Toronto Mike'd: The Official Toronto Mike Podcast - Danny Greaves: Toronto Mike'd #473

Episode Date: June 5, 2019

Mike chats with Danny Greaves, lead singer and co-founder of The Watchmen, about his career in music.

Welcome to episode 473 of Toronto Mic'd, a weekly podcast about anything and everything. Proudly brought to you by Great Lakes Brewery, Propertyinthe6.com, Palma Pasta, Fast Time Watch and Jewelry Repair, StickerU.com, and Capadia LLP CPAs. I'm Mike from TorontoMike.com, and joining me is founder and lead singer of The Watchmen, Danny Graves. There is a young cowboy who lives on the range. His horse and his cattle are his only companion. He works in the saddle and he sleeps in the canyon, waiting for sits by his fire, thinking about women and glasses of beer.

He's closing his eyes as the doggies retire. He sings out a song which is soft but it's clear, as if maybe someone could hear. So goodnight you moonlight ladies Rock up my sweet baby James The deep greens and blues are the colors I choose Won't you let me go down in my dreams And rock upbye sweet baby James Now the first of December is covered in snow So is the turnpike from Stockridge to Boston

The Berkshires seem dreamlike on the counter that's frostin' Ten miles behind me and ten thousand more to go There's a song that they sing when they take to the highway A song that they sing about their home in the sky A song that they sing about their home in the sky Baby, you can't believe it if it helps you to sleep but singing works just fine for me so good night your moonlight ladies rock up by sweet baby james the deep greens and blues are the colors I choose

Won't you let me go down in my dreams And rock our bye sweet baby James Thanks, folks. Thanks for having me. Welcome, Danny. Hello there. Unbelievable. I wasn't expecting that.

One of my favorite songs of all time. My firstborn son's name is James, and that song's a big part of it. Love the song. And I was at the amphitheater in 03 when you opened for The Hip, and you guys played that, and it was just magic. No one sings a cappella like Danny Graves. Yeah, you know, it's become something of a... just magic. Like no one sings acapella like Danny Graves. Yeah. You know,

I, it's, it's become something of a, well, it happens in every show. And, and I guess it started, you know,

playing, you know, playing a lot of small clubs and never being able to hear yourself. And that was, I read, I'd always see like the acapella song in the set. And it's like, Oh,

finally I'll be able to hear myself for one, at least one song of song in the set. And it's like, oh, finally, I'll be able to hear myself for at least one song of this 90-minute set. And I have a few of them. I'm a big James Taylor fan, you know, probably from my, well, for sure from my mom. I had his greatest hits, like vinyl for years and years. And I just, I don't know, I just love the way so many of his songs. Well, that James Taylor greatest hits, I think that belongs in everyone's collection. That's standard. years and years and i just i don't know i just love the way so many of his songs well that james

taylor greatest hits i think that belongs in everyone's collection like that's standard yeah one of those records uh and usually you know you don't you don't want to start with the greatest hits but i was a kid and then you know it started uh it's just to sort of blossom no shame in that by the way like with bob marley where did you start? Legend, right? Yeah, probably. Probably because that was the era where it's like, oh, this is the one and it has all the tunes on it. And then you just, and then you're instantly, and then, you know, and then if you feel you want to

sort of like dive in a bit deeper and go, you know, check out some deep cuts, as they say, you can do it. But I suppose it is not a bad way to start no and by the way that's from that audio is from the fire escape sessions so there's some cool oh wow okay i was gonna ask you where that was from yeah that was a neat thing i wish i remembered those guys names because i don't but they had they lived um they had this amazing loft across from, it was, I guess, which way, which one goes east?

Is it Adelaide? So Adelaide, right across from the fire station, that big fire station. Yeah, yeah. It's Adelaide and John-ish. Right. And they had, you know, sort of a holdover, enormous loft, and they would hold these shows on their fire escape, and hence the fire escape lounge. But I was,

I shared on Twitter, I was going to open this show with, uh, you're, you sing and sweet baby James. And then Jake gold chimed in to say, uh, I should hear you do the redemption song.

Yeah. And it's not acapella, not acapella. No, it's not acapella. So Jake, that doesn't count, but I pulled it anyways,

cause there's a gentleman, a big fan of yours named Mike Shannon. Okay. I said that right. Awesome. And it anyways because there's a gentleman, a big fan of yours named Mike Shannon. I hope I said that right. Awesome. And he shared with me a couple of jams. One is a redemption song. So we won't play the whole thing. I'll play it and then I'll bring it down

and we'll talk about it. We'll do this one right now, right? Old pirates, yes, they rob I Sold I to the merchant ships Minutes after they took I From the bottomless pit But my hands were made strong By the hand of the Almighty Yeah, forward in this generation

Triumphantly Won't you help to say The song of freedom is all I ever had Redemption song Amazing. Sounds like I've been singing for like four weeks straight that particular take. It works for you. It works for you. But then right away, so that comes in, right? sounds like I've been singing for like four weeks straight that particular take.

It works. It works for you. It works for you. But then, uh, right away. Uh, so that comes in, right then.

And by the way, he agrees with me. This Mike Shannon says that no one does acapella better than, uh, Danny Graves. So we agree on that front. Thank you, Mike.

But then Liam Dixon, right away, Liam Dixon chimes in and he says, I was hoping for between the wars. Oh, that's, I liked that one too. If I can. I was a minor. I was hoping for Between the Wars. Oh, I like that one too. If I can.

I was a miner. I was a doctor. I was a railwayman between the wars. I raised a family in time of austerity with sweat at the foundry between the wars. I kept the faith And I kept voting Not for the iron fist But for the helping hand

For this is a land With a wall around it And mine is the faith My fellow man This is a land of hope and glory. Mine is the green fields and the factory floor. There's all the skies

are dark with bombers and mine is the peace we knew between the wars. Between the wars. So that's great too, but I want to tell the people listening how you came on the show is that your cousin was on the show fairly recently. So your cousin is Sammy Cohn from The Watchmen.

And the drummer. Yes. Yeah, he drummed in that band too. Yeah, he did a bit. You know, the lights in the smaller clubs, the lights are never on the back line, but it was definitely him. Yeah, so I've known him my whole life

since I was, you know, zero and a half yeah I bet and I recently saw Sammy at Twitter Canada I went to do a podcast there with Cam Gordon and originally he was going to join you today yeah I know he had some other things happening so he's selling a condo or something yeah yeah I know he's he's he's doing the big city toronto thing well so thank you sammy uh for for helping hooking me up with with you danny and um well i want really awkward original like start off question which is are you aware because in my humble opinion i've shared this publicly no canadian no canadian band's lead singer has as strong a voice, as great a voice as you. Like, I mean that sincerely.

Well, thank you. I definitely, I definitely don't think that of myself. And I don't, that's not how I... You should get your hearing checked. Yeah, no, well, I know I'm terrified to get my hearing checked. And a lot of it, thanks to Sammy and his cymbals, probably. But no, you know, you don't't you don't go through things like that you just sort of you just sort of do what you do you know I I said a long time ago like when I first sort of realized that I could do it I mean a lot of that happened like when when you're when you're watching other

bands soundcheck you know you're doing a show like five bands five bucks and you're you're watching other bands soundcheck, you know, you're doing a show like five bands, five bucks, and you're there, you know, way too early and you're hearing all these other bands soundcheck and you realize, oh, that doesn't, I can do that. You know, that doesn't sound very good. I came and I'm sort of, you know, so that's sort of when you realize, it reminds me of something my dad said to me a long time ago,

which is hilarious. He's from the Caribbean, but he said, I didn't realize I was black until I moved to Canada. And which is hilarious because my dad's most definitely black. But why would you? Why would you realize that you could sing until you heard other people that couldn't? Or why would you realize, you know, like that sort of idea? So it was very gradual.

And then, you know, and then as you're in it, you're just sort of trying to get better. And you're, you know, this is what you got. But how do you get in it? Like, is it like, I mean, the drummer's your cousin. So what is it? You guys just, you realize you might have something vocally. And then, because it's you, Sammy, Pete, and Joey, right? In the beginning.

Well, yeah, in the beginning. Yeah. And this, you know, in terms of me being a founding member, I'm kind of, I mean, I'm sort of a founding. I mean, I'm definitely co-founding. It's not not wasn't my thing it started out with joey actually joey was in a band with with uh excuse me with um pete and another singer and another drummer okay and they lost their singer and they say hey how about and i was like oh guys i gotta go to school i'm still going to school still going to university i don't want to I'll sing on the weekends and whatever.

And then it just sort of evolved. And we came up with some good tunes. And we just sort of, I remember voluntarily withdrawing from all of my courses at university. So yeah, we got a COCA conference in Vancouver. We got to get in the van and go. And I was just sort of saying, all right, well, let's give it a shot. I can always go back to school.

Let me see what this does. And, you know, 30 years later, I'm sitting here. Like you never know until you go for it. So let's tell the people, what are you drinking right now? So that's a red leaf, right? It's a red leaf. Yeah, it's a Great Lakes Brewery red leaf. Does everybody know that it's before noon?

Is that... But you know what? I think after 11, it's okay, right? Is it all right? Well, I mean, legally it is. I own a bar, so technically... You own a bar, and I just want you to know if you need help, I'm SmartServe certified. Oh, nice one.

Just a heads up. I carry some of this Great Lakes product, actually. Do you? Yes, I do. So tell us now, what's the name of your establishment? The name of the bar is called Motel Parkdale. No no it's called motel bar it's in parkdale uh at motel parkdale is the twitter handle um but it's called motel it's in parkdale just sort of the it's the first we like to say the first bar uh well i mean if you technically consider dufferin

the the the border between parkdale and west queen West, it's the first bar if you're heading west. So, and it's great. Eight years in and it's a little, you know, a little local neighborhood 30 seat thing and people like it. I'm glad you mentioned the bar up top because I have a question for you from, okay, now with all due respect to Sammy Cohen, he's only the second best real estate agent in the GTA. Okay, sure. The second best, which is pretty good because there's lots of them. Because there's lots of them. Brian Gerstein from propertyinthesix.com. He's a real estate broker with PSR Brokerage. He's a real estate agent with PSR Brokerage. And he's actually

recorded a question for you that ties in nicely with your bar. So this voice belongs to Brian. Hi, Danny. Brian Gerstein here, sales representative with PSR Brokerage and proud sponsor of Toronto Mike. Less than three years ago, one of my clients bought a condo in Kingwood for $1,000. And I am working with her now to use that equity to move up to a townhouse with a yard for her dog. The condo appreciation has made this all possible. I can crunch the numbers for you too. Just call or text me at 416-873-0292. Danny, I know it pains you to see the Blues who are in your beloved Winnipeg Jets division, only two games away from the Stanley Cup. You and your wife Lisa bought the motel bar in Parkdale

the year the Jets moved back to Winnipeg. Not only does it play live music, but it hosts the Jets games for transplanted Winnipeggers. May 10th last year, I saw a video from the bar of your Jets eliminating the Preds in Game 7, and they were all set to meet Vegas in the conference finals. You may as well have been back in the peg. Do you still only have a Leafs game policy

where they only can be watched when they're playing the Jets, or is that relaxed a bit? Yeah, well, it has relaxed a bit. That was sort of... When I first opened the bar, I didn't want it to be a sports bar. That wasn't the idea at all. We didn't have a TV. It was just sort of live music, local. We were trying to figure out what we it to be a sports bar. That wasn't the idea at all. We didn't have a TV. It was just sort of live music, local.

