Toronto Mike'd: The Official Toronto Mike Podcast - David Quinton Steinberg: Toronto Mike'd #1062

Episode Date: June 7, 2022

In this 1062nd episode of Toronto Mike'd, Mike chats with David Quinton Steinberg about his years in The Mods, recording with Stiv Bators, playing with The Jitters, becoming an entertainment lawyer, w...orking with Rush, and recording Western Sunset with Alex Lifeson and Envy of None in memory of Neil Peart. Toronto Mike'd is proudly brought to you by Great Lakes Brewery, Palma Pasta, Canna Cabana, StickerYou, Ridley Funeral Home and Duer Pants and Shorts.

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Starting point is 00:00:00 Welcome to episode 1062 of Toronto Mic'd Proudly brought to you by Great Lakes Brewery A fiercely independent craft brewery who believes in supporting communities, good times and brewing amazing beer Order online for free local home delivery in the GTA. StickerU.com. Create custom stickers, labels, tattoos, and decals for your home and your business. Palma Pasta. Enjoy the taste of fresh, homemade Italian pasta and entrees
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Starting point is 00:01:16 and Canna Cabana the lowest prices on cannabis guaranteed over 100 stores across the country learn more at cannaabana.com. Joining me this week, making his Toronto Mike debut, is David Quinton Steinberg. Welcome, David.
Starting point is 00:01:36 Welcome to me. Thank you. It's great to be here. It's great to have you here. And you brought a heavy with you to protect you in case things get unruly. Co-hosting with me, Blair Packham. I love the way you say that. Co-hosting too. I like that part.
Starting point is 00:01:53 He's also a bodyguard, you know, just in case. You've been promoted. Okay, so this is the David show. David, how should I refer to you? David Quinton, David Quinton Steinberg, David Steinberg. What is your preference here? Well, this is terrible because I am multiple personalities. So, you know, it depends.
Starting point is 00:02:10 If it's the music me, I usually go by David Quinton. If it's the law me, I usually go by David Steinberg. So I decided to put them together. Two people, two people in one. What about DQS? Does that roll off the tongue i use dqs yeah okay dqs i like that so okay so this is the dqs show and we've got lots of ground to cover and i've got some choice clips uh pulled that we're going to play audio but right off the top uh there's a
Starting point is 00:02:38 cold beer in front of you guys uh crack it on the mic on the the mic. Great Lakes beer. This one? Is it cold? Let's see. This one. Okay. Crack it on the mic. Yeah. I'll do it. Yeah.
Starting point is 00:02:53 Oh, yeah. Look at that. Oh, yeah. So, welcome. Enjoy. I do have a note for you guys. This is really a note for Blair. And then we're going to get to you David don't worry but David Pruce
Starting point is 00:03:06 you ever heard of this guy David Pruce not Rob Pruce of course we've heard of him I'm looking at David and I'm thinking David Rob Pruce of course Rob it's funny you know Rob and I probably have only met a couple of times but we're
Starting point is 00:03:21 friends on Facebook and social media and all that I like've uh i like what he posts and uh but i recorded him way way back when okay because he seems to think you're connected more deep oh we might be okay so let me tell you okay so he writes in yeah tell me amazing he says i was just thinking of dqs this morning say hi for me and tell him he needs to bring a bongo or drums to TMLXX. That, David, is the 10th Toronto Mic Listener Experience, which Rob says he'll be at.
Starting point is 00:03:53 And that's going to be September 1st at 6pm on the patio of Great Lakes Brewery. But then Rob goes on to talk about you, Mr. Packham, and he says I played synth bass on this jam. I'll play a bit of the jam so we know what exactly I'm talking about. Oh, wait a second.
Starting point is 00:04:11 He did. Yes. Sorry, Rob. I'm so sorry, Rob. I forgot. He played on that? Yeah. This is just, it's like a synth upright bass sound.
Starting point is 00:04:22 Yes, of course you did, Rob. I was going to say, like, because you're like, oh, I met him a couple of times. I think I recorded him once or twice. But this guy plays on the biggest song of your career. That's true. As I'm always reminded, the biggest song of my career every time I come here. It's a great song. David, what do you think of this song?
Starting point is 00:04:40 I love this song. I mean, I used to play it with the band back in the old days. And, you know, when we've had reunions recently, we do that song. And it's a fabulous song. Well, the crowd will revolt if Blair is involved and there's no Last of the Red Hot Fools. The crowd will get unruly. The crowd is revolting. Trust me.
Starting point is 00:04:59 The crowd is either going to revolt or die of old age. We don't know which one. I kid. I kid. See, now Blair and I are buddies, so I feel I can joke with him. You can say stuff like that, yeah. And Mark Weisblatt, I'm sorry, I have to mention him, but he always... Who? Yeah, he's very concerned that I misunderstood his age,
Starting point is 00:05:18 that he wants it known that he's, I believe what he said was, much, much younger than, anyway, much younger than me. He seems to be, yeah, he wants to be clear, and he was very clear the other day that he says, I am Generation X and Blair Generation Dino. Blair
Starting point is 00:05:38 Packham is a baby boomer. Exactly. He was adamant about that. I have to say his adamance was admirable. That could be there. Part of the scene is a six-year-old. There you go. I don't do it as well as you do.
Starting point is 00:05:53 No, and for some reason it's not happening tonight. We've got to turn David on to the wonder that is the Mark Wiseblood episodes. Yeah, what's that guy all about? Where do we begin? Where do we begin? Well, we'll find it and I'm going to have to hear it. Where do we begin? Where do we begin? Well, we'll find it and I'm going to have to hear it because put it this way,
Starting point is 00:06:07 if Blair finds it amusing, I'll find it amusing. Okay, it's three hours of your month. So every month for three hours, Mark Weisblatt comes over and we dissect like the previous month
Starting point is 00:06:17 and like media and the zeitgeist and who passed away. And also just previous shows. Yeah, previous. Certain shows, right? So like he took note of like the first blair packham appearance which was pretty damn good this is what he said can i say it yeah he said wow why anyone would think that the jitters were worthy of of investment i mean a good business
Starting point is 00:06:40 proposition even then they were unfashionable oh Oh, God. But the thing is, as I said last time, I agree with him. I agree with him. I get what he's saying. Well, there was a lot that was sort of wrong about the band given the period of time in which we were dealing. Yeah. Right? Is that what he means?
Starting point is 00:06:59 That must be what he means. He's not talking about your level of talent. No, no, no. He's talking about where you were in that period. He's talking about commercial. Anyway, his opinion, which is his opinion. And then Blair responded Yeah, that must be. He's not talking about your level of talent. No, no, no. He's talking about where you were at that period. He's having a commercial. Anyway, his opinion, which, you know, is his opinion. And then Blair responded two weeks ago. Yeah, three weeks. It was like the day and a half before your buddy Andrew Crystal passed away. Blair responds.
Starting point is 00:07:18 And then Mark comes back to my house for three hours last Thursday and responds to the response. So now Blair is responding to the, you know, Mark responding to Blair who responded to Mark who responded to Blair. And then next month, the first Thursday of July, Mark will come back and respond to Blair's response to his response to Blair's response
Starting point is 00:07:38 to Mark's response to Blair. Wow. It's going to be amazing. It's a mise en abyme, I believe the French would call it. This is like the Johnny Depp Amber Heard trial. Oh, by the way, Rob, shout out to FOTM Rob Pruce. He says that it was between his, it was the limbo. He was in limbo between Spoons and Honeymoon Suite.
Starting point is 00:07:56 Right. And that's when he did Last of the Red Hot Fools. Yes, that is correct. At Phase One Recording Studios. Yes, I remember vividly now, and I'm sorry that I didn't a moment ago. David, I want to go way back with you and Blair. Because you're my co-host, you can help. If you know there's somewhere we should be going,
Starting point is 00:08:12 or if you want to flavor part of the info that David's sharing, feel free to... You can talk over me the way I can't talk over Wise Plot. Okay. By the way, that line you said about me receding into the background now every time i'm recording with mark i can feel myself receding like like homer simpson going back into the bushes or whatever like you're right i totally recede into the background i was i was noticing that too and when i listened as well i thought yes i think i was correct um but okay so
Starting point is 00:08:41 you could start here's a suggestion for a starting question with david steinberg you can move your way back from this question okay but um ask him about the great harry arm oh my god the first jitters record cover have you ever seen that mike oh yeah well you mean the one in front of the rc harris water treatment yes yes of. Okay, so, well, Blair will tell you that I wasn't on the record, but I was on the record cover. Okay, tell me how that happened. Like, how did you end up on the record cover? This is a very, very sore spot.
Starting point is 00:09:16 Yeah, we're going to leave. Blair wanted to start here, because I would have started with the mods, but let's keep going. No, no, you can work your way back, but I wanted to start with the big hairy arm. Yeah, we'll start with the big hairy arm. Start with the mods, but let's keep going. No, no, you can work your way back, but I wanted to start with the big hairy arms. Yeah, we'll start with the big hairy arms. Start with the big hairy arms. So we do the Jitters record cover,
Starting point is 00:09:29 and if you look closely, one of my arms seems to be unusually enlarged. Disfortunately. So not only did I have to model as a band member on the cover when I wasn't playing on the record, but I then had to suffer the additional humiliation of having an enlarged arm on the record cover.
Starting point is 00:09:51 Did you get credit? Like, are you credited in the liner notes? Yeah, as big arm. Big arm. No, I don't. I think I got a special thanks. You got a special thanks. And you got paid for the session.
Starting point is 00:10:01 I did. I got paid for the photo session. I got paid for the photo session and I got paid for the video. That's. I got paid for the photo session. I got paid for the photo session and I got paid for the video. That's right. But you weren't speaking to me at either of those events. No, for several years actually after that. Well, it's a very more serious kind of conversation.
Starting point is 00:10:18 Yeah. But not really anymore because all these years passed. But I was going through a huge transitional phase in my life where i was leaving music i was going back to school right and desperately trying to cling on to music while i was going back to school and it really didn't work and i wasn't right anymore and my style went out of style and blair uh told me you know, it's time. Well, yeah, I mean, not in so many words and not in such a civilized way, but David was also driving back and forth to London
Starting point is 00:10:54 to go to law school, and so he wasn't really available to record or to rehearse really, not as much as we would have liked anyway. So it sounds like Blair fired you from the church. Yeah, basically. I think that's really what happened, if you want to use the F
Starting point is 00:11:05 word. Yeah. First and only time it ever happened to me. He's like the Bon Jovi of Toronto music. Step in line or get the fuck out. Whose band is it, buddy? I understood, though. I understood. Well, ultimately, I think it was
Starting point is 00:11:21 absolutely the best thing. I mean, you know, otherwise you'd still be playing in a band with me. Or with David Wilcox or something. Do the bear catch. That's right. Love Wilcox. Okay, I'm starting here, and then we'll go back. Yeah, yeah.
