Toronto Mike'd: The Official Toronto Mike Podcast - Jane's Party: Toronto Mike'd #908

Episode Date: September 2, 2021

Mike chats with Devon, Tom and Zach from Jane's Party about the band's music before they kick out the jams.

Welcome to episode 908 of Toronto Mic'd, a podcast about anything and everything. 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. Chef Drop. home delivery in the GTA. Chef Drop. Access top chef and restaurant prepared meal kits shipped across the GTHA. Save 20% right now with promo code FOTM20. McKay's CEO Forums. The highest impact and least time intensive peer group for over 1,200 CEOs, executives, and business owners around the world. StickerU.com, create custom stickers, labels, tattoos, and decals for your home and your business. Palma Pasta, enjoy the taste of fresh homemade Italian pasta and entrees from Palma

Pasta in Mississauga and Oakville. Ridley Funeral Home, pillars of the community since 1921. Ridley Funeral Home, pillars of the community since 1921, and Mike Majewski. He's the real estate agent who's ripping up the Mimico real estate scene. Learn more at realestatelove.ca. I'm Mike from torontomike.com and joining me this week are Devin Richardson, Tom Ionescu, and Zach Sutton of Jane's Party. What's up? How are you?

Woo! Welcome, guys. Okay, so just so people listening can get, like, association voice with name, Devin, say hello to the FOTMs. Hello, FOTMs. This is Devin Richardson speaking on behalf and with Jane's Party. What do you do, Devin? I play bass and I sing.

Awesome. Awesome. Tom, tell us, what would you say you'd do with Jane's Party. What do you do, Devin? I play bass and I sing. Awesome. Awesome. Tom, tell us, what would you say you do with Jane's Party and let people hear your voice? Probably like 90% of it. Everything that you see online, that's pretty much Tom's concoction. I play guitar and I sing. And yeah, we're a really collaborative band. So we all take part, an equal part in everything you hear and you see. So that's what I do.

Zach, the Zach attack. What would you say you do with Jane's party? I play drums, I cheerlead, and I do the books. He cooks the books. He cooks the books. Oh, I could use your help after the show. We'll talk. Are you legitimately a Dodgers fan?

No. Just looks good on you? I spend time in Los Angeles, and I like the hat a lot. I'm a big fan of the Dodgers logo. I think it's a cool logo. But always when I see it, because my buddy Cam Gordon, shout out to Cam, he often rocks the Dodgers cap. And I always wonder, is he doing that because it looks cool or does he actually like the Dodgers?

But you're doing it because it looks cool. Pretty much, yeah. So lots of ground to cover off the top. I have a fun story about how we've met before. But shout out to Tyler Campbell. That's coming soon. This is my first episode since TMLX8, which was last Friday. And I just want to thank everybody who came out. 75 FOTMs came out. I want to thank Palma Pasta from the

bottom of my heart for feeding everybody. Nobody went home hungry. There was leftovers. It was delicious. So if you had come out to TMLX8, it was, you had your food. And of course, it was hosted by the amazing Great Lakes Brewery. They did a great job. They actually gave everybody their first beer on the house. And then shout out to Mike Majeski. He's at realestatelove.ca. He shows up in this like giant van with this picture on the side and he buys, I think, 40 beers for the crowd. I know, like he just walks in. He buys like, I think it 40 beers for the crowd. I know. He just walks in. He buys I think it was $5 a beer, if I do that math. What is that? $200. And he buys beer for the

crowd. I don't know how many people had to go out of pocket on Friday. I think most people could drink on the house. But what a wonderful night and thank you to everybody who came out. Next time I have a TMLX, I'm going to be looking for Jane's party in the crowd. We'll be there.

I might have you play. I'd love to. And I want to say, well, I want to just let you guys know, and this band's going to come up again in our conversation, but I saw Blue Rodeo on Saturday night, and they were fantastic as always. I'm going to play some more. Well, I'm going to play some Jane's Party that was produced by a member of Blue Rodeo. And also, I went camping, so I want to thank Hyundai. Is it Hyundai or Hyundai?

Do you guys know? I think it's Hyundai. Hyundai. Someone told me once it rhymes with Sunday. Oh, really? And it messed me up because I always thought it was Hyundai. But then if it rhymes with Sunday, it's Hyundai. I think they had a campaign a while back where they were trying to make Hyundai happen.

That's funny because at McDonald's, I always order sundies with extra fudge. So I'm confused. And McDonald's was promoting like, oh, you've been asking for it. It's coming back. And everybody was speculating like, is pizza coming back or is it the McRib or whatever? And it ended up being like spicy chicken nuggets. That's underwhelming, right? Oh, my God.

So everyone's upset. Not that I was looking forward to make pizza or anything. But as an avid McDonald's connoisseur, I got to say spicy chicken nuggets. You're upset,ming, right? Oh, my God. Everyone's upset. Not that I was looking forward to McPizza or anything, but as an avid McDonald's connoisseur, I got to say Spicy Chicken Nuggets is not doing it for me. You're upset, right, Zach? You thought you were getting your pizza back. I'm very upset. Well, shout out to McDonald's.

But Blue Rody was great. Camping was great. I'm back here. Before I tell the story of how we met before and I unveil an exciting new sponsor, where does the name Jane's Party come from? Well, it started off as we were called the After Party, but then there was another band in Toronto called the After Party.

Also, mind you, this is like 15 years ago. This is like 15, so they're probably... Are you old enough? You guys have been together 15 years? 2008? It's been pretty, yeah. Did you guys start this up in primary school school or whatever like grade eight or whatever sorry third grade assembly was our first yeah we didn't have beards back then no we met in university um so york university so around jane and finch and so that's sort of where we had this garage that we used to rehearse and rock out in and that's sort of

where Jane's party came from. We sort of dropped the after party and picked up the Jane Street. Like sort of how it was Ginger Ale and the Mono Whales and at some point Ginger Ale went away

and they became like the Mono Whales. You just sort of like, you just, you had to get rid of I don't, yeah, it was just sort of like

I think we were trying to Jane, like there's no, Jane is just Jane the Street? Jane was the Street, yeah. Okay, sort of like how the B were trying to But there's no Jane Like there's no Jane is just Jane the street Jane was the street Okay sort of like how The Barenaked Ladies

Have a song called Jane St. Clair Barenaked Street Oh sorry Well maybe But Jane St. Clair Which they use as a woman's name Is actually named after

The intersection Jane and St. Clair So you guys Jane's party And I know Jane Street Well that was my Like home TTC station

When I was growing up With Jane's station Okay right on So yeah I was just that old mill station you guys jane's party and i know jane street well that was my like home ttc station when i was growing up with jane station so yeah i was just that old mill station i lived there for like four years so i'm very familiar with i think that one of the least frequented stations but the prettiest because you got that view so beautiful yeah seriously level mill station uh okay so we got the jane's party origin you You guys have impeccable timing. I know, and we're going to get into it. You've been here before, but it's your debut. But you're here, episode 908, and this is the episode.

That means it took 908 episodes to get to a point where guests get this value. No guest in the history of Toronto Mic'd has received the value that you guys are going to receive for coming here. I'm serious. A hundred bucks cash, right? Well, close. Like you're close. You're close. 98. So I'm going to start with a big exciting announcement, which is there's a new sponsor here at Toronto Mic'd. It's ChefDrop. And ChefDrop, which you can order at chefdrop.ca, ChefDrop, which you can order at chefdrop.ca, is, as I said in the intro, it is basically, it gives you access to top chef and restaurant prepared meal kits shipped across the GTHA, so not only the Greater Toronto Area, but Hamilton's in there too. Shout out to The Hammer. I actually have a quick note before I tell you guys what I'm giving you which is awesome which is I'm going to shout out some of these chefs that you have access to

Rob Gentile, Adrian Forte, Victor Berry, there's a whack of great chefs but also restaurants like Momofuku I can't say half of these but Colibri which is a great, best tacos in Toronto, it's a Mexican restaurant.

Gertie's Peanut Butter Pies, if you want desserts. I mean, Richmond Station, which is where you get a great burger. The Carbon Bar, which I tried the other day, which is for barbecue. Union Chicken, that's where you get your best fried chicken sandwiches. I know if you go to Union Chicken, you can also get a Great Lakes beer. There's a lot of Uncle Ray's food and liquor. That's southern U.S. stuff. So you go to chefdrop.ca.

And listeners, so for listeners, I'll take care of them first. If they use the promo code FOTM20, this month of September, you get 20% off your first order of 50 bucks or more. So FOTM20 at chefdrop.ca. But are you guys ready? Because there's three of you now. I thought there was going to be two of you. There's three of you and you're each going to get this. Okay. So I'm doing the math in my head. This is going to blow your mind. A $75 digital gift card to use at chefdrop.ca. So each of you get 75 bucks to spend there. so tell me if zach hadn't come what would we have gotten you still would have got 75 but now you get 75 times three all right like

seriously i just gotta i gotta submit your email addresses and you get a an email with code that gets you 75 bucks at chefdrop.ca like that's that's a great deal that's awesome that's a great deal it's a great deal so the listeners they use fotm So the listeners, they use FOTM20 to save 20%. And it's exciting to have Chef drop on the program as a partner. And I'm jazzed about it. You guys want to pop open your beers? I know one of you already did. I can redo it.

Do you want me to pop open one for you? What do we think the difference between the New England Pale Ale and the Canuck Pale Ale is? The IPA is definitely a hoppier, fruitier guy. It's a very different taste. I'm not seeing an I. I'm only seeing PA. The Canuck pale ale is basically their most popular beer forever. So crack open the pale ale. Okay, this is up on the mic.

Oh, that's like he's done it before. Amazing. So I'm going to crack open one as well i know tom's already done so let me just that's the one another one beauty michael lang who i saw friday night at uh tmlx8 he wrote a note when he heard you coming out to say i saw jane's party uh play two. FOTM Skywall was open for them. A bunch of young, goofy guys with a band name that I like.

Oh no, a band name like that, I wasn't expecting much. I was very, very surprised at how good they were. Is that in Brampton? Yeah, that must have been. Yeah, Michael Lang is a Brampton guy, so it was probably in Brampton.

I remember that gig. That was a fun one. Yeah, in the Garden Square. Yeah, super tall stage. Oh yeah, that was fun. That was a fun one. Yeah. Yeah, in the Garden Square. Yeah, super tall stage. Oh, yeah, that was fun. We had a fun one. People are hanging out. Cool little square they got there.

Hey, Michael Lang, thanks for checking it out. He was blown away. He did lower his expectations before he hit the stage. That's what the name does for us, really. Yeah, we try to... That is the Barenaked Lady's recipe, right?

And then you're like, oh, damn, these guys are pretty good. I thought they were dumb because of their name. And Basement Dweller, who actually submitted this question for your first appearance, which we'll get to in a minute, he says,

I believe they were the opening act for Jefferson Starship at the C&E Bandshell on the afternoon of the last Tragically Hip concert. It's very true. That was a wild one. One of the strangest gigs. When we got that offer, we were like, whoa, Jefferson Starship.

And then we dug in a little bit and we're like, wait, they're dead. They're dead. Who's left? Grace Slick was there? Nope. Really? The drummer?

