Toronto Mike'd: The Official Toronto Mike Podcast - Amy Millan from Stars: Toronto Mike'd #1348

Episode Date: October 20, 2023

In this 1348th episode of Toronto Mike'd, Mike chats with Amy Millan about her years with Stars, Broken Social Scene, her solo work, and how tough it is out there for a rock star in Canada. Toronto Mike'd is proudly brought to you by Great Lakes Brewery, Palma Pasta, Pumpkins After Dark, Ridley Funeral Home, Electronic Products Recycling Association, Raymond James Canada and Moneris. If you would like to support the show, we do have partner opportunities available. Please email Toronto Mike at [e-mail]

Welcome to episode 1348 of Toronto Mic'd, proudly brought to you by Great Lakes Brewery, a fiercely independent craft brewery who believes in supporting communities, good times, and brewing amazing beer. Order online for free local home delivery in the GTA. Palma Pasta. Enjoy the taste of fresh, homemade Italian pasta and entrees from Palma Pasta

in Mississauga and Oakville. Pumpkins After Dark. Get your tickets now at pumpkinsafterdark.com. Recyclemyelectronics.ca. Committing to our planet's future means properly recycling our electronics of the past.

The Advantage Investor Podcast from Raymond James Canada. Valuable perspective for Canadian investors who want to remain knowledgeable, informed and focused on long-term success. Season 5 of Yes, We Are Open. An award-winning podcast hosted by FOTML Grego. And Ridley Funeral Home, pillars of the community since 1921. Today, making her Toronto mic debut, kind of, sort of, we'll explain it in a moment,

is Amy Milan. Welcome, Amy. Hi. Kind of your Toronto mic debut in that you've never been on the program, but kind of not because you were on episode 1347 that's right should we explain and just in case somebody cherry picks this up is like i don't care about sam roberts i'm here for the amy talk you kind of uh we didn't tell sam this

was happening but you crashed the sam party and it was a great moment on episode 1347 i love sam and we live in the same city but we live like opposite ends of the city and you know And it was a great moment on episode 1,347. I love Sam. And we live in the same city, but we live like opposite ends of the city. And, you know, life gets lifey. And we both have a lot of kids. He has three, I have two. So we don't get to see each other nearly as much as we should.

I don't even remember the last time I saw him. I don't think I've seen him since, I'm going to say pre-pandemic, which is now. Well, think about this, okay? So you are both Canadian rock stars. Do you agree? I would say that he's much more successful, but yes, sure. Okay. Great. Work with me here, Amy. Okay. So you're both Canadian rock stars. You both live in the city, the great city of Montreal, but to see him, you have to visit some guy's basement in South Etobicoke, Toronto. I know. Look at that. Well, rock and roll is bringing us back together because I'm in Toronto to play

the Wonderful Dreams serenade. And he is in Toronto to celebrate the coming out of his record. Well, not coming out. He's coming out. You know, the release, the release,

the release of his record. So it's great. Like we're back together because music does that to people. So what I would recommend to the listenership is to pause episode 1,348. Go listen to episode 1,347, which literally recorded like an hour ago, and then come back

to us. Oh, welcome back. Here you are. Okay. We are enjoying our Great Lakes beer. You're having a lager. You got a second. Oh, you opened it on the mic in the beginning of the intro. I heard that. It was great. But tell me about Dream Serenade. So I recently had the pleasure of having Hayden Desser on the program and we talked about it.

Stars is headlining. Amazing that you're doing this. What a great event this is at Massey Hall. I played it solo and with Broken Social Scene one year. And it's really a wonderful event. The way Hayden and Christy take care of everybody is just incredible. Like the backstage,

there's always like beautiful food and like they just, it's just such an amazing time and he's been asking us to do it and we have these Christmas shows so it's always a bit of a conflict and I was about to write him a couple of months ago and say, we're not doing our Christmas shows.

Do you think we could do it? But then I shied away. I was a bit of a conflict and I was about to write him a couple of months ago and say, we're not doing our Christmas shows. Do you think we could do it? But then I shied away. I was a bit shy. And then he wrote me about a month ago and said, do you think stars could do it? And I was like, yes. And I actually found the email that I had put in drafts. And I said, I wrote this to you like four months ago and it was very sweet. So yeah, I'm very excited. You don't strike me. I don't know you as well as I will by the end of this hour here, but you're not a shy person, are you? I don't get a shy. I feel like Sam Roberts is a little shy and I feel like you are more

a little less shy and more outgoing. I think I'm, yeah, I wouldn't say I'm shy, but. But you just did. No, but like it's more, I think that you kind of get self-conscious I think that there's like that he would say oh you're not you maybe for

lower on the bill Amy stars as the headliner at Massey Hall are you kidding me I did I didn't even think that that would be what was happening but just that we would play I don't know I just felt like maybe he'd asked many times and it was just like he's like well whatever for those guys anyway I was wrong and I was just self-conscious and it's interesting because i have

a 12 year old and i see her be self-conscious i'm like oh i get that like so it's a little bit different than shy so it's not like imposter syndrome or something is it where it's like because i called you a rock star and you were gonna you know you said i'll accept that for the don't want to tramp on the bit here but you you know you do realize how many of us and I'm one of them we fucking love our stars we we love your solo stuff we think you're one of the great Canadian uh rock stars like that's just that's just how I feel and when you hear that like are you thinking oh you know like like Mick Jagger's a rock star Neil Young's a rock star am I a rock star because I. Am I a rock star? Because I think you're a rock star.

I think when I'm like a pedestrian and we're walking around, I don't feel like that. I mean, there's definitely, I feel a power when I'm on stage and with the audience. I think that the audience is so powerful. And when they're singing songs back to me, like there's definitely a feeling of,

I don't know, rock star, but there's definitely a beautiful feeling of power in the room did you know that tork that's what i call him because he said i can call him tork tork will campbell uh who's also in stars with you amy did you know that did you know he has been on toronto mic'd in the past i i didn't know that but i i think that we share an email, so I might have seen some emails pass by about it. So if people want to hear Tork, and Tork did not pay a visit to the basement. This was a remote,

but he's episode 1057. So he got in there for 1057. And you and I are going to be chatting here, and this is 1348. And we're going to talk about your great career, and I'm going to ask you some tough questions and i kind of like the idea that we have a bit of a rapport because we did have that i don't know that half hour together at the end of the sam roberts episode so like i'm not you know you meet someone for the first time and you need to spend that first half hour building a little rapport and some chemistry but we did that already like we

can hit the ground running. Old friends. Old, old friends. Cause we're the same age. Yes. It's a fun fact. And Howard Jones is not billed as high as stars in this dream serenade,

by the way. So that, that tells you. I thought it was alphabetical, but then I realized that S is pretty low. The font, the font is huge for stars and rightly so. This is very,

can you believe no one ever is to blame? You get to see him tomorrow. Oh, I think that's a surprise. I'm not allowed to say. But there's a pretty cool surprise guest as well. So I don't want you to spoil anything, although it would be fine if you did. But I did ask straight up.

I thought, okay, Sam Roberts is here in town, and he's promoting his new album. So my thinks oh he he can be a surprise because you have this you know you're both our friends and everything and then he said he has to go back to montreal but he could be doing that to trick me like to make me think he's not the surprise and maybe sam roberts is a surprise but you can tell us there is a surprise guest or two that will be on the bill yes there is can you give us a clue so we can have some fun trying to guess? I mean, rock icons.

Oh my God. Glass tiger. I don't know if that's the truth. Anyway, you'll just have to see. So you can't be glass tiger. Cause there's no way I could randomly pull a Canadian act and it'd be correct.

But wink if that's right and i won't say it i'm i have an nda i have an nda i could be sued by the dream serenade taken to court i will listen hayden's a soccer dad okay so i can talk to him and rough him up if he causes any trouble here so you're here promoting that are there any tickets i always wonder like this event's got a sellout it's massy hall stars is on the bill did you know hayden's on the bill that's a fun fact for you but there's so much great acts on this bill kevin hearn so many cool cats but uh are there tickets available do you know i think so i think the last time I looked at the Instagram, there was a noticing tickets still available.

Okay, somebody, okay. So my wife and my two youngest kids are out of town this weekend and I need somebody to go to Dream Serenade with. So somebody send me a note and we'll buy tickets if there's still a couple of tickets available. I want to see the show. So I will see you tomorrow night.

Great. That's amazing. So you're living in Montreal. How long have you lived in Montreal for? So I went to university in Montreal and I was not yet in Stars. And then I left Montreal. I didn't really like it. I was quite lonely. And then I left Montreal and I lived in Toronto and I lived in LA for a little bit. And then I got a phone call from stars to join the band and then evan cranley of stars wanted to move to montreal so in 2002 it was basically like either you move to montreal or you're not allowed to be in stars so i made the move back to because they formed in new york city

right so this was uh yeah i went to new york first and i was in williamsburg for a little bit with them when i first joined and we went and tork spent a lot of money taking us all to england to play like three shows um but it was a an incredible time and uh and then we came back to new york but then it was it was just time to leave new york it was too expensive and and it was just time to get out of there for them. So then they, Evan, I don't know why he picked Montreal, but that's where he wanted to go. And everybody, and it was cheap to live there. Well, that's part of the reason.