Starting point is 00:11:35 I'll sit back. Oh, no, you're doing great. What a great co-host. This is why I work alone. No, just kidding. Here we go. Here we go. You used me You used me
Starting point is 00:12:19 I'm never coming back to you I know you're such a good And you're the one that everyone sees You used me I'm never going back to you I love you such a great I feel like I'm in love with you I'm sick You You You Awesome, by the way. I couldn't tell what side of this single to play
Starting point is 00:12:38 because they're both great jams. I'll play the other one in a minute, actually. But tell me everything you can, David, about the mods sure well that song that you're listening to right now my parents gave us 120 to go to comfort sound with doug mcclement and record step out tonight and you use me and we put that single out ourselves and we sold 2,000 copies of it. Hey. All by ourselves.
Starting point is 00:13:08 Wow. Yeah, 1978. I would have been 17 years old. Wow. Yeah. So maybe a little background on how the hell you ended up, you know, in a punk band
Starting point is 00:13:18 at the age of 17. Sure. Pressing vinyl here. And we will play, by the way, because I think, I love this jam here, but that Step Out Tonight feels like the,
Starting point is 00:13:26 I know they're both like A-sides, I guess, but that Step Out Tonight feels like the big single to me when I listen to them both. I don't know what your thoughts are. Yeah, it was our favorite song at the time.
Starting point is 00:13:36 I was actually in my first, I guess, punk or new wave band when I was 16 years old. I played in a band called The Androids. And we rehearsed at the old Phillips building with the Diodes and the Ugly,
Starting point is 00:13:49 the Violetones, Battered Wives. Everybody rehearsed at the Phillips building. That's where I met the Mods. And they were sort of a cover band, a Mod cover band in those days, doing Kinks and Who and Small Phases. And then I didn't see them for several months and the next time i saw them they were basically like a punk band and um i joined
Starting point is 00:14:12 them in september 1978 when i was 17 okay and that you got some money from your parents just enough to just enough to press a single basically like a two a two-side single? Yeah, to record it, yeah. To record it, okay. And, okay, so that Doug McClemon, that name comes up a lot here. Blair mentions that name a lot. But who is it? Captain Phil, I want to say. We were doing this special episode about Edge Fests and Canada Day Festivals for CFNY.
Starting point is 00:14:42 And a bunch of that audio was Doug's recordings too. And it sounded amazing. And tragically, like tragically hip on Canada day doing like a CFNY, you know, Canada day festival, whatever sounded amazing. But okay.
Starting point is 00:14:55 So what can you tell me? Cause I love collecting these stories about, you know, the punk scene in Toronto in the late seventies. Well, it was, it was a really exciting time in the city. And I don't think in many ways it's ever been replicated because it was a scene made up of bands and people
Starting point is 00:15:15 that were interested in those bands, all kind of co-mingled together. And every gig was like an event. If the Vile Tones were playing or the Ugly were playing, Teenage Head, any of those bands, you'd see a lot of the same people at those shows. And we were, you know, at the Horseshoe, Larry's Hideaway, later on The Edge. The entire scene was kind of ignited by the Garys, Gary Topp and Gary Cormier. And, you know, I talk to Gary Topp all the time, even to this day. He's an FOTM.
Starting point is 00:15:51 Which means? Friend of Toronto Mike. Sorry, now I got it. Yeah. FOTM. Oh, they're both Garys are, but Topp seems to be more engaged. Yeah, Gary Cormier,
Starting point is 00:16:00 I haven't spoken to as much in recent years, but Topper I talk to all the time, stay in touch with. And i always say to him um you know that we're grateful even to this day at our age that he gave us a chance because no one else would you know imagine 17 year old kids um getting to play at the horseshoe right you know this tells you because the way that gary's operated and what is magic about them and will never be duplicated is they had to like what they heard. It didn't really matter whether it was going to sell tickets or whatever. They had to legitimately like what they heard.
Starting point is 00:16:33 And then they booked you if they liked you. And they liked you. Yeah. And they booked us repeatedly and did really special things for us. I mean, they booked us with Ultravox, with Squeeze, with The Police. When we played with The Police, they put our name on the ticket. Okay, wait, wait.
Starting point is 00:16:52 Just where did you play at The Police? And what is this, 70, what year is this, 78? 79. 79. We played with The Police at the New Musical. Wow. Yeah, yeah. And so that's pre-Roxanne that post Roxanne? Post Roxanne.
Starting point is 00:17:05 It would have been promoting their second record. Cause I've heard the story of pre Roxanne at the horseshoe. They played a couple of nights and one time I heard this story and there were nine people in the crowd. And then the next time I heard it, there were seven people in the crowd. So, but the next time I hear it, I think nobody was in the room, not even the police. Well, do you want to tell, I'll tell you something funny my stewart copeland um who i've i've met a bunch of times in in recent years um i i brought out a copy of the ticket on my phone to show him we were talking one night and i said stew look at this and we had a big laugh and i said and you guys played at the horseshoe and he goes please don't tell me you're one of the 10 000 people that says you were one of the only people that was there that night.
Starting point is 00:17:49 Because I think the police had that story from every city they ever played in. Okay. Cause, cause, cause my understanding, again, I'm too young to know it firsthand. That's why I have these chats with you guys. But like, uh, there's pre Roxanne and post Roxanne, uh, police when it comes to ticket sales. Well, you know who was at the gig? And I do think it was about 19 or 20 people. Topper would tell you for sure.
Starting point is 00:18:09 But who was at that gig were three members of the mods, not me. Okay. And the reason I remember it so well is because we went to see Elvis Costello and the Battered Wives play at the O'Keeffe Centre that night. After the gig, because they did two shows, Elvis. We did the early show after the gig, the guys in the mod said, there's a reggae band from England playing at the horseshoe.
Starting point is 00:18:32 Do you want to go over? And I said, nah, I've had enough. I'm going home. They went there and this reggae band was the police, right? That's wild.
Starting point is 00:18:40 So they were there. So when they tell me they were there, that's the real deal. Yeah. They're not lying. They're not lying. I, however, however was not there and this i think i don't know sting was wearing underwear on stage i've seen some photo evidence of this but yeah quite the uh famous story but so you get to open for the police the gary's are awesome no argument there i want more uh more stories of this uh this you know punk in the late 70s in Toronto.
Starting point is 00:19:07 But I want to play this jam because this is the big one here. So play it loud and play it proud. Cynhyrchu'r ffynion Would CFNY play this? Would this get some radio play? Yes, that's exactly where it got played with CFNY and a little bit on Q107 but mostly CFNY. They were huge supporters of us and everybody in the scene.
Starting point is 00:20:13 They were unbelievable. Do you want to shout out anyone specific at CFNY that would be championing the bods at this time? David Marsden for sure. You know, he was like the main guy. It's funny, because later we're going to talk Rush,
Starting point is 00:20:31 and of course, Spirit of Radio, it's all going to come full circle. Oh yeah, for sure. And then Lindsay Gillespie, who worked there, was a big, big supporter. Jim Reed was a big supporter. And of course, a man that I love deeply to this day, Ivor Hamilton, who works at Universal.
Starting point is 00:20:49 He was so amazing with us. And it was such a special time, you know, to have any form of radio, any promoters supporting young kids who were so unsophisticated and just, you know, trying their best. It was amazing. I don't think you see a lot of that anymore. I don't even know how to compare these eras, right? Because now everything... Yeah, I just had Torquil Campbell on. Torquil Campbell is a founding member of the band Stars, which have some great jams in their repertoire. And he went off on this rant.
Starting point is 00:21:22 In fact, I was chatting with Ian Service on the live chat waiting for you guys to show up. And he's like, you should extract that and post that separately because he goes on this anti-algorithm rant. And it's quite something where basically the algorithm is destroying art because now everything has to fit the algorithm or else it can't be discovered by the masses. It's quite the interesting time in terms of art, like music.
Starting point is 00:21:46 I went on a rant last night at home, and my wife said, stop it, you're going to have a heart attack. And what was I ranting about? My kid was watching Stranger Things, and of course there's this whole Kate Bush thing they've used running up that hill, and it's number one on this and number one on that. And I,
Starting point is 00:22:06 and I just went crazy at home. And I was saying, the reason this is happening is because young people who listen to shit music all of a sudden hear this and they're like, what is that? You're right. Is that, and they realize how frigging great it is.
Starting point is 00:22:19 And here you go. And that was, that's like the only way it's like for a while. Um, the, uh, Fleetwood Mac's Dreams was big with my daughter, who's 17, okay? Because it was used in a TikTok,
Starting point is 00:22:32 a popular TikTok video. And then suddenly she's playing Dreams. And I'm like, so yeah, with Kate Bush, it's like suddenly people are exposed to good music. They're going to want to hear more and dive in and consume more good music. It's just, you can't hear it on the radio. That's right. The algorithm's not serving it up,
Starting point is 00:22:47 so you need to be curated by somebody creating a popular streaming program for Netflix. And Blair knows I've gotten in trouble before for saying that young people listen to crap. That's all they're served. If you only served potato chips for dinner, that's what you're going to eat because you've got to eat. Yeah, right.
Starting point is 00:23:07 You went off on a rant the other day when we were talking on the phone, a different one. It wasn't about, you know, the kids today and the big beat and the yeah, yeah, yeah. Taking out the clown. You know. The kids, the yeah, yeah, yeah. That didn't sound like that.
Starting point is 00:23:21 He sounded exactly like that. No, he was saying, David was saying that if you weren't at the crash and burn in 1977, then you missed it. Yeah, you were late. There was this whole thing in the punk scene that if you weren't at crash and burn, you were sort of a late comer to the scene.
Starting point is 00:23:42 But the crash and burn was only open i believe for six weeks wow so you know these things happen really completely legendary but what is crazy about the crash and tell me everything because i was too young to be the guy missed it well they they were it was a club opened by the band the diodes and their manager ralph affonzo but an amazing thing are two bands that played during that period from the us yeah were the dead boys okay i eventually played with some of those guys with stiv baters and the other band they had in which is so cool was the nerves oh wow and the nerves for mike they're the guys that did a song called hanging on the telephone which was covered by blondie yeah and
Starting point is 00:24:25 made into a big hit yeah okay so the nerves were this really cool california band they played the crash and burn right and so did dead boys can i play some dead boys to segue us over here please do it's always glorious guitar solo I don't need any war Don't need no mom and dad Don't need no food advice Don't need no human rights I got some news for you Don't even need you to
Starting point is 00:25:22 I got my damn machine Got my electronic dream Sonic the Dooser Ain't no loser Got my Sonic the Dooser Ain't no loser Cool We'll be right back. But I'm not your general So I'm not your general I got my down machine And my electronic dream
Starting point is 00:26:10 Sonic producer ain't no loser Got my sonic producer ain't no loser You know, I was first exposed to this song because as a teenager, I guess I was a teenager, I had a bootleg of live pro jam shows and pro jam would cover this song because uh like as a teenager i guess i was a teenager i had a bootleg of like live pro jam shows and uh project would cover this song yeah and i fucking loved it the first time i heard it and then you have to go back and figure out what's he covering but uh okay before we get to the dead boys and stiff baiters and we talk all about your role there uh there is a
Starting point is 00:26:39 question on the live stream live.torontomic.com, from somebody Blair might know named Radio Lady, and she wants to know what were the Toronto Punk Clubs. So I know you referenced them very quickly there, but maybe just spend a little time name-checking the Toronto Punk Clubs of the late 70s that you remember. Sure. I mean, it was a combination of clubs and some sort of different venues.