Someone Richardson was singing for. I think it was only the rhythm guitar player from the original band. That's like when you go see The Guess Who, and there's no Burden Cummings, there's no Bachman. It's like the replacement bass player is carrying on the name. I saw Thin Lizzy when I was in high school, and I think only the drummer was the original member. You've got to be careful, right? Because that brand is what sucks you in, Jefferson.

What were they, Jefferson? Starship. Well, they split, right? Airplane and then it was Starship. It was just Starship. And then it was Jefferson Starship. Right. But they definitely had, like, the woman that was replacing Grace.

Killed it. She sounded so good. And I think she was one of the original singers, like, from the 80s or something. And the guitar player is the guy that wrote their song, Jane, which is also part of our name. And it was, like, full circle shit. It was very kismet. guitar players together wrote their song jane which is also part of our name and we were open it was like full circle shit it was very kismet surprisingly they didn't travel with their own merch person either they used our merch person it was a strange kick but yeah that was across the street from the hip slash show that was big they moved our time slot up because of the hip

slash show yeah yeah and blue rodeo was across the street at the amphitheater that night. Yeah. Yeah, that was a busy night down at the waterfront. Yeah. I think Blue Rodeo has the record for most amphitheater appearances. Yeah, I think so. Since that thing opened back when it was the Molson Amp. Now it's Budweiser Stage.

And then they're like second or third at Massey Hall after like Gordon Lightfoot. So they're definitely an institution. Oh, yeah. Well, again, they'll come up again in this chat here. So before we kick out jams, I want to know where Jeff is. Like, why do I have 75% of Jane's party? So Jeff has temporarily relocated to St. John's, Newfoundland, because his wife is a very proud Newfoundlander. And, you know, I think the rock just tends to pull Newfies back home.

And so he's also heading up the Jane's Party East division, division of our like a franchise of our enterprise. And so keep your eyes out for Jane's Party East content that we'll be dropping, which will feature... If you're really into East Coast stuff, you're really going to appreciate it in a way that maybe you don't appreciate Jane's Party Central, which is what we're doing. And then we're soon going to have

Jane's Party Southwest. I'm moving to LA. That's why you're wearing the Dodgers cap, because you're acclimatizing. My wife is in film, and we've been back and forth. What do you mean in film? Pornography?

What are you talking about? So she does music videos. She's worked with a bunch of big artists. Kind of really famous people. And it's time for us to spend some time there. She works with Drake is what you're talking about. Yeah, she has. She's worked with Drake and Justin Bieber

and a bunch of other artists and uh it's time to uh to uh take a swing down there no pun intended will that make it what about like will that make it difficult for jane's party with like these different locales or you just like meet at the airport when you go on yeah what's the plan we've sorry can i take it that's your time can we tell you how your life's going to be today? Is that a Van Morrison Gloria shirt? Like, does that be them? No, it's a coffee shop that I rep, which is no longer. That's what happens when Tom reps your coffee.

I ran it in the ground. Just take them all down one at a time. Watch out Starbucks. Yeah, no, I think it's been, like, we've never done this before, and I think we always look to new things in our band, whether it's musical or whatever, to spice things up. I think we're all super excited about L.A. Like, that's an avenue that, or like a place in the world

that's really inspiring for us. So I think it's sick that Zach gets to go there, and we'll be joining him as much as we can right uh we've been to the to st john's a lot and it's always been super welcoming and a great place to be so it's great that jeff gets to spend time there and then you know do do the band stuff out there so it feels like we're conquering you know dividing and conquering more so than whatever so it's's kind of, I don't know, I think it's, I'm excited for it. It's going to work for you guys. But you two.

Long distance usually works, right? But Devin and Tom, you guys are going to stay in Toronto? We're going to be holding down JP Central. I'm going to be like mobile. Like all my work. Like live in your car? More or less is, yeah. With like work being online so much these days,

I feel like it affords you a level of mobility that is a shame not to take advantage of. Well, now's the time. You've got to do that before you have kids and stuff. You've got to do it now. I mean, assuming you don't have kids. Not that we don't. I think that's definitely a push for folks our age.

It's kind of like go big or go home. Yeah. I'm jealous over here. In an inspiring kind of way. How big is your car? We'll stuff you in the back. Our car is big enough. Our apartment's not, though.

Okay, this is exciting news. So Jeff has a good excuse. By the way, speaking of Newfoundland and tying back to Blue Rodeo, who we'll mention again shortly, That's a good excuse. By the way, speaking of Newfoundland, and tying back to Blue Rodeo, who we'll mention again shortly,

I saw Alan Doyle open for Blue Rodeo on Saturday night, and Alan, of course, is a proud Newfoundlander as well. A legend. We played some shows with him. He's a great guy. Does he party hard? I would think he parties hard. We had a couple pints after the show.

His band parties pretty hard. Like, somebody quit. Well, Great Big Sea's gone, I think because it partied so hard. Sean. Sean McCann. We met him up in Iqaluit. He was really into it.

He's a really nice guy. I read his book and he talks about basically he had to get away from Great Big Sea because he basically was drinking himself to death or something like that. Yeah.

No, I think, I think they've probably cooled it down a little bit yeah i i my memories of alan on tour are him working non-stop he's recording in his green room like bye he's like come check this out he's like super generous he'd like invite us into his green room and like show us the tunes he was working on we tried to sneak on them as well uh just to get some residuals writing books and stuff writing books and stuff. It's quite the workhorse.

He did an album with Splashin' Boots. Do any of you know Splashin' Boots? I'm familiar. Yeah, they've won I think every Juno in the Kids Award.

