Toronto Mike'd: The Official Toronto Mike Podcast - Jake Clemons: Toronto Mike'd #519

Episode Date: September 30, 2019

Mike chats with Jake Clemons about his uncle Clarence, filling in for him with Bruce Springsteen and The E Street Band, performing with Pearl Jam and his new album Eyes on the Horizon.

Welcome to episode 519 of Toronto Mic'd, a weekly podcast about anything and everything. Proudly brought to you by Great Lakes Brewery, Propertyinthe6.com, Palma Pasta, StickerU.com, Capadia LLP CPAs, and Pumpkins After Dark. Capadia LLP CPAs, and Pumpkins After Dark. I'm Mike from torontomike.com, and my guest this week is the saxophonist for the Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band, Jake Clemons. Welcome, Jake. Hey, hey, hey. And you came straight from Montreal this morning.

Yeah, that's right. And you played Montreal last night? No, I live in Montreal these days. Oh, I didn't know that. Cool. I just assumed you would be living in, I don't know, Jersey or New York or something. You live in Montreal. How long have you been living in Montreal?

Two and a half years. What do you think of Montreal? I love it. It's amazing. Yeah, it's an incredible place. You've become a Habs fan. Hockey starts this week. Yeah, I don't really pay too much attention to the sports,

but yeah, I appreciate the Habs for sure. You're in the wrong city then. You got to get out of here. I'll see you across the border. Okay, so where were you living prior to Montreal? I'm just curious. In random hotels across the world for about five years. I think we call those vagabonds.

Right, yeah, essentially, yes. I have a place in Virginia Beach as well. That's kind of like a second home. And yeah, when I'm on tour a lot, it gets to be kind of like you're homeless for a while. But now you've got a home in Montreal and you're living in Canada. So you're on the right side of the border. It's pretty good. Listen, I have a lot to cover with you and not too much time.

Because of course, we're going to talk quite a bit as you can imagine when i said jake clemens is coming on i get hit with questions about uh being an e-street band and stuff like that but i've got a i've got a bunch of jams loaded up from your uh your latest album and i want to play some of those and talk to you about those but maybe we start uh well i'll read a question from paul hawk hawkyard by the way i think hawkyard is a cool last name like if i were gonna change my last name i'm gonna take paul here basically i'd like to know his musical influences growing up and how surreal it is for him to be playing in the east street band so let's start with uh like what were your musical influences growing up like when you first started falling in love with music?

Yeah. So I have a really weird background for that. You know, my dad was a, I was a Marine Corps band director and a really strict Southern Baptist. So, yeah, we didn't really have any kind of like pop, popular music in the house.

It was a, it was classical music and marching band music and gospel. And that was pretty much it. So, um, yeah, it was kind of like left to my own devices for a while. Uh, when I first found my own, um, appreciation for music, that was not my dad's appreciation for music. Uh, it was, uh, force fed to me by my older brother actually. And that was, uh, Nirvana. Um, nevermind. It was the first thing that really grabbed me. And, brother actually and that was uh nirvana um nevermind was the first thing that really grabbed me and um and then you know like a lot of hip-hop as well at the time um yeah so uh coming of age if you will with a lot of like grunge and you know that era no yours well i'm

wearing my pearl jam shirt today so uh this is from the... Yeah, Yield. Yeah, you know, I was thinking, this is the oldest shirt I still wear regularly because I got a 98. Nice. Yeah, the Yield tour, right? And it came to Molson Park in Barrie. Nice. And I picked it up there.

And I remember the t-shirt was like 40 bucks. I don't know what... When you sell a t-shirt, what do you sell it for? Do you sell t-shirts at your gigs? I have no idea. No idea. Hopefully they last a good 20 years like that one. Seriously.

20, 21 and counting. Okay. Now, um, let's, let's actually, let's just cut to it here.

So, uh, E Street Band, let's, would you mind sharing maybe, uh, some memories and talk to me about your, your uncle Clarence?

Um, yeah. Uh, uh, uh, you mind sharing maybe uh some memories and talk to me about your your uncle clarence um yeah uh sure what do you want well okay so so okay tell me could you what was your relationship like with uh with clarence clarence of course was a founding member of the e street band yeah uh my relationship with him was um was i don't know it was really significant um you know he was uh he was he was like a father figure in a lot of ways and and uh and like a brother and a friend and um we spent a ton of time together and um yeah he was he was one of the most important people in my life. Um, yeah, you know, I was there for a phone call whenever, you know, you know, that person that you call, uh, when, when you're happy or when you're sad or when there's nothing going on.

Well, my, my condolences to you. Um, we lost clearance, uh, far too soon. I guess it's been about eight years now i guess and uh tell me about excalibur like what's excalibur um i mean that's this that's just the nickname that uh that i threw at it but it's um you know clarence clarence's horn that he played on the last couple tours was a special one, and they were all special. I was fortunate enough to be on the receiving side of his horns

when he retired them. So through the years, the first saxophone I ever owned was one that he had given to me back in the early 90s. And it was a really horrible horn, but it looked cool. And I was grateful. And I learned how to work around quirky horns. And then, you know, as time went by, there was a saxophone that fell off of his stand on tour and got a little bit tweaked.

