BANFF – Toney Springer still remembers it as clear as day – sitting next to the phone, anxiously waiting for a call back from David Bowie.
“David Bowie called me back right on the spot of four o’clock and asked me to play on his album,” said Springer a.k.a. Wild T and the frontman of his power trio Wild T & The Spirit.
Rising through the ranks of Toronto’s blues-rock and reggae scene at the time, Springer’s guitar genius was enough to catch the eye of Bowie and land him a spot on his 1993 album Black Tie White Noise.
“I was lying to him because I never got into David Bowie. When I met him, I went, ‘man, I’ve loved your stuff all my life, man.’ I’m lying and he was so genuine, he’s going, ‘look, I don’t want to talk about me. I want to talk about you,’” Springer recalled with a laugh.
The Trinidad-born guitarist and his trio are bringing the best of their blues-rock, funk tunes to a three-night stint at Banff’s Rose and Crown from Thursday (May 21) to Saturday (May 23) during their western Canada tour.
Raised on steel drums and island beats, when Springer punched his ticket to the Great White North, landing in Toronto as a teen, blues was foreign ground for the up-and-coming guitarist.
“Growing up in Trinidad, nobody’s on a beach with a pina colada singing the blues. Everybody’s happy, happy, happy,” said Springer.
“I started off going to the West Indian clubs, playing funk and stuff and then somebody took me to the infamous El Mocambo and I heard the blues. I go, ‘what kind of music is it?’ They go, ‘that’s the blues, man.’ I was so naive, I went, ‘well, why is it blue, man?’”
But Springer was curious and the more clubs he played, the more his reputation grew in the blues-rock, funk and reggae scene. Soon, an agent took notice, promising him $5,000 a week if he played Jimi Hendrix.
“I couldn’t stand his music. I didn’t understand it, I just went, ‘this is just noise.’ I didn’t relate,” Springer said of his first impression of Hendrix.
But in the growing tribute scene of the time, the gig was too good to pass up.
“I would be Whitney Houston, I’d be Dolly Parton for $5,000 a week,” he added with a laugh.
Growing out his afro and learning some Hendrix hits, from his first show with his tribute band, Fire, the connection to the infamous guitarist was instant.
“People are coming up to me going, ‘Oh, man, you’re Jimi’s son,’” Springer recalled.
Starting to write his own originals, eventually the itch to explore his own sound grew too big to ignore.
“I just went, ‘I can’t. This doesn’t feel right. I have to write my own songs. I have to get my own stuff together,’ and I started doing that, and next thing you know Wild T & The Spirit came around,” said Springer.
It was after the release of the trio’s first albums, Love Crazy and Midnight Blues in 1991, that fate would have Springer’s music video come on the TV at a Toronto bar where Bowie was hanging out.
“I actually asked [Bowie] about it after because he stopped the band and went, ‘Who the hell is that?’” Springer said.
Playing with Bowie on Black Tie White Noise and starring in a few of his music videos, Springer would also go on to perform with the likes of Bon Jovi and David Letterman.
“We kept in touch up to the day he died. Every Christmas [Bowie] would send me cards and so that was a good connection,” Springer said. “We had a good time, a good run.”
https://www.facebook.com/plugins/video.php?height=314&href=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.facebook.com%2Freel%2F1565272904775099%2F&show_text=true&width=560&t=0
Banff show
More than 30 years in the game, Springer is still living up to his name, bringing the wild to every show, and leaving his guitar “begging for mercy” by the time the night is through.
“I’ve trained myself to play spontaneously and almost on the brink of making a mistake. That’s how you learn technique,” he said.
“I used to play like that in Trinidad, just close my eyes and go up the neck and go wherever I land. If it’s the wrong note, I can make it right. This is how I approach life and music.”
Joined by bandmates Trevor Bigam, a.k.a. T Bone (drums) and Ryan Treeze, a.k.a. Ray Ray (bass) the crew is ready to rock, hitting the stage at 10 p.m. all three nights.
“[It’s] one of our favourite stops on the tour. Love that place,” said Springer.
“It’s just a warm atmosphere and looking forward to coming and experiencing the ‘wild life’ in Banff.”
The Local Journalism Initiative is funded by the Government of Canada. The position covers Îyârhe (Stoney) Nakoda First Nation and Kananaskis Country.
By Leah Pelletier, Local Journalism Initiative Reporter
Original Published on May 22, 2026 at 09:20
Recent Comments