Yeah, they've been cleaning up. Sunshine and Broccoli can't break through because Splashin' Boots dominate. But unless Fred Penner jumps in and gets

one done. What do you see? Anybody into birding? Yeah, what do you see? Woodpecker, right? What do you see? Anybody into birding? Yeah, what do you see? Woodpecker, right? What do you see? This is a beautiful woodpecker. Oh, wow.

That's amazing. There's two beautiful woodpeckers just right on that branch. It's funny. Just before you guys showed up, there were snowbirds. They're practicing the air show tonight. Yeah, yeah.

So right here, a great view of the snowbirds. How do you feel about that? I mean, a lot of people have issues with the air show, and I have to say I do enjoy it. I of get excited when once a year when it happens and i know i can can look up and watch the snowbirds or whatever but i hear like new canadians who will have like ptsd etc because where they're coming from when you hear the the jet overhead it's it's it's less exciting it's more scary as shit so i kind of feel feel for those people. Yeah, even just driving here, they were practicing.

Yeah. And it's insanely loud. It's so loud. I'm on the side of it. It is completely unnecessary. Yeah, it's very British. And it's probably very pollutant. Like, I know it's probably not very good for others.

But damn, it looks cool. I did a little ride, and I'm like, oh, shit, that looks cool. All big machinery looks cool. For me, ride and I'm like oh shit that looks cool all big machinery looks cool for me it feels like for me it feels like a bit of a let down because you think oh plane's cool like I get to see it and then it's kind of far away and it's like it passes pretty quick I think it'd be sick and I don't know if you guys can chime in on this

if they just like rolled the planes like down along like lakeshore or something and you got to see it up close and they just rolled the planes down along Lakeshore or something, and you got to see it up close. Like they're on the ground? Like a military parade. Or they just drove them. You want them to drive the planes.

I feel like that would be as underwhelming as the spicy chicken nuggets. Taking a ride on Red with a fighter jet? I don't know. Because you think people want to see these things, but they want to see the formation and the loop-de-loop thing. Or is it like NASCAR and people are hoping to see a crash? Well, I hope not. I hope not.

I was working at VX one day when somebody died in a crash. That was awful. That was, I think, the same summer that Dave Steeb pitched the no-hitter in Cleveland, if I remember correctly. Hey, we had a lot of ground to cover with Jane's Party, and then I want to hear some jams and talk to you about that. But I'm going to play a song from, I believe it's your first recording. Maybe that'll help us get started with the band history here.

Whoa. Well, let's... 2008? 2009, I believe, here. No good for me. There it is. No good for me. It's the garage.

That's the garage right there. Let's go. No more going back this time She's no good for me No more going back this time She's no good for me Who's on the harmonica there? Is that Jeff? Probably Jeff. I think Jeff, yeah. Love it.

Okay, so this is literally, like, you called this the garage sessions. You literally recorded this in the garage. This is said garage. So this album was recorded in 2009 or 8? 2009, I think. No, it came out in 2009. Came out in 09. Okay, so recorded in 2008.

There was a big strike at York University back then, and we were probably off of school for three and a half months or something like that. Do you remember when that QP strike was? Pretty much from the start of mid-September to just past Christmas. February. Yeah, so we ended up recording this record in our garage

and then sort of jimmying the lock the york university music room so we could have access to a grand piano for that piano sound you hear and there's like some marimba and stuff that we just you know in after hours would just sneak into york university and steal their music equipment be careful with it though i hope so or i have to report this it's a statute of limitations it's funny i haven't i haven't listened to the song in so long, and it's funny to listen to what my voice sounded like way back then. I feel like I was just getting into singing. I was sort of in high school.

I was playing in punk bands. So then when I met Jeff and Tom, they're singer-singers. So then I was like, oh, I should stop screaming and try and do this thing now. It's funny to hear myself back. Tom's also pointing out that this song was about my girlfriend at the time, who is now my wife, so I did end up going back. Oh, that's wild. Okay.

Yeah, I was going to say, no whispering over there. You have to say it on the mic, but you can't say it at all. You've got to hold on to it for a minute. He's just saying, looks like I did go back. So let's get the story that I've kind of alluded to a few times here. So in the history of this program, and I'm glad that you're here to get more value because I actually have more gifts for you. You're drinking Great Lakes beer.

You're getting the $75 from Chef Drop. I have a Toronto Mike sticker from StickerU on. I thought there was two of you. So there's two of them out, but I can get a third. But StickerU.com. It'll be good on the guitar case. You got to snap a pic if that happens. That's amazing.

But thank you to StickerU.com for their support. They make great stickers and decals and stuff. And they made a Toronto Mike sticker. But I also have in the freezer. I have a large meat lasagna for two of you. I was told two are coming. You two can draw straws. I don't care. I only have two.

I'm the wild card. Two large meat lasagnas are going home with two of you. Maybe one of you cooks it up and invites the others over. Last time we were given a bunch of free beer, I lost out. For some reason my delivery didn't make it. So I'm hundo P taking one of those lasagnas. Yeah, you get one of those lasagnas.

But Palma Pasta, who fed us all on Friday night, two of you are getting it. And again, I could actually bike a third over to you at some point. I just literally only have two on the premises right now because I didn't have three. Oh, no, that's okay. No worries. Are you sure? Why was I told you're not coming when I'm looking at you right now? So, yeah, I was way east this morning.

So I was in Scarborough doing some work. That's way east. I thought he was going to say Kingston or something. With the traffic in the Gardner right now, it's pretty far east. And I just didn't think I could make it today. And here you are. And I booted it over here. Okay, well, you're getting the you can yeah and you got your sticker and uh you might you might

lose out on the lasagna but you know what i'll have them over and we'll eat it together so tell me what happened i i think we're going back i don't even know if it was 2019 it might have been 2019 but uh i have a a great uh supporter somebody who helps with the show i call him vp of sales his real name is Tyler. And for a very brief period of time, Tyler would help book guests. And Tyler booked Jane's party on Toronto Mic, which I thought was really cool.

