When musicians release a greatest hits album, the subtext is often that their recording contract is coming to a close.
Of course, bring it up with the artist and you're often met with angry denials or vague non-denial denials.
Brad Merritt, on the other hand, is more than happy to admit his band 54*40 is now a free agent with the release of Radio Love Songs: The Singles Collection, which features 17 of the veteran Canadian rock act's hits, as well as a pair of new songs.
And the reason the bassist is so pleased is not because he and his mates, who play tonight at The Whiskey, are out from under an oppressive major-label dictatorship -- on the contrary.
Radio Love Songs was actually a one-record extension of their decade-long Sony deal, which ended with the last studio album, Casual Viewin', and even though future albums will be manufactured by the band itself, the plans are to distribute it through Sony or another Canadian major.
"It's extremely desirable for us," says Merritt of 54*40's situation. "We have a solid fanbase and we know how many we can sell in terms of minimum.
"As long as we can conduct our business accordingly, we can actually make money on our record sales for a change."
And why not?
For more than two decades, 54*40 has been plying its punk-informed pop rock to a, as Merritt said, solid fanbase that has never dipped below a respectable level.
In fact, even after all this time, the quartet still manages to pick up younger fans who are being introduced to the act and its music for the very first time.
"It's actually been pointed out to me and even in our travels people have come up to us and said, 'I'm a new fan,' " he says.
"We have these superfans that follow us around when we're in Eastern Canada and northern New York state.
"They've been following us around for a couple of years and they're all about 22-23 years old."
That, frankly is rather surprising.
Not because the music they make isn't worthy of it, but rather because even though they operate inside of the mainstream music industry in Canada, 54*40 are still kind of outsiders and underdogs.
They've never won a Juno Award and even though their lengthy recorded output has yielded some genuinely great rock songs -- as the greatest hits collection bears witness -- they're rarely mentioned in the same breath as or given as much credit as other Canadian acts such as The Tragically Hip or Bryan Adams.
As Merritt admits, that injustice is something that has crossed the band member's minds at one time or another.
"We've had moments where that's been an emotion felt, but it's fleeting," he says.
"By and large what keeps us going is the fact that we really enjoy what it is that we do -- which is writing and recording music and touring it. We've done that consistently over the years and it's been enough to sustain us.
"Anything else is gravy."