Starting point is 00:27:07 For instance, there was a place called the Shock Theatre on College Street where there were a handful of shows. The Metro Theatre, also a handful of shows. A place called Club Davids in a back alley near Young and Wellesley. Okay. Again, a handful of shows, the Cheetah Club.
Starting point is 00:27:26 But the main places were the Horseshoe, and then a little bit later, Larry's Hideaway, and then a little bit later than that, The Edge. Those were really the places where Punk and New Wave went down. So the Garys have their hands in this pie everywhere because they were working for all three clubs. Yeah, and Topper would probably be disappointed if I didn't mention the New Yorker, of course,
Starting point is 00:27:49 because he brought the Ramones. He and Gary brought the Ramones and really started the whole thing. I mean, when you look at who the Garys brought to town during those years, it's astounding. I mean, they brought everybody from England and from New York and other places. And even non-punk but still attitudinal people like Tom Waits. Yeah from New York and other places. And even non-punk, but still,
Starting point is 00:28:05 you know, attitudinal people like Tom Waits. Yeah. New wave stuff. Yeah. And Blair, when you were here last, which was not that long ago,
Starting point is 00:28:12 that was the, that, as I, if I recall, it was like, that was the, uh, 40th,
Starting point is 00:28:17 40th anniversary of the show, the Joy Division show at the edge that never happened. Yeah. Yeah. And I believe that that's what it was. Yeah. Yeah. I think that was the, that would day the 82, never happened yeah yeah i believe that that's what it was yeah yeah i think that was that would day like 82 i think yeah i gotta tell you my favorite gig at the edge is we opened for ultravox but it was the original ultravox with john fox okay and that was phenomenal amazing what an interesting band they were what an interesting
Starting point is 00:28:43 like it's just interesting that now we're going to talk about steve baders and uh you're going to bury me in those stories and then it's hard to believe that like at some point you decide like i'm going to pivot to become a lawyer like this is all well it was the jitters that caused that blair was so repulsive you're like i'm leaving the industry i know i think it's it's more that i was inspiring because uh he thought you know there are a lot of goofs out there like this, so I can make money off of them. I got hit on the head with a hammer. You know what's funny? When I went to law school, it was like, okay, I'm doing this to get away from criminals, drug addicts, and social outcasts.
Starting point is 00:29:20 Right. And then I realized, uh-oh. You can't ever escape that no no uh-uh all right so we heard dead boys uh and then you you drummed on uh the the solo effort for stiv baders tell me this whole story yeah um so stiv was uh dating cynthia ross from a group called the b girls a local new wave band um in 77 i think it was or 78 i can't remember and he was club hopping uh one night with her and he ended up at a mods gig and i met him um that was whole a whole event unto itself and he said to me he was doing this this uh these solo
Starting point is 00:30:01 recordings that summer in uh la. And he flew me down. I was eight years old. Eight years old. You were 18? Wisebot was eight years old on UFT radio. I'm so used to lying about the fact that the records aren't that old. Eight years old.
Starting point is 00:30:17 Whatever age you were, Wisebot was younger. I was three when I did my solo album. I think Rob Pruce was eight years old when he was playing with keyboards for the spoons. I think that was true. So I was three when I did my solo album. I think Rob Pruce was eight years old when he was playing with keyboards for the spoons. I think that was true. So I was 18. And if I can tell a couple of stories about that. You can tell more than a couple.
Starting point is 00:30:34 Go nuts. Totally mind blowing, Mike. Drain that swamp. I'm 18 years old. I'd never been to California. And we lived in, for the whole summer in West Hollywood at the Tropicana, the infamous Tropicana hotel. And behind us in the cabin behind us was Tom waits,
Starting point is 00:30:51 who had lived there for nine years. And the trop was a, was basically a party all the time. Rock and roll hotel, motel. Didi Ramon lived there when we were there. The go-go's would come around for parties at night. Part of Blondie Clem Burke lived there when we were there um the go-go's would come around for parties at night um part of blondie clem burke lived there so like when bands were doing sessions there they would
Starting point is 00:31:12 they would either live there or hang out there one or the other and um it was it was an incredible experience and the recordings were almost like peripheral to everything else that was going down because with baiters every day was an adventure something would happen every single day with him um so we ended up recording uh basically in in the middle of a night sometimes joan jett would come around she was very good friends with stiv. Kim Fowley would hang around. And Jimmy Percy from Sham69, he was in town. So he would sometimes come to the studio. And we recorded that summer at Leon Russell's Paradise Studios.
Starting point is 00:31:57 And we did, I think, four songs and did two singles. And what ended up happening after that is the Dead Boys sort of reformed. They went back on the road, and they started disintegrating. So Stiv called me to join what ended up kind of being the last version of the band. It really wasn't the Dead Boys. It was Stiv, Jimmy Zero, who was from Dead Boys,
Starting point is 00:32:21 and then me and Frank and George, who eventually did Disconnected with Steve. Go ahead, Blair. Well, the story that I think is so great is when he called your mother to convince her. Okay. Yeah. Well, he was only eight years old.
Starting point is 00:32:36 Yeah, I was eight years old. With the mom's permission. This is a phenomenal story. All right. My mother saw a magazine, a punk rock, I think it was Punk Rock Magazine, and saw a feature a punk rock i think it was punk rock magazine yeah uh and saw a feature on the dead boys in it and said to me this is this is the guy you're going to hang out with in california uh you know and how old is this stiv baders and i said oh you know he's like 29 or 30 so he was like 10 or 11 years older than me
Starting point is 00:33:07 right and uh she said i want to have a conversation with him and i was like oh sure so um we arranged for it to happen and i'm on the other line you know holding the phone extension well the extension while my mom is talking to stiv and stiv says to her uh mrs steinberg you have nothing to worry about we will look after david he will be totally fine i promise you i give you my word it was like um what's that character from leave it to beaver eddie haskell eddie haskell so and then my mom hangs up, and I'm like, Mom, you off the phone? And I hear she's off the phone. And then he tells me what's really bad. What did he say? Oh, I'm never going to tell you.
Starting point is 00:33:53 That's the real time. And I was like, holy shit, dude. So he just completely snowed my mom. And it was great, and I was on the plane. Wow. Okay, let's hear a little like of uh the stiv bader solo stuff with you here let's just get a taste of it i pulled a jam hopefully you're cool with what i wonder which song I used to be so crude to you
Starting point is 00:34:32 Jealous of everyone you talked to And I was so obsessed with that I'm so tired until I lost you I made you cry So many times that I always go out of my mind. But baby, I'm not that way anymore. Now I'm sleeping around the town now. Baby, I do not enjoy it.
Starting point is 00:35:02 Save it first on my phone now. Baby, it tends to ignore me. I made you cry so many times that I was going out of my mind. But baby, I'm not that way anymore. Can't you see I'm not that way anymore? Can't you see I'm not that way anymore Can't you see I'm not that way anymore You know it's too late, too late You'll pick up where we left off
Starting point is 00:35:31 Not that way anymore. So David, you're playing drums on this Stu Bader's Jam. Yeah. So that we did at Paradise Studios. I'm using, do you remember Tanya Tucker? Yeah, of course. That's her drummer's drums that I'm using, do you remember Tanya Tucker? Yeah, of course. That's her drummer's drums that I'm using.
Starting point is 00:35:47 And that's Mike Nesmith's 12 string. 12 string, okay. That Eddie's using. Yeah. He just passed away. Kind of interesting. Yeah.
Starting point is 00:35:56 That's almost as interesting as finding out Blair Packham's guitars are all over Gordon, right? What is it? If I had a million dollars. That's true. Love it.
Starting point is 00:36:04 Okay. So tell me about, like, what was your relationship like with Siv? I was going to say, what was your relationship with Stu Stone, with Stiv Bader's?
Starting point is 00:36:14 Well, he was, my relationship with him was great while we were playing together, but he was an incredibly complex character. And, you know, there's a lot of false romanticism about people like that, and I don't really engage in that anymore. So the reality is he was a guy who suffered from any number of things,
Starting point is 00:36:43 from any number of things, probably some depression and other issues that eventually led to his demise in 1990. So he died 32 years ago. See, I was obviously looking into him and he seems to have died the same way that Bob Saget died. Like a blow to the head
Starting point is 00:37:08 and then not, like going to sleep. I don't know what the true story is, but this is what I read. He had a car accident so he got a head injury. Look at the real talk here. He's going to give me the real talk in a minute. I don't know if he was. He went to bed. We'll see. I'll see if I can shake him up a bit. He went to bed and then he
Starting point is 00:37:23 died in his sleep because of this, you know, head injury he suffered, which might be how Bob Saget died. What say you, David Steinberg? Well, you know. But don't answer as a lawyer. Answer as a rock, punk rocker guy. Yeah, no, no, for sure. We spoke that night.
Starting point is 00:37:42 That might have been the first time we talked in a couple of years. Yeah. We talked on the phone when Steve died. When Steve died. Yeah. Yeah. So the story that we got out of Paris is that he had been hit by a car crossing the street and he refused medical treatment and died in his sleep.
