Toronto Mike'd: The Official Toronto Mike Podcast - Dru: Toronto Mike'd #1616

Episode Date: January 15, 2025

In this 1616th episode of Toronto Mike'd, Mike chats with Juno award-winner Dru Grange about In Essence, going solo, becoming the Prince of R&B, and his Soul NOSTALGIC Residency’s One Year anniversary. Toronto Mike'd is proudly brought to you by Great Lakes Brewery, Palma Pasta, Ridley Funeral Home, and RecycleMyElectronics.ca. If you would like to support the show, we do have partner opportunities available. Please email Toronto Mike at [e-mail]

I'm in Toronto where you wanna get the city love Welcome to episode 1616 of Toronto Mic'd! Proudly brought to you by Great Lakes Brewery, a fiercely independent craft brewery who believes in supporting communities, good times and brewing amazing beer. Order online for free local home delivery in the GTA. Palma Pasta, enjoy the taste of fresh homemade Italian pasta and entrees from Palma Pasta in Mississauga and Oakville. RecycleMyElectronics.ca, committing to our planet's future, means properly recycling our electronics of the past. Building Toronto's Skyline, a podcast and book from Nick Ainiis and Ridley Funeral Home, pillars of the community since 1921.

Joining me today, making his Toronto Mike debut, is Juno award winning R&B icon, the Prince of R&B. Not to be confused with the Prince of Darkness, it's Drew. Yes sir. What a pleasure it is to finally meet you, Drew. What a pleasure it is to finally meet you, Drew. What a pleasure it is to be here, my friend. We I don't know if we've ever talked, but I have like I put you on the Humble and Fred show in the past.

Oh, yes. OK. So you've been on that show a few times. Yes. Those are my guys there. OK, well, they're cooler guys than I am. So I hope your expectations were lowered for this. But how you doing? How's 2025 been treating you? 2025 has been a blessing, man. It started off with a bang. You know, we ended 2024 with the

last residency show, the Christmas show, and started the new year with a new location. We're uptown now so we're in Richmond Hill at Joker Theatre. Right. And yeah man this is just I'm excited to be hitting a different area and we're hitting a whole different audience and I've wanted to move around we've been at Aqua Supper Club for the past year. Shout out to Aqua Supper Club who gave Soul Nostalgic, my ensemble, a chance. I love how you get right into it. I got right into it.

No, go ahead because we'll revisit this of course, but you're celebrating one year, the one year anniversary of your Soul Nostalgic residency on February 14th. Why does that name sound like it's important? I feel like that's an important day February 14th But it could be it's that's that's okay. Well look I see you brought your wife with you So this is a special day for you too. I'm sure okay, so Valentine's Day Richmond Hill is the 905 ready for you drew I Think so. I think they've been waiting for me. Are you sure? Yes, they've been waiting for us. Okay, so they've been waiting for me. Are you sure? Yes, they've been waiting for us. Okay, so maybe we tell people how they can attend this show on February 14th 2025, this one year anniversary,

and then you're gonna let me go on a journey with you, man. We're gonna hold hands. I need to know more things about Drew and then we'll revisit this at the end. Of course. So this is Soul Nostalgic Quiet Storm. Yes, so Soul Nostalgic is the name of my band and this is the Valentine's Day edition entitled Quiet Storm a love story. Okay, wow. It's getting hot in here. Okay, Quiet Storm a love story Valentine's Day edition and if somebody wants to get tickets to this show, you know, it's a beautiful day, it's Valentine's Day edition. And if somebody wants to get tickets to this show, you know, it's a beautiful day. It's Valentine's Day for goodness sakes.

Where would you send them to get some tickets? Go to soulnostalgic.com and click on tickets. It's very simple. See, I feel like if you're on another show, I don't know, breakfast television or whatever, it's now over. Like that was it. You came over, we saw you, you're a handsome guy.

We got the pitch. This is going on February 14th and we'd say goodbye but now that's like the warm-up just just getting started here did you know and I'm curious about your current relationship with this guy this is the home of the real talk so don't hold back on me here but Sean Jones was here in the summer yes do you know this guy Sean Jones I sure do we were in a group together for many years okay that was in essence I was in essence. Would you mind if we go back and get cuz my wife who is not feeling great actually

otherwise, I feel like she'd be sitting down here with us, but She was a big in essence fan and I'm wondering if we could get the origin story of in essence here. Oh, definitely You're taking us back. Well, let's go back man. The good old days. Okay. When Trump was just some some guy on the Howard Stern show. Yeah man in essence wow like it was first of all I grew up a really shy kid. So I knew I wanted to sing. I think it was I was seven or eight when I signed up for a church talent show you got good pipes. I'm listening headphones. Yeah. Oh, thank you Did you have to smoke to get those pipes? Okay, yeah now after these years. Yeah smoking a little bit of something anyway, okay? Smoke if you got them yeah exactly

Yeah, so I wanted to know where was I you, you're a shy guy. I was shy kid. I was around seven or eight and I wanted to sign up for a talent show, church talent show, because my older brother told me that my older brother overheard me singing, uh, Temptations, My Girl, the Jackson five edition. Okay. With my high pitched voice at seven and eight years old. He's like, you know, Andrew, like my brother that would clown me usually actually said I think you might have some talent here so you know that means you must be very talented yes for him to

be able to say that out of his face yes at that time so um so I signed up for the church talent show rehearsed from for I don't know it felt like now looking back I felt a couple months and then when Showtime came, couldn't do it. Backed out. Too shy. Too shy. I couldn't get the nerve to do it. I was a stuttering kid.

It was very difficult for me. I was a very shy kid, painfully shy. So when I started in high school, I knew I wanted to sing, but I'm like, I can't do it alone. If I can have my boys with me, if I can put a crew around me, maybe I can pull off standing on stage in front of people and actually sing something. What high school is this?

St. Francis Xavier, Mississauga. Okay. Yes, sir. West End, love it. Okay. Yes, I'm a saga boy, Mississauga boy. Okay, more 905 action here. Yes, yes, that's right. Home of Palma Pasta by the way and because we said 905 I'll just let you know you're not leaving here without a

frozen lasagna it's in my freezer. Oh hell yes. Look at this. Your wife is happy. Oh yeah she knows all about that actually. She Italian? Are you Italian? No, Chilean. Just okay you know what? Okay you do. Listen, your wife goes to Palma pasta all the time. Yes. Okay, which location? The one in Mississauga Central Parkway and the big one. That's called Palma's Kitchen. We have live events.

Do you look me in the eyes? Your husband has nice eyes. Oh, thank you. I'm flirting with him, not you, okay? Because I don't want him to beat me up, so I'm gonna flirt with him. Palma's Kitchen, this location we're talking about, every single year, usually late November, I have a live event there where Palma Pasta feeds you. Great Lakes

Brewery will give you a drink of beer. I'm gonna give you beer. We're gonna crack one open in a moment. We sure are. Like super soon. And I record live. You, literally, if you're around next late November or early December you should come to Palma's kitchen jump on the mic and maybe sing us a little Christmas song or something. Hey who knows what could happen. Okay well look you're boss over here says you're gonna do it. She gave me a thumbs up over here. Okay so let's crack the beer and we'll continue with the origin story. Okay so what do you got a lager? Okay on the mic on the mic. I got a lager yeah., premier lager Great Lakes, brewery

Yeah, you're good at that, okay, here we go All right, cheers to you drew so you you got what you met some buds who could also sing what's going on in mississauga. Yeah, man, so There was a st. Francis Xavier talent show And I was like, can I get the nerve to do something like this? I really want to do it So I actually sang with two other people Riccio and Ron Moffat back in the day. We did can you stand the rain by new edition?

and so my part was Ralph Tresvon's part and of of course I thought of a great idea. Oh, let me walk out when his part starts. So they do the Johnny Gill starts the first part. On a perfect day, I know that I can count on you. That's not possible. Tell me can you weather a storm? So then I come out thinking I could walk. I'm so nervous my friend my legs

My legs are trembling like a twig. I got the nerve To push myself to do it myself onto the stage. Sorry And I came out doing that cuz I need some Buddy who will stand by me? Through the good times and bad times you always Always be right there And that's where it started man. That was like the crowd went my my classmates had never heard me sing So they were like is that they were blind? Yeah, what the heck is? Like what's going on? And when I heard the audience

that's when I was like this feels pretty good. Like I got through it. The following year was when I started to piece to piece the group together. So there was a group that sang at that same talent show named Versatile Swing and I saw them backstage. I saw when they came in they all went and got McDonald's before they performed. They all came in with their outfits on and I was kind of backstage looking at them like that's kind of cool like they're a real group like they had the same outfits and you know if like to me back then I'm like these guys are like boys to men these These guys are like a real group.