But I had a gentleman named Jill LeBlanc booked to do a basement session before COVID. We were in the basement. And then I had you guys, I think, the next day. But in the middle of my conversation with jill i saw like four handsome young men walking down my stairs and i i was like what's going on like i think you might even have had musical yeah where's your guitars now well i thought we were kicking out the jams yeah you're busting out the dance yeah get us back for busting the jams that will rock at least two of you who are local but uh i that's like the only time in the

history of toronto mic'd where two guests were booked at the same time and i guess somehow my wife was home she was never home pre-covid but because she let you in she did so she shouldn't have four handsome young men at the door she lets you in because she doesn't know what's going on and then i'm downstairs recording with Jill. And you guys come down the stairs and I'm like, oh my goodness, this is terrible. Yeah, do it on the mic. He's a quick

drinker. Sorry. That's okay. Splash sack. That's the burst IPA. That's excellent. Anyways, a huge miscommunication. I felt terrible forever. I'm so glad you're here because we can fix this the resentment has been growing and growing so I'm glad to clear the air

and you know I would happily boot Jill for Jane's party but I am a nice guy I didn't want to do that and I didn't know who screwed up and I think Tyler did screw up I think it is on Tyler I forgave Tyler for this

he's a good man one screw up is nothing to focus on. But I'm really sorry about that, that you guys came all the way here and did not get on Toronto Mic'd, and I felt terrible for years. So thank you for coming now. You know, we're happy to be here,

and do not worry at all. We are very used to getting bumped. And we're getting gift cards. Yeah, you're getting a lot of swag here for coming over. So thanks so much. So okay, so the garage sessions,

that was 09, recorded in the garage. I just remembered a funny thing, like a little picture in my mind from that time that I haven't thought about

in a long time. It was me and Jeff into one of the rooms we had broken into at York, found a glockenspiel, like a mini xylophone, right? But no mallet for it. And we had found a pen or a pencil or something and we were trying to figure out how to play that on this thing with a pencil with like trying to like mic it up and make it kind of sound okay

that in my mind sort of describes what recording that whole record was like it was we were a bunch of like 19 20 year olds maybe uh in a music program that was trying to teach us you know jazz right um and us trying to figure out how to do modern music or something you know or like just trying to figure out music like where we fit we were using using an interface that Jeff's dad had bought him when he was in high school. We had a long equate across the street. We could have gone and just rented 1173s or some gnarly mic or whatever,

and we just didn't think of that. We didn't know anything. We were just like, why would you do that? Instead, we were using this cheap Apex mic that, again, Jeff had been gifted for Christmas or something for the entire thing, instead we were using like some some like we use like this cheap apex mic that again like jeff had been gifted for christmas or something for the entire thing and more recently i've gone back to those because i had to like go through the sessions to like get some instrumentals and things and i was just i was really into it like i was like blown away by how kind of inventive

some of the stuff was or just like how like grimy but like cool it kind of sounded sometimes and it really kind of transported me back to a time was really really nice well that's awesome so i was 09 and then you do the jane's party ep is like 2011 and like for the sake of time to get to your jams i'm actually gonna skip so there's hot noise in 2013 and then i want to talk a bit about tunnel visions okay yeah uh who produced tunnel vision that was our guru greg keeler so greg i'm a greg guy like when i when i i'm a greg but there's there's gym guys out there my mom's one of them okay i think he's got that handsome i don't know there's he's got the voice and he's impeccably good looking and try he's try like he's try he's he's they've both got so many bangers, but Greg is just like so cool, you know?

I'm with you, man. When I hear, even live on Saturday night, when the Greg jams come on, I'm thinking, there's something, there's that extra thing that Greg gives it, and you're like, fuck yeah. I'm a Greg guy. Yeah, it's got that attitude. It definitely has a fuck yeah to him as a person. So we got to live with him for two weeks?

Was it two weeks it was two stints oh no two stints maybe a week yeah a week each two stints living at his house with him where he's like cooking us eggs and chicken soup for lunch and it was honestly after we were driving home after recording like the first session i was like was this the best time i've ever had in my life like was this the like highlight of my of my life? Like, finish recording, like, we'd record from, like, noon till midnight, and then just, like, smoke joints and drink wine and listen to records until, like, three in the morning, and then wake up and do it again. And it's like, you know, Greg's got, like, all his gold records and plaques, like, in

a Tupperware container in the basement, like, getting moldy, and it's just like, God, this guy's so fucking cool. It was awesome. He's the coolest, I don't know how old he is, but he's like the coolest senior I've ever hung out with. He's probably in his early 60s or something like that. It was also really cool just to be taken in and sort of getting in with the Blue Rodeo crew because it sort of gave a young band like us

sort of like a direction. You know, like, oh shit, that's where you can end up in like 40 years. Look, I said this when Mike Bogusky was playing back here last month, I said to him, I think now that the tragically hip are no more, I feel like blue rodeo is now the air of like,

that is now Canada's biggest band possibly. Like in terms of bands that have like stayed here, I'm not talking about like, like Nickelback. Well, rush has gone now too, right? I mean,

I think our cows are coming up pretty close behind them to take that mantle. No, they're on their way up, but I feel like Blue Rodeo still does not. I think Blue Rodeo will appeal to a larger age demographic. For sure. For sure. But I want to play a bit of the music produced by Greg Keeler of Blue Rodeo. So here's just a taste of a jam that's pretty awesome from Tunnel Visions, which came out in 2016. I feel like Daydream would be the one, but you can play this.

