Don’t forget about Glass Tiger. The Canadian classic rockers, known for a plethora of hits in the ’80s and early ’90s including ‘Don’t Forget Me When I’m Gone,’ ‘Someday,’ Thin Red Line,’ ‘My Town’ and ‘Diamond Sun’ may fly under the radar, yet they still play a lot, especially during the summer. They will be playing Whoop-Up Days, Aug. 23 in Exhibition Park.

“This has been one of the busiest summers we’ve had in a long time. We’re not sure why, but we‘re not complaining,” commented Glass Tiger keyboardist Sam Reid from his studio north of Toronto.
“It’s just been exciting. We’ve had great crowds so we couldn’t be happier,” he continued.
They just returned from a concert in Halifax.

“We’ve been very fortunate. We’ll do a lot of fly in dates like that. We’ll meet people in the airport and they’ll ask us ‘are you guys still playing.’ We haven’t stopped playing for the past eight years,” he said.

“What’s disappointing is when people have waited a long time to see us. The last time they saw the band was in the ’80s and they just find out on Monday that we played on the weekend,” he continued.

“That’s where social media is good. We’ll tweet and tell people what we’re up to so when people log in, they will know,” he continued.

He noted their show will be a “walk down memory lane.”
“ Alan (Frew, lead singer) always tells the crowd this will be a walk down memory lane. So we’ll be playing ‘Don’t Forget Me,’ and ‘Someday’ and all of the songs,” he said.

The band has their favourite songs his is a ballad called “Worlds Crumble.”
“If you ask the guys in the band, you’ll get five different  answers. But because I’m a keyboardist, I’m biased so I like a ballad called ‘Worlds Crumble.”
 It’s a majestic ballad. It feels like an arena ballad. It’s reminiscent of Queen,” he said.
 They recorded two new singles last summer when they toured Sweden and Europe with Roxette.
“So we’ll be playing those in the middle and some songs that haven’t been recorded yet to show people we‘re still alive,” he said.

“I’ve walked away from concerts shaking my head. It baffles me because some bands will release a new album and just play that instead of the music they’re loved for,” he observed.
He noted Glass Tiger’s songwriting process has remained pretty much the same since the band formed almost 30 years ago.

“One or two of us will write together. I’ll some up with something and send it to Alan, who will hum something. When it starts to sound like a song, we’ll bring it to the band,” he described.
“It’s very difficult to write with more than two people in a room. It cuts down on the arguments,” he said.

Lately he‘s been writing more with Glass Tiger guitarist Al Connelly.

“I own a studio here and Al will come down to work on sessions and we’ll write while he is here,” he said.
 The band doesn’t see a lot of each other when they aren’t touring.
“Our bassist lives farther away from us, so the first time we’ll see him will be at the airport,” he said adding they will see other Canadian classic rockers at the airport as well.

“We’ll see the guys from Honeymoon Suite (who are playing Whoop Up a Days on Wednesday, Aug. 21) at the airport bar. They’ll be going to Edmonton and we’ll be going to Vancouver, so they’ll walk one way and we’ll walk the other,” he chuckled.

 He would rather be on a tour bus.
“That’s is my preference when you go on the road on an official tour,” he said.
 They will be taking a tour bus to Lethbridge as they also have a gig in Clear Lake, Manitoba this weekend as well.

“It’s a really comfortable bus. It’s 11 hours overnight. You get to sit and socialize. But we've done that. When you do fly in shows, you only get to socialize for about a half hour before the show,” he said.
 It has been several years since they played Lethbridge.

“I remember we played the arena and we played a soft seater, but I’ll have to ask Allan to do some research because he keeps notes about things like that. I know we had a great time, so we’re looking forward to seeing everyone again,” he said.

Local classic metal band Rex will open the Aug. 23 show at 8 p.m. Glass Tiger will take the stage at 9:30 p.m. Admission is free with Whoop -Up Days park admission.