Yeah, for sure. And so we just relocated to that weird little town of Montreal. Not too big, not too small, just the size of Montreal. Beautiful. You said that early and often in the schoolyards. Okay. So, and you're a Toronto gal, right? Like you're from Toronto. Born and raised in Cabbagetown. Okay. Cause I know you went to Jarvis and I know you went to Topical School of the Arts and that's

where you met a bunch of cool cats like Kevin Drew and Emily Haynes and all this will kind of come back full circle. But when you're in Montreal, before you join Stars, there's a band. I heard this story in the Sam Roberts episode of toronto mic so now i'm trying to remember but uh a member of the tragically hip was a fan of a band called 16 tons that's right and 60 so who are you related to this wonderful band 16 times and i think it was Rob Baker who was the fan? Yeah. Okay. So tell me a little bit about 16 Tons before we get you rocking with the stars. That started in Toronto when I left university.

I just left university and I had written a bunch of sad songs while I was there. As I told you, it was a lonely time. songs while i was there as i told you it was a lonely time and uh i met a manager uh who was a friend of this roommate i had and um josh finlayson came over and andy mays came over and he was for friends with all these people and patrick sandbrook uh was a manager at the time he was managing sir harmer and they he was played hockey with all these guys this is a roommate of mine my friend my friend, John Barry. And then he, they had this party and he said, why don't you break the guitar and play some songs? And then the next day I got a phone call from Patrick Sandbrook and he said, I want to represent you. Uh, which was like the week I got out of university, which was pretty crazy. Cause I was really planning on doing other things. I wasn't really planning on being a

musician. I wanted to be an actor. So anyway, uh I didn't want to play by myself because I had debilitating stage fright. So I felt it was less terrifying if I had people with me on stage. So I made a band called 16 Tons with Darcy Yates, who plays with Bahamas now, and Derek Downham, who's a big man in my own town of Toronto. and uh uh I can't remember the drummer's name isn't that terrible oh my god guys I can't even bail you out like I would love to spit it into no Kevin Kevin Kevin Kamaku I think his name was anyway he moved and he's not a I don't he moved out of town and so I don't I really have not seen the man in like 30 years almost so but Derek's still around and plays and Darcy I was in my solo project

as well so uh yeah it was it was like it was just not meant to be but and I think that I learned that you shouldn't name a band something that's not positive like 16 tons and what do you get another day older and deeper in debt right which is pretty much what happened. But we made some good music, but it just wasn't meant to be. Well, one of your jams was called Bury Me. Yes. And it did. And again, I don't really know how exciting this is to you, but it was on a soundtrack to a film, Drowning Mona, which is something like this is, and this is when you're still at Concordia, like this is before you even, you know. No, I was, I was out of university at this point but i i legend yes so that's when i moved to la and i was sort of dating this director nick gomez okay i have to go to his imdb page later and he i met him at the toronto film festival because i was invited to one of

those city tv parties by my sister-in-law and i was smoked at the time. Don't tell my mother. Anyway, and I don't smoke anymore. And I went up to him and I said, and I was just, I had, I don't know, it's just like one of those things where everybody just was looking for famous people and they weren't that interested in anybody who wasn't famous. And I found the whole thing quite boring. And I went up to him and I said, I didn't know who he was. And I said, hello, do you have a light? And he said, oh, are you with the festival? And I said, no, can I have a light anyway? And then he was like, oh, you're feisty. And then we became friends.

And then we sort of dated for a little bit. And I was hanging out with him in LA. And he was making Drowning Mona. And he tried to put me in the movie. So I was actually in the movie for a hot second. But then I got cut out because it didn't really make sense. And you wanted to be an actress anyway. Yeah, I was singing in the movie. But anyway it was it was very cool is it a good film

i thought i thought it was funny it didn't do very well in with the critics but i i thought it was funny and i like all of a sudden i left toronto i was on set with like danny devito's in this thing jamie lee curtis oh my god bett midler i was singing the rose like secretly behind bett miller anyway it was pretty fun of course you were of course okay so these are huge comic uh icons danny devito bett midler i was kind of like in my mind it was like some little whatever and now i decided to pop over and casey affleck yeah and you mentioned jamie lee curtis and uh this is a big big flick and I'm sorry this thing tanked. It could have launched your career in a completely different direction.

It's also my favorite length. This movie is 89 minutes long. My favorite length for a movie. It's like 89 to 90 minutes. But he did put, Nick picked the song Bury Me and put it as the end credits. And I have to tell you, we were living in Montreal. We were so broke and i got this check from socann one day and it was like two thousand dollars from the you know the publishing and i

my i just it was like i got shivers because we were going through the couch trying to find coins to buy some veggie in 2000 in the 1990s meant something oh it was i mean it still means something yeah we're the same age so like i understand all these these uh references and yeah it still means something but it just means a little less now but yeah it meant a lot more then that's huge yeah it was it was so it and i think you know it would play in poland and i still get paid from it i think sometimes, sometimes. And you mentioned the name, this Evan guy, whatever happened to him? Oh, well, Evan Cranley is my sweetheart. So we ended up, anyway, it's a bit of a- You were trying to find out

what the appropriate word was there. Well, because we're not married because people don't really do that in Montreal. There's a lot of like, not a lot of people getting married. But anyway, also, it was tumultuous. You'll read the book. I'm not going to give you all the details here, but it's a little Fleetwood Mac vibes. Uh, anyway, because he was kind of in not, was he like, he was playing with 16 tons, right? Nope. Oh, well he played trombone. Yeah. Yeah. He did sit in. He did sit in on, he played on the recordings. That's right. But this was later. I didn't,

He did sit in. He played on the recordings. That's right. But this was later. I didn't, we didn't, like I joined Stars in 2000 and we didn't really get together until like 2004. Okay. Can I hit you with a Stars jam to get the, we got to talk about your, your breakthrough with Stars.

You ready? You all comfortable? Is that beer tasting good? Oh, delicious. Okay. Thank you. We will always be alive. We will always be alive. We will always be alive. We will always be alive Again, we'll aim you in the eye, Amy,

to tell you that this is a fucking gorgeous song. This is gorgeous. Thank you. Thank you. You made this. We all made it together. We sure did. The interesting thing about this, actually,

is that when we were demoing it, James Shaw was hanging out with us in North Halley and he wrote the drum beat for this song. I don't think we ever gave him any publishing, but don't worry, Jimmy, there's not a lot of money there anymore anyway. Well, that's because you haven't seen the new Revlon campaign. Right?

Man, it would be so good. So let's start with this song, this lush, beautiful pop song. It's gorgeous. I'm swimming in it right now. And it's ageless beauty. You'd sell out, right? Like, you're not Neil Young here.

Like, this note is for you. Yeah, this note's for you is the anti-salad. Well, as I said, you know, it's a different time now. And I have children to feed. A whole different episode, though. So, okay. So, why? I always wonder, like, why isn't this song featured in some kind of cosmetics thing That was a whole different episode though So okay So Why I always wonder

Like why Why isn't this song featured In some kind of cosmetics thing Or some makeup Something Because it's Ageless Beauty Like and it's a beautiful song And somebody should license this song

For a huge national No Global campaign No response required Ridley Funeral Home Maybe Ridley Funeral Home maybe Ridley Funeral Home Ageless Beauty yeah because they

yeah it's like forever yeah exactly this is your forever okay you know what I'll talk to Brad Jones at Ridley Funeral Home perfect see what their budget is

for new for music licensing but tell me then how did things change for Stars when this song breaks? Because this is the first song from Stars I heard because it was played all the time on 102.1 The Edge and elsewhere.

Just tell me what it was like to be in the band when this song breaks. Well, it was a really incredible time. And the thing is, you don't really think it's going to change. You don't know that. You don't have that knowledge as a younger person that things will in fact not be how they are as they are at the time, right? So I remember driving in the car with Evan

and we went to the radio station 102 and I think this was playing, and then we changed stations, and Reunion was playing. So we had two songs going on the radio at the same time, which was pretty not what's, you know, it's pretty amazing. It was a great time.

But it was a tumultuous time for the band, so. Tell me. You know, as I said, like there was just relationship stuff, and so it was was but it was in a what the incredible part was that we got to do it at the same time as you know Broken Social Scene was around and Metric was around and Sam was around and like we actually all went to Japan together around this time and we just it was an amazing, incredible, fun life.

Well, this time in Canadian music was kind of like you're pointing out there with those artists you mentioned and more, you know, Feist and everything. Michael Barclay wrote a whole book about this scene and it's great. And it's quite the time for Canadian rock on the world stage. It was a big time. And I was lucky enough to be in both Broken Social Scene and Stars.

So I mean, that's like, on the new album that we have called From Capleton Hill, there's a line, lining strikes twice in my life. And really that to me was an ode to being in like two pretty successful bands, which is not very common.

No, not too common at all. I'm actually going back in time here. So we just played Ageless Beauty and then I have another cut from, by the way, here's a way that you and Sam Roberts, so in addition to you, me, and Sam Roberts all being the exact same age

and then you and Sam living in Montreal, his big breakthrough album was called We Were Born in a Flame, okay? Your breakthrough album is called Set Yourself on Fire. Okay, so you got flame and fire. See this theme there? Also, there's a comment on the live stream that you have a tremendous voice.

