Shaun Newman Podcast - #1090 - Liz Pomeroy

Episode Date: July 9, 2026

Liz Pomeroy, known as 0Stella, is an Irish-born singer-songwriter and musician based in Edmonton, Alberta. She creates energetic alt-rock fused with traditional Irish fiddle, blending catchy melodies with socially conscious and personal lyrics.In addition to recording and touring (with thousands of kilometers cycled), she teaches singing lessons, leads community choirs, and supports other artists through workshops in Alberta.Cornerstone Forum 26’https://shaunnewmanpodcast.substack.com/Silver Gold Bull Links:Website: https://silvergoldbull.ca/Email: [e-mail] Grahame: [phone]Bow Valley Credit UnionBitcoin: www.bowvalleycu.com/en/personal/investing-wealth/bitcoin-gatewayEmail: [e-mail] Get your voice heard: Text Shaun 587-217-8500

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This is James Lindsay. This is Vance Crow and you're listening to the Sean Newman podcast. All right, welcome to the podcast, folks. Happy Thursday. How's everybody doing today? We are currently at Aspen Crossing. So just southeast of Calgary. We got one more day here and then we shove off for Saskatch.

So it's been a quick few days here in Alberta packed with lots of fun and some great people to say the least and appreciate everybody. All the kindness that's come in and certainly some of the tours and opening up your houses and everything else and look forward to more along the way. Now for today's episode when we're talking precious metals, we're talking silver gold bull. and I've been recommending you all that way. They started out in Rocky Mountain House. Now, obviously, they are way bigger than that. Just check out Costco. And when it comes to buying, selling,

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They operate as a Napa Auto Parts retailer. And that's Shane Stafford and his crew. You can get a hold of them either by stopping in Wainwright or give them a call 780842-3433. Finally, we got Caleb Taves Renegade Acres. Of course, when it comes to concrete, I know no one better. They did the concrete, the stamp concrete in the new studio, which I look forward to being back in in a year's time. life on the road recording comes with some interesting things that we've had to address on right now the one that has been bugging me the most has been uploading i've got starlink and it just isn't

as quick as i thought it was going to be it's not as slow as i thought i was going to be i guess but certainly that's been a new dynamic that we're ironing out but when it comes to uh community things coming up here we're going to be uh entering into saskatchewan heading out to Regina Beach and then after Regina Beach heading over to Tufnal. So if you've got ideas somewhere along those paths, we'd love nothing more than to stop in and say hello or have you come visit or suggest a guest, all those things. Text me on the phone line and we'd love to connect with you here today.

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All right. Now, let's get on to that tail of the tape. Today's guest is an Irish-Canadian recording artist. I'm talking about Liz Pomeroy or Ostella. So buckle up. Here we go. Welcome to the Shawneum podcast. Today I'm joined by Liz Palmeroy or Stella probably is I don't know which other but I know he is Liz. How are you? Good to see you Shillan. Yes we're going to get away

with the formality. That's not the way I like to do things while I try not to but uh thanks for helping me in your house I mean the last time we did this you came to the studio you were talking about biking Canada doing music along the way I forget how many years ago that is you're going to tell me all about it because I'm like I don't think we've talked since it's like we're talked but nothing like this so you've been on quite a journey I guess yeah I have yeah it was four years ago has it been four years ago it's 20 22 yeah and I probably talked to you in 21 talking about doing it because I left 22nd of April 22 from Victoria and headed east for five and a half months that's what

took you five and a half now the biker in me the guy who did it did you tent or did you stay on coaches? Where did you sleep? It's a combination of all that. Yes. So you had a little trailer on behind you? I had a trailer along behind me, a little Bob trailer. And by the time I went through the Rockies and came through Edmonton,

out of sheer morbid curiosity, I went into the bike shop to weigh everything. It's 192 pounds altogether. So did you, I assume you gained your legs when it's been rocks? I looked like a hockey player. When I looked in my mirror when I came through Edmonton, I was impressed, but I was also ripped to shreds. My knees were done and I had lots of injuries along the way

because I had lots of experience cycling growing up but cycle touring as you know is an entirely different beast if you're carrying all of your equipment and route planning and wayfinding yourself and playing shows on top of that a heavy bike is a much more different beast to kind of manage so I hadn't cycled in a serious way. I feel like such a worse

because when we did it, we had two panniers on us. That was it. We did it very, what would the biker say? Oh, you're living in luxury because we stayed in the ugliest motels in on the man. So we figured, you know, if you just find a hot shower and somewhat of a bed. Yeah. So we stay, I've stayed in the worst hotels Canada has to offer and then lots of great people along the way. I can imagine doing it now. If I took all the podcast here, I'd know so many people. I'd probably stay in luxury again in a different way. But this way it costs us a bunch of money, although really not. Some of the motels were like 50 bucks a night and three of us would jam in

there and pull our bikes and everything in. Anyways, that's a, people can go back and listen to that. Sorry, but yes, it's different. It's definitely different. It's very different. So a lot of like my early cycling through, say, BC was spent just trying to navigate the technical aspect of trying to manage like the weight to ratio and traction. So as a result, I was cycling on a brand new bike. I've never had a new bike for myself. I was because the zero my name for zero waste, I was planning on just using what I had. And then the more I researched it,

I was like, oh, I've got a lot of stuff I need to bring with me. I need more panniers, more panniers. So I learned you cannot actually just like, after the fact, drill into your fork to make some more holes to carry your panniers. Ill advised. So I ended up. Did you do that? No, no, no.

I was considering it though. I was like, surely I could just add more holes. My friend who owns a bike shop is like, no. Please don't do that. So I was shoehorned into having to buy any bike. So I got a touring specific one, which was great, loads of... How long did it take you have to fix your own first tire? Oh, so long.