And then he was happy to retire that one to me as well. But that's, you know, to this day, it's one of my favorite horns. And then, yeah, so the horns that he had on the last tour, the last couple tours are the ones I keep up there and continue to play. And Excalibur, the uh the gold standard that's the uh uh i mean it's a it's a silver and gold horn um he he he really called his horns baby that's like in all reality it was it was baby oh is it uh bb king called all his uh lucille was the name of all his guitars. So Excalibur is the name you gave it?

It's not the name he gave it. He called it Baby? Yeah, he called his horn Baby. Yeah, it was. Excalibur is a cooler name, but Baby works too. Baby is interchangeable, right? There can only be one Excalibur. So your uncle, tremendous saxophonist

and you pick up the saxophone you play so like were you always destined to play the horn like was like you that was your destiny or you just uh took a liking to it from a young age man i guess that's a that's a hard question to answer uh tough questions here man you didn't get warned you know in terms of like destiny i mean i guess how could i say that it's not considering where we are today but um it was definitely a choice uh you know i i saw e street play for the first time when i was eight years old and um and i walked out of the arena just like every other kid uh telling my pop that i wanted to play saxophone and um and my dad you know agreed he said that'd be fine as long as i learned the piano first

and uh yeah so that was basically his dad way of saying no uh but uh yeah i insisted on piano lessons in that case and um a couple years later i was happy to start playing saxophone i was thinking like when you have an upbringing like that it's a bit like if you banned uh your kids from eating sugar like let's say you have kids and you're like no sugar ever and then like as soon as they go to their friend's house or whatever they're like they get the two the two the pie of sugar and they're like drinking it and we all had a friend like i don't know you we all had a friend who couldn't watch TV at home, right? Right. No TV friend, and then we're like,

can I come over? And they just watch, like, Transformers or whatever. I'm having all kinds of flashbacks to my childhood right now. Well, hey, look what happened to you, so it's all good. Okay, so let me get back to another question. Like I said, there's lots of these. I don't want to run out of time. But Jamie Hendryry let him know

he's doing a terrific job and i'm sure his uncle clarence would be proud looking forward to seeing him in the e street band back in toronto so why don't we chat a little bit if you don't mind sharing the story of like like how did you end up in the e street band and by the way on the wikipedia page it's like you're not an official member have you seen did you have you seen that part uh no it's true so what what is your status like you're just uh uh I am filling in for my uncle that's uh that's the role I'm happy to play I mean like the band was formed in 72 and like uh that's the band you know it's uh Nils was a later addition um as well as Patty but uh you know it's once a once a role is filled it's it's it's a, Nils was a later edition, as well as Patty, but, you know,

it's, once a, once a role is filled, it's, it's, it's filled, you know? Yeah, and I'm,

I'm, I'm happy to, you know, keep Clarence's, to honor, to honor his place in that way. Like, how did,

you know, tell us about when Bruce, does he invite you to fill in for your uncle like how does that uh all right so you gotta understand like it was a really really hard time you know um uh clarence like i said clarence and i were just we were immensely close um i i didn't know if i was ever gonna play play the saxophone again at all after he passed away. I just, it was heartbreaking for me. And, you know, we both lost a cornerstone, you know. So we'd spent some time just kind of like hanging out.

And, you know, so conversations kind of came together out of that. But, you know, for me, I wasn't close to my parents growing up at all, and so Clarence was always, like, the person I would talk to about everything, and, like, having lost that was really hard. So I think I really appreciated Bruce reaching out and being available for me to chat with and kind of just work some of that stuff out. And the conversation kind of just came together eventually of,

so we have this situation we have to figure out how to handle. That being said, Clarence had been telling me for years that he wanted me to step in for him at one point, which I always dismissed and thought was ridiculous because there was no reason for him to never be there. Right. Yeah, so it just came together progressively and gradually and turned out to be the right thing.

Now, your uncle was the big man, and you've been kind of you know the right thing now your uncle was the the big man like and you you've been kind of anointed little big man i've heard that phrasing before i'm wondering though like are you kind of owning that moniker now like is this something you've uh you is this do you like hearing that or are you a big man? I mean, I guess it's certainly sweet in some ways, you know. My dad used to make a joke around about like, he told this story about, I guess it was a chicken or something. And it was a rooster. The rooster's proud and he's got these hens and little baby chicks and everything.