There was one guy that used to work with them that wanted to be in their group so bad, named Obahayesinth, and his name grew into the name Touch. That was a member of InEssence. He started the group. He came to me first after this talent show. So after he heard me at the talent show, he came to me and he's like,

you know, would you ever think about being in a group? He's recruiting you, man. Yes. And I didn't even think about it. I said, yes, yes, right away. Wow. Like, where do I sign type of thing. And then me and him started to look for the other members.

So we went to Xavier. We heard about a couple of singers that sang at Father Michael Gates, right? And Michael Pope was the guy from Gates. So we went and met with him briefly and we heard about each other through like different girls that went to the school. Oh yeah, Mike Pope sings and he's so cute and this and that. So we're like, okay, let's go meet this guy. We meet Mike Pope, good looking dude, has that nice high-pitched falsetto that we need for the harmony.

I'm like, okay, this will be good. Me and O were like, yeah, you know what, this could work. Mike says, I sing with someone. I sing with this guy named Shawn Jones. And he goes to Clarkson, Clarkson. And he's like, he has this Johnny Gale vibe, and good looking, the girls love Johnny Gale vibe and good-looking the girls love him he's a good-looking dude I was like yo we gotta meet this guy

so at that time there was another singer oh my goodness I'm forgetting the other guy's name that was there before Sean Jones. He's listening right now. I know. He's pretty pet. Yes so anyway we didn't keep him we moved on. He didn't make the cut. He didn't make the cut. He didn't make the cut. We met Sean Jones at the bus terminal at Square One when it was in the front by the Burger King. We were like, wow, this guy's tall, good looking dude.

He was on his way to work. He worked at the Cineplex, which one? Clarkson, don't remember which one. Anyway, he was on his way to work, so he was rushing. He was about to go on the bus, and he started singing, put on your red dress, and slip on those high heels, some of that sweet perfume, my, my, my, Johnny Gill, my, my, my, my.

My mouth hit the floor, I was like what the heck is this? And so it was four of us. Yeah. Right and we all said we would meet up and there was one other friend that was, he had a car at the time so he was the one that would drive us around. Stephen Brown, he had no business being in a singing group at all. He never thought he would. He had a nice, low voice that would work for the bass. So we're like, you know what? Let's put him in the group. I'll, I took it upon myself to say,

I'll tell him what to do. I'll kind of coach him through, you know, the bass's job is easy. Come on, I can show him something. So that's how he got in the group. And to this day, he thanks me for that because he had the time of his life and he never expected that he would got in the group. And to this day, he thanks me for that, because he had the time of his life, and he never expected that he would be in a group.

Okay, but there must be, I don't know, thousands of bands that get together in high school, be it Mississauga or elsewhere, but my wife, who was born and raised in Edmonton, doesn't know all the words to songs that these bands have performed. So what is it that allowed InEssence to break through? That's a really good question.

I mean, we are all of Jamaican descent and we're all very determined. We're leaders. Like we bucked heads constantly because we're just all leaders. And we have like, I don't know if it's our ego or. Drive? I mean, it's, I feel like it was our ego that kind of drove that in a way. Like we were very determined to make something happen.

And myself in particularly, I was very, I'm the youngest in the group. Okay. So I was always kind of like, I kind of had to show, like take my position as a leader, even though I was the youngest. So there was stuff like Pops, Michael Pope,

his nickname's Pops. He was into basketball at the time when we put the group together. And he would miss rehearsals because of basketball practice. Right? Right. So yeah, Marjorie knows the story. So I asked him, like, are you gonna be Michael Jordan?

Do you think you're Michael Jordan, bro? Those are my exact words. He's like, oh well, I'm like, if you think you're Michael Jordan, go play basketball. But if you're not trying to be Michael Jordan and we're trying to be the biggest group in the world, let's focus on this. And imagine, I the youngest in the group at that age, I'm 16 and they were 18, 17, 18. Like who's this kid talking to like this?

But that was kind of an example of how we, I think that was kind of the reason on why we pushed through and kind of made this this name for ourselves was that was a part of the determination like we're going to put in the work we're going to step away from anything else we're doing that you're not going to be the biggest the biggest thing in the world at and this is our chance to be the biggest at something. But Drew that's not enough right like you could be a talented singer you guys could

all gel write great songs but so much of this business industry is business and a lot of that is just the game is rigged. Yeah. Okay. So somehow, I mean, so let me ask you some basic questions. I got to play some in essence, drink that Great Lakes beer. How is that Great Lakes beer by the way, Drew? It is so refreshing. And are you Drew at this time? You, still when you're starting InEssence? So InEssence, we all thought of nicknames. And we kind of went through this process.

This was before- Do you want your own beer? Okay, she says she's okay. I think she might want one. I can get you even a light lager if you want. Like, once I start the song, I can just run up and get you a beer. Okay, I'm gonna do it.

I sold her on a Great Lakes. Okay, that's $6. Just tap the machine over there. Okay all right. So I know but like you got representation. How do you get a like how do you even get a record deal nowadays? I won't even ask you about nowadays. I think it's a complete shit storm now but even back then though how did you get a Juno Award? Did you get it? Did in essence win a Jun Juneau Award? Won a Juneau Award. Yes. Where is that Juneau Award right now? It is in on my shelf in our shelving in your home unit in our home.

Yes. OK, so it's on display. Yes. But my parents had it for many, many years until I did. You have to pay for it. I had a guy over here recently who wanted he wanted, you know, we did have to and he had to pay. Yes, there's a cost that you put up. Can I tell you that's bullshit? Well, that's only one little piece of the bullshit in this music. That's nothing. You're here, look, we want everyone who gives any, even if you like R&B a little bit, okay? This is going to be a lovely night for love, Valentine's Day in Richmond Hill, okay? You heard the man sing a moment ago. I'm just telling the dudes out there, even the gals, everybody, this is just gonna work

for you, okay? Get tickets, go see this. We'll talk more about that at the end. But you gotta give me the real scoop here. I'm gonna play some, in essence. I'm gonna grab your wife a beer. And then you gotta tell me the good, the bad, and the ugly. Okay, like, are you sure we only have an hour? Because whatever you know actually my next recording is with you know Ridley funeral home

So we go go as long as it takes to make me a cadaver there for Ridley funeral home So can I play one of your big hits? Let's do it love this song, and then I'm gonna run up and grab a beer. I was at 233rd and White Plains Me and my boy we was riding the train I saw you Okay, so is that, you're talking about Palma Pasta? She's very excited about the pasta. Okay, now you got a great late. Drew, this jam, man. Did this win you a Juno?

This won us a Juno, yes. It helped the album because we won a Juno for the Masterplanet album and this was the biggest single off that album. What GTA radio, what Toronto radio stations were playing this song back in the day? Kiss, Flow, 103.5, every major station, this was in rotation, 99.9, that's that already version. Yeah, man, it was across the board. This definitely launched in essence, definitely.