Do you see these thumbs? Double-jointed thumbs. And I didn't know what way like your... The little hooks to help you change were supposed to work. I thought they were for digging out the rim of your tire, not actually just like the way you're supposed to use them. So, yeah, it took an embarrassing. The embarrassingly amount of time on the side of the road.

It does it? This will make you feel better. We're going on a cross-country tour now, right? We got a trailer. Yes. So we pulled it out for the first time to just like test everything out and yours truly, rip the power cable off. So you know, like that hooks into your trailer folks.

So you can imagine my level of frustration. Was it an all-time high? My wife and kids got to witness it firsthand and I went, okay, I'm not going to do that again. And so anytime you try to do that again. Anytime you try something new out of your comfort zone, even if you've been biking, going by yourself across the country is like a wild idea. So cool, but a wild idea. Completely.

Oh yeah. And I had one guy, so I was quite nervous about doing it at all. So I wasn't even announcing it publicly to too many people in advance of leaving. I was just busy trying to like learn all the songs I had to do whatever. Why weren't you announcing it? You know, retrospectively, I should have, but I was just really scared. I don't know. It was weird.

I said it sometimes on socials, but then didn't drive at home the way I should have. But anyway, oh no, I was saying on socials, I hadn't said it live in front of an audience yet. And I was playing an open mic or something the week before I left to road test some of these songs I was learning. And afterwards, I had this like short, short guy with like, He's in his 70s, all wrinkly and piercing blue eyes. And he came up to me and he like cornered me up against a bookshelf. And he's like, I heard what you said you're going to do. Don't do it.

I was like, what are you? And he was like, trust me, I've lived in the outback of Northern Ontario. And there's coyotes out there that'll eat you ass first. And I was like, okay, thanks very much. And then he told me this story about how he worked for this. old boss of his and he got phone call in the middle of the night from the boss being like, I just took down a moose come and meet me out the back somewhere so he drives into the middle of BF nowhere, finds his boss with this moose carcass pitch black and he jumps out of the

truck and he's like, what do you need me to do? Boss chucks two lamps like torches in his hands and he's like, stay here, guard the carcass and he jumps in your man's truck and pisses off and your man's just like and there's coyotes screaming all around in the dark and he just like holds up the torches above his head like two big eyes of a beast and screams into the abyss

and this is what he left me with and so I went on social it's like the day later and I was like am I making the biggest mistake ever like I don't know this is insane it is insane it was insane it was entirely nuts if it makes you feel better when we did it

we although we told people I was only 20 at the time. Well, I wasn't even 20. I was 20 when we left, but I was 19 when we started telling people about it. And they started taking bets and weird things of how far we'd get, whether we'd make it. It was a very uncomfortable experience for me because I just thought everybody would be like cheering you on. This is a great. You're crazy.

This is amazing. So I was just as nervous to release that we were, when I look at the Cornerstone Forum this year, when I set it on stage, I actually get why I was so emotional. I was like, I don't know if I want to tell people I'm doing this because when I set my mind to doing something, then I got to follow through. And so to announce it to 700 people, I'm like, I don't know. I'm like, you know, but yes, we are doing it. And back then, people asked us, why didn't you do it for a cause? And I was like, everything you just said, I was actually just nervous about it.

I was so nervous, I couldn't even possibly think of raising money and having to, I just wanted to do it for myself, know I could do it, like, push through because there are ridiculously tough days on the road when you get your first flat tire and then you get these things. You're like, well, what the heck am I supposed to do with these now? And you're looking around and like, well, nobody's coming to help me. So I guess I better figure it out. But on the flip side, I also look back at biking Canada's like, it was the moment in time for 69 days when we did it where I went, I can do anything I put my head to.

And no matter how many times people tell me you can't do that. or on this trip, the audience doesn't say it because they think it's wonderful, but there's lots of people that go, you're going to be trapped with your family for that many days, that 21-foot trailer? Are you insane? Like, no, I actually enjoy being around my family and I, will there be tough days? Oh, there already has been, right? In the first three days, you've already had the kids losing their mind. And I'm like, this is what you wanted. This is what you want. You know?

And then it's almost like kids are funny and they snap out of it. And then they're the best of friends again. You're like, how do they do that? You know, they go from like just poking. Stop poking her. And then it's more of a game of, anyways, it goes on and on. Back to your story. Totally.

But you're right, though, too, in that, like, you know, being anxious about being in such a small space for your family. But this is something that I was thinking of as well myself is that, like, in your case, there's currently so many families that live permanently in a space that small. Yes. With maybe even more kids. And throughout history, we've all. bold, don't us? The settlers of my area that came overseas from the UK predominantly. Yeah. They talk about coming across the Saskatchewan prairies in a covered wagon, getting there, not being able to build a house quick enough, winter sets in, and they live in a tent in minus 50,

and then all the stories at the end go, but we were happy. And I'm like, well, I come from that line of people. I think we can do this. It's just in today's world, you need a house with how many bedrooms and how many TVs and how many of this and how many of that. I tell you what I'm probably not even nervous for. It's just going to be a change of pace of life. We're sports-oriented. I'm telling you, you know, like I play hockey. Everybody knows that.

I played hockey for a long time in my life. So I grew up every year at a certain point. The whole focus of your life shifts from being outdoors or whatever to being in a rink, skating. and that's taking me all over the world. When my kids are in the rink, let's say start of September, somewhere in there, till basically middle of March, it's all gone now. Because we're not doing any organized sports, right? How can we?