And then one day, one of the eggs hatches, and it's got, like, all these colors, and it looks really exotic. And he's confused, like, what in the world is going on? And then there's, like, this really proud peacock comes strolling by, you know. And my dad would joke and burn it, uh that he would be the the rooster and clarence would be right we didn't quite match my dad and i um but if you looked at clarence um i mean even just like just just build uh physically you know my dad was five foot nine on a good day and um right sounds like me yeah um and uh yeah so i mean i don't know like i was uh i was built like his brother you know and um

he uh he was a still uh a bit bigger than me i mean i would fit inside of clarence probably but like but perfectly you know like the russian doll yeah right exactly exactly um yeah so you know uh people often confuse me for being his son as well and and you know i'm i'm fine with all of that you know it's uh it's it's all endearing now you mentioned you're not you're not particularly close with your father is that what you well my dad's passed now yeah sorry yeah that's what in 2014 um yeah but we were very very different from each other and uh and yeah you know i created some some tension no i said i could write a book about that you and i both okay now let's uh wes chasen asks uh how are the original expectations around stepping into his uncle spot so there is a lot of questions about like uh does bruce just like tell you one day like

ask you like invite you to uh fill in for your uncle is that is that like i the as many specifics as you're comfortable sharing i think uh he asked how i I would feel about it. And I told him that I had been struggling with that myself and trying to understand what should happen with that role or with the band. I wasn't sure if it was right for the band to continue at that point either. if it was right for the band to continue at that point either and um and uh but you know explained that the conversations i'd had with clarence were where they were and um then i was you know i was happy to give it a go and um yeah i mean that's that's essentially how that started off and is it as simple as like when, you know, Bruce decides that the E Street band's going on the road or something,

he calls you up or something and just like, like, I'm curious, like, cause you have, you're here, you're here in Toronto today because you're playing, you're playing at, is it the Horseshoe Tavern? Yeah, that's right. Tomorrow night, right? That's right. Tomorrow night. So you, you come in from Montreal where Jake now lives, everybody.

And you're gonna play horseshoe tavern tomorrow night october 1st and uh you got your own stuff going on which we're gonna dive into in great detail but you get a call and it's the bruce line and he's like yeah we're gonna do this i don't we're gonna do this europe thing like like how does it work yeah that's essentially it um you know i i i have been very like deeply concerned with my solo career for um for a long time i've been doing that for a little bit longer than i've been doing the east street thing and um and it's important to me um i don't like to cancel shows um so i just kind of ask for like as much uh advance notice as possible and um we've only had one issue in the past where there was a you know things got booked on top of each

other but uh it just meant i was flying from one side of the country to the other side every night to do both um you made it work you didn't have to cancel yeah exactly yeah so what kind of notice does it give you i'm pretty sure i'm stealing questions that are written down from other people but that's okay because uh like like you're trying to you know work your solo career and you you love to tour and play for people and then of course you also want to fill in for your uncle when the east street band and bruce goes on tour and so what is like like like for example like you get what you get like three months notice like approximately

it kind of depends you know I mean I guess the shortest notice I ever got was like two weeks but yeah I don't know it's he's really fortunate enough to be able to to do that you know to put it out there,

and then to have people respond the way they do. I'm going to play a little Jungle Land in the background as I ask this question, because it's from a dear friend of the show, and I'm very interested in your reply. And then I might, I won't ask you to shut up. No one asks Jake Clements to shut up, but I might bring it up at the saxophone part of Jungleland when we get there.

But I want to ask you a question from Brad Fay. So Brad Fay, he actually is a sports media personality in this neck of the woods, and you'll see him on Toronto Raptor games and stuff. He says, it may be too personal, but perhaps the most emotional moment ever for me at a concert was the final show of the High Hopes Tour five years ago at the Mohegan Sun Arena in Connecticut. At the end of the solo for Jungle Land, which Jake nailed, Bruce walked over to him and they clearly shared an emotional moment. Jake in particular looked to be on the verge of breaking down

and I can only guess Bruce had said something about Clarence. It was amazing. Any time they play that song, it's an emotional high point, but this was just next level. Are you comfortable sharing any memories of that? Do you remember that? Yeah, yeah, of course. No, it's always a

it's always a it's always a hard, you know, it's always a hard thing. Yeah. I don't know man I mean I miss Clarence every day you know

so it's always yeah it's always hard to confront it songs like this particularly it's one of those things where

time you know time doesn't heal all wounds right this is not you're never gonna it's one of those things where time you know time doesn't heal all wounds right this is not you're never gonna we're 2011 he passed I suppose so we're eight years out but I can tell it's that's why I said if you're comfortable yeah

yeah yeah I don't know I don't know what to say I'm sorry no it's maybe you okay if we play a couple of minutes of this and then

yeah sure I mean it's fine I might I might pull it off my ears for a second though if that's alright oh my god yeah I don't know if you

if you're playing it's just it's always hard but I'm also happy to bring it down for a second though. That's all right. Oh my God, yeah. I don't know if you keep playing. It's just, it's always hard. But I'm also happy to bring it down. I want you to be comfortable and enjoy this.

Do you want me to bring it down? Because, it might not be what I play. In the parking lot, the visionary's dressing lady's face Inside the backstreet girls are dancing to the records every day as it plays Oh, the honey, I love this struggle And dark corners don't break

But I hope that's all I just want to know And I'm listening Here I come Thank you. guitar solo guitar solo Thank you. © BF-WATCH TV 2021 I love you. That was amazing. Yeah, the greatest saxophone solo in rock and roll, if you ask me. World War I flying ace just wrote in to say he's traveled all over North America to see Bruce 20 times and Jake sent chills up my spine playing Jungle land at Wrigley field in 2012.