Starting point is 00:37:57 And that was the story that was told to his parents. Steve was an only child. Very important to his parents. They, Steve was an only child, um, very important to his parents, their working, working class family. And, um, I think that, uh, regardless of, of how he actually passed away, that was the story that the parents understood to be true. And I think it gave them a certain degree of comfort, no thinking that that's how he passed. so it's a little bit more complicated than that and it's so interesting because here i am and it's it's 32 years later and i'm still um somewhat secretive about certain things uh because of jimmy and cheetah and okay you know
Starting point is 00:38:38 the people that knew and loved the guy because it sounds almost sounds like you're in that default protective mode like protecting his parents from reality there because they find peace in the story that's been told or whatever but his parents are no longer with us yeah steve and marion are gone uh i feel like you know you can say what you want but the statute of limitations like this might it might be time to share the real talk well i think I think that he was, he was, you know, into a plethora of drugs and was struggling with that. I think that physically he had been very, very broken down by that point. And you know what I used to say to people at the time,
Starting point is 00:39:17 I probably said it to Blair at the time, Stiv Bader's was not going to get a profession one day. He was not going to deliver fried chicken. Or even sell insurance or something. No. Like, this is who he was and what he was. And, you know, ironically, I think he could have had a career
Starting point is 00:39:37 going into the 90s and the 2000s. Couldn't he have been like an Iggy Pop? Yes. Yes. That's sort of your model, I think, for those kind of guys who weren't supposed to live to be 30 or whatever but are still kind of like punk idols today iggy iggy loved steve yeah when when baders passed away iggy posted a video um i saw i watched the video for uh his mom for steven marion yeah absolutely yeah quite the video because you see iggy Pop kind of, yeah, I watched that video
Starting point is 00:40:06 just the other day. Yeah, they really liked each other, and yeah, I mean, Steve could have had that kind of career, I mean, if he could have nailed him down enough, but I think that his demise was brought on by a whole bunch of health and drug-related issues, and very, very
Starting point is 00:40:22 sad. I loved the guy, and I think about him every day i there's not a day that goes by that he doesn't pop into my mind somehow some way often with you know humor around it because he was an incredibly funny person also very dangerous guy mostly to himself i mean when you talk about the false romanticism i'll give you the perfect example his street surfing that joey ramone had seen and that we had seen and he did once with me in the car where he got on the roof of a car and would surf yeah that's uh what teen wolf would do right did you remember this and inspired by steve baders yeah that's suicide
Starting point is 00:41:04 right so there's all this like you know false romanticism about it in the sense oh isn't that hilarious and it's not hilarious and it wasn't funny and you know terrifying we we were going we were in the la uh freeway the 405 when he did it with me on the freeway yeah and frank was in the car behind and when we got to our destination frank who was his lifelong friend from blue ash and played in the the solo stuff frank threw him up against the wall yeah and i remember it very distinctly because i was a kid and it made a big impression on me he threw him up against the wall and he said if you had fallen and gotten run over i wouldn't have even fucking looked back so you know it's it's yeah it's stuff like that he couldn't swim and in the tropicana
Starting point is 00:41:54 uh pool he threw himself in the deep end one night and frank had to jump in and fish him out he was on the bottom and it was the same thing he was threatening to kill baiters if he ever did it again and blah so like the he was dangerous to himself but his sense of humor and his pranks were like off the charts hilarious and the kind of thing that you would get arrested for 7500 times over nowadays because the world's changed so much yeah and like i say mike the late 70s was the worst behaved period in societal history there was no political correctness even good political correctness did not exist right there were there were it was no holds barred drugs no aids it was an insane asylum. Yeah. Yeah, underage.
Starting point is 00:42:47 Everything. And whenever you watch a documentary on a serial killer, you can bet it's late 70s. That's right. Yeah. Well, you look at that, you know, when the Me Too movement started, I was kind of watching in the sense that
Starting point is 00:43:00 when's it going to hit music? When are they going to start talking about David Bowie and Laurie Maddox? Yeah. And when are they going to start talking about david bowie and laurie maddox yeah and when are they going to talk about jimmy page and laurie maddox yeah when are they going to talk about sable star who i had met a bunch of times and you know the amalgam that kate hudson played in almost famous oh it's all cutesy and everything penny lane yeah penny lane it's all cutesy poo but guess what you were talking about underage girls who would hang around with some of these guys yeah you know so anyway um that's why i'm glad that i was so young back then because nobody was younger than me
Starting point is 00:43:39 you know i was 17 18 when i was doing this. Mark Weisblot was only six. He wasn't born yet. I heard Weisblot's in his 20s. Early 20s, yeah. But I'll tell you too, Mike, that Sonic Reducer, which you played before, which I think is one of the top 10 best punk songs of all time. I agree with you. And I also played in a version of the band with Brian James from The Damned.
Starting point is 00:44:12 And Brian wrote New Rose, which again, I think is one of the top 10. And Brian is an incredible talent and a really, really great guy. I've stayed in touch with him. Who wrote those two jams i played from the mods uh that would have been uh greg trinier the singer with scott marks and mark dixon guitar player and bass player um cool and they're all doing really really well those guys okay they're survivors because okay maybe we skip this part i should come back to a bit you know you're you're drumming for stiv because you're not drumming with the mods like what happened to you and the mods um to make a long story uh really
Starting point is 00:44:55 really short we um we had some flirtation with a few record companies namely warners and um cbs and we eventually signed to an indie label. We did an album. And the indie label sort of got in some trouble. And CBS came and said, you know what? We're just going to sign you directly. And we went, okay. And the indie label went nuts, sued CBS.
Starting point is 00:45:18 And everything kind of got caught in a big mess. And this would have been um early 1980 okay and we just became disillusioned and decided to call it quits and i was playing with stiv i think within two weeks of the last mods gig i was playing in a show in ohio with baiters i think i think we started in akron ohio well that would be his hometown, right? Around there. Around there. Right. Now you became so disillusioned after seeing lawyers screw everything up. You said, I've got to go that way. This is for me. I got to become a lawyer. Is that the moment? Can you pinpoint that moment? The moment for me was, um, really born of fear. So like, if I'm being
Starting point is 00:46:02 totally honest, the reason I made the change uh was purely based on fear i was scared of the future i was scared um about you know the line i used to use at the time is i didn't want to be 45 years old getting excited about my new demo tape playing downstairs at the silver dollar room you know that's me that's not you and i i i just couldn't face it and i think it was seeds that my parents planted in me when i was a kid and um you know it was really interesting when i was playing with stiv his girlfriend was bb buell um who's live tyler's mom right and bb had been married to todd run grin and you know, lived for a time with Rod Stewart. And she said to me when I was 18 years old, give it three years.
Starting point is 00:46:52 You will, you will make it, you know, just hang in there because that had been her experience, right? She knew all these people that had done well. Right. You know, hammering away, but the people she was talking about were brilliant or genius level artists you know they weren't me so by time i was 21 22 i started feeling that pressure it was fear i didn't want to i didn't want to be sitting around with nothing to do um and it was just it was just that kind of inertia that pushed me towards education okay let me tell you uh another way that you're connected to blair packham here Um, and it was just, it was just that kind of inertia that pushed me towards education.
Starting point is 00:47:25 Okay. Let me tell you, uh, another way that you're connected to Blair Packham here. Okay. So, all right. So before you hanging up with the mods, I guess in 1980. Yeah. The mods changed their name to the news. Yes. Am I right?
Starting point is 00:47:42 Yes. Yes. Do you want to know why? Does Blair know where I'm going with this? Okay. Go ahead. Oh, okay. the news yes am i right yes yes do you want to know why i know where i'm going with this okay go oh okay well if there are no the reason we changed our name is because the mods was a terrible name and we knew it was a terrible name and um the reason we had that name is because the band started as a cover band right and never bothered changing its name right so we decided aha we're
Starting point is 00:48:05 going to do a record now we should change the name so we come up with the news this is of course before huey lewis existed and um the news was a shit name also so i don't know why we struggled with names so much but we did i think it was a funny time in history, you know, sort of punk dying out and the so-called new wave emerging. And here we were. Well, we're going to talk about Strange Advance in a minute, actually. Yeah, we can talk about those guys, too.
Starting point is 00:48:34 I get a lot to say. All right, but first, I have to finish my joke. It's hilarious. I can tell you in advance. Okay, so let me understand this. So the Mods changed their name to The News around the same time the Jitters were going to changed their name to The News around the same time.
Starting point is 00:48:46 The Jitters were going to change their name to Huey Lewis and The News. We were not. But I do remember when we opened for Huey Lewis and The News at the CNE, David was playing drums with us, and my mother had done caricatures of all the band members, and they were painted on the drum head. And Huey walked up to us at sound check, and we were setting up, and he on the drum head and Huey walked up to us at sound check and we were setting up and he sees the drum head
Starting point is 00:49:08 and he goes the jitters I presume and one of us might have been me went Huey but yeah but there was David's face my mom really captured David with his mullet and everything oh yeah she got but you didn't call it a mullet back then
Starting point is 00:49:23 it doesn't enter nomenclature till early 90s yeah no no it's just longish hair on the sides don't you feel like because i've had this conversation with people like in the 80s when the hockey player was wearing a mullet did we call it a mullet and there's no evidence of mullet being the term for that type of hairstyle until the early 90s yeah so i guess we called it like hockey hair yeah i remember that. But in my mind, when I think back, I think, oh, I'm seeing like a young Jaromir Jager and he's wearing a mullet.
Starting point is 00:49:52 But no, we didn't call it that yet. But anyway, one more fun fact about the news. Because you mentioned you were seeing Elvis Costello so you didn't go see police at the Horseshoe Tavern. But Elvis, the news, my understanding is the news were Elvis Costello's band before they hooked up with Huey Lewis and started their own thing. Oh yeah, not this
Starting point is 00:50:12 news. I never knew that. No, not this news. Huey Lewis's news. They were a band called Clover. Right, okay. Yes, and they backed up Elvis on the first Elvis Costello record. But he's really rubbing in how shit the name of the news was in how shit the name The News was and how bad the name The Mons was.
Starting point is 00:50:28 Right. And also there's a subtext here that you're not getting, which is Mike mercilessly in my first visit wouldn't let go like a dog, like a corgi, Queen Elizabeth's corgi with this piece of news in his teeth that the jitters were copying Huey Lewis and the News. And also, he would be happy if your next band was called The Slugs,
Starting point is 00:50:51 because he also felt that there's a connection there, too. Well, I was going to say, it's better I compare you to Huey Lewis and the News than Doug and the Slugs. No, no, no, no, no, no. We don't go near the Slug thing. We stay away from the Slug thing. Well, it's too bad that we can't go there.
Starting point is 00:51:05 What's the song? As you thought you were in the first place, too bad that you're not as smart as you thought you were. Yeah, we copied that. Isn't there some low voice? Too bad, right? Like Bowser from Seanan. Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.
Starting point is 00:51:22 Okay, so we digress. But here, let's do this. Let's pause at this moment because I got to talk to you about Strange Advance. We got lots of ground to cover here. Sure. My goodness. What do I want to give you?
Starting point is 00:51:32 Okay, so Blair, you got a lasagna a couple of weeks ago. I'm good. It's still in your freezer. I love it. Okay. I have a lasagna for you, David, in my freezer upstairs. So that box will be full of Palma Pasta lasagna.
Starting point is 00:51:45 Let me know how it goes. Blair's a big fan. It looks great. Everyone, everybody loves Palma Pasta here. I have a Toronto Mike sticker for you from stickeru.com, David. Oh, thank you. We'll put that on your car before you drive away.
Starting point is 00:51:56 Oh, look at that. That's really nice. Right over the... Quality stickers, man. I like that. We'll get to what's up with the mods. Is there a reunion for the mods coming up that we'll get to like what's up with the mods like like is there a reunion for the mods uh coming up that we could get excited about we did uh three three reunion shows in the 2000s i think
Starting point is 00:52:12 the first one was 2006 then we did 2009 then we did the last pogo 35th anniversary show at the horseshoe which was really uh quite a lot of fun um because so many people came out to see it my buddy cam gordon was there uh sounds like it was amazing david played both of them he played the original and played the original and then we played that one and and uh that one was really organized the reunion by uh gary top uh colin brunton was heavily involved so that was a really, really fun show. And then we did, oh, I guess we did four of them because we played, the last time we did it was the Rivoli.
Starting point is 00:52:52 And I don't think we can do it again. Everyone's spread out in different cities. And you know what? The music's aggressive to play. And it's more difficult as you get older but your air drum was pretty good there i was watching you go you've got it you've still got it you can do it i just can't do it for more than you know three or four minutes well you know we shorten these sets like 22 minutes this show is 22 minutes anyway i can do 20 well if the mods ever get
Starting point is 00:53:20 back together you get your mod stickers made up at stickeru.com. Oh, it's done. So stickeru.com. Yeah. Love those guys. I want to shout out Ridley Funeral Home. They've been pillars of this community since 1921. And Brad Jones, the funeral director there, he's got a new podcast called Life's Undertaking.
Starting point is 00:53:40 You should subscribe and listen to Life's Undertaking. And yes, the measuring tape is yours, David, courtesy of Ridley Funeral Home. That's yours, buddy. Oh, I get the measuring tape too. Yeahid courtesy of ridley funeral that's yours buddy i get the measuring tape too yeah oh this is great man had i have known i would have been here months ago to get the measuring tape and you've had so many things to measure in the meantime you never you don't want to be caught without measuring uh utensil there but wait a second are you the lawyer are you the like the punk lawyer who smokes weed? Yes or no? Do you smoke weed?
Starting point is 00:54:06 No, I don't. I don't. Well. That's my story and I'm sticking to it. And there's nothing you can do to make me sick. Even make you wear this hat? Yeah, that's a toque for you, David. Oh, I get the toque too?
Starting point is 00:54:19 Yeah, the toque's yours. Save that for winter. No, I'm not a weed smoker. And I think part of the problem is you know when you came up through the punk scene um we were not weed smokers punk was not about weed was not about weed weed mellows you out and punk is aggressive punk was about other things yeah right you need speed yes it was about other things and uh to which i do not admit but um but it was not weed weed was the hippie drug.
Starting point is 00:54:47 And the hippie thing was very, like, you know, there was this very funny anti-hippie kind of vibe in the Punkin' New Wave scene. You know? You don't want your punkers on weed now that I think about it. That would be counterproductive here.
Starting point is 00:55:00 But I will tell the listenership, the FOTMs listening, Canna Cabana will not be undersold on cannabis or cannabis accessories go to canna cabana.com there's a hundred plus locations across this fine country and join the cabana club at canna cabana.com just last week in the backyard we had a great episode with uh andy from did you listen to the yeah it really really disintegrated by the end well because they were, really disintegrated by the end. Well, because they were into some potent strains by the end.
Starting point is 00:55:30 And Mike smoked for the first time in forever. Since I was a teenager. So I smoked a joint for the first time in forever. By the end, they're comparing bongs and stuff like that. Well, everybody was smoking. But we'll say it. I've never been part of an episode like this. But five of us out there, four mics and everybody's smoking weed. It really is fun for us.
Starting point is 00:55:47 Like, I don't know what it sounds like. And if you listen back to the recording, maybe it's nonsense. Two thirds were great. All I remember is I, I played once when I was actually, it was with Stiv.
Starting point is 00:55:59 I played a gig and somebody had a joint backstage and I, I had a little bit and i went up and i remembered the biggest problem i had was forgetting which verse and chorus i was in and that's horrific yeah when you're playing yeah yeah yeah and we i even remember the song man we were playing caught with the meat in your mouth from the dead boys first record love that title and i and i ended it early i was like i was like bang and then but i faked it i came back in but but it was like horrific yeah thinking what verse are we in what chorus are we in so yeah i never did it ever again too too scary well last but not least i love my doer pants my doer shorts shorts, my Dewar shirts, and Dewar,
Starting point is 00:56:46 by the way, D-U-E-R, the world's most comfortable pants. Rugged, stretchy, but they look good. You can bike in them. You can wear them to the board meeting. I absolutely love this stuff. You can go to their retail store on Queen Street here in Toronto, or you can go to doer.ca and you can save 15% both ways if you use the promo code TMDS. So much love to our newest sponsor, Doer.
Starting point is 00:57:15 David, Strange Advance. How are you involved with Strange Advance? Well, Strange Advance, that was an interesting story. Dean Cameron, who had signed the Jitters at EMI. Who passed away a couple of years ago, right? Yes, he did. Dean put me, because I had done some solo stuff. I had done a solo album. He put me on a development deal and I was doing demos for him for EMI. They never signed me. But one day Dean had this brilliant idea he said strange advance have never played live uh they had put out their one record it did well and i want you to play with these guys um i think he thought that my animated style might work and you know help with live performance and
Starting point is 00:58:00 that sort of thing it was a little bit of a mismatch but um but i toured with them um and incidentally went to see them just a few weeks ago at the omicombo wow you went i went to see drew and ian yeah um and we had a really nice visit and even one of our roadies from 1985 was there so we toured and we played a bunch of gigs with tina turner and um it was really fascinating for me because she's simply the best she really actually was great and it was so um weird because i had come out of like a much grittier rock and roll background you know know, mods, dead boys. These were gangs. They really were.
Starting point is 00:58:47 We were gangs and strange advance wasn't like that. You know, we were in a motor home and people were reading books and, um, you know, drinking tea. And I was like, what the fuck is going on?
Starting point is 00:58:59 Because it just wasn't what I was used to, you know? Um, but you, you know, it was a fun enough experience, but it was my last kind of foray into touring before I went to school. After that, I went back to Jitters. Yeah, rejoined.
Starting point is 00:59:18 And that's where we opened our convo, right? Yeah, yeah. You and Blair fired you for being unavailable. Yeah, he fired me. Which is, by the way, a fair reason, I feel, when I listen to this story, that Blair fired you for being unavailable. Yeah, he fired me. Which is, by the way, a fair reason, I feel when I listen to this story, that Blair, you know, if you're not available because you're at school
Starting point is 00:59:32 in wherever you were, London or wherever, you've got to make a tough call on that for the band. It also contained the nuances that David suggested. But yeah, a big part of it was just logistics. Well, logistics were huge, but it was also like what their producer wanted to do with the record. Yeah. And this, you know, I was not the right guy to play on that album in terms of what this guy was envisioning and how we wanted it to be.
Starting point is 01:00:02 Of course, you know, over the years, as Blair's heard me say many times, I'm not, you know, loving this record because I think the band was grittier and ballsier than what came out. And more interesting. Yeah. Yeah. It was kind of sanitized and, and, uh, you know, made to sound commercial and it did sound
Starting point is 01:00:21 commercial, but the jitters were at least the version of the band that i was in when we played we had an edge there was an edgy sound and an edgy attitude and i'm not going to say it was punky but it had elements of that that kind of grip yeah it was kind of punky but it was it was definitely I agree. Thank you. And I agree. You know, you didn't play on this, but the Q107 version of Last of the Red Hot Fools. Yeah. You remember that? Yeah.
Starting point is 01:00:53 It was way edgier. And I still have people now come up to me and say, yeah, I always liked that one better. Because it had more character to it. No offense to Paul Gross, the producer. Yeah. Because it had more character to it. No offense to Paul Gross, producer. Yeah, like, listen, I remember when we were playing in 83,
Starting point is 01:01:10 I remember, you know, playing at the Isabella and stuff and smashing my drums over at the end. And, like, the band had a kind of nasty thing. You would know better than anyone. Oh, yeah, definitely nasty. Like, where does the polishing of these edges, you know? We were worn down, and the producer that we were working with, great guy, he owned the recording studio
Starting point is 01:01:30 and we were about to break up but he said, listen, I want to make a record with you guys. He heard that Q107 homegrown version of Last of the Red Hot Fools on the radio and he wanted to make a record with us and he said, here's the deal,
Starting point is 01:01:44 I want to make it my way. And that point we were like well we could break up or we could make an album at a big studio and maybe get a record deal and those things happened right but really at that point you know I can say safely in case Mark Weisbottom is listening we didn't sell out because there was there were no payments made. Nothing was received. What do you mean in case he's listening? I was weary. All of us were sort of weary. Interesting. Yeah, and we had a blast making that record.
Starting point is 01:02:13 Well, I got to just interrupt for a second. When we're talking about sanitized albums and producers saying they were, when the mods recorded our record, kind of the same thing happened. We got sanitized. I was, and it didn't come out until like 20 years later basically um on a compilation record i think 1995 or something like that so uh 15 years later but when i was in strange advance we were playing a
Starting point is 01:02:39 gig in ottawa and fm were opening for us and national slash was playing with them yes we were backstage and i was talking to nash jeff and he said blah but you were in the mods i said yeah he goes i love the mods and i said you did and he said yeah and i said why didn't you ever tell us you were like a rock star to us why would you never tell us you know i don't know i said let me ask you would you have produced us of course i would have and i'm like oh my god man how would you have produced us and he goes oh i'll tell you exactly how i would have put the three in a room you would have done your backing tracks live i would have put a couple of guitar overdubs vocals done he understood that's the way you make a record what we were
Starting point is 01:03:26 supposed to be yeah that's the way we should have made jitters right and jitters could have been like that yeah remember we would play uh grossman's yes you know and it was a blues place and i i would say after a few songs hey who wants to hear some blues and there'd be some you know guy some long haired guy in a tie-dye shirt who would put his thumb in the air and i'd say well fuck you we don't do any blues and i thought that was the funniest thing i had ever he was blair was such a smart i was such a dick oh my god grossman's quick fun fact uh most fotms knows i believe that's uh the grandfather to eric alper that's correct yeah quite the Alper. That's correct. Who's quite the social media guy.
Starting point is 01:04:07 Oh, interesting. Yeah. I like Eric's little posts with his questions. I love them. You know, he gets a lot of flack for that because he pre-programs them. So he scheduled him in a scheduler. Yeah. So basically the same day every year,
Starting point is 01:04:17 you get the same damn post. Like, what's your favorite cover song you didn't know was a cover song or whatever, right? Which is, I like those ideas, but it's so like contrived. Yeah. It's not it's not exactly a stream of well he asked the other day his question was like name a great canadian song or something like this so i put africa by thunder mug now blair blair will laugh yeah i get a thunder mug whenever i answer his questions i always do something something kind of goofy right Right, right, right.