School takes up how much time we're homeschooling? That's going to be different, right? I think in the best possible ways, but an adjustment not only for my kids, but for my wife, like Mel and I, like that's been life for how many years, right? She was an athlete as well. So you just grew up going to team sports and being around that and that being a very big chunk of your childhood. That's probably something that, I don't know, it's going to be very interesting to see how that all plays out.

Well, I'm really excited for you guys for that reason because you both come from team sports and that kind of just psyche of the whole thing. So yeah, you might be used to like going out and being with your respective teams and stuff. but you guys are going to become that team. And you're going to have to work together so much tighter. Like, I am really excited to see how it pans out. Yes, well, I think we all are excited. Day three, although this airs on day four or whatever. I'm going to stop doing that because I can't do the mental math in my head, it seems.

But the early days have been a ton of fun. The cool thing about Alberta and Saskatchewan is through the podcast, on top of just life, you know so many people. Yeah. And so everybody's like, well, can you stop here? You can stop there? You should see this. You'd see this. And you're like, I don't have enough hours in the day.

And we're not, our goal is to get further away from the West so that we can, like to me, the podcaster, I'm really excited to interview probably Manitoba East and see what their thoughts are. Because when you're in Alberta, I get to talk to Albertans all the time. I get to have the independence question with people who are against it for it all the time. Podcast sees a lot of people that are for it for sure. But like, when you go east, the first. you get away, I'm really curious if I can find some conversations where people just hate the idea or love the idea or both, you know? Totally.

Like there should just be, everybody tells me there's a different mindset. And yes, I know that it's out there. But in my realm, so many conversations are focused on Alberta. When you get further away from it, it'll be interesting to see how that conversation or values or all the things. I assume change. Oh, yeah. I mean, you've been across Canada. When you're biking, what province did you feel like?

all of a sudden, are you in a different world or a different, like, things just felt different. Was there a moment or are you like, yeah, right around here? Manitoba. Manitoba. I was in Manitoba for a house concert. I sat down with a host who had invited me to us home and had been incredible. But we got into quite an uncomfortable conversation. About?

About the convoy and about vaccines and all these different things. And my goal going out, because as an artist, I really didn't appreciate being forced into a position during that time of me over the passports and everything going into venues, of me being in a position essentially of power where I could say, you can come to my show, but you cannot. Like, that's not my job. That's not why I started music. My job is to pull people together. So I said, well, I mean, if that's what I'm getting kind of shoehorned into by staying here, well, then I'm going to go and meet people in their homes. Again, people were kind of more comfortable with the house concert concept at that time because they didn't have to venture into other venues they weren't familiar with. They could curate their audience that they were sharing their space with and all that kind of thing. So it's felt like a much more palatable kind of mode to offer. So that's why I did it, but I was so aware that by going out and doing this across the entire country,

I was going to be putting myself in a position where people are going to have different perspectives to me. And if I'm going to stand by the ethos of uniting people instead of dividing people, I had to get whether or not I learned the skill or mastered it, but I certainly needed to put myself in the position where I just had to be able to hold space. for people who thought incredibly different to me and understand why they're coming from that point, you know. And I did, I had that moment with a conversation in Manitoba and I went to my room, I kind of excused myself.

I saw where the conversation was going, we went there for a bit and I was like, well, it is late. I'm going to go to bed. Thank you for your time. And I went to bed and kind of furiously texted a few friends that had come, moved out west from the east, who held similar views to me. And I was like, what am I in for?

Oh my God. I really felt like I was going into the belly of the beast, going east. And I remember one afternoon I'd stopped somewhere between Saskatchewan and Manitoba. I think it was Saskatchewan at this point. Really hot day sitting there having a drink at a petrol station or something. Struck up a conversation because the bike is an absolute, you know, magnet for a conversations so some guy struck up a conversation he was like oh what direction are you cycling and I said east and he was like oh good luck you know and similarly I had this incredible incredible 24 hours in

in and around the area of hope in BC and I'll tell you that story but um one afternoon my last afternoon when I was there um there was a music festival on that I was part of and I was wheeling the bike through the park and some guy was like, oh, you're going east. And I was like, yeah, yeah, we have a little chit-chat and then I'm going on across the field. And he yells after me. He was like, tell Trudeau for me. I was like, oh my God, okay. So everyone was like placing their things on me to be like, can you let them know or whatever. And similarly, once I was getting kind of more east, then people were like, oh, you're going from the west a little bit. But it was mostly I didn't hear that as much as

Westerners being like, oh, you're going east, you know, kind of thing. So I thought that was interesting. But I mean, it was over five and a half months as it was, so things were calming, thankfully, a little bit more as I went across the country, which was nice. But yeah, those 24 hours in hope, though, like, I mean, I've got an album coming out next spring about this. And the thing is, like, lots of people when they're cycling,

you know, they'll have shocks, headphones, on and they'll listen to a podcast music, whatever. And what I loved about it, and going back to what you were saying about, you know, your lineage and all of this and how we all had too many TVs, etc. What I loved about cycling was the fact that I had to put my phone on airplane mode for eight hours or else the battery would be dead. And I just got to listen to the landscape around me. And I'm sure you had that too when you were cycling. And the different smells of each province that you moved through, you know, like if it's a logging province and it's full of cedar or like, you know, like the sweet grass of like the prairies and stuff like that. It was just so magic.