And he says, uh, huge shoes to fill, but you're doing it with style. So at least there must be some solace just knowing that, uh, you're not, I don't,

you're not letting your uncle down. I mean, you're, uh, kicking ass, taking his spot in the East street band. And, uh,

I hope you're, you're aware that you're, you're making them proud. Yeah. I mean, like that's, that's that is a beautiful part of it you have to understand I mean like Clarence would do anything to be on that stage and did not

want to he would not miss a show no matter what no matter how much pain he was going through no matter how much discomfort and he would give anything to be on that stage and I want him to be there too

you know you know it's... I'm not just... I'm not just a fan of his playing, you know? It's... He meant the world to me. Yeah. So, yeah, I mean, I am happy to,

and honored and grateful to extend his voice a little bit further. And I know that he's grateful for that as well. Here, Jake, I'll move on to some uh some lighter fare as they say and get us into your your solo work as well which i can't wait to talk about but uh uh so sean hammond this is yeah we'll lighten it up uh bruce says is bruce the same all the time or is it work bruce and social bruce in social Bruce? I mean, he's a guy. He's a human being. Yeah.

Are you sure? There's lots of dimensions to him like there are to everyone else. Right. Yeah. I don't know. He's very sweet when it's appropriate and very stern when it's appropriate and um his expectations are on par with what yours should be i would say keith van steendoller says uh is there a pool in the band if the boss doesn't come up from his

james brown moves at the start of 10th Avenue freeze, uh, which also makes a great reference to his late dad. So, uh, I think it's a little lighter, a little lighter question. I don't know if that's serious,

but, uh, that's from Kevin there. Uh, David Martin says, how often does the boss call an audible? Has he ever called for the band to play a song that you or the other members did not know and uh give an example if that ever happened um yeah he always calls audibles

um that's a yeah that's a you know one of the beautiful things about that craft um and uh one thing i paid very close attention to is to make sure that you are as engaged, if not more, than the audience. And part of that is to lead that ship based on where the wind is blowing. And there's a set list every night, and sometimes we don't play it at all. Oh, really? That's certainly happened. You go in there with a vision, an idea, and then the audience works it out with you.

So you have to maneuver based on that, and that makes it exciting and engaging. I forgot the second half of that question. let's see here uh oh yeah if is there ever a bit of time where you know he calls up for a song that you don't know uh yeah yeah sure um yeah i mean to be honest i was i was really surprised when very very early um in 2012 he was calling out songs that he'd never heard me play um he didn't even know if i knew them or not necessarily um fortunately that i did um in those cases um you know but there's yeah there's this i don't remember the name of the song there's a song that he pulled out i think it was on the last tour that um i don't know i can't remember the name of the song. There's a song that he pulled out. I think it was on the last tour that I don't know.

I can't remember exactly, but I think it was like he had written it in his bedroom and like played it with Steven once or something crazy like that. Right. But here's the power and beauty of expectation. If you expect things to be great, in most cases, they will be,

you know, and he has this beautiful expectation for everyone in the band that they're going to arrive, you know, that they're going to, um, be able to, to,

uh, to, to come to, you know, to come to the table and, and make things happen. And, um,

it's a lot of trust and, uh, and, and it pays off you know so i've learned an invaluable lesson in that you know uh drew gorski has a good question and he says it's he admits it's probably an odd question but he wants to know is there a hierarchy in the band between the older members and the new guys like like uh you or charlie and and how are the new guys welcomed into the family is there hierarchy um i don't think so i don't know i mean for as long as i can remember those guys have all been like you know my uncles you know so uh it's always just felt like family to me um yeah. That's a good point.

You're not just some hired gun or whatever. You know what I mean? They have auditions and say, oh, that guy's good. Right. Yeah, yeah. So it's a little different. I don't know how to say his name. Socktheo says, ask Jake what the rehearsal process is for an E Street tour,

since Bruce plays a different set list every night. Also, was he the first and only choice to replace Clarence? Was anyone else ever in consideration? I have no idea about that second half. I'm going to say you were the first and only choice. Spiritually, I'm going to guess that was most likely. I wasn't involved in that part of it, so I don't know. The rehearsal process is, you know, you, you rehearse the new stuff a lot.

Cause yeah, everyone's just expected to know the older stuff. Right. That's like the prerequisite. I mean, I mean, there's a lot of songs that we didn't go over when I first stepped into that role because the band had already played them, you know, thousands of times. So they didn't need to rehearse them. I just needed to know them.

Right. Um, yeah. So it's, uh, but it's a really cool process. Cause you know, when you're rehearsing for a tour,

it's a lot of figuring out, um, just the feeling, you know, what the feeling is going to be. and Bruce is there like directing lights and the whole deal. He has a whole vision for the show. So it's really cool.

Now, I want to talk about Eyes on the Horizon, but first I need to thank some partners and give you some gifts for taking the time out of your busy schedule to chat with me today. You or maybe somebody you know will want to enjoy a fresh craft beer. So I'm going to you know will want to enjoy a fresh craft beer. So I'm going to give you a six pack of fresh craft beer from Great Lakes Brewery.