Starting point is 01:04:45 I'm not answering them seriously. You know, my favorite color is blue. I'm not doing that. But I do kind of answer it like as a smartass. And by the way, I have a very good relationship with Eric to a point where he drove Colin James over here one day. Like he drove Colin and said, Colin, you got to do Toronto Mike. And I think it took Colin a half an hour to figure out what was going on. Like I'm in this guy's face and Colin was great,
Starting point is 01:05:07 but he's the nicest guy. But, but yes, he can be sort of, I went up to him after a show and I, you know, I knew him a little bit. Uh,
Starting point is 01:05:14 I went up to him after a show at Massey hall. This is backstage. He's signing autographs and I couldn't stay. I was with Owen, my son who at the time was like 11. And so we went, we went over to call him and I said, Hey man, you really, uh, making the most of that 145 thing.
Starting point is 01:05:28 And you didn't. I did. Oh, jeez. But I was just joking. But he looked at me like, sorry, what? Like, what, what, what? And I said, I'm kidding. I'm totally kidding.
Starting point is 01:05:40 And then he laughed. He went, okay. That is very funny. Isn't it? Yes. It's very funny,'t it yes it's very funny but it's also mean it's also the evidence of how he can be a smart ass yes right but that's also what makes it fun to be on stage with him yeah oh blair not eric blair yeah because periodically i'm on stage
Starting point is 01:05:58 with him to this day there was a guy there was a guy at the alma Macombo who was dancing, and David and I both caught sight of this guy at the same time. This is the downstairs El Macombo. And he had a, his eyebrow, he had an eyebrow rather than two eyebrows. One eyebrow. And what did I say to you? I turned around as we're playing. Turns around and he looks at me and he goes, monobrow.
Starting point is 01:06:26 And that's all I had to say david david missed skipped a beat i had never heard monobrow before and i was crying yes i believe i made up monobrow that oh my god yeah yeah we had we had a lot of laughter on stage i've never laughed on stage as much as with the jitters um yeah yeah i was gonna pivot here to find out about your like legal career here and how it ties into entertainment and stuff so boy you go off to school you become a lawyer yeah and you're a lawyer you're practicing lawyer today yes okay yes give us a taste of like what kind of law are you practicing? Give us a taste of that. Sure. Well, I'm a film, television, and music lawyer. So I work on films, TV shows.
Starting point is 01:07:14 I work with some recording artists. I work with some record companies, with publishers, et cetera. So it's all of those different areas mixed together. And I've been doing it for an awfully long time. interestingly enough my musical life has been running in parallel so you know while i've been a lawyer all these years there's always a stiv baders re-release there's always a mods thing there's always you know a jitters reunion a mods there's always something happening that keeps me playing and keeps me involved in music um Um, I'll talk about it a little, a little bit in a second, the last two and a half years with this COVID nonsense. Um,
Starting point is 01:07:51 I've been doing an absolute ton of music as, as Blair knows, mostly, mostly recording obviously. But, um, you know, as a lawyer, I work on, on television series, um, feature films. Some of them you would know, you know, if I were to pull some out of the air. I work with Banger Films, so I do all the music documentaries that Banger's done in the last 15 years. Just because I don't know what they've done. Give me some recent music documentaries, nickname check.
Starting point is 01:08:21 Well, Banger's done Long Time Run and Tragically Hip. I saw that. They've done super duper alice cooper um rush beyond the lighted stage saw that one iron maiden flight 666 uh zz top that's a little band in texas um heavy metal evolution hip-hop evolution i watch that shad is an fotm that's okay yeah cool cool. So I've worked on all those shows. That's cool, man. And I do shows like Working Moms with Catherine Wright.
Starting point is 01:08:50 I know. I got my CBC gem. I'm watching CBC gem. Yeah, you gotta love that. And her dad was the late great, Ivan Reitman was the keynote speaker at my graduation from University of Toronto. Oh, no kidding.
Starting point is 01:09:03 That's how I'm connected to Ivan Reitman. That's all I got, though. So Ivan, Ivan. He asked about you. Ivan, he was a client, and Ivan's memorial was at the end of April in L.A. And I've told a number of people the story that, you know, you're at this memorial.
Starting point is 01:09:20 It was really a celebration of life. But the keynote speakers were just phenomenal it was like over two hours of keynote speakers where you're normally getting bored but you're not getting bored when it's arnold schwarzenegger danny devito jennifer garner sigourney weaver eugene levy dan akroyd Bill Murray. That's who was doing the speaking. Right. So it was really special. I think he would have loved it.
Starting point is 01:09:51 His family loved it. That's terrible. What a talented guy. Oh, my God. But yeah, but Working Moms, I know that show for sure. Absolutely. Okay, very cool. Now, tell me this story about finding out
Starting point is 01:10:04 you've got this fan base in japan all of a sudden that sounds wild to me um so a long story short is a few years ago we were putting out uh maude's vinyl album through a label called ugly pop here in toronto simon harvey and uh i was planning in 2018 a trip to japan uh just me and my wife and simon said i'm gonna hook you up with some people there um who know who you are and i said why would they know who i am like because of baiters or mods he said yeah they know that but they know your solo album and i said there's absolutely no way it's there there it's impossible they don't he goes oh yes they do so he put me in touch with them and i ended up playing this incredibly uh cool club called poor cow in tokyo they invited
Starting point is 01:10:54 me just to play uh piano and sing um and there were like you know 50 60 people there um and they all had copies of my old vinyl records and um knew some of the words to the songs which blew me away and we had we had such a special time we went back in 2019 but this time i performed with a band and we did um three shows we did ky Kyoto uh and two in Tokyo and the band was great and they they had everything like note perfect uh we rehearsed and we did the gigs and um and it was great I have a very special affection uh and connection to Japan my father did too um so it it's uh it sort of runs in our family we love that country. But that's wild. Yeah. That you'd be surprised.
Starting point is 01:11:46 It's like that documentary. Was it Rodriguez who finds out he's like a big deal in South Africa or something? I can't remember the details now. Yeah. But he was playing in front of thousands and thousands of people. Don't let the facts ruin the story here. Come on. That's quite the story.
Starting point is 01:12:02 But it was. You're big in Japan. It was amazing. It was amazing. and what i found out about japan is that they when they're interested in something when the people are interested in something they go deep they go deep in the rabbit hole they have no uh they're not self-conscious about what they like they just like it they don't care how old you are they don't care this they don't care that they care about the era in which you were operating and, and whether the records kind
Starting point is 01:12:25 of hit them in a certain way. And, um, you know, it's, it's, uh, it's really cool to be around rock and roll fans that are that interested in the music and, and where it's not, you know, sort of a, a transient thing where it's not like Kleenex, Disposable, Spotify, they buy records right tangible medium yeah they still buy vinyl and cd there's i was thinking of video stores the
Starting point is 01:12:50 other day and how many hours you know because i'm in my late 40s so i've spent many hours mark weisbottom is younger well he's in his 20s i can't i gotta meet mark i gotta meet mark oh come you know what i'll do this quickly and then I'll get back to the whole tangible medium thing. But TMLXX, that means TMLX10. That's the Toronto Mike listener experience, our 10th one. It's coinciding with the 10th anniversary of this very podcast you're on right now.
Starting point is 01:13:18 So on September 1st, from 6 p.m. to 9 p.m., we're all going to collect on the patio of Great Lakes Brewery here in Southern Etobicoke. And I can tell you, Rob Pruse says he's going to be there. I know he's a New York guy now.
Starting point is 01:13:31 He says he's going to be there. I'm telling you two, if you're in town, not in Japan touring, you have to come. I'm thinking we set up an amp and a mic and maybe... You sound like my dad.
Starting point is 01:13:45 Set up an amp and a mic and maybe... You sound like my dad. Set up an amp and a mic and you boys play. Right. You play your yeah, yeah, yeah and your big beat. Yeah. So this is happening. Put it in your day timers, your calendars, whatever app you're using. September 1. Set up a mic.
Starting point is 01:14:02 Sick that's a Thursday. It's the Thursday before the Long Wheel. Set up a mic, an amp. And an amp. Right. September 1. That's a Thursday. It's the Thursday before the long wheel. Set up a mic, an amp. And an amp. Right. An amp. Bring in like a hay truck
Starting point is 01:14:10 and Blair and I can be playing on it. As it drives by. We can be set up. Okay, so, and then again, now I don't care about me at the video store
Starting point is 01:14:19 except I've been thinking about video stores a lot lately because I just remember that experience of, you know, you're touching it and you're looking at it and you're going to make that selection or whatever and how
Starting point is 01:14:27 it sucks now streaming sucks that experience and i understand now at your fingertips everything all of the time instant wow it's instant gratification but there's something it just doesn't mean as much that hunt for the movie i missed as talking to the video store guy you know check it out what was there and same with the record stores it's the same thing i loved going through the records you could listen to this then you paid big money for it and it meant something to you you paid like 20 bucks for this disc or whatever and you read the liner notes and you maybe put it on your wall because you liked it so much and then this whole streaming it's gone not the same. No, it's not close to the same. I mean, when you went to a record store and you made a decision to buy something and lay
Starting point is 01:15:10 out the $6, whatever it was, and you went home and you were hoping the record would be great. Right. And sometimes it wasn't. Right. But sometimes it was. Yeah. And it would just get inside of you and stay inside of you for the rest of your life.
Starting point is 01:15:24 And David, if it wasn't, because you spent the, and you said six, but let's pretend it was 15 bucks. Yeah, well, you're a youngster. He's young. Yeah, I'm younger than you guys. So let's say $12.99, you got your disc. Okay, you buy your cassette. It wasn't good. You tried it again and again, hoping you'd get it.
Starting point is 01:15:42 Like I would work on it. Like I'd put serious effort and work into it because I paid money for this it was a lot of money for me so i wanted to hit and if it didn't hit the first time maybe it'll hit the third fourth fifth time with streaming it's one listen i didn't feel it and you're i never hear it again yeah my experience with bruce springsteen specifically was i put on uh born to run because it was so hyped it was being written about everywhere. And I thought, this guy's ridiculous.
Starting point is 01:16:09 He sounds like Greg Trenere of the Mods. And I mean, really, he sounded like he had marbles in his mouth, actually. And I thought it was ridiculous. But there was one song that caught me and it was Meeting Across the River. So I would go put the tone arm on that one song. But then the next song played because I was too lazy to go pick it up. So then then jungle land played next thing you know i'm like seven or
Starting point is 01:16:28 eight listens in and i'm thinking this guy's pretty good you know and and it would not have happened in his in the streaming era no no wouldn't have happened it's funny you mentioned that record because for me it was the same track it was meeting across the river right i was like wow what a heavy track beautiful and and randy brecker playing trumpet in the beautiful space on the piano it just was gorgeous and haunting and but i did love jungle land yeah because remember i was a prague guy yeah yeah so jungle land all its parts yeah it had all these parts and i do think the best saxophone okay ever spoiler alert i almost don't know if i should say it because but Stu won't hear it, but Cam might hear it.
