The Arrogant Worms, creators of such beloved songs as “I am Cow,” “Canada’s Really Big” and “The Last Saskatchewan Pirate,” have been making people laugh for 33 years.
They’ve had a song played in outer space (on the space shuttle Endeavour), they’ve amused the masses on Parliament Hill, and performed with the Edmonton Symphony Orchestra as their backing band, to name a few of their accomplishments. Do they have any band bucket list items remaining?
“It would be great to have a song on a movie soundtrack; that would be cool,” says Trevor Strong, one-third of the Worms. “On something that wasn’t comedy, with some bloody murders going on while one of our stupid little happy songs is going on in the background.”
When the Worms launched as a band in 1991, they had little idea they would still be creating their “stupid little happy songs” in 2024. Students at Queen’s University, they started with comedy sketches as well as songs. They swiftly realized the musical numbers got more attention. The band was born.
“We went right out of university so we didn’t have any lifestyle change. We were still drunk and poor but we were doing it all across the country instead of in one place,” Strong says.
Now, in 2024, they’re still touring and creating songs, the latter often at a blistering pace. Since 2017 they have been writing a song per month for their Patreon subscribers, including “Grandpa’s Vaping Now” and “Inadequate Lunch.”
“It forces us to not get complacent,” says Strong. “We could keep on touring forever now and no one would ever go, ‘where’s your new material?’ Well, maybe one person. But that’d be about it. It’s a great way to force us to keep writing.”
33 years’ worth of comedic songs is a lot. Creating them is not always easy, says Strong.
“All of the things that would naturally occur to me as being funny, I’ve already written a song about. That makes it harder,” he says.
“I’ll listen for things I find funny or I’ll try to think about what’s weird in the world that I haven’t written about yet. Or I’ll just strum the guitar and sing and hope that something comes out that’s funny. It gets really desperate,” he laughs.
The trio is now a part-time endeavour. Strong, for one, has a PhD in Education and keeps busy as an adjunct professor at Queen’s University in Kingston, teaching comedy online through HAcademy and teaching at various music schools. He’s also a novelist. Chris Patterson teaches at Appleby College in Oakville, and Mike McCormick is a busy piano accompanist living on Manitoulin Island.
It’s nice having some space between Arrogant Worms gigs, he says. “It’s always fun when we get together for shows now,” he says.
As for the band’s name, it wasn’t always a hit with the group itself.
“I have grown to appreciate the name. But when we started out we were not convinced it was a good name. We even tried to change it once, to an even worse name, The Wacky Neighbours. A terrible name.”
The Arrogant Worms play Red Deer, May 31 and Elk Point, June 1 (though the Elk Point show is sold out!) Details here.
“Canada is Really Big,” a classic Worms song, performed with the Edmonton Symphony Orchestra, with Strong at centre stage:
