Toronto Mike'd: The Official Toronto Mike Podcast - Ben Rayner: Toronto Mike'd #1185

Episode Date: January 11, 2023

In this 1185th episode of Toronto Mike'd, Mike catches up with Ben Rayner before Ben kicks out more jams. Toronto Mike'd is proudly brought to you by Great Lakes Brewery, Palma Pasta, Canna Cabana, Ridley Funeral Home and Electronic Products Recycling Association.

That looked like fucking around to me. Welcome to episode 1185 of Toronto Mic'd. Proudly brought to you by Great Lakes Brewery. A fiercely independent craft brewery who believes in supporting communities, good times and brewing amazing beer. Order online for free local home delivery in the GTA. Palma Pasta. Enjoy the taste of fresh, homemade Italian pastas and entrees from Palma Pasta in Mississauga and Oakville. Did I say pastas?

Do you pluralize pasta? Pasta is plural. Depends on the pasta. You know that, Ben. Come on. Electronic Products Recycling Association. Committing to our planet's future means properly recycling our electronics of the past.

Ridley Funeral Home. Pillars of the community since 1921. Canna Cabana. The lowest prices on cannabis. Guaranteed. Over 100 stores across the country. Canna Cabana, the lowest prices on cannabis, guaranteed. Over 100 stores across the country. Learn more at cannacabana.com. And Sammy Cohn Real Estate.

Ask Sammy any real estate questions at sammy.cohn at properlyhomes.ca. Joining me today, returning to Toronto Mic'd, is Ben Rayner. Hello. Welcome back, Ben. You know, Ridley Funeral Homes catalyzed a conversation about the word cadaver with my daughter. Earlier today, we were riding the streetcar and I was like, she's like, well, what do you do when you're on there? And I was like, you know, sometimes we drink beer and he gives me a lasagna. And then I was like, another one of his sponsors is a funeral home. He doesn give me a cadaver and then she was like what's a cadaver so i had this awkward conversation okay shout out to ridley funeral home right out of the hub okay let's pop our beers

right now okay which one are you gonna i gave a bunch of there but there's law oh there's loggers wait do you want is there something you want to have no i like them all man okay so that haze mama is one of their great ipas i'm gonna crack the octopus but i like the haze okay because i later i'll put away a lot of burst okay i really do drink a lot of grease you know i'm cracking open a burst so i'm having a what is this thing called haze mama okay tell me what you think and i'll run up since you want like the ipas i'll run up and get you another one. But like you're legit. Like even when you're not drinking free Great Lakes, you're a Great Lakes brewery guy. Yeah, no.

I think I snuck on the life front of the star. I mean, I did this last week, like holding a Great Lakes can in my hand, being a good parent with a Great Lakes can in my hand at the Toronto Fairy Docks. This article you're referencing was called Finding Sanctuary in a Stroller, How Pushing My Kid Around Toronto Became My Therapy.

Because it did. You knew that. I knew this. Yeah, well, let me set the table this way. This is not your first Toronto Mic'd episode. If people like hearing Ben Rayner on Toronto Mic, there are several in the archives to choose from. You've been amazing on this show.

And way back when, Ben, you once did a brain dump of songs you love. I don't know if you even remember doing this, but you gave me, I don't know, 50 songs. It's hard to narrow it down to 10. Right. So every time you came over, I just picked another 10 and played it or whatever. And the last batch is going to

get played tonight. That is a nice surprise. I know. You didn't know this either. So I got some more, some Ben jams here. We'll play them. Ben will talk to us about them. Do you believe in God, Ben Rayner? Not really, but I do believe in universal ordering force because I'm into theoretical physics.

So I'm trying to figure out what that is. At the end of the day. You believe in UFOs. The closer you get, theoretical physics. So I'm trying to figure out what that is. At the end of the day, you believe in UFOs. Yeah. But the closer you get, like the further you go into like theoretical physics, I find the closer you get to like faith and religion.

So in that sense, I believe in math. Okay. Cause you said you'd be here on time. God and TTC willing. So I'll talk about that. Did they just arbitrarily dump the streetcar west of Dufferin? You know what?

I don't take it. I don't know. I don't know. I legit don't take it. I just bike everywhere because I can't stand it. And if I have to get, I will take the go. So I'll get my ass from Union Station to Mimico on the go. And then from Mimico to here, I'll figure it out.

Yeah, that's maybe my way home if I don't walk. But I asked the guy, I got on him. I was just like, what's with the streetcar? Why is there no streetcar? And all I got was like a contemptuous look and a genuine just shrug. That's service, brother. That's service in John Tory's Toronto.

I think this is a perfectly reasonable question to ask. Why is there no streetcar for like the last third of this route? I don't know. Before we get to this article that you wrote for the Toronto Star, I can't believe you're finally published in the Toronto Star. Congratulations, Ben. It's a long time coming, eh? So before we talk about that, and then before we get to

these jams and everything, your former colleague, Ed Keenan, came over last week, and basically after he updated us on like, it was the second anniversary of the attempted insurrection the capital uh building there in washington and and he was there he was there so he was talking about ed was talking about like what it was like being there witnessing it but then after that we basically like talked about all the things wrong with our city do Do you still love Toronto?

Did you ever love Toronto? I do love Toronto. I went home. I went back to the East Coast. I have a lot of places I call home because I'm from England and I grew up in Newfoundland and New Brunswick and I still have family and roots in all those places. I miss the ocean.

But then there's times when I think I'd miss Toronto because it does have all this cool stuff. But I do think it's becoming a bit of a douchey playground for the rich, especially like my neighborhood on weekends is insufferable. And I don't mean that as like, oh, the Bridget Donald crowd are coming in. It's just like the kind of, what do you call, like the wanton display of wealth. Like the conspicuous consumption drives me nuts. Like I don't like it. It's got a bit of that like, a friend of mine was saying this to me the other day.

It's like it's got an LA attitude, but it's also turning into like New York in the 70s, which is true. It's like the gap is widening. See, I don't like the LA attitude, but when I watch a film or like a TV show and it takes place like in the 70s New York, I dig the look, man. I'm digging that aesthetic.

Yeah, no, I like a bit of grit. Look who you're talking to. I like your end of town. I like walking along here because it's like there's a possibility you might get knifed after like a certain point. I like that. There's certain people who bought in this neighborhood who've wanted Lakeshore to gentrify. This has been a thing. And there was a moment several years ago

when the coffee time closed. And you could see their smiles from here. It's like, the coffee time is closing. Do you know what that means? Next comes in the Starbucks. That meant the Galaxy Donuts already went down. It used to be that hierarchy. Remember the one at Lansdowne and Bloor?

I remember them all. Those are my spots. My day's off quite often. I just go drink in the drug park in Kensington and watch people and talk to them because I feel like the addicts and the crazies and the thieves are probably closer to my people than my new neighbors.

While we're talking about the city you live in and the city, the only city I've ever lived in, by the way, fact i'm pathetic okay i've been everywhere man i've been everywhere not one of your jams but how did you find again a nutshell people should go to the toronto star and find this uh article but uh how did you find sanctuary in a stroller like i know you've told this you You use Toronto Mike as your test bed for these ideas, and then you write this great piece for the star. But give us the Reader's Digest version.

How did pushing your kid around the city become your therapy, Ben Rayner? Well, as you know, I think this was probably the first place I talked in public about it after kind of going crazy and disappearing. I had a pretty bad bout of depression like suicidal ideation uh and all that shit and my job was ending at the star because they were killing the entertainment section and all that stuff and it caught up with me and i went a bit batty but then we went up north to my friend nancy's place uh she lives in a little town it's like 188 people or something around shelbury well and she worked she was seconded from her job at a museum up there to the length and disaster management council and my girlfriend uh trains

crisis counselors for kids help phone so it was like you have to get that kid out of here all day right like we're in we're in a small house so i got in the habit of being outside with her all day um pulling around in a wagon up there because we didn't take the stroller because we thought we're going to go for a couple of days i only had one pair of pants we went out living up there for a month wow and then when we came back to the city i was like i'm not fucking staying in my apartment you know i i i'm not that kind of person. You, you've known me for a while now. So my kid and I just went out all day,

every day, rain or shine from like 10 in the morning. Sometimes they'll like rain or shine. Yes. You can steal that often in the rain. But like, we just, we just, so the city was empty and cool.

Like we'd play in statues at U of T or Queen's Park. You know, like all the playgrounds are roped off. So we just found cool shit to do. Isn't that insane we did that though? Like that was ridiculous that they actually like roped off the playgrounds. Like the playgrounds were police. They were around them with the saddest thing. Oh my God.

No, honey, you can't, you know. Eventually it took, so Toronto too. Like eventually like five months in, people tore them down. It should have been five minutes in hindsight. Yeah. In hindsight, I wish I had done something,

but like many others, I'm like, let's exercise on the side of caution. Yeah. Hey, before I get too far, I don't want to forget this. I really want your passionate and heartfelt take on

the proposal to put a private spa and 2,000 parking spots on the site of Ontario Place. Ben, every time I bike Ontario Place through the Trillium Park there and I go around, I look for you every time. I'm usually there. Yeah, you're usually

there. I have nooks. I gotta find you. I gotta find you i gotta find you but please the microphone's yours i will shut up no one wants to hear toronto mic right now ontario place i that well this ties into the the whole thing we were just talking about about wheeling my daughter around um because for part of that summer this is the summer covet hit um even toronto we couldn't go to toronto island right unless you wanted to pay for a water taxi or whatever fuck that shit um you don't have a kayak for two no i usually get marina passes off so my friend jim and sandra actually i'm a high roller uh but yeah

so one of the places we discovered and we that was kind of one of the first places i would go when she was just walking and stuff they had those light exhibitions there in the winter, a couple of couple of years, because when Trillium park opened, it was still shuttered. And then when they opened it, not a lot of people knew that Ontario place. So the first couple of years,

and this is when she was a baby, I just wheel her down there when she was sleeping. And it'd be like, it's like something at Logan's run, right? Just the derelict amusement park. And we, it just became one of our places.

So that summer we were there likelict amusement park. And we, it just became one of our places. So that summer, we were there like almost every day. In fact, I ran into, there was a counselor, Stephanie something, who was down there

doing a video. All the way with Stephanie K. Yes. Exactly that one. Doing a video because she's fighting to save the beach, which is our point,

I think we're getting to. And we would hang out on that beach, sit in our same, I think we're getting to. And we would hang out on that beach, sit in our same rocks every day. And like I said, this counselor was like former counselor candidate. She's like, I remember you and your daughter.

I saw you down here all the time. I'm like, yeah, this was like our office for that whole six months when I was basically, I'll buy out money and be into debt. And it's the equivalent of going to the island downtown. It's a clean beach.

The West Beaches are absolute shit. I've watched a sewer burst at Sunnyside, and then the beach has been closed the rest of the summer. It was disgusting. But that's a reasonably clean downtown beach without having to go to the island or suffering the ignominy of taking the TTC to the beaches, right?

And now the fact that they want to pour concrete around it and put a fucking pool that you have to pay to go to there, it's insane. Well, it's offensive, the whole notion of a private spa on the site of Ontario Place

is just such an offensive notion. Yeah, it's a provincial park, essentially. So do you want to pledge? If this thing somehow proceeds, and I don't know what's going on anymore because you got this biff like premier and you got this superpower like some some some super powered mayor like i don't know what's going on anymore i don't know how democratic it all is anymore but will you join me we will chain ourselves to the oh no that beach isn't i'm not letting that beach go without a fight. That's one of my happy places.

I owe part of my life probably to that beach. I was there on Sunday. I go down there all the time. I was swimming until November. I can't do the year-round thing like Steve Mann and his crew, although I've befriended them. But someday. But still, the fact you're swimming there until November,

kudos to you. That's amazing. So, okay, brother, we got to keep in touch on this matter. So,

I don't know where it's at. I just know, I've read the proposal and it's bullshit. It's like a nine-story building on the West Island where all the, like the little petting zoo

or whatever, where the log ride was. Right. Save the log ride. Okay. I like the derelict log ride. Speaking of derelict properties in this city, okay. The spooky roller disco.

Now Magazine, which maybe you can argue it's been dead for a while, but to me the official time of death was when Glenn Sumi couldn't log into his email address. Like when he's locked out of his nowtoronto.com email, that's when you call it or whatever. And then news comes out yesterday. I don't know if you fall up to date

on this, but... I didn't even know now still existed. Well, it's a website. I don't think there's anyone working there anymore because even Glenn can't work there anymore. So, okay, when you lose Glenn, you've lost now. Okay, now it's gone. But they had, I I guess they're in bankruptcy so they don't have to pay anyone all those

back wages and severance. And all this money is owed to all these good people. All the good people that now, you know them better than anybody. Then, I guess the bankruptcy thing meant they had to sell the assets. But they had these digital assets. They had a domain

name and a website and uh social media uh accounts and they had a logo like this digital package of now and a gentleman's uh there's a guy named brandon gones who used to be on cp24 but now he's like behind his own uh little little media groups sort of like how i'm behind my little media group tmds but i think he's got maybe he's got yeah an empire but he might have

more than one employee I'm not sure but Brandon he said I don't know what he paid for but he bought these digital assets and he's going to relaunch

like now in like a week or something and so time will tell in print or just the website no zero no just they're just

I think it did print's coming back trust me is it have you read The Grind? I have not. I keep hearing about it, but that seems to be the way it goes. Everyone's like, have you heard about The Grind?

Suddenly I started hearing about it. So I distrust it. When people tell me to check something out, oh, you've got to see this movie. I had a guy here, Jim Shedden, who back in the 80s was creating zines. He was big on zines.

And I'm thinking, he's just a little older than me. I feel like that could have been me doing the zine thing back in the 80s. Okay, but I digress. It could not have been me. I lack discipline. It's a miracle I got here. Here's my problem. Here's the thing.

So Brandon paid whatever, got the digital assets. He could do what he wanted. Good luck to Brandon. This is not even really about Brandon. It's more about when you buy a company, but could do what he wanted. Good luck to Brandon. This is not even really about Brandon. It's more about like when you buy a company, but you're really not buying, like the company owes money to a lot of good people who worked hard in good faith, okay?

So now magazine or whatever, their owners, they owe this money, but they declare bankruptcy to somehow avoid having to actually, you know, fulfill that obligation and that responsibility. But the digital assets are sold. So now there'll be a bunch of noise made by, oh, we saved now. Now has been resurrected.

Here's the new now, Toronto. Meanwhile, there's no obligation for the new owner, Brandon Gones, to give a penny to these Glenn Sumis and these Norm Wilners of the world. What's your feelings on that as a newspaper guy well it's i mean that's half the reason i i like i i i've been freelancing a lot for the star because they don't fuck with my coffee and they pay on time which is very rare like i've i i will not name names but i I've dealt with other journalistic institutions of some repute.

And it's like a fucking agonizing struggle to get paid. And talking about new owners, like Spin, Spin.com, you owe me money, because they got bought out. And then things like that. And I could go on,

like every writer I know who's done freelance stuff, and that's half the reason I can't be bothered to do magazine stuff anymore because half of them go down the tubes or they, oh, we can't pay yet. It's just like, no, no fun. So I will stick with the people who pay me.

Should there be any, and I know legally there's not, so I should preface it with that. So, you know, Brandon's not breaking any laws here or anything, but like, you know, when you buy the company, but you don't buy the, like, the debt obligations or whatever, it is a bit of a, like, it's not a sweet, feel-good story like it should be.

It's like these are real people who walk amongst us and sit in my basement who are owed thousands and thousands. Like, the combined owing is in six figures. No, and I know so many writers with those stories. And it's always like, oh, we're leaving poverty. Leaving poverty is like you got the work out of us and it's been three years. I could go on and on.

That's why I kind of hate freelancing for that reason. I don't know that I would, I'm kind of over it. So how are you making money these days? I am basically managing a record shop five days a week and writing on the side. Cool. It's nice.

I write when I want to write and I don't have to eat shit. Eat corporate shit. Yeah. You know, you don't have to do that anymore. Now, I just play records all day,

man. We're going to play some records right now. You know, press play at mp3 files. That's how I play records here. But, like the biggest question everybody wants to know, we did get an update from you at TMLX11 because you came out and that was awesome to see you at Palma's kitchen.

Only two hours late. You were on time as far as I'm concerned because we got you in before we closed up shop. Did you enjoy the lasagna from Palma Pasta? Whatever pasta I took home that night was astonishingly good. It's delicious, man. I thought, you know, yes, they pay me, but I would tell you this before they gave me a penny. I would tell you Palma's Kitchen, Palma Pasta, delicious, man.

You're going to take a lasagna home with you. My girls are eagerly anticipating it. Okay, good. But honestly, you've got to take a lasagna home with you. No, my girls are eagerly anticipating it. Okay, good. But honestly, you've got to go to the source. That's in the middle of frigging nowhere, but the fresh pasta there is the best. Homeofpasta.com, yeah. There's four locations, so you can get.

There's one here, Ontario, and Queensway, which is a little more TTC-friendly. But there's one in Oakville, too. There's four of them. It took me two and a half hours to walk to that place. How long from door to door? From your home to this home I'm in right now? What was the door to door?

Here I usually walk home. It's about an hour maybe. I walk home from Broadview and Danforth to Dundas and Othington every day. Do you count your steps by any chance? Are you going to tell me you did 47,000 steps today or something? My old phone used to keep track of that shit and it said i averaged something like 16 to 18 kilometers a day wow yeah okay that'd be a good

bike day okay good for you by the way your shirt uh wolf island music festival 2017 i had chris brown here recently he owns that uh like that hotel or whatever he's got going on at wolf island i love wolf island i also love the wolf island music festival uh which my dear friend virginia runs um and it i don't know it's just a magical place i think about moving to kingston just so i could maybe live on wolf island well i feel like um it's a lawless stephen stanley lived there or is he moving there i don't know we maybe had this chat before i gotta find out what's up with Steven Stan. Hey, are you okay if anything that comes in your

head you can share? I start kicking out these jams of yours. I've been holding onto these things for years. So I'm picking the order here. Like I said, I've only been inside once here. If you know what I mean. Should we move it outside? I was kind of hoping you'd resurrect

the backyard. I'm always afraid of the gear. I get out there, let's pretend it's minus two or something like that. But is this all going to be, is this expensive shit? I feel like we had one dodgy night where things were frightening. Not surprising. I think things were blowing over and getting wet. I am going to start purposely with this song because I think this is a good starting point.

I am going to start purposely with this song because I think this is a good starting point. I remember when I was a little girl, our house caught on fire. I'll never forget the look on my father's face as he gathered me up in his arms and raced to the burning building out of the pavement. And I stood there, shivering in my pajamas and watched the whole world go up in flames.

And when it was all over, I said to myself, Is that all there is to a fire? Is that all there is? Is that all there is? If that's all there is, my friends Then let's keep dancing Let's break out the booze And have a ball

If that's all There is And when I was 12 years old Peggy Lee. Ben, talk to me about Is That All There Is. I hope my dad's listening to this because it's his fault.

He played this to me at a very early age and i i think it's just called this is peggy lee or something i play this record at my uh day job at cops records on the damn fourth all the time i love this song and then a few years ago uh well not a a few years, probably 10 years ago, on one of her albums with John Parrish, PJ Harvey did a cover of it that's even more dead-eyed. And your daughter's named after PJ Harvey. Yes, she is my other bride, PJ Harvey. But there's the part in the song

where Peggy Lee's like, and I fell in love, and then he laughs, and I thought I would die, but I didn't. The PJ Harvey one is like, and I thought I would die, but I didn't. And it's just the, like, it's so cold.

I don't know. It's a beautiful song. Obviously, Peggy Lee didn't write it, but she has the claim to the definitive version. And it's just, it's funny. It's like darkly funny. Mordenly funny. Oh, here it is.

The most wonderful boy in the world. We'd take long walks down by the river or just sit for hours gazing into each other's eyes. We were so very much in love. And then one day, he went away. And I thought I'd die. But I didn't. And when I didn't, I said to myself,

is that all there is to love? Is that all there is? It's bonkers. It's so good. I have memories of this song in a pivotal scene on Mad Men. Is that possible? Probably. That seems on brand from my limited knowledge of television and Mad Men.

I feel like if you were going to have that, that's a fitting tune for what I imagine Mad Men is in my head. So you've never seen it? Am I good with the TV? ADHD, man. I can't sit still. Look at me. I'm fidgeting right now. That's why those chairs have the swivel. Okay, so Randy Newman is the arranger and conductor of this

jam. Did you know that? That one? The Peggy Lee one? Yeah. Really? I'm on the Wikipedia page for this song. Yeah. It's Randy Newman's credited with Arranger and Conductor. Interesting. I wonder if it's the same Randy Newman. It's gotta be. It can't be two.

It can't be two. Here, I'll click through. Yeah, it's the same. One and the only. Okay, shout out to short people. Wow. Well, my estimation of Randy Newman just went up slightly. Anyway, it's a badass song. Even death disappoints her. Thank you. All these people drinking love is spent I sit around and clean that face with it

And listen to teeth to learn how to quit Time to a night that never met You know it's time That we Grow old and do some shit I like it all that way I like it all that way All these people drinking love Broken social scene. Ben, talk to me about Lover's Spit.

That's a goodie. Haven't listened to that in a while. Don't worry, we have another four and a half minutes, so it's going to be sticking with us. That's the studio version. I don't know. I remember the first time I heard this record, You Forgotten People,

and pretty much everyone involved in that band has been a friend of mine since before they were that band. And I was... This is a good story, actually. I was at... Do you remember the doors of the 21st century? The debacle with Ian Asprey singing in place of Jim Morrison. And Stuart Copeland on drums. I had to go to Barrie, to the old Molson Park, to watch that.

With like 3,500 people. Like in a place that holds 35 or 40,000 people. It was a thing. And on the drive back, my buddy Kieran Grant who was then the music writer for the Toronto Sun he's like, fuck, have you heard Brendan and Kevin's new record?

And I'd just gotten my CD-R of it and I was like and he's like, it's really good. It's really good. I'm like, don't play it in the like, don't play it in the car. Don't play it in the car. I need a moment. And as you know, I go dark sometimes.

And I had a bit of a dark period. I put it on the next morning. And I smoked it. Sorry, Toronto Star. Smoking a joint on the way to work. Shout out to Cana Cabana. Yeah, yeah. Shout out to, I can't remember who my old dealer was.

But I was like, I can't remember who my old dealer was. But I was like, I snuck a joint, I was crossing Spadina and I had my, my, my like Sony Discman. You had a Discman, yeah, of course.