I'll bet. Okay, so then what next? I mean, we're gonna obviously wrap up in essence and get to your solo career, but why aren't you guys, why aren't you, I don't know who to point to, Boyz II Men, you know? Yeah, I mean that was one of my biggest groups that I looked at. I wanted to be as big as Boyz II Men, I wanted to be as big as Joe to see, you know? And like you said, the music industry, man, it's an interesting place. So... Elaborate, like, were you promised things that weren't delivered?

Were you, I don't know, given money and then told, oh, by the way, you have to pay that back? Like, I'm just curious what happened along the way. No, the rug was kind of pulled out from underneath us in a way. Like, that's why I said, do you only have an hour? Because there's a, we got signed, everything that happened to Innocence looks like if you were just on the outside looking in, it was everything just kind of fell into place and happened by chance.

And I guess it did. But like, okay, we got signed to BMG Canada because we replaced Glenn Lewis on a ghetto concept song, song called Rest In Peace. Right? So it was ghetto concepts first big single when they got signed to BMG. So that's that was our introduction to BMG. It was on the set of that video shoot that we saw the president and the vice president at the time it was Lisa Zabit and it was a president and Keith Porteous was a vice president. They were on set we're like okay we're gonna corner them and we're gonna sing acapella for them right now. Just for just an example of our determination. So why not? We literally cornered them sang I don't remember what

we sang we sang something acapella though and Lisa Zabitne was blown away Keith Porteous was like trying to bring out stuff to roll for us. He was like, oh my goodness, like, what do you guys need? You guys need drinks? Like, let's talk some business. That was the introduction to BMG and it was maybe months later that we were officially signed.

So just to know, just so you know the story of how we actually got our deal. Okay, now what does that mean, signed? Like, are they like, you literally have to sign on the dotted line? I think you have a lawyer look over this thing and you're I don't know. How are you compensated? I'm looking for the real like really details. You know, so okay, so they told us they wanted to sign us Okay, and before signing us we went right in the studio. So we hadn't signed anything yet. We're in the studio We wrote a song called ie

Yeah, which was our first single and that was what really that was our first official single that was released before we had signed on signed on the dotted line Lisa's a bit news daughter who was 13 at the time heard the song after we did it as just a demo and she's like oh my god what is this they rushed it to put it out it wasn't until we released a song, we were on the set of the video for a song called Friend of Mine. Yep. Another big one. That was when the process had begun before we were on set for that video shoot of the

contract. So we were presented with the contracts after we did the video for IE, I think. We were presented with the contracts. But how are you compensated if you're already rolling out videos before you've signed anything? Well, you don't get paid to shoot videos. You pay to shoot videos? Well, they paid. So the label paid and not one of these, I keep hearing about these deals where it's like, yeah, the label paid for the video, but we had to pay them out of the back end

or whatever. Right. So we had to pay them back. Yes. So when you sign a deal, there's a budget that's allotted for you as an artist and, uh, there's a budget that's allotted for budget to, to get videos done, to shoot video, sorry, to get, uh, to work radio for travel, for like a promotional budget or promotional budget. And then there's, um,

promotional budget. And then there's the budget for recording, studio time, all that stuff. So they took the initiative to cover the video. We actually flew to Cuba to shoot that video, which for us being our first video, we're like, holy, this is crazy. We're superstars. We're traveling to Cuba to shoot our first video.

But we still were, really we shouldn't have done any of that Without having a contract we shouldn't we could we really shouldn't have done you're so damn young, right? We were so young stars in your eyes. We we were just so excited. Yeah, right So if we had a manager at that time They probably would have said no, we're not going to shoot a video. Like what's the contract? What are we doing here? Right? So that was the process after we shot the video for ie then we brought on management and then the negotiation started Where do you find management like you pick up the yellow pages you go to the M music management? You know what? I feel like I've been in this industry for 30 years and I still haven't really found a real manager yet.

I feel like, I mean, if I, I don't know, one of my kids has a great voice. I'm like, I think I'm gonna start with, I need a conversation with like Jake Gold or something or Farley Flex or somebody, Farley Flex maybe. Farley Flex worked with us last. Only because I got the maestro 12 inches over here. Farley was our last manager.

Farley Flex was our, was in essence his last manager. last manager. There you go but at least he has some experience in that world and he was behind flow and flow launched. Yeah he was but he I got love for Farley but you know we keep it real here right? Okay yeah real talk. He let us down too you know he was more focused on his tailored suits and his Canadian idol, his beautiful suits and his nice suits, Canadian idol, his beautiful suits and his and being a star himself. Right. His own brand. Yeah. And that was kind of the end of that was at the end of in essence. He was he was the last man. So this original management that you got

like, I don't know, where does this you don't remember? I take it. It was through. It must have been from a show or something. I don't know. Where does this you don't remember? I take it. It was through it must have been from a show or something. I don't really remember how we met her. I just feel like again I've never been in the music industry but now you're episode 1616 like 1616 I have talked to yeah 1616 do you have any tattoos? No. You're gonna get get one 1616. You'll never forget. Okay. So but but now I've talked to enough people, music stars I listened to on the radio in the 90s, 2000s and then you find out like just, oh, by the way, they just give you a big bank loan and then they collect and you're left with holding that kish. Okay, I'm a little older than you, man. I

grew up. Yeah, order from chaos. I had him on he's like oh that album you loved Mike that you bought at HMV that you spun like crazy and you saw in much music all the time I made $38 from that album yeah that's around that's around the same that doesn't get you over to the TMDS studios right so I guess I feel like there are and again not gonna name names or suggest this happened to you but there's a lot of people who are preying on the vulnerable like people definitely kids like you who have a dream and you're watching much music and there's boys to men and You're thinking yeah, you're just sort of enamored with being a star. You're gonna walk these red carpets

you're gonna win a Grammy all this stuff and You're kind of easy pickings like you can you can sell that person a dream because they're still sign whatever to get that. Yeah. And I mean, that's kind of how we found our managers. They said, oh, I know this person. I can do this for you. I can hook up this. I can hook up that. I got hookups at radio shows. And then when it comes down to it, that was all that was just, you know, that was all talk. All talk, not only that, but when they're referring somebody, they're getting a they're getting a kickback. So it's all part of this ecosystem. Yeah,

they're getting a kickback. Yeah. And it's like every everyone touches it. Now they get their share and by the time the pie is gone around the table and the artist to eat $38. Yeah. And it's like that today, but it's even worse because we're talking about streaming. Oh my god. That's I'm saying we might need a couple more hours for that convo. Well maybe this is a two parter. Maybe you'll be back before TMLX, whatever, when you perform. And now that I heard you singing earlier, I'm glad my wife's not down here.

I think I can't compete with that. I'm a little hoarse this morning, so I maybe shouldn't have done that. So but you get a record deal. You've got singles that are getting Canadian airplay. So is the goal to crack the US market? Yes, that was the goal. And how did that go that we went backwards? So that song, You'll Never Find That You Played.

Yeah, it broke in the US before it broke here. So we didn't even have our deal here yet. We had went to a music conference in New York and we didn't know what we were doing. Literally, we put a little package together. We went and we heard Funkmaster Flex was going to be at this DJ competition at the Manhattan Center. We saw all the crew of them walking down towards the lobby wearing the Funkmaster Flex jackets. So we didn't know who to approach. We were approaching everyone like, yo here's our demo, listen to our demo, listen to our demo. Right. And we met Funkmaster Flex's manager at the time. So I was talking to

Funkmaster Flex like, you want us, you need us, we're the best group, you're gonna don't pass up this. Like we were so it's crazy if you pass this up you're gonna regret it type of thing and Paul who was watching me who was talking to my boy touch was like your boy there doesn't know you're supposed to be talking to me I'm flex's manager that's how that song was released so we had flex sent us a couple of instrumentals after that trip he sent us instrumentals to see what we could do. We wrote You'll Never Find, sent it back,

and he snapped and started playing it on Hot 97. So it's getting airplayed. As you know, especially back then, this is pre-streaming. So when you hear a song on the radio, you're off to the record store to buy the CD. So is there a CD to buy? Yes.