And like I remember one day like I was cycling through Saskatchewan and the argument everyone makes for going west east when you're cycling as that, oh, you've got the prevailing wind at your back, which is a load of BS. Because that's mostly talking about at airline height as opposed on the ground. Well, is a guy who went from east to west. last. Yeah. I would argue with you about that because I swear out of 69 days we got the prevailing wind too and when we got the prevailing win I felt like I was a race car driver on my bike. We were like it was easy to pedal. We hit the wind just like every single day. That's the

thing. I got two days of prevailing wind at my back too and I went the opposite direction. How's that possible? I don't know. A lot of it was like um like kind of easterly southern stuff so it was a lot of hefty crosswinds and stuff especially across the prairies um but anyway like i mean all that to say like so what happened in hope then so hope i was leaving wherever i was leaving chilewack that morning and i stopped in this little town called rosland i think it was and it was just one those days where you're like tired and you don't have any juice so i stop after 20k because i see this little antique shop with a coffee sign outside it i'm like say no more. We'll stop for morning coffee. So I pull over and of course it has this vintage

tandem bike outside the window. So I was like all point all signs say yes. Pull over and this lovely Quebec lady comes out and so we're we're chatting away and she's like what are you doing with this bicycle and tell me what I'm doing and she's like that's amazing because and she lays her story on me so she was born with a heart defect when she was a kid and they diagnosed it and she was on all these medications and a heart pacemaker for her whole life and they're living out east her and her husband and her son and then one day her body starts to swell with fluid and she goes in to see her a specialist and he's like I'm sorry like unless we can find a heart transplant for

you like you've had a good innings and that's it so lo and behold and there's a 23-year-old male who's just been pronounced brain dead in a hospital and his mum happens to know he wants to be a donor so they make the call and this woman receives a 23-year-old man's heart and so she now has a new lease on life and they move out west and she opens a maple syrup store in this little town and she calls it life's sweet because she got this second lease on life. And here she was.

And she was showing me on her phone pictures of her in her hospital gown, in her big swelling body and an after picture. And she even showed me a picture of her old heart that they took out next to... The new heart. Yeah. Or certainly not. Yeah, but I know what you mean. Yeah.

And the old one was like 50% larger and dark and tattered. It just was crazy. And she was just thrilled for me. She's like, look at you. You have a body that works and you're using it to its fullest potential. Like, I'm thrilled for you. Like, what else do you need? Here, take some more maple syrup.

Like, you'll need energy. La, la, la, la. Just a dream. And so we really connected. I think we swapped phone numbers. And so I head off on my bike. And again, like, I'm a very not technical cyclist up until this point. I interviewed a load of cyclists who had done cross Canada before,

deduced I'm going to need some clip-in pedals so I'm working with these things I have very little experience with so I'm leaving town and there's this bridge across the Auxie river and the sign says before stepping on the bridge absolutely no stopping I was like okay no problem I'm going along on my bicycle and I'm clipped in and you know there's all like the massive trucks going by it's a single lane both ways and I'm cycling out and it's fine and then the crosswind hits across that massive river boom and I try to unclip my pedal on the outside and you narrowly miss going underneath the truck and my heart stops and I'm like oh my so I like very sadly like one-legged

across the rest of the bridge get to the end of the bridge and look behind me and like well that was close and then I look up and then there's this cloud rolling in I'm like fantastic we're gonna have to try and beat this weather coming in to get to our bed tonight in Hope. So I book it and I get pissed on and it's fine, whatever. And the following day, I'm in the little park in Hope, BC. And I've been busking there. And this, I'm eating lunch and this British couple come running up to me. I'm there with the bike. There's a sign on the bike. And they come running up and they're like, are you cycling across Canada and like yeah and they're like we did that in 2018 and do you know that bridge back

there at agassiz I'm like yes yes I know that bridge yeah yeah well we were cycling across that in 2018 and my husband here fell over unconscious bleeding from the head and the wife um thought he had died right there on the bridge she he wasn't responsive of nothing, there's backups of traffic both ways and everything. He has to get taken off an ambulance and this gentleman jumps out of his truck, a few cars back, comes running up. This poor woman is there with two bicycles, everything that they own halfway across the planet, having just lost her husband, so she thinks.

And this man comes up and he's like, come back to our family home, we're not far from here, and breathe and figure out what you need to do. She's like, great, thank you. Turns out he had an undiagnosed heart condition that should have killed him that day on that bridge. But he survived and here they were in 2022 talking to me in Hope BC because they'd returned to celebrate his birthday with the family that took in his wife. And they ended up inviting me to hang out with them for the weekend and it was just incredible. So they're like, you must come to Sue's house where we're staying. Here are the coordinates.

Thanks very much. I'm going to continue busking here, but I'll see you later. Great cool, see you later. So I'm busking, I'm having a nice time. And then this indigenous woman in a wheelchair comes up to me. This gentleman in this pushing her, she comes up to me and she goes, do you want some fish? And I said, at that point you're living to eat. I do always, but yes.

When you're biking, even more so. And I was like, yes, of course I do. And she was like, five dollars. I was like, of course you're selling it. here's my last fiber because again obviously this is like I'm also earning a living out on this which is a whole other wild thing and then so I give her that she gives me this big dried salmon side I was like wow amazing so I'm like I'm going to put that in my panier next to the maple syrup that I've been gifted well I'll be making friends of bears before long anyway but so I got talking to

them and it's actually the day after red dress day there's a red dress hanging in a tree behind her and we're chatting and she's like oh so you're cycling across how are you finding it as a woman because I had been directed to make sure to take highway three right to avoid the highway of tears and um I said you know so far so good I'm following my gut and so far it's all fine and she said yeah me too so far like my life it's been great I haven't had to deal with anything terrible or anything, you know, except this one time, my children got stolen from me when I was in Vancouver and I had to drive up to the Yukon in one straight shot and get them and drive all the way back and it was just my nerves were shot and all this. I was like, yeah, that's crazy.