And I'm wondering now if you ever do any voiceover work. Like, do you ever get offered any gigs to do voiceover work? No, but I would love to. You could. When you listen back, you're going to be like, why don't I? So I'm going back in time because I'm calling an audible in the line of scrimmage because we talked about this song quite a bit

and then I actually dug it up and I just thought it'd be fun to go back and then we'll go forward again. And you're kind of held captive here in my basement. What are you going to do? Storm out of here? Are you? Under a broken bridge going to do? Storm out of here? Are you? Out the evening, out the evening

Things still pollute your head You were just out on the rain The last soap of glass from your past is by Mary, this Mary, Amy. Listen to you. Listen. Listen to you. Listen to Dan Whaley. That's Dan coming in there. Do I hear two of you in that song? There's a part where I feel like it's you and yourself. One voice is going up, but it's two voices, right?

Yeah, that's Ariel Engel, actually, at La Force, who's singing in the back of the set. When you're this good, I thought maybe you duet with yourself. I always, you know what's interesting? I do sometimes, and I definitely, on Ageless, that's all. But I find that there's a chemistry of having another... I think that's me. Yeah.

Yeah, that's me. But in the chorus, it's not. So you mean you can have a Danny DeVito, Jamie Lee Curtis. Who else was there? Oh, Bette Midler. Like you can put out a big movie and use this song. And the woman whose voice and who wrote it gets 2000 bucks. Is that the deal?

It feels like that's numbers too low. Right? It's too low. I'll just say it. That's too low. I feel like that's a big production there. You're using the song from this artist. It's going to cost you, I don't know what they paid

because so many people get a piece along the way. By the time it gets to you, it's $2,000. Maybe it started as $20,000 and it got, you know, $18,000 were gobbled up by middlemen or something like that. But I think you should have earned more than $2,000 for this. But what do I know? Okay. Speaking of chemistry, before I play one of my favorite Stars songs,

I can't wait to play it and talk about it. Like, did you know right away that you and Tork, because you and Tork, your voices have tremendous, I don't know if you call that chemistry or not, but the way that you guys duet, it's gorgeous. Like this was just a natural happenstance and that's why you're in Stars? like this was just a natural happenstance and that's why you're in Stars? So Evan Cranley, my sweetheart, had seen me playing with 16 Tons around town.

He was in a band called Gypsy Soul. Very popular. Won a YTV Youth Award. Wow. Gypsy Soul was huge in the 90s. Anyway, so he had seen me sing around and then heard that we had broken up and he suggested that I sing. Now, strangely, Emily was living with them and had been singing with them,

but she was making music with James. Right, and these are two members of Metric. Yes, sorry, Emily Haynes and James Shaw. But Emily knew Tork because James and Tork and was sort of, because James and Tork were friends forever. Anyway, and so they knew each other first. Anyway, then, so Evan suggested me.

I came back from Los Angeles after the movie and I went to the Mabin School. Do you know the Mabin School? It's like DuPont. And anyway, it's a little school that Chris Seligman's mother was the vice principal of. And so it was summertime and it was empty. And so they let us rehearse there. And it was the first time that I'd met any of them except for Evan.

And it was just Evan and Torquil and Chris at the time. And so we came in and they'd given me a CD that I'd practiced and learned some of the songs, and the first song we sang together was The Woods. And they had this little, you know, the mic set up, and so I come in in the chorus, and as soon as I started singing with Torquil, he's a dramatic guy, which is so fun about him.

He, like, fell to the floor and was like, oh my God, finally. And it was really lovely to be met with that kind of enthusiasm. So it did feel like immediately we sang well together. And I think that is chemistry. And it's not like Seinfeld where everything left the guy breathless, right? Because your quality warranted such a reaction from Tork. It's not like, you know what I mean? Like, so it's like, oh, everything gets, you're just, ah, breathless.

Like, it doesn't mean anything. But Tork, at least you were worthy of such praise. Oh, I hope so. I think I leave him breathless with frustration these days. But, um. How are things with you and Tork these days? They're good. You know, we're family. He's my, we hope so. I think I leave him breathless with frustration these days. How are things with you and Tork these days? They're good. You know, we're family.

He's my, we're family. So they're like with family, you know, there's, it's a lot of history and it's great though. He's an amazing human. And your book will have the, like the two, the interworkings of stars through the years and everything like the Fleetwood Mac stuff and everything, is going to be in your book.

Yeah. I have to save it. I know. Because why would people buy it? Save it for a sequel here when your book is coming out. Okay, perfect. I'll try to extract it from you and see what you'll reveal. Okay.

Ageless Beauty is great, but you know what else is on that album? Are you ready? I love this song. Everyone listening loves this song. When there's nothing left to burn, you have to set yourself on fire. I'm sorry. God, that was strange to see you again Introduced by a friend of a friend Smiled and said, yes, I think we've met before

In that instant it started to pour Captured a taxi despite all the rain We drove in silence across Plum Shum Plain And all of that time you thought I was sad I was trying to remember you and me. This scar is a flack on my porcelain skin Tried to reach deep but you couldn't get in Now you're outside and you see all the beauty Repent all you see

It's nothing but time and a face that you lose I chose to feel it and you couldn't choose I'll write you a postcard, I'll send you the news From the house down below, from real love I don't want to play it all. Is that okay, Jane? How much time do you have, Amy? Okay. It was fucking great.

Listen to this thing. Amazing. Okay. So where do I go with this? So many places. One is the fun fact we learned from the TORC episode, which maybe people know was news to me. It was very exciting.

Is that that voice saying, when there's nothing left to burn, you have to set yourself on fire, which I say I've been saying a lot the last 19 years or whatever that's Tork's dad Did he tell you the story about how we recorded it? Tell us again, I'm sure

he did, but now I want to hear it. He might not have Your voice is better than Tork's He might not have because he said, let's get my dad at the beginning of the record. And I was in the studio, and he was back in Vancouver. And he said, okay, just call him and tell him to say,

when there's nothing left to burn, you have to set yourself on fire. Like, literally, it just came off his head that second. Now, his father is a very famous theater actor he's a legend and you know I I adored him but I was also you know again like a little bit self-conscious about so I called him and I said hi Douglas um okay just so you're just gonna say when there's nothing left to burn you have to set yourself on fire so and he goes he does that he goes when there's nothing left to burn, you have to set yourself on fire. So, and he goes, he does that. He goes, I love nothing left to burn.

And he does it. I go, and I'm like, I'm not going to direct the guy. Like he's like, and I was like, that's great. And he's like, perfect.

Yeah. He's like, you don't want me to do it again. And I was like, no, no, no. I think that's perfect.

Like it's a, it was perfect. And it was perfect. And then he always joked from that moment on that he was still waiting for his check. I bet she wants more than two K too. I bet you he wants more than 2K, too. Yeah. This, I mean, I don't know the accolades for this song, but I know it appears on a bunch of lists. You know, best of this, best of that.

But what, like, Degrassi? I want to shout out FOTM Andy, who loves Degrassi. But you can hear this song on the finale of Degrassi. Hot take. Don't know if you know this, but I was on Degrassi's New Year. Hi. Okay. Can we shut down the whole fucking show?

This is all I care about right now. What character did you play? Give me more detail. Okay. And I just want everybody to know that it's now on Prime and you can see it. I showed it to my kids. I brought them downstairs. They were already in bed.

And I said, kids come downstairs. I was like, oh my God, there it is. There's the episode. It's the egg bread episode from Degrassi. Yeah. They have to take care of eggs or whatever right yeah that episode i start the episode and it says i'm a pregnant teenager with spike in the meeting and i say when i first got pregnant my boyfriend david wanted to help it was his parents who were the

problem you know what his father said to me he said whatever you do is your own choice i don't want my son involved i don't even see david anymore i still remember all the lyric i i mean if i i want to sync that up that sounded perfect to me this is huge okay so you you made an appearance on this is the og too so all the way with stephanie k uh degrassi junior high uh i loved it i watched every episode i think it was monday nights or something on cbc like can't miss tv for me loved it all and now i know you're in it and full circle then i like grow up and then they use in the next gen the the drake gen they use your ex lover wow yeah and in the the spike kid is like in this next gen oh really well the character okay that's how they tied it to the old series, I think. I think.

So Spike, obviously with Shane, who killed himself, I want to say. Like he had a big... No, wheels... Okay. It's a whole separate thing. Okay. At this point... So you're talking about in the show? Shane.

What's real? No, everything's in the Shane. Okay. Everything's in the show. In the show. In the show. I think the actor who played Shane is much alive, actually. Okay.

So Shane took LSD or something and thought he could fly and then he maybe got uh a brain injury of some sorts and was kind of fucked up this is the character not the actor okay okay so shane is the father of snake of right snake of spikes because his name was snake wasn't it no snake was the guy who went on to become like a teacher. Oh, okay. So he's also in this, so yeah, that's a different cat. Okay. But Shane had this baby with well, what's her name? Oh my God, where are we going here? Spike had the baby. Spike.

A lot of names sound similar. I know. Shane, I think, I want to say Shane's dead. That's what I want to say. I don't have any evidence of this. But regardless, this is, Spike ends up with Snake. Okay? Right right so they end up as a couple right in the next generation and their daughter whose name will come to me in a minute allison or something i can't remember but she is like a main character in this spent this next generation

that you're in amazing um yeah you're keeping track at home okay i hope i got that andy will tell me if i butchered that because she's a listener of this program who is obsessed with all things Degrassi and she probably knew that you played that teen, pregnant teen in Degrassi. Big moment for me. I bet. Okay, because you wanted to be an actress.

See, I'm learning so much about you. This is why we do six-hour episodes. We can learn so much. I think I was 13 or 14 i feel like i was 12 but i think i was older than 12 but i 12 or 13 anyway i was quite young amazing amazing so not only is this song in degrassi the next generation the season five finale but also it's on an album called music from the oc mix five I'm not too sure what that means, but it's impressive, I think.