No, at that point, there isn't. It's just playing on radio in New York and it started to spread through New Jersey, Boston. But they thought we were from the Bronx. In the song we say, I was at 233rd and White Plains, which is a place in the Bronx. So they thought we were all from the Bronx. So when we go do shows, they'd expect us. At first they thought we were a bunch of Latin kids from the Bronx. I don't know where that came from, but that's what they thought. A lot of people told us that. And when they met us and they found out we were from Toronto, it was such a big surprise.

But we said we had family, that's where we stayed when we were in the Bronx. So that's where those lyrics came from. Do you know the origin story of how Maestro got his US record deal? I've heard a couple things, but I'm not. All right, well, I'll do it. It'll equate the long version.

You got to tune into Toronto Mike for all this long story stuff. But he's on Electric Circus at 299 Queen. And Stevie B is performing. And Stevie B basically, I guess it's LMR was the name of the label, I think. But Stevie B basically connected Maestro to LMR because he liked what he heard basically. Wow. So there you go. So you know and I was a huge Maestro fan by the way. You know what I just read today he's getting recognized by some Canadian songwriter or some some official organization he was on some press release I was reading

today good for him and he's out in the Maritimes now Yeah. Yeah, we were on his quintessential of we were on the Which album it was though He's a good guy, but he works hard like he's yeah He's he's you know, he doesn't lay back and rest on his laurels that guy's always working. Yeah, he's always moving and shaking definitely Okay much love for ma working. Yeah, he's always moving and shaking. Definitely. Okay, much love for Maestro. Yes. And so maybe we should address why it does end eventually

for Inessence. Like, I mean, I know, and again, we're kind of doing a whole like yada, yada, yada, and ended or whatever. You know, you can nail, no, but if you wanted to highlight some of the highlights or lowlights or both along the way, I don't mean to like surmise the whole in essence. Cause again, it's like my wife, when Sean came over, my wife and I miss, I'm not didn't miss, but I was like a grunge guy.

I was kind of off in another world. Like I was kind of in, you know, my wife into Jodeci and all this and I'm like, Oh, you know, I was at the Phoenix and we were a head bang into sound garden or whatever. You know what I mean? Like we just, I just, I just was in a different world or whatever. But please, what are the highlights? What are the low life, low lights and how, why does it end for in essence? The highlights, you know, we got to tour Europe. You'll never find as just as a single launched our career and it's still to this day, a R&B classic.

So the fact that we can be mentioned in that, you know, conversation is, well definitely I'll take that to the grave and I'm still very, very proud of that. We opened for so many huge artists, you know, Sean Paul, 112, Jagged Edge, Usher. Like we've got to see things that I think a lot of, well, I don't think there's any other group from Canada

R&B group that has done what we've done and I and I hold tightly to that. I'm trying to think of one I think you're right. I think there isn't You've gone through the Rolo decks. There's no other group. We are The iconic pioneer group and if I sound arrogant saying that that's okay because I'm proud of it. You should like who else is going to do that right? That's what you're here for. Canadians if we don't toot our own horn no one else will. That's Canada. I just two days ago I had on uh he's an MP from up up north Timmons North, Timmons James Bay. His name is Charlie Angus and he dropped by Monday morning and he's an active MP, right? So I needed somebody to just, we need to be more like stand up when we hear these jokes

or they're not, I don't think they're jokes, but when Donald Trump talks about 51st state, that's some insulting shit right there. Like that's highly offensive to this, this guy here born in Parkdale, like back the fuck off with that rhetoric. That's some insulting shit right there. Like that's highly offensive to this guy here born in Parkdale. Like back the fuck off with that rhetoric. That's not funny. Like if you want this country, you're going to have to send the military in. Yeah, have some balls. Because we're not, we're never going to, I feel like it's Star Wars.

We're never going to join you through economic pressure or some desired, I don't know, to spend more time in Vegas or have more value to the money or cheaper eggs or whatever, get the fuck out of here of that. Yeah. Yeah. Thank you. That'll be the next episode we're going to talk about. Yes.

Okay. So Marjorie can lead that one. She can. Oh, for sure. I wasn't even going to invite you. You don't need him here. She doesn't. So you're in Europe, need him here. She does.

So you're in Europe, which is amazing. Yes. So we toured Europe. You know, the single was actually bigger in Germany than it was and anywhere else. I think in essence could reunite right now and go back to Germany because. Well, have you thought of doing that? Well, you know, like David Hasselhoff, we. We can segue. So we had a reunion performance that happened in 2022.

And I always thought there's if we were to get back together, something big would have had to happen for us to get back together. And that's what it was. Drake personally requested for us to come back for the North Star show that he did. I had a buddy who was there. I actually wish I was there. It was amazing. This is with you I had a buddy who was there. I actually wish I was there. It was amazing. This is with you guys. Sean Desmond's there. Mishimi shows up.

Yeah, Mishimi, Cardi, Rascals, Melanie Durant. Oh my goodness. Like the list goes on. Was Socrates there? Frank and Dank. Socrates was there. Chaos was there. He's here next week. So shout out to Socrates. Oh, shout out to Socrates. I love that guy too. Tell him I say what's up.

Chaos, you know, Chaos, I've been trying to get him on Toronto Mike for like 10 years now. Chaos, I love this guy too. And he killed everyone. Just a little bit of a weirdo, right? A little bit, yes. Which is, no, which I like that. Yes.

But it explains why I haven't been able to get him done. Exactly. So that's what kind of brought us together. I got a call from, starting from scratch. He called me personally, he said like, Drew, can you, this was how many days before the show? This was maybe a week before the show. And this is that history, right?

This is that history. This is a week before the show. Touch, one of the members, is in Dubai at this time. We hadn't performed together in 16 years. Wow. And I always thought if we're gonna do this, we gotta get choreography, we gotta get styled, we gotta look like money, we gotta kill do this we got to get choreography. We got to get styled We got a look we got to look like money. We got to kill this

This is our this you can't just walk into Moore's and rent some Like we had to do this So I kind of had some pushback when it came to the rest of the group about like learning choreography And how's touch gonna learn it in Dubai? We have to send him video of the choreography and right But we did it, and I really feel happy that there was closure. There was a nice end to InEssence. And I feel like Drake gave us our flowers. And it was just backstage.

There was so much love backstage amongst all the artists. Coming up, we were all against each other. Right. The the Caribbean community isn't very tightly. We're all against each other. We're all trying to beat each other. Wait, countries in the Caribbean are like at odds with each other. No, it's just for just. We'll step on each other to move up. It's crabs in the bucket in the book.

That was the concept. She is. That is the concept. Right. So back then, we all hated each other to move up. Crabs in the bucket. That was the concept. Geez. That is the concept, right? So back then, we all hated each other. So now being backstage, there was just so much love. Like we all really appreciated all of our careers and what we did back in the day. And we're all like, it was such a different energy.

It was beautiful. And Drake- Sounds beautiful. Yeah, after we performed, Drake came and hugged us. He's like, you know, you guys got me emotional, bro. Like it was, he was so genuinely appreciative of the music and the artists that influenced him coming up.

So that was like a nice way to end off the story of Inessence, but to say how we actually stopped was BMG dropped their whole urban roster which was us, Keyshoshante, Ghetto Concept. We all got dropped at the same time they dropped us all and we didn't see it coming. But why? I don't know if it was budgets, budget cuts, maybe they just I don't know and this was after we won the Juno, we were literally preparing our second album when they pulled the rug.