Yeah, with my like blue bottom CDR burn of this. And I remember hearing Cause Equals Time as I crossed Spadina going, fuck, this is, this is actually really good. And then by the time I got to this tune, I'm like, what the fuck is going on? This record's amazing. And it's all bangers. I still love this

album. And also, well, then we were two good components in this because Kieran and me and my friend Stuart Berman, I think we're, and our friend Matt Galloway, now CBC Matt Galloway we all wrote really glowing

reviews of this and another Toronto Music Journalist wrote a piece in another publication saying the only reason people like this record is because they're friends with the band. Who was that? Come on, what are you afraid of? What are you afraid of? You can look it up.

Do a search. He's way more successful than me. But then on New Year's Day... Why would Brad Wheeler write such a thing? That's right, it was Brad. Then on New Year's Day, I guess after

September, whenever that came out, there was a 9.7 review in Pitchfork that just fucking catapulted this record and Metric and Stars and then fucked

like it really like shout out to Michael Barclay and his book on the scene but it was just bananas absolutely like it really exploded so that was kind of

indication for all of us but also Kevin Drew who's again a friend he's a standing agreement that if Gail and I who have been together for 20 years But also Kevin Drew, who's again a friend, he's a standing agreement that if Gail and I, who have been together for 20 years, ever get married, he has to perform this at our wedding.

He's agreed to it. I'd get married just for that. But this was like the soundtrack to my, I guess, long-suffering romantic partnership. So there you go. A bit of sap sap for you i love that story absolutely and yeah this was the the album man it was so great and uh sounds great in the cans it's got that lush indie vibe going there all right it's gonna ride us into the next jam it's been a long time i don't even remember what any of these are to the next jam.

It's been a long time. I don't even remember what any of these are. It's been, literally been years, Ben. I don't like any of this music anymore. That's fine. It is what it is.

Let's see if you can even name the tune on your stuff. This was my most listened to tune of last year. Like, not this year, but last year. 2022. It's a hair. This was my most listened to tune of last year. Like, not this year, but last year. 2020 tune. It's a there.

This tune is just fucking bonkers. I am down Down with your heart strings You're my everything A piece of me Girl, I could burn Top of a tower I am the fatal drop I am the tattoo fever

I am the tattoo Fearer I am the tattoo Fearer I am the tattoo Fearer I am the Tattoo Fearer

Fearer Fire will I will eat your tongue You can be my missile You can hear your joy division in there. You can hear so much goodness in there. All right, talk to me. Tell us who this is and talk to me about this show. There's a few young bands in Toronto that just like

drawed me giddy with excitement. And Bonnie Trash, they're from Guelph. So sorry, that's my Toronto-centric. Close enough. Yeah, close enough. We claim Guelph, man. We've been doing that forever. I think it's fine.

I think Guelph is its own. It's like a Toronto hamlet. Yeah, it's its own republic. We claim Guelph, man. We've been doing that forever. I think it's fine. I think Guelph is its own... It's like a Toronto Hamlet. Yeah. It's its own republic. I like Guelph. Anyway, Bonnie Trash. Emma and Sarah are twins into horror movies.

Obviously a little bit goth and just a fucking ferocious lie, man. And that's kind of how I... They sent me a... They put like a cassette a few years ago and uh look ben i have cassettes in the studio and it like called eslini's dead and it was about this like italian dictator who was into the occult and maybe cannibalism and with recordings of their nona who's now departed, talking about this dictator.

Shout out to Ridley Funeral Home. Yeah, exactly. This album, although this isn't on the new record, but the album they just put out, my only complaint about it is this song, Shades of You isn't on it, is one of the best albums you didn't hear last year and just fucking amazing. Money trash.

I love having people like you who know their shit, listen to a lot of new stuff. You come over, you tell me all the great fucking bands I'm missing out on, and then I can do a little catch up, a little mop up.

Oh no, these guys are, these gals are amazing. It's so good live. I went to see them on Halloween. What venue? Some weird church hall. Cool. Yeah, made it more gosh.

Hey, Ben, before I get to this next jam here, we'll let Shades of You linger in the background. This is the part here. This sounds like Joy Division. With a bit of Sabbath. Shout out to the world's biggest fan, David Ryder. Your old desk mate, right? Also a Joy Division fan. Yeah, that's what I mean. World's biggest fan, David Ryder. Your old desk mate, right? Also a Joy Division fan.

Yeah, that's what I mean. World's biggest Joy Division fan, David Ryder. I'm supposed to get beers of David Ryder and my painter, Chris Brown, at Danny Graves. He runs a motel in Parkdale. The Parkdale... The motel? I can't remember that.

It's got a basic name. Maybe it's called the Parkdale Motel or something like that. that's got a basic name maybe it's called the Parkdale motel or something like that the motel okay anyway anyway we want to like

we want to do that but okay before I get to the next jam okay can you be very specific with people where exactly is this record store that you're hanging

working at sorry five days a week I I'm now at the helm at the the cops records like martin's

business west end people like me just need to know exactly it's on the 209 danforth 209 danforth 209 danforth avenue yeah okay no you'll find me and what are your typical hours i am there pretty much all day every day 11 to 7 five days a. 11 to 7. So if somebody wants a hug and a selfie, is that available from you, Ben Rayner? It depends on the person. Yeah, well, let's say they know you're an FOTM. Is that some kind of a code word that lets you know they listen to you on Toronto Mike, they can't be all bad?

Yes, I suppose so. I will sit for a selfie. During this episode, make sure, please, that I tell this story about the David Kynes boxes, okay? We're going to get to another great Ben Rayner jam here, but don't let me forget

to tell the David Kynes boxes stories. Here we go! I love this. Woo! Lager. And one of my favorite bands. Left of any desire I'd rather hunt or sleep or starve Your charity's so ungrateful The pain won't break the day Shut a pen on your instincts And make me feel it away Make me feel it away

Talk to us, Ben Rayner. Casper Skulls. I don't know anybody who knows. Casper Skulls. They're one of my favorite, probably one of my favorite bands ever. I know it embarrasses them because they're friends of mine.

They call me, Mel calls me their band dad, which I take as a compliment even though it makes me feel very old, but I'm just absolutely evangelical about these guys. Listen to that song. Listen to that chorus.

Give that chorus another one. Mel and Neil are from Sudbury. She's from outside Sudbury. This is off the album called Mercyworks that was their first full length. They just did another one last year called

Knows No Kindness that's ridiculous. It's ridiculous. It's like talks about Melanie. There's a lot of... No, no, no. That chorus. Listen to that chorus. That's a hit.

I don't understand what's wrong with it. Well, you know, it's more of what's wrong with radio. Like, where can that be a hit in 2023? I mean, you're hoping Indie 88 plays it, I guess. Yeah. Now, the new album's a little less raucous than this one. Although this one was kind of, Mercyworks was kind of good in the new, like, weird folk punk direction.