I remember when the OC got the song and I think we watched it and it was like, it was way in the background and the guy was eating a hamburger. So it wasn't really featured. It's not quite like when Journey was featured on the Sopranos finale.

Exactly. No, it was more like very background. Also, this is exciting, the first season of So You Think You Can Dance Canada. Somebody danced a solo to this wonderful song, Your Ex-Lover Is Dead. We get lots of tags of dance companies dancing to that song,

and they're beautiful. They're my favorite things to watch. Beautiful. There's a couple that are just absolutely outstanding. Like when the ending kicks in, and then all of a sudden the curtain goes down, They're my favorite things to watch. There's a couple that are just absolutely outstanding. When the ending kicks in and then the curtain goes down and there's like 20 people on stage and they're all dancing.

Would it make a good figure skating routine? If you were to choreograph a figure skating routine to your ex-lover's day? Definitely. It should be in the Olympics. Carolyn Taylor is listening. This is the sequel. Your ex-lover is dead and we'll do this up okay i mentioned so you think you can dance canada well move move aside canada because

fox is american version so you think you can dance this song appeared in season six wow okay more two thousand dollar checks making their way to your mailbox this is very exciting this is good stuff right right? This is great. I don't remember that. I don't even know if they have to pay for it. I don't know. I don't know. I can't remember. It's a very long time ago. I definitely spent that money already.

Well, you would remember, I feel, if there was any significant amount of coin attached to it. Oh, but the coins, they were coming back then. I was just like, sure, let it rain. Can we talk about that? Okay, because I have more stars and we're going to talk, I want to talk broken social scene too. And then I want to talk about your soul, the materials. But now and then, so can you compare?

So this breakthrough for stars is 2004. Is that about 2004? Yeah, that's when it came out. Okay. October 2004. And later I want to ask you about the B-side to Your Ex-Lover is Dead. So that's like a teaser for something I want to ask you about later. But okay, so what was the landscape like then versus now?

That's almost 20 years ago now. But just even private chats we had off mic today, we were talking about how, you know, there was like an ecosystem. Sam Roberts was talking about there's an ecosystem. He used to go to the he'll talk to now magazine and then the georgia straight and there was like this this much music and then there was maybe ben rayner at the star and this is like a like a like a like a ecosystem of sorts to promote your new music and stuff and he was talking how little that remained in. Would you mind telling us what it was like in 04 versus what it might be like today? Um, you know, I, again, like my memory is not all that it's why it's hard to write a memoir and it's taking me so long. It's cause like

pod a memoir. Uh, anyway, you know, it, it was, it was just all happening so fast. And, uh, there was, you know, we still make, I don don't think people really do they really make videos anymore now you have to actually make videos for every single song but it's not like there's a television but it's much less expensive to make a video today absolutely absolutely but you know the yeah the there was there was so many more magazines like especially in each province there was so many more weeklies that we would do. Yeah. I mean. But there are no more alt weeklies.

Like they're gone. Pretty much. Yeah. I mean, there's Next. Michael Hollett. Michael Hollett. You know that I do have, I have an advice column in Next magazine. Okay.

No, shout it out. Michael's been on the program. He brought me a bunch of copies and yeah, he wants to start the concert listing thing again right because that's what people kind of miss without their their now magazine how do you know what's going on unless you're like i don't know i don't understand like i'll find out like afterwards phoenix is in town because i'll see somebody's video of it i'm like i no idea i would have gone to that show um it's yeah it's hard to find out you know bands, bands in town, I guess, is the thing to do. I don't really know. No, I will shout out, there's an email newsletter I get

from the aforementioned Michael Barclay, who I quite like what he writes. And he does a very pretty good job of telling you, like, you know, stars are at Massey Hall Saturday night. But, you know, like, who's coming? Art Bergman's at the Horseshoe Tavern, whatever. You know, he does a pretty good job doing that. So shout that out.

All right. Tell me how you end up with, so it sounds like you're all kind of like interloping and it starts with the Topical School of the Arts. Shout out to Topical School of the Arts. But give us your history with broken social scenes. So, cause you're not just in stars, like you said, you're with broken social scenes. So yes, I went to, I met Kevin Drew when he was 14 years old on a bridge uh at camp pinecrest he was a camper and i was a junior counselor and i heard this kid going i'm going to school next

year it's called topo school of the arts i'm really excited about it and i was like i go to topo school of the arts and i said let's meet on the bridge and I'll bring you my yearbook and tell you about the school. So we sat on the bridge and talked about the school and had a lovely little chat. And we were big on, we had a lot of anti-war protests the year that he arrived for the Gulf War.

And then he would join us with that. So, but really we didn't really become friends until later on after high school. My first year university i remember we sort of struck up a friendship and uh anyway it continues to this day like he's one of my dearest most best friends in the world um and uh skinny boy is about kevin drew i don't know if you know that can i play it yeah? Yeah. Thank you very much. And he plays drums on it. Skinny boy, all bones, no lies You're so miserable in the morning

Will you wait up for me? Will you wait up for me? It's sorted and I can't find my feet. And you've got lips. I could spend a day with. Skinny Boy, which is from your solo, you have two solo albums, right? Shout them out.

This is the second solo album, right? This is the first. First one, I knew that. Yeah, this is the Ian Blurton-produced Honey from the Tombs. Honey from the Tombs. And the second one is Marty Kinnick, Martin Kinnick-produ produced Masters of the Burial.

Okay, I want to come back. I love talking to you, and I want to come back to Honey from the Tombs, your debut solo album from 2006. This is Skinny Boy, which is about Kevin Drew. And then you now, as I bring this down, you're going to return to the BSS story. Did you know, because you're going to be at Hayden's thing tomorrow night, did you know that, and I think you know this because you're going to be at Hayden's thing tomorrow night, did you know that, and I think you know this, but Brendan Canning,

Noah Mintz takes credit for Brendan Canning being a rock star with Broken Social Scene because they were in head together, two H's in head. And Noah tells a story like he kind of got him to pick up, be a musician or

whatever. So Noah takes great credit for Brendan Canning and Broken Social Scene. Just want to throw that out there. Only because Noah Mintz is a very close high school friend of Hayden Desser. In fact, in the new Music Search CD, 1993, that CFNY had their concert for a contest, that head ended up winning with the song Happy. Hayden entered that contest with a song called Take, but Hayden was too shy to sing it. He didn't think he had a good voice. And he got Noah to do the vocals on Take, which was their 1993 new music search entry.

So if you're following all these threads, it's maybe only interesting to me now that you mention it. And before I get you back to BSS, I mentioned Andy was a huge Degrassi fan. Well, it turns out she's listening live and she has chimed in. Are you ready to hear what Andy wants to say about Degrassi? Yes. She says, listening intently, I will rewatch this episode tonight. So tonight. Season two, episode one, I believe it is.

Season two, episode one. Mike, Shane jumped off a bridge on acid. Okay, I have memories of an acid accident. Okay, but I have to tell you the funniest thing that, do you know Bill Hicks, the late wonderful comic? Absolutely. He had the best line about people who jumped off things on acid. He said, idiot, if you think you can fly,

why don't you start from the ground first? That's so fucking true. That's why Bill Hicks was a fucking legend. That's so true. Don't start up there. Just in case. I love that thought. So Shane is alive just disabled. He's not dead. And now when I think about it, FOTM Jonathan Torrens played

Shane in a movie they made like years later. They did like a Degrassi movie to see what they're up to. Because School's Out was like the finale. School's Out. That's the one where wheels gets in the drunk driving accident see I stopped watching it after I was in it because I was really upset that they didn't want me in the main cast

because that's I auditioned for the main cast and then I didn't get the part but they were like that's awfully small of you Amy I'm a small person I don't please very small any of you I love grudges it's like very small very small this woman can hold a grudge I can

okay I was right about one thing Snake did marry Spike and that's in the new series and the name of the daughter who I thought might be Allison is actually named Emma so she says gosh Mike

because I think I called her Allison but hey at least I had some memory of this I didn't actually watch The Next Generation I should watch to hear you know your song. But

you were in Degrassi. That's the OG. Okay. So now that we've got Kevin Drew is the skinny boy. You're singing about in 06. You met him at camp in whatever, I don't know, early 90s or something? What are we doing here? In 89. Because if you're protesting the Iraq War,

I feel like that's like 90. We're close enough. Okay. But tell me a little more about your involvement with Broken Social Scene. So then, uh, I wasn't actually in Broken Social Scene. Emily and Leslie Feist were in Broken Social Scene and they made You Forgotten People, but neither of them were able to play the launch because they were launching their own massively beautiful careers um i think that maybe at the time feist was in paris maybe and i don't know metric was on tour uh so they

couldn't be at lula lounge in 2003 because it's the it's the anniversary this year, right? Right. And so Kevin asked me if I would sing the female parts. And I was very nervous. And I was very excited. And I've been singing with Emily since I was 15. So I thought I could do that. But I was a little more nervous about the Leslie parts. Did you win any talent shows at the Topical School of the Arts? They didn't have talent shows.