We were trying to figure out what we wanted to be, but we sort of know that we didn't want to be a sports bar. And exactly what happened is the Jets came back, and we realized that, well, I want to see these games, but I'm always, in the first few years, I'm always here. So I'm going to put these me to just for me to see and then it just uh it snowballed and now it's become the place to see uh the jets and the playoffs are are insane you know um and it's great it's a really it's a really beautiful community that

we've accidentally built is sort of how i like to say it well i can imagine there's lots of transplanted winnipeggers in Toronto, right? Tons. And a lot in the music industry, in the radio and television and writers and just all kind of within the wheelhouse of independent people in that industry. So it's a great crowd. It's not like you're getting the worst of Winnipeg. You're kind of getting the, the best folks, I think. I know what you're saying there. The worst of Winnipeg stays in Winnipeg. That's what you're saying. Well, you know, and of course, you know, I'm not, I mean, no disrespect. I'm in Winnipeg, you know, every few months,

my whole family's still there. So nice. And you're not going back though. You found your home. No, no, no. I've been here for 20 years. I can't, I can't go back there. My whole, my whole thing is here. So now I'm going to give you some gifts now. You've already started, I see, of course,

because the red leaf lager. By the way, that's a shout out to a great friend of the show, Mark Hebbshire. That's his go-to Great Lakes brewery beer is the red leaf. So in fact, I probably had that in the, Mark Hebbshire. That's his go-to Great Lakes brewery beer is the Red Leaf. Nice. In fact, I probably had that in the fridge for Hebbsie. So, sorry, Hebbsie, I gave your beer away to Danny.

I'm a big fan of the Octopus Wants to Fight. Oh, yeah, okay. That's their IPA, which I like quite a bit. Well, here's the poster. Yeah, it's not cold, but yeah. Yeah, no, no, I know it well. And, yeah, Octopus, I think it was my favorite beer from Great Lakes Brewery. If you like an IPA, I mean, if you like that sort of thing, for sure. cold but yeah yeah no no i know it well and uh yeah i think you know it's my favorite beer from

great lakes brewery is like an ipa i mean if you like that sort of thing for sure right my wife's actually favorite beer is the blonde lager that's why that one's in the fridge but so okay so first i want to say hello to listener michael lang uh he says i love it when you have musical guests uh could you ask uh daniel what was the first concert he went to? Do you remember your first concert? And Rafi doesn't count. No, no, no, it wasn't. Like, I guess when I think about that, I don't know if it's true or not,

but it feels like the first big concert was, would have been a Billy Joel concert, probably, at the old Winnipeg Arena. And, you know, I don't know. It wasn't, it may not have been my first one. There might have been a smaller one, but just in my mind's eye, that's sort of what I think was... That's your first big, big time rock star. Yeah, when I think about a big concert that I saw

and something that really affected me. And it sure was. Billy Joel was a big deal for me, for sure, as a piano player as well. It's funny that your first big concert is Billy Joel. My first big concert was Elton John. Yeah, well, and I think they did a co-thing. Yeah, later.

Yeah, later on they did a, which makes perfect sense, you know, get the piano guys together and a lot of bang for your buck. Yeah, big time, but big buck. Remember that. Big buck, for sure. Definitely three digits, for sure. Oh yeah, for sure, for sure, for sure.

By the way, I still want to give you these gifts right away off the top, but Heather Badenock, I hope i said it right badenock she's a big fan she says she's been a fan for over 20 years and she's always wondered what's in the lunchbox they bring on stage yeah that well the lunchbox has has since been stolen or it was stolen years and years ago but it was um it just sort of started it was my like my harmonicas my harmonicas and probably sharpies to write sets out and then a bunch of garbage at the bottom that i just never bothered cleaning but it was ultimately harps just like okay this is all my stuff and uh and so that that was the idea and then it sort of caught on and then somebody stole it i was

thinking like in pulp fiction whenever they open the briefcase, it's like. You never saw what it was. You never saw what it was. And there was all this theory. It's like, oh, it's his soul. It's Marsalis' soul because he has the bandaid on his neck, right? Right, of course. So it's like all these different.

So that makes perfect sense. It would be his soul in the briefcase. Right. Well, in the early days of the internet, like, you know, remember that feeling in the whatever mid to late 90s when you're online and you're like, oh my God. And I had certain things I would dive deep into and i had access to all the stuff and one of them was like pulp fiction fan theories that was a big one like what was what was in the briefcase the other was the simpsons i was a big simpsons fan and there

was a website called springfield nuclear power plant snpp.com or something and every episode they would write recaps and quotes and i thought i had like i think nothing will get better than this that was my thought yeah this is as good as it's getting man like well thankfully you were wrong uh it was i know well well maybe not actually that's not entirely untrue all right so if it wasn't clear you're getting to take home this six pack of great lakes beer it's going home with you danny and i'm glad you uh have uh technically it might go in my fridge at the bar but uh and you know but of course i won't sell it they're all they're all free samples absolutely and they're for you to enjoy with only good friends yes of course family

so enjoy that thank you great lakes uh great lakes by the way uh this is interesting because when you guys played at the Danforth Music Hall, your most recent show, I guess, your opening act was Ron Hawkins. So Ron Hawkins and Lawrence from Lowest to the Low will be at Great Lakes Brewery on June 27th. That's when TMLX3 takes place. That's the Toronto Mic Listener Experience

from 6pm to 9pm. So we have a band opening in the Royal Pains and then at around 8 o'clock Ron Hawkins will take the stage and we'll hear some new low and some classic Shakespeare my butt low and it's going to be fantastic. So no charge.

Come join me at TMLX3. Danny, of course, you're invited. You'll probably be working at the bar. But June 27th, it's also my birthday. No pressure. Oh, wow. Come with Sammy, man.

That's a big day. You can join Ron on stage. Is Sammy coming too? I think so. I think him and Cam Gordon are working that out. Okay. You join them. And imagine you coming on stage of Ron Hawkins for a song.

Can you imagine? I'd love to. Hawkins for a song. Can you imagine? I'd love to. Well, he came on, he did a, what was it, it was New England we did with him for our encore of that show. He stuck around, which is nice of him, and he's a big Brag fan as well, as am I. His new album is all about,

what do you call it, agit-pop, so politically charged protest music. Okay. Yeah, yeah, yeah. I saw a thing with him. He was doing a strombone thing and it's sort of, you know, protest singer was one of the monikers. And I said, oh, all right.

I didn't know that. But, you know, why not? You get a little older and the different things matter. And it's a good thing. I just saw him at the Danforth Music Hall last Friday, actually. With Lois and the Lo. Right, with Lois and the Lo.

How was that? It was fantastic. Full value. Those guys are great. Awesome. In fact, no joke, it's going to sound like I'm kissing your ass,

but Lois and the Lo and The Watchmen are two of my favorite bands of all time. Sounds a little bit like that, but... Listeners will tell you I've said it before when you weren't in the room.

Fair enough, fair enough. So you got your beer. Yes. There's a frozen meat lasagna for you from Palma's Pasta. Okay, well, that looks amazing. It's heavy. I know I haven't looked at it, but it's heavy. You won't be able to lift that,

so I'll help you lift that to the car. It's a two-man job out to the car. That's exactly right. Palmapasta.com to find out where they are they're in mississauga and oakville but you can find them on skip the dishes and if you're catering an event you need to do it at palmapasta.com they before it was when i had to pay full price i had them cater my wedding i always throw in that part because people are like oh yeah they probably did it for free but no no before they were a sponsor i catered my wedding with palma pasta they're they're fantastic awesome good i think that's the best thing you can say about a place is that you catered your wedding with them and

it worked and you were happy and no one got sick nobody got sick so enjoy the uh palma pasta uh stickers this is man i can't wait for you to stick this on your jeep this is a toronto mic i'm gonna put that on i have no that's a big deal yeah so toronto mic stickers and that one's actually from capadilla so i'll give you that in a minute but all these stickers are courtesy of sticker you.com they also provided the decals behind me sure sticker you.com they're in liberty village and if you want just uh custom stickers made you can get one or as many as you like and not just stickers. I mean anything like decals, labels,

uh, temporary tattoos. I think I got one for you. Nice. Uh, so when you get the real one, they can trace it or whatever. And,

uh, like buttons, anything that you stick, you get the idea. Go to sticker you.com. They're very good people. All right. So let us go back.

Uh, let's go back to, so you're in Winnipeg, but I understand that you're kind of discovered. It's a friend of the show, Chris Wardman. Is this at the Horseshoe in Toronto? So tell me like, like, tell me the, I need the real story here. So you're a band in Winnipeg and then you kind of get your big break at the Horseshoe or what happens there?

Oh gosh. You have to remember now. Well, yeah, it's a, I mean the, the feeling, we were at the Horseshoe a there um oh gosh you have to remember now well yeah it's a i mean the the feeling we were at the horseshoe a few times and in toronto a few times and um i guess you know i'd have to i'd have to give that one to jake he might have a better memory of that uh but there was i just i recall one show where we actually we drove to toronto to play this one show um and jake was trying to get his partner out and probably Chris was out there too. Um, and it was just sort of, okay, here's this new band and they need some

help. And they were just getting, getting going, but they saw something and, you know, Chris was on board right from the beginning. And, uh, and he's a great dude. You know, we actually, we've played some stuff. Uh, I was on stage with them for the spirit of john um uh the benefit that they do for the last couple years he's in he's the guitar player in the in the house band so uh you know it's one of those in this industry if you if you can hold on to people if you know like it's not easy to have you know 25 20 30 year old friends in this industry so if you you know that if you come upon those sorts of people you know, 25, 20, 30 year old friends in this industry. So if you, you know, that if you come upon those sorts of people, you got to sort of hold on to them. So yeah, I remember Chris was, he opened our eyes and it's like, ah, you know, let's, let's do it this way and let's make the

kick drum sound really weird. And let's, you know, and, and, you know, I think it was, it was kind of ahead of its time a little bit at the time uh and we were kids you know we were kids uh figuring out what we wanted to do we had some good tunes we knew people were were gravitating towards them it was just about sort of getting it out and uh yeah he was a big part of that for sure and he was uh he was in blue peter yes absolutely but he worked with the so it's funny we were talking about our first band so So the first big concert I saw was Elton John, but the first concert I saw

was actually Chalk Circle. Oh, wow. And Chris Wardman worked with Chalk Circle as well. So it's all coming full circle here. Chris is the glue here. He's the glue. And Chris Tate from Chalk Circle

was the band leader of that Spirit of the John thing. Wow, there you see. So it's all quite connected. So for Toronto people listening, I saw them at the Ontario Place Forum. When it used to spin. Right, before the amp showed up. Yeah, absolutely.

So it was a free concert, I guess. They were all free concerts if you got into Ontario Place anyway. That was great. I love that. I love that stage. We did that a few times. You could,

you could arrive on your boat, you know, with a bunch of people arriving by boat. It was quite, uh, quite fantastic. So can you, what do you remember about,

uh, Jake gold? Uh, he's like I said, he's a friend of the show and he's been on the show recently and he seems to come up quite a bit here. Uh, especially lately.

