The Standstills survive the most Canadian sort of tour accident possible
One night on the way home from work from Winnipeg to our small town, a big deer bounded out of the ditch in front of our 1978 Dodge Magnum. Although the thing was built like a tank, the damage was extensive. Hitting an animal that size at speed can be a very dangerous and possibly deadly thing. Dad was lucky he wasn’t hurt.
The Standstill can testify to this. The Canadian husband-and-wife team were driving their tour van near Wawa, Ontario, to their next gig on the Theory of a Deadman tour when a moose ambled out onto the highway. It was a blind curve at the bottom of a hill so there was little warning. Touring bassist Brendan McMillan was behind the wheel. All he could do was slam on the brakes.
The van hit the moose head-on.
None of the four people in the van–Brendan, guitarist Jonny Fox, drummer Renee Couture, and their roadie–was hurt. The van–which hit something that may have weighed up to 700 kg–was totalled.
The moose, sadly, did not make it.
Cops were called, tow trucks responded, and everything moved to Wawa to get sorted out. The band then began to realize that they had no way to get to Thunder Bay, another 500 km up Highway 17. But just when things seemed bleak, an Ontario Northland bus stopped at the scene. At 1:30 am, the bus driver agreed to take the band and all their gear the rest of the way to Thunder Bay. The band made the gig.