I think I might have said this to Sean when he was on the summer, but if you win a Grammy, it kickstarts your career. You win a fucking Juno and they pull the plug. Yes. It's almost like the curse of winning the Juno. It's true. It's like we, you know, it goes back to, you know, stand up, be proud of the what is Canada, like stand up and push back when the incoming president of the United States jokes about annexing your country and taking away your sovereignty, please. But I think in this country, we tend to eat our young, which is why when you look at who are the big, big artists we

produced, they all ended up going south. Yes. And if they didn't go south, their careers ended. Right. It's it's just the truth. Or it was a constant, constant hustle like Maestro Freshwes, who did go to New York, but he came back had to come back quickly, came back pretty quick. And now he's proudly kind of staying here. Yes. But he works hard. Oh my goodness. He can't just sit back and say, I'm maestro. Send me the deals and I'll sign them. No, it's definitely a different day,

but he's putting in the work. So, you know, so yeah, so that's, so that was when we got dropped and it's funny because we got dropped and right after we got dropped, we got a German, Germany tour. So we were on the road with so much tension and just, we were all kind of worried about

when we get home, what's next? What are we doing? You know, I had a little daughter at the time and I knew I wanted to make a solo movement, but I, like I said, I grew up a shy kid. I was terrified of having a solo career, but I knew I had to do something. So it was after that trip and we came back was when I started recording solo. They didn't know.

Is this the one? The album The One, yes. The One, which is a great album. Thank you. And I mean, I wouldn't obviously when I had you in the calendar, I get what happens is I start playing your music and I'm into it. It's just a cycle, right? So, you know, your boy drew, it's been going on in here, but like, let's play a little bit. Uh, I mean, I could play the title track, but actually I'm going to play this one here because this one to me is,

is a banger of its time and it still sounds great, here we go. Hey. Woo. Woo. Woo. Woo. We did this in LA. It's true. It's true. This is how we do it.

This is how we do. Woo. I can't quite do it. Let's go. Baby girl, your body's callin'. Really like the way you put it down, down, down, down, down. Whoa. The way you move so hypnot, down, down, down, down. Whoa. The way you move so hypnotizing.

The way you got that 40 moving round, round, round, round. This is very Usher-inspired. You got my engine running. Like I said, it is of its time. There was a bunch of hits that had similar vibe or whatever. But this was absolutely like, you hear it now if you were listening to any Top 40 radio or whatever. You heard this song.

You know this song. When does your wife enter your life? Oh, that's a... I mean, another hour for that maybe. I met her in high school. Okay, I'm just trying to see how far back she goes. Okay, you got in early. Smart. Well, we weren't together in high school.

We didn't actually get together until... You sure you don't want on that mic? I feel like you have something to say. We may have to bring her on the mic. I can I mean I can look here. It's actually unmuted. Just get in front of that thing. Hold on breaking news here. Yeah, bring it down, but bring down the looks young. Okay, what's going on here? Hold on. This is exciting. Oh yeah, you're stuck on a rug there. It's not a euphemism. I'm good. I'm good. Okay. Tell me about meeting the music went through, I know I'm bringing it down

in the mix here, let's hear you, like and also like I understand you meet, you know each other, but whenever this becomes, whatever happens here, when it becomes romantic, you're now his wife, what's going on here? Um, okay, met him in high school. I actually met him through my little sister, whose best friend was his little sister. So me picking up my little sister at kindergarten, I would see him sometimes pick up his little sister. So it was just looking at, but he was older than me. How many years we got here? Three.

Three years. That's not bad, but when you're in grade eight and he's in grade 11 or 10 at that time, I don't remember, it was a big deal. So I didn't really actually meet him personally until I was in grade 10, I was 15. We walked home together with one of his best friends and I was trying to hook him up with my friend

and his friend was trying to get with me. So there was that kind of a, you know, high school stuff. But why are you trying to hook him up with your best friend? You didn't dig him? No, I just, he looked like a snob. Every time I looked at him at school, he was just with his headphones. He acted like he was the shit.

Yeah, yeah, yeah. I didn't want to say that on here, but yeah. I was actually just really shy. I used to think, ugh, he's so snobby, that guy. Like he's so snobby. So fast forward years later and I ran into him one time at a caribbean party at uh government. Okay. Shadow Threadle funeral home now it's condos. Oh yeah I know right. I used to love that place. I used to love that place. Cool house. Yeah cool house house. Yeah, orange room.

But yeah, that's when I ran into him. I was 19 at that time. Yeah, I was with In Essence already. And we, yeah, we were in the club. Sorry, I'm cutting around. It's okay, it's okay. Go ahead, you tell the story better than me. And he was, I was looking for my girlfriend because she was with, she was dating one of

the promoters, so she was all over the place. I was bored and I'm walking up these stairs and I see this guy sitting down, like, kind of looking at his pager and he looks at me and he's like, he says my full name, my government name. That's how you know each other in high school. That's how you know it's high school. And I say his full name. Andrew Green, oh, Marjorie Valencia.

And that's how we connected, but, you know, he was with Inessence, he was doing his thing. I was, you know, kind of just finishing off, I had just finished college, I was starting into my career. And we just became friends. You know, friends. At first it was just friends. Yeah, we'd just be for three years, we were just in and out like friends. And then he moved on with his life, I moved on with mine. Fast forward maybe seven to ten years later a long time and we reunited and just you know I was just ending a divorce so it wasn't the right time and he was kind of

gathering his things together yeah I was still living out there crazy like R&B singer and I wanted no part of that So I always you know, he knew me. He knows my family knows where I come from and then yeah then fast forward couple years later again, and then We tried it out and again, he was in his own world So I kind of put my boundaries and I was like told you mean that you know We keep we keep coming back to this is work through. this is the good stuff right here. You kidding me? No one knows this except our family

Public record now. Yeah, and then yeah, then we decide I decided you know what like I don't want no part of this and I guess he someone must have hit him in the head or something happened throughout that nine and a half months And then he hit me back just before Christmas. Maybe he got his like the head or something happened throughout that nine and a half months and then he hit me back just before Christmas Maybe he got his like got glasses or something Honestly, it kind of hit me like a ton of bricks that I kind of left her out there You know like it's for someone else to possibly like are you dumb like someone's gonna come up and scoop this Yeah, you know, we almost lost her once you're yeah, thankfully it didn't work out but you know, you were playing a fire there Yeah, so I kind of just I was on tour the last tour in 2019 and I was stressed out because the tour was a trainwreck

But throughout the tour I was messaging her and talking to her and kind of like we were communicating more and I said You know what the tour ended in Cannes, France For the music conference Madame music conference and I happened to have vacation what, the tour ended in Cannes, France for the music conference, Madame Music Conference. And I happened to have vacation that week. Yeah, she used to work at Air Canada. I still went to Cannes. This was like five years ago? Like five or six years ago? Yeah.

Right? So I asked her, I'm like, you know what, why don't you meet me in Cannes? I'm there for four nights. That's a power move. Oh yeah, in Cannes. It was. I'm writing that down. Right? It was a power move, bro. It definitely was. It set the mood. It set the stage for our reunion. Like it really, we're there for, it was

four nights. Four nights of just, just amazing. We reconnected and it was like now Cannes is our spot. Cannes, I'm sorry. Not Cannes. Cannes. I feel like, like I've heard both. It depends how pretentious you want to be, whatever. But you learned that, uh, she's the one you're the one. Yes, the one, the one. Should I be recording this or am I? This is just my personal pleasure. I bring couples in the basement and find out their origins. Okay. So different podcast. Give me some ideas here. I think that's a good idea. So, wow. See, I'm glad I unmuted this microphone. This is the good stuff. And over here and And you got some good photos and video? Oh yeah.

Are you, like I mean, I don't need to know your too many personal details here, but you helped out Drew with his singing career? As much as I possibly can, yes. Sometimes I'm exhausted and he'll be like, I'm trying to fall asleep and I just hear him mumbling, what do you think about this song? Oh, I was thinking this song might fit good in the list.

Oh, and I'm like, okay, yeah, that's good. That's good. You know, I'll wake up to just hear him show me the song that he's thinking about and then I'll go right back to sleep because he's, we've kind of bounced ideas off each other. That's good because you're like a, it's a true partnership, right? Definitely is. Like she's my business partner also in Soul Nostalgic.