No, this is a good one too. I was going to say this was a van goes. We'll see you next time. I dig it, man. I dig it totally. And San Francisco, not too far from where Zach is headed. Not too far. Man, that's like, this song reminds me of the Great Letdown. We thought this song was going to be our biggest song ever. And it went out with a whimper.

This was a tough one. Tough pill to swallow. For us, we came off a lot of momentum with Coming on Strong. We had a great video actually that my wife directed with a bunch of special guests including Jim Cuddy. He sings on it. He sings on Coming On Strong. Yeah, he's on that song.

It's so funny because everybody on our team and around us that knew this album really thought that this song was going to kick. I will just tell you, this is my favorite song on Tunnel View. Yeah. It just, for whatever reason,

it couldn't get that initial inertia to... Where are you looking? Is that coming out of like 102.1 and 88.1? You name it, man. You name it. They didn't want it. Nobody wanted it. Really?

It was surprising because... I know people. They all make some calls. But in live, this one always crushed. We closed our sets with this one and it crushed. So we were like, what are we missing here? This is a remix. We thought maybe if we get Gus Van Gogh to remix it,

it'll sound more banging and then it'll hit. And then it was just like, nah. We were on a label at the time as well that just didn't want to get behind this song. They got behind Coming On Strong and saw the success it was having, but didn't feel to get behind this song. They got behind Coming on Strong and saw the success it was having but didn't feel like it justified. Do you want me to play Coming on Strong?

Is that... Yeah, yeah. Depends which... There's been a couple. I think if we're going to talk about Keillor's contribution, I think Daydream is a great example of that. Coming on Strong is an example of like,

you know, having Jim Cuddy on it and like the song that was like maybe the biggest one. Pick the one you want because I need to, I need to,

because Daydream, because Sky Wallace is such a great FOTM. I need to play some new stuff with her, but, all right, here we go.

This was also TikTok bonafide, so. Smoke, it fills the air Like a daydream in a dry heat And the summer sun Reminds you you love someone Oh, I get so tired The sunshine Warming my eyes But not a thing to do

But lie here and dream of you When I'm dreaming Of the time we shared with your soft skin Running through my head, oh, it's blinding With no words to say on a summer's day Awesome. So this part that's coming up right here, you hear like a vocoder come in? Coming up right here.

So that was probably at like 3 in the morning up at Keeler's Blaze. He showed us this instrument that he was messing around on. There was this bow quarter, and we just started messing around with different things to say. And he's like, what did you end up saying on that bow quarter? I was like, I think I said, daydream, sunshine, my eyes. And he was like, perfect. It's Beatles-esque. So this originally started,

it had a bunch of like stops in it. And then Keyler was like, nah, this song just needs to groove. And he played us Me and My Arrow by Harry Nilsson. And we hadn't heard that song before. I knew like maybe one or two Nilsson songs, like everybody's talking at me and all that jazz, or without me, without you.

Yeah. But it really, like, he really stepped, put on his producer's cap on this one and was like, no, I think it's going to sound a lot better if you guys keep the vibe. It's got a good, like, drive-in, summer day, kind of chilling vibe. Don't lose it with all these stops and start and stops and stuff and uh and yeah and then with that song just ended up having a new life it was sort of like deep track disappeared in the back and then people it

ended up in a meme on facebook someone somewhere in the world releases me and this meme has gotten like millions of views and then it transferred to tiktok and then it was coming up in like nfl accounts uh fortnight use daydream like all these crazy accounts and then all of a sudden this is now our most popular song on spotify and stuff it's been a pretty wild ride for a deep traffic off a 2016 album well here's my here's my favorite jane's party jam here's some more recent. This is straight from the heart. He's a Devin fan. Yeah, you're choosing all my tracks, buddy.

You know, Devin, I'm a big George Harrison fan. I'm also into all the Greg stuff on Blue Rodeo. I was going to say, this is one of my favorite tracks of ours as well. See, Zach agrees with me. I love all their songwriting.

There's something so simple about the words in this one that just twists you in advance Straight from the heart When I say Forget the master plans Straight from the heart Till the day That it's over That it's over Straight from the heart

Till the day That it's over I would say Alright, so many questions. So did you find that that's over I was saying Alright, so many questions. So did you find that Indie 88, for example, was more receptive to this jam?

Oh, big time, yeah. I think, what was the one that opened it? Oh, You're the Light off this album was our first one where we landed on Indie 88

and that was like, that was cute. And that was on Hockey Night in Canada too. Yeah. Yes. And Old Friends got spun on Ind indie 88 once off of uh or like a feature but like nothing had been added into rotation and then you're the light off of this album was our first one and we were in the

studio still working possibly like on this track and other ones and then we got word that it was added to indy and we were like ah finally, finally, you know. How do you guys meet Sky Wallace? We have the same booking agent, but is that how we met her? I think I just texted her one day. I think I had her Instagram contact or something.

We were looking for someone to do a duet with on this. But we had already played with her at that point, no? Maybe we played with her. I remember her coming in and me being like, I don't know you. And her being like the same. And then as soon as we started working together,

it was like, oh shit, you're a pro. This is going to be easy. And she just killed. No, she's incredible. Incredible. I met her through Lowest of the Low. Big fans of them, obviously. They've been huge supporters of us as well.

I'm assuming you're going to play the other version of the song next? Yeah, I mean, I totally do that. If you do that, then I'll tell you what that session was like. It was so fast and so easy. Oh, for sure. For sure.