And we're about to wind down for the afternoon and we're sharing a couple of beers together whatever and I was like oh actually hold on now I have one song left to sing I'd forgotten about and it was a song I'd just released that day and it's called Empty so I start into this song and it's like a slower waltz kind of song and I'm playing and I get to like the second chorus and it's kind of sunset at this point and I noticed that she's starting to pick up on the melody and join in and sing along with me And then she starts to take over, her voice gets louder, and then she starts putting on her own lyrics of,

don't take my children, not my babies, and all this kind of stuff. And I realized then in that moment that like, I have to step out of the way and just play the music and just let her unload. Yeah. And I mean, there was this moment where this one single tear was coming down her cheek and the sun sitting behind her, caught in it. And it was just this incredible moment. And like when I started on this cycle, I thought that I was, you know, going to come back, you know, all famous as a cyclist that did this nutty thing.

But in that moment, I was like, this is why I'm here. This is what I'm here to do. And just give anyone that needs it just a space to just offload whatever they're carrying. And especially after what we've all come through, like everything was just so tense. And just to give space for people to breathe was just incredible. So yeah, so it was just like 24 hours of just Intent literal heart oriented, crazy intense stuff. It was so cool. Yeah.

One of the things when you get going on the open road and you're open to like just talking to people, you can run into such amazing stories. I, one of the things I've always thought through everything we're going through, right? Obviously with the referendum coming October 19th, there's a lot of anger, right? Albertans are frustrating. The West is frustrated. And the East, at least in the political and media class, just add a little bit of gasoline to it all the time, right? Instead of just talking to them, they just pour a little more gas, you know, just a little more, and just a little more, which only flames it more. And when I go back to 2006 and we bight, the nicest person we ever met was in Ottawa. Unbelievable. And like, there was nice

people everywhere but whoever that guy was was wrong we just struck up a conversation with him and all of a sudden he was well you need this oh no that's that's that's it's too much right like no no you come with us fix their bikes did everything and one of the things has been as we get going for this that is like I can't think of the word I feel like humbling is maybe the right word I don't but I don't know if that's right one maybe you have a word for it's like the outpouring of people wanting it to be successful and like believing in it and like wanting you know one of the things that keeps coming up on the

text line is we live vicariously through your travels with your family but like the outpouring them probably love and support is like I don't know it's the best type of thing that humanity has to offer but I don't know what word to associate that because it's very humbling I'm just like I'm shocked by how kind people are and And all we see on media is how awful we can beat one another. And don't get me wrong, I'm not making light of what's about to happen in Alberta or what's going on in the world or in Canada in general with our governments and everything. But it just feels like every time you start to get a little bit of unity, they throw something in to explode it so that you have division all over again. And then people that once got along through COVID, now, you know, four years later, there's a little bit of.

lot of them that are against each other on different it doesn't just have to be Alberta can be a lot of different things you're like this is really strange and this is part of the game plan I guess and when you're on a bike being so open to people you see the the humanity come out over and over and over again of just like the kindness like your story of the man on the bridge having obviously them thinking dead but the guy just feeling he doesn't come back here like that sits in every community we just got a remember that and maybe I've been wondering about it. They say if it bleeds it leads or you

know like you put up the fancy headline because it gets clicks and all that. It's like yeah, some of the best stories aren't those. They're the what humans are capable of. Not only from like a brilliance of tech and things, but just like your story of the heart and, you know, the one thing that's hard probably put across an audience that's never done it. But when you bike somewhere you're kind of like exposed to everything and people see that and come around and open up their homes and like just crazy things or you're like that's way too kind no no no you come in and one of the things i've told mel a lot is like eventually and i hope i'm i hope i'm moving more and more towards it but i really want our home to be like that to be like that you see something

and you come and it doesn't mean you like anyone in doesn't mean you don't have your your barriers up for your house but like there's a level of human that's sitting there that has been there for thousands of years that just needs to be shown again right like we saw it at the freedom convoy like the level the road to Ottawa was wild of the human outpouring of like just like the love outpouring of like we were going through one town in northern Ontario and they literally walk in front of your vehicle make you stop every vehicle and the amount of food that came in you couldn't eat at all it's just like wild and

when you're biking, I feel like you get to see some of that. Like you get an insight into what Canada really is. We've got a broken image of it right now because of things going on governmentally. Certainly COVID wrecked it. It was probably wrecked before that with a lot of different things coming in socially. But when you bike and you're exposed like that and people see it, like you get to explore the best humanity has to offer. You do. And it's it's both heartwarming and a little sad to hear you say exactly the same words I was saying

in 2022 as to why it was so important to me to go out and find evidence of that true pure kindness that exists across this entire country and the whole world and it is it's true like you are very so very exposed out there and again like you're doing it now too with this trip in that your career is oriented around it too. Well, it's a very similar thing. You went as a musician. I'm going as a podcaster.

Although I'm not doing it on a bike, we're doing it in a very unusual way. I mean, especially with gas prices right now. It's insane. But regardless, they're similar. And there's a real feeling after I left every single town going back out into the wilderness or simply the road that leads to the next town.

Yes. But you're by yourself after being, in this little bubble of lovely people that are wanted to take care of you. And there's a level of fear every time again. You're like, oh, I'm doing it again. I'm jumping off the ledge again. And in terms of like income too, it's very much, well, I'm stepping out into the unknown and what comes my way and I have to trust something will come my way and food will find

its way to my mouth tomorrow. You know, like you have no control over anything. And people like you said, and I mean, ever since I did this, that cycle and you know I'm coming across even more cyclists who have gone all over the world and I actually leapfrogged across one the same guy across Canada and he had a mechanical breakdown in the prairies he was far more north than me and a farmer came along to help him and they spent six hours in your man's garage and you know just kind of hobbling together what they needed to make the bike work with like string and grease

And, you know, the cyclist told me that like, this guy held entirely opposite political views to him. And under normal circumstances, he wouldn't have given them the time of day. But they worked together as a team and he got out on the road again. And, you know, they had some great times shared together, you know. And that's why I actually named the tour in 2022, there is no other. That's the point. So when you... There is no other than us.