So lover, movie date, business business partner also in so nostalgic. So lover movie date business partner. All in one package. Yeah, it's my best friend. There's nothing that he doesn't know. So would you like this guy if he sounded if he sang like I sing like how much? No, I'm not. We'll see how it goes. OK. I need to know this and stay on the mic there.

You can when he gets facts wrong, you can step up there. But Drew, as a solo artist, because you go solo here, do you have any Juneau's? No, I have about four nominations, but no win. OK, that's bullshit, too. What do we got to do around here? Who keeps beating you? Is it is there any? You know what? My last my my last nomination was I was in the company of The Weeknd.

That guy, that hack. Yeah, that guy, you know. I think it was Jesse Reyes. Okay. So I didn't feel bad about losing to like, to be honest, I didn't feel bad about losing to these superstars. But you've also been nominated for reggae recording of the year. Yes, yeah. For a song called Love Collision we did a dance hall like Lover's Rock mix. Yeah, the Lover's Rock mix. Yes and that was completely unexpected but hey I got to go enjoy the Junos again so you know. Amazing and 2015

Deja Vu got you another Juno nomination. Yes that was completely unexpected I was completely independent at that time I just sent in the submission and was shocked. That was the one that The Weekend was in also. Who is the PR person that works with you? Sasha Schultz. Big up to Sasha Schultz, man. She's been with me for years and such a huge supporter in my career. So big love to Sasha. I believe Sasha hooked me up with former Toronto Raptor AC Earl. Oh, you up? Oh yeah. I believe it. Yes. Yes. Yes. Okay. He wrote a book about like hip hop and like, cause I'm a big public and like a

super poor. Yeah. Okay. In high school, I think half of my high school life was had public enemy in the Walkman. Nice. It takes a nation. Don't act so surprised. It takes a nation of millions to hold us back and fear of a black planet particularly. But also Yo Bumrush the Show and Apocalypse 91, the enemy strikes black.

That's the one we have on the wall. And that one's got time bombs on that. And I still drop lines from time bomb. Ask any of my four kids, like I'll just randomly, something to trigger a line from time bomb. And I'll drop lines from time bomb ask my ask any of my four kids like I'll just randomly something to trigger a line From time bomb. I'll just drop it. Were you into flavor flavor at all? Well flavor flavor Cold lamp in yeah, I can't do nothing for you man. Yes, of course. No, no one is a joke That was a big one from the other black planet. Okay. I saw them at the What's that one by the Docs? The Sound Academy.

Yes. It's been renamed, I think. But yeah, everything changes names. But I saw, this is the last time Flav played with Public Enemy in Canada. Oh wow. Because I actually went, so Public Enemy Radio, which is Public Enemy minus Flavor Flav, he had border issues. Oh gosh.

Couldn't come up and play. Yeah. Of course. Yeah, no one's surprised by that. But anyway, I saw Public Enemy, which by the way, Chuck D is amazing, but that flavor adds a lot to Public Enemy. It's a whole different vibe. On a side note, that music conference that in essence went to meet Funkmaster Flex, Chuck D got us in.

Personally, we saw Chuck D. We were like, Chuck D, Chuck D, Chuck D. He got us passes. That's how we got into the musical. Okay. Sorry. Sorry. No, no. Cause that lets me, that lets me pat myself on the back to tell you that Chuck D has been on Toronto Mike in person. Oh, sick.

None of the Zoom bullshit, okay. Oh, that's dope. It's in person. And it was because I went to the C&D Grands show when Public Enemy Radio was playing. Right? He's such a nice guy. He's very like I I Even for Drew I have to work through a PR person. I that's remind me to get back. Yeah, that's right So I want to say hello to her But I had to get go through Sasha to get to Drew but to go to Chuck to get Chuck D

And Toronto Mike I spoke to Chuck D. Love it Yeah, no, so okay most laid-back dude, but I brought up Sasha because I just said hey Is there a particular song you want me to play because I was doing my own? Research and stuff and I had my innocence and I wanted to play the one and I wanted to play What we played from the one but I also got a song from Sasha. So let me play this and ask you about it. Okay. I know you've been through so much in your life But girl I'm here just to make it alright Baby I know you've been hurt times before But girl please tell me you won't close the door I know you never really thought that you could be in love I'm sure baby don't fight how you feel Don't be afraid of my love

Just let me hold you, girl Don't be afraid of my love Don't be afraid of me I won't desert you Now you can be honest with your heart La la la la la la la la la la la la la la Yeah yeah There is an ocean of tears that you've cried let me be the one to drive him from your true. What is this buddy? This might be hard to don't be afraid. I won't be afraid, but what are we listening to here? What year did this come out? This came out, oh my goodness, what year was this? 2016 or 2017? Something like that. We shot a video for this in Vancouver.

Very breezy, you know. Produced by Hollywood Pro, by the way. My producer. And yeah, that was... That went crazy in Brazil Brazil there's a dance called Zouk Zouk dance it's kind of like what can we compare it to like a bachata or no more salsa kind of no anyway yeah this is the era when you're touring with Sean Paul yes so I was on tour with Sean Paul when the song came out. It's more like Yisomba.

Yisomba, yes, that's right. That's what she's here for. Yes. We don't know what we're talking about. But yeah, this is my highest streamed single. I think we're almost at three million streams right now. It's got that love-making vibe going on. Yeah, you know, but there's like a Zouka really like sexy kind of like a Brazilian dance.

Lombada? That's all I remember. Yeah, kind of like that. I got thumbs up over there. The forbidden dance? Yeah, I kind of like that. But a lot of dancers would post their videos dancing in Brazil and the song just took a life of its own. So yeah, yeah, don't be afraid. You mentioned like a moment ago, just off the cuff, you said you had a terrible tour like in 2019. Yes.

What happened? What's that about? Oh my goodness. It was a tour put together by a certain artist. I'll just leave his name out of it. Can I get a clue? It's an unknown artist. You may not know the artist.

I don't know. Okay. Yeah. And you know, I saw him post something. He was a big fan of InEssence and I saw that he was putting a tour together and I really wanted to get out to Europe. So I hit him up and he said there was a certain, there's a certain fees that you have to pay to get on the tour.

And right. So I was like, okay, you know what? I got this new album coming out. I'm like, let's see what's up with this. Paid a big chunk to get on the tour. And by the end of the tour, after sharing, sharing, what's the type of hotel it's called again? Hostels.

Yeah, after sharing hostels, sharing hotel rooms, I'm like, at the end of the tour, closer to the end of the tour, I'm like, start asking the other artists, yo, how much did you guys pay to be on the store? Zero. I paid. I funded the whole tour for everybody. Oh my God.

Drew. Okay. You know, I'm tired. You're really, I funded the, maybe we're going to warn her. She's going to be be like that's scam I wonder it's one of those things when I was going to high school I had a buddy who had a neighbor who was already at the high school and he told me I had to He said he could get me a deal on the elevator pass and I remember he was telling me this I've been grade 8

Then he's telling me about this elevator pass. You're gonna have to buy this elevator pass He could get me a deal and I never gave him a penny But I was falling for it like oh I better buy it from this guy because I don't want I mean save some cash next year when I got to buy the elevator pass at power okay there's no fucking elevator pass like this is the kind of go yeah I was sold an elevator pass yeah I was sold an elevator pass and I was very shitty tour yeah it was bad and it basically we ended we were in Poland

Yeah, which okay just think about this routing the last date of the tour was in Poland and then we're supposed to go to can for the I'm like who did the routing for this tour and they thought they were gonna drive 30 hours So I'm like things happen in, but amazing things happen in can. But I ended up taking a flight. I made them take my damn luggage. Right in there on their drive.