That'll be very handy after this interview. Oh, well, now I feel bad, Jake. But thank you, Great Lakes, for being a longtime partner of Toronto Mic'd and helping to fuel the real talk. I'm working on something big for next spring at Great Lakes, for being a long-time partner of Toronto Mic'd and helping to fuel the real talk. I'm working on something big for next spring at Great Lakes Brewery. We call these Toronto Mic'd Listener Experiences, and I'm planning a big one with a very popular band.

I don't want to give too many specifics, but early June 2020 is what I'm targeting. So in the meantime, drink up and enjoy your Great Lakes Brewery. I want to thank Palma Pasta, because they're actually going to host the Toronto Mic'd Listen listener experience on, I want to get the right date, December 7th. So this will be like a holiday themed, Christmas themed festive recording. And I'll have more details, but it looks like it's going to be, that's a Saturday. And it looks like it's going to be at noon at Palma's Kitchen. So more details coming. Go to palmapasta.com to find out where Palma Pasta is in Oakville and Mississauga.

And they're on Skip the Dishes, so give them a shot. Fantastic partners. Here's a Toronto Mike sticker for you, and a sick sticker since you're just passing through. That's courtesy of stickeru.com. Everybody knows the contest is ongoing now. If you have a photo you've taken of Toronto that you think is an iconic photo of Toronto, tweet it at stickeru and Toronto Mike and put the hashtag stickeruto on it and you can win a $100 gift card for their new store on Queen Street.

You can, they'll also take your picture and make stickers out of it and give you that. So it's pretty sweet. So you tweet that at us. Who else? I want to thank Pumpkins After Dark. If you go to pumpkinsafterdark.com, you can buy tickets now. Pumpkins After Dark, it's 5,000 hand-carved pumpkins that illuminate the skies of Country Heritage Park in Milton, Ontario. And that runs through November 3rd. So go to pumpkinsafterdark.com and use the promo code PUMPKINMIKE and you'll save 10%. That's

pretty damn cool. And I want to thank Kapadia LLP. They're the rock star accountants who see beyond the numbers. Rupesh is collecting questions now and he's going to answer them all. So send me via DM or email questions for a rock star accountant and he'll answer them free of charge.

That'll be pretty cool. Thank you, Kapadia LLP. And I'm going to, Jake, I'm going to play a question from a big, big fan of yours. This is Brian Gerstein from propertyinthesix.com. So the next voice you hear belongs to him. Hi Jake, Brian Gerstein here, sales representative with PSR Brokerage and proud sponsor of Toronto Mic'd. Galleria condos are here. I sold one and I have a client lined up to sell another one. So if you want in on next project, Galleria 2 or any subsequent ones that are coming, want in on next project, Galleria 2, or any subsequent ones that are coming, give me a call at 416-873-0292. One was investor related and one is going to be end user related. Jake, I've seen you perform a couple of times, but nothing like my friend Andy Cherniak, who goes to Europe to see you. He tells me that you've been known to do shows in people's homes, where you perform and promote your own music in the living room, take photos, do the warm

and fuzzy thing fans love. A chance for you to get personal with your fans. Andy wants to know if you still do that, and what you like best about performing that way, and if you are going to be doing so in Toronto in the near future, as I have one friend who would be totally into it, as well as I. Thank you, Brian. Yeah, I did a series of In Your Living Room shows. This is a couple years ago now. I guess I think it was after the High Hopes tour, I believe.

There's a thing about, you know, when you're like playing in stadiums, you know, they're amazing experiences, but there's something that's really unique about taking away all of the cables and all of the amplification and all of the space that's between you and the audience right and yeah I did these

living room shows that were really really just amazing experiences really unique I don't know there's's like, the thing is, I guess, music hasn't been experienced in that way for thousands of years.

You know, you'd think that the first time that people gathered around to listen to music and to communicate in that way, I would imagine

it was like back in the caves, you know. So, there's this ancient sense to it when it's completely unplugged in here. Just listening to the rawness of the steel and the wood and the spit, you know. Right. It's really, really special.

Sounds really cool. Sounds amazing. I know I keep telling you I want to talk about the new album, and I really, really do, except I'm wearing the Pearl Jam shirt for a reason because I'm a huge Pearl Jam fan. And I heard you played with Ed Vedder. Is that right?

Yeah, yeah. I played with Eddie a good bit. Yeah, kind of all over. And what kind of guy is Ed? No more Bruce questions. I got a quick Ed question. Is he a down-to-earth guy? Yeah, absolutely. He's a quick Ed question. Is he a down-earth guy? Yeah, absolutely.

He's a great guy. Good heart. He reached out to me after Clarence passed away and invited me to come and do some music with him, actually. It was a big part of my healing process. He was on tour with Glenn Hansard. It would have been a long time in front of mine. Yeah.