Everybody was talented. So you couldn't have a talent show because it was just like everybody was just so right talented no i'm i'm i'm really grateful that i met emily haynes and sheila mulhern because i don't think i would have graduated i was not a very good student and they were both on the honor roll and i'd be like let's go get high and they'd be like we have to do our homework first so anyway i i do just shout out them for me graduating um but yeah no i like we i remember emily she was a songwriter and she when she was 15 and she pulled me into the practice rooms that are there that were just it was a beautiful school like you just it just i mean they made

us believe that art was gonna save the world anyway um so uh that's not true uh doesn't seem so these days but anyway she pulled me into the practice room and she played me this beautiful song i thought oh my god this woman is gonna be famous and it was just gorgeous and then we sang together a lot anyhow and then um it was really fun to like sing the leslie parts because she's just such a different kind of singer than i am and so like you know doing almost crimes and um doing parts because she's just such a different kind of singer than I am. And so like, you know, doing Almost Crimes and doing Seven Floor, it was just such a different way of singing for me. And so it like expanded my knowledge of how I could use my voice. And it was a wonderful concert and it went really well. And it was Lula Lange was so charming.

And Kevin Drew's mom, who just recently passed Maggie. Um, she was such an amazing character. She came up to me right after the show and she was like, darling, you were just amazing. More boobs, more hair. That's what I say. More boobs,

more hair. So I'm, you know, that's, that's for Maggie. I've been trying to pull out the boobs and hair for her ever since. You can't go wrong doing that. I think that's a good idea.

Wow. Okay. I have a correction to make i can't believe i'm being fact-checked it is oh my god one more correction okay i should have never said anything and then we'll get back okay i want to talk about the degrassi podcast you know it's really the ian blurton podcast we'll get there but don't jonathan torrence did not play shane in a movie it was in an episode of the next generation so i remember jonathan torrence playing shane and i'm correct but it was an episode of the Next Generation. So I remember Jonathan Torrance playing Shane. And I'm correct, but it was an episode of The Next Generation.

It wasn't a movie. I apologize. We'll move on from Degrassi. You guys are nerds. You know that? Like serious Degrassi nerds. I'm getting it half wrong. Nerds don't get things wrong.

Okay, Amy? We're so sorry about it. We're going to move on. Well, it's your fault for being in the damn show. Sorry. It's really all your fault here. Okay. Honey from the Tombs.

What can you tell me about Ian Blurton? Cause he produced that album. I'm very interested because he's a different cat. Um, I got hooked up by, with, um, Ian through Patrick Sandbrook and I hadn't met him and I gave a tape to give to him of my songs. Um, like a, just a little demo tape. And he gave a tape to give to him of my songs um like just a little demo tape and he gave a tape back to Patrick to give to me and I took it home and I put it on and he had completely produced with samples and drum beats my songs like it was really yeah and I I was i was i was completely floored by what he had accomplished like he had horns at the end of this like just me and a guitar that just was like i'm a lonely guy on the guitar and he made it sound like back who i was kind of obsessed with at the time sure and he it was amazing and i was like i gotta meet this guy and then I went to go see Change of Heart play at the Horseshoe and he's an incredible performer and uh we made fast friends and then

we recorded at Chemical which is no longer which is a it was an amazing studio um Portland and the alleyway there and um yeah we had a we had a great time like I'm gonna tell you my favorite memory of that recording that record it took a long time. I can tell you my favorite memory of that, recording that record. It took a long time because I was like with stars and I was like in and out and I was not really committing and he was like just rolling his eyes at me, but he stuck it out with me. And anyway, there's some very funny stories about that recording, but one of them is in the morning he comes in and he's got a coffee and he goes, I was just standing outside holding my coffee and someone walked by and put a nickel in it.

Because he had the big beard, right? He had the big beard. He was like, do I really look that homeless? I was like, unhoused. Unhoused is correct. So anyway, it was a very funny. And then when the boys showed up to play skinny boy because that's the only track that they're boys like like brendan and kevin who are charlie charles spearin plays the

bass that incredible bass line is charles spearin um and then yes brendan's on it and kevin's on it and uh kevin walks in and there's no drums. And, and he goes, what kind of studio doesn't have drums? And then Blurton goes, what kind of drummer doesn't bring their drums? Anyway. And I was like, Oh God,

that's how the day started. I was like, Oh God, this is not going to go well. But I just think, I just think we did everything to tape. It's, I think it just sounds incredible.

I think it's a beautiful sounding record. And Ian did, he just did such a great job. To bring it all, maybe this is a shameless plug for yesterday's episode, but the guy who produced Smile for Change of Heart was my guest yesterday. So if you want to hear the insides of working with Ian from the other side, Michael Philip Voyevoda is the episode to check out.

He did a lot of Barenaked Lady stuff and yeah, he did Change of Heart and Rio Statics, a whole bunch of that cool stuff. Let me play a song, if you don't mind, Amy. And then I want to ask you about some stuff happening in the current day. And yes, we are going to play some new material as well because the new stuff is fucking kicking ass too, but I'm going to play

an older song before we get to the new stuff. What are you going to do? Degrassi Jr. High! Degrassi Jr. High! new stuff's fucking kicking ass too but i'm gonna play an older song before we get to the new stuff what are you gonna do Oh, tell me, dead now, but out here no one seems to care at all Sick girls and sick boys and each one lining up to take it home They hold tight their coin and they pray no one has to see them fall I'm failure failure I serve them The one with the empty looking eyes Come closer

You see me The face that is used to telling lies Saturday nights in the online Sunday in the sun Pills enough to make me feel ill Cash enough to make me well Take me, take me to the riot Take me, take me to the riot

Take me, take me to the riot. Take me, take me to the riot. Take me, take me to the riot. Take me. What a fucking talented bunch of people you are. Thank you. I didn't have much to do with that song, but I do love it. I love this song because i really feel like you can tell you can hear that tork is british he was born in england right like it's

this is a very english sounding song to me and i you know i'm very canadian i'm like fourth generation i've been around i've you know a bunch of hosers my whole life. And so I learned so much interesting ways to think around Torkel Campbell. Like he, like, you know, I don't know if your family did this, but you'd go to the dump to see the bears. I don't know if you ever did that up north. Oh, near Huntsville, I've been to the dump. You'd go to the dump, right? And I remember we were up north and we were like, let's go to the dump.

And Torkel's like, why would I want to go to a dump? And I was like, well, we go see the bears. And he's like, bears eating garbage. That's your idea of a good time. And I thought, he's right. I was like, that is such a weird thing to do. He's like, it's literally a dump. Anyway, but he does that a lot for me

where he kind of snaps my Canadian-ness out of me sometimes. There's nothing wrong with going to the dump to see bears. Not everybody has to go to the opera or whatever, symphony. My father never took me to museums. Yeah, so anyway, this is very English to me. Like, just like, cash enough to wake up in the cell. Like, I can hear you and like like you're back there, right? Like I can hear Amy back there.

Yeah. It's sort of like the flip of like, cause there's no, is there any torque on ageless beauty? No, no, no, no.

So it's like, yeah. So we do jealous though. And the breakthrough single was all Amy. Is there any gel? He doesn't care if he's making money. He makes, we,

we share all the publishing equally, so it doesn't matter. Um, but you know, I think that's such a beautiful thing about having a writing partner like that in a band and getting to me getting to get up on stage and sing these songs that i didn't have anything really to do with and i just get to be a fan of them really it's it's really lucky um and this is such a fun one we play it all the time

and but this is actually kind of a bad memory because this record in our bedroom after the war was one of the biggest mistakes we ever made because we made the record we we made the record with jace lasik from besner lakes at break glass studios but we we had a lot of money because you know the set yourself on fire record had kind of exploded and it had sold a lot of records and so we were given quite a big budget to make the next record now what we should have done with that money is bought a building you know right like like godspeed did right like those guys were so smart they bought that building that does now a studio and but we we we spent so much money recording the demos

that sounded amazing and then we went and made the record again in vancouver and we just spent so much money that it was it's one of those things where i'm like oh god that was too bad like i went back and listened we actually released it the the break glass sessions of that record anyway very no that's that's interesting stuff it did get nominated for a uh polaris prize um polaris music prize in 08 this album didn't win though there's no cash for me it's really hard to come on here after sam roberts so you're like so like six and seven junos and you're like oh that's when you band of the year again and you're like you can talk about a lot you, band of the year again. And you're like, you can talk about

a lot of nominations. Well, it is shocking you have no Junos. Well, you got one with Broken Social Scene, like,

but there's a lot of members, I suppose. There's a lot of Junos. Did you have to buy your own Juno? Like, how does it work? Yeah,

I think that's, there's some like little things you learn along the way and you're like, like, I was so naive. Like, you just think winners

of Junos get, get a Juno. Like, they don't have to cough up any money for it i had one of the most fun times was when my second record i can't remember which one was nominated for like adult alternative i think it was the second one and it was in newfoundland and that's masters of the burial yeah yeah that's the one yeah that's the one because it was also nominated for the artwork and my friend Rachel did the artwork and she came with me and we had so much fun in Newfoundland. It was just such a fun time

and then there was this ash cloud so people couldn't get in so then I ended up being on the broadcast introducing Great Lakes Swimmers and then I was really nervous about it and so my friend Rochelle, who did the artwork, sorry Rochelle, said, well here, take a Xanax.

I'd never taken a Xanax before. This is the time you chose to take your first Xanax. Well, I was like, oh, she's just like, oh, it's just like an easer, you know, whatever. She's just going to make you feel less nervous about getting on stage. I was like, okay, because I was, you know, debilitating stage fright, as I told you.