Right. And me and, and Mo little shout out to Mo little. So it was another artist on the tour. We caught a flight. That was, I don't know, 150 bucks or something. It was so cheap and they had to bring our luggage and that was lights over there. Yeah. And in can, I had nothing to do with the people that put this tour together I was

on my own well if you ever heard it's worth the drive to Ackerman for the old Idaho it's like I'd be like it's worth the flight to Cannes yes it was it was right a song about that okay yes all right so we're gonna close up with the soul nostalgic show that's turning one and we're gonna revisit that here but I am going to shout out a couple of partners who helped make this happen. One sent over this measuring tape Priya. Okay, man. I don't need to know the details measure what you wish, but that is a measuring tape courtesy of Ridley funeral home,

Ridley funeral home, my next recording actually. So we're in overtime, but it's worth it. I had to get the ongoing history of Drew here. So thank you Ridley Funeral Home. Life's Undertaken. We're recording a new episode today. So subscribe to Life's Undertaken wherever you get your podcasts. Speaking of podcasts, Drew, do you have a podcast? I do not. You're the last one standing.

I know. I know. I've been thinking about it, though. Well, let me know when you're ready. OK. Yeah. Yeah. Let me know. I've been thinking about it though. Well, let me know when you're ready. Okay. Yeah, yeah. Let me know. We could do something. Nick Aynes, who is the CEO of Fusion Corp developments, Inc. He has a new podcast.

It's called the building Toronto's skyline. He also has a book building Toronto skyline. And in the next couple of weeks, I'm going to get Nick down here and we're going to peel the layers of that onion. I find this guy fascinating and he stepped up to help partner with Toronto Mike to keep this going. So we love Nick Aini's and Fusion Corp developments, Inc. And last but not least, recycle my electronics, not see a, if you guys have a drawer full of old cables, maybe old laptops, you haven't

booted up in 12, 15 years. I don't know. You've got some old tech. Don't throw it in the garbage because those chemicals end up in our landfill. Go to recycle my electronics dot CA and put in your poster code and find it where you can drop that off to be properly recycled. You got it, drew got it. All right.

So what happened a year ago that you decided you're going to do this residency? And again, you told me it was at the Aqua Supper Club and yes, this, what we're promoting today is the one year anniversary is at Joker's Theater in Richmond Hill. Yes. But what was the idea behind this residency and how's it going? And then what's going on exactly on February 14, 2025? Uh, this is amazing, man. Like, you know, we've been talking about streaming and putting out music and how the industry is, you know, kind of in a weird place. I wanted to find a lane for myself, you know, a kind of a, you know, I still love the era of the 80s, 90s, 2000s.

And I think a lot of people do. But, you know, myself and my wife were trying to find a place you know maybe a year and a half two years ago that we could go get dressed up have a dinner and watch a show of songs that you know from our era. Right. You know the New Jack Swing stuff, the Boys to Men stuff, the you know Jodeci, Luther Vandross, Earth, Wind & Fire, you know, the list goes on from the 70s to the early 2000s. There's so much music. Right. And we couldn't find one, you know, and that's when the wheels started moving in my head like, hmm, you know,

we could do something cool. I've seen some different ensembles that do throwback shows, but I've never seen it quite like the way we do it I'm thinking I'm like, you know if we kind of dress it up, you know Give it a little Vegas kind of flair a high-end feel, you know So, you know if you know if to make people want to dress up to make you know Women want to go get that high-end gown and feel you know, beautiful and sexy and hear songs from their era That's where it sparked. And there was a Justin Timberlake video, Suit and Tie, right?

The black and white video. And that's when it hit me like a ton of bricks because I was trying to figure out how should we be dressed? What's the outfits? At first I thought we should wear like throwback BBD outfits and I was like, nah, that's not gonna work. And I saw the Suit and Tie video came on and my wife was in the bathroom or something. I'm like, that's it. I'm like, that's that's not going to work. And I saw the suit and tie video came on and my wife was in the bathroom or something.

I'm like, that's it. I'm like, that's it. Tuxedos. She's like, she's like, what? She's like, why? And you're like, I'm like, my show, Fresh West was doing that in the 80s. Exactly. I'm like black and white tuxedos. We should all be in tuxedos. And she's like, yeah, she's like, I'm like, yeah, you don't like the rap pack

like old Vegas. Yeah, like swingers and all this, yeah, sure. On this high end kind of vibe. Even Reservoir Dogs or like Pulp Fiction, all the hit men wore the. Right, the black and white. I take that vibe. And so that's kind of when it kind of came together,

but I'm like, okay, so if we do this, this era of music, we got to have choreography. Every band has just the band and a singer and they do covers and it's cool. But if I'm going to do, you know, Usher, you don't have to call. I got to do the choreography with the dancers and the band's got to be on point. It's got to be that on that level. So that's where it started. I'm like, but I need a band.

I'm like, oh I need a band. I'm like, oh my goodness, can I afford to pay players, high end players, rehearsals? I'm like, I can't afford, I didn't think I could do it. Honestly, I didn't think I could. I'm like, I can't afford to do this right now. So I thought, okay, let me take one step. Let me shoot a commercial of what I wanna do.

In a perfect world, this is what I wanna do. And I invited a band that I was such a big fan of that I didn't really know if I'd be able to get them called the recipe Shout out to the recipe love the recipe shout out to big O who connected me to the recipe He was their lead singer at the time or he's still their lead singer But they're just an amazing band. So I had tried to schedule this whole commercial shoot. Right? I didn't know if they were going to be able to make it. I literally almost had a nervous breakdown,

I think, the day before we shot. Because I'm like, OK, we're taking money out of our savings right now to do this. As in book a whole rehearsal studio, right? Right. With lighting and everything. I hired a director. I brought in extras.

We had the dancers. It was, it was the whole thing. We shot the, we, uh, shot it. They actually showed up. The recipe showed up. Shout out to Juju for wrangling everyone together. They showed up for the shoot. It was on the set of the shoot.

I told them, I'm like, you guys are the best band I've ever heard in Canada. You guys deserve more. I'm like, let's do something crazy. And I pitched the idea to them, literally on the set of that commercial shoot. And they were a little, at first they were like, cause I'm very animated, I'm very determined

when I want something. So they were kind of like, they were feeling my energy and it's like, yo, you're serious about this. And they know the career I've had, and they, I don't know, I guess I convinced them. We shot the commercial. I started posting little pictures from the commercial shoot and an old friend of mine.

Like on Instagram? On Instagram. Okay. And an old friend of mine was like, like while I was waiting for the edit of the commercial, I was like just shooting, just posting stills from the shoot, like in black and white,

tuxedos, you see the band, the lights, people were wondering like, what, like what are you working on? What is this? Just off of the post. That's how I knew even then that I had something interesting. And my boy from high school was like, yo, what is this?

Cause I know a venue that's looking for something like this. Even though he didn't even know what it was. He didn't even know what it was. He's like, this looks cool. What is this? When I explained it, he's like, okay, now we gotta go meet with Moses at Aqua. I didn't even, I'm like, what is Aqua?

I've never heard of this place. Where is this place? And he said, this is a spot on the exhibition grounds, newly renovated, it's his cool modern spot. Went and met with Moses. I pitched the idea to him and he was like, yeah, we need this here, we need this here. The business, we had to kind of work out the business of it,

which I wasn't necessarily most happy with starting, but I knew I was happy with having a location to launch this and to show everyone what this is. And that's why I'm just so grateful to Aqua. We had a year of a monthly, you know, once a month show, where, just to explain what the show is, it's an immersive R&B throwback experience

Where we have choreographed dancing I dance with the dancers to 25 year old dancers I'm doing I'm dancing with them, you know, we you know me and the band will come off down off the stage So it's myself the two dancers a saxophone player bass player Will come off the stage will go in front of your table will blow in the sax in your face Quite like choreography right in front of your table. It's very immersive And that's kind of what separates us in a way. I knew I wanted a tuxedo kind of high-end look Vegas feel but Immersive so people really felt they were a part of the show. And I realized that the age demographic, say 45 to 60, say, 65

even, we actually we celebrated a birthday for a woman that was 74, one of the other shows and that was amazing too. That demographic has nowhere to go for something like this. And over the year we've realized, wow, this audience really will prepare and say, okay, this is my one day out the month. Me and my husband are gonna get dressed up. We schedule this every month and we went from 60, 70 people for a couple of shows till we started selling out.