We sort of do this thing where we try to release a single and then we still want to give it legs so we sort of reimagine it with certain songs not every song but like we did that with uh tunnel visions like the next year we had tunnel revisions which was sort of different takes on the songs a lot of bands are doing it now i thought we were sort of original when we came up with it but now everyone does it um but then with this one we had a we decided to do a really vibey version and then zach thought it might sound cool as a duet and so uh yeah sky ended up coming through and absolutely crushing it i i wrote this instrumental that was basically the beat to like the main beat to this and i I realized, oh, straight from the heart

would actually fit well with this atmosphere. And so I transferred straight Devin's song into my other groove and came up with this. And then Sky comes up here. We'll see you next time. I've been thinking There's no love quite like ours It's coming straight from the heart When I say I give you a second chance Straight from the heart

When I say You mixed this one as well, right, Tom? Yeah, I think it's one of the first ones that I mixed that we put out. Mixed and mastered. I think it's Lander. Okay. No, we did, Revisions was before this, and you mixed that. Right, right, right. Yeah, that was my debut.

Yeah, so you can hear, it's really cool because you hear Sky's voice in like a different, it's sort of like more sultry and like mellow and, you know, she's always rocking so hard. So it was really cool to hear her voice in this scenario. Yeah, I had no idea she could sing like this because I'd listened to her own records and been like, oh, I'm not sure. And then she came over and started like just, just delivered this in like one or two takes. And I was like, okay, nevermind.

You're actually like an incredible singer. And what's wild in the woods? Which woods was this? That was up on the river, yeah. Right around the corner. I thought I recognized it.

I wanted an invite to cover the event. Was it like Magpie? Oh, Magwood Park. Magwood Park, yeah, yeah. Bottom of St. Mark's Hill. Yeah, yeah, St. Mark's. I bike up that thing

all the time. Oh, man. That's a tough hill. That's cold. That is a tough hill, man. Well. Magwood Park, yeah, yeah. Bottom of St. Mark's Hill. Yeah, yeah, St. Mark's. I bike up that thing all the time. Oh, man. That's a tough hill. That is a tough hill, man. Well, I'm now riding this feather, which is one speed, and I'm afraid to try it. Because I can't gear. There's no shame in walking up that hill. I call that the walk of shame.

Literally, that's literally the walk of shame. Oh, man. That's a tough area because living at old mill there's nothing but hills to get out so like i was always discouraged to take my bike because you come up to steven drive on the other side steven drive but it's i know this you know this is my favorite route is waterfront trail to humber trail up to james gardens and then back up st marks to high park and through and back to waterfront. That's my favorite ride. That's a hell of a ride, man. Yeah, it's long. No wonder you look so good.

Let me see those calves. The calves are working on the calves. Swallow a grapefruit over there? Flattery. You know what? I'm going to give you another $75. All right. You're definitely getting the lasagna. That's a done deal.

But how can people see the recording that happened in the wild in the woods? So we've been really pushing our YouTube channel. So since COVID, since lockdown, and all the shows went away, we were like, okay, pivot. Let's start boosting up this YouTube channel and hope, you know, get it to monetization eventually. I like to think of it as a creative decision.

No, no. Money, baby, money. And cents. I'm talking fractions of it as a creative decision no no money baby money and sense I'm talking fractions of sense here oh yeah that's a suckers game man I just think to actually make money millions of subscribers but I mean you should try to create

are you talking about the music industry or YouTube everything making money is a suckers game okay so the song we're listening to now is from uh casual island it's just like a b-side single right so it's it won't actually be on the album you won't hear sky on casual island she's not on the original i played two versions of this the first one casual and that's 2019 when's the next jane's party album or is it early next early next year okay early next year almost fully we've done yeah we've done

two single release two singles off of it so far change your mind which we released uh in like march 2020 like right or june something like right very shortly after the pandemic and then we just released a cover of faces stay with me With Me featuring FOTM, you and Curry. Approved. FOTM approved. Kicked out the jams last week. I know. Raised the bar for everybody.

They were some amazing jams. We were really insulted that they didn't kick out our jam. That's bullshit. It was Yacht Rock only. It was a very smooth playlist. But I'm going to call, I'm going to say that we went a little riskier Our jam, yeah. That's bullshit. It was Yacht Rock only. It was a very smooth playlist. But I'm going to call, I'm going to say that we went a little riskier with our jams just because I feel like if you pick soul music, everyone likes soul music. It's like vanilla ice cream, but a very good flavor.

We picked the hardest to listen to. We dug deep to find songs that people are going to like. So I'm going to play the jam. I'll bring it down. A, I want to make, like, who picked it? At least we have Ewan and Seamus. We want it to be a united front. Okay, so united front.

Does Zach have any input? Zero. Zero. That's, well, not really. You called me yesterday. I did run the list by you to say, hey, do you know these songs? This is amazing. I'm so excited.

Here's what I love about your jams. It's the same thing I loved from Ewan and Seamus Curry's jams from Bros. I love it when I am kicking out jams that aren't in my collection already. Sometimes I'll have a sports media person on and 9 out of 10 or 10 out of 10 songs are in my

personal collection because I have Bruce Springsteen. I have it. So with you and with them, I think only one of their 10 jams was actually in my collection. How many of ours made it to you? Same. One out of 10. Which one? Can you tell us now or later?

I can just tell you that it's a fashionable selection that you made. That was the only one of the 10 that was in my collection here. I'm excited to do this. I'm going to kick them out now. You guys ready? Kick it, baby. Baby, you know you've been gone

for such a long time. And I've been wondering when you can come back and be mine. Yes, I've been waiting and waiting for a day that you will come back and you will see you ain't gonna leave me

alone. Baby, won't you call me? Come on, call me on the phone. Come on, baby, won't you call me? Don't you never leave me alone. He does the best wah on this one. Don't you never leave me alone Don't you wanna kiss me Oh baby kiss me one time Oh baby come right on in and kiss me yeah Won't you say that's your man

Come on baby say it one time Oh Come on baby, say it one time Oh Come on baby, don't do it Don't do it, don't do it Don't break my heart Don't you never say we'll part Alright, talk to me guys Whose choice is this? This was consensus?