But the album's, like, There Was No Kindness is crazy. It talks about, I didn't know this. I've known them for a few years now. And Melanie, the lead singer, when she was like eight, witnessed her neighbor

shoot her best friend's father in their backyard. And so the whole record's about this weird, it's got a Lynch quality. And again, nobody paid any attention to it, but they're just a fantastic band. One of my favorite live bands again, too. Okay, so let's take radio out of it

because radio is dying a long, slow, painful death. Okay, let's move aside radio, okay? We just discussed how the old media has evaporated. Like, we already, we know. Where the hell media has evaporated. Like we already, we know what, where the hell are we going to learn about Casper skulls? Like we have to hope Ben Rainer has to come in a fucking local podcast with like,

like that's just like a free for all. And he's given room to talk and say whatever the fuck he wants. Like this is it. You're now telling people who are dialed in about casper skulls well it's it's weird man doing doing like say i did a piece on the new headstones record which is amazing um a couple of weeks ago and just you know you do a little preliminary research so you punch in the album name that's like headstones at flight risk yeah hugh dillon right and like and then now what comes up for anything is basically like the one sheet the press release for the album that's been reprinted in a bunch of blogs and maybe one or two interviews

by like like someone who can't write at ctv someone someone who, the CTV one, by the way, that I like sourced when I was doing this, Hugh Dillon piece, spelled his name wrong. Wow. I'm actually, my blood is boiling

hearing you tell this story because of how hard I tried in the past to get Hugh Dillon on Toronto Mike. And I had to go through this layer of PR where at the last minute, I can show you my fucking notes. I've got my homework I do my homework brother I have my notes I'm ready to go it's literally recording day Hugh Dillon in

the basement and the PR person wrote me and said I think he he got he had he had another thing he had to do and he couldn't make it like it was like like never happened this never happened it pissed me off so much I wrote about it on TorontoMic.com because this whole PR layer like if this fucking Hugh and I can talk directly like Hugh let's work this out I hear Hugh's a good guy I want Hugh Dillon in the basement I would promote the shit out of this new fucking album I got a lot of

fucking listeners I also know most of his publicist yeah I can give I'll give you a name if you want afterwards I even that one stuck out because I was. I would love to come down and hang out with you and do this together. I would be, are you kidding me? I'd be 100% game to have you, Ben Rayner, co-hosting on Friday.

This Friday coming up, there's a guy named Richard Griffin. He wrote for your paper, The Toronto Star. Do you know Richard? Yeah, I know who Richard is. I don't know him. No. I know who he is. Different department, but you must have bummed into him

at like a Christmas party or two. So then Richard leaves the star. Fist fight. Drunken fist fight. He works for the Blue Jays. And he was just let go. But this Friday, we're talking on a Tuesday night here. On Friday, Richard Griffin is coming over to the studio

you're in right now to sit down in that seat. And my special guest co-host for that episode is Mark Hebbshire. I would have Hugh Dillon over, Ben Rayner in the co-hosting seat and I would love it. Text him! This is your project. We relate on a number of disturbing levels.

Let's do it. I'll talk to him. Do your best. You need a horse to water, you can't make him drink. Alright, love it. Okay, now I know about Cas a horse to water. You can't make him drink. Okay. All right. Love it. Okay. Now I know about Casper Skulls. I'm learning so much today.

Dude, they're one of my favorite, like legit, maybe one of my favorite bands ever. Wow. Okay. See, this bugs me that I don't know these bands that are fucking Ben Rayner's

favorite bands ever. I need you to educate me here. So there's other stuff that's more modern. I'm going to go a little old school and then come back that's more modern. I'm going to go a little old school and then come back to the more modern. You ready for me to kick it old school? Kick it.

Can you kick it? I just brought a Kathy Dennis 12-inch home from work two days ago. I just can't get you out of my head Boy, your love is all I think about I just can't get you out of my head Boy, it's more than I dare to think about La la la, la la la la la la la la la la la la I just can't get you out of my head

Boy, your love is all I think about I just can't get you out of my head Boy, it's more than I dare to think about Every night, every day Kylie Minogue. I love Kylie Minogue more than life itself. One of the perks, actually, of working for Cops Records for the past couple of years is because they have an old raver and lapsed DJ on staff. So I get to go through all the 12-inch singles.

So I have accumulated all the Kylie singles singles dating back to like locomotion. Almost. I'm not all the way there, but I'm getting close. Oh, my God. And that's on Fever. And by the way, when I blurted out, oh, my God, I brought home a Kathy Dennis 12-inch yesterday. Kathy Dennis wrote this, who was kind of like almost there, like pop star in the 80s, early 90s.

Sure. Has become a writer. But Miss Locomotion herself had to bring this to the charts, to the top of the charts. This is like fever. But the new one, the new Kylie Disco is almost as good as fever, I will say.

I say this as a Kylie fanatic. I just, yeah, this is a perfect pop tune. Yeah, no, absolutely. And it caught like the post-raves, like Geist, all that shit. You know what I mean? And I was, you know, it's good to mix it up a little bit, right? Like I was kind of. I listen to Kylie Minogue more than almost anything else.

I was up last night making a girly pop playlist. What does that entail? Is that just like a playlist, like literally a digital playlist or do you make mixtapes? I just sit and wait. I used to. I used to woo ladies

with mixtapes back in the day. So this Jim Shedden yesterday, it was all like a trip, man. Like zines and mixtapes, like a total trip. I used to make mixtapes too. I have mixtapes from when I was a, like we have a box in our place

where I designed artwork and all this shit like yeah yeah me too brother yeah yeah yeah me too that's why we're friends

that's why I brought out the old this guy's out of retirement here I'm gonna digitize some old tapes here but I'm pointing to my cassette

my Sony cassette player on my even when I started like mixing records I would always dump it to tape not to people are burning it like creating sound files you know well into the 2000s just like hooked

into my old realistic dual cassette player okay so we're talking about like a medium we're talking about cassette tapes here and i have now like i'm more likely to hear a cassette tape because of this thing here than i am like i can't play a dv DVD right now in this house. My CD player died of neglect. I went to play Polly. Dark side of the fucking moon. She was talking about it. My CD player wouldn't open. It died of neglect.

Maybe it killed itself. That's terrible. Now, can you play a DVD right now in your house? We have several iterations of the PlayStation. Okay, that'll do it. And I bought her vintage video games for Christmas. So do you know the name David Kynes? Why do I know the name David Kynes?

He worked at MuchMusic, not at the Glory Days, but he was a music director. He was running the show there. Oh, I know David, yes. And now he's with Hollywood Suites. There's no MuchMusic, I don't think. Anyway, that's why I have all this shit. But I have all this stuff because the other day,

I think Friday, a young lady dropped off two boxes for me and some pictures and stuff. And, you know, the pictures. Oh, I'm looking at the pictures. I hung one up around the corner. When you go to the washroom, you'll see this punch much picture I just hung up from David Karnes. I'm going to the washroom right now. Well, when you go to the washroom, I'll kick out a jam

and I'll get you... do you want an IPA? I'm good, man. Okay, you're good. No, I'm going to the washroom right now. Oh, in your pants. I get it now. All right, so this story, which is boring me too. Hi, Rausha.

So two boxes. So I don't know what's in the boxes. What's in the box? So I actually recorded here. I recorded myself opening the box and finding what's inside because I had no idea and uh then i share those videos and i told any fotm who's watching those videos could say i want that i want that because it's just a bunch of dvds and cds and a whole bunch of good stuff

has already been given away like i've been biking stuff to people i've been having people pick it up like i've been basically most of my time time now is managing how to get all these goods to the FOTMs. It's all free. I'm not asking any money for anything. Just be good to each other. But I guess if you wanted to take a look at the remainder bin, you might see a DVD you want to bring home.

You know what is the great lost treasure of Much Music? Are those interstitials and ads. I think Carl Davis was his last name. I loved them so much. Remember the really absurd kind of much music? They'd have time wasters, basically, or ads. And it'd just be some guy yelling for no reason.

I wish I could describe them better. Like absurd. But his name was Carl, like Carl Davis. And I, they gave me a reel of his stuff one time because I loved it so much. And I,

my friend Mima was working as their publicist then. Look, it's like I did a piece on him. Carl, much music, weird video or something. If you're on your computer. But oh my God,

they were the best thing ever. And I only have it on VHS. And they're gone. They're gone. They were just utterly absurd. I can't believe they got made. And he made a bunch of them. So, finally, I conned the star into doing a piece.

Okay. And he and I just got shit-faced at the old Friar and Firkin. It cost so much music one day. And I wrote a piece about it just because I wanted to meet him because they were so good. Well, you still have the tape or is it? I have the VHS tape. I should bring it over. We should find Carl.

What we do is that we get that to the great Ed Conroy from Retro Ontario. And in fact, yeah, and then we can have a field date with that with the Retro Ontario empire behind us here. All right, let's kick out another jam and keep that nostalgia coming. We're nostalgia merchants on this program.