We're all the same. So when you got across, right, you set out trying to explore... the best of humanity. Yeah. When you came back, because that's been now four years, when you were done, what did you learn?

I learned. I'm definitely capable of a lot more things than I give myself credit for. Okay. And I learned that there's people everywhere that think the same way as you, even if they're not brave enough to say it in as many words publicly or whatever.

You're not as isolated. as you think. And it just kind of added an extra layer to the name of the tour there is no other because that game that they play in the media can make you feel like you're the only weirdo with that thought process or whatever, but that's not the case at all.

Yeah, it made me really hopeful that like, there's definitely a game of play to make us all feel very cut off from each other and in that we don't have any kind of real kind of autonomy or power. And but just, just knowing that, oh, there's someone on the other end of the country that feels the same way as I do. Or at least if that person doesn't see things the same way as me, we did actually connect

on these things here. And it actually, in a very nerdy way, pointed to the fact that while I put the zero in my name for zero waste to begin with, that in itself carries a lot of baggage. And having done the cycle with solar panels. and all these different things like, I'm all four alternative stuff, but I feel like I've really evolved in my views and as a human from all of that. And so to me now that zero that's there is more like the intersection point of the X, Y axis, where like that is exactly me in the centre.

I want to be that gravity that pulls people together. So at least if two people on opposite sides have very opposing views to each other, at least I can be like their common ground you know um because I have faith I have faith in humanity I know that there's a way but we just keep getting played well they put land I call them landmines and then when you step on a hot topic issue that you know it can really explode not only families but friendships and and communities and all down the line take your pick of where you want and yeah there's just so many right yeah It's just really so many.

Some days I feel like all I do is step on landmines with the podcast. Like, oh, that hurt. Yeah. And yet I'm like, but being open and hearing the other side, like so many people just want to be heard. They just want their opinion to be considered in what's going on. And I think of Alberta that if I were to group it all together with the people that are upset,

I mean, it's probably too general to say. But every time they get pushed down, their anger, animosity grows. It doesn't, you know, you can't, the only way to take a boiling pot from boiling is to turn off the heat or take it off the bloody stove. And instead it's like they just keep cranking it up going, oh, we'll boil over. And you're like, no, you morons, it's going to boil over. Yeah. It is boiling over. That's how we're getting to, you know, a referendum. And then seven to say, well, it's not even a referendum. It's a referendum on a referendum. And I'm like,

fair enough. But regardless, the rest of the country is treating this like, you're about to leave and I'm curious what they say as you go across you know if I can find some different people that are willing to share their thoughts because it's positioned like the East hates the I hates Alberta but I learned through the freedom convoy the Quebec and Alberta share a lot of similarities and there are some wonderful people there there there there than not but we don't talk to each other when you don't talk then you build stories in your head and then you allow a media to build stories in your head that lies about everything so that you're sitting there and you're like well we hate

these people why you hate them well they take our money it's like do they know that they even does it even register i mean maybe they should know but like what do what was i like four or five years ago i was i was even i was so dumb when it came to politics i mean simply put i couldn't probably name my mLA and you go if i exist in alberta like that how many people exist across or has a Canada that have zero clue what's going on in politics. But then when you get involved in it, you assume everybody else is so smart and they're doing it to stick the gears to here, stick the, you know. And it just isn't the case. There's so many people who give two crafts about politics.

But politics is really shaping what Canada is and becoming. And if we don't get our handles on the wheel, our hands on the wheel, you know, we can see where it's going. It doesn't look like it's going to great places. Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm. I'm really glad that you're motivated that way because I seem to have just like withdrawn further and further from politics. I don't know as a result of the cycle. I think it's more a result of everything that's come from the cycle, like the things that have transpired.

Sure. So yeah, my hat's off to you for taking that on. Well, I treated like the way I used to treat hockey. I love talking, you know, I don't know every single move. The Oilers have made this off-season folks. I can't remember. regardless, they made a whole bunch. And I used to spend hours with my brothers and others arguing about it.

So to me, politics, I've just tried to slip it into my mindset's more of like putting the lens on of what I do with the NHL. This is, like, politics isn't who I am. I actually feel really weird being in the realm, but so be it. That's the one I've been kind of thrust into, or maybe I thrust myself into it. And I thought it had all the answers. That is not the case. and yet it's what governs our society and talking to people and trying to hear what's going on and educate myself, hopefully educate some other people, open up some conversations that normally wouldn't take place. I mean, I don't know.

Like last night we were sitting there with the kids. I hadn't opened my phone in like three days to check out what the world was doing. I was worried about getting from one place to the next and getting camp set up and making sure. We had supper and you know shout out to Zane Southgate because him and his dad came and changed out trailers on the tire and spent I was telling you this Zane and his dad are wonderful people for a lot of reasons, but last night they just It was so evident they watched my son and my daughter Changed the four tires on the camper and Adult men we would have had that done in I'm gonna say 20 minutes maybe maybe half an hour, but you get the point

probably took two hours but by the end my son had changed if not three of the four for sure two and a half my daughter had her hand in on one and when Zane and Brian are leaving they're like when you come back we're changing more tires and I'm like what a wild thing for a kid to say and be that involved in but they just he just spent time with them and I'm like that's what I was worried about I wasn't worried about Calgary Stampede or you know what political breakfast is going on or you know like you should come to this realm because I'm like I don't know what's going to be solved at a meet and greet where you shake hands, kiss babies, and not actually get to the real, you know,

like none of the real issues are going to be talked about. No. Like, I've tried really hard with politicians to try and get them to open up on some of the big ones. But, you know, like there's just certain things they really shift and navigate around so you've never really hit it on the head. Have you seen Citizen Vigilante yet? No, I haven't to. Yeah, maybe don't.