I just said, he would with us for sure. He was a big part of our, I mean, it was, I don't know, can't remember how long, at least 10 years, maybe more. Maybe more? I don't remember when it started, like when we signed with him

but it was definitely before our first record, which was the recording of our first record, which would have been 91. Yeah, well, no, it was way more. Was it because he was managing the Tragically Hip at the time, right? Well, that, that, I think that was, that was the juice that he had. That's why, that's why it was like, okay, this guy, you know, well, what, what, who else does he have? You know, that's sort of, that's sort of, oh, he has the hip. Well, they're, they're a pretty big deal. And

we, you know, we love the hip. And, uh, so that love the hip and uh so that was sort of uh that was sort of an easy it was an easy choice you know and he had you know he just had his uh he had he had he had blazed the trail sort of with them and then it made it easier for us to sort of go through you know play the same clubs and. You had a blueprint of sorts. Yeah. Blueprint of, you know, and that was, that was in the time when just like playing live, that's what you did. I mean, I think that's still happening. I don't know if it's happening as much in terms of, you know, I think a Canadian tour now might be, you know, Toronto, Vancouver,

Montreal, you know, in terms of, but when we were doing it, and I know that was the blueprint that the hip used is that you just go everywhere, you go everywhere, you're on the road. And I think the idea with that is that if you don't, you know, whether, whether radio, you know, comes along for the ride, whether radio does it, or whether, you know, you get success at video, if you just play to all the people all the time, then, you know, you're in charge of your own success. And then if you don't have a success at radio, it's,

they can't take, they still can't take your success away because you've gone to all these places. And, and that's, uh, that's definitely, you know,

the, even now where I'm seeing that we're seeing that in terms of the shows that we're getting, um, it's, it's in these places that we played, we've been playing for 30 years and people remember now they're bringing their kids out to the show do you find that though these these pockets now where

you're playing are are cities or areas where they had a like an alt rock station in the 90s that because yeah i mean for sure i mean we're playing calgary and edmonton and and maybe a bit of saskatchewan uh we're playing the places that we were popular way back when like the big the big spots you know we're not doing as much and not doing as much in Vancouver because we didn't go there as much it was hard to get to it was dangerous on the road expensive and expensive so so I mean we we did definitely you know hit Vancouver lots and lots but it was a lot easier as a winnipeg band to be doing okay we'll go to calgary go to edmonton we'll go you know we'll do thunder bay to saskatchewan

like it was just like that sort of pocket right that we that we drained and and it's the stuff that it's the stuff that we still see today that uh you know the places that are and we're playing the calgary stampede in a couple weeks weeks and Edmonton a little before that. So yeah, it's still the same places. And that's because we did all that stuff. We did the drives. We did the crappy shows to get the good shows to, you know, that sort of thing.

I mean, I had the guys from Acid Test. Do you remember Acid Test? I do. So they literally stopped touring Canada because they were going broke. Like it was just, they were telling me about, you know,

how much it cost to tour this country. And I always think that it's, yeah, Canada is a great country. Beautiful country. Sure. But it's damn expensive to tour. Yeah, it's hard to drive it,

you know. You know, and that's why a lot of, you know, that's why the four, like And that's why a lot of, you know, that's why the four, like, and a lot of the reason why the band spent so much time in Ontario is because you do the 401 tour, you know. So you can home base somewhere and you can play all these places

and then come home at the end of the night. And they're two, three hours away. Yeah, you've got Kingston, Ottawa. Yeah, Kingston, Ottawa, London, all the universities. end of the night and right there are two three hours away and you got a kingston ottawa yeah kingston ottawa london all the universities like university towns were like that was the thing that's that's what had all the people from all over you know so uh that was a big part of uh what we did amazing now chris uh says can you provide some history i think you're the you in this one can you provide some history on the connection between the Watchmen and the McLaren Hotel, such as how it became the rehearsal studio,

the album title? It would be a great venue for an up-close and personal concert for some loyal fans. Hint, hint. Yeah, only if you've never been there would you say it would be a great venue for a show. It's in a seedier part of of winnipeg um uh joe joe's dad was part owner of it i think is is how it went uh and it was yeah

it was really uh it was kind of scary it's not a place you went to um socially it was pretty scary in the in the 90s but that's sort of down the back lane not in the hotel proper but but literally in the furnace room of a of a building attached to it uh was just this big oh god it must have been 3 000 square feet and 20 foot ceilings and just you know crap everywhere we threw some couches in and we just had access to it, you know, 24 seven could make as much noise as we wanted. And, you know, I've even, I've said recently, like I've always, since I've been 18 in the band, I've always had a place to go. It was always sort of our rehearsal spot. And I would go there a lot. I'd go there a lot on my own, make my own noise, you know, sing or, or whatever or whatever uh and just for my whole life i've always had a

place like that and it started out at mclaren we did there was another sort of warehousey you know building under construction uh we were on the roof with another huge 3 000 square foot space you know winnipeg was just rich with these spaces but anyway it's back to the McLaren. We, we were there for, I don't know how long, but probably almost 10 years maybe. And so when we had, you know, photographers come in and video, I think it made it onto our videos. It made it onto the album cover, onto our t-shirts. It was just this place that, that just looked like, it looked like the music sounded maybe a little bit and it was always a really cool you know and 30 years later people are still asking about it it's actually it's actually a

thing you know so uh you know we we did the right thing well let's get to the mclaren furnace room so this is 92 i guess this is your first album and let's start with this jam here let's hear a little watchman Watchmen. on my knees I hate to see you crying I hate to see those tears You're the one who's sitting there just tossing out the years Why are you doing this? Why are you one of those?

Won't you ever understand You're my woman and I'm your man Every time I hear your name Thank you. Still love it, man. Holy shit. Okay, so... Angry. Sounds angry. Sounds angry.

I think you dropped the F-bomb early in that one, too. Yeah, I wasn't sure. I've been watching my language since I started, and now i'm realizing okay i guess we can we can loosen things up a bit oh yeah i should have pointed out this crtc can't touch us here go nuts man uh yeah amazing so run and hide and uh like tell me about like anything you can remember anything you can share about sort of mclaren furnace room coming out and you getting some airplay on the radio? Well, you know,

I think that was the second single. I think Cracked was the first single. You know what? I couldn't remember the order. Yeah, and I can't really either. I'm sure I could look it up.

I thought it was the other way around, but now I know. No, no, no. I think it was Cracked. I think, no, I'm pretty sure. And I have a story about that.

We were actually driving into the mountains into Vancouver and like mountains, into Vancouver, and the radio was sketchy in the mountains, and we heard 30 seconds of that. It was the first time not in Winnipeg when I was doing an interview. First time I heard this song coming in, just as we were all in the van driving into Vancouver.

And we heard this tune, and I remember it being a really big deal. And, you know, it's still a big deal. You hear your stuff on the radio. I think the moment where you don't care is the moment you've got to pack it up. Well, now it's a real big fucking deal because unless you're Shawn Mendes or Alessa Cara, like, how the hell are you getting on there? Yeah, and people, you know, obviously people are still listening to the radio, but there's a lot of other ways to hear your music these days.

But we're on the radio in Winnipeg, and they're playing us in Calgary right now because we're on our way there. And a lot of shows are still sponsored by the radio, by the big stations, and it's still a big deal. And I never tire of that and it's still a big deal and you i i never tire of that you know so that's that was a big deal because i think that was one of the first times we'd heard our songs on the radio so far from home you know two thousand or a thousand miles from home so um

and yeah just like it's that that was the time when you just sort of you realize hey like people are coming out to the shows i remember the remember the turning point was when people used to, the first time I came on stage and people would applaud as we were walking on stage, like, not after a song, not the polite, okay, now you clap, like, where it's like, oh, they're, and I started looking around and thinking, oh, they're actually, they're just,

it's just because we're walking on, just because we're about to start, and they're, and, you know, you don't forget those, you don't forget those uh you don't forget those moments you know and uh i don't think about them a lot but now you know we're talking about it and i do remember that to be a real turning point like wow we've gone gotten to the point where where people are are they're looking forward to us coming on and they're up at the front of the stage already you know and they know the words to your songs. Yeah, no. If they're singing along with them.

Yeah, it's a big deal. You know, it's not anything, I don't care who you are, it's not anything that, it's no small deal. Now, Google it, they'll say Cracked was a bigger hit than Run and Hide, but I don't know, I remember Run and Hide being the bigger jam, but maybe it depends where you were listening. I think Run and Hide ended up, yeah, I think't know. I remember Run and Hide being the bigger jam, but maybe it depends where you were listening. I think Run and Hide ended up, yeah, I think it spoke,

I don't know, I don't know, chart numbers or whatever that stuff, but I think it was, it feels like it was bigger. But, you know, whatever. Maybe this one was more accessible maybe for the people. Yeah, it wasn't as angry. And, you know, there's like a first single and a second single you know like so it really you know it's like the first one i said okay well can they do it again and then the second you know it just i think they both they both worked off each other uh properly right well you sipped that great lake so i'll just play a little cracked here Yeah. Now, Danny, do you remember the CFNY Discovery to Disc Contest in 1993?

Of course I don't. Darn it. Okay, so 102.1 The Edge is CFNY. Did you win this contest, though? There's $100,000 apparently up for... No, no. If there was $100,000 we didn't win. You wouldn't forget

that. I wouldn't forget that part of it. Just throw it in the pile. Especially in 93, you say, that would have been a big deal at that point. Yeah, you know, because I saw this and i had just like i just talked to your cousin sam and uh but we were all over cfny there was lots of stuff going around but um i don't even know if we were in that in 93 i don't know if we would have entered a contest like that because we were already signed interesting so um now when i was on not my podcast but when i was on cam gordon's podcast with your cousin sammy we were talking about uh a cfy discovery to disc contest that i think that he

was saying that lois de lalo won it and he was wondering if because actually it's interesting because sammy seemed a little i was basically going to bat for shakespeare my butt so like the premise was i bring an album and like talk about why it kicks ass basically. Right. And Sammy's there and he was sort of suggesting lowest and lower, like a Toronto phenomenon. Okay.

This was his angle. And he thought maybe it's because of how much they got played on 102.1, which I don't deny that, but he was saying maybe the 102.1 was incented to play lots of low beyond the fact they were a local toronto band but also because of this contest see how passionate i'm all choked up you're talking about this but it was i mean sammy's got to speak for sammy so i'll call him out at a later date but well i i think that in in terms of a coast to coast um and i don't know i don't know how big they were honestly i don't know how many but i think coast to coast we were we did we moved around more and from my understanding we did

like we we sort of owned the prairies for in the in the like the mid 90s it was like you know winnipeg saskatchewan calgary edmonton um and the you know bands in toronto they didn't need to do they didn't need to drive you know 1500 miles to do or do that because they, I mean, the whole thing, and, you know, Jake said this once, you know, you have, you have like 80, 80% at the time, you know, in the 90s, 80% of the record buying public in the country was in Ontario. Oh, yeah. English Canada. Yeah. Yeah. So where, where should you be if you're trying to do it?

And so that, I think that just sort of, a lot of the, it's like Sloan and Los Alamos, I think they spent more of their time around here. Well, lower from here, but Sloan, you're right, they're a Halifax band and they came here because this is where they are. They came here and Toronto sort of adopted them and they're great and they're still going, but I just, in the 90s, I'm pretty sure we played

the other parts of canada the prairies and and the rolling hills as you get into alberta i'm pretty sure we played them they all did eventually like on tour but we would just like you know every you put in the uh you put in the time like yeah we put it we put in more time playing places other than ontario because we weren't living there. And then, but then ultimately the band moved to Toronto and then we did the 401 tour like the rest of them, you know? And,

but yeah, so in terms of who was bigger, I don't know. It's irrelevant at this point, but that's, that's what it feels like to me is that Toronto sort of supported its own because it was the big show, you know?

And I mean, if you're going to be a guy who just goes by numbers you guys sold a lot more discs than low like there's no comparison and i don't know i don't really know that all i know is that i've there's room for both of you i've seen no money from all the records that we've sold even uh we'll get to this but even uh in the trees there's no uh you don't have any uh it was in the time it was the time in the trees? There's no, you don't have any... It was in the time, it was the time in the industry where,

you know, the artist always, the only way they made money, the most money they made was from playing live shows. That hasn't changed. You know,

at the time, it was the, it was the record companies that made it. And that was, you know, if you look at it... But that's bullshit, Danny.