I wonder who this is going to be. That's an interesting sound because the waveform is fat. All right. It's like a dog whistle. I can't hear it. I'm listening to your voice. It's like a dog whistle. I can't hear it. To put your song in me I'm going to say your name

Oh my ghost, if ghost you be Please do not show me your face But come inside of me I will let you disappear So long So long

But I'm giving you my ear To play But I'm giving you my ear To play your song If you'd like to stay a while This way, this way, you can use my body now to play, to play. I can't wait to hear you, Ben Rayner, talk about this great jam. But there's breaking news at live.torontomic.com where we're live streaming right now. Uncle Bobby Cox has breaking Carl Davis news, if that is his name.

He ran on stage during a Matthew Good Band performance at the MMVA's one year Are you aware of this? Ben Rayner, are you aware of this? And he sent me the great Uncle Bobby Cox Who's a real identity I will not out him here But here, I'm going to play this

This is going to be awful maybe But let's hear this for a second We'll come back to the jam And interrupting a heartfelt song about letting your dead friend inhabit your body in order to communicate with you. I'm so sorry. No, I'd like Carl to appreciate that. And actually the Louies would appreciate that.

I think that's who you'd know. Hello! Rock and roll, who'd you go? So is that him? Yeah, Smashing Gentleman. That's amazing work. That's the lost stuff. Just really stupid, like 10 second

much music interstitials. A genius. Wow. So Uncle Bobby Cox of The Big Find, and I do apologize profusely to the Luyas. Am I saying that right? Another year digging up a lot of my,

these are like legit fave bands. I read your mind, man. Like Casper Sculls, Luyas. I love, they're another great live band. For me, it's like, I need to be, I love the records, but I'm a live music guy. Here's the trap I fall into. When I see a band live, I fall in love.

I think they're fantastic. Don't you think bands sound better live so that every time you see a band live, it's amazing? Yeah, like my favorite band, someone like the Louis's. But then all the bands are amazing. Yeah, but... I mean, there's no shame in it, but I fall for this too. I'll see a band live and I'll go,

oh my God, this band was amazing. And maybe they were amazing, but how could every band, do I only see amazing bands? I see probably less than 1% of the bands you see, so it's a smaller sample size. You learn to judge on a sliding scale. Well, I'm tired and old.

But if I like a bit my probably tell i tell the story to everybody i love a place to marry strangers they're like my favorite live band extant uh and uh i went to see them eight times in three days at south by southwest a few years ago because it was the first year i wasn't i was on my own dime i didn't have like three deadlines a day. I was like, fuck it. I'm going to do what I want to do.

And I love them. Steve and their manager was like, I didn't even go to eight shows. I'm like, I would have gone to all 14 of their shows in three days.

What band is this again? A Place to Bury Strangers. Look at you. A Place to Bury Strangers. I think we've dug some A-P-T-V-S. This might be a good chance for me to let...

Whose current lineup might be the best they've ever had. Okay. If you're hearing Ben Rainer on Toronto Mic'd right now and you're like, what was that thing Ben was talking about earlier where he said he shared something for the first time on Toronto Mic'd and that

was quite the story. I'm so glad you're here. Ben, that story where you contemplated ending your life and you had a plan and you were going to execute this plan it's a poor choice of words but you didn't do it man thank you for not killing yourself can i look at you guys and tell you that well i thank you it's no big deal to not kill yourself okay it's pretty pretty easy you make it sound so easy ben okay you know whatever You know what?

Everyone gets depressed. It's not a big deal. The locking it away does not help. Talk about it. Get it out. It's like the moment you just say to somebody I think I need some help. It's not to sound cliched, but it's just like you just say to somebody, I think I need some help. It's like, it actually like, it's not to sound cliched, but it's just like,

just say it. Cause I thought like I've done there. I doesn't work for me at all. Cause I, I, I'm, I think half the reason I get like this is because I'm dwelling on everything in my head, but like actually letting it out in the open,

like with like honestly sitting down with you, that, that was the first time I, I'd talked to anybody really in a long time uh well let's let the backyard they can hear that like we record did you know we recorded that okay so it's episode 476 okay that was without my consent you sat in front of that microphone and you thought it was just to be look cool okay yeah june 13 i thought this was right oh june 13 2019 man that was the before times man that was in the beginning of that well no because 2020 is when everything hits the the shit hits

the fan in march 2020 so this is june 2019 yeah this was like i would say that the raptors maybe they maybe they just won the nba championship or yeah maybe we just had the parade or something. So go back in time, listen to four 76 with Ben Rainer, but hold on, wait, there's more because you came back here. I want to get this right here. Cause we've had several visits and I want to get this right.

So Ben Rainer, I'm going to load this up. By the way, do you consume cannabis? Ben Rainer? Uh, on the way here, you know what? If you're buying, I'm telling her, I know, I know the way here. You know what?

How long have you known me? I know, I know. Come on, I'm doing it. See, I don't take meds for my depression. I'm plugging a sponsor here, Ben. You know that. I see your poster, Cannacabana. Do you really have unbeatable prices? They won't be undersold on cannabis

or cannabis accessories. Go to cannacabana.com. There's over 140 locations across the country. The second from ben rayner i just want to say that's episode 673 and that was in uh june 2020 so like a year later you came back look we were socially distanced for the photo that's how scared me where look i love it when i see these photos i guess i was i'm the omega man i don't live alone. This is the truth, right? So like, I don't want Monica

at that time, June 2020. Okay. You got to remember June 2020. I don't think it's fair to Monica, like for her,

like we're so close and then she's afraid I'm bringing COVID in the house. I'm bringing 25 people into the house a week. You know, we are not an island here.

Okay. So quickly, then you came back to kick out the jams on July 30th, 2020. So we didn't wait so long for us to do it. It's all backyard hangs. Yeah, it's all backyard hangs.

And then you kicked out more jams in October 2020. I think that might have been in the basement. That looks like Halloween stuff in the background here. I think that was outside and quite cold and windy. Okay, okay, yes. You feared for your gear and quite cold and windy. Okay. Okay. Yes. You feared for your gear, if you know what I mean. Right. Okay. So, let's get back to these jams.

They're not going to kick themselves out. Here we go. A little build-up here. I feel I should speak to it. Pan's lute's always a good touch Hit the post Thanks for hanging with us on a Tuesday night Ben Rayner in the TMDS studio Kicking out the jams Enjoying our GLB

Peace and love FOTMs Here we go! Go! I fucking love this one too. Thank you. Oh, I'm from the marriage of the moon and a crocodile Oh, I'm from the marriage of the moon and a crocodile A moon and a crocodile Born from the marriage of a moon and a crocodile

Born from the marriage of the moon and a crocodile. Born from the marriage of the moon and a crocodile. Doom Squad. Doom Squad. Talk to me about Doom Squad. Another Toronto. Although I think they're splintered between Montreal and here. Three siblings, two gals, one guy.

Awesome people. Another of my legit favorite recent bands. You've done your work, Michael. Well, you did the work, actually. I just copied it. Yeah, they're like... Like, Doom Squad don't sound like anybody else. They're on their own weird planet.

And the record this one... Do I hear throat singing? What am I hearing? You'll hear everything. They actually opened for Tanya Taga in a throat. Like, she hates being called a throat throat singer But for lack of a better word So they toured with Tanya Tagak Like two albums ago

And picked up a lot of Tanya's spark They're amazing You gotta listen to this whole record though they're an album band you know this song which I don't know I mean it depends how much you have to say but this thing's over 10 minutes long it's a chant it's an incantation

I once here's a good story a couple of friends of mine and I like to go backcountry hiking I'm and I like to go backcountry hiking. I'm shocked you like to hike. Yes, no secret. I was playing.