It was just a really significant thing to be able to be on the stage. This is in Philadelphia. And play the horn again after not being sure if I was going to pick it up. He's dealt with loss and

figured it out in a lot of ways and um yeah he's been really significant uh on that journey for me that's that's most excellent to hear man i'm glad to hear it uh when when was the first time you picked up the uh saxophone after clarence passed away like what do you remember yeah uh yeah it would have been that night okay yeah okay i wasn't sure if that was the moment or just shortly thereafter yeah yeah do you have a favorite pearl jam song man geez yeah i'm hard with that stuff you know it's like music's you know it's such a huge part of who i am uh that it's like hard for me to say anything about a favorite anything and it depends on moods and

all these different things yeah sure i mean you know it's it's telling your story you know um and uh on a cellular level for me you know um yeah so i don't know know yeah okay do you have a favorite Pearl Jam album I'll knock it off with the those are those are tough questions yeah

I don't I mean jeez man how could you but you know some people are like no code people because you know

the Neil Young influence and some you know some guys are like I don't know 10 is the one right because that's the first one they heard or whatever and then you got

some people are like I don't know it's the I right? Because that's the first one they heard or whatever. And then you got some people like, oh, it's the... I mean, Yield, for example, is a fantastic album. I love their record. Yeah. Yeah. I mean, I don't know. The new stuff's great, too. Yeah.

Yeah. I don't know. I like it all. I was thinking I was going to play a Pearl Jam while I asked you about... And I was like, what song? I literally couldn't... I don't know which one to play because there's like 150 songs was going to play a Pearl Jam while I asked you about, and I was like, what song? I literally like couldn't, I don't know which one to play. Cause there's like 150 songs I like to play while I just chat with you about Ed and I ended up on indifference and I don't even know why,

except just, just was feeling it at the moment. But that's an impossible question. Tell me about Eyes on the Horizon. In fact, okay. If I, if I were going to play, I have a Consumption Town. Cause I want to ask Tom Tom Morello's on that track hey can I stir up that one it's my show right I can do that right guitar solo

Same old thieves with the same old lies Telling you to work hard for that prize Shining new toys that make you aim real high Hunger for more, you're gonna play the game Tucking you in as your bet's been made Feeding you that beast until your life's been claimed Lost in consumption town Everybody's upside down

Blaming on corruption And still you got the gumption to drink it down Drink it down And still you got the gush in the Trinketown Trinketown Man, okay, where do I begin? What's it like playing with Tom Morello? I got to know Tom through E Street, actually. He came on tour with E Street for a while, a few years ago. And we got to be really close.

He's a bit of a big brother to me these days. Oh, cool. He's amazing. Yeah, we spend a lot. We go on vacation together and stuff. He's a beautiful guy. So, yeah, you know, playing music together is just like another natural

part of that. Oh, sure. He's done stuff with Chuck, right? Chuck D? Yeah, yeah. Prophets of Rage. Yeah. Yeah, fantastic. And his new record, Atlas Underground. Phen is phenomenal as well. He's kicking ass right now. And this sounds great too.

So you just asked him, you were playing together, and this just came together? Yeah. We talked about doing some stuff for each other, and I was doing this new record, and it felt like it would be silly not to have him on the song. So what can you tell me about the new album? Like, share any details you can about, you know, how the writing process and, you know,

when did it come out and anything you liked. Yeah, it came out September 6th. It's a bit of a different record for me, but one that I've been really excited about. Tom's solo here is just awesome. Made on corruption Still you've got the gumption To drink it down Whoa Whoa Whoa

Yeah The record As a whole is kind of just meant to be like a wake up call You know we As humans Are just enormously divided right now, especially when it comes to our governments and things like that. And it's just really, I don't know, it's silly. Because we've stopped talking about things that are important in a lot of ways,

and we've made them political, and they just shouldn't be. Everything's been politicized. Climate change has been politicized. Yeah, it's crazy. I know, it is crazy. The bottom line is there's common ground of things that we can agree on are good and things that we can agree on are bad, and things that are right and things that we can agree on are bad and things that are right and

things that aren't right and um uh uh yes you know this this this record's kind of just like a you know uh hopefully a wake-up call to kind of make people um more aware of that conversation and just to say like you know uh that we don't we don't need to be divided on things that are ethical. We don't need to de-evolve in terms of empathy. This incredible characteristic that we've developed over millions of years, we've gotten to a sad and weird place so um yeah this record just kind of like pointing out some things that are uh hopefully we can all agree on our our problems and um and address them was there any political motivation and you move into montreal at all or am i connecting dots that don't need to be um all right so I'll say uh I am still a I am I'm a proud U.S. citizen um and uh and

I fell in love a few years ago and and and, um, and her family happened to be from, from Montreal, which is really fortunate. And, uh, yeah. And November of 2016, we, uh, we decided not to move to LA and, uh, put an offer on a place in Montreal instead. There's the missing piece to the puzzle right here. There's a, you're, you're in love. Yeah. And there's the missing piece to the puzzle right here. There's a,

you're, you're in love. Yeah. Here you go. All right. So here I am fishing for some, some kind of a Trump protest here and it's just the heart, the hearts in the,

you're in love. I mean, I'm not going to say it's not, it's, it's not, you know, it's, it's, it's not disconnected from that necessarily,

but it wasn't purely political, you know? And you know i i i believe in the principles that um i was raised on you know i grew up on military bases and um and i and i believe in um the the heart that was in those neighborhoods that i grew up in of helping your neighbor and defending your neighbor and being there for each other, no matter what your differences are. That was one of those really amazing characteristics of the neighborhoods I grew up in. And I hope that we can find our way back to that. Have you learned any French? Un peu, yeah, a little bit. I'm gradually picking up more.