It feels like you guys got robbed because you sold a lot of units. But everybody got robbed. Like, let's just say i mean i i think uh on a on a an approximate in terms of the number of let's just call them widgets we probably sold like over our span 30 is maybe 700 000 750 000 records an average price if you take the nine was 15 16 bucks like whatever that math is. Yeah.

We didn't see any of that money. Like, it's just, that was the way that it went. It was the, it was, and that's why the first people in line to say, this isn't fair, the Napster, the streaming, the whatever, it was the record companies saying that, because the artists were always saying, well, I never saw any money from record sales. There was always live shows, so. This must be a Canadian thing because of us having 10 the population of the states right

because i mean i don't know like you said 700 000 units and like 16 bucks a pop and of course everyone's going to get cut along the way the store and the record company but at some point and i'm just speaking for all those of us not in the industry it it baffles guys like me to hear that you don't make any money out of like in the trees you make all your money on touring like it doesn't doesn't it's just sort of you make a little bit of money there's like a mechanical royalty is all this all this legal stuff right uh but no you don't at the time because you have all these recoupable you know the record company spend you know hundreds of thousands at the time on videos and then tour support and you know making the records and like it was it was a bit of a racket they made they

made the money you know and they were the first ones to complain when when the industry shifted you know and now the streaming now streaming i've heard it's gotten up to the point where okay now they're making money again you know but what are they paying the artists what's you know spotify and all those i'm hearing i'm having artists come in here and say oh yeah x million streams and i got my check for 26 yeah well there you go so it's the same thing they're the way that they're making the money is by you you know, there's like, if you sell 20,000 records now, it sort of speaks of, it speaks of like you're reaching as many people as if you were to sell 300,000, let's say. But the way you make your money is by making your t-shirts and going on the road. And of a $20 ticket, you're maybe seeing 15 bucks of that or something, and that's decent, and that's sort of what happens.

So it's kind of the same thing. It's just a different entity is making all the money. It's not the same entity, or maybe it is like the record company, the big boss, but that's sort of, that's always been the way it is and why you know and plus i'm not i'm not trying to feed my family in the music business anymore you know i have other i have other ways to do it you know thankfully uh but you know it's amazing

how much people still care and we're still playing shows and making good money. It's like, really? Yeah, sure. I'll fly to Calgary and, you know, play 20 songs and, and you know, it's great. Like, it's awesome. People still care.

You still got, you know, thousands of people singing right back at you. Like I'm, it's, it's absolutely humbling. It's absolutely humbling, uh,

to, to think that people still give a shit and, and it's a big deal for me. I don't, uh, you know, I, I used to maybe take it for granted, but I don't anymore. It it's a big deal for me i don't uh you know i i used to maybe take it for

granted but i don't anymore it's a pretty big deal and it's such a big deal you're here on toronto mic so this is for both of us you uh ron hawkins you're in good company so uh let's let's get to that i would say this is your like commercial apex if you, but let's get to in the trees here. Some things are hanging down on the boneyard tree Some things are hanging down on the boneyard tree Little girl, I love you so much Why are you going to give away your touch Some things are hanging down on the boning of the tree. I just don't know how all this came to be.

I don't know how all I get these days are free. You see, I said walking town in God's house Side-sieve windows, backseat of your car Some days I'm hanging down on my boneyard tree Oh, feel I'm fading Oh, fire's blazing Oh, you can't really put a shade I almost feel bad fading it down. It still sounds great.

But that's like the lead single from In the Trees. And you mentioned earlier, you mentioned, you know, making videos. But there are a lot of big, much music staples coming off this album. This was played a lot of big Much Music staples coming off this album. This was played a lot. Well, it was in that time that was rich with video. Much Music isn't really a video station anymore. It's just a programming station, and that's the way they went. But at this time, in this era, what is it, 94?

Yeah, the record came out in 94, so 94, 95. It was just like that was, we didn't even know how good we had it in terms of videos. I mean, they used to spend, you know, the amount of money they spent on videos back then that was like, that's like choppers in your, like helicopters in your video money now, you know? Like, so, but it was great. I remember this one.

I remember out in a field and a big lightning machine and it was, it was terrifying, you know like so um but it was great i remember this one i remember out in a field and a big lightning machine and it was it was terrifying you know and uh and it just sort of spoke to that you know early to mid 90s kind of anger and stank and energy you know it was right maybe i was the right age for it man but uh yeah that was my jam right there you know that vibe right there yeah no it was a big deal it was a big deal i i uh it did it got it got a you know it just that was a big record that was our well that was our biggest selling record you know and and you know on the heels of that and uh what else was on all uncovered was on it you know like that's uh you know that was kind of our that was the big thing that was a big thing for us. We were on our way up. Now,

uh, I want to ask you about like sharing, like how you write the songs, right? Cause Joey, right? Joey, Joey wrote the songs and then you started like, tell me how the split it with Joey at least.

Well, it, um, it, it, I mean, he wrote, he wrote most,

I think everything but one on the first record, um, like run and hide and, and cracked. And he wrote this one, which I, is it the, this the lead single off like Run and Hide and Cracked. And he wrote this one, which I, was it just the lead single off of it? Yeah, this was the lead single, yeah, yeah. But yeah, we just sort of, it just sort of, you know, a lot of the stuff that happened happened sort of gradually,

which is why it's so hard to sort of remember the specifics of it. But yeah, we just started sort of splitting, sharing the responsibility. A lot of the songs came through jamming in the room with everyone. So everyone just sort of had a piece of it. And I think that made us a better band in a lot of ways. And for everyone just having a bit of... They just sort of had some ownership, like more ownership over everything that was coming out.

And, you know, that's sort of, that was a big deal for this record, you know, and a big change from the first one. So this is Wiser. This is, I think this is the second single. Yeah, we didn't shoot a video for this one, but this was a single in some respect. And then I guess the third one was all uncovered. Right. Yeah, they got four singles off this one, and you dropped another F-bomb there.

I always liked it when... Oh, yeah, no, I had a filthy mouth in the 90s. You were an angry, angry man. I was an angry man. That was the way it was going, you know? The music was just sort of like, you know, we just had a... And honestly, I listen to my voice on these. I sound a lot different now. Like there's just, my voice sounds very pinched and strained and it's not, it's not the sound that happens when my mouth opens now, you know, it's just

sort of different, not in a good way or a bad way, but. Is it just a deeper now? Like just with age and. Well, deeper, I'm still, I'm still hitting the same notes, but I don't know, you sort of, your range gets smaller, but you get better. You know, I just, I find that, I'm still hitting the same notes, but I don't know. You sort of, your range gets smaller, but you get better, you know? I just, I find that I sing better now than I did 20 years ago, you know, just because, not because I have less ability maybe because of age, but I just sort of, you know, you get to know what your sweet spots are, you know? That you can't teach experience, that's what you're telling me.

Yeah, yeah, I suppose so. I suppose that's what it is, you know that you can't teach experience that's what you're telling me yeah yeah i suppose so i suppose that's what it is you know i want to get actually because my uh you won't be shocked to hear that i'm a big fan of all uncovered and oh yeah it's got that slow build here but let's hear a bit of that and just talk about that it you know i could argue this might be your greatest song possibly very subjective well yeah i don't know maybe it's uh somebody just said that to me actually not long ago so this was you know our best tune um i don't know it's tough to tough to say i i look at it i i think about it fondly you know definitely and it And the fact that it doesn't have the energy of the... just the same sort of stank, you know?

Like, again, I think my voice sounds better on this because I'm not... it's not angry and, you know, fuck you, you know? Yeah, like Rage Against the Machine, right? Yeah, it's just sort of calm and... it's a whole different person. And like signals from oncoming cars We're covered in a cake from the last time I know it sounds weird, we collected in jars Is that just the place that I wanna be?

Oh, can't you see it's a life I don't need? Please don't make this thing up for me The way that I wanna be Oh, can't you see it's a life I don't need? Please don't make this thing up for me Also, buckle me in on the highway to sin is a fantastic line. I still drop that. Highway of sin. Yeah. Jake always said, always loved that line, actually.

And now that we're, I can't believe I keep bringing him up, but you started it. I did start it. My apologies. Yeah, that made it onto the shirts. Yeah, you know, it's sort of memory lane here. I had no idea what I was stepping into. See, I thought for sure you'd listen to the Sammy one to know what the hell's coming your way. Yeah, I should have, for sure.

That's entirely on me. Is this okay, though? You're not going to bolt on me here. No, no, no. I'm not going to bolt. No, absolutely. I'm at school. Because they'll chain you to that chair.

And I'll take your lasagna away. You know, people say, like, of course, I love talking about myself. I can talk about myself all day, you know. But you're right. Some people don't like talking about themselves. And then they come in here. I don't know why they accept the invitation if they don't want to talk about themselves and then they come in here not really i don't know why they accept the invitation if they don't want to talk about themselves they come in here and i can tell that they're uncomfortable

and then i'm like uh i'm why did you come over if you didn't want to talk about yourself yeah i just i wasn't sure we were you know going as far back but uh no it's nice you know it's nice i appreciate again like i'm humbled that that'm humbled that there's something to talk about that's 20 years old. You know, that people are, you know, your listeners are interested in this. You know, that's a big deal. There's a whole whack. In fact, I was chatting with Jay Onright today. You're a hockey guy, so you know Jay and Dan from TSN, right?

And, for example, his favorite Toronto Mic'd episodes are episodes like this. Because he was from Abathaska. Abathaska? What's the place? Athabasca? That's the one. Okay. Wow.

Is that a spoonerism? Say it again. Athabasca. The T-H is before the B-A. Athabasca. I got a little dyslexia on that one. Athabasca, Alberta. Right.

Lake Athabasca. Is that right? I think there's a lake in there. Yeah, I think so i i don't know i mean bottom line is uh he's totally psyched about this like he was excited about this one the master t a master t was in here a couple weeks ago but it's like going back to the 90s when we were all like young before there it is buckle me in on the highway descent okay anyway you'll be surprised how many people are going to listen to this podcast be listening to this all uncovered

and hear your voice and be like flushed with that potent drug nostalgia. It's just like to the. And that's that's the lovely thing about music is that it is. I mean, for everybody, it's a timepiece, you know, like it's like, oh, yeah, I know this song's 20 years old. But then I remember where I was 20 years ago. I remember like I've had people come up to me. Oh, man, I was working, selling dishwashers and Sears people come up to me oh man I was working selling dishwashers and sears and stereo just got me through the you know and and you know I don't

take that stuff lightly because I have the same tunes in my in my history that like any Billy Bragg tune or James Taylor songs or REM songs they're just oh my God, like I remember big parts of my life that were attached to those songs, you know? So I know how it is. I'm also a music fan, you know? But this is you're still humbled by it, you know? Because, I don't know,

you just, you live your world in your own head and then you start hearing people tweeting in questions and sort of caring about this and about that and you realize... I held back most of the questions for the end of the show because you're going to get pummeled with people who just want to know, like, where can

I hear this? Or, you know, when is this happening? Or when are you going to do that again? Lusitania. So this was the fourth single but... Oh yeah, okay, this was the fourth single. Oh, yeah? Okay, this was a single too, eh? I believe so. You're the lady with the caps all ripped up into seams The passing body is all I get to see

Lately I fear it's been too much for me But anyhow I'm faster every day It's just me Nothing ever changes Drink while we wait Well, I am sure The distance is good We're going to bring it down because I'm going to...

Before you bolt, I'm worried Danny's going to bolt. I'm not going to bolt. I'm not going to bolt. Good, good, good. Because I want to put you in the time machine here. So this is not a Watchmen song. So let's take a quick little tiny break from the Watchmen. All right.

This song was number one on the Billboard Hot 100 50 years ago today. All right. 50 years ago. It couldn't last. JoJo lived his home in Tucson, Arizona. Awesome calipers on your grass. Get back. That's a pretty good tune. Not too shabby, eh? I don't think they're going to go anywhere after this tune, really.