We were on a lake with three or four lakes back. We hiked because it was still frozen in Algonquin Park. And my buddy Jesse and I always tried to approximate the old, like it was Barry Station, the dock, and thus make like Chilliwack and April Wine next time. April Wine, yeah, I was going to say. But we ran out in the middle of the woods, and it was like the moon, Mars, Venus, and I want to say Saturn.

Anyway, three planets, a full moon with a ring around it on a frozen lake and i was playing a doom squad track and they'll love this i they know this story and there's a tune on this record where a like a prayer bell starts sounding and wolves howled back at it from across a frozen lake illuminated by a full moon tripping balls you weren't tripping balls? I was, but it was like three planets, the moon with a ring around it, Doom Squad playing, a prayer bell chimes in one tune, and ooh, because they were howling at the full moon.

Yeah, no, it was like a life experience, but that's kind of the shit they make. Like, it all sounds like that. They've gotten a bit more dancey now. They actually, Trevor jokes that they wanted gotten a bit more dancey now they actually trevor jokes that they wanted me to be their advisor on the second album because it was uh obsessed with ufos and pyramids and stuff so i was going to be there they recorded it in new mexico so they they wanted me to be their ufo advisor okay on that whole true story since there's a weird story still six

minutes left so i'm gonna let this simmer in the background. You did talk about this in your first visit, but remind us again about your legit belief in unidentified flying objects. It's not a belief. Or UAP, Unidentified Aerial Phenomena, as it's coded now. It's not a matter of belief. These are things that show up on the radar. We have proof. No, knock down trees,

burn circles to the ground, whether it's a... I've made the speech on here before. A naturally occurring weather phenomenon that manifests itself as a solid metal object that can move around at speeds approaching the speed of light or not, it's a thing that we

haven't bothered to explore. And it's like, it's fucking crazy to me that people don't ask us, it's like, oh no, that can't exist. So anything that's beyond the laws of physics can't exist. It's like, well, maybe you haven't studied physics enough. You know what I mean? So, that's my thing. It's not a matter of belief.

Why, is it because we don't have that video or whatever, which You know what I mean? So that's my thing. It's not a matter of belief. Why? Is it because we don't have that video or whatever, which will go viral? We have a lot of those videos. A lot of those films. But they always mysteriously disappear, even though nobody really knows what they're... A lot of it is bullshit.

I think a lot of this fucking conspiracy stuff and cover-up stuff is actually just a smokescreen for military organizations to pretend that they know more than they know, so they sow the seeds of disinformation. they're covering up, they're covering up something, but he's someone who rejects like the quote-unquote extraterrestrial, the extra-testicle hypothesis, the extraterrestrial hypothesis, but he's like and puts forth ideas like this is an extra-dimensional

control system that's been like exerting its influence over mankind since the dawn of time, but nobody wants to delve into those questions, but it's a deep rabbit hole. And if you start reading this legit science on it, it's fucked up. That's why I like it.

No, I do. So did you spend many nights listening to Art Bell? No, because a lot of that is disinformation bullshit. But if you go, I have a huge collection of very rare and out-of-print UFO books. I picked up all,

I roll into town, I strip that used bookshop. And there was quite a bit of, like, sound science being done on it until it was, like, obfuscated by myth and disinformation in, like, the late 60s. But there's

actually, like, good early science on it. It just has reached no conclusion. That's the thing. I just want people to ask the question, what are these things? Have you got any new ink since you were last here? I am getting a picture of an alien that my daughter drew

me for Father's Day. As soon as my tattoo artist Emma comes back from Dartmouth this month. It's amazing. Okay. I would get a tattoo that my daughter drew. That's a whole different category. She drew me when I'm committed to it.

And Emma's a good artist. I would get a tattoo that your daughter drew. Emma James tattoo. Look it up. She's great. Okay, and she's in Dartmouth now. This tattooist. She's back in January. You might be able to in Dartmouth now. This tattooist. She's back in January. You might be able to book an appointment. Well, first time for everything.

You know, I got to at some point. Oh, you know what I need? I need a tattoo sponsor. And that'll be it. It's like, okay, let's get this done here. You know, so I love your passion for the UFO information, et cetera. And I totally get that it gets kind of squished up with all this phony baloney stuff. And then it gets, all of it,

it's like the baby goes out with the bathwater because it's all going to get discredited. Well, it's like when a dude from Blink-182 suddenly becomes the voice of ufology. It's like, no. But it's that, it's so basic. Can I interest you in a DVD of Blink-182 Greatest Hits? You couldn't.

No, because that's in one of the Kines boxes. A lot of great stuff. I like that. Josie's on this, all the small things. I will not go to. First date, feeling this, I miss you. Okay. But one thing I want to say while we still have a little bit of Doom Squad here.

You got to listen to the whole piece. I'm digging it. I'm digging it. They envisioned this record as like the perfect cottage country rave. The next one was a rave at the Pyramids. Do not consume sober is what you're telling me. But okay, at least I have some Great Lakes

in me. But the problem is the people who kind of get into this world then kind of they some of these people not people like you but some people then are into next thing you know they're into q anon and yeah it's all the same so it's uh like it's i i'm not calling it a gateway drug but it's like the people who are into this are not the people i want like i don't want to be in any club that would have them as a member. Yeah, you have to remember that the term conspiracy theory

was basically invented by intelligence agencies to discredit conspiracy theory. They populate the CIA and the DIA and stuff. Now I sound like one of them, so I'm going to stop. Let me ask you a few basic questions. Nothing too

scary here, but do you believe a man landed on the moon in 69? I do. There's credible evidence that they were warned away later on. But you believe they landed there? I do believe they landed there. Okay, okay, okay. What do you think? Do you think Lee Harvey Oswald acted alone in killing John F. Kennedy?

I do not. You're not alone there, bro. My authoritative voice. I don't care. I like UFOs. I don't give a shit about JFK. I didn't know him. That's your heart rate right now, Ben Rayner.

Best techno track ever. Oh, another long one, too. I'm just checking the timestamp. By the way, Doom Squad was 13 minutes. Woo! Strapped yourself in. Wait, cheers to you, Ben. You cracked open another one there. cheers to you Ben cheers to you buddy

don't worry everybody Ben's not driving home tonight I stole his car keys and his car I'm going to sleep in the backyard I'd find space for you inside I know you'd rather be out there I'd rather be out there with the record

there's foxes and stuff lots of skunks there we go wow I want to bike to this song I love biking to music best time to go back over The best type of backup ever. Really? 828. What year is it from

do you know I'll look it up 93 93 I should know I have two plastic man tattoos and Rich is a friend I failed him

1993 there you go I got it I augured that baby Thank you. That's perfect Well talk it up Talk it up I don't know I'm a huge I guess I'd say

Ritchie Houghton Who is probably the Best Techno DJ producer For my money on the planet Hutton, who is probably the best techno DJ producer, for my money, on the planet, from Windsor, Ontario, across the river from the birthplace

of techno in Detroit, Michigan. And I feel like, I remember going, the Stars is like 98, 99, to the first Detroit Electronic Music Festival. It was like a free thing they did downtown before it

kind of gentrified up to the level it was today. And Derek May, Kevin Saunderson, and Juan Atkins, who are all the guys who invented techno in Detroit, let Richie Houghton from Windsor, this kid about a little bit older than

me, a little bit older than you, close. You know what I mean? Because they knew they couldn't go on after him. And he's still, I keep, oh man, it's one of the best times of like totally post last lockdown, I guess, played a dirty warehouse party in the stock garage. It was just like 500 of us in a unventilated windowless warehouse with one sad air conditioning unit sawing away and at the top. And this kind of beat down, beat down, beat down. And it's just,