I understand more than I speak. You can order in French at a restaurant, right? If the words are in front of me, I can do it. Oh, man, that's great. Now I'm going to play another jam from the new album. And again, it's available now. This is Eyes on the Horizon, but this is called Democracy. It's coming from a hole in the air From those nights in Tiananmen Square

It's coming from the field This ain't exactly real Oh, it's real But it ain't exactly there From the wars against disorder From the sirens night and day From the fires of the homeless And the ashes of the gay

Democracy is coming To the USA It's coming up from the sorrow in the street The holy places where the races meet From the homicidal bitchin' That goes down in every kitchen To determine who will serve and who will eat From the wells of disappointment

Where the women kneel to pray For the grace of God in the desert, here in the desert far away. Democracy is coming to the USA. Sail on, sail on, oh mighty ship of state. To the shores of need, past those reefs of greed, and through the squalls of hate. sail on sail on sail on man that's

good old protest music right this is yeah it's a Leonard Cohen song that he released in 1992 and yeah Montreal man it definitely falls in that category yeah for sure yeah yeah that he released in 1992. Yeah.

Montreal man. It definitely falls in that category. Yeah, for sure. Yeah, yeah. Come on, he's like one of the greatest lyricists and songwriters of all time. When I heard this song, I just couldn't deny it. I just connected so much with how I grew up

and what I remember of my childhood and the fundamentals I believe in and what I remember of my childhood and the fundamentals I believe in and what I remember reading in the Constitution and in the Declaration. And yeah, it just seemed like a song that needed to be reintroduced today. Giving you another sticker. I know I gave you stickers already,

but this is an agitpop. That's an album of protest music from one of my favorite bands, Giving you another sticker. I know I gave you stickers already, but this is an agitpop. That's an album of protest music from one of my favorite bands, a local band named Lois the Lois. I'm throwing that in your pile, man, because you've earned the agitpop. This is what I thought we'd hear more of. You mentioned it's crazy.

Everything's politicized and world polarized to the nth degree. I thought we'd have more musicians releasing music, like protest music, and I'm surprised there's not more. I think it's happening. I think it's coming. There's a threshold for everything, and people are becoming more and more uncomfortable

with where things are and responding appropriately now. I think there's more of it happening. Like Handmaid's Tale was supposed to be a work of fiction. It wasn't supposed to be like... Yeah, it's crazy. It's creepy. By the way, I've now decided you're an honorary Canadian because you're living in Canada,

but you're covering Leonard Cohen. You're an honorary Canadian. I'll take it. I'll happily take it. For a rip, are you, bud? You got your Great Lakes. You a rip, are you, bud? You got your Great Lakes. You're an honorary Canadian now, my friend.

So the sound of your latest album, Eyes on the Horizon, what are the... Do you mind sharing just some of the influences now that's shaping the sound? Oh, man. Yeah. I mean, I thought about that. I'm not really sure what I boil that down to. I mean, there's definitely a bit of angst in the music.

There's an aggression there. But that comes from your grunge. Yeah, probably so. Yeah, probably so. I don't know. My musical palette is all over the place. So it's hard for me to like really hone in exactly what

trying to remember trying to remember what I was listening to at the time when we tracked a lot of this but who's who's sticking the backups there

who are we listening to aha those are two Toronto girls actually of course because you're an honorary Canadian yeah the Levy sisters.

They're fantastic. Yeah, they're fantastic. Cool. In addition to Tom Morello, are there any other collaborators you want to shout out while we're... Yeah, we were really fortunate to have Eddie Kramer mix the record,

who's maybe certainly one of the most Mix the Record you know who's maybe the you know certainly one of the most iconic names in the history of rock and roll I mean like the guy's done everything it's so crazy to me

to look at the beginning of his CV and see you know Jimi Hendrix and The Beatles and Zeppelin and then like look at the end of it and then see my name and you know, Jimi Hendrix and The Beatles and Zeppelin and then, like, look at the end of it and then see my name. And, you know, it's like, it's crazy. Where did you record it, in Montreal? We recorded a lot of it in Belleville, the base of the tracks,

and then a bit in various other places, some of it in Toronto. I was going to say, of all the radio shows or podcasts or different interviews you're going to do, how many will hear the name Belleville and know exactly where it is? Most of them will not know exactly where it is. But I do mention it. You're in the right place here. Yeah, Belleville. My cousin

played for the Belleville Bulls back in the 90s. So shout out to Mark Gowan, the goaltender who couldn't quite make it, but played pro, but not NHL, but played pro for many years. Very cool. Bill Bill Ball.