I was going to say, they didn't make any money on selling albums either. This song does not sound out of place next to All Uncovered, to my ears anyway. So there's your ultimate compliment right there. All right. I think so. Now, were you a Beatles fan or does that go without saying? Yeah, I am a Beatles fan. I think Sammy is this sort of, he's the super fan who just sort of knows all the little things. But, you know, there's music that just, it's just part of the world.

It's like it almost, it's not even music anymore. It's just like, it's like, it's the Beatles. You just know these songs. You just know them inside and out. It's pervasive. It's just, yeah, it just, it takes over. Yeah. It takes over. Like when my kids know these songs and they were, you know, like they're just like, I think that's rock band. Is it rock band or guitar hero? Or it's Disney movies or it's, or it's whatever they could you just know that oh i know this one i heard this on whatever commercial for toothpaste or whatever it just it makes its way uh into the consciousness in a way that uh transcends music even well there's a new new movie coming out like right now it might have come out last week it's coming out right now

uh the guy who did train spotting uh danny that name will hit me yes yeah okay thank you okay uh it's about a guy who apparently oh the beetle he's the only one who remembers the beetle songs yeah he sort of has some bike accident and then he wakes up and then he starts playing these tunes and it's like what no and he starts googling the beetles and it's just bugs that come up and and no it's a it's a really a brilliant premise right but can you do i gotta say can you make that like a 90 minute to two hour movie because it's just bugs that come up. No, it's really a brilliant... It's a great premise, right? It's a great premise. I've got to say, can you make that like a 90-minute to two-hour movie? Because it's a fantastic premise.

Well, we'll see. We'll see. It's pretty neat. I think Ed Sheeran's in it and saying, he's just blowing people away writing, you know, just writing Hey Jude on the spot on a talk show. And it's like,

wow, you just wrote that? Well, no, not really, but I mean... Great premise. Yeah, it's neat. Man, so 50 years ago, these were uh rocking the charts uh get back this is also with uh billy preston's on this song yeah of course but uh why am i playing a song from 50 years ago because remember the time is brought to you by fast time watch and jewelry repairs they've been doing quality watch and jewelry repairs for over 30 years. Just last episode with John

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The real stuff. I have Andre the Giant right back here. I see that. That's how much I used to like it back in the 80s. But a long time ago now. But some people still like it, which is great. Anyway, thank you for helping me out on that one, Milan. And thanks for helping my mom out. My mom had a Fitbit and the band broke and she brought it to Fast Time and she got it all fixed up.

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Hey, hey, hey, this is Rupesh here. And Toronto Mike listeners, this is a real fun fact for you. Did you know that you can claim almost up to $30,000 HST rebates on newly built condos or substantially renovated house? If you would like to know more, do call us at Kapadia LLP. You can talk directly to me or any one of my associates and we'll be happy to help. Thank you. Complimentary 15-minute consultation with Rupesh. Give me a shout if you'd like to take advantage of that, just to run by business ideas or things with the bar, Danny. Anything you want. This guy sees beyond the numbers.

You've got to have a chat with him. And he's given you, this is like, it holds up your cell phone, I think, if you're watching on your phone. I can't remember what they're called, but it's kind of a neat little. Cell phone holder. That's right. You know what? You should coin that.

That's what they should be called. So thank you, Rupesh, from Kapadia LLP. That's kapadiallp.com. Okay, when we left off, we were out of In the Trees. So I always say In the Tree because Boneyard Tree is singular, but In the Trees is plural. So you're just messing me up. But Cam Gordon, friend of the the show friend of your cousin says uh

can you ask him about the video for incarnate uh incarnate i know incarnate yeah i'm pretty sure they filmed it next door to where i worked for eight years he worked at 360 adelaide street west that was also home randomly to various nightclubs over the years including one called turbo he wants to know was it was it there? And how did the idea for the video in a rock and roll public parking lot come from? That's got to be Lil' Berg, right? But go on. It was filmed in a few spots.

One of them was, I think it was called Spy Films, which was, not anymore, but it was at the corner of the building still there. So one of the parking lot scenes was filmed. Where am I thinking? It's Spadina. Spadina in front was sort of an outdoor, sort of really cool warehouse-y spot.

And the guys from Spy Films, Pete Henderson and Sean, I don't know his last name, they shot a bunch of our videos. They shot the crack video. They shot the boneyard tree video. They shot the all uncovered video. Uh, and they did some, they did some hip stuff too. So again, we just sort of, Oh, these guys are great. They did some hip videos. Maybe they'll do some of our videos too. And that was sort of how it went. So one of the locations was there. I don't remember where the other one was. Was it intentional? Was it difficult to suppress the... I guess what am I trying to say? I saw you open for the hip in 03,

but you could have opened for the hip a lot more than you did. I think Jake Gold alluded to trying to separate you guys so that you weren't bundled up or whatever. Yeah, I think so. But I also think that Gord and the band had a lot of their own their own desires for bands and I honestly like to be perfectly honest I don't think they like this very much

I don't think they were a fan of our band I don't know I mean maybe that's just my own they didn't say anything you just got a vibe well just maybe it was because we didn't do as many shows as as we thought that we should.

Oh, this would be perfect. They're doing this show. I think that Jake would have been fine with it. I think it was probably them. Gord once said to me, you sing like a bird. I remember it was at a show, and I just said, well, that's really nice. I always remembered that. But yeah, it's just a vibe.

I don't know if I'm correct or not, but I think it had more to do with the band trying, oh, no, I like these guys, or I like these guys. Why don't we try and get these guys? Because really, at the time, they didn't need any help with ticket sales. They could put on the bill, put anybody on the bill that they wanted. But again, this is my own feeling. could put on the bill, put anybody on the bill that they wanted. So, you know, but again,

I'm just, this is my own feeling. I'm not sure if I'm right or not. We call this real talk. That's what it's called on Toronto Mike. Is that what it is?

Don't hold back. No, no. Keep delivering the real talk. I'm saying it all. Yeah, okay. I was going to, I was actually at some point going to ask you

what your relationship was like with Gore Downie, but it sounds like it was pretty business only, maybe? It didn't sound too Chinese. No, no, no. I didn't, you know, it was a big deal. We have done lots of really cool shows, but, you know, I don't think I had, I knew him. I knew him, I'm not going to say I knew him well, but we did, there was enough connection of shows.

I remember we did a great, there was a great picture, an old picture that Sammy had. I think it was a bunch of shows we did in Chicago. And, you know, it was, you know, and I remember a show we did, we warmed them up at the Horseshoe and the aim for us was to drive back to Winnipeg right after the show, and we were driving, we were knowingly driving into a snowstorm,

and I remember how much he just said, you guys should stay. I remember telling that story on Canadian radio, that I just, it was a real memorable moment. It's always the moments in between the moments, and I just remember how how adamant he was about you know you guys should stay like it's because he knows the road and he knows he's no new snow uh snow storms and all that and i just that's sort of one of the weird little things that i remember but um yeah we just sort of we saw each other when we saw each other

and and we were of course friends and friendly and, and the whole band really. But, um, you know, not, uh, you know, I don't think we were the best of friends in any respect, but, uh, a big loss obviously. And it was a really sad day for sure. Um, but you know, uh, there's a lot, a lot of stuff, a lot of, a lot of great stuff left behind, you know? For sure. for sure. So we heard that was the first single Cam was asking about from Brand New Day,

but here's the second single. Brand New Day. We hated that record, I think. Well, is it because of the lofty heights that in the trees reached that this was just a little bit of a letdown for you commercially? I think that, well, yeah, I guess commercially it was. It might have gone gold. I don't know.

Or it was close. I just think that there was an element of it that we thought, oh, we just came off a platinum record. We can kind of do whatever we want. And apparently we couldn't. We're all too fickle with our 16 bucks. But there are great tunes on that record. I like them all.

It's just, when I think about it, I realize that, oh, okay, that one didn't really, that didn't bear fruit, as they say. Well, here's one of the big... As much fruit. Right, that's right. This is one of the big radio singles anyways. Oh, yeah.

I like this tune Thank you. shows up cleaning But breathing the best that she knows how Breathing the best that she knows how to breathe You've got to hang around. Maybe I'll come back to it. That's a good one, Aisha. I like this tune. It's a great one.

And in her dreams Of one day just transporting I remember Jeremy Padeswa It's a great one. I remember Jeremy Podeswa directed our video for this. Just living the best that you knows how Living the best that you knows how, yeah Yeah, say shut up Yeah, say shut up Yeah, say shut up Those you can't even bother Yeah, say shut up

Yeah, say shut up Yeah her say shut up hear her say shut up hear her say shut up she don't have the strength to be fighting with you but the one we can do in three and four

gone insane it's another Cam Cam Gordon has another question for you he wants to know how did you connect and end up singing with Graham Parker? That was thanks to the world of Twitter, actually.

Well, me and Sammy were always loved live alone. What song did I, it was Three Martini Lunch, I think I sang. Yeah, I was listening to that on YouTube. And that's actually another song. That's a song that I've done acapella before. Between me and Sammy, we just kind of reached out and said we're big fans of this tune and I'm in town. And because Graham Parker doesn't have like 80,000 Twitter followers,

he may have three or four, but you know that he's on it and in it and it just sort of worked out. It came down for soundcheck, I guess. And yeah, what a rush. So I thank Twitter for that one. Twitter and my cousin, for sure. But you're not on Twitter. I am.

Well, it's at Motel Parkdale. I've just started my own personal one because I'm actually doing a bit of radio work myself these days. I have a few. Where are you on the radio? Guest hosting some CBC shows, actually. Good for you. A few After Dark shows and some Drive shows.

Yeah, they seem to, so far, they seem to like that. Is this Radio 2? They call it CBC Music now, so far, they seem to like me. Is this Radio 2 or which? They call it CBC Music now, but yes, the old Radio 2. So 94.1 and that. So yeah, it's keeping me quite busy. Yeah, you got the pipes for radio. Well, maybe.

I got the face for radio for sure is what they say. But yeah, so far, they seem to like me. And I'm enjoying it. And I get to hear just a bunch of new music that I would just never otherwise know. And there's some amazing stuff out there. So how long have you been doing this for? Like about three or four months now. Okay.

I'm of the theory that CBC, formerly known as Radio 2, which is now Music, has an identity problem. There's great content there, but if you go up to your average Torontonian and say, we're on the radio dial where you find the other CBC,

95% of them have no idea. Like there's some, and it's, I don't know what it is, but it's maybe, it's got some kind of an identity. Yeah, well, it feels like they're working,

they're working at it because uh when i when i came in because i i've i've i'm of the era of like oh see like the radio one was the talking in the news and whatever and the radio two is the music so they've you know clarified that by calling it cbc music now but it's still like what's the uh speaking of winnipeg, Bachman's show, Vinyl Cafe? That's all CBC Music now, which is Radio 2. I used to listen to it on Radio 1. Yeah, well, maybe. I don't, you know, again, I haven't.

Since I've been there, they've been calling it CBC Music. And there, you know, there's definitely, you know, there's an app and there's, you know. But the After Dark show is really cool. It's from 8 p.m. to midnight like this it's amazing stuff like guaranteed most people haven't heard this stuff but it's just the perfect i don't know i'm i'm a fan of talk you get to actually well that's that's what it is like i'm sort of you know it's more when i first went in there it was like we're looking for storytellers we're looking for people with insight musical insight you know all around insight and you know i sort of started doing it and you know training

i guess like just kind of doing some demos and talking about it and like what they like and the language and you know there's a it's the government right it's pretty it's pretty buttoned up right there's definitely like a tonal style at the cbc no there is uh but i'm i don't know i'm you're adaptable i'm having a blast and you know i'm i'm always of the of the school of thought that you know i don't i know a little bit of about about a little bit but i'm always i can always learn how to you know do different stuff and this is amazing so you ate. So what days of the week? Eight to midnight?