The last from the sixth, seventh, eighth a couple shows until we started selling out the last from the sixth, seventh, eighth, ninth, they just started selling out. Good for you. You know, so now moving on, you know, big love to Aqua, but we wanted to get out of the city. We wanted to move uptown. We'd been downtown for a year. So we wanted to move uptown.

I was looking for a location. Luckily, shout out to Eddie, by the way, who hooked us up with jokers, theater and comedy club man. Oh my goodness, a spot. No FOTM, Carla Collins just play jokers. Okay, okay, the small world story there, but yeah and they get they get high end comedians. They're like they're really doing their thing man. So big shout out to Joe. So you did a year at the aqua summer club there Yes, and are you going like how regularly will you be playing at jokers? Well, so we don't know yet

So right now Valentine's Day is the big one year anniversary. Yes. So yeah I just feel grateful that we get to celebrate the one year and So yeah, I just feel grateful that we get to celebrate the one year. And it's a possibility. We're, we're going to see how we move forward. We're still definitely going to be at Aqua's. So people check, uh, you know, check stonestars.com. You're not done with Aqua. No, we're definitely not done that done at Aqua's.

We just wanted to kind of branch out and build the brand. Um, so big shout out to Aqua. We'll definitely be back. We will let you know when we're back there. But right now we're gonna be at Jokers for Valentine's Day. Quiet Storm. Quiet Storm. A love story. Love story. Valentine's Day edition.

Yes sir. I love that you're, you know, cutting out that layer of bullshit that is, you know, that those anchors have been shed. Like this, I'm hoping that you're, you're kind of doing it yourself. Yeah, I am. I'm hoping that you're kinda doing it yourself. Yeah, I am myself. Rolling your own, man.

Yeah, it's a beautiful thing to take control of everything. Like I'm 100% in control of Soul Nostalgic and from the website to the ticket sales to everything. I'm in complete control. And it's a sense of freedom. I've never been here before. This is new. This is new for me. Well, this is where you belong. Yes. This is where I live, man. I just don't put on a t freedom. I've never been here before this is new. This is new for me

This is where you belong. Yes, and this is where I live man. I just don't put on a tux I love it. Am I allowed to come to this event if I wear a t-shirt? You maybe I'll let it slide But dress code, I'm allergic to dress code Okay, but I it's funny. We mentioned Sasha earlier and here's a line delivered to me by Sasha. Okay Buckle up here. I love her secure your tickets now for a night filled with soulful melodies and a Vegas style Extravaganza you won't forget and see why drew is dubbed the prince of RMB Who dubbed you the prince of RMB? What did you anoint yourself the Prince of R&B? I anointed myself. Yes, I did because like I said, you don't toot your own horn again

But it's one of those things where it's like I read this in there and Mike Oh is drew the Prince of R&B like maybe I'm kind of you know, like I'm I love my hip-hop and I love my Grunge in my 90s all Canadian alt rock. OK, I'm listening to rusty over here. So maybe I just missed this. Right. Drew's the prince of R&B. And then as the week went on, it just became a fact in my head. It's like, oh, Drew. Oh, yeah, the prince of R&B.

You see how it works? Exactly. And then I because I want to fucking take the citizenship away from this Kevin O'Leary from Dragon's But he decided one day he was mr. Wonderful, you know fuck this guy. He's not mr. Wonderful, but I was once on a podcast This is a few years ago I'm on a podcast another podcast and they they introduced me by saying I was the godfather of Canadian podcast Hey, and I heard this and I said that smells like bullshit I'm going to go to my LinkedIn page and change the name. Toronto, my Godfather of Canadian podcasting.

And honestly, I've been called that multiple times because I just decided, you know, I think, you know, yeah, like I'm going to just say that and see if it catches on. And I'm saying this now. I am the Godfather of Canadian podcasting. I am saying that to the Prince of R&B. That's right. Drew. That's right.

Actually segue. Okay. I brought you a gift. Okay. Oh my God. I love this. That's a t-shirt. Can I wear that? What if I wear that t-shirt to your event?

This? Yes. Yes. Okay. So I'm going to put it on for the photo. We're going to take by Toronto tree. Love it. Oh, you can go on the mic and say that like. What size did you bring him? Large. No, medium, medium. I am. As it. Oh, you can go on the mic and say that like what size Large no medium medium. I am I as you can tell I'm a medium

I am a media. I don't know if I should be proud of that or Medium just mumble it under my breath here, you know, I don't know could be worse here and you're in good shape, too Thank you I do have a few years on you but I noticed a bunch of people in our demo lately, a bunch of dudes have been growing this belly. Like you're dancing, you're working out. There's no way. And how would your wife feel if he grew the, you know, the, No matter what he has, I still love him.

So that is absolutely true. Drew, you got to come back, buddy. I feel like we're just scratching the surface. Yes. There's a lot more we could get into. That's for sure. I did want to ask you. So in the Drake show, when everybody got reunited and that seemed like a big moment,

like a closer closure for in essence, but it sort of was a rebirth for Sean Desmond. Yeah. I feel like he took that as like, oh, I'm back, baby. Yeah. Any to conversate? I know one guy's in Dubai or something like that. But, you know, I don't know. I just had another member of Inessence here in the basement fairly recently.

Like, what did he say about that when you asked him? I got I can't remember. Says a lot. That's a lot. I got you right there. Yep. Okay. I mean, I'm now thinking maybe I should put this together and I'll be the manager. I'll be the Jake Gold of Inessence.

Oh my goodness. I won't screw you over. No. I'll just take my 60% and then we'll go from there. Okay, everybody. Soulnostalgic.com. That's where you go to buy these tickets. Again, it's Valentine's Day. You can remember the date, but I am not too concerned, but the

show is 1030. I get sleepy at 11, but the show is going to wake me up, right? The show. Oh, definitely. You will not be able to fall asleep. Doors open at 930. DJ Rockstar starts to vibe with throwbacks. You know, it's a completely, you know, 70s, 80s, 90s, early 2000s throwback event. So the DJ's spinning it. Do you play any Jagged Edge? Of course. There's Jagged Edge. It's my wife's favorite band of all time.

Oh really? Okay. The DJ will be playing Jagged Edge. Okay, the DJ. But we got some Boys To Men, we got some Joe to see. You know, we got some whispers. Lots of Drew. We got some Drew, definitely. You know, I won't give away too much. But if you love R&B and soul and throwbacks, New Jack Swing,

high energy, love ballads. You know, it's not just for couples, but it's also for just people that want to come have an amazing night. It's a love story. And it's and it's the love story. Actually, the whole Quiet Storm concept, real quick, shout out to WBLK, Buffalo, the Quiet Storm. Those are, that was the station that,

where I learned a lot of these love songs. So that's why I kind of give them a tribute to WBLK Quiet Storm. And that brings us to the end of our one thousand six hundred and sixteenth show go to Toronto Mike calm for all your Toronto Mike needs I'm very active on blue sky at Toronto Mike calm on blue sky much love to all who made this possible again that's Great Lakes Brewery I got to say my burst was delicious and you guys enjoyed your loggers. Okay, you're gonna bring this beer home with you. Oh,

definitely some for the don't drink it on the road, drink it when you get home. Okay, but if you can take it home on the road with you, okay. Palma pasta. Don't leave without your lasagna. I know your wife's a big fan of Palma pasta. Yes. Recycle my electronics dot, Building Toronto Skyline, and Ridley Funeral Home, recording with Brad very soon. See you all next week! So So You