Starting point is 01:17:06 But I have it queued up for the next episode of Toast because we're kicking out our favorite songs with saxophone parts in it. And that's my favorite. So that's my, anyways. I thought your, spoiler alert, Bruce Springsteen's here. Come on, boss. Come on down.
Starting point is 01:17:19 You should hear the episode. By the way, David, you're just discovering Toronto Mike, but Blair's been going into the archives. Go listen to Tom Wilson's first visit to the studio because he tells a story I titled the story Bruce Springsteen's tits and he
Starting point is 01:17:34 tells this story about Bruce Springsteen's tits that is in that voice the way he tells that story it's incredible oh my god I know that's right you know who's a big fan of Six Degrees of six degrees of separation of stiv baders is little steven okay yeah so little steven uh underground garage they've played my solo stuff wow but they've played a ton of stiv's stuff and when stiv's uh the movie about him the
Starting point is 01:17:59 documentary premiered in new york a few years back little steven attended nice so he's he loves baiters yeah amazing and i think what he loved about steve was was more on the solo stuff was more the garage rock kind of sound right sure you know which is what he's really really into yeah so here's where i want to go next david and then i'm going to open it up in case there's anything blair thought about on his drive here that he's going to regret not talking. So it'll be free for all for Blair Packham, everyone. But first I get my last little part here, which is that there's a beautiful song. You mentioned beautiful, gorgeous songs. I want to, this is Envy of None.
Starting point is 01:18:35 And this song is called Western Sunset. And I'm going to play it, play some of it, fade it down. And then we're going to talk about this, David. You ready? Yeah. Here we go. Thank you. The It just sort of washes over you. Love it. That's Western Sunset by Envy of None.
Starting point is 01:20:24 David, why am I playing this song? Well, it's the album closer, but it's most importantly Alex Leifson's tribute to Neil Peart. And it's very beautiful. Did you play on this song? Yes. Don't bury the lead here, David dare you're playing on this jam yeah so you're playing drums on uh this is yeah like you said alex leifson's uh tribute to neil peart western sunset and alex leifson's new band is of course is envy of none
Starting point is 01:21:01 so if you're looking for this you're looking for for Envy of None. And how do you know Alex Leifson? That's an interesting story. So I've been the band's lawyer for quite some time and was very, very close to, well, I am very close to Getty and Alex and I was close to Neil as well. Um,
Starting point is 01:21:27 and of course, Neil was, um, ill, uh, for three and a half years, uh, leading up to his passing in January,
Starting point is 01:21:35 2020. Um, and Alex was inspired to write that while sitting on, uh, Neil's balcony in Santa Monica, watching the sun go down when he was on one of his visits and we would sort of take turns visiting Neil sometimes we'd go together sometimes we'd go apart but we were always sort of rotating and and getting down there to spend time with him
Starting point is 01:22:00 so yeah it's a it's a lovely piece piece and it was special for me to be able to play brushes on it. Well, I'm sorry for your loss. For those of us who weren't in his inner circle, we did not even know he was sick. We just, one day we learned he passed away and it was, wow. That's how he wanted it, which was of no surprise to people that knew him. Uh, he was intensely private. Uh, everyone knew that.
Starting point is 01:22:31 And, um, and he was like that until the very end. Um, but we, uh, we all had very special moments with him when we were, uh,
Starting point is 01:22:41 going down visiting. And, uh, you know, he, he knew that he was very much loved. Let's put it that way. He really did.
Starting point is 01:22:51 So, yeah. Well, it's amazing that you got to play on that track. Like, wild. And it's such a beautiful tribute to Neil. Yeah, it's hard for me to listen to it just because it's very emotional. And Alex, and Al, Alex,
Starting point is 01:23:05 you know, the composite, he wrote a composition that just evokes so much of, of that feeling and, and you know, what he was probably feeling about, about Neil as, as the illness progressed.
Starting point is 01:23:22 So, yeah, it was a very difficult time, especially for those two guys my god and for ray daniels the manager um and obviously neil's family but not not including neil's family in the discussion that's obvious for ray and getty and alex um it was obviously uh extremely difficult blair what do you think of that song it's beautiful it's lovely um david's brushwork is lovely and uh it's very subtle and um warm and i i think it's really lovely yeah it's just sort of a feel song but i was telling blair that um uh because i've been playing brushes mostly with him
Starting point is 01:24:07 uh in the last few years and i've sort of become a little bit more comfortable with brushes because i haven't i haven't uh uh exactly spent years and years playing brushes i did a little bit with lost and profound yeah you did but but mostly with you um and my trio on your and your solo subbing for andy that's right yeah yeah yeah there's a lot of brushes in there but um yeah they're kind of they're kind of interesting to record you know and uh anton evans who did the um recording you know he mics below the snare drum and above and you get all the all the subtle little distinctions and what's going on um and the envy of none record was was fun i ended up on i don't know how many tracks i think five or six of them i can't remember but um it was really fun and the four of them worked really hard over a number of years alex
Starting point is 01:25:00 alf andy and maya um and now we're all kind of doing things on each other's recordings oh yeah yeah it's like i just did a track for maya on her soul for her solo record um just last week wow which is really cool and see what you where you're at now is you can you know make your money as this lawyer in you know your livelihood as your lawyer yeah you livelihood. As you're a lawyer. I'm just a caveman. You've got a livelihood lawyer thing going on, but you can still have that whole, you know, rockstar outlet.
Starting point is 01:25:32 Like you're still doing stuff like this and playing with Blair. Like you've got the best of both worlds. I've tried to sort of maintain, you know, the concept of being two people. You've got the balance figured out buddy but it's um but there's imposter syndrome you know that was that was a big big thing for me especially when i became a lawyer um you know a lot of people say okay so you were playing in bands
Starting point is 01:25:57 and and doing music then you left and you became a lawyer and i say yeah but what we don't talk about is what i went through to leave music and become a lawyer that was no walk in the park that was not easy you know the top of my head blew off and if i go and i really think back to that time it's very it's a very difficult transition to make when i was in second year law school i got a call about a potential stiv baders reunion so that would have been 1988 i think it would have been what year does he pass 90 uh 90 right and i get the call do you want to go out and i said yes get me the fuck out of here. Right. Right.
Starting point is 01:26:46 Right. That's how I felt. That was second year law school and it didn't materialize. It didn't come together. So I just, okay, ignored that it ever happened and just continued, continued.
Starting point is 01:26:56 Right. Um, but those are really tough transitions to make. Um, but when you get through and you come out the other side and you realize this was better for you it was better for your life um you know and and then of course it's the struggle of of of keeping up like you say the best of both worlds but remember there's always a negativity around the lawyer thing yeah right like people don't people don't love the fact that you know
Starting point is 01:27:28 i might be doing music and and doing it at a um you know in an interesting level like with envy of none um but that i'm a lawyer because there's nothing cool about being a lawyer but in fact a lot of the stuff i do is kind of cool absolutely i'm not a banking lawyer i'm not a litigator i'm not you know a corporate lawyer i'm an entertainment lawyer so i'm involved in entertainment you're still you're involved in like music and sports and tv and film like if you know if you're gonna be a lawyer that's the way to go that's the one to do and i didn't even have any choice i was kind of pulled into it because it was like that's all i knew right i didn't know anything else um but uh yeah it's it's it's been an interesting life
Starting point is 01:28:12 trying to maintain those two things um and trying to you know be taken seriously in those two things in both yeah yeah i mean i i uh when david plays with me i have made note to the audience that he's my lawyer so if you have any issues take them up with him and it actually never occurred to me that that might bug david no it doesn't bug me it doesn't bug me but uh lawyer jokes are fine drummer jokes are fine you know what does it mean when the drummer's drooling out of both sides of his mouth? The stage is level. That's good. You ever hear the one about the lawyer?
Starting point is 01:28:51 A guy asks the lawyer, how much will it cost to ask you three questions? Have you ever heard this one? And the lawyer goes, 500 bucks. And he goes, 500 bucks? And he goes, yeah, what's your third question? I love that one. That's great.
Starting point is 01:29:07 What did the drummer get on his SAT? What? Tomato sauce. Yeah, there are a lot of drummer jokes. I know, I know. Oh, that is the best of both worlds. I know. It was funny.
Starting point is 01:29:19 Wow. So before I pass the mic to Blair for mop-up duty here, anything I missed? Rush. So I know before I pass the mic to Blair for mop-up duty here, anything I missed? Rush. So I know it was kind of, we buried the lead there because we were remembering Neil and it was a very solemn moment there. But you've been Rush's lawyer for years, it sounds like. Yeah, for many years. And now you're, I'm assuming now you're still working with Getty and Alex? Yes. Yeah.
Starting point is 01:29:43 Any stories you can share? Are they all in the vault? Anything? It'd be interesting to hear. Anything you can tell us? I know I can tell you from TMLX events, there's always a handful of Rush fanatics that show up. And I'll just shout out two right now.
Starting point is 01:29:56 Rush, Mike, and James Edgar, their favorite bands of all time. That's Rush. So anything you can tell us about Rush? They're listening. Well, I mean, I can tell you lots of things about rush they're listening well i mean i can tell you lots of things about the guys but the the one thing i will say and it really really is the truth is they are uh really fabulous people they are they are honest they are philanthropic
Starting point is 01:30:20 to an incredible degree nice um and they're down to earth and it's it's astounding actually when you think about it because i don't think a lot of people like them are yeah but they're they're down to earth they are in many many respects um regular guys david brought uh getty to a jitters show and uh and i had lost my voice which really doesn't happen but i was just croaking my way through the thing and making jokes and trying to be funny and uh getty said said to me after he said you're a funny fucker which i liked and then and then he said and i totally get you about the voice that voice. That's happened to me a million times. Wow.