I don't know, just for like techno fans of a certain vintage in Canada, we just love Haughton. And he's the best. And I think as much as his career has progressed and grown, he's filthy rich and living in Portugal now. He's just like, he, I don't know he somehow managed to like rockstar

early Detroit techno and Chicago acid house while still making completely uncompromising music like the latest thing he's put it's not even him Chili Gonzalez the producer

musician from here got a hold of his album Consumed from 1998 the Fights producer, classical musician from here, got a hold of his album Consumed from 1998. There's a writer band one, Matt Ridge, one of the best records ever. It's just basically like walking through a tunnel where someone is thumping on an oil drum for an hour. So Chili Gonzales got a hold of it this year and added piano and stuff and finally got

through uh tiga a dj producer to remix it with all the piano and stuff you're like these incredibly weird insular works uh are still finding an audience you know what i mean like here's a classical musician 20 years later going i don't know this album holy shit because there's so many empty spaces so that's why like spastic as someone who can hold it down pretty good on the turntables if i have to uh mixing records spastic will mix with fucking anything right it's just pure rhythm so if you know it you can drop chunks of that into anything to make it awesome i don't know it's my favorite techno track okay long speech yeah no i love it we had the time for that speech don't worry but

plastic man is the uh i got let's see i got two of those baby one and i drive which is fucking weird because we're friends see and you know now that we have one to go who gives a shit it's only skin. I can only be embarrassed so many times. So Ben, now that I'm draining the swamp, I've got one more to go. And then that long list you gave me that I just, I think our third or fourth time I've tapped into it, it's depleted.

I'll send you another 60 of them. You're going to need to send me another brain dump of your jams, actually. So here, we're going to let Plastic Man here roll us into the final jam i have for you ben i've been uh once again thoroughly enjoying this so glad we can make this happen again and we're gonna you know it won't be the last time you i sense that you visit toronto mike that's for sure. Tomorrow morning We're gonna face hell on earth

But let them do their worst When tomorrow comes It won't matter where you end up. We'll all share the burn. Slowly falling down. You can't help slowly falling down You can't stop Whoa!

Talk to me, Ben Rayner. Dog Day. I fucking love Dog Day. Dog Day. I have this thing in my house. Gail knows it. My long-suffering partner. I'm like, this is one of my projects. Dog Day is one of my projects.

I'm one of two bands, Casper Skulls included, that I think a friend of mine has signed purely because I love them so much. To zero financial or popular return, but I appreciate it.

And if he's listening, he knows. Like a Halifax kind of, I don't know. You've heard. You've played a lot of my favorite bands tonight. This is distilled to some of my favorite Canadian bands. I probably typed in the email.

This is one of my favorite Canadian bands. But you also know me. We've probably played Dog Day on here before. But I don't know. They're like one of the great unknowns here. And then they had babies and disappeared. And then they came back and made a record. And then COVID happened.

So I don't know what's going on. But Seth has also made some wicked horror movies. Seth Smith. It's the most recent one called... You can help me here. Searcher. Low Life? Low Life and then...

The Crescent? The Crescent. Holy shit. So the guy who made The Lighthouse, who also did The Witch, names The Crescent as a huge influence on the lighthouse. And that's my boy Seth from Dartmouth. His third feature film is Tin Can.

They're so creepy. But he also makes amazing music with his wife. I had no idea. So I had no idea the front man for Dog Day was this director. Wow. Okay. Seth Smith. idea the front man for dog day was this uh director wow okay yeah no he did he he and uh my buddy matt did like a for a couple years a film festival in halifax or just weird shit and i was very lucky enough to be one of the three adjudicators when you i got to see like

what we do in the shadows and a couple things before they were things. And I'm just like, I'm so glad they brought me into their world. But Dog Day is one of the absolute best bands. Nobody has heard. Like every single record is different. There's one called Night Group. There's one called Concentration. They're all great. And this one was Hell on Earth.

Dude, this was fucking awesome. Think about it. I'm telling people, yeah, Ben Rayner's going to come over on, what is this, Tuesday night. We're going to drink some Great Lakes beer. We're going to kick out nine of his favorite songs of all time. And we're just going to shoot the shit. Can't think of a better night. Those were some of my absolute favorite Canadian bands.

Again, I will use the phrase evangelical about those bands. It's a good choice. I'm just happy someone got to hear them. One person. Your one listener. My mom. Mom will be like, I love the Dog Days. Well, I hope your mom listens.

And would Gail ever listen to a Ben Rayner on Toronto Mike experience? No. No. Definitely not. Gail would never listen. She listens to the Ben Rayner experience all day. That's true. She's like, I don't need to tune in this idiot's podcast.

By the way, you didn't kick out any Watchmen jams. But in addition to being a great drummer, I just want to let everybody know if you have a real estate question of any sorts, any real estate questions or drumming questions for that matter, sammy.cohn, K-O-H-N, at properlyhomes.ca. Write Sammy. He'll get back to you right away. He's a knowledgeable guy. He's in the top 1% of realtors in Toronto.

And you, Ben, are in the top 1% of realtors in Toronto. And you, Ben, are in the top 1% of Toronto Mic'd guests. Thanks again for doing this. That's me kissing you through the mic. I hope you don't have COVID. Your mic does now. I think I'm immune. I had it in early December. I feel like I'm the Omega Man because

everyone around me has had it a bunch of times and I've escaped it. I was making that same speech like a little over a month ago, but I don't make that speech anymore. Well, there you go. I've learned my lesson. I'll see you in hell. Dog day. And that brings us to the end of our 1185th show. I'm actually confirming that's right.

No. Yes. I told this confirming that's right. No. Yes. I told this to Ed Keenan. My fives and sixes look the same now when they're in the small font. That's because you're old. I know, but I have glasses here. But I don't want you to think less of me, Ben, so I didn't put them on.

I've got to start wearing those things. You can follow me on Twitter. I'm at Toronto Mike. Remind us, what is that great handle you have on Twitter? I hate Ben Rayner. I hate Ben Rayner. Which is ironic. No one hates Ben Rayner.

Our friends at... I do. You're the only one... Just kidding. You're the only one who hates Ben Rayner. You tried to kill him once. That's right. I might try to kill him again on the way home.

No, don't even joke about that. Our friends at... That's a wicked joke about it because it's out in the open. Shout out to Ridley Funeral Home. Our friends. I found a Ridley Funeral Home on the way here. Shout out again. Look, if you want a discount, it's got to be like a prearranged thing. You can't get it after the fact.

If I'm missing my head. FOTM discount. Our friends at Great Lakes Brewery are at Great Lakes Beer. range thing. You can't get it after the fact. If I'm missing my head. FOTM discount. Our friends at Great Lakes Brewery are at Great Lakes Beer. Palma Pasta is at Palma Pasta. I got a lasagna for you, buddy. Recycle My Electronics are at EPRA underscore

Canada. Ridley Funeral Home are at Ridley FH. Canada Cabana are at Canada Cabana underscore and Sammy Cone Real Estate is at Sammy Cone real estate. Is that Sammy Cone? See you all. I want to check the records cause I have somebody coming before Richard Griffin on Friday.

I want to welcome into the studio Thursday, making his Toronto Mike debut. Hold on, hold on. Is this right? Some hobo. My goodness gracious the return of Darren Frost

with special guest Lisa Baker what a busy week we have this week see you all then and I've kissed you in places I better not name and I've seen the sun go down on Shakhty Kul But I like it much better

going down on you Yeah, you know that's true Because everything is coming up rosy and green Yeah, the wind is cold but the smell of snow Warms us today

And your smile is fine And it's just like mine And it won't go away Cause everything is Rosie now Everything is Rosie Yeah, everything is Rosie and Gray

Yeah Yeah, everything is rosy and gray