page or on the website.
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The Band
Height Requirement formed in 2014 and members originally practiced in a basement with a 6-foot ceiling. No one was too tall for the space, and this led to the choice of the band name.
Height Requirement is made up of Jeff Douglas, Jim Davison, Peter Davison, Robert Luer, Jade Bennett and Dale Roode.