Well, okay, so I'm occasional. So, I mean, in terms of dates, like I fill in for other shows, but it seems like I'm doing three or four shows a month. The next set is June. Oh, gosh. I can look it up and we can get back to it. How about this? I'm going to play a song from Silent Radar.

So you guys, you didn't love Brand New Day, so we'll get out of there and get to Silent Radar. And this killer jam right here. My life is a stereo How loud does it go? What songs do I know? Whatever happened to my plans Whatever happened to life I thought I had Whatever happened to life I thought I had?

My life is a stereo, kind of cheaply made though. How bad does it show? Whatever did become of all my friends? Whatever happened to the likes of all of you? My life is a stereo, turn me on and let's go Turn me up louder, I'll scream as loud and clear as I can scream And if you like what you're hearing Please hang on to me I like being here And I'm all hooked up

So hang on to me For I'm one of a million One of a million One of a million Stereo. That kicked up a bit of dust in the 90s for us, for sure. Better in the headphones. It's great jam anyway, but in the headphones, it's a whole different story, man.

There's lots going on there. That's killer. And this is the first single off Silent Radar. And was this like, you were happier with this album than the previous album? Is that fair to say?

Well, you know, I mean, it was a better experience, better recording experience. Just the whole vibe, the whole taste left in my mouth is better. But then, you know, I hear the song you played last, Off Brandy. Yeah.

Yeah, and I realized that, yeah, no, there was some good stuff there. I mean, we were, when we, before it didn't do as well, we were really into it, you know, like that. Right, right. But then, you know, again, like I was saying before, it's like, okay, well, it didn't do as well at radio or at video, but because we had put in so much work, you know, the years before it, it didn't matter, you know. We didn't become not worth as much in a live way at all. We went back to the places and the fans that supported us through all of it.

You're taking the words out of my mouth. I was going to quote you. So earlier this show, you mentioned that, you know, relatively speaking, you didn't see a lot of cash out of album sales anyway. So really, like, if you had another In the Trees, you're just making someone else rich, right? Well, it didn't matter.

And we still had big songs off In the Trees, and we still had singles off of Brand New Day, and we still had videos that were played off of Brand New Day. And then this one came out and it kind of blew the roof off the thing and it was you know, so it was the right way to just

get on the road and hone your craft in front of people. You know, that was always the best way for us. Now it goes without saying, obviously you're a big fucking deal in canada your your motherland but i gotta ask you about australia yeah well this this song uh and australia was kind of the only other territory that we saw that we saw success i mean we went to

other places we went to the states went to europe and and but you know we didn't do it enough and and didn't do it at the right time or whatever the reason was. But at the time, stereo, because they were doing singles back then, like selling singles in Australia. So album came out in 98, so it was probably 99 when we started, 99-2000, or yeah, 99-2000 when.

So EMI Australia, I think at the time, I don't remember what Foo Fighters australia i think at the time i don't remember what foo fighters single was on emi at the time we could figure it out just based on 99 but i think it was something like the foo fighters had sold 14 000 singles and stereo had sold like 12 600 or something and so you know according to em EMI in Australia, it's like, well, these guys are internet. This like, they put as much, as much oomph into us as they did. This is all because you got radio play in Australia,

right? Like, but, and also the way the radio works is they have, you know, it's kind of like they have a bunch of CBCs like the national radio in Canada is just CBC, but there they have, you know,

triple J, triple M. So if you're, if you're big in Melbourne, you're going to be big in Sydney, you're going to be big in Brisbane. And, you know, so that was, that was something that really, you know, radio really ran things in, in Australia at the time when, when video, I think was kind of running things a bit more in North America or in Canada anyway. Radio, radio was still a really, really big deal in Australia. And, and we saw it, we saw, you know, we just saw, saw radio play,

saw more, you know, residuals off the, you know, like just, it was just all things were, things were sort of happening. It's like, wow. And we were just saying, could you imagine being big in a few different countries? You know, how much that would, you know, how much that would change things for you, you know? So, uh, but really fun going there. Uh, yeah, you toured, uh, we did, you know, lots of tours there. Um, or lots of, you know, sort of like radio tours. We did a big tour with a band who was sort of our stature, um, in Canada at the time and did like just tons of you know like maybe 1500 2000

seat places we were just warming them up so it was like really you know playing for an hour the screaming jets screaming jets yeah yeah they were uh and just playing all these small towns like really like not just the big centers in australia i think it was probably one of our busiest tours it might have been 28 dates and 31 days with, you know, significant three to five to six to eight hour drives in between. It was like, it was pretty killer, but it was great. I loved it. I think about it very fondly.

And you realize that Australia is still pretty redneck out in the small places. Like they don't see a lot of darker-skinned folks. Oh, shit. That they don't, that they, well, anyway, whatever. That's a little of a side note. But did you experience some Aussie racism? Just, yeah, well, sure.

Not just Aussie ignorance. Let's just call it ignorance. But, I mean, it was a prison colony. It started out as that. So, I mean, you know, you can't sort of... They've come a long way, really. Yeah, they have, for sure. And I love our Australian friends, but

I'm just calling it like I see it. So, Silent Radar gave us stereo, so we'll be forever grateful. But here's another beautiful Watchmen song. I just want to see them tonight Everybody Gather round

Everybody Drag it down I'm feeling like a one-legged man Always made to take a stand Any day now it'll come Any day now it'll come Any day now it'll come You know, you probably might know this, but you could headline a set and just play songs

people know from their radio. Like, that's pretty fucking good, right? That's a catalog. Yeah, no, definitely. You know, I don't, you know, again, I'm humbled by it. That tune, like, you know, it's hard to think about all the tunes on the different records. You have it all queued up there, and it's like, yeah,

this was a big tune for us, this one. They did, we shot the video at City Hall, I remember, and all over the city, really. And they used this as a, like, I think it was a Jets montage, a Winnipeg Jets montage a couple years ago. Any day now it will come kind of vibe. It was... Which would be perfect.

I was wondering, is that the Tim Thompson era? Because Tim Thompson used to do the montages for Hawking and Campbell. Maybe, maybe. I don't remember when it was, but it was like, wow, this is a great little thing. When they started doing that, like 10 years ago or longer. Anytime I say 10 years, it's usually 20 these days. Dude, I think the 90s were like three years ago. Yeah, I know.

That's what I think too. Even this Remember the Time, like I'll play a song from 99 and I'll read my script there and it'll say, this song was number one 20 years ago and I actually

double, I have to do the math and think, that can't be right. And I'm like, oh shit, that is right. Yeah, I know. No, it's not.

It's not great. They're about to do the 20th, I don't know what you call it, 20th anniversary. Oh, another swear in this song. Oh yeah. For 9-11's about to be like coming up on the 20th thing and all the things to remember. My daughter was born the day before the towers fell.

September 10th. Yeah. So whenever I was. Is that your first? You have one kid or? I have two. Two. Is that your first born?

That's my first born. Okay. And so there's always these, around the anniversary, it's very easy to know her age, you know. But it was that those few days were pretty, because they evacuated downtown Toronto the next day too when she was still in the hospital and all that. So it was just quite memorable.

You didn't know what was coming next. That's the same, because my first board was in the oven, I suppose. It didn't arrive until January 2002.

But so it was, I just remember that whole like, okay, this just happened here and this happened in Pennsylvania and this happened at the Pentagon.

Like, we don't know this story's being written right now. Yeah, no, it was pretty, pretty scary stuff. Pretty scary stuff, for don't know. This story is being written right now. Yeah, no, it was pretty, pretty scary stuff. Pretty scary stuff, for sure. Yeah.

But, yeah, so this Any Day Now, great, great cut off of... By the way, now, I hope Sammy's listening. I think he does listen. So I think for sure he's listening. I need to know what happens here. So after Silent Radar, Sammy quits? Sammy quits. How long is Silent Radar, Sammy quits. Sammy quits.

How long was Silent Radar? Well, I guess, when was Slow Motion? It was out in 2000? 2001. Okay, so 98. Yeah, somewhere around there. I mean, quits. I mean, you know, the thing,

I always say, like, what happened? It's like, you know, 25 years happened, you know? Like, it's just sort of different you know you just have different things you want to do and different places you want to go and you know there's always there's always the thing you know nothing ends until it ends badly you know so there's always this sort of that's those sort of elements of uh of bands and and rock and roll and breakups of any kind. But now, you know,

but now we're playing shows and doing the things that we're doing. So we all realized that, or we didn't realize at the time, but you know, it's come back around and, and it feels, it feels correct, you know? So Slow Motion is a Sammy Free album and it uh there's no drums right this is uh

yeah there's there's no drums it's program stuff um there was drums on the the tour uh we had we hired a guy that came on tour and and did sort of played with the tracks you know we were all getting into pro tools at the time and realizing hey we can make music on our own like we don't we can just our own sort of oh i'll put a beat in you know you know it was it was really kind of life-changing for all of us you know to be able to do our own recording and bring our own bring our own more fully hashed ideas to the table you know instead of the blood from a stone technique that we employed earlier. A little taste of how that sounds. And we had a big dude working on this one, too.

Reese Fulber, I think is that his name? Oh, God, I hope I'm saying his name right. From Delirium? He was in Delirium for a time? So it was just like, yeah, this is wacky. Let's check it out. But you listen to it, music's music. Good melodies, good music. It doesn't matter

whether... Some would disagree, but you know, good ideas, you still need a good idea. It's our way one Absolutely We're one in the same So tell me about the decision to end The Watchmen. Now, of course, you're back doing shows, but this is back in whatever, after slow motion.

Yeah, what happened? I don't know. I think I might have blocked it out, honestly. Oh, we got to get you comfy and resuscitate this memory. yeah what happened i don't know i think i might have blocked it out honestly oh we gotta we gotta get you comfy and resuscitate this memory a bit more whiskey maybe um what happened you know what i don't know i don't really know it was just like it just kind of felt like everyone was doing i mean sammy was gone we just sort of i don't maybe there maybe there was record company stuff maybe it was like hey kids we don't hear a single like what are you gonna know, maybe there was record company stuff. Maybe it was like, hey, kids, we don't hear a single.

Like, what are you going to, you know, maybe it was that kind of thing. But honestly, there isn't really a thing. It was just 25 years, and everyone had things. I was sort of like scoring movies, you know, kind of during the tail end of this record. Right. And it was like, oh oh i want to put some energy into that you know and then joey was doing the same thing and sammy was uh working on you know

like the stuff he would like now magazine and and well he wasn't involved like on moving this on but just like that's sort of what happened is everyone just sort of realized all right i don't really want to be you know i don't really want anybody like in my back pocket anymore you know I don't really want to be, you know, I don't really want anybody like in my back pocket anymore. You know, I don't really want to be attached. Um, and the industry was changing so, so drastically. It just sort of felt like we wanted to, to see sort of what was next. You know, I, I, you know, got involved in another, um, another musical sort of venture for about a year and a half or two years. And then I just sort of moved on. And that was Doctor.

That was Doctor, yeah. With Change of Hearts. Yeah, with Rob Higgins. Who's now in a band called Dearly Beloved that's sort of playing all over the world. To some reasonable success, I've heard. And he's still a buddy. Good. Yeah, it just sort of happens. Now I own a bar. Like I said, I've heard, but, and he's still a buddy, so. Good.

Yeah, it just sort of, you know, happens. Now I own a bar, and like I said, I'm on the radio. I got those dates for you.

I want to mention. Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah. I did that part. One, two, three,

four. That's, that's my first born right there, actually, saying the one, two, three, four.