So I take the Xanax, and I'm like, my mom's there, and Evan's there, and Metric's there, and this whole thing happens. And then I wake up the next morning, and I'm like, how did I get home? And Evan says, what are you talking about? I wasn't with you. Like I split and went to another place. I had no, it was crazy.

And I went to look on the computer and put like Xanax. And the first thing that comes up is memory loss. And in like 20% of people that take it, they completely don't remember anything. And I was like, was I okay? And my mom's like, yeah, you were fine. But I just- You just don't remember any of it.

It started to come back a couple of months later, but I'll tell you a really crazy story. Yeah. So one of the things that happened was, so we got stuck because of the ash cloud. Then we ended up having to get off the plane in Halifax and we had to spend the night there. So I was on one plane to Halifax. Then I got on another plane back to Montreal.

So it's two planes. And then I flew to Toronto for a show with my friend, Jenny Whiteley. And I'm playing- From Crazy Strings. Yeah, exactly. So I'm in the backstage of the Rivoli and I'm wearing this leather jacket that I had in, in house in Newfoundland. And I go into my pocket and I reach in my pocket and there's this thing and I'm like, what is this?

And I open it up and it's a gigantic piece of hash that I've had on three flights. This is before it was legal. This is before the legal times. And I was like, oh my God god where did i get this like i don't really do drugs but uh a musician i won't name names who had to leave because of the ash cloud was like here take my hash and i was like okay and put it in my pocket and because of the xanax had totally no memory why won't you name the name this seems pretty harmless a musician it's true it was very charming okay it was josh uh from metric the bass player very cute okay good we name names on this program enjoying it's true it was very charming okay it was josh uh from metric the bass player

very cute okay good we name names on this program unless it's something incriminating yeah it's not incriminating it's just a smash but it was pretty alarming and but my friend dan way they was pretty excited when i pulled out he's like great i'm like here you can have it i got it anyway wow right amazing so masters of the beer beer how come i can't say the word burial burial okay burial what's wrong with me have i taken his annex okay maybe i have 2009 that's you know a few years So Masters of the Burial. How come I can't say the word burial? Burial. Okay. Burial. What's wrong with me? Have I taken a Xanax? Okay, maybe I have.

2009, that's a few years after the first one we talked about, Honey from the Tombs. Is there another solo album coming from Amy Millan anytime? You know what? I'm really trying. Stars are taking some time off and I'm really trying. Having kids, you know, it's funny. I saw this interview with Stevie Nicks talking to Sheryl Crow oh and no Sheryl Crow said I was talking to Stevie Nicks

Stevie Nicks said don't have children because then you'll never write another song and I was like oh my god and Sheryl Crow's laughing and laughing because she you know has adopted two boys and I have had trouble because it's you know know, I am obviously in two bands also. So it's not like I'm not doing anything. We did a play that in Toronto. So, you know, there's been a lot going on,

but it's very hard. I have an amazing recording on my telephone of me trying to write a song with Evan and my son's just going, mommy, can I have an apple? Mommy. And I'm just doing this like, you know,

30 second recording. It's just the whole time. He's like, mommy, an apple. Can I have an apple? Mom, mommy, can I have an apple? And I'm like, yeah, just one sec. And I'm trying to get like, you know, 30 second recording. It's just the whole time. He's like, mommy, an apple. Can I have an apple? Mom, mommy, can I have an apple?

And I'm like, yeah, just one sec. And I'm trying to get these lyrics down. Mom, an apple. Can I have an apple? It's, and it's so, it's this, I laughed so hard when I went back to it. I'm like, that's it. It's very hard to find carved time. I'm like, Sarah Pauly blows my mind. She gets up at like five in the morning and writes the script before her kids are up.

It's like, she's just a phenomenon. And now she has an Oscar. Yes, she does. Well-deserved. Amazing. Amazing. All right. So recently I did this thing with listeners where they submitted their favorite Halloween

songs and I piece it together and I release it. It's like, oh, because you might record yourself saying this is my favorite Halloween song. Rosie. Hello to Rosie if Rosie is listening. In fact, Rosie did go on the live stream and say she was looking at bears somewhere. I know this is not Degrassi, Amy, so don't get mad at me, okay? Because I'm now officially scared of you.

I realize, oh my, don't talk about Degrassi anymore. Amy's going to punch you in the nose. Rosie writes, in Thunder Bay, we went to the dump to see the bears. She says it's so Canadian. It's so Canadian. That's right. I saw many bears at many dumps.

But she also submitted a song for Halloween Jams, a spooky song that she absolutely loves. And it's one of your songs. So I'm going to play it just to give us a little taste of it because tis the season. Then I'm going to thank some partners. And then I'm going to play some new music. We got a little more time together.

Amy, you're not going anywhere. But here's the song Rosie kicked out on Toronto Mic'd, the FOTM KOTJ episode, Halloween Jams. Tell me everything that happened. Tell me everything you saw. They had lights inside their eyes. They had lights inside their eyes, they had lights inside their eyes Did you see the closing window, did you hear the slamming door? They moved forward and my heart died, they moved forward and my heart died

Please, please tell me what they looked like, Did they seem afraid of you? They were kids that I once knew They were kids that I once knew I can say it but you won't believe me You say you do but you don't deceive me It's hard to know that I'm there It's hard to know that you still care I can say it but you won't believe me

You say you do but you don't deceive me Dead hearts are everywhere Dead hearts are everywhere Did you touch them? Did you hold them? Did they follow you to town? They make me feel I'm falling down They make me feel I'm falling down. They make me feel I'm falling down. Was there one you saw too clearly? Did they seem too real to you?

They were kids that I once knew. They were kids that I once knew. I can say it, but you won't believe me. I have a new idea where it's just you come over when you're in town and you just put on the headphones and then we listen to Starz music together. What do you think, Amy? Is that a good idea? Sure.

Dead hearts. Oh, my goodness. Any thoughts on this song before I shut it down? Let's go. I have lots of thoughts on this song. This song was written right afterquil's dad passed away um and i think that me and torquil and patrick mcgee who's the drummer we all have a very hard time not crying during the song it's it's such a emotion like we were in europe in february and my kids were at the show

and then all of a sudden we were singing a song and we look over and we see my kids and Tori and I just looked at each other like just almost burst into tears. It's a very emotional song, you know, it's especially the older we get and the more people we lose, it means more and more as the time goes on. So yeah, I love this song and I think that this is one of the very few songs we'll be playing on Saturday night at Massey Hall how long were you how long she said on Saturday well it's a long evening so I'm I think we're gonna play like three songs three songs okay and you know what three already or do you guys decide on

the floor yeah I think so I think so this is one of them look at that that's like a spoiler alert. Okay, amazing. Amazing. Okay. I was going to dedicate it to Gord Downie, actually, who we were talking about earlier. Oh, yeah.

So, see, my brain can't tell the difference anymore between the Sam Roberts episode and the Amy Milan episode. So, would you, maybe now's a good time here before I talk about the partners of the program here. But please share some words, if you don't mind, about the late, great Gord Downie. Well, he can't prove this because he's not here anymore, but I think we were his favorite live band.

That's what he would tell people anyway. So I'm just going to brag about that because I might not have wanted you to know, but Gord Downie loved stars. He told you this? He did. He told Kevin Drew that too. Kevin Drew's like, it's true.

It's true. You're his favorite live band. It's true. Eat your heart out, Sam Roberts. I know. I was like, you played how many shows? 93. I know.

Well, I mean, I think we were on the way, but we lost Gord way too soon. Because we played a few shows and they're just, and they're just all the guys. They're just, the whole band is just a wonderful bunch of guys. But I actually met Gord when I, way before I had recorded a single note because Jake Gold, who was their manager, was Patrick. He's their manager now actually.

Is he still? Well, he went away and he came back. Oh, okay. So, and then Patrick, they were roommates and very good friends.

And so I ended up going to see him and meeting him and he was so nice to me. Oh my God. I remember the first thing I was like, yeah, it was really weird when I moved to Montreal. Like I didn't even know because my family didn't really watch hockey that they were called the Habs. I just thought they were the Montreal Canadians. And he looked at me and goes, that's a very brave thing to admit. But anyway, and then years later, you know, make music and i start a band and like stars and and

so we we were and i i mean i love the tragically hip i just i just love their music i've been a fan for years and years my brother is one of the biggest fans ever and i got to introduce him to gourd and i swear i was like from that moment on he has never been nicer to me you're welcome Tim um yeah anyway and so I remember we were playing it was pouring rain we were playing in Calgary at a festival outdoors raining so much rain and it was the afternoon and it was before soundcheck and he was getting a cup of tea and I went out and I'm like hi and the thing about those guys too is like they know everybody's name Sam's like that too i'm so bad at this i really wish i had the gift of like every single person like he'll walk into a club he hasn't seen somebody in 15 years and sam and gourd they'll be like jamie how's it going like how's your daughter you know i'm like how do you guys like they have this

incredibly you might have face blindness i don't think i have face blindness i think i have another problem i'll talk about it in my book no i don't i'm have face blindness i think i have another problem i'll talk about it in my book no i don't i'm not indifferent because i really do like people like i people are my people um but anyway so i he he's just but that's how they were like they knew every single person in stars like chris you know coming down chris was like he knew my name like you know usually people just you know the lead singers get a lot more attention you know it's just a lead singer centric society right say that six times anyway i go out and and he's having his tea and and we had played with them the night before and i said how are you doing he goes oh my throat's a little my throat's a little dry you know i feel like i got a little cold or something and he's like i

think it's a little rough from singing uh what do i do when i get lonely? And I was like, oh my God, Kurt Downey, Kurt Downey singing my lyrics, my song, back to me. And I was like, oh, oh. And I'm very, like a little nervous. And I can feel my face turning like the reddest red of like the rosacea-est just because I'm like, I can't believe this is happening i'm going to turn red right now you'll watch it on the camera and i run into the trailer where the rest of my band is and i go how red am i right now and they'll go really red anyway he was such a lovely beautiful beautiful man beautiful to hear that. There's a story in yesterday's episode with Michael Philip Voyevoda.