Okay. Well, maybe do. It's just a movie that is it talks to a big issue of immigration and what's going on in mainly Europe. Not mainly, I shouldn't say mainly. That's where a bunch of the problems really began and have been going on.

And it's uncomfortable to watch. It's also exciting to watch at times because they actually just talk directly to the issue. I can't believe they made a film like this. I just can't believe that they're talking to some of the issues. There's lots of things that the guy does where I'm like, ooh, that's way across the line or whatever, but he's actually talking about the issues. In the political realm and in the journalism realm, you see the navigation of how they try and steer away from the root cause. In the medical industry, it's the same way.

In media, it's the same way. All the big industries is the same way. And so talking to real people is fun because most of us don't have, well, there's certain things we're uncomfortable to talk about. most of us are you going to come sit around the kitchen table and talk about things and when things get upsetting that's okay like to me it doesn't bother me and I want everything to be kosher and happy but every once in a while we step on a landmine it's it's kind of curious to just why you feel that way because that really gives a feeling of who someone really is what motivates them what bothers them because everybody I mean like your story of the woman being

saved by the heart transplant. I'm going to assume she has a pretty positive outlook on organ donation and the things that come from that side of things. That's the thing. Right. Yeah, exactly. And that's a perfect example of how I've evolved after the cycle is that, yeah, I was so amped on that story and then I learned more about organ donation.

Now I'm quite conflicted on the whole thing. and um but yeah i think it's really important to i know i also have a friend who's waiting day after day for a donation in ottawa um so it's so easy to get taken up in any opposing wave to where you've just been sitting and be like no this is absolutely it but there's everything else that you're going to leave in the middle and like you said of all those people that just want to be heard they're typically all the people in the middle who have quite you know moderate views on everything that just don't feel like they're getting heard on either end of the spectrum, you know, again, going back to the zero. That's where I, like, I've loved those

conversations is just being like precisely that, oh, I agree with you there, but we're different there. And it's sad to see that like it does feel, despite all of that, that these days now, it seems like families, their laundry list of no-go topics just does seem to be growing as opposed to diminishing. Well, I can tell you I've shut down many a conversation with just, voicing a couple of things. I'm like, oh, didn't realize that was such a sticking point for so many. And the list becomes longer. And certainly in the realm I do, I don't really have a topic off limits. Because I just like, well, I really believe in freedom of speech. You want to say something? The audience is going to tell me one way or another. They hate you. They love you.

If you have an argument that's concise and well put together, there's a good chance somebody's going to give me somebody else to give you another side. of that to push against it and that's what I love about it is you know when you have multiple people arguing different sides yeah usually you kind of find them I see both sides it's interesting because you can do that with pretty much any hot topic of today you can find people on both sides who will argue vehemently from one side or the other and most of us are sitting in the middle it's like I don't know it doesn't bother me when you put it that way that makes sense but when they put it that way that also makes sense, you know. So now all that said, I've been asking everybody two questions at the end.

The first one is Alberta Independence, right? I hope to ask a lot of people as they go across Canada. You live here. Do you have thoughts on the referendum coming up in October 19th? If so, where would you say? Having grown up in Ireland and watched from afar, Brexit, I'm trepidious. okay um again i like i like concepts on paper that are coming forward um but i'm very the same the same concern when brexit was aired uh comes up for me again which is are we so smart to split in a time of such upheaval where would we not on the global scale not be safer as a larger unit so there's that aspect. And also there's the question around rushing into things too quickly

because like Brexit was an absolute disaster, like a mess. And so I'm willing to look at it again if I know people in charge are also looking at Brexit as a model to avoid. Yeah. And it kind of reminds me also of like the concept that's been floating around for my whole life of whether or not Ireland will ever reunite and and I find it difficult to draw the line between romanticism and realism would you say then if all of a sudden don't know who it is but someone rose to the top could lead that movement spoke to the problems people have happen, put out a realistic plan, that all of a sudden you'd be like, oh, that makes sense.

Because when I had Colonel David Redmond on, he just, he wasn't for it. But when he laid out why he wasn't for it, I was like, oh, all those things are solvable. You need somebody or a group of people to go solve them and put together an actual, here's what's going to happen. This is what we want to happen. Is there going to be problems along the way? For sure, but there's going to be problems if we stay or go. Yes.

And if we just outlined all the things that could be issues and we put. together a plan of this is how we're going to address them and here's our vision for where we're heading. I felt like you could have had it, I could have had a different discussion with Dave Redmond, you know, in a year's time where all of a sudden he'd be like, actually that makes sense and I'm for that because he looks at Canada under the liberal government and goes where we're going, nobody wants to go. So we're going to a place nobody wants to go but in his mind just to jump ship and have zero plan could be worse than just staying. And I've heard that argument a lot. So I go, oh, well then the answer is,

pretty simple to the people trying to lead the freedom movement or the independence movement, I should probably say. You got to develop the plan. And I think, you know, the name comes to mind is Keith Wilson has been developing with a group of people, his papers on it to try and outline some of the problems. I feel like that's probably what people maybe in the middle are looking for because right now they just don't want, there's a ton of people that just don't want to jump, just to jump, it doesn't make sense. Yeah. And they look at the issues that can come from just rushing into it with no plan. And so they're looking for a bit more methodical view of how we get to where we need to go. So I assume you, I'm safe to put you in that same camp. Yeah, I'm happy to be