Oh, amazing. Yeah, this was, honestly, this was one of the best records I was ever involved in. Like there's some really, I haven't listened to it in years, but some really good stuff on this record. Well, at the time I was listening to a lot of Edge 102, which has come up a few times.

This got heavy airplay. Yeah, we got, yeah. No, it was, I don't know, like I wrote a lot of these songs on bass, which isn't, which I don't play bass, you know, it was just sort of, it was just, yeah, me and Rob worked really, really well together and came up with a real piece of magic, never mind. What makes him so lucky? He's not lucky. He's positive. Positive and worthy. It's good stuff.

Keith, actually, his question was, I mentioned there's a bunch of questions coming right now, but Keith wanted to know know whatever happened to Doctor? It just went away. You know, I was, what happened? I was going through, I just had my second child. The band, the Watchmen had broken up and I said, okay, let me see if I can get this thing moving. And then I just kind of couldn't go back to the beginning again, because that's sort of what it felt.

I wanted it to be huge. I wanted it to be huge right away. I just figured, oh, you know, don't you know who I think I thought I was in the 90s? I can put something out, and people are going to love it, and I'll be playing stadiums. And it just didn't work that way. And people are going to go to doctor shows

and wait for you to play stereo. Or whatever. And that was definitely't work that way. And people are going to go to doctor shows and wait for you to play stereo. Or whatever. And that was definitely not going to happen. And it just sort of... Yeah. The record was amazing. We did a tour with Big Wreck or Thornley or whatever he was called at that point.

And it was fine, but I just needed... I had a kid. I was unemployed, essentially. If you're in a band that's starting out from a financial standpoint, you're unemployed. And you can afford to be poor when you're like in your teens or early 20s. Like that's the time to be dirt poor

and living with a bunch of guys in a house you rent or whatever. Yeah, and sleeping on couches. But I mean, I just had... Living in your car. Yeah, I just had my second kid and it just like, you know, the timing didn't work out. It just didn't happen that way. But a lot of, you know, I've started to play

some sort of solo piano voice shows over the last, you know, few months. I've done some shows here and there, and there are some doctor tunes that I've, you know, stripped down to piano and voice that are some of the best stuff that I have, honestly. It's some of the best music I've written, in my opinion. So I'm, you know,'s some of the best music I've written, in my opinion. So I'm a, you know,

I respect it for what it was. More distortion. Nice. What, oh yeah, Keith had more questions. Okay. Did your side project with Ken, audio playground high, wide,

high end wide, ever record anything? I think we sort of did. Nothing that's ever been releasable, but we had sort of a multimedia show where, I mean, it was almost sort of like singing to our own karaoke. You know, we would have these Pro Tools tracks, missing everything but the bass and the voice and then we

would sort of put it together and we'd sometimes sing behind a uh sort of a screen a diaphanous screen that would then we'd kind of show up behind it it was really neat we had uh there were some we did a somewhat regular thing at ted's wrecking yard onard on college before it became an LCBO, and now it's something else. But yeah, it was, you know, like just the way it goes. You know, you just try different things, and that was, you know, again, there's some beautiful music on that

that's still like a song called Painted Ladies that I've played at some Watchmen shows that sort of came about that way, and that's, you know, one of the better songs I've played at some Watchmen shows that sort of came about that way. And that's one of the better songs I've written, I think. I think I rudely interrupted you with what makes you think he's lucky because I think you were going to give us the dates. Did you, or did I miss it?

Oh, no, no. I think I interrupted you with your daughter's voice chimed in there. Because I just realized, hey, that's... By the way, I pressed it by accident. Just, you know, like I was hovered over it and accidentally I clicked it. I go, oh, shit. Yeah, so it's June 14, hey, that's... And by the way, I pressed it by accident, just, you know, like I was hovered over it and accidentally I clicked it. I go, oh, shit.

Yeah, so it's June 14, 17, and 18. So that's a Friday, Monday, Tuesday. Okay, on CBC Music. On CBC Music, which is... Well, I guess people listen to you all over the country, not just Toronto, right? Yeah, and people will probably just stream it. Yeah, you can just...

It's actually neat with that because you can go on their app and you can listen to it in any time zone. So if 8 to midnight doesn't work, it's 8 to midnight everywhere. So you can listen to the Vancouver feed. I think that's really cool. Yeah, it's neat. You'd sound the great there.

So I'm going to check it out. Okay, is there anything, I got this question in a lot of different ways, but is there anything in the Watchmen vaults,leased b-sides uh rare tracks etc that will ever see the light of day um well i i think that there's yeah i'd say yeah i mean i mean that there's nobody actively saying no i don't ever want that to come out there's no one standing in the way of that it's just about the time to look and to listen to what we have and because you all have uh nine to five jobs like i don't want to call it that but you all have a job yeah i mean my like owning a bars it's it's still the same hours as rock and roll but uh i'm i'm i call it more therapy it's more daycare now than than bartendering when you're looking after uh looking after drunks in parkdale um yeah you know i i would never say never but it's just about i you

know having the time to i don't think we put out a b-side record as in like to stand on its own we if we put out another record which is not an impossibility. We could throw things on it. If Rusty can do it, you guys can do it. Well, absolutely we could do it. It's just sort of, it's the desire. Well, I think the desire is somewhat there, but it's the time. It's the time to sort of put towards it,

to know that it has to be right. It has to hit the bar that we need it to hit and et cetera, et cetera. So Brent Howarth, I don't know if there's any relation to Jerry Howarth, but Brent Howarth says, same question, are there plans for more Watchmen releases?

But you've addressed that. But then he says, if there are any copies of a song called September 10, and that's your daughter's birthday. That's a solo song of mine that i wrote uh for her uh yeah i i um well i mean you know i i'd like to put out something i have some music that i'd like to put out you know whether or not uh it's sort of like a piano and voice i've you know i've recorded some music uh with some a guy came to my bar and recorded some stuff i mean it's just

it's sort of in the process, you know, it'll, it'll be a lot easier to, I think that'll, I think it's more possible for me to put out a record of some kind of an EP of some kind, then the Watchmen to do it,

you know, just because I, it would just be me and one decision. Yeah. One decision maker, one, if it, and especially if it's just piano and voice,

just, it's a lot easier of a, of a thing but uh but again yeah you know i don't uh there are no plans either way but what i know is that yeah i'd like to put out some music and that song would definitely uh would definitely be on it and that ties in nicely to paul broadfoot's uh question he wants to know if there's any plans to continue the original idea of releasing tunes on the website like you did with Miss Monday Morning and Trampoline? Yeah, no plans to do it particularly,

but we just revamped our website, I believe, as well. I haven't had a chance to look at it myself. You weren't curious what your website looks like. Yeah, I know. I'm a bit analog in that way. But I just, you know, Joey said, hey, our website looks like crap. Can we get a better site? And Ken sort of did.

And it's like, okay, great. I'm glad that, you know, we don't need everyone's hand in every fucking decision. You know what I mean? So I know that it looks better than it did. And releasing songs on it, well, that would be the place that it looks better than it did and um and um releasing songs on it well that would be the place that it would happen but there are no immediate plans did uh now this won't help the podcast listeners but have you ever seen this uh this is a that's an old one gift from sammy oh is it wow he has an old watchman sticker he has all the good stuff yeah he has all the good stuff you

don't get that because that's a gift no you can keep that one here's a jam I dug up and I'm going to play it and just tell us what this is and it should play at some point here because I'm maybe it's got, there it is let me know when you recognize it.

I do, but I'm not sure what the voice is going to sound like yet. This is never-ending. Right, never-ending white lights. Right. This longing. Yeah. It's a good tune. So when you listen to this voice now

Are you out of body now? Do you hear it as another person's voice Or do you hear it as yourself? The earlier stuff Everything up to this point Sounded like somebody else This is what I sound like now in my opinion And what I like

That's a neat project. So he essentially has guests take lead on different songs. Yeah, that was the idea with this whole record. I can't remember what the name of the record was. Volume 2 or something? I can't remember either. I'm not sure. Daniel Victor is his name.

And Never Any White Lights is the band. Right. And he had lots of guys sing on this. City in Color had a big hit with Never Any White Lights. Was it the Our Lady Peace guy? Did he do something too? Probably. And there was one, Always, Always, and I just remember

this stuck in my head and I can't remember who sang lead on that one, but yeah, there were some Yeah, no, there was some neat stuff. And I I sang this I sang with him on at the amphitheater. I think he might have been

an Edgefest thing. I was one of the guest vocals for his live show, which is great. Amazing. Okay, so the CD is called Act One, Goodbye Friends of the Heavenly Bodies Oh right, that sounds familiar By Never Ending White Lights It's the debut CD

Yeah, it was his first one. He might have put out another one or he's trying to. That was very cool. Andrew says, the live release and the motel sessions are fantastic. Are there any plans to release any of the catalog releases on vinyl? He's looking

for some vinyl. You've probably touched on all this. Actually, I should have brought it. Maybe I'll send it to you. touched on all this. Well, I have. There is a little. Actually, I should have brought it. Maybe I'll send it to you. I do have a. Well, I'll come by the bar. I buy that bar all the time. I'm in Parkdale all the time. Awesome. Yeah, well, there's I did put out a

vinyl. It's like a four song vinyl EP that has that was done live in New York at a sort of a piano bar. They recorded it and I put it on vinyl. So that, you know, technically I have a little EP. But yeah, you know, there are no plans. The only plans are like, are yeah, I want to keep doing it.

You know, like that, that's the main plan, but there's no schedule to make it happen. You know what I mean? But I like music. I like music way more now than i did at the end of the you know at the end at the dissolution of the band you know it was sort of about the art now right yeah it's just sort of like it's nice when uh when you don't need to feed your kids with it you know and you can just sort of get back to the time when you didn't have to think about now think about it and you know again we're doing lots of shows and we are sort of like wow like people are

paying us it's just good money you know i can do this this is easy you know and and when it's not it's more the music and not the music business anymore and that's uh that's a great relief to everybody you know hey does speaking of jay gold does he still help out with the band? Is he still involved at all? No, no, he's not. He's not involved. He's doing his own thing. And I hear he's doing really well. He's a resilient dude, you know.

He's just always a hardworking guy, always sort of, I don't know, just sort of, yeah, okay, I'm going to do this now. And I'm going to, like, the idol thing. And I'm going to manage producers now. And, like, I know it to do this now, and I'm going to, like, the idol thing, and I'm going to manage producers now. And I'm like, yeah, I know. It's like everyone's taking a hit in what the music business used to be, you know, in his heyday, in my heyday.

But, you know, you just got to appreciate the resilience, and I do. This song's kind of haunting. Let's bring it back a bit here before we... It's got a bit of that Nine Inch Nails hurt kind of... Yeah, no, that's true. That's very true.

You can't go wrong with that. It's kind of haunting. I'm digging it in the background here. Yeah, it was a good true. That's very true. You can't go wrong with that. Yeah, it's kind of haunting. I'm digging it in the background here. Yeah, it was a good tune, a good record, a neat project by him. And it did pretty well, considering it was his first go at it, you know? Yeah.

Producing his own stuff himself, et cetera. An ambitious project. Yeah. Good for him, good for him. Sure. And Paul Corrigan, he's actually in New York, and he's a massive fan of yours and paul corrigan just he wants to know where he can purchase some danny solo work there seems to

be people out there who want to buy some solo work so where would a guy in new york well you couldn't buy it in new york i would have to send it to you from here um which is not unreasonable you could reach out to well you know you know what? My new Twitter with zero followers that I've started. I had to start a new one. Can I be the first one? What is it? Actually, second one because Motel Parkdale is now following me. Okay.