I always screw it up because it's like W's and J's, but you don't pronounce them as W's and J's, but Voyevoda. And he talks about, he witnessed Dave Bedini save, Dave Bedini saved Gore Downey's life. Like this story.

Yeah. So, and he tells it in great detail and it's a wild story. So lots of Gord chat this week, that's for sure. But you can't get enough Gord chat. It's actually, we just had the anniversary

six years since he passed away. It just happened. So that's amazing. You're going to dedicate that song to Gord. I'm getting all these sneak previews here. I love it. And I'm going to put another, I really just want to play Starz songs

with you. This is the one he sang back to me. There's been a lot of talk of love But that don't amount to nothing You can evoke the stars above But that doesn't make it something And the only way to last And the only way to live it Is to hold on when you get love

And let go when you give it Give it Baseline. That's my guy right there. Killer bass line. It might help you through the night time But it doesn't make it easy To leave the party at the right time

If I'm frightened, if I'm high It's my weakness, please forgive it At least I hold on when I get enough And I let go when I give it Give it, give it What do you do when you're alone? What do you do when you're alone? What do you do when you're alone?

What do you do? Hold on, get in love What do I do? What do I do? Hold on, get in love What do I do? What do I do? Let go, forgive me What do I do? Wow. Take the weakest thing in you And then beat the bastards with it And always hold on when you get love So you can let go and you give it Take the weakest thing in you And then beat the bastards with it And always hold on when you get love

So you can let go when you get it, get it, get it Look at you talented freaks. This is, is this from the North? I'm not sure. I think this is from the North. This is, this is from the North? I'm not sure. I think this is from the North. This is, this is, I like hearing this because this is the first record we made with our guitar player who joined in 2011,

Chris McGarren. So that's him there. It sounds so great. And another thing about this song is this is the first song that Tork and I, he wrote the verses and he's like, I don't have anything for the chorus. Go write something.

So it's really our first super lyrical collab. Like prior to that, like he'd just go off and cook something up or whatever? No, well, all the music starts with Seligman and Evan. Generally, that's how it begins. And then Evan and, sorry, Patty and Chris McCarran join, and they write all the music. And then the songs will come from there.

So then we're generally in the room together, but one is leading the way on terms of the lyrics. Like a dance. Yeah, but it really pays off, I think, when we do it together. But he lives in Vancouver, so that's not easy all the time. So sometimes we'll send music to him

because he's living out there. But like Cableton Hill is the big one for that. I wrote the choruses and he wrote the verses. Okay, we're going to close the episode with a song from Cableton Hill. I'm going to give some love very briefly here to an award-winning event that's happening right now in Milton, Ontario, and it only runs through Halloween.

So today is the day to buy your tickets. Go to pumpkinsafterdark.com and get your tickets to Pumpkins After Dark. Amy, all that money you earned, what is it, that $2,000 check, I hope you invested it. You can learn how to plan, invest, and live smarter with the Raymond James The Advantaged Investor podcast. Whether you already work with a trusted financial advisor or currently manage your own investment plans,

The Advantaged Investor provides the engaging wealth management information you value as you pursue your most important goals. I know you were playing with the measuring tape. You're like, why is this here? That's for you, Amy. I know you were playing with the measuring tape. You're like, why is this here? That's for you. It's courtesy of Ridley funeral home.

It's a measuring tape. I love it. Is it measure the little bit of soul that we lose the, whatever the two grams. You've got a lot of soul, Amy. No, when we die,

I meant like, cause it's a funeral home. Yeah. We already get it. They're already licensing ageless beauty. Okay. What more do you want from Ridley funeral home? All the budgets going towards licensing aging,

ageless beauty from you. Hey, I got something else for you. Hold on. You can vamp or not. It won't be too long. I'm just going over here. And this,

I've been pointing at this thing and this is the camera. I was pointing at the wrong camera. That's mine. Sorry. That's okay. It's a, it's a podcast. Nobody cares about the video.

Okay. What's this? That's a wireless speaker courtesy of Mineris and it's a great quality speaker. That's yours, Amy. You're getting some swag here. You know how much I'm going to hear Hamilton and Phoebe Bridgers. My daughter is

big into singing at the top of her lungs. Okay. How old is she again? She's 12. It's a big singing age. She's 12. Are you going to gift that to her? We can share it. You can share it. Yeah, we can share it. You can connect to that Bluetooth device.

But I don't know if she'll be as interested as you. I feel like you're the entrepreneur right now. She's only 12, but you never know. But you do need to use that speaker to listen to season five of Yes, We Are Open, which is an award-winning podcast from Moneris, hosted by FOTM Al Grego, who, he went east this time.

So this is season five. He went to the Maritimes and Newfoundland and he spoke with small business owners and collected their inspiring stories to share with us. And these episodes are dropping weekly. So season five of Yes, We Are Open.

You've already enjoyed your Great Lakes beer. Mm-hmm, delicious. Where are you going next? You don't have to give me specifics. This evening? Are you going to a friend's house? I am.

My friend Kathy Z, who's been my friend for longer than I've been in stars. Yeah, she's an incredible human. Did you go to high school with her? I didn't. I met her at the Jet Fuel coffee shop. Another shout out, please, to the Jet Fuel coffee shop where I worked.

And still, I just was texting the owner johnny jet fuel and i have dreams about it all the time like stress dreams that i'm working and i can't find the proper mugs and i put the the steamer inside the milk bag instead of anyway and i said you can take the girl out of jet fuel but you can't take the jet fuel out of the girl so i met her there and she's quite tall and johnny jet fuel is a little bit short and so he built the behind the counter up like by a foot so that he could kind of be as tall as everybody coming in and like all of them and smart move looking at it and so when she came in we were eye to eye and we there was a picture taken of us like a polar rideraroid. We were like, what? We both were like, didn't, because we met. I'm like, I'm not that much shorter than you.

Anyway, she's my dearest, one of my dearest. Okay, so this is a long route I'm taking to tell you that I'll give you some fresh craft beer from Great Lakes Brewery to bring to. Thank you. Kathy Z. Kathy Z. Okay, you guys are going to enjoy some Great Lakes beer. Thank you, Great Lakes Brewery, for that. There's a big event.

I have these events. Maybe one day stars will play one of these events. But I have TMLX 14 happening December 9th at noon. It's at Palma's Kitchen. So thank you, Palma Pasta. Thank you, Great Lakes Brewery. All right, I want to finish with the present. Can I tell you something cool about Kathy Z?

Oh my God, yeah. Kathy Z, she does many things. One of the things she does though is she represents photographers. And one of her photographers is Norman Wong, who has shot numerous, numerous, incredible record covers. He's just an incredible guy.

And he shot the broken social scene group shots. And he's shot a bunch for stars. Anyway, so we have a kind of community-wise. We came back together. Love it very, very much here. Here's something, you know, we've been playing some stuff a few years old. Some newer stuff. This is about Emily.

This part. This is about stars. cry what you might have done to me we never let each other out easy we don't do goodbye so this song is essentially about the band Stars. And this is about me being in social scene and Stars. But it's about, yeah, forgiveness and how you stay together.

It's about all our friends. It's about our group of friends. It's about metric and broken social scene and stars and feist. So this is Pretenders and this is from... No. No. This is... What am I listening to? Patterns.

Patterns. Right. Not Pretenders. Okay. Pretenders is another song. You're right. You're right. Okay.

See the new stuff. I still have to get fluent in the new stuff. No problem. From Capleton Hill. This is... I don't know. It know it's been five years you know and i know i talked to tork about this new album but it dropped uh in may amazing okay so i love the fact you know just like with sam roberts you know it's like oh you know he could just go play brother down for the rest of his life or whatever and people will come out and enjoy it. But he's still creating beautiful art and so are stars. May of last year, right?

May of last year, yes. Of course. May of last year. I knew this because I talked to Tork before May and he was talking about, okay, yes. Time is a social construct. We have to go into the ending, right? This is for the kids. Because we've got to wait for the big moment.

You know what's coming, right? The drop? Do you know what's coming? You know the song? There's a big drop coming. But it's in a minute, so... There's a little instrumental, and then it'll come in. Oh, you'll hear them soon, though.

Here he comes. There it is. You hear who that is? He's singing the outro here. Name that voice. We're going to take the time. You're going to be mine. We're going to change the rules. Bury that cross for good.

Watch the garden grow. Bend beneath the hoes. Hoes. Hoes. Hoes. Marie Lightburn thank you for bailing me out because I was starting to sweat I'm like oh my god Amy's not going to throw me a life jacket here Marie Lightburn of the dears

beautiful amazing amazing yeah I've always wanted to sing Tork was a little mad at me he's like well i'm gonna get leslie feist to sing on my song i'm like dude i love you i just wanted to have like a little bit of i'm you know anyway he was very gracious and murray's just you know he was one of the first people we met in montreal when we moved there he came to see a show and we were we already loved the band the dears and he came to see one of our shows there was like 10 people there him and natalia and uh he was pretty lit

by the end of the night and uh he just came over to me and told me some very very nice compliments but in a sort of way that was a bit surprising um anyway so we were fast friends and we were just yeah so it was like sam and the dears and it was just such an incredible time in montreal what a beautiful community okay so as we say before we say goodbye here and we have to take a photo i feel like with the sam roberts photo i took several hours ago bright daylight you and i will be in the dark who knows what's going on out there but i just want to ask you what's going on band camp okay so uh i know you artists, stars, I'm sure no exception, loved Bandcamp as a way to sell music, right? And Bandcamp, they had new ownership and they fired a bunch of people.

It's not looking good. No, I don't. Well, I don't like I was solo parenting while this was all going down for a whole month while Evan was on tour with Broken Social Scene. So I wasn't really up on the news. And it felt like there was like a war started there was other things preoccupying my brain from band camp but yes i think that i follow your uh colleague yes yes so we should call him he'll answer you could call him yeah no he it's yeah it seems like they didn't treat their staff phone a friend but does this mean stars like what is your preferred way this

is my question and i asked like if you were a queen and let's say you're queen here and you could talk to the stars fans out there and tell them how to purchase your your art your music how do you want your fan base to purchase your music so it puts the most money into the artist's pocket okay well i think that that's like a losing game i mean i i have apple music i i don't i listen to it all the time um we have a patreon page patreon.com slash you are stars you are stars you are stars um and it's that's the that's the community that's really helping us survive right now and we do all sorts of really fun things we put cover songs I show behind the scenes stuff all the time that is quite hilarious

we do b-sides we do live things that aren't available to anybody else and it's just our stars community and it's uh it's the best and I I think that if you know you know obviously buying merch is great but I think for people, it's not the people that are listening to the music that should be felt guilty. I think that there's billionaires making billions and billions of dollars and there's just going to be a fight

that is going to go to court, how it does. And then the courts will change how we get paid. And then, because there's no stopping this wave, you know? It's impossible. To be blunt okay so if if obviously if you want to support stars and their art you need to sign up for their patreon patreon.com it's really fun too it's great uh you are stars what is it again yes you are stars you are stars you'll find them so do that but obviously five bucks a month five bucks a month

which is which is like a Starbucks coffee or something like that that's absolutely nothing so absolutely the least you can do in fact no I mean I mean even if you do it for like a month

and you just come and check it out and then you know it's really it's just the community in there like twerk DJs once a week

and it's it's Seligman puts on these beautiful little like personal jams that he writes and there's it's just a whole

world of stars that isn't available to the rest of the world right because on the streaming front i don't i get the feeling that you're you're not at the the drake taylor swift level so you're not seeing big fat checks arriving from streaming right well there's also the case that we're six people so right you know we're a band you know we started a band and we share like a band so we it's i don't know i mean even if you're solo i think there's a guy who wrote um i can't remember but some like massive songs that had 55 million plays and it was a thousand bucks like right you know we've had we just like you

know you get these emails that are like oh my god congratulations we have a million streams per month uh we're pretty our numbers are high and good. And, um, weirdly dead hearts was like a massively being streamed in Italy, uh, during the pandemic. Interesting. I know those are the weird things you find out, but anyway,

um, so yeah, I mean, it's the numbers are there. They're just, it just, it has to change. The laws have to change for everybody.

Like not enough is getting to the artist. Correct. Yeah. Yeah. That sucks. Okay. So everyone's going to sign up for the patreon obviously and then that whole band camp and that's sarah slain who's just going to become a lawyer i hope and like she's going to change the whole thing right sarah love i know she's amazing yeah she is amazing actually and uh final question on the whole business front here is, okay, so it used to be the stars would make their money by touring, right? So I'm just, but then I read a big piece about how like the touring game has changed and it was a bunch of musicians talking about how that's no longer, the margins are razor thin and they're not making the money on touring like they used to.

What's it like for stars when they tour? Can you feed your children from touring? It becomes, you have to just do it differently. You just have to do it smarter. Like for instance, even going into the United States, like we spend $15,000, we haven't even walked out the door because of visas and vehicles and all that stuff.

I mean, that's not a two-way street, right? Like, so I feel like I've heard that somehow Americans can come up here without this expense, but it's Canadians going down south where they hit that. Yeah, I haven't done it the other way around, so I don't know. But yeah, but like, so if, you know, if you get offered a one-off gig, it's not,

you can't do it. Like, it's not feasible to do it. And, you know, like if i was 20 i don't know i would feel differently i wouldn't care like i don't remember like doing the number game like when i was but i have two kids who i really like hanging out with you know and they're both in school and so it just it just becomes about you know your what your choices are about how you want to live your life and um we can play smart and we can play like toronto bless you has always shown up for us one of my favorite shows of my entire life was when right

before the second lockdown happened was december 2020 is that possible no 2021 2021 because the people were anyway and it was the lockdown i guess it was right before there was another lockdown after like right before christmas right and, there was another lockdown after, like right before Christmas. Right. And we were just like, had this little sliver of time where we went and we played shows and we played the Phoenix and I'd never seen a crowd like this in Toronto. And it was just like, they were like, you know what? Yeah.

We're going to die if we don't see live music. Like, that's how I'm going to die. I'm going to die if I don't see this show. And it was just, and it was my birthday and it was just so much, it was just such a beautiful night. And it was our first show and like, you know, since the pandemic, anyway, it was, Toronto has always been really good to us. So we just have to be smart. Be smart, Amy. What a pleasure this was. And I think it worked out well. I didn't, I was going to ask you like, how do you think it went? Because I, you know,

I'm chatting up Sam and I see the clock and I knew at time you were... I had the door ajar, everybody, so I left the door ajar. So it's not like Amy was going to knock on the door and I was going to answer the door. You were going to literally come down the stairs. Yeah. And then I saw, you know, your boots coming down the stairs and I said, oh, this is happening now. And Sam seemed like

sincerely happy to see you, which is like, oh, good. I know. I was, I was like, don't worry. I'm not a stalker. I promise. We really are old friends. I trust.

How could I not trust Amy from stars? But I thought it went well. Like I mean, we capture that audio, you know, it's unedited. It's out there now. You can hear it whenever you'll hear the moment,

you know, Sam Roberts doing Toronto Mike and Amy Milan shows up and surprise. So thank you for doing that. I like this last thing. Be smart, Amy Milan. That could be the name of your memoir. There we go. Be smart.

Have you named it yet? I think so. I can't tell you though, because then it could get stolen because it's going to take me forever to write it. But I do. I'll tell you after. You're awfully young to be writing a memoir, Amy. Really?

Well, I don't know. I don't think I, I don't know. I feel like my children don't feel that way. They're like, you are old, mom. Mom cringe. That's what old, mom. Mom cringe. That's what my daughter says. Mom cringe. Enjoy Massey Hall.

Thank you. That's like the coolest place ever to play. That's amazing. Come see us play. It's going to be so beautiful. And Hayden and all the surprise guests. And you'll tell me after the recording who the surprise guests are? When we take our picture?

I won't tell anyone. Okay, thank you. And that. I've been going three and a half hours. I just saw because... Wow. Yeah, well, Sam and then you back to back. Holy smokes, I'm exhausted. And that brings us to the end of our 1,348th show.

You can follow me on Twitter and Blue Sky. I see Tork going off on Twitter all the time, but it feels to me like every post is like this. This is our last tweet. If you give a shit, you'll go to Patreon. That's where we talk. And then a little time will elapse and there'll be another Tork tweet.

Like he doesn't keep his promise. I'm not saying he should. I don't think I like the fact that I can see his tweets. I hope he doesn't quit Twitter. Mike, I've tried to change the password. It didn't work. Well, I think this is his Torque account, though. This is not

the Stars account. I think he's doing another Torque account. Good follow, though. Follow all of these people. How should we keep up with what's happening with the Stars?

The Stars. What do we call the Plateau? Stars. The Plateau. Stars. I do want to tell you a great story

about Torquil Campbell, which is Paul Langlois from The Tragically Hip. Yes, F-O-T-M, Paul Langlois. He says, every time I go into a room, if Torkel Campbell's there, I just go directly beside him and I just

want to hang out with him. He's like one of his favorite people. It's pretty great. Paul's the best. The Hip love you guys. It's now official here. Okay, so should we just go to your website? Yeah, I mean, you know, we're on Instagram, we're on Twitter. We're around. And that Patreon account sounds like a smart place to go.

Yeah. Much love to everyone who made this possible. That's Great Lakes Brewery, who literally fueled this chat. Palma Pasta, Raymond James Canada, Moneris.

Enjoy that speaker. Recycle My Electronics, Pumpkins After Dark, and Ridley Funeral funeral home see you all i need to do this in real time i did not prep for this what is who's the name of my next guest anybody know it is oh this is interesting i think oh it's not juliet powell who is it oh it's jonathan gross who wrote entertainment stuff for the Toronto Sun Forever, and apparently he's a little bit grouchy

and has some stories he wants to tell. So, don't miss Monday's episode with Jonathan Gross. See you all then. Well, I've kissed you in France and I've kissed you in Spain And I've kissed you in places I better not name And I've seen the sun go down on Sacré-Cœur But I like it much better going down on you Yeah, you know that's true because everything is coming up. Rosie and Greg.

Yeah, the wind is cold.