I guess it was me. But we collaborated on this one. Inspired choice. Again, seriously, I love it when these are like jams that aren't the typical jams

you hear a hundred times a day. I've played, so this is Michael Rawls, by the way, who is Canadian. Canadian. He's West Coast

Edmonton Red. You never hear about Michael Rawls. You don't hear about him. Not enough. That's for damn sure. Yeah. And then I think he lived in Montreal for a bit and now he's like in hear about him. Not enough, that's for damn sure.

And then I think he lived in Montreal for a bit, and now he's like in... He was in Toronto, and now he's in the desert. That wasp really likes Tom, by the way. I'm a bee guy. You're not allergic, are you? I would ignore the wasps. Let's see, I've never been tested. Don't worry, they're too lazy to actually sting you. Don't worry. September wasps. to actually sting you. Don't worry.

September was. There's a few of them over there. They must be attracted to the lasagna that's obviously in these cases, right? I think it's the delicious beer. Yeah, it's the IPA. Sorry, keep going there. Michael. Yes.

Michael Rowe. I can't remember how we discovered him. I think he had moved to Toronto and he was just kind of starting to get in the circle of like music and I think there was

like there was some buzz when he released this track yeah he was like like freaking 17 or something when he did that in like his basement or something

which is nuts and that's called Call Me On The Phone yeah a lot of it like frankly like it does sound of it's

of an earlier time but it's executed so well especially for someone of that age that it's like mind-blowing and i've played that recording for like djs like people that are not into like music like just like a smattering of people everyone equivocally loves yeah it's to listen to. It's pleasing across the board in a way that I've never, no other music I don't think I can put in that category. Wow.

It's such a great album. What's the album called? The whole record. Ma Mi Mo. Oh yeah, yeah. Mi Ma Ma. Something like that. There's so much great music out there. We're literally like, we just see the tip of the iceberg above the water. That's what you hear. I borrowed this car to go camping in. The Hyundai, which I

think might be Hyundai. I'm going to find out. It's a Santa Fe. And it's got SiriusXM in there, which I don't actually ever have. I never had a subscription, but I had it for this long drive to Grand Bend or whatever. And it struck me how shallow the playlist is. I'm like, I'm not paying for this.

I think I heard the same songs over and over again over my six hours in the car. It's just such a shallow playlist. It's the same songs over and over again. I didn't hear Call Me on the Phone, that's for sure. It's a damn shame. It is a damn shame. You know what the biggest damn shame is? Tell me. Freaking Michael Ralt

is ashamed of that record. Is that right? He sees, like I was talking to him. We met him at one point and he was saying, like... He played open for us at the Cameron House one time. Yeah, anyway, he was floating around Toronto for a bit, so, like, we ran into him and stuff. He, uh...

He wrote... He did that record at such a young age and it was, like, so killer that, like, he felt like everything he put out after that, people were still like, play the old stuff! And he was like, you know, fuck off, I was 17! Like, play the old stuff. And he was like, you know, fuck off. I was 17 or something. Like I'm trying to move on with my life, you know?

But I don't know, man, there's just no denying it. Like it is so good. I hope he's come to terms with that and has learned to love his earlier self. Cause I totally get that. Like, you know,

it's tough to be stuck in a 17. People like go Hawksley workman. They want Hawksley to play striptease over and over. Just go back to striptease or whatever. It's kind of the same jam. But his new stuff is great too. So if you like that record, do check out some new Michael Rawls as well. Okay.

Great choice. Let's hear your second jam here. I could be so fair Let it go on and on I could push for good You got that cherry bomb Blow out that cherry bomb For me We lost it long ago

You and me Never has reverb on a tambourine sounded so good since the 60s. It's lead tambourine. That is lead tambourine. Wow. Shed Oaks and Mamas and Papas, I think. For bed Blow out that cherry bomb That is lead tambourine. Wow. Shed Oaks and the Mamas and Papas. Oh, it's on your sleeve. Oh, it's on your sleeve.

Oh. This is not Gord Depp's spoons. This is spoon, singular. Singular, one single spoon. One spoon. Why this great jam? This song just takes me back to, so the underlying theme that I was talking about on Twitter

was when Tom and I were talking, what were songs that, because all four of us similar background but like coming from different parts different maybe different music tastes these are all songs that on those initial tours we could all agree on and so i was really into gaga gaga gaga this by Spoon and we were driving through Quebec City or something and I was playing it for the guys and then they were just like who is this? Holy shit this is amazing and we probably listened to this record

on loop like nine times in a row so just remind, it just takes me back to being in this shitty Dodge Caravan driving out east for some festival we probably got bumped from and just like bumped for gil leblanc that's true many can say that that's true speaking of french again another uh who's the artist again spoon so there's just i mean

a big influence just a big influence we had a hard time picking one song cause there's like two or three records of theirs that we go nuts over nuts like bonkers over they're so good the production

is so incredible the like the production ideas like the studio tricks and like delayed vocals and you know

when you hear like the the chatter and stuff after the take like I love all that stuff and they do it it just ticked all the boxes just ticked every box name every part of that we're like yeah it's really it's so simple

the groove is so simple yeah it's got that modem beat we had a song called 1999 that jeff wrote after he heard that song so on that ep james part ep if you hear 1999 that is jeff's version of cherry bomb. It's not a Prince cover. It is not. Shout