MOOSE JAW — Homestand ’24 featured an all-star lineup of performers who helped support youth mental health initiatives in the community including 54-40, Doc Walker, Belle Plaine, Trick Ryder, The Steadies, and Moose Jaw’s own Cory Churko with Toque.
Churko was born and raised in Moose Jaw and it wasn’t long before he was introduced to music.
“My dad and mom had a band, and when that band broke up, my siblings and I were all at an age where we were already playing musical instruments, and we started a family band,” he recalled. “I played my first wedding dance when I was seven.”
After hitting the road to perform across Canada until breaking up when Churko was 18, he then moved to Vancouver with his brother to start a second band.
“To make a long story short, that band eventually broke up and I got a call from Shania Twain to join her band, which I did for the last 26 years,” he said.
Shortly before receiving the call from Shania Twain’s band, Churko was busy putting himself through school as an animator by busking in the streets of Vancouver. Not long after he would find himself performing at the Super Bowl halftime show with the popular Canadian singer-songwriter.
“So, I always say… I played every gig from street performer to halftime Super Bowl performer and everything in between,” he said in good humour.
Toque was formed shortly after Churko began meeting routinely with Todd Kerns — who played with The Age of Electric and went on to play bass with Slash — and Brent Fitz — the drummer for Slash and now the bass player for Toque — at a Winnipeg club to play for a breast cancer charity event.
“We were just three guys from Canada who all lived in the United States and had done, you know, successful things I suppose in the music industry,” he said.
“After that event we did another one… one or two years later. And then we were just like, ‘You know what, we should just make a band.’”
As the three Canadian-born musicians were now living in the United States, they decided to focus on playing Canadian music exclusively because Churko said the same songs he grew up with on Canadian radio weren’t commonly played south of the border.
The band soon got to work recording its first two Canadian-themed albums, “Give’r” and “Never Enough.”
“We wanted everything to be sort of Canadian themed, because nobody in the States knows what ‘Give’r’ is,” he added.
When it came time to name the band, they wanted to incorporate a novel Canadian reference. The group came up with a few runner-up names including “Justice Beavers” and the “Fun Chin Rights Band,” which still gives Churko a laugh.
After some deliberation, the band came up with the name “Toque,” and Churko was happy with this as he said nobody else in the world knows what a toque is except for Canadians. As a case in point, many Americans call them “torque” or “toke.”
After accepting the Homestand ’24 invitation, Churko said it’s “super exciting” to be returning to his hometown.
“To bring all my brothers in rock, you know, Todd (Kerns), Brent (Fitz), and Derek (Frank) to the place where I grew up… to show them Main Street where I used to cruise up and down… and of course Mac the Moose, it’s a thrill…
“The best part… is that I used to play football on that field as a little kid,” Churko said, referring to his time playing for Elks Minor Football at the Ross Wells Park. “I think that’s the last time I was on that field… so its going to be a blast for me to be there again.”
Churko’s last Moose Jaw gig was in January 2020 for a reunion show with his family band who opened for Toque at the Mae Wilson Theatre just before the pandemic hit.
“(The show) sold out within like 20 or 30 minutes,” he said. “So, we always knew that we have the support of Moose Jaw…”
After Homestand ‘24, Churko said his next step is to continue releasing new music. Toque originally “put a new coat of paint” on iconic Canadian songs including those by Harlequin, Loverboy, April Wine, Tim Mitchell, and others. Now the group has its own unique sound.
“When you get four guys together that are very creative, it’s inevitable that eventually… we’re going to start making our own music,” he said. “Our first original song, ‘Never Enough (for You),’ was on our second album, and that sort of opened the door for us to start doing more.”
Rather than releasing an upcoming album, Churko said the group plans to focus on a steady stream of singles with the next release planned sometime before Christmas when Shane Gaalaas returns from his tour in Japan.
In the meantime, the band is excited to perform next week and everyone’s coming to The Friendly City except for Gaalaas who is on tour with B’z, a popular band who sold more than 100 million records worldwide in Japan.
“When you can bring together a bunch of people, you know, for the right cause, in the name of music, it’s never a bad thing,” Churko said, referring to the charitable nature of Homestand. “To be a part of that, whether you’re in the audience or up on stage, it’s a win-win for everybody.
“I would just have to say, Moose Jaw, get ready to (bleeping) give ‘er," he announced just before the concert.
To learn more about Toque, visit ToqueBand.com.