Yeah, you are an honorary Canadian. Have you discovered the wonders of poutine? Of course, yeah. Poutine's one of the most delicious, delectable things you can eat. Just don't read the calories on those. You know, you just don't do that. Calorie smellers.

Go for a run. And I need to, I would be amiss if I didn't ask you about the bagels. So this is a common theme here. I have a lot of Montrealers come on. A lot of them live in Toronto now, by the way. That's a common thing for the Montrealer to move to Toronto. But you can stay put in Montreal. I'm pretty happy there.

Yeah, if you're happy, still move. But are the Montreal bagels better than bagels you have anywhere else if you get to dive into that culture? Absolutely. Yeah, no offense. What makes them better? No offense, anybody. No one can get offended by that.

They're exceptional. I have no idea what makes them better. I mean, people, I mean, I was always a New York bagel guy. Yeah, well, New York is also excellent, right? Yeah. I mean, you know, it's just, yeah, they used to be excellent. There's just no comparison. I hate to put it out there like that.

Wow. Do you have a favorite bagel joint in montreal that you want to let people know when they're passing through they got to check out jake's uh i'll get in trouble now i'll edit it in later mr black uh i can't remember the name of it i think it starts with a v okay i can't even help you out on this yeah can't bail you out on that one but find the bagel place in montreal that starts with a v all right so you talked about your earlier influences and uh you mentioned nirvana by the way one of my favorite bands of all time nirvana but if we go even further back i'm just gonna play a jam just before we shut this down and you've been tremendous fantastic i want to play

a song i read an interview you did once and you referenced this song and this song was like highly influential in my uh my musical tastes as well so here it is did you know that was coming i wasn't sure where you're going i'm glad it was this one oh that's the other one i should have gone to uh this is great man i was sneaking this thing on the tv. I wasn't allowed to, but MTV back in the day. What do they say at Jurassic Park? Nature finds a way? Yeah. Oh, man, I was so struck by it. Because it's a mashup of different genres, if you will.

And your music sounds to me like a mashup of different genres. It just seems really eclectic. I didn't know that this was a mashup of different genres when I heard it because I had no reference. Nice. Yeah, which is kind of a cool thing in a sense, I suppose. There's also the visual element of it, you know, of these guys ripping down walls.

Right. That's cool. Very cool. Have you ever met the guys from Aerosmith? Or Rundian? ripping down walls, you know. Right. That's cool. Very cool. Have you ever met the guys from Aerosmith? Or Run DMC? Well, the surviving members of Run DMC? I don't think so.

I'm not sure. I don't think so. I did play at Mama Kin's, which was... Cover band, right? Or no, Mama Kin's... No, the club in Boston. Okay. This would have been 20 years ago um they were not there but it was okay because there's a cover band an aerosmith cover band called mama kin that's where i thought you were going there okay uh because you mentioned mama

kin real quick is that uh i didn't know it was an aerosmith song i thought it i only knew it because uh on one of my favorite Guns N' Roses albums, they cover Mummikin and G&R Lies. And they do this, Mummikin, I thought it was a Guns N' Roses song when I was a kid. At some point. There's a lot of examples of songs you think belong,

you hear them, you assume it's their song, and then as an adult, you're like, oh, that was a cover? Fantastic. their song and then as an adult you're like oh that was a cover you know all right fantastic jake you're at horseshoe tavern tomorrow and uh based on those two jams i just played i mean uh people got to check out jake clemens while he's in town so you're only here for the one night right that's right yeah and where do you where are you? Do you know where you're off to next after the... Yeah, we're going to Montreal,

and then we're in Hamilton, and then Belleville. Okay, okay. Belleville. Shout out to Belleville again. Okay, so for listeners, I have a lot of listeners in the Hamilton, and a lot of listeners not too far from Belleville, I'm sure.

Maybe even a Belleville listener. What do I know? So check out Jake Clemens, man. And thanks so much for being so generous with your time in this awesome conversation. I really appreciate it. My pleasure. And that brings us to the end of our 519th show. You can follow me on Twitter.

I'm at Toronto Mike. Jake, you're at Jake Clemens? That's right. Do you do your own tweeting? I do. Okay. That to me is key. I like Chuck D because I know it's Chuck D tweeting. And hold on because if I don't play this, when am I

going to play it? Hold on here. Hey, what's up? This is Chuck D. You are listening to Toronto Mike right here, right now, the place to be. I forgot I had the Aerosmith still going. I wanted to get in my Chuck D promo while we're talking about him. Our friends at Great Lakes Brewery are at Great Lakes Beer.

Propertyinthe6.com is at Raptor's Devotee. Palma Pasta is at Palma Pasta. Sticker U is at Sticker U. Capadia LLP is at Capadia LLP. And Pumpkins After Dark are at PumpkinsAfterDark.com. See you all next week. and eight years of tears And I don't know what the future can hold or do for me and you

But I'm a much better man for having known you Oh, you know that's true because everything is coming up rosy and green Yeah, the wind is cold but the smell of snow won't stay today We'll see you next time.