I needed my own because I would announce on my Motel Parkdale Twitter account that I was hosting CBC and they have issues with promoting a private enterprise, et cetera, et cetera. So I've, I said, okay, well then I'll come up.

So listen to DG at listen to DG. I'm DG of course. So you could reach out to me that way. And we would figure out a way to ship a record to New York, I suppose. And if Cam Gordon is listening and I know he is, get this guy verified. Get that blue check.

He's the real Danny Graves. I can vouch for him. And when I was trying to figure out a new handle, it was like, my God, how many of me are there? There's a lot of you. I noticed there's soccer stars.

Yeah, there's a soccer guy. And there's another. Rugby maybe? Yeah, there's a few like, you know, the British or UK. Yes. Well, because it is a British name.

And it's a Barbadian name, but that's sort of the, that would be sort of like the slavery-esque history that that would involve. But yes, I'm working on verification. Apparently CBC can help me with that as well so I'm going to look at that but I think I need more than one follower before

I verify myself I'm going to follow you for sure I don't think it's how many followers it's who you are maybe that's something I don't know I know you probably want to get out of here at some point so Mike says I saw him open for 5440 at the Horseshoe Tavern a couple of years back, and he absolutely killed it.

I'd love to know if he has any plans on doing more small room solo shows in the future. Yeah, that was the first real solo gig that I did. There's a piano at the bar. I play there occasionally. But Ralph, my agent, said, OK, oh you know either and then they sell it out so there's like 500 people it's like wow you know this is like and it was really cool like i remember it just kind of really turning me on in terms of yeah i can do this this is really neat when there's people there there's there was a real i don't know there was a real grit to it it wasn't

it wasn't sort of i don't know it wasn't real grit to it it wasn't it wasn't sort of I don't know it wasn't too light and airy it was like felt like a rock show even with you know

piano and voice so I did another one at the Drake a few months ago opening for an Irish dude or Scottish dude I don't recall

same difference yeah yeah but so I'm trying I'm doing it I keep bugging I keep bugging my agent I keep telling my rock and roll fans,

hey, just throw me on the bill. You don't have to pay me any money. Just let me play in front of your reader. I got an idea. Okay, hear me out. So on June 27th, it's TMLX3. And Lowest to the Low are going to play. TMLX4 could feature.

I know at least two members of the Watchmen now. I could get you some mic time in front of a bunch of, you know, at least 150 fans of yours will be there. Is that a good number? I've played to way less, that's for sure. Yeah, sure, let's do it. I'll take it.

KMLX4, this is the announcement featuring Danny Graves of the Watchmen. Five bucks is five bucks, you know. Okay, now I'm all teased out here. So, okay. Now, what am I playing? I'm playing Tom Waits because the next question is from Andrew.

Who is the biggest Tom Waits fan in the band and what is your favorite album? Are you a Tom Waits fan? I am. Well, Heart of Saturday Night is an acapella song that I've done for years. So that record, I think, would be my favorite because that's the one I'm most familiar with.

I love every song on it, and it actually often closes out the bar Fridays or Saturday nights. It's kind of like the get-the-fuck-out music, but I like it. Right. But yeah, that would be one that would be one i liked it when his voice sounded less more less like this and more like when he started uh yeah this is a good one too though well i was thinking which one like i have a whole bunch of tom waits in the collection i'm like i'm going to this one but uh yeah actually on, on the vinyl that the New York question was talking about,

there is a Tom Waits song on there. Shiver Me Timbers is one of the songs on there. So it's pretty cool, piano and voice. All right, I'm going to show you my DJ skills. I'm leaving Tom Waits for... Show you my DJ skills. I'm leaving Tom Waits for... Because the next question comes from...

If I can find it. Steve Grant. What's... This is for you, Danny. What's your favorite R.E.M. album? And he says he asked you this at the Spirit of John show. And he was... You were a little enamored and a little drunk, he says. show, and he was, you were a little enamored and a little drunk, he says.

I was, or he was? No, apparently you were, but I, you know. Yeah, no, I can't. Never. I can't believe that. Unlikely. I think, you know,

I have a lot of favorite R.E.M. R.E.M. is a big deal for me. I think that I, he taught me how to sing, that singer, I think. I think maybe Up. That's a weird, it would be a weird one. But Up in Document was a good one

if you want to go back to the beginning. Or what was the first one, the first EP? Green? No, like, oh, geez, that's embarrassing because I know every sound on it. But I think Up is something that I really love. Just very, very different from this song here, you know. But, yeah, that was a big one for me.

Up, Document. Green was good, too. Geez, they have a lot of stuff, man. Yeah, for sure. Now, Paul is another... You have another Watchmen fan in the States. He said he had no clue. He had no clue you did anything solo.

So, again, he's also chiming to how do I purchase and where do I purchase. Yeah, I would say through Twitter and I'll work on getting my shipping chops up to snuff and figure out how that works. Yeah, I've been... So these stickers, these Toronto Mike stickers, I offered to bike...

If I could bike to your mailbox or whatever, I said I would... Because every day I take a bike ride and I would drop them off. And then people out of biking range wanted them. And I ended up making several trips to the post office. I now have a bunch of Americans who want these stickers. I got to go buy a bunch of stamps to get these in America.

Yeah, I mean, it's hard shipping vinyl, too. That's kind of the only way it's available. There is no digital part of it, so maybe there is a way back. But, I mean, the only really way to get this record is on vinyl, so it becomes a harder thing to do. Okay, so last two things before I dismiss. But you have to take a photo with me after this episode

before you drive away. That's mandatory for all guests. Now, your brother was a member of the Israeli bobsled team. I talked to Sammy about this, but he was hazy on the details. It may have been after he left, but you did a benefit or something. What's the story there? We did a benefit for, well, me and Joey did a benefit for, it was like an acoustic show we did in Winnipeg

in a nice sort of theater. Yeah, he's the president of the Israeli Bobsled Federation. He was, it started with him being uh a substitute because somebody's saying oh you know he was living in calgary at the time where they do a lot of that training and um and so he was a substitute for for a period of time and then just ended up you know really taking the cause up and he flew to israel a bunch of times and needed to get israeli citizenship to kind of do all this stuff and they and he's been at it for like 16 or 17 years and they made it into last Olympics. Amazing.

Yeah. And he, my brother was walking down to did like the, the Israeli delegation or the contingent or whatever. I think there were like four people of one. Yeah. Winter Olympics. Cause yeah,

they don't do a lot of winter. There was, well, they made a whole movie when Jamaica had a bobsled. Well, right. And so I believe that the, and it was the skeleton. It was just, it wasn't bobsled. It was skeleton.

Skeleton. That particular, what they made it in for. Right. And we came one ahead of the Jamaicans. So that's kind of a neat story. That is a, that's a movie waiting to happen, I think. It sure is. So I guess, obviously, through your mother,

that your brother was able to get Israeli citizenship. Well, no. Well, yes. Well, ultimately, sure. That's me making assumptions here. No, no. It does follow the mother's line. If your mother is Jewish, then you're a Jew.

That's just sort of how the rules work. Okay, but that's the religion, but what about the actual, like, Israeli is a nationality. No, your mom doesn't need to be Israeli. If you are a Jew, then you can go to Israel and claim citizenship. You know, I didn't know that. That is something that

any... Can you convert to Judaism and then become an Israeli citizen? Yes, you can. Because Watley converted for the jokes, but someone might convert. You know what I mean? I had no idea. I feel like I learned something. I mean, a lot of people say

actually converting to the religion is way, it shows way more affection for it or affinity to it than just being born as such because you have to actually get to choose it.

Right. But, Adam, I'm hoping this doesn't become too political. You're not going to get any, because, you know. None of this has been political. We're just talking about Bob's things. Well, I know.

We're talking about... Anyway. I feel like we've been pretty safe there. All right. Here it is. Tell us about what's happening June 19th at the Horseshoe Tavern. Assuming you know what's happening. Has anyone told you yet?

You're performing there. Yes, we are performing. We're doing a benefit for our bass player's wife, who is going through some medical issues and processes and things that are making it hard for Ken and his family. So we're helping out. And it's going to be neat. We weren't sure what other artists we would get, but we have sort of a decent a decent array of some people that are you know donating of their

time better than decent i'm gonna i know you'll be humble there because just to let people know some of the artists so obviously the watchmen are performing so already that's a pretty good start here now you have uh the pursuit of happiness-hmm. Moberg in some capacity. I don't think... See, I've been doing this. I've been saying lowest of the lowest playing TMLX, even though it's actually only confirmed as Ron Hawkins and Lawrence Nichols. But because I figure if you have Ron, like, I feel like it's okay.

If you have Ron plus one, that's lowest of the low. Like, it doesn't matter if all... Sure, sure. Yeah, well, and that's... And then that'll obviously get more people out. Because as long as you have Mo, you can't say this is Pursuit of Happiness without Mo. I think that's a mandatory prerequisite. So Moe's commonly playing.

I think there's some Sky Diggers. Okay, Sky Diggers. But you have Andy and Josh. I'm saying, let's call it Sky Diggers. That's Andy. Andy's been on this show. He's a wonderful guy. Yeah, he sure is.

Okay. You got Holly McNarland. Which is great. Which is great. Okay. Those are the biggest names. Lindy is playing. Do you know Lindy? names. Lindy is playing. Do you know Lindy?

No. Lindy is great. I should know. He's putting out a record. He just goes by Lindy. He's this giant six-foot-five Icelandic dude who sings like nothing you've ever heard. So he's doing an acoustic show.

Okay. Or acoustic few tunes. And I don't know, who else is... C-Spot Run. C-Spot Run. So that's sort of friend, buddies. The Young Novelists. Okay, that's news to me, but...

And of course, you're going to also do some solo, I guess, in addition to... Right, oh yes, that's right. I'm going to play a few... So you're going to open for yourself. Yes, I'm going to play a few tunes, so like Rhodes and voice tunes. I once saw Ed Vedder open for Pearl Jam,

so it's not unprecedented. It happens. I think Ken's opened for us before, done his, his wife is, by the way, his wife's name is Alison Edwards. Alison Edwards. So we're helping out his family, and, you know, they're going through some stuff,

and hopefully it'll hopefully everyone will come out the other end better than they started, so that's the hope Danny, I had a blast, man Me too, man, I wasn't sure how long this was going to go Two hours, you're going to beat me up after, but that's okay

I took the two, you know Yeah, no, that's great, thanks for having me Thanks for doing this, and that's Show at the Horseshoe. I should let people, the listeners know, it's hosted by the great Dean Blundell. That's true. He's like your host up there. Yeah, yeah, no, he's been our buddy.

I would just warn you, if my audience, that might work against you. I think a lot of people are now refunding their tickets. But that's okay. The bands are fantastic. People should go to it. Awesome. For a good cause, too.

And that brings us to the end of our 473rd show. You can follow me on Twitter. I'm at Toronto Mike. We just learned Danny is now at, say it again.

At Listen to DG. Listen to DG on Twitter. And what's the handle for the bar if they want to follow the bar on Twitter? That would be at Motel Parkdale.

At Motel Parkdale. I was born in Parkdale by the way. Oh yeah? Nice. At the St. Joe's. Great Lakes Brewery is at Great Lakes Beer. Property in the 6.com is at Raptor's Devotee.

There's a massive game tonight. Let's do this. Palma Pasta is at Palma Pasta. Fast Time Watch and Jewelry Repair is at Fast Time WJR. Sticker U is at Sticker U. And Capadia LLP is at Kapadia LLP. See you all next week. Everything is kind of rosy and gray

Yeah, the wind is cold, but the snow, snow Warns me today And your smile is fine, and it's just like mine And it won't go away Cause everything is rosy and green Well, you've been under my skin for more than eight years It's been eight years of laughter and eight years of tears