in that camp. Yeah, I need to see that you've taught through this. This is not just where we're going on summer holidays. This is, we're breaking up forever. And I don't know where I'm going to land. I don't know that I have a home to go to, a job that's still going to be there. Like everyone that's employed. Oh, there's so many things. I just, I don't think there's enough hard plans in place yet to really get my confidence there. From the, when I bring it to like my own life, as small as I can go, I didn't, I didn't, I didn't, I'm quitting my job and off I go and we'll just make it work. Yes. It took the better part of three years to make a plan so that I could go do it successfully. There was a first year there that was, I'm sure my wife,

and I love you, was like, I hope he knows what he's doing. And then by year now seven, I guess, of podcasting, she's jumped in full board to leave for a year. But what most people don't understand is we've been planning it for two years. We've been really, are you going to get everything? Are you going to answer every question? You're going to have every campsite booked and all the things? Obviously not. but having a direction and a plan of where you're going and how you're going to get there and finances. I mean, I couldn't have predicted the gas price going to where it's gone. But I mean, those are the things you can't predict.

You can still predict you need a place to stay on Wednesday night and how long are you going to be there? You know, on my end, who are you going to interview and all those things? And there's some jumping through. So when I look at my own life, that's how I operate. I want to have a clear indication of where I'm going because in order to go there, I need to know where I'm heading. And I hear that a lot on the independent side is that it just doesn't feel like there's that view yet. And everybody's searching or waiting for that to come. Yeah.

Yeah. Then my final question, you, ma'am, are one who's done the bike trip. But if you go to, I'm going to say earlier times, maybe it's when you're a kid, but you pick your time. Camping with your family or wherever you want to go with it. It could be friends, whatever. Is there a favorite camping moment you have? And if so, where, when, what was it? We never really, oh, we never really did camping in my family.

There was an orientation weekend that we did in school, which was really wet and rainy in the middle of Ireland. And I remember all of these, like, I think we must have been about 14 years old or so, piled around a campfire and our camp leader is just sitting around the edges and we all had little metal cups full of hot ribina and it was so good and we were given a task of making a camp song to reflect on all of the things that we'd achieved or whatever and I was quite shy and all the other girls were building this song you know like you take a melody of a song you know and change your lyrics and everyone was doing a great job building everything and then

they hit this one wall where they're like what next what next and then out of nowhere I just like raised my head and said the perfect line to fill the gap and everyone was like oh yeah perfect I was like I think that was one of the moments and I haven't taught of that in forever actually that was one of the moments where I was like oh maybe I could do this actually be a songwriter um yeah just dark and rainy hot fire, hot ribine in my hands. And what is it about that moment that you go

that makes you light up like that? If you were to just think about that, what is it? I think it's probably having come through an all-girls school for 14 years in Ireland and the school was very sports-oriented and very academic-oriented and the arts were kind of an afterthought.

I was mediocre at sports, loved them, never stopped running around, but never was on the A team or anything. So I knew art was my thing. And there was a lot of like cliquiness in my, don't get me started. So I think in that moment, to have stumbled into something that came so naturally to me

and to be like properly seen and acknowledged by all these people that I felt I didn't have that much in common with was like a formative moment, I think. So a formative moment. one last one on Ireland since you grew up there you see all the protests going on there everything I assume you have family

and friends back there your thoughts on Ireland on a razor edge at the moment I think we don't my family and I don't really talk about the political side of it too much

and I'm not sad about that we do it comes up here and there but I'm very conscious of just wanting to spend family time with family and not allow any of that to come in. My mum isn't around anymore and she grew up in Donegal which is the most northerly part of the Republic of Ireland but she went to university in Northern Ireland so she always had an additional point of view to offer because she had to cross the border so often during the troubles and pre-troubles and was on a train that got blown up by the IRA. So without her around I don't feel like we venture into those. She didn't die in the train. No she didn't. No no no no. No she died a couple of years ago. So yeah we don't really get

too political in our family but I'm watching lots on social media and it's interesting. Like the last story I saw was about that beheading in the middle of the street. And it's quite something to have the elders of both sides, the Catholics and the Protestants, come together on anything. And I don't think that can be understated. So I think it's going to be interesting to see where things go. I was just home a couple of weeks ago. And like everywhere, streets are looking different to how they used to look. I don't know.

Well, I mean, that's about as insightful view as I'm going to get on a lot. Ireland because I don't have somebody I can just ring up and go. If I get to Ireland, I'll make sure to text you and maybe I can sit with a friend or two because I don't know if, you know, like everyone wants to know where we're going and we publish the first six months roughly because in North America it's relatively easy to give you roughly where we're going to be at a time frame. Yeah. But once we leave the continent, it becomes like a, the event horizon. I actually just can't see over it because I hope for stories like hope, right? Where you get there and you're just like amazed at what you find. Or you aren't and you push on to the next stop and my brothers talk

about it all the time when they traveled for their years. They had this plan in place and then they'd run into this certain area of a certain country and they'd stay there for some time and they had a hard time leaving because they enjoyed it so much. It was so unexpected. And, you know, part of the journey is looking for the unexpected right or or being open to the unexpected is probably a better way of putting it that's it yeah exactly well thanks for doing this and on short notice and everything else i'm glad we got time to sit and chat it's always great to catch up with you yeah thanks it's great to see you again oh and if people want to buy a record or support you how would they do that i have a single coming out on the 17th of july called wild it's the first

single from the whole album coming out which is an entire collection of stories collected across Canada. And this year I'm doing something different instead of just doing a vinyl or whatever, I'm making a CD book. So it'll be a hardbound book that I'm currently raising money for. So if anyone wants to contribute to that, it's going to have the story behind each individual song, lyrics and chords and artwork and pictures and things from the cycle across. So zerostellar.com is the best way to get a hold of me. Cool. Thanks, Liz.

Thank you.