Starting point is 01:31:05 Right. And it probably did. The other thing I'll say about the two of them is they are incredibly funny people. And I know a lot of folks will say that, oh, the guy's really funny. Alex is one of the funniest, if not the funniest person I've ever met. And Geddy is hilarious. So, you know, they're just very very funny people and i will say that yeah you know when when neil was going through the illness the the humor that those guys brought um was so incredibly important um to him and uh you know to watch to watch him laugh you know in under those circumstances
Starting point is 01:31:49 because of those guys was was so um so special so they're they really are wonderful people down to earth funny as hell and uh i love both of them like brothers all right here's the million dollar question is there any chance that getty and or Alex would appear on Toronto Mic'd? You'd have to get by me first. No lasagna for you. You know what? Alex did a lot of promo for Envy of None. He did lots and lots of interviews and, uh, but the two of them
Starting point is 01:32:27 together, they most recently did their interview with, uh, George, with Strombo. George, yeah. Strombo gets all the big fish. What about Toronto Mike over here in his basement? We're going to work on that. We're going to work on it, David. Come on. We can see what we can do. You're an FOTM now. It's sort of part of your mandate to help serve the program. No, you have to. It of part of your mandate yeah yeah to help serve the program right now you have to it's part of the mandate would sam from the vile tones work i mean it's either getty or sam i trust blair on this because now blair does get the show like i do get the show he gets the show
Starting point is 01:32:58 and he actually sent me an email and said davis steinberg this is what he's done he'd be great on your show and here we are as i'm about to pass the mic to blair uh he was right you were great on toronto mic and i love this very much so i would trust blair if he says a guest would be a good fit for toronto mic and you know i know sharon's still uh like watching on the live stream you suggested her and and i enjoyed that very much as well so i trust blair mclement by the way oh yeah well let So I trust Blair on this. Doug McClement, by the way. Doug McClement. Yeah, Doug McClement. Well, let's do it.
Starting point is 01:33:27 A million stories. This is the summer of Blair. That's what I'm calling it, the summer of Blair. When you talk about Doug McClement, like we met him, I met Doug in 1976. I met him in 77.
Starting point is 01:33:37 Okay, so when he was four track. So you know, he had this studio, Comfort Sound, Blair worked with him, blah, blah, blah. Five years. So he recorded the mods,
Starting point is 01:33:46 he recorded other stuff that i had you know played on demo tapes during 79 etc when i was in just very hilarious moments when i was in strange advance we're playing ontario place and doug mcclement was there doing the recording and he got on the mic and he was like hey david steinberg and i was like oh my god it's dougie okay and then when rush were doing um i think it was the clockwork angels tour i i hear of it you know doug mcclement is is in the uh is in the mobile unit with with david bodrill and i was like i gotta go see doug so i go in there so it's like doug mcclemon's there whether it's rush strange advance the mods the vile tone there my whole life yeah oh and of course last pogo yeah so doug's been there my whole life yeah yeah i i phoned doug to find out about doing a
Starting point is 01:34:37 demo tape at his recording studio and he was the nicest guy and really that led to me working with him and meeting all the people that I met. And he was so influential in my life. Like a huge, huge mentor. Doug was and is also. Absolutely. Introduce me. Let's get this done.
Starting point is 01:34:54 Doug, absolutely sold. I do want to shout out another episode that happened very recently, actually. I did a Toronto Punk episode with Al Nolan, Brian McAuliffe, and Sean Cherry. And I just want to let people know if they want to hear some more like toronto hardcore punk stories then go to episode 1051 they dropped by it was also monday night and we did an hour 41 minutes blair get that mop buddy what did i miss
Starting point is 01:35:20 anything this is all yours i'll shut up okay david i believe you were 14 years old yes and uh you were confronted with the question that i believe maybe you were a year older i'm not sure but you were confronted with this question and i want to know the answer to it now what are you going to choose hockey or music you've got to choose you can't do both right i believe it was well you tell us who that was who gave you that question this was my this is my first band uh it was a four piece everybody went on to have interesting musical careers i was the drummer joe rockman was the bass player who played with jeff healy for many years yeah michaelig, who's Burton Cummings' guitar player now, he was the guitarist.
Starting point is 01:36:06 And Tim Broide, who was sort of a founding member of I think the Coney Hatch period. I know he played with Andy Curran. F-O-T-M, Andy Curran. And Andy, who I just got off the phone with, said to send love to you.
Starting point is 01:36:21 Oh, I love that guy. Nice guy. So Andy, I talk to all the time because of Envy of None. Right. But anyway, we had a rehearsal on a Saturday and I had a big hockey game. I was 14 years old. It was actually the championship game. That's huge.
Starting point is 01:36:37 So I said to Mike, I said, can we push rehearsal back a few hours or maybe do it tomorrow, Sunday? And it was like, look look you got to make a choice it's hockey or music and he would have been he would have been 16 then yeah and michael continues to be a friend of both of ours oh yeah this day but honestly i will say to either one of them hockey or music which which one is it i don't even know if mike remembers saying it he remembers that i've told him that he said it yeah that's funny because he said it
Starting point is 01:37:11 yeah and you know what i did sometimes i went and i played the game and we won nice yeah well you gotta play that game like you committed to the team for the season you gotta play the finals it was totally schmucky so you chose hockey is what you're saying. I chose hockey, man, and it took me such a far distance. I mean, you know, the funny thing is I've been involved with hockey type stuff on and off during my career, but not as a player. Right, right. But wait, didn't you play music with? I have a friend named Craig Ninehouse.
Starting point is 01:37:44 And Craig played for the Boston Bruins for a few years and then played in Europe for many years. And we have a mutual friend, Mark Messier, because I've worked with Mark and Craig is very good friends with Mark. Yeah. And I've, I've known the Moose for a long time. And Craig's a great singer, guitar player, and this is what he does for a living. So sometimes I go and I do duos with him and we do them at hockey type events always. So, you know, if Mark Messier has got something, we're always there. Mess loves it.
Starting point is 01:38:17 Um, we did, uh, in November, Kevin Lowe's hockey hall of fame, uh, party before the actual induction. Sure. Wow. So we do all this stuff. And I did a little bit of work for the NHL alumni and the Leaf alumni as a lawyer. Amazing.
Starting point is 01:38:34 Several years ago. So I've had little bits of sports. This today, today is the anniversary, 60th anniversary of the day they discovered Bill Borilko's body. Oh, wow. Interesting. Shout out to FOTM. We should write a song about that. Somebody should. anniversary 60th anniversary of the day they discovered bill barilko's body oh wow interesting shout out to fotm we should write a song about that somebody should yeah yeah somebody should absolutely let's get on that blair anything else in the uh vault uh swamp are we draining the swamp
Starting point is 01:38:57 what are we doing i don't know what the metaphor is i don't know you know i don't want i just don't want you to be driving home i mean you'll be back of course but i don't want to be driving home and be thinking that you uh i should have asked david yeah no no i i think i think we've covered most of it at this point i would say most of it that's it yeah i'm surprised i thought we would go like three four more hours um and get into all of blair's misgivings and shortcomings. It's time for the airing of the grievances. The problem is, David, my hard drive is not big enough for that file.
Starting point is 01:39:32 I've heard. Locker room. We can measure hard drives. Yes, you've got your tape there. Can I borrow that? I've got to show him something. David, hell of a premiere. Can't wait to see you at TMLXX.
Starting point is 01:39:48 I can't wait for Getty to drop by. We'll talk Blue Jays baseball. I'm a big Blue Jays fan. I know he is as well. But this was awesome. Thanks for being here, buddy. Thank you, man. It was really, really a lot of fun.
Starting point is 01:40:03 And Blair, you're a heck of a co-host. You were fantastic. Thanks for coming back so quickly thanks for inviting me and that by the way this is the Ron Hawkins who's still with us not the Ron Hawkins
Starting point is 01:40:20 who passed away last week shout out to Ridley Funeral Home. And that brings us to the end of our 1,062nd show. You can follow me on Twitter. I'm at Toronto Mike.
Starting point is 01:40:38 Blair is at Blair Packham. P-A-C-K H-A-M. No John Derringer jokes today? That's how you opened last episode. Look what you did. I know. You talked about Andrew Crystal and John Derringer,
Starting point is 01:40:51 and neither made it through the weekend. I know. That's not going to happen. Are you on social media, David? Yes, I am. How can we follow you? David Quinton Steinberg on Facebook and on Instagram. Great Lakes Brewery.
Starting point is 01:41:08 They're at Great Lakes Beer. Palma Pasta is at Palma Pasta. Don't leave without your lasagna, David. No. Sticker U is at Sticker U. Dewar are at Dewar Performance. Again, Dewar is D-U-E-R, and that promo code is TMDS. Use it because you'll love the clothes, and it helps the show.
Starting point is 01:41:28 Ridley Funeral Home are at RidleyFH, and Canna Cabana are at CannaCabana underscore. See you all next week. Well, I've been told that there's a sucker born every day But I wonder who Yeah, I wonder who Maybe the one who doesn't realize There's a thousand shades of gray Cause I know that's true, yes I do
Starting point is 01:42:03 I know it's true, yeah I know that's true, yes I do I know it's true, yeah I know it's true How about you? Oh, they're picking up trash and they're putting down roads And they're brokering stocks, the class struggle explodes And I'll play this guitar just the best that I can Maybe I'm not and maybe I am But who gives a damn
Starting point is 01:42:34 Because everything is coming up rosy and gray Yeah, the wind is cold but the smell of snow Warms me today And your smile is fine And it's just like mine And it won't go away Cause everything is Rosie and Gray Well, I've kissed you in France
Starting point is 01:43:00 And I've kissed you in... Future Mike here. We just finished Rosie and and gray from lowest of the low but there was one story that the guys forgot to tell so david take it away okay i'm gonna try and tell it succinctly blair and i worked with a wonderful musician and producer named Stan Meisner. And Stan was, uh, incredibly talented, but also very, very detailed,
Starting point is 01:43:30 very detailed in mixing and everything else. And, um, I was talking to, um, Geddy Lee from Rush one day, and he was talking about turning something up a little bit of volume. And he said,
Starting point is 01:43:44 I'm just gonna, I'm just gonna turn it up a little bit of volume. And he said, I'm just going to, I'm just going to turn it up a little Meisner. And I was like, what, what did you say? And he said, yeah, I'm going to turn it up a Meisner. And I said, where, what is that? Where did you get that from? And he said, well, Paul Northfield, the engineer, used to work with this guy who was very particular. So he started calling
Starting point is 01:44:06 little incremental changes a meisner and of course i called stan and i said are you aware and he went yes i'm aware and i said that paul northfield was doing this and that all these other musicians know about the meisner and he said work with the police yeah paul northfield was huge everybody yeah he worked with rush i'll just gentle giant you know i'll just turn it up a meisner so uh i always that blew me away and you talk about the little six degrees of separation thing and then getty doesn't know stan my no he's never met stan he just knows that's the name of this yeah yeah yeah meis was named after a guy. And then I asked Paul Northfield about it.
Starting point is 01:44:50 Because I met Paul Northfield in LA and I said, hey, you know, blah, blah, blah, the Meisner. And Paul Northfield said, oh, yes. And I said, did you do that? He went, absolutely. He said, Stan is a wonderful, wonderful musician. But yes, he was very particular. And we called it the Meisner. So I don't know what record it originated on. But Paul Northfield is the guy that made it up. That's so, so good.
Starting point is 01:45:17 And I don't know if Stan likes it or doesn't like it. So if he doesn't like it, I'm sorry, Stan. But it is a hell of a funny story. Just turn it up a Meisner.

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