Toronto Mike'd: The Official Toronto Mike Podcast - Beasts of the East: Toronto Mike'd #897

Episode Date: August 6, 2021

This 73rd Pandemic Friday, Mike kicks out Canadian songs from east of Ontario with Cam Gordon and Ben Rayner. Surprise guest Jay Ferguson from Sloan gets things started by kicking out the first jam.

I'm just going to breathe heavily. Welcome to episode 897 of Toronto Mic'd, a weekly podcast about anything and everything. 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 mckay ceo forums the highest impact and least time intensive peer group for over 1200 ceos executives and business owners around the world sticker you.com create custom stickers labels tattoos and decals for your home and your business. Palma Pasta. Enjoy the taste of fresh homemade Italian pasta and entrees from Palma Pasta in Mississauga and Oakville. Ridley Funeral Home.

Pillars of the community since 1921. And Mike Majewski. He's the real estate agent who's ripping up the Mimico real estate scene. Learn more at realestatelove.ca. I'm Mike from torontomike.com and joining me this week for our 73rd pandemic Friday is Cam Gordon and special guest. Drake. Ben Rainer.

Ben Drake Rainer. All right, Ben. Now remember you got to get right on these mics here. So you can move it. I'll get myself to you. I was a little late arriving. Okay, so Ben. Cam, I see every week, so I'll get back to you, Cam.

Sure. Ben, how the hell are you doing? I'm good. It's been a while. It's been a while. It's nice to see you. Are you going to kick out some steam? I'm honored to be co-hosting Pandemic Fridaysidays and on a thursday yeah we do that cam what how does it

feel being next to the uh famous and talented ben rain i when you told me ben was gonna pinch it for stew i i thought oh my god like perfect i got very excited as a long-time reader um ben i don't know if you remember i sent this to mike we met like 15 years ago when i interviewed you for rock critics dot com that's i thought i'm that guy no i knew that i'm you remember that i remember that you had more had longer hair yeah i i sort of had like a shag cut, which is good to sort of talk, you know, maybe that'll tie into some of the bands. Yeah, but you know when you talk to Cam,

you have to direct your voice. No, I was looking at his beautiful face, which I thought looked awfully familiar. He's a handsome guy. He's handsome, but you're Eddie Vedder. You know what? I shaved the beard and cut my hair because I was getting it too much. I told you a car stopped in Hamilton.

But that's not a bad thing. A car stopped in Hamilton. The guy went, holy shit, you look just like Eddie Vedder. And I was like, this is getting to be enough. Like he yelled at you from a car window? They stopped in the middle of an intersection and was like, holy shit, bro. I would go with that. I know, that's what I said.

Get like a cameo account. Pick up some chicks. So you're like the Eddie Vedder to his Evan Dando. Am I right? Is there a Dando? I don't think so, no. We'll work on that one. Good try, though.

But Ben, how old is your daughter now? Closer to five than four. She'll be starting school in the fall. Well, maybe. I just came from a five-year-old girl soccer match. Does your daughter do any soccer? See, we were going to enroll her in soccer when all this nonsense happened. And that was the only sport I was ever actually any good at growing up.

So I had visions of coaching her five-year-old, four-and-a-half-year-old soccer team. And for a while, it was her cousin Sadie who seemed more soccer inclined. But I've won her over. And a friend of mine gave me, my friend Yvonne gave me an alien head soccer ball because, as you know, I'm into UFOs and aliens. And that was the kicker, as you will. And now I feel like I have a future

as a child soccer coach. Just warning you, though, that the caliber of soccer you watch with these five-year-old girls is very poor. I think you said it sucks. So I watch my seven-year-old son play once a week,

and that might as well be like the Euro Cup compared to what I see. Honestly, it's like I'm watching Messi and Ronaldo, and then I go watch these five-year-old girls, and it's brutal. But Ben, in a nutshell, because we have a special guest who's going to zoom in to kick out the first jam. So we have to set up what the theme is for this Pandemic Friday.

But in a nutshell, what have you been up to since we last talked to you? Like, I don't know, 10 months ago, whatever it was. You know what? I'm going to crack one of these. Yeah, that's a good idea. Crack one. And by the way, I have more in the fridge. So if you guys drain those four.

I might do two because I'm not driving. Having just whizzed across here. Yeah, do it on the mic. Not like Canada. You know what? I drink more Great Lakes. What do you got? You got a burst?

I love the burst. I like the burst. I drink more Great Lakes than you. You got the lager. I got the lager. Either of you realize probably. I'm like a walking advertisement for it. Literally walking around with them

and I'm going to crack open so I've been doing I've been doing some behind the scenes like just writing bios for bands and right now this is the reason why I've barely slept for the last few days because I lost half of a really large project I was doing for a friend's label

how'd you lose it? I turned on my computer but don't you use Google Docs or something, like in the cloud? I just had it saved on my card. You're an amateur. I've learned my lesson.

All my notes are in Google Docs. Like a day before the deadline, I'm still getting my heart rate down from the ride over there. It's okay. I love it, man. I was pretty close, but I came across the floor.

How many clicks was it? Do you know? You know what? If I hadn't stopped off at the house to give my kid a kiss, I would have been here perfectly on time. But why don't you drop south and just take the water for a trip? I was just whizzing across Bloor, because that

was the way I was coming. Okay, you got streetlights there. Anyway, yeah, so I've been up till dawn, rewriting half of this thing. I managed to recover my notes. But the file, it was the weirdest thing. It just, like, I turned on, my partner, Gail, was like, oh, you can recover that. It just like, I turned on the computer. My partner, Gail,

was like, oh, you can recover that. I'm like, it's not there. Like a Word document? Yeah. It just vanished from the folder.

Should have called me. I would have found that. There were a number of people that could have called me. Stricken by panic, I didn't get that far. And then,

move to the cloud. Just do it in Google Docs. And it's an audit trail. I don't think computers are ever going to catch up. But I've been working for Coffs Records too. I've been helping them write a website

and just working in the shop sometimes and pricing records and stuff. It's super fun. It pays the rent and I don't have to write so much. That's the way I look at it. And you're feeling good? You look good? Yeah, I feel good. You feel good? Yeah.

I had a dark winter, as I always do. But yeah, I was still, you know, I still had some, I took a, for my former employer, I had a pretty good package going out, so I was still collecting paychecks. I feel like I've seen you at the beach again. Not, I've seen your tweets. Oh, I'm always at the beach, which is good.

Yeah, so I, you know, and then when the time came, it was like I got to start figuring out something kind of stable because writing isn't, you know, I would have to be picky because it really does drive me. I mean, it actually drove me crazy, Mike. You know that. Hey, Ben, have you been watching Resident Alien? I haven't.

Is it good? I don't know. Ian Service wants to know. So, Ian, let us know if he should be watching it. He does love That's a TV show? I should tell you, Ben, you probably don't even know this, but if you have any family members who want to watch this moment live,

direct them to live.torontomic.com and they can hear you and watch the show live. I think Gail and Polly are probably listening. Polly's going to have a bath. Okay. Live.torontomic.com. But because today's topic is Beasts of the East, so we're going to kick out our favorite Canadian jams

from East of Ontario. Remind us why you're qualified for this, beyond being the best music critic reviewer in the world. Tell me about your Maritimes roots. Just the world? Remind us. Just the world. He's about your Maritime's roots. Just the world? Remind us. Just the world. He's into aliens.

Go on. Go bigger. I have the best on several worlds. Imagine hearing music from aliens. What would that sound like? I often wonder that. If I was to talk to an alien. What instruments have they figured out?

Do you know what I mean? I think it's like minimal, like crap work. Brian Eno. No, it's Brian Eno music for airplanes. Or they make music with their minds. Brian Eno. No, it's Brian Eno, music for airplanes. Or they make music with their minds. That's right.

Ben, remind us of your maritime bona fides. When I was a wee baby, I moved, well, I didn't move. My parents moved to Glovertown, Newfoundland from England.

So I was born in Colchester. Newfoundland, not maritime. Yeah, an Atlantic province, actually, if I may. If I may correct. So go east of Ontario.chester. Newfoundland, not Maritime. Yeah, an Atlantic province, actually, if I may, if I may correct. So east of Ontario. I had you in like Halifax or something. No, no. And then, well,

because you people in Ontario tend to confuse all the Atlantic province. Also, if you read the rockcritics.com article, this was all covered. And I've only had him on Toronto Mike like eight times or something. And then we, again, a few years later,

we moved sight unseen again to St. George, New Brunswick. So I... Okay, New Brunswick. And I spent... That counts. So I was there for 11 years. I mean, my folks are still both... But how old were you when you left

east of Ontario provinces, as I call them? Christ, I was 18. I moved to Ottawa. And I've been to Toronto like 25 years. Cam, I think he's qualified for this episode. Totally. I still... My folks are still called.

Do they want to watch you at live.tronemake.com? And my partner's from Newfoundland, so I'm there all the time. So I'm both. He runs like in Newfoundland all the time. Well, I was. Those days are over. He's a bullseye for this topic. By the way, Ian Service says that you would love Resident Alien.

It's so great. And I think you've got a show you've got to catch up on there. I've got a lot of things I've got to catch up on. There you go. Hey, before the special guest zooms in to kick out the first jam and get us started. And again, Ben, you're new to the Pandemic Friday, so the way this works is you'll hear the special guest

and I'm hoping the special guest will not reveal their identity and you'll have an opportunity to guess who it is. It's like yeah yeah it's been pretty good only only one time did the guest not do not not pull it's oddly scary like it's just i don't know i always find a bit uncomfortable well last week was tough i have some guests like i i i feel like i can guess them about 50 of the time are you so you're you're not you're not in the know then no no no I'm the only one who knows.

You can sometimes guess. It's always somebody who's been a guest on the show before, an FOTM. And I try to make it match the theme. You've got a lot to catch up on here. So I could hear the bell any moment here. So I just want to remind everyone listening, and you, Ben, Cam has to be there,

so I don't have to worry about him. But we have some details confirmed for TMLX 8. This is the eighth Toronto Mic Listener Experience. It is going to be, for sure, it's going to be August 27, which is a Friday, from 6 p.m. to 9 p.m. It's going to happen on the patio of Great Lakes Brewery, which is near Runnymede and Queensway, but like down the street from the Costco.

And Palma Pasta has stepped up to feed us on the house. They're going to feed us for free. So the complimentary meal from Palma Pasta. And Great Lakes is stepping up to buy us our first beer. So your first pour is on the hizzle. Ben, will you be there? I said this last year, but I guess it didn't happen. Like everything

else, it didn't happen. I will totally be there, yes. Do you have a musical guest? No, because it actually is going to be the recording of the pandemic finale, but I'm going to have a fourth mic open. Are you predicting the end of the pandemic, guys? No, we predicted the end of Pandemic Friday.

Yeah, Mike's exhausted as he declared on one of his podcasts. These need to end. So we need to start learning how to live with this thing. We need to go on with our... Like, I know your daughter's not vaccinated. I have the same stress because I got two anti-vaxxers in the house. There you go. And that makes me nervous.

But I do think we're going to have to learn to live with this thing. Pandemic Friday is going to start. So pandemic Fridays are coming to an end. I'm just going to check my Zoom here. Stand by. Okay. Yeah, that pandemic's not coming to an end. Well, yes, you're right.

The pandemic Friday won't be over on August 27, but we will end pandemic Fridays and kind of go to the next phase, which is just learning to live with this thing. In the Delta Plus. Are you vaxxed? I had one. Okay.

And then they were like. Where's your second? You know what? The Delta still gets you with that one. They're like, no, none of them seemed to work. And then they were like. Cam's moving further away from you. I'm not like anti, but I slept through my last.

No, did I even make the second one? I made a second one and I slept through it. Yeah, but why isn even make the second one? I made the second one, and I slept through it. Yeah, but why isn't this a priority for you? I'm curious, because for me, it was like I was kicking old people out of my way. I was just... George Costanza. When they were like,

oh, you can mix and match, and they basically was like, oh, well, the two mRNA ones are theoretically interchangeable. I'm like, but why would one of the other one and one of these... Oh, I mixed and matched from AZ, and then I went to Pfizer. See, I was just like, then you're telling me... other one and one of these? Oh, I mixed and matched from AZ and then I went to Pfizer.

See, I was just like, then you're telling me. What did you do, Cam? AZ, Pfizer? Or did you do two Pfizer? No, I was AZ and then at the mega clinic at Scotiabank we're serving Moderna.

Okay. We mixed and matched and we're still feeling great. No, it wasn't that, but then you're telling me basically that one shot was enough of either one. And anyway, the only one I...

I like to read peer-reviewed studies and stuff, and I was like, I'll wait and see about getting a second Pfizer. And then they would give it to those stupid teenagers and keep it away from the adults. Which is weird, because I think our kids are going to end up with Moderna, I think. Like, it's kind of like... I think so. Is that what Vegas is, The Vegas line on this?

I read that somewhere. Although there's been another wave of articles this week about, especially EU countries and cruise ships denying people who have mix and match vaccines. Yeah, I saw that too. Ben, we have a good relationship, right? How many times you've been over now? Several times. Like, I love you, man.

You're going to be at TMLXA. But look, we need you to get your second shot. Okay? Tell me if I can help you. Okay? We got to get that second shot. You're vulnerable. I was going to say,

it's only three weeks away. I feel like I... Oh, yeah. It takes 14 days to kick in. We need to do it next week. Although it's an outdoor event. That's true. I feel like I was out

in this thing even when nobody else was for like six, like the first of this thing with my daughter all the time, in and out of places all the time. I feel like I've had a pretty good system. Also, I told you the story, didn't I?

We think we all had it well before it was a thing because my daughter even had the rash. You still need the second shot. So we're going to put a pin on the vaccination discussion, which people are probably bored to tears of. We're all going to be kicking out

and you're in good hands here, Ben. I'm going to guide you, but I all going to be kicking out and you're in good hands here, Ben. I'm going to guide you. But I'm going to let in our special guest right now who's going to kick out the first jam. Let me just click the magic button. So only I can see the special guest. So no peeking. So I'm going to wait for it again.

I'm not going to tell you the name of this special guest. I want to see you try to guess. I like the doorbell sound. As I address the special guest, who I can see but no one else can see. Senior Ding Dong. How are you doing, special guest? I am well. Okay. Now,

this is going to be tough for you, but I need you to tell us a little bit about yourself without giving us any detail that will reveal your identity. Do you guys know, do you know Front Page Challenge? Do you know that show? Yeah, sure. Of course.

I feel like. Okay, do you want to ask a question of our guest, Ben Rayner? Are you that old dead author? What was his name? Oh, Pierre Burden? Yes. Oh, it's old dead author, Pierre Burden. The corpse of Pierre Burden.

Okay, Cam, do you have a question for our special guest? Yeah, I do. Hello, special guest. Are your roots in Quebec, PEI, New Brunswick, Nova Scotia, or Newfoundland? Newfoundland. Newfoundland. Also knows Newfoundland. Or New Brunswick, yes. Exactly.

Yes. Yes. Okay. Okay, so your turn, Ben. Have we met? Have you met Ben Rayner before? Sure. Wow. That's a good clue. Okay. Cam, your turn. Are you a musician?

Yes. Okay. Ben's turn. I like this new style. I was going to say, I was thinking Gino Vanelli originally. Hey! Gino Vanelli's brother. Special guest, are you able to sing Black Cars for us? Just emotional.

How does that even go? Yeah, sorry. This is scintillating, isn't it? Yeah, sorry. Continue. Okay, Ben, ask a question of our special guest. It's a museum from east of Ontario. A museum a musician i believe musician uh uh all right do you sing sure i mean it debatable but yes okay i'm gonna go to the live chat we have a live chat at live.

toronto mic.com just see if there's any guests guesses i don't see it okay go ahead cam ask a question of our musician from uh east of ontario hmm were you were you in a band uh were and am okay i was gonna say is this jay ferguson pretty good i was gonna hold out i was okay very very good very good i was gonna hold out because i was watching the twitter feed and i noticed that uh that uh i think ben was sort of aiming it was maybe gonna be drake and fingers crossed it was kanye i thought i i was i was actually getting the j vibe too it was the voice i was trying to figure out the voice. Yeah. Hi, nice to hear from you. So hold it. You didn't think my voice sounded like

Kanye? I was working on it. Well, is Kanye doing some kind of live event right now? That's why no one's going to pay attention to us. So ladies and gentlemen, Jay Ferguson. He's actually met Pauly. Of Sloan. Okay, Jay, you've met Ben's daughter, Pauly. When she was a baby. Yes, of course.

She's met three quarters of Sloan. Okay, Jay, you've met Ben's daughter, Polly. When she was a baby. Yes, of course. She's met three quarters of Sloan. Okay, who's the holdout? Patrick. That's fine. Hey, you know what, Mike? I think Patrick's the holdout on your show, too. Actually, I got a couple of holds out. I've only had you and Chris on the show. Have you asked Patrick to be on? Yeah, in fact, it was going to happen, and then it sort of disappeared into the abyss.

And then I guess at some point I got to pick that up. But as you know, Jay. Let us know if you hear from him. I will. I will. As you know, I absolutely adore your little band there. Love Sloan. Just love Sloan.

We all do. Like such a formative band, I think, for myself and Mike and Stu Stone, who's not here. Just like one of the gateway bands. Yes, Stu's a big fan, too. Ben, what do you think of Sloan as a band? Well, because Sloan, we're from near where I grew up in New Brunswick, from Halifax. And that moment, like I was 17, 18, maybe, 16, 17, 18,

when they were happening first. Smeared. Smeared came out. What's the first EP? What's the first EP? I'm forgetting. Peppermint. And then Eric Strip had the Peter EP.

That's right. And Hardship Post was a thing. It was just like a cool moment to be from Atlanta. The monoxides were a thing. It was a moment. And Iardship Post was a thing. It was just like a cool moment to be from Atlanta. The monoxides were a thing. It was a moment. And I associate you guys with like leaving home, but kind of having this cool moment. And you, my frosh week at Carlton,

my first, I went to the University of Ottawa cafeteria to see you guys play with a very young Thrush Herman. And that was like my first, like my second or third night in Ottawa. So I felt very east coast proud but do you see what now why i said it was bigger than drake bigger than cornea in my especially for this bigger in my heart absolutely jay you're a good man for doing this uh i i'm gonna just assume you haven't been listening to our 72 previous pandemic friday episodes of Toronto Mike. But basically, we've each brought four songs to the table, our four favorite Canadian songs

from east of Ontario. It's very possible we'll hear some Sloan on this episode. Like, it's entirely possible. I have a suspicion there might be. What was that, Jay? My joke was there better be, but no, it's fine if there's not. There probably will be. But you also brought a jam. What was that, Jay? My joke was there better be, but no, it's fine if there's not. I'll be very good. There probably will be.

But you also brought a jam. In fact, you're going to kick out the first jam. So I'm going to play your song. Okay. Then I'll fade it down, and then we'll hear from you as to why you selected that song here. Very good. So, everybody, this is Jay Ferguson's first song on our Beasts of the East episode. When I go into battle, it keeps me nice and safe because it's heavy made out of metal. And I stand here and I watch the door, but I might not be back anymore.

And if you keep your eyes straight, you might see why all this matters. It's so easy, easy said for you. Take it easy, easy step for you Nice and easy, easy step for you But you don't see my eyes You don't see my eyes Woo! Great start. Jay, what are we listening to?

Okay, so the song that I chose is by a band called Hardship Post. They're originally from Newfoundland, and the song is called Silver Suit. Now, Hardship Post were a band from St. John's, Newfoundland. They kind of migrated to Halifax and were managed by one of our original managers. His name was Peter Rowan. And our record label, Murder Records, we originally put out an EP by them called Hat, which would have been the third release on Murder Records.

And I think Ben was sort of mentioning that that came out like right around the time, like not long after Peter by Eric Strip. That song, Silver Suit, was a seven-inch single that we released by them in 1984 i believe and it came in a sandpaper sleeve wait 84 or 984 oh sorry 94 how old are you first it's a collector's item 74 before ready yeah um uh anyhow yes 1994 sorry and um it came in a sandpaper sleeve which was impossible to uh

our hands were all destroyed by assembling them by you know in the murder records offices and uh i just i really like that song i liked hardship post when they came out with their first ep it was very of the moment it was very nirvana flavored but when they released uh when they did a new set of recordings which that song Silver Suit was taken from I feel like they really sort of left a lot of the Nirvana isms behind and they're really uh sort of evoking that song to me is really almost like Elvis Costello and the Attractions or like Joe Jackson or a little more new wave uh or late 70s England than uh than the Hack EP which I felt was very Nirvana at the moment. And I found that's when...

I liked Hardship Post. They were fantastic live. But when they played that song to us, it blew my mind. They almost became a different band at that point. Jay, they were one of the bands... They signed to Sub Pop. I feel like that full length had a song called

Watching You and whatever that album was. I remember it has had that full length, had a song called Watching You and whatever that album was. I remember I had that too. Watching You and there was another really a ripper on there. Yeah, that was a pretty good album too. I listened to that record, half of that record last night.

I was procrastinating and trying to come up with this list for Mike. Oh, really? Yeah, it's funny. I just found that album, which I never had the vinyl of. I found it a week ago here in Toronto for the first time,

the vinyl of the Sub Pop album by Hardship Post. So yeah, so they were like the one of three bands that was signed by Sub Pop in like 93, 94 out of Halifax basically. But the first Sub Pop record is great. And then when they toured it, they kind of, they went down to a two-piece because matt clark the drummer left the band and they kind of i feel like the record was great and

they kind of frittered away what they could have been but i think they just you know i don't know why they kind of changed and decided to uh i mean not decide i i don't know why they sort of just didn't really uh grab hold of the moment and really try and run with it. They kind of, they just kind of petered out basically. Did they get back together ever? Do other things? Like that's one band I sort of have no sort of recollection about what they did after

or even the members of that band doing anything else after. Not much. I forget what, like we see Sebastian, who's the main singer-songwriter in the band. He lives in Vancouver. And I forget what like we see sebastian who's the main singer songwriter in the band he lives in vancouver and i forget what he i mean he's i don't think he's a lawyer but he's he's doing fine he has a very upstanding profession at this point and uh and uh the other two guys i don't know i haven't seen them since the early 90s really so uh i don't know if they did anything else yeah i i was funny because I was trying to think, I remembered they were signed. It was jail.

The third. Cause Eric's trip runs up, up was jail. The third one, but it was pretty cool. That was like, it was a real, real neat moment for like the Maritimes.

I mean, I don't know how to describe it. Yeah, no, no fair, fair enough. I don't know how to even describe how it felt being from there. Like it,

it was hard for Nova Scotia bands or bands from our community to get even noticed in Toronto and then all of a sudden our band was signed by DGC at the time which had Nirvana, Sonic Youth, Teenage Fan Club, Hole and everything and then all of a sudden Sub Pop came in and signed three bands so it was it was my it was a bit of a Cinderella story I think a lot of the bands probably weren't ready to be signed probably like us like we had played basically 15 shows and then we were signed to geffen which was ridiculous but it was such a it was a i'm not gonna say it was a magical time but it was a very exciting time to be a band or be a musician and jay i feel like sloan did like there was like like a double sided like seven inch with like you guys and Eric's trip for Sub Pop, right?

Was it Nevermind the Mollusks? in and out of Nova Scotia before she was. So basically she came up and the first thing she did was want to do that double seven inch, which was us and Jail, I think. I have that somewhere. Eric's trip. Yeah. And another band called Idée du Nord who are from New Brunswick.

What was the Sloan? Was that like, it was like one of those like B-side, like Pillow Fight or something? Was that? Yeah. It was a song of mine called Pillow Fight, which I would rather was forgotten. Thank you for reminding me.

Anyhow. Can I change my picks? Yeah. Anyhow. Mike, check YouTube. Yeah. No, no. But it was whatever.

It was just exciting to have a record on Sub Pop. We were fans of all of these labels and these bands. And, uh, it was, it was pretty, uh, outrageous at the time for sure. Now, uh, exciting news for you, Cam and Ben, is that I actually changed the camera on zoom. So Jay can see you guys right now. So if you want to wave to Jay Ferguson. Where am I waving? Like there? Wave into the light.

to Jay Ferguson. Where am I waving? Like there? Wave into the light. Yeah. Jay, what's, like,

give us a little update on what's going on with Sloan right now. Bury us in some, some facts about the current status of the band. Like, are you,

do you have any shows planned? What's going on? We have been kind of inactive as a band since, I guess, for about a year and a half, But we've been in the middle of making a record, which will be our 13th record. So that is we're in the middle of recording that right now.

And we do have some shows planned for November. And fingers crossed if they if they happen or not. I don't know. Things are it seemed for a while like it was a sure thing. And I mean, I know just with with the state of COVID and the nation. The state of the states and Alberta. Yeah, exactly. Ladies and gentlemen. We may be driving straight through a couple of provinces before the end.

We'll see. Anyhow, we have shows in November. In the meantime, we released a couple of vinyl-only B-sides records that are limited edition. And we have another sort of limited edition record coming out in November, December as well. But then the real record, the real new Sloan record will come out probably in the new year. Nice. And Jay, how's Chris doing?

I know he had a little setback there. He did. He had a, I guess the proper term is bell's palsy and it was something that he kind of woke up with one day and uh and uh he had uh he has a good doctor and um he had a lot of encouraging this happened back in january february and uh there was a lot of encouraging stories but that in that it's a condition that heals itself on its own. And that has been the case with Chris. He's good.

If you talk to him now, you would not notice that, that he had that. It was just on one side of his face. I know people, some people have it a lot worse and it lasted for a lot longer, but it seemed like within a couple of months, he was,

you could see it trending better and progressing. I've known a couple people who had it and the scary part is you actually just don't know when it's going to start to fix itself maybe this is permanent and then when you start to see the improvements it must be uplifting

just the idea of waking up in the morning and it's like there's my face brutal very surprising for him, for sure. But no, he's had lots of well wishes at the time. And he's doing great. And you would, like, if you saw him today, you would not know. So he's very happy about that.

It's really weird. I know someone who has that right now. And I wonder if it's maybe linked to this virus. I don't know. Dr. Ben here. It is peculiar. Well, I will say City News did have a segment about a lady who says she got it from one of the vaccines.

Well, if City News has it. It wasn't incorporated. So, Jay Ferguson, you're a hell of an FOTM. You're fantastic. At some point, I'd love to get you back to kick out the jams with me. And I know you've been to the backyard here, but I'd love to get you back here. Yeah, right on.

Anytime. I'd love to get you back. Oh, man, anytime? Okay, what's your schedule like tomorrow? I've fed Mike enough tunes to do about eight or nine of these East Coast jams. So we can replace them. So Jay, that's it. So no pressure.

You could, of course course you could log off Zoom right now and I won't think any lesser of you and many many many surprise Zoom guests have done that but the odd

you know Rod Black for example and Mike Richards who's now hosting Jeopardy now hosting Jeopardy I saw congratulations there's some

some FOTMs who do the surprise Zoom thing they stick around all we're going to do now is kick out jams and talk about it. And every jam will be a Canadian band from east of Ontario. So it's 100% up to you. I won't take any offense to it if you need to go. Okay, well, I don't want to barge in on your party,

but because it is East Coast-centric, I'm happy to hang out for a little bit and just hear. And maybe I'll be obnoxious and interject every once in a while. We're all dorks. This is an extra dork. Since he's sticking around a bit, can I go first? Because it'll be relevant to the guest. So normally Cam starts us off, and this time I'm butting in front

because I'm glad you're on the line for this jam. This is my first jam in our Beasts of the East Pandemic Friday episode. This is our 73rd Pandemic Friday. Let her rip! She was underwhelmed if that's a word I know it's not cause I looked it up

That's one of the skills that I learned in my school I was overwhelmed and I'm sure of that one Cause I learned it back in grade school When I was young She said you was funny I said you are funny She said thank you And I said never mind And she rolled her eyes

Her beautiful eyes Boy, it's not the grammar It's the feeling That is certainly in my heart But not in her But not in her But not in her But not in her

But not in her The night it hurts The night it hurts Who was that? My bloody valentine. Jay just took a... I thought Jay would get Shazam going here to figure out what the hell I'm playing. So, of course, I'm starting any Beasts of the East episode. I'm going to start with Sloan.

The band Sloan. The band Sloan. I'm assuming Sloan was on all our lists. Well, which Sloan is the question, right? Because there's so many jams you could pick. But I decided to go with the first Sloan song I ever heard because I wasn't cool enough to hear the EP that Ben here was listening to. So I'm listening to my 102.1.

I can't remember if they were The Edge or Edge 102 or what was going on with CFNY. But early 90s, you know, digging my lowest of the low. And this song I heard, I came on the radio, and I swear to you, Jay, it was love at first listen. I'm like, what the hell is that? I didn't even know this was a Canadian band. I didn't know what was going on. I just knew this sound

appealed to me, and I fell in love. And then, of course, you learn more about who the hell's singing, you pick up the album, and then the rest is history. But I can tell the people out there, before we go to jay ferguson for some uh inside baseball uh this is the very uh the debut single as far as i know from sloan and uh again first song i ever heard and it's um i believe it's the you'll tell me jay but

this is your best charting single outside of this country. Is that true? I would not know about that. I can't imagine there was any charting single outside of this country. Okay, so I have some info on this. It's all real too. Apparently, on the US Modern Rock Charts, it's called Modern Rock Tracks Chart, in 1993, this song, Underwhelmed, which by the way is in the dictionary,

and I look like a fool for so long because i would tell people it's not a word but uh this peaked at number 25 right okay i feel like we defined the term bubbling under basically like 25 years of that yeah heat seeker like oh it's getting played in detroit and nowhere else um so i don't know i mean i i believe your stats and i appreciate your uh research uh i think maybe the good and everyone actually did all right on some of those modern rock charts uh when that came out in the states uh and that was on a label called the enclave but uh but i believe you but i but you know that song did very well for us, obviously, at like at CFNY. They were very good to us in the early days.

And, you know, we're so grateful that we were already we were already signed and everything like that. But even before we were signed and we had the Peppermint EP out and even before that, when we just had a song on a cassette compilation called Here and Now, it was a different version of Underwhelmed. CFNY was playing that so you know we uh that's that song obviously started everything for us but jay do you remember your champions at uh cfny because we've become quite friendly with a lot of the uh 90s uh talent on 102.1 but do you remember like who would be one of your your champions there i feel like Kim, uh, and I'm liking Kim Hughes. Yes.

Kim Hughes. Of course. She was very, uh, very good to us in the early days. And of course, uh, and of course like Dave Bookman,

Dave Bookman was there back then as well. And, uh, he was, he was very, uh, a big supporter. And I'm sure there's other names that I,

that I would know, but I remember, I feel like Kim is who we would see every time who would be interviewing us, uh, there. And it was brother Bill there. I'm trying to think.

Brother Bill. Sorry. Yeah. Brother Bill. Yeah. He was on the album too. Only because Jay, brother Bill,

uh, prior to me saying, Hey Ben, do you want to fill in for Stu Stone on this pandemic Friday? I would tap brother Bill on the shoulder and he would fill that role. He's been, uh, a co-host of many a Pandemic Friday.

We're outside. I like bats. It is a bat. Ben was almost attacked by a bat. It was you. It was in your purview.

A raccoon just walked down my trellis a couple minutes yeah see we had a squirrel in my kitchen apparently just before i got home in the kitchen in the kitchen that i've had raccoons in the kitchen but brother bill uh brother bill i could see him being a big he was a big advocate too for lowest of the low i know that too but i could see him advocating for uh slowing at the station there actually brother bill looms Bill looms high in Sloan folklore because at the beginning of the song

The Good and Everyone on our One Chord to Another record, when it's like, please welcome to the stage Sloan, that's him announcing us at HFest 95.

Yeah, you didn't know that? I can't remember if I knew that, but I have the same reaction every time I'm told that fact, I think, which is a mind blow.

That's a good one. I really didn't know that. See, 100% he's listening right now. So let's just send some love to White Rock, British Columbia. Oh, wow, right on. And say hello to the artist formerly known as Brother Bill,

now known as Neil Morrison. But very good FOTM. Jay, could I ask you, this is like a really nerdy question about Smeared and CFNY just bear with me so Underwhelmed had a video 500 Up

had a video right CFNY I remember specifically they played Underwhelmed a lot but they didn't really play 500 Up but they would play Take It In a lot do you know why that was? I always wondered because Take It In I don't think ever had a video did it no there was no video and it's funny that they chose to play that take it in might have been a radio single in canada okay it was definitely it

was a radio single in the united states oh maybe someone in the u.s started trying to promote it to some canadian stations as well because i remember for years like it would be in rotation, like into the third, fourth, fifth album. You'd still hear it. Yeah, it's strange. That's a song that we never play anymore, but when we do play it, it does get... We probably should re-entry into the pantheon, I suppose. But 500 Up, we still play fairly regularly. Underwhelmed is a regular, for sure. I like Lemon Zinger.

I'm a fan of Lemon Zinger. That was like a thrash song, was it? Alright, now Cam, do you have anything you want to say before I kick out your first job? Sorry, I'm just using some of your Ridley embalming fluid from Ridley Funeral Home. Yes, thank'm just using some of your Ridley embalming fluid

from Ridley Funeral Home. Yes, thank you Ridley Funeral Home for sending over the hand sanitizer. It's usually corpse sanitizer. Especially since Ben's only got the one vaccination so you might need... Ben's going to have another beer and rid your system inhospitable to virus. Are you fully vaxxed

Jay Ferguson? I am, yes. Okay, you're invited to TMLX8 on August 27th. We've got vaccine passports accepted. Yeah, no, my intro, and Mike, I mentioned this to you off camera, with our little

pal Stu Stone, I thought this would be a good opportunity to broaden the level of songs and knowing that Mr. Rainer was joining us and knowing a lot of his taste that maybe we could go a bit deeper and a bit more obscure. I was going to choose Godspeed, You Black Emperor, like Dead Flag Blues

to kick us off, but I thought that might be a bit on the nose and I also thought Ben might choose it later. But this is a song, perhaps a less obvious one. I quiz MF to say, hey, do you know this song? And she said no. I was a little surprised because I thought this was like a CanCon AM staple.

But she didn't know what it was. But I think everyone else listening will know. I love this. It's so fucking good. Take anyone you want to As long as I can hear from you Just be mine in your way Just be mine in your way Just be mine in your way Loving you ain't so easy I would never try to please me.

But I've got time anyway. I've got time anyway. Okay, so what we're listening to is Loving You Ain't Easy by... I'm going to probably butcher this pronunciation. Pagliaro? Pagliaro. Pagliaro. Question for Ben

before we start. Any relation to Jennifer from the Star with the same last name? I don't think so. No, because when I was googling Michelle, I was like, she popped up. Oh, I can ask her. Yeah. Can you text her right now?

Do you ever text him? No. We could email her. Email Jay. She's out on Twitter. Here at JPEG. She can join Jay on the Zoom. Yeah.

I rode a train with him. I went with Andy Kim's Christmas show a few years ago because they did one here. Andy does the Christmas thing where Bud's so I kind of went along

as like tour photographer even though I'm not a photographer and we rode a train to Montreal from the Toronto show at the Phoenix.

I can't remember whether that's somewhere in... It doesn't matter. But Pac Nero was part of the gang. It was a broken social scene

and Ron Saxon. It was a broken social scene. And Ron Saxman. It was a fun group. And we had like a private car. A boozy private car. Oh, Ron's booked, by the way, for Toronto Mike. There you go. And I loved Pac Ligero because he was like, jean jacket, jean shirt, jeans, and sunglasses.

Looking identical to how he looked when he was young, just with like white hair. It was just just fucking awesome. Both nights, he was the best thing that hit the stage. Everyone was just in awe of how good he was. He is a legit legend. He's from Montreal. He played a show.

Maybe this was the one he played in Toronto about five years ago. They said it was his first Toronto show in 30 years, the prior time he was opening for peter frampton at the cne that's how long he came alive yeah yeah do you know this song mike like this yeah yeah yeah i do know this song uh jay what do you think of cam's first pick amazing yeah it's like one of the best canadian songs of all time for sure and he had a bunch like he had a bunch of those yeah he could have been way bigger that's another one. Some Sing Some Dance was another one from that same record, which is great.

He had a lot of French language hits. You think he's better than Gino Vannelli? Yeah. I'm not going to knock Gino because he had some monsters too. The thing I always liked about this song was you could hear on song was that this you could hear on

like classic rock radio or you could hear it you know alongside a band like slona it wouldn't sound out of place like it was a weird because and i didn't realize how old this song is this is from like 1971 i believe it came out i i always thought this was more like a late 70s thing um but like really really holds up for a song that's what, 50 years old now. Yeah. Almost. Like it's insane. Very good songwriter.

Yeah. He was just like Mr. Hook. Totally. Not Dr. Hook. Or Peter Hook. Okay. Cam, way to go.

Now Ben. I gave you a bunch so you can just surprise me. That's right. Okay, so I should tell people you gave me a bunch. Like you can just surprise me. That's right. Okay, so I should tell people, you gave me a bunch. I just wanted four of your jams. I actually cherry-picked. I didn't want any repeats, so I kind of skipped those.

That's why I gave you a bunch. I said I did that last time. I think I sent you like 25. So let me play the song I chose. Basically, I chose this one to play for Ben Rayner. Here you go, buddy. Life is too short to ration out in portions I spend my time as soon as I get it It's gone, but I'm in no rush

I'm in no rush, why, why, why? Do the change, I'm in no rush Why, why, why do I change? I'm coming alive again I'm in command of my fate I can depend on destiny If it's safe, come alive, come alive Oh, dead life away Flies from your brain My obsession with that band, Dog Day,

and that song is called Oh, Dead Life. It's from their first album, Night Group. Dates back to like... I remember I had the record and I hadn't really spent time... And it's exactly what I like. So I was kind of like, oh, it's just exactly what I like. And very Halifax, right?

Very Halifax. Halifax does like that kind of bright, shoegazy thing. But I remember driving to the Hillside Festival in Guelph and having that moment with it and just going, fuck, I love this record. And then ever since then,

I became kind of a lone champion of the band. It was just so frustrating that nobody knew them. And eventually, my buddy Evan signed them to, he always said this privately to my girlfriend. I think that was 15 years ago, 10 years ago. I think I can say it loud and clear. He was like,

I only signed them because Ben loved them so much. The album, Concentration, did nothing. What's it called? Dog Day. I'm pleading ignorance. But it sounds great. At the beginning, I thought it was The Strokes last night,

but it's not. It's frustrating that nobody knows the concentration in their new record. They have the Rodimonic Goth. The first one's sort of like, not unlike Sloan Smeared,

it's very, very, you know, it wears its influences on its sleeve a little more, but it's still fucking awesome. And I, I just like, on its sleeve a little more, but it's still fucking awesome.

And I, I just, like, I got to be friends with Seth and Nancy, Seth Smith and Nancy, Nancy Urich over the years

because I just always went to the shows and interviewed them and stuff. And I think when they first met me, they were a little freaked out by, like,

how much of it, it was like the first time I met the guys in Chalk Circle, like Brad and Chris. I think they were like, is this guy a stalker? I just think they're one of the great unsung Canadian bands.

And Seth is an amazing songwriter. And Nancy is an amazing songwriter. And I think they deserve better. What's the label they're on? They were on Tom Lab out of Germany for one and Outside for one. And now they release them on their own called Fun Dog. Let me ask Jay Ferguson.

Jay, are you familiar with this band? Yeah. No, they're kind of part of the era of Halifax that I missed. You know what I mean? I had already moved to Toronto by this point, so I really didn't catch their early shows or anything like that. But I do remember seeing them. I only saw them play a couple of times,

but they played at the Horseshoe Tavern uh which is a basement or used to be a basement club on Argyle Street in Halifax and this would have been in the Seahorse yeah like 2006 or so and I remember seeing Dog Day and I thought they were great and I know obviously it's not one of their songs I remember them performing uh the Stoes, I Want to Be Your Dog. And it was the most affecting versions I've ever heard of that song. Like it actually blew my mind. It was really, not to sound corny, but emotional. It was the way they sang it.

Sorry, the male and the female. Sorry, I don't know their names. Yeah, exactly. Like I don't know them well. Yeah, exactly. Like I don't know them well, but, uh, it, it sounded so great.

And, uh, it was like one of my favorite shows that year. I really loved it, but I don't know a lot about them, but I, I, every time I hear something,

I enjoy it. And I, and I enjoyed that song, which I did not know at all. Now I'm just going to address a few points made at live.torontomic.com where we're live streaming the pirate streams so that the record companies can't boot us. Sure.

I want to say hi to YZ Gord, and I want to say hello to Cambrio, who wants me to ask Jay Ferguson if he likes Foghat, and he wants to know why more people don't appreciate Foghat. Here's why people don't appreciate Foghat. I'm just kidding. I know very little fog hat i know i don't know anything about them okay that's okay moose grumpy though this one's for you uh ben rainer uh she says all the mass clinics are walk-ins now and most pharmacies can give uh you your second shot now too and And she says, if you, Ben, would like her to book you

an appointment, she's happy to do so. She just needs your postal code. I'm not going down this road right now. I'd prefer not to have this. You don't want someone named Moose Grumpy to put your health into her hooves? I'm not entrusting my health and welfare to a moose. Moose Grumpy,

we're going to address this after the program here. Okay, so that's fine. Now I'm looking at the jams, and it would be Cam's turn. Here, Cam, let's go back to the regular rotation, then you go first here, because I want to hear their reaction to this. Okay, yeah, this will be a good bridge. Yeah, any intro before?

I think this is the first band we're hearing. So we've heard, what, a Quebec band or Quebec artist. I did a Nova the first band we're hearing. So we've heard a Quebec band or Quebec artist. I did a Nova Scotia band. Yeah, and two Nova Scotias. Now we're going to hop over to New Brunswick here. Excellent. Excellent job, Cam. Thank you. But you smile Yeah You are good

Yeah Thank you. Okay, this is perfect because we've got Eric's trip. Listen, this is from the Peter EP that came out on Sloan's own Murder Records. got Eric's trip. Listen, this is from the Peter EP that came out on Sloan's own Murder Records in what year? This would be like 95, I'm guessing

this probably came out. It's a little earlier. A little earlier, I think 92. It's like late 92, early 93. I think it might say one, but it came out. I bought it a lot. Yeah, because I get that they had all those four early 93. It came out around, I think it might say one, but it came out. I bought it. Yeah.

Yeah. Cause I, I get that. They had all those like cassette, like they had those four cassettes and then there was this, and then there was love terror. And it seemed like it all kind of came out within a four or five year span. Uh,

led by Rick white. I know when I moved back to Toronto from Hamilton, he was probably like the, him and Moe Berg were the two quote unquote rock stars I would see around a lot. And guess how starstruck. Am I remembering it wrong? Is he really tall? Like I'm 6'5".

So like I feel like I would see him on Queen Street and stuff. And sort of again be a bit starstruck. I think just because he had Zelda very long hair. And I saw him and Tara White together once. I was like, oh my god, there's the power couple right there. This was during the Elevator to Hell phase.

I got to be pretty good friends with Tara, and it always freaked her out how much I loved Elevator and Eric's Trip. This is returning to a theme. In fact, I ran into her and Rick after they'd split up at the the lcbl by my house wearing an eric's trip shirt one day but here's um when i first moved here i was working for the star i i showed up in an elevator to hell t-shirt to interview dallas and travis good from the sadies

and they were living upstairs at la above la hacienda at the time on queen queen west the late great la Hacienda. And they were both like, it's the first time I met them. We were having some drinks and Dallas was like, are you a fan of Elevator to Hell? And I was like, I'm from fucking New Brunswick. I love Eric Striff. Gosh, he's like, I'll be right back. And came down with Mark and Rick and Tara because they were staying up there.

Was it by like the scruff of the neck? That's amazing. I'd only been here a couple of months and And I met, like Tara worked at Rotate. And I was always like, that's Tara. Okay, yeah, that's right. That's amazing. Oh my God. It was just like, over the years, she and I became friends.

And I would see her occasionally with Rick. And same thing as you. I get totally starstruck with Rick. Totally. Well, let's tell the people, this was on your list, right, Ben? Yes. Oh, this exact song? This exact song.

We both think so. And the name of the song is? Did we name the song? Listen, I always, that EP, they're all like one word titles, so I feel like I always get them mixed up.

But yeah, that song's called Listen. I'm going to throw out my fun facts just because we have like Jay and Ben here, but I do want to give a shout out when you mentioned The Good Brothers, an album I had not thought of

in years. You probably had this. The elevator one with Dallas on dallas on it was amazing well no i was thinking that there was the uninvited the uninvited unintended that was like a super group that was rick white from eric strippen elevated to hell um i think dallas good was in it and then greg keeler from blue rodeo and they put out and it sounds like an elevator to hell yeah it's fucking awesome that was like it was great because i think it just got re-released in the last couple years brian from rotate it's on blue fog yeah he lives right yeah rick out in the country and he and i'd said something nice about rick on twitter and he sent me that one

and not the new new rick one and like he's like what's your address and that showed the reissue of the unintended and uh and the one he did with Ein Sof, a couple of years ago, which is also amazing. Yeah. They just showed up in my mailbox. A real body of work for Rick White. I also forgot The Unintended did a split seven inch

with the Constantines, where Constantines covered like four Neil Young songs and Unintended covered four Gordon Lightfoot songs. Like a real collector's item, but it's just great stuff. I feel like a lot of it's not on Spotify or it's just sort of faded into the ether or the weird pockets

of YouTube and stuff. I'm learning so much. I just want to say, Cam, you know your shit. Ben fucking Rainer is here. How many years were you at the Star? Almost 22. And Jay Ferguson and Sloan is here. How many years were you at the Star? Almost 22. 22. And Jay Ferguson and Sloan is here. Half my life. Honestly,

does Strombo assemble a group like this? I'm nobody. I'm like you, Mike. I'm just a fan. I have no force in this game beyond. But you know your shit. Great choice. Did you finish your fun facts? Yeah. That story's amazing.

Just wild. No, it was really, and I would always write about them whenever I could. And I'd met, when I was in university, actually, here's a good story, because they would always wind up opening,

there would be like the opening band, or it'd be like the Inbreds and Eric Strip at 4.30 in the afternoon at an ollie just show it on tap in ottawa in the barbara market and you'd always go like i go it's still like the couple times the eric strip have reunited i've i've moved heaven and earth to be there uh and i was so sad i missed it when they did a one at uh sappy fest and you runs like is that plane gonna crash into your house um oh i hope not but when i was a student at Savvy Fest, and she runs a... Is that plane going to crash into your house? Oh, I hope not. But when I was a student at Carleton my second year,

they played the Fen Lounge, and I got in the pit, and then someone elbowed me right in the mouth, and I nearly lost a tooth during sunshine. I think it was one of the ones on Love Terror. But afterwards, I very, very... This is a true story. It was my first instance of music journalism. I had an But afterwards, I very, very, and this is a true story, it was my first instance of music journalism. I had an assignment due and I was like,

I'm going to interview Eric's trip about the East Coast explosion. And Rick is very shy. He was just off hugging Julie in the corner. But I sat down with, I met Mark and Chris Thompson was the one who granted the 18, 19-year-old kid, nervous kid, an interview. So that was, they were the first band

I ever interviewed as a budding music journalist. That's huge. That's wild. And they were from New Brunswick. Yeah. That's kind of cool. Love it so much.

I love it so much. I also want to give a shout to their drummer, Mark Godet, who I think was older, but is one of the most, I'm not a musician at all. I don't care,

but I just remember every time I saw Eric Sharp just being transfixed by his drumming. And he was like 15 years older than them. And he was like a minimal kit too. Yeah, but it seemed like he was like Mo Tucker or something. Let's make it look like Elevator to Hell slash Elevator Through slash Elevator was a devastating live band in the end.

It was just like taking my friend Rob, and we'd always say it was like taking acid, just watching them. It was like, oh, I just had a 40-minute acid trip. Jay Ferguson of Sloan, what say you about Eric's trip? Listen. Oh, it's one of the best.

I mean, I'm whatever, grateful that we were able to release that EP before they kind of went on to make make more records for sub pop and stuff like that but um it's it's almost hard to describe what it was like to see eric's trip play in halifax in like 91 92 when i feel like our bit like i kind of thought like i thought our band was was great and like we were doing something different than a lot of the other bands in halifax i thought we were you know sort of a lot of the other bands in Halifax. I thought we were, you know, sort of taking influences from Sonic Youth and My Bloody Valentine,

blah, blah, blah. And then Eric's trip showed up and I had heard a bit of their warm girl cassette and I thought it was great. And they showed up and they just had single light bulbs on the stage that they turned on and off with their feet and they had super long hair and they were so loud and exciting like it totally stepped the game up in halifax by them showing up it was the most memorable and and outrageously loud show that i can remember they were like a feral band like

they really were like and and not just like not you know yeah they're from like New Brunswick and what but they didn't seem like they're from anywhere like really Moncton is not representative it's like driving along eight mile in Detroit with a shit brown river like Moncton it's a bit of a skeety town and they were and they were

totally like they were like you know the kids hung out smoking weed like the darker hallways of the high school. Although, I must say, like, Julie Dorian, like, she seems like a delight, too. She's a sweetheart. Like, her solo career is, like, awesome, too. Like, just the volume of music that spawned from that band is just, like, it's incredible and, like, really underappreciated, in my opinion. They're super prolific, and Rick has always been really prolific.

And it's nice that, I know that Brian with Blue Fog has also been reissuing a lot of Rick's older stuff. They even reissued the Peter EP with a bunch of extra songs from the era. If you think that Rick is prolific, it's like Prince basically. There's tons of records and then

there's a vault full of unreleased stuff that's just as good. For a while because Brian also was one of the guys behind Rotate This, there would just be CDRs burned of various requite and elevator things for sale on the counter at Rotate.

You can't keep up with it. I've got a bunch of them. They were never officially released, but you could pick them up for $10 or $12. What was Moon Socket? That was Chris. that was that was chris that was chris's like post okay that was good too man yeah and then mark gadet had a thing called purple knight it was just like him and one other guy wow and that was kind of sort of like

two-piece like art hardcore kind of stuff i remember a lot of these songs were on uh i think it was a sonic onion compilation more of our stupid noise like i feel like all lot of these songs were on, I think it was a Sonic Onion compilation, more of our Stupid Noise. I feel like all five of these bands were on this and they were all great. They were, again, a good gateway into all these other sounds. They're legendary to me. They're one of my absolute favorite bands of all time.

I love them probably more than I love My Bloody Valentine. They're up there with Joy Division and My Bloody Valentine and all, and the Mary Jane and PJ Harvey, for whom my own daughter is named. Yeah, totally. They're all, I mean, sort of Rick and Julie and all of them.

And Rick, whose output, I guess I've kept up with the most, is a unique sort of visionary guy. It's like, he's the real deal. It's, you know, the way that they created Eric's trip and everything just in a basement in Moncton is wonderful and such a unique story as well. Ben, before you leave here tonight,

I can pump air in your tires if you want. I can go get my pump. I know, I stopped to pump them up. Oh, you're full? I paid some service station at $1.50 to... Okay. Okay.

Okay. Nice ride, though. Do you have a light on that ride? I do. Good. Good. I want you to be... This is like code.

It's like a drug deal. Okay. So I'm going to kick out my... The cocaine is under the chair. I'm going to kick out my second jam just to reset. This is an important announcement for everyone who can hear our voices right now.

The Pandemic Friday finale, it is happening August 27. It's a Friday night from 6 p.m. to 9 p.m. We're on the patio. Outdoors, it's an outdoor event. We're on the patio of Great Lakes Brewery, the location near Royal York and Queensway. It's down outdoor event. We're on the patio of Great Lakes Brewery, the location near Royal York and Queensway. It's down the street from the Costco. We're going to be there. Palma Pasta

is going to feed us. That's authentic Italian food. It's going to be delicious. That's on the house. That's courtesy of Palma Pasta. Thank you. And Great Lakes Brewery is not just hosting. They're going to give everybody, at least the FOTMs who come for TMLX8,

your first pour is on the house. That's your first beer. They're buying it for you. Okay. This is unbelievable. There's no paywall here. There's no tickets. Sorry, Stu's done.

You said this is the first time they've opened their patio. Yeah, they haven't been open since... Like in two years, pretty much. Yeah, almost two years. That's incredible. And this will be the first time the patio is open to non they've opened their patio. Yeah, they haven't been open since... Like in two years, pretty much. Yeah, almost two years. That's incredible. And this will be the first time the patio is open to non-employees, essentially. Is August 27th thus the day you started this thing? No, no, no. It's just we had to have...

At some point, I realized we need an end date because it's killing me. Mike was, shall we say, fed up. I love it, but it's a lot of work. It's every week. We've done 74 weeks in a row and there's a lot of prep and then I want to organize, you know, I want to get a Jay Ferguson to come in and I want to get a Ben Rayner and it's just, it's a lot.

At some point this has to happen. I would say Thursday's a good date night going out with our partners and stuff. I have my daughter's soccer. I get here as fast as I can. I set up outside. This will be, you know, I hope Jay sticks around a little longer,

but you know, this can go, sometimes with Stuart, it goes like almost three hours. So like, we won't go three hours today. This is all good stuff though. Good stuff. On that note, okay. So I kicked out Sloan's Underwhelmed

as my first jam. Here is my second jam. I'm not alone I'm not alone I feel like I'm fading And obscure beneath this I'm not a flesh and bone I'm not alone I'm not alone

I'm like a one in a million face. And I'm to your front door. And then you come. And then you come. Make me feel so bright. Make me feel brilliant. And so white. It's like I shine white It's like a shine

It's like a shine It's like a shine It's like a shine It's like a shine It's like a shine I felt it wouldn't be Pandemic Friday if we didn't play some Doughboys. Of course.

I feel like they're up there in the total plays category. Often referenced. That's for sure. They come up quite a bit, actually. I thought we were going to watch a back episode of The Wedge. That's right. Fun fact, absolutely. So this is Shine.

And I'll share a few facts, and then I'll be interested in your takes, and then Jay's as well. But, of course, this is a Montreal band. So we're east of Ontario, Montreal, Quebec. That's what threw me. You just made it like Atlantic bands. In hindsight. We could have done it before, but then you gave me Montreal.

But we're out of time. Like, we're done. We have no more time. Because the last Pandemic Friday is only a few weeks away. You're right. We could have done, of course. We could have done just... We could have gone province by province.

We could have just done Nova Scotia. I will say, I feel like Rainer is a big Voivod fan. So I'm hoping we're going to hear some... Who knows? So, okay, John Kastner, he left the Asexuals and started up... Awesome, awesome.

Yeah, they started the Doughboys. I just want to shout out Scott McAuliffe because he left the Doughboys before this album. This album is Crush. It's like their big breakthrough, if you will, commercially. But Scott went on to form a little band called Rusty.

Rusty, who, of course, is probably the most referenced. We just reunited and actually put out a pretty good record. They were reunited in my fucking basement. Rusty, everyone. Oh, that's right. In the basement. Come on, Ken made the trip from Sudbury. He was laying bricks.

Like, literally laying bricks. Put down the last brick and hopped in the car. Yeah, honestly, of course. You know what we think of Rusty. Did Rusty take a lasagna? Oh my God. I don't know if that palma pasta thing existed yet, actually, now that I think about it.

Jay, did you get a lasagna? I did, thank you very much. They're quite delicious. Was it good? Excellent. Jay, did you get a lasagna? I did, thank you very much. They're quite delicious. Was it good? Excellent. Excellent, thank you. Okay, good, good. Just want to make sure you got one. I finally told Kastner how much I love the Doughboys. We were having a drink

in South by Southwest a couple years ago and I was like, the first album I ever mail ordered was Happy Accidents and I ordered a t-shirt with it and you meant so much to me. He's friendsidents, and I ordered a T-shirt with it, and you meant so much to me. Like, you know, he's friends of friends, and I knew him a little bit,

and I've always been polite. Okay, here's a fun fact. I'm going to bury it a few fun facts, but you probably know all this, but do you know what band John Kastner is in right now? What was the band after the Doughboys? All Systems Go. No, that's a good guess. I saw them at the Pearl Jam 98 show that I loved at Molson Park.

That was an awesome show. I know. I love it so much. I talk about it often. But I saw them on the live. I don't know if we're allowed to talk about Matthew Goode anymore. I don't know if he's been canceled, but he was there. The actor.

He should have been. Cracker. Cracker, yes. Cracker was there. You know who else was there? Hayden was there. Hayden was there. He's another guy we talked about. Went to my high school know who else was there? Hayden was there. Hayden was there. And he's another guy we talked about.

Went to my high school. Right. Shout out to Hayden Desser. But where am I going here? Men Without Fucking Hats. And then take the fucking out of there. It's just Men Without Hats. Sorry, he's in Men Without Hats now.

John Kastner is the manager. And he might not be the... He's the manager of Men Without Hats. Yeah. But I think he used to be a guitarist. Like he was a a guitarist. He was a rhythm guitarist in the band. The Montreal scene is weirdly incestuous like that with stuff that doesn't seem to go together.

And the other John in the band was in Bionic with Ian Blurton. That's right. Fucking awesome, too. Blurton was booked on this show, and it never happened, and I can't remember why, but I need to get that back on the agenda. I want to just tell you another fun fact

because you mentioned The Wedge of course. This is the theme for much music. The Wedge throughout the 90s. But at the 1994 Juno Awards this album Crush was nominated for the Juno for Best Hard Rock album.

They did not win this Juno. I know. Best Hard Rock Album. Jethro Tull. Guess what? Yes, that's a good guess. What band do you think beat out? Ooh.

What year? 1994. And Jay, you get a vote too here. You get a guess, I mean. 1994? Right. The Doughboys lost for Best Hard Rock Album to what band? Who did they give it to?

The Guess Who. That's our just hotel. I'm trying to think what wouldn't be considered alternative at that time. Hard rock. Slick Toxic or something. In 94 though?

I feel like Slick Toxic got wiped away by grunge. Yeah, I think you're right. I think there's a Slick Toxic video that's amazing where they have flannel and everything on it. Who turned into Rubber? Was that them? There was a band called Rubber or Svengali. Oh, yeah.

Svengali turned into Rubber. It's not Gato either, so keep guessing. It's not Gato. Oh, Greg Gato. Hard Rock. David Wilcox. That's not Gato either. Keep guessing. It's not Gato. Hard Rock. David Wilcox. That's a good guess. Okay. I'll help you out because I think you'll be surprised that this band is also in the Hard

Rock album category, but it's I Mother Earth. I don't mind that first time. It's pretty good. I like a lot of that. It holds up. The first two records are pretty good. I got a lot of that. I don't mind. It holds up. The first two records are pretty good. I got no problem with them on the run.

So Gently We Go. What was the one of So Gently We Go on it? Was the song called Low? Dig. Was the song called Low? Dig, right. I liked Dig quite a bit. I liked Dig and I liked that other one.

Edwin was a beautiful man. I'm sure he still is. He looked like an Eric Lindros, like a young Eric Lindros. Well, I remember that Toronto Star had an article about, this was like 2000, how musicians, they used to drink,

now they're into fitness, and they talked to Edwin for it because it was like he was wearing the Coss's muscle shirt. Then he bought a bar, I think. That's right. Shout out to what? Tattoo Rock.

Right. Oh my God, that's right. See, this is all good stuff. A few more fun facts though. The album Crush was released on A&M Records and was produced by Daniel Ray and mixed by Dave the Rave. Ogilvy.

It got critical accolades in 1994. I mentioned the Juno Award nomination. CFNY listeners voted it the 24th best album of 1993. Shine was named by Chart Magazine as number 38 on their 2,000 year list of top 50 Canadian songs of all time. 2,000 songs.

It's on their top 2,000. So shout out to John Kastner, who of course, and we talk about this quite a bit as well, but is dating the actress. In fact, had a child with Jessica Paré. Is that how you say it? Paré.

Paré. Paré. Okay. And of course, she was Don Draper's second wife on Mad Men. See, and I've mentioned this like five times already, but I saw them together at a Teenage Head tribute show

at the Great Hall where Jessica Paré was just hanging out in the crowd and someone like Stiv Bader's from the Dead Boys was also there. Or no, I feel like Stiv Bader's is dead. I think it was Cheetah Chrome, the other guy from the

Dead Boys was also there. So it's got to be the only event that Jessica Perret and Cheetah Chrome were ever in the same room. I actually met Jessica Perret at a vice party in some weird biker compound in Austin. This is years ago. They got shut down by the police. With Johnny Knoxville.

And I think it was the guys, it was like one of the guys from Death Row Above might have introduced her. It's all a bit of a blur, because it was late, early in the morning, as it were. But yes, Jessica Paré, Johnny Knoxville, and Death From Above is a pretty weird combo too.

That's not bad. Block Party played that thing too. Actually, Jay, can I ask you a question about Doughboys? So like this album, Crush, I feel like was what,

like their third or fourth album. Like when Sloan was coming up like 92, 93, did the Doughboys seem like a veteran band from what you recall back then? Or did you ever like cross paths with them on the road? Because they always seem like a band.

They formed in 87. Yeah, they seem like they sort of, I wouldn't say they straddled the 80s and the 90s, but they did have like material in the 80s. Sure, like we would have seen them play when John Kastner was in the asexuals when they played in halifax so few bands came to halifax that if a band came everybody would go to the show so it was even fewer came to saint john new brunswick oh yeah 45 minutes away from the shit hole i grew up i was excited by the first doughboys record when that came out and i remember seeing them play and i remember taping the show like on a cassette and I listened to that to death and that was kind of the area era of the Doughboys that I knew and then they

made a couple more records and I didn't really by the time the Shine song was out like I would I guess I would hear it on or see the video but I didn't really know their music but we knew those guys Jonathan Cummins and John Kastner early on and they would have been like at the first Sloan show in Montreal and it was exciting because we had seen their bands and we're like oh my god John Kastner's at our show you know it just seemed like you know Canadian rock royalty was at our show right so we've we've known those guys over the years and uh they've been John's been a big uh supporter of ours and uh well that's all yeah I was say, it must be very distracting, too, because he's got the dreadlocks in the crowd.

It's like, how can you not? I was going to ask, has he lost the dreads yet? That was my question. He still looks the same. By the way, Cam, this is the second time we've played a Doughboy song on Pandemic Friday. You kicked out

Shitty Song when we did the F'n Jam. Yeah, also from that album. I didn't know you guys were Doughboyz fans. This is all very exciting. Oh, yeah. Are you new, Ben? Come on, tune in, brother. Come on.

There's 73 in the can for you to catch up on. That's true. I've got, yes. I'll just strip the three hours of sleep out of my existence that I've been getting every night. Well, I would night I will tell you I just remembered this you tell us that and then you can introduce your second jam well you don't know what it is so I'll just play it when you're done

the reason I ordered that sounds good I might have to steal another one let me know I can go to the fridge and get one I'll take one the reason I ordered Happy Axe, because I lived in St. George, New Brunswick, and you had to drive to St. John.

They had a cool record shop called Backstreet Records, which is still there. I think it's been about 40, 45 years. But I wanted a Doughboyz t-shirt too. But the reason I mail-ordered the first time, because I would mail-order indie records, because you couldn't get them anywhere. Backstreet had a pretty good selection, but you couldn't get them anywhere. Backstreet had like a pretty good selection

but you couldn't get everything. I don't remember mail order guys. No, it's so quaint. But I, the reason I got Happy Accidents sent to me was I was kind of half asleep listening

to Brave New Waves on CBC and I got it mixed up with Sliver by Nirvana which was the tune that I really, really liked and I still like

Happy Accidents but I woke up in the morning and I'd written down Doughboy's Happy Accidents. I mail-ordered it and was like, where's that fucking grandma take me home? Grandma take me home. And I was like, oh.

My dad went to the show. So I was an early adopter of Nirvana without knowing it. And the Doughboys benefited. That's wild. Okay, now I'm going to play your second jam and then as I start it, I'm going to run to my fridge and get you another cold Great Lakes beer.

Here you go, buddy. Take two months away Leave, leave with the ones you love Ooh, I like the ones you love Ooh, I like the ones you love You have to wait for the bass to come in. See? I want to go. I want to be. I want to go. When life is stressed, I will be on my way. I won't be stuck inside, I won't be taking flight.

And when the wheels come off, I'll be an astronaut But I won't be lost in space I'll be skipping rocks When you lay down and roll So many changes. There's nowhere to fade down. It's all good. What a great song. This is the third time. I usually cry

at this song it's one of those you've made me cry with songs I'm like the Barbara Walters of Toronto Podcast that's like

I know this is always from their first record first cassette actually that became a record that song is called The Ones Who Love You and I

I mean it's that one I have goosebumps all over my body Who Love You and I mean it's that one I have goosebumps all over my body every time I hear that and it's one of those it's up there

with all the songs that ruin me we've played a few on this I feel like Julian Baker you were like openly weeping Julian Baker

I can't get through that first album without sobbing it's brutal but I think Always is you know, there's sort of Cape Breton

and PEI born living in Toronto now. Living not far from me, actually. Molly Rankin is, of course, East Coast rock royalty being a descendant of the Rankin family. And I think it was Jimmy,

her dad, was the one who died in a car accident. No, fairly young. I think she is one of the smartest and most dark-witted songwriters to come along

in a lot of things. Almost like Morrissey-level kind of literate wit. Black wit, too, though. Black wit. And I think her voice is pure gold. And those two, the two Always records are among my favorite records of, you know, the 21st century. They actually deservedly got fairly big internationally, too.

Well, that Marry Me Archie is a big hit. Yeah, like all over there. They have radio hits and YouTube hits and all the things. Indie 88 loves. With a cassette. Like something that was basically like Graham Walsh from Holy Fuck, who's produced Mets and Doom Squad and all the things. Indie 88 loves. With a cassette, like something that was like basically like Graham Walsh from Holy Fuck, who's produced Mets and Doom Squad and other bands, basically like record.

Like Chad Van Galen produced that record, and I think Graham kind of like made it presentable in non-cassette form for the first time. It's really cool. I feel like it gets better with every listen. Like it's already aging really well. That's probably, what, five, six years old now, I think. I love that song.

Archie, Marry Me. Timeless. Marry Me, Archie or whatever. Marry Me, Archie is a beautiful song. And they're all, but there's so many of them. I know, I know, I know. What say you, Jay Ferguson? Sorry, yeah.

No, I think they're great once again it's like a band that uh are kind of past our time in in the maritimes like after we were gone but sure yeah they have great songs that one i that one is great as well i i think the guy who i know the best would be a guy named uh alec he was in uh he was in the band two hours traffic also awesome yeah yeah that's true uh and i remember meeting him back then when he was in that band and then all of a sudden when he was in always and they took off it was like wow awesome like so great for him and and uh well deserved they have some great songs and he has she's great as well yeah he has some good stories about because when they were a couple like that's kind of how Wall-Ways formed.

They were a couple. And he was like, I knew the Rankin family was a big deal. He's like, until the first time I went home to Cape Breton with her. Because he's from Charlottetown, I think. Yeah.

And he was just like, holy shit. It's like the queen of the princess has arrived in town. And I like that she didn't trade on her name. She did like an EP that was basically like paving the way for Always Under Her Own Name, but never, knowing Molly a little bit,

probably doesn't want to call attention to it. I don't think I knew it until like, I was very familiar with that Archie song when it first came on the radio. I'm like, what's this? I remember, I've only seen them once. until I was very familiar with that Archie song when it first came on the radio. I'm like, what's this? I remember I've only seen them once. I saw them in a very unusual venue at the Yorkville Library when Toronto Library did the Rockin' the Stacks series

where they actually played with that band Pup. Pup were good too. And this was, again, probably right when this came out. And there's no stage and she's quite petite too it's like nobody you just see this like this voice or emanating of this crowd of like hipsters at like young and bluer um but yeah like what anyway great great band i i sort of forgot them like right up until the end of my picks i sort of regret it now she's a star man i've i like i i mean alec and mo Alec and Molly are buds, but whenever I watch her,

and actually, when they started making the rounds, they were a bit shrinking violety on stage. But I think over the course of that album, I think the release part was maybe The Shoe, and then there was a bigger show, and then they did like four nights at the Opera House. You know, it was a slow go. It was like a year or a

year and a half maybe even two years but that record they kept getting offered tours with crazy like uk band and they'd be like a like glastonbury like they were just like and all the stages like they were just everywhere yeah and deservedly so totally yeah well done well done so the third jam of cam is coming right up. I want to thank StickerU. You go to StickerU.com. I've got Toronto Mike stickers I'm going to bring to TMLX8. Jay, did you get a Toronto Mike sticker? Oh my God, did I ever. Right here. Is this another euphemism? Everything's a euphemism if you think on it long enough. Yes, I did. Thank you, Mike. everything's a euphemism if you think on it long enough yes i did thank you mike okay okay so thank

you sticker you quality stickers uh they've been fantastic partners for years now uh ridley funeral home we mentioned they brought us the hand sanitizer that cam is literally drinking over there so thank you yeah i'm just uh ridley beer in a shot mckay CEO Forums. Okay, they're the newest sponsor of Toronto Mike. They have a podcast called the CEO Edge Podcast. It's fireside chats with inspiring CEOs and thought leaders. And I've been actually sharing episodes on torontomike.com. But I urge FOTMs to subscribe and listen. Give it a spin.

The CEO Edge Podcast from McKay CEO Forums. And last but not least, Mike Majeski. He's ripping up the Mimico real estate scene, but he does more than just Mimico. If you go to realestatelove.ca and reach out to Mike and have a conversation with him, just make sure you tell him that Toronto Mike sent you. Helps the program, helps fuel

the real talk. Thank you Mike Majeski who just renewed for another three months. So shout out to Mike Majeski. Hopefully he's at TMLX8. I like that you had to wear with all the approach a funeral home as a sponsor. Or did they approach you?

I did not approach the funeral home. The funeral home invested me and said, these people don't look so healthy when they come and visit you. I think this is an opportunity. Well, the fact like Wiseblood does is like monthly death countdown. Yeah, again, Dusty Hill.

Yeah, R.E.P. Jay Ferguson, you're friendly with Mark Wiseblood, right? I mean, I don't know Mark super well. But who does? Maybe met him at some point. I'm better friends with his brother. I've known his brother for a million years, but I don't know Mark as well.

But I'm aware. I think Mark might have connected me to you. Wasn't Evan in Guided by Voices? Yeah. What was that, Ben? Evan was in Guided by Voan was in like evan wasn't he or some band i have to play evan had a band called uh the american flag a long time ago didn't he have something to do with i feel like the drummer for the american flag drummed with guy to buy but he was in like iteration like 25 of guy so so i wow so holy shit i can't explain this to me explain this to me so mark's brother's in a band what are we here yeah he's a musician okay see i don't know

this yeah i remember this because one of the times i saw guy but voices like the american flag open for them and then like a week later the drummer was all i know is mark's a guy i invite over once a month to sit right there for three hours and tell me everything I should know about the previous month that happened in the zeitgeist. Okay? Sure. And no one does it as well as he does. He's a wealth of information.

Yeah. He keeps getting, like we literally did three hours on Monday. On Monday. We did three hours. And I mean, yeah, forever until he says, no, I'm inviting him over. He did like 12 minutes on Jackie Mason. You know honestly

God and it's I think Jay I think it's an acquired taste like I would say it like this those who like the Mark Weisblatt appearances on Toronto Mike like it

a lot. Okay. It's not for everybody. But if you dig that if that's your jam then you just hook it to my veins. Like, give me more.

And if I say it's only two and a half hours, I get hate mail. Like, what the hell is it? Why is it so short? When did it come out? On like two days ago? Monday. I've already listened to the whole thing.

I went to Center Island. I took the little ones to Centerville on the island. And it was an amazing day. And I was exhausted. I was so spent. And I get home and I go, oh, I got to set up now for my three hour... Although Mark will do most of the talking for you. But there's lots

of sound bites in these episodes and I got to like rein them in and it's actually like I'm exhausted, but I love it so much. Okay, let's get back to the jam. By the way, someone you might discuss, just not to preempt next week's Ridley funeral home, but I thought somebody, Pat, just know, this is serious, someone who I think was a contemporary

of FOTM, Jay Douglas. Oh my God. Which was a great episode. Yeah, Jojo, I forget what his last name was, but he was in one of those other Jamaica to Toronto bands. Oh my God, okay. Yeah, he just passed away. I saw Tim Perlick tweeted about this today.

Okay, I've got to find out what maybe Michael Barclay came in and educated me on that one. Let's just bring down the minute. All right, so let's kick out Cam Gordon's third of four jams. Back to Montreal for this one. The penultimate jam, if you will, from Cam Gordon. Absolutely. Wait till you find out who mastered this song. Oh, I don't even have that in my phone.

An FOTM. Mark Weisbach. Nope. I don't even have that in my phone. An FOTM. Okay. Mark Weisblatt. Nope. Think about your high school. Oh, shit. Okay. That checks it.

I can walk the rest of the way. And I promise not to cry anymore All the reasons beat the crap out of me Every day when I wake up, they are waiting I like you sound like a video livestream. And I promise not to cry anymore I like yourself like a video live stream. Let's go. We don't need light. It's all about the audio.

I cannot believe. Well, I can. But this song is 17 years old now. Lost in the Plot by the Dears. Thank you. I still adore this song. This is a whole record. By the way, this was among the 28 songs on my top four.

Perfect. Ben and I DMed. We collaborated. It means there was value in me delivering more than what Mike asked for, Ben and I like DM'd. Like we, we, we, we collaborate. That's what it means. There was value in me delivering more than what Mike asked for, because there's no, we, we have extra songs to play with. Imagine if we'd all just pick the same four songs.

And for those who are listening and not watching on live.troddermike.com, the, my backyard light just shut down. Like, I don't know if the light bulb. I think it was the bat. The bat. The bat flew into it.

The bats are going to be here all over. Anywhere is your Batman. The bats have been massing. They've been waiting for that light to go out. Actually, we've heard Batdance by Prince. By the way, guilty pleasure of mine. Jay Ferguson, what do you think of Batdance by Prince? Vicky Vale.

I love it. It's great. It's kind of a song cycle. It's like five different songs. The whole album is fantastic. I don't feel like it. It's great. Yeah. It's kind of a song cycle. Like it's like five different songs. The whole album is fantastic. It's great. I don't feel like it's so guilty now. Party Man? I love it.

Yeah. Yeah. Party Man's okay. What else? What's the one he did where he had a hot night with, what's it? Nicky Bale? Nicky Bale. Nicky Bale.

It's Nicky. Nicky Bale. They had like an 11 or 12 minute hot, with Nikki Bale. It's Nikki. Nikki Bale. And they had like an 11 or 12 minute hot version of the ballad. That's right. That's right. And then it...

I can't remember what the name was called. This town needs an enema. Oh, the Scandalous Suite? Scandalous! All right. Marvelous! Yeah, that's the one.

Thank you. See? This is the best. Wow. This is like ultimate dorkdom. That I've not heard of. But for the record though, of course,

we do miss stew stone and we can't wait to have him back he's irreplaceable um few fun facts about the deers um here's a personal memory i that the first time i ever saw them live was actually at the air canada center opening for a badly undersold concert by jane's addiction oh i was there yeah that also had a live playing they've talked about before where they were playing on what looked like the replicant of the Friends set, like that coffee shop,

because they were sitting on a couch. Oh, essential perk. Yeah, it was like Jane's Addiction with live unplugged and this baby band called The Dears in like 2000 or so. Wow. So yeah, this is from the album 2004's No Cities Left.

The follow-up Gang of Losers was nominated for the Polaris Prize. I just mentioned that because all the other nominees would fit into this category because that was the year Patrick Watson won for Close to Paradise. Other shortlist folks that year include the Arcade Fire, another very underrated band that I was contemplating, the Besnard Lakes, Julie Dorian, who we've mentioned in the Joel Plaskett Emergency. And I kind of forgot, speaking of Joel Plaskett,

in Thresh Hermit, the Rob Benvey had a few spells in the Dears. I totally forgot that. Yeah, I remember when he joined the band having, like, this is the second time I'm going to evoke La Hacienda, actually. And I didn't know he was in the band. And he showed up midway through it. Because it gets to be quite friendly with Murray and Natalia. Do they live in Toronto now?

They deserve better. Montreal. Natalia's parents live by High Park, so they're off to Toronto. But I feel like that band, especially that album. I know the panic that Murray went through to get it done. by High Park. So they're off to town. But I feel like that band, especially that album, like that album, I know the panic that Murray went through to get it done

because I think he tore it down at the last minute and remixed it all. But I love it. And I, like maybe, I don't know, they never seem to get

quite the, you're a fan, like they never really got the do they deserve. Yeah, like they certainly, they don't seem to get quite the... You're a fan. They never really got the do they deserve. Yeah, they certainly don't seem to be in the conversation, like people say of that era. It's like, oh, it's a broken social scene. It's the arcade. They seem like the next echelon down

with a band like Stu Stone's favorite, like a band like the Hidden Cameras, who I think are amongst my favorite of that era, but I feel like are one or two rungs down. Had the buzz. Yeah. But never really... people yeah they would like to have that moment when everyone was like the deers are they like in the like with the stills yeah exactly that kind of thing where it's just kind of like oh but i'd say like for the deers or like hidden cameras like for no good reason like that they had

the great videos had a good look the The albums were great, good singles. International stuff. Before we forget to mention it, Cam, tell us the FOTM who mastered that song. Yeah, I assume you're talking about, it's got to be a Noah Mintz production. Shout out to FOTM, Noah Mintz. Don't Noah Mintz or Wild Carvalho master every record produced in this city. It's one or the other. For Jay and Ben who might not know,

Noah Mintz went to the same high school as Cam Gordon and Stu Stone. And Hayden and Gian Gomeschi. And Bill Wolichka. Did you know that? Who's working in Kingston waiting for Stu to show up. Gordon Corman, all the greats. This can't be happening at McDonald's.

There you go. I love those. That's my first favorite. Bruno and Boots. No coins, please. Or Don't Care High. I love all the Gordon Corman stuff. There's so much male bonding going on.

He wrote edgy adult novels. Young adult adults though. Oh, he did adult novels? He tried to do like a Shel Silverstein type swerve. So many swears. Oh, before I play my third jam, did we get Jay Ferguson's take on the Dears Lost in the Plot?

Maybe not. Jay, what say you about Cam's third choice? It's great. Sorry, I don't have a lot of stories. We know those guys. I've known Murray and Natalia since those early days. Wonderful live bands. I don't really have any good stories or anecdotes,

but I like that song a lot. I kind of lost track. It's a band that was hard to keep track of. They changed so many members. Just for fun, I was looking up on Wikipedia, and they had like 17 X members. You know on Wikipedia sometimes with bands they'll have like those

flow charts and you sort of have to be a pretty, you know, it's like drummers from Spinal Tab or whatever. I was surprised the Dears had a flow chart. Oh, like Broken Social Seat might get a flow chart. I think they would qualify. Well, I will say that. Murray is a friend of mine and has been since, like, Dan Burke started bringing them into the old El Macombo back in the day.

But I suspect that Hedai, because he is, I'm knowing him, and we are friends, probably not the easiest person to work with. And that may have stifled some of their rise. Some of the past numbers, yeah. All right, so I'm going to kick out my third jam. I was a little surprised, Jay and Ben won't be aware, that we have a living, breathing spreadsheet of every jam we've kicked out.

The KOTJ, Kick Out the Jam spreadsheet, which Tyler Campbell, VP of Sales, has been updating it in real time. He'll be at TMH. It's up to date with everything in real time. He's updating it right now. He's updating it, yeah.

I just went online to look at it. It's a Google sheet, and he's updating it in real time. Ben, I think that bio you're writing is actually in the spreadsheet. You can take a look. You wouldn't have lost it if Ben had been there.

You know what? At this point, I'll just paste the fucking thing. But here's a jam I'm actually surprised in the 73 or 74 weeks of Pandemic Friday that it hasn't been kicked out because it's such an epic jam. Jean Leloup. Here we go. Oh, gosh. Ooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo oio oio oio oio oio oio oio oio oio oio oio oio oio oio oio oio oio oio oio oio oio oio oio oio Something filled up my heart With nothing

Someone told me not to cry Now that I'm older My heart's colder Colder And I can't See that it's alive Epic, okay. This is, yeah, Faith No More Epic. Is that Beast of the East? Yeah, that counts. I had that record on a couple days ago, actually,

and it's awesome. We played it like two weeks ago, I think. I think it was like songs that get us pumped up. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Your jock jams. Pretty much. Pretty much. Essentially, yeah.

That whole record's amazing, though. Although they're not from the East. No, Faith No More. But no, this song is equally epic, I would argue. This is Arcade Fire's Wake Up. It qualifies. Yeah, it's a big jam, and it's already in the spreadsheet. By the way, this is the second time we've played Arcade Fire on Pandemic Friday

because on the Parenthetical Jams episode with humble Howard Glassman as the special guest who zoomed in, I played Rebellion Lies. That album's like half parentheses. Funeral, yeah, there's a lot of parentheses in there. One neighborhoods, brackets, whatever. Right, exactly. Yeah, yeah, yeah, absolutely.

So that album is called Funeral, of course. This is actually the fifth and final single released from Funeral. Here's a couple of fun facts for you quick. We basically, in 2014, Wake Up was listed as the 25th greatest song of all time by, who did it? Enemy? Okay, Rolling Stone ranked it as the 42nd best song of the 2000s. A live version, of course, was performed with David Bowie, and that's on the Live at Fashion Rocks EP.

It's a Montreal-based band. Of course, these butlers, I think they're from Texas or born in California, raised in Texas. Houston or something. Yeah, but this is a Suburban. Quebec band. And I'm curious for you guys,

yours take, because this song shows up in a lot of places because literally it's kind of epic and sweeping and grandiose. But I always

always dug it and I'm curious what a music critic like Ben Rayner thinks, what a musician like Jay Ferguson thinks, and what a handsome guy like Cam Gordon thinks. He is very handsome. I know. I just kind of get lost in his eyes. It's uncomfortable for me to be around him so often.

Oh, don't sell yourself short. Thanks, buddy. Get over here. If you were double vacs, I'd kiss you right now. This is a good- looking crowd in the backyard. The chiseled Eddie Vedder looks. It's so dark back here, by the way. I kind of dig this.

The bats are, I tell you, it's the bats. They're waiting for their moment. And the change up here in Wake Up, I almost want to turn it up a little bit, but this whole change up that happens, like, what the heck? Just a bit more of it and then we'll get you guys to your take on it. I always thought that this part sounds like obviously like a Motown thing but also Don't Get Me Wrong by the Pretenders. Totally.

Sure. Another great song. Shout out to Chrissy Hynde. Don't eat meat. I think we kicked her out a few times. She was one of my favorite interviews ever. Is she cancelled? I feel like she had some problematic views or something. She did.

But everyone has problematic views if they're honest. We won't bring it up because it'll piss people off. It was, you know, she made... What did she say? How bad was it? If you've read her autobiography, the thing that riled people up was she basically blamed herself

for putting herself in a situation where she was raped by a biker. Oh, she victim blamed and she was the victim. Yeah, but she was just like, I should have known better. See, I think if it's yourself, you're allowed to do that. But everyone was like, you have sold out famine. You know, anyway, it's a controversial way to go. I'm not canceling Chrissy Heine.

But she said it when I interviewed her for The Star. She's hilarious. The book is actually great. Her autobiography. Did you guys ever see Where the Wild Things Are, the movie? No. With James Gandolfini.

Did you see that, Jay? Sorry, James Gandolfini? He plays, he's a voice of like one of the big monsters. Yeah. Is Chrissy Hynde? And that song,

no, actually no, it was Karen O. Yeah, Karen O. Karen O does a bunch of stuff, but that song, Wake Up, is like a key song in the trailer

and in the movie there. Yeah, anyway. So what do you guys think of, but that song, Wake Up, is like a key song in the trailer and in the movie there. Yeah, anyway. So what do you guys think of the Arcade Fire's Wake Up? Anybody can go first. How about you, Cam? I was just looking at Cam's eyes, even though it's dark. Yeah, like, I don't know. Like, I have a weird relationship with Arcade Fire

because, you know, like a lot of folks, I was really into them and then really didn't like that album reflector when that came out and then the next one was just like i'm out but you know once in a while i'll see like some like footage of them playing like at coachella or like wherever you know back in 2007 or i'm sort of one of those annoying like i actually like Neon Bible best of all their albums but like those first three like you know throw them in the blender and like put them all together because like it's all great but

yeah I don't know like I find whereas you know where I was saying you know the Always stuff has aged really well or Pagliaro I find their music it still sounds good but it does sound of that era to me now because a lot of these songs

again are what 15 17 years old yeah 2004 probably yeah maybe and it's just like there's so much going on in that song too which is yeah it just it's a very specific point in time like hearing these songs which is not a bad thing

but nevertheless okay what say you Ben Rayner I really really see this is why you're in print I'm a really big fan of seeing them live like it's still the record that came after

the one after Reflector that people didn't like which wasn't as bad as people made it out to be. But they played a couple of shows at the Air Canada Center here, the Scotiabank Arena,

whatever the hell it's called. And they played in a boxing ring because it was kind of like reacting against, the reaction against the record. And it was the best, and I've seen them

from the horseshoe on up, and probably almost every show they've played in Toronto, and seen them a bunch of times in other cities, and it was wicked. They had something to prove again, and that kind of,

it doesn't seem to me like they ever phone it in. And I think they try a bit too hard in the studio sometimes. And kind of have a bit of that U2 thing where they take themselves too serious and they want to be important. But I love The Suburbs. I thought that was a great record.

And yeah, I don't know. Like it's hard to be that, it's hard to get that big because I think then you get, you get that kind of self-consciousness about being big. And I think they you get that kind of self-consciousness about being big. And I think they wanted to not be seen as a pop act. They wanted to do something with it.

Yeah, like a lot of statements. Yeah, no, everything's a statement. And that's the part that alienates me sometimes. But they're fantastic. When you look past that, they're a pretty fantastic band. What say you, Jay Ferguson? I really liked Arcade Fire when I first saw them. And I don't know if Ben or Cam or Mike,

the first show that I saw them play, the first two shows were at the Rivoli in Toronto. And that would have been, whatever, 2003. And just a friend of mine who's from Montreal said, hey, this band Arcade Fire is playing. You should go see them. And I remember seeing them. And they basically were playing the rivoli like they were playing the roger center basically like they were they were it was uh it was so epic sounding

and and bombastic or whatever but you couldn't help but think like these guys are going to be huge like it just it was it was outrageous and it was pretty exciting to see that and i i don't think i've seen them play since like 2005 when it was kind of it was funny it was embarrassing we so i saw them play a couple of times early in toronto and in 2004 our band sloan we had a festival over on toronto island and we sort of headlined and sam roberts played and we just got to invite a bunch of bands that we liked. So like Death From Above played, and Arcade Fire played, and Broken Social Scene played. And I remember talking to Arcade Fire saying,

"'Hey, we're doing this festival. "'Like, would you guys like to come and play?' And they came and played. They were second on the bill. Death From Above were first. And that was like in 2004. By the spring of 2005, we were playing,

we were playing Coachella. And so it was arcade fire. Arcade fire was already playing like the second largest stage. And we're like on in the tent, you know, power rankings. Totally. Like it totally shifted within six months.

You know what I mean? And, but it was exciting to see they're just like rapid rise, in america and everything and it got a great the grammy helped for sure but this is even before that like david bowie signed on right and like springs they did stuff with spring i feel like a lot of those shows whether it's a rivoli and they would do like the the sort of weird after shows with the flashlights have become almost the thing of mythology like oh the police at the horseshoe or you know all those sort of weird after shows with the flashlights have become almost the thing of mythology. Like, Oh,

the police at the horseshoe or, you know, all those sort of like famous gigs where, you know, 10,000 people said they were there. I, the only time I saw them, I saw them at Danforth music hall with,

with, I think it was with Wolf parade and final fantasy. Right. Right. Before they ripped out all the seats. No, it was still the old moldy theater yeah yeah and it just also played there in the same month i just heard that being one of those shows like

maybe it's just as the age because it's probably like 25 but like it really felt like this this is like a moment because like all three of those acts were like awesome obviously in their own ways but like also very different we're just like this is this is like fucking great like these are all like canadian bands plus the dears plus in cameras plus everything that was going on like it was a real moment in time um and just living downtown and and still being married at the time right uh yeah it was a good time to start your marriage okay so let. Are you saying you're single? Well, not anymore. It was a long time.

No, he's a part of a power couple. That's right. Media power couple. Who's she's listening tonight? Oh, shout out to MF. Let me quickly catch up on some things here. Joe Cororo says, missing Stu, obviously, but you guys have amazing chemistry. Wicked episode, boys. and then vpsal says well

pandemic friday is coming to a rightful conclusion this is a real and vital show and hopefully it evolves in some form that works for everyone's schedules gets better every week uh well said vp these pf anyway this guy there's a lot of praise there. Moose Grumpy says, definitely going to miss the weekly check-in and chat. Dan J says, for sure, even on a topic I don't think I'll like, I enjoy them. And,

uh, I'm going to just do something for Dan J because he's making a request here. So I've got the flashlight. And of course, everybody listening to the podcast cannot see this because I'm not recording the video. But this is what I want to say for, uh, Dan J. In the year 2000. cannot see this because i'm not recording the video but this is what i want to say for uh dan jay

in the year 2000 which i remember when i used to watch that it felt like 2000 was far away and now it is 21 years in the rearview mirror i thought for a second year that was like silver chair like anthem for a year do you you remember from those early Conants? I watched all the early ones. I was a big fan. Go ahead. Do you remember the early Conan

where they had like all the cat puppets? Oh, here's what I remember. Do you remember the picture of Bill Clinton and the guy with just the lips,

some guy's lips in there? Or Michael Jackson. I was day oneer with Conan because I was a big Simpsons guy. Me too. Did he, he just retired? Oh, who knows what Scott's like? I watched the last week of shows.

Jack Black was on. Actually, it was kind of cool because he was supposed to pretend to hurt himself in the dance number and during the rehearsal he actually hurt himself and couldn't do it. Speaking of hurt himself, this is the penultimate jam for Ben Rayner. We'll be right back. Lime and limpid green

The second scene The fights between the blue you once knew Floating down The sound resounds around The icy water underground Jupiter and Saturn Oberon, they're Oberon, Titanium Neptune, Titan, Stars get frightened

The drumming on that song is fucking amazing. I knew we would hear this. I knew it. Surprise! I tried to throw a curveball because one of the most admirable things about Voivod is that when I... I knew they were around.

I was a metal kid because I grew up in Charlotte, Canada, New Brunswick. But the balls exhibited by these four weirdos from what's like darkest Quebec. It's like Jonquière or something. By covering the first song on Pink Floyd's first album, Astronomy Domine, and actually doing, I think, and I say this as one of the world's biggest Pink Floyd fans.

My dad went to school with sid barrett um wow wow and university with storm thorgeson too um kidding whoa yeah but so i was kind of like dropping grenades no this is where i was this is like i was i i forgot the graduation photo i can show you um but uh i this is this was my real gateway. I was getting into Floyd, but I didn't really notice Sid Barrett. But also, then it was like, holy fuck, Voivod just did a better version of a Pink Floyd tune than Pink Floyd did. And from there, I just like, you know, it's like Rush. I think once you cross over and realize what's going on. And that album, Nothing Face, that this is on is one of

the like most crucial albums of my life i just like it's spectacular like prog metal kind of thing and and and still the the awesome thing about voivod who are they're not like you'll hear a bit of them in like mastodon or gojira or something these days but no one's they are their own thing and they exist in their own weird world you know the songs are all kind of science fiction yeah it's i don't know they're an amazing they're an amazing band but i that track really uh i remember hearing it on brave new waves again like in the dead of night it was just like what the fuck who is doing this and it was voivod and that album kind of like they went from being like a kind of a, you know, a thrash outfit to moved in a more proggy way for a while. But I still, it gives me goosebumps hearing that.

They seem very French, too. Like, and I say that in a good way, too. Like, there's... Proper Québécois. Yeah. Yeah. It's just, I just, who's that guy, like, Piggy? Yeah, well, he was the guitarist that died.

And he's like... I've just seen the interviews with them and they just seem like guys from Quebec. The guitarist died a few years ago but he left them a whole... I think it was an album or two albums worth. Catoors, I think. They're amazing.

He left them. He died of cancer. Demoed them all this stuff. But I... They have a new guitarist. He's a young guy. And I have a good story. they're amazing he left like dying of cancer demoed them all this stuff but I they have a new guitarist he's a young guy and I have a good story they were nominated

for Juno for the first time and I think they won I think they did win for probably best hard rock performance they beat out I Mother Earth

it was the the Junos probably the last one before the pandemic, in London. And I was at the opening ceremony, and I hate shaking hands with people. For the most part, I like you guys. And I was like, I'm going outside to smoke a joint. So I'm standing with my friend Emily Smart from Six Suda Records.

They're having cigarettes, and I'm like, I think I was having a cigarette with them. And I hear, man, you would think someone around here would smoke weed. And I was like, I got weed if you want. I turn around, it's a tall guy. And I'm like, tall Quebecois guy. And I'm like, hey, yeah, I got weed. You want to smoke a joint? No problem.

And I bust out of it. And I'm like, are you, what do you hear? Are you a musician? He's like, yeah. And he didn't even say Michelle. He's like, well, my name's Michael. I'm in, are you, what do you hear? Are you a musician? He's like, yeah. And he didn't even say Michelle. He's like, well, my name's Michael. I'm in a band. And I was like, what's the band?

Playing it cool. And he goes, oh, Voivod. And I actually like, left for it. Peeed your pants. Embraced. No, I grabbed, he's taller than me, so I was kind of like grabbing his trunk, basically.

And I was like, Nothing Face, is one of the best albums ever. And I wound up, my buddy Sean, my buddy Sean Corner, who was working for Sony at the time, was their publicist the weekend. So I wound up like hanging out with the guys from Voivod occasionally. And then they played some brew pub in London that didn't even have a proper PA. So they just brought their amps in. And it was like hearing fucking Voivod playing in their rehearsal space. It was amazing. Honestly,

that was the last June I was ever covered for the Star. That was the beginning of the end for me, too. I was done with it, but it was a nice way to go out. They're amazing. Jay, what do you think of Ben's pick? I think that's an an awesome story i know

very little of voivode so i have a little comment although i have heard that and yeah i don't know i still stick up for the pink floyd version i'm a fan but uh yeah i i didn't have any heavy metal at my high school so i don't know i don't know my heavy metal at all embarrassingly i was the only voivode fan i just heard like much did like play the odd voivode video back i don't remember this we're aware on uh yeah they did oh yeah power hour no or no city limits maybe yeah like no like in a bit of like regular rotation because like the laurie brown that one was a major that was an that was on mca yeah that was was a major label. That was on MCA. That was their major label. Maybe I just missed it.

Oh my God, they're so good. They're still good. The last record was a really, really good metal record. They do seem like a band that crossover where they could open for Soundgarden or they could open for the Scorpions. Are they as good as the Killer Dwarves? I think that's a different category.

Wasn't one of the girls in the 16-year-old thrash band, Kitty? Wasn't one of them? There was some band where it was the daughter of one of the Killer Dwarves. Really? Killer Dwarves are so... Actually, Killer Dwarves, I think, have a gig coming up in Scarborough.

Because I was looking just to see if there's concerts in Toronto. I'm not surprised. Oh, yeah, the big jam. Rockpile East or whatever. That's where they belong. Rockpile, which used to be a Mother's Pizza. Oh, shout out to Ernie Witt. I was out that way by the Rockpile on the East End the other day,

and it looked like it was an overflow parking lot for FedEx. That's what live venues have been releasing. I see the Rockpile in the West End here a lot because... It's probably Cloverdale Mall. I'm always going, Cloverdale Mall. And the Dead Mall. The Derelict Mall is behind it. That's Honeydale Mall.

Honeydale Mall is the Dead Mall. Also, if you... Cloverdale's not dead. It's thriving, okay? Oh, I have a friend who lives near there. If you take the TTC Pearson pearson comet it goes right by rock pile west oh my god i feel shout out to lee aaron who uh i was corresponding with her recently yeah by the way is rick emmet coming on yeah he's booked when is that happening september i think

okay he's in there he's in there not saying he would play the rock pile but he's uh probably he would he would he's a he's a yeah he wrote a book i have the book inside actually he wrote a book uh what was i gonna say i guess i'll just kick out this jam and then maybe it'll come to me but uh is this my last jam this is your final can i give a bit of an intro yeah um mike you're the only one who knows this the my original first choice and i i don't like to say well there's this band Because I'm scared someone else will choose them I don't think anyone will choose the box I was going to do crying out loud

For love but I was convinced That you know I thought we played this song Before and you said we hadn't You know what it was When you and I did our two man Degrassi Schools how deep dive we did play The Box Temptation. Wait, does Jay know about that?

Does Jay Ferguson know that you and I did, how long was that? Two and a half hours? Something like that. We did a two and a half hour deep dive into the Degrassi TV movie schools out. Yeah. I will, last night. So much drunk driving. Yeah, he was.

Oh, right. Yeah, wheels drunk driving yeah he was oh right yeah wheels was totally he was drinking the beer behind the wheel yeah doesn't Caitlin get

knocked up too or something she has sex for the first time and it hurts more than she thought it would and etc

and Joey was supposedly you know losing his virginity with her but we all know he was fucking Tessa Campanelli

yeah and you're quoting quoting uh that that quote yeah that piece of shit the f-bomb uh heard around the actually was that the episode that it was like the end of the very first round of degrassi and it was wrapping up it was like the ultimate after-school special like a hundred percent this was the everything that could have happened, happened. Lucy went blind. Oh my god, I forgot about that.

Because she was the passenger when Wheels was going to get chips or something. That's right. Well, for the continuity, when the new class came back, she was still walking with a cane. Right, for continuity. Amazing. I like the attention to detail. Yeah, Mike, this is a true story last night as i mentioned uh mf is in in dc for a month uh for work but last night we said like a goodbye dinner

nice down to like leslie yeah i said palm and pasta in a parking lot but we were walking home and we went through greenwood park right where right you know you know, you met us. I met you in St. Patrick's Day. And I'm like, wait a minute, Megan. See that pool over there? That's the pool where they filmed Degrassi School's Dad. Snake fell in with all their clothes and the kids were chasing around. Right.

I swear to God. Yeah. She could not have been less interested in this fun talk. I have the same fucking experience of Monica all the time. You're, welcome to my world. Okay.

I'll have these mind blows and I'll go into this great detail about how that's connected to this and she'll just, her face will be like, oh, that's nice. And I'll be like, wait, how can you be so relaxed right now? I'm so taller. I just dropped this mind blow. You should be on the ground in convulsions or

something. Yeah. Like, honestly, it's like, what's up with that? My friend Justin and I used to like, my brother too, to some extent, who shares my sense of humor, we would like, it was 8.30 on like

Monday nights, Degrassi would be on. Sure. We would like, lock that time down. That was like, as important as Kids in the Hall.

Oh dude, appointment viewing. Yeah, yeah, Kids in the Hall was the other one. It was like 9.30 on Thursday, Codco,

Kids in the Hall, but on Mondays, like we were locked to that team. All the way with Stephanie K. All the way. Anyway, the point is, this is a roundabout way of saying I was going to choose the box. I didn't. I almost chose the box, too. We're friends for life.

And then I was going to choose the band Boulevard. Who I thought were an East Coast band. We're actually from Calgary. They're from Calgary. And it was actually the band that I did choose qualifies for this. Another great like 80s CanCon staple. Yes. This sounds like Glass Tiger.

Timeless production. You never guess when this was. Just don't leave it like this. You said you're mad. I don't know when I feel right. Don't want to be someone's star. Bad, bad boy. Bad, bad boy. Wow. Okay, so.

Bad, bad boy. Yeah. Does anyone want to guess who the band is? Do we know the name of this band? It'll be like you'll say, of course. By anybody, you mean Ben or Jay? Oh, yeah. They were from Charlottetown, too.

I'll let Jay go first. Can I guess? Is that Haywire? It's Haywire. Very good. Oh, really? I had both of their albums. Absolutely.

I think you know it is what it is, but these are great songs. Bad, Bad Boy. But are they? Yeah. I'm only surprised because you have four jams to kick out, okay? I'm kind of confused by the message on the song. Wait, hold on.

So your favorite four songs. They had Dance Desire. Dance Desire, which is sampled in Maestro, Drop the Needle. Right. Wow. Shout out to last week's, well, we're going to let Ben Rayner go pee in the bushes. But last week's secret, by the way, Jay, last week's secret surprise Zoom guest was Farley Flex. Legend.

Wow. Because we were kicking out Canadian rap. Yeah. But the fact that Maestro sampled Haywire to do Drop the Needle is one of my many learnings of doing as we're stuck here in a pandemic but yeah other Haywire singles we might

recall dances are Black and Blue Black and Blue a ballad thinking about the years and then another one Stand in Line so like a real staple of 80s radio

I picked them mainly because originally I wanted to have one band from all the different provinces so this was my PEI selection but Ben beat me to the punch with Always too I guess who would have qualified Mike was someone talking to you about Attic Records recently?

Well, Maestro, yeah. Was it Maestro? Barley Flex, yeah. Yeah, just, I mean, Haywire were another band who were in Attic, who had a really interesting sliver of both Canadian artists and also would distribute international artists. Some of the bands on the Attic Records label over the years, aside from Haywire, included a bunch

of FOTMs. Lee Aaron, Goddo, shout out to Craig Godovich, The Nylons, shout out to Billy Newton Davis, Maestro, as well everyone from Aaron Carter, Creed, Weird Al Yankovic, The Soft Boys, and like Robin Hitchcock, and also

The Soft Boys? Yeah. Yeah, they distributed Underwater Moonlight. You're right. Yeah. And then also Elton Mottello, who I think was like Jet Boy, Jet Girl. Was that that guy? I think you're right. Yeah, that's right.

So like what an eclectic mix of artists. But yeah, like one of the rare sort of Charlottetown breakout acts. But, you know, they had a good run. Haywire, like six, seven radio hits. They'd fit the rock file. And you want your mind blow now? Sure. Here's a mind blow.

So this is something we do sometimes with our final teams. Oh, yeah. Do you remember? You want to say anything? This isn't really a mind blow, but... Oh, yeah, right. I sort of...

This was a song I'd not heard of or not heard for like 25 years, but has that real early early 1990s AM radio or I guess FM radio vibe were on like something like mix 9.9 .9 everything sounded like

soul to soul keep on moving but I feel like was also kind of influenced by like not massive attack but anyway or like Peter Gabriel digging in the dirt and like Duran Duran come undone and Haywire got in the

game with this song here well we can hear like a minute of this for Ben and Jay did you recognize this song no but you're right it does sound totally like Soul of Soul. Or Enigma. I said Enigma.

I hear Enigma. He sent me Sadness. Is it pronounced Sadness? I feel like there's a part one. Oh, yes. It was about the Marquis de Sade. That's why it was arty. Totally.

Yeah, totally. I forgot about. Totally. Yeah, totally. I forgot about this one. Yeah. Yeah, this song is called Buzz. You're giving me the buzz by Haywire. I remember. I can picture the video now because the guy actually kind of porked out. But again, like, you know, they had some lasting powers.

They actually lasted a few years into the 90s here with Haywire. Clearly shamelessly climbing upon any trend they go. Oh, totally. Totally. The last song I remember from them was Dance Desire, which was a big hit. I don't remember anything after that. Dance Desire. Drop the needle! Oh, by the way,

glad you mentioned Maestro, because he now lives in the Maritime. That's right. Yes, he just moved. glad you mentioned Maestro, because he now lives in the Maritime. That's right. Yes, he just moved. He moved to St. John's. Because I had to Zoom him, because he's in St. John, New Brunswick. CBC wrote an article.

A mutual friend told us. He's on the radio there. So shout out to... And Mishy Mee, because she came up last week, I was chatting with her this morning. She's writing her memoir. I saw this on Twitter today. It's going to come out in 2020.

There's a lot to write, but I feel like if you listen to all the Mishimi episodes of Trotter Mike, you're going to get it all. Awesome. Well, we'll read that while we're battling Delta Plus Remixed. Right. Are you guys ready for my final jam? Sure.

Let's stick to that same deck. Well, no, here, let's go back. Let's go back. Oh, yeah.

Oh, yeah. Listen to that in the headphones. Wow. I'm going to steal in the headphones. Wow. Am I stealing your beer? I'm going to steal Cam's beer. Yeah, go ahead. Yeah, no, I'm good.

I've had a very stressful day. I wear my sunglasses at night So I can, so I can Watch you weave and breathe your storylines And I wear my sunglasses at night So I can, so I can Keep track of the visions in my eyes. While she's deceiving me, she cuts my security.

Has she got control of me? I turn to her and say, Don't switch the blade on the guy in shades of gold. Don't mess around with the guy in shades of gold. I can't believe it, cause you've got a man With a guy in shades of blue Holy shit. Listen to that.

Holy fuck. It's a big hit. It's timeless. That's a monster jam and it does still sound great. Holy moly. This was like a worldwide smash, this song, right?

I think he became, because Brian Adams was the first Canadian artist. I have that info for you. It was a big hit worldwide and it was a top 10 hit in the US of A. There you go. But I think Boy in the Box was the second album like Canadian album to sell a million copies in Canada.

That was a bigger selling album yeah. Boy in the Box was a bigger album. I'm waiting for your fun facts. Go go Mike. Tell us about Boy in fun facts. Go, go, Mike. Tell us about Boy in the Box. All right. Who was the boy in the box? Corey Hart. This was actually on First Offense.

Corey Hart. Corey Hart. Sunglasses at night. I'm told by that middleman, shout out to Mark, Mark L we'll call him, that Corey listens to episodes of Toronto Mike and almost snuck in here

during a recent visit to the city just before the pandemic. Whoa. Almost snuck into the basement. That's a true story. He is one of the nicest cats I've ever met in the 25 years of music journalism, I must say. He's my favorite Corey there. Shout out to the

late, great Corey Haim. Okay. Also went to my high school. Right. Holy shit. Okay. Wow. Star-studded. Wow. So this this is from believe it or not this is 1983 the album's called first defense this was a hit single in the states it reached number seven that's eddie van halen and guitar sounds like eddie number seven on the billboard hot 100 that of course he hit that in, I guess, September 1984. Here's an interesting story when I was doing my homework here.

According to co-producer Phil Chapman, the recording sessions for the album took place in a studio where air conditioning and heating vents were directly above the mixing console. Air from the vents would blow directly in the faces of the control room personnel, so they often wore sunglasses to protect their eyes. Corey Hart, working on a new song, began to improvise lyrics that included the line, I wear my sunglasses at night. Fast forward 25 years, everyone got COVID.

In that same studio with the ventilation. And now you know the rest of the story you think that's true? it could be true I can't, there's no other reason to come up with in the song's defense

why would Phil Chapman why would he lie? but again, how else would you come up with some rather inane lyrics? Let's be honest. Come on. Okay, let's talk about the video just for a moment because let's test your memory here. Shot at the

Don Jail. What FOTM stars in the video? Sunglasses at Night. I think I know this. All right, Jay. Is it Laurie Brown? It is Laurie Brown.

Love it. Speaking of the power hour, Laurie Brown, much music. New music too, right? I feel like that's the only thing I know about Corey Hart is that Laurie Brown was in Sunglasses at Night. I forgot about that. She's awesome.

She's great. She is great. And when she was in The Basement and I was kind of talking about it, it turns out that her appearance in this video, she was just a model who was hired to do the video, helped her get the... Moses liked

it. And Moses made all the... Moses is a lucky SOB. Is he? That's what I understand. Shout out to Moses. Ziggy's been in the basement. Ziggy's been in the basement multiple times. I love Ziggy.

No, Donlon? No, Denise? Denise has been in the basement. I feel like there's a photo on the internet of Ziggy giving you a kiss on the cheek. Because I had a big crush on Ziggy as a young man, and she gave me a big kiss on the cheek. Much music. And she came over with Jay Gold, Joel Goldberg, who directed the Maestro video for Drop the Needle that included the

sample of Haywire. There's so many circles being closed. And Great Lakes Tomorrow is making available their Electric Circus beer named after Electric Circus, which was co-created by Joel Goldberg when he was working at

the City Much or Much City. Kablam! Everything's connected. You know what I always thought was... co-created by joel goldberg when he was working at uh this city much or much city everything's connected you know what i always thought was a simulation camp you know what i always thought was weird okay so cory hart from montreal gino vanelli from montreal right correct right around the same time cory hart's wearing his sunglasses at night gino sharing his thoughts that black cars look better in the shade it's sort of a similar like sentiment wild horses couldn't drag them away

could not drag them away by the way Ben have you heard the Gino Vannelli episode of Toronto Mic'd no I interviewed him recently he's an opera singer now isn't he or didn't he make like an opera record I could see that I will just say whenever I asked him something Or didn't he make like an opera record? Maybe that happened. I could see that. I feel like he did.

I will just say, whenever I asked him something he didn't really feel like answering, he would break into song and he would have his guitar. Yeah, like it was his move. And I was thinking, oh, that's his move. It caught on very quickly. That's what he's going to do when he doesn't feel like answering my question. Is he one of the FOTMs who thought he was going to like a TV studio

and then he pulled up to a house? I think all FOTMs think that. I think that was me, actually. Jay shows up and he went straight to the, he thought he was, yeah, he thought he was going to a TV studio and then he pulled up to a house. I think all FOTMs think that. I think that was me, actually. Jay shows up and he went straight to the... He thought he was going to some big studio. I was never under any illusions. I never mislead people, but these big stars like Gino Vadelli

aren't used to slumming. Although it was the winter and I was impressed that Mike greeted me at the door wearing shorts. Was it winter? It was cold. It wasn't a short. It was like the autumn or the

autumn or spring when it was. I was like, oh, this guy's alright. Thank you. We hit it off and it's been a bromance ever since. I don't know if jam is rapidly stealing my heart. Jay's like, okay, you got 15 minutes. Here he is five hours later. So let's kick out this final jam so we can set

everybody free. Perfect. You don't know what it is. I have to play it. I sent you like 30. Every time I ask you if you want to set up your jam, I realize I'm the only one who knows what I'm going to play, but it is one of Ben's jams. Can I say it's also ironic we're doing Quebec and Maritimes jams largely.

We haven't heard any French music nor any Celtic music. I had that moment last night. I felt kind of bad. I was going to kick out Ashley McIsaac. I came this close to Maggie's Kitchen. What's her name? Sleeping Maggie. Because I like Lamond. I forget her first name. What is her name? Mary Jane Lamond.

Mitsu? We've heard Mitsu. That's the other thing. We can't repeat jams. I kick out Mitsu every other week. I was going to throw a token Jules Vigneault or something in there. Le Rita Mitsuku or whatever. Oh yeah. Why fake it?

I don't want to fake it. Well here it is for you Ben Rayner. One of my 28 jams. I'm going to kick this. You're going to talk and then we're going to close this out. But I just want to say thank you for filling in for Stu. You did an amazing job. You know what? I love coming and doing this, man. It's really fun.

We might start a new series to replace Pandemic Friday where it's just us three talking about music. But I'm only doing it if Jay Ferguson joins us. Jay, it was so nice to hear your voice, if not see you. It was a nice surprise. Although you're not Drake.

You're no Drake. I apologize for not being Drake, but likewise. Yeah, thanks for sticking around. This is awesome. Yeah. So much fun. I'm lucky enough I can see Jay.

I just want to say he looks fantastic. I know what he looks like. You guys are missing out. I know that face. Here's Ben Rayner. Sorry. Ben Rayner's final jam. Went to see you play for the first time.

What a time People looked at me and I think They wondered why I was not up there I was not up there with you I watched and listened for the first time It was kind of sad After you played a while I realized It was kind of sad After you played a while I realized

I was kind of glad I was not out there It would not be fair To you too And you did real well You did real well together We did well together. But not forever.

That one makes me well up, too. This always happens when I come to Mike's backyard. Just let it go, buddy. Let it go. I think I just have a lot of repressed sadness. No, man, you're a human being. I also am a sucker for Really sad, beautiful music And I think that

That's actually off That's when Julie Daron Split from Eric Strip Well Eric Strip split because she and Rick White Split up and he took off He was marrying Tara White Who has loved Tara On the You know, as

the title of the first full-length Eric Strip album goes. And it was just like, the thing about the end of Eric Strip, like that album Purple Blue is like their breakup album. They're playing in the same band and they're breaking up and then she

came out with this as Broken Girl, the song that's called Elevator Show. And it's just like, wow, this is as naked as like hard-on-sleeve songwriting gets. And it's like a beautiful, simple melody too. It really gets under your skin, but I'm just like, you're laying it all out there. You know, it's like I'm going to watch.

And it's basically her watching her first show with Rick and Tara and Mark, who was also in her band, playing together. It's just like it breaks my heart every time I hear it. But it's also a very strong song. You know, it's just like, yeah, we did well together. I don't know. And a lot of her stuff was, like a lot of Julie's solo stuff, is very unguarded.

And it's, like, quite disarming sometimes. But then she can also do, like, she had a band for a while with, like, Doug from the Constantine's, the keyboard player from the Constantine's, I can't remember his name, Will. And then she just made a record with Eamon McGrath and, like, two of the Cancer Bats which is totally fucking heavy She likes to rock out Which I remember like the big thick bass tone

Yeah and like whip her hair around Like shout out to Willow Smith But no she's awesome And again not to Loop back to the Everyone gushing about Eric's trip but just like The sheer volume of content that came out of that band and and folks related to that band it's just like

staggering and good quality control yeah well she did that album with the wooden stars too that was a big deal like monster like all sorts of stuff well people wanted to work with all of them you know they're very they're like their place in music history, like Canadian music history, ultimately made... There is a small global cult, too. I feel like she was on, if not a Tragically Ip record, like one of the

Gord Downie solo albums. It was her and Dale Morningstar and somebody else. Fuck. Yeah, like Battle of the Nudes and the two after Coke Machine Glow the two Gordon Solo albums yeah I saw her play I feel like she

played with Calvin Johnson who is somebody I had not thought of for a while but was in the rockscritic.com article and I think she was doing like the Constantine's thing like Kidman was there yeah I don't know Jay Ferguson article and I think she was doing like the Constantine's thing like Kidman was there like doing that yeah I don't know

Jay Ferguson you were amazing tonight this was awesome I can't believe you hung in here the whole time that was unbelievable thanks for letting me sort of barge in and occasionally interject it was an eye opening evening of musical splendor.

It was like quadruple, like, you know, what's squared, squared, dork, squared, squared, music, dork, squared, squared. Like, man, Rushmore, but make it dorky. Very good. So a great surprise Zoom guest in Jay Ferguson, a fantastic in-person, uh, co-host in bed Rainer, uh,

long may you run and cam. I'm going to see you again next week, buddy. Uh, we only have a few more to go. We see your what? Three, three more.

And then you guys are never going to speak again. That's the idea. I never have to see, I never need to see cam Gordon and Stu. I'm going to be like that viral video clip. The guy drinking the poison, like, like, like, like,

like, like the, the semen. Yeah. And that, that got dark. And that brings us to the end of our 897th show. You can follow me on Twitter.

I'm at Toronto Mike. All right, let's get everybody. Cam is at Cam underscore Gordon. Yeah. Ben, you must have some self-defecating. So to speak. Not today.

I hate Ben Rayner. Is that who you are? I hate Ben Rayner. I hate Ben Rayner. I don't think anyone hates Ben Rayner. Jay, here's the thing about you, Jay. I don't think you're on Twitter, are you? Embarrassingly, no, I'm not on Twitter.

I can be found on Instagram and things like that. Okay, what's your Instagram handle? Oh, gosh, I don't know. Just my name, basically. Okay, find Jay Ferguson from Sloan. You can find him on there. You can search him. You can search him. Our friends at Great Lakes Brewery.

Oh, by the way, and also Sloan is on Twitter because I follow Sloan Music. It is. Sloan Music is on Twitter. Yeah, at Sloan Music. Great Lakes Brewery is at Great Lakes Beer. McKay CEO Forums are at McKay CEO Forums. Palma Pasta is at Palma Pasta. Sticker U is at Sticker U. Ridley Funeral Home is at Ridley FH.

And Mike Majeski. He's also on Instagram with Jay Ferguson. He's at Majeski group homes. See you all next week. This podcast has been produced by TMDS and accelerated by Roam Phone. Roam Phone brings you the most reliable virtual phone service to run your business and protect your home number from unwanted calls. Visit RoamPhone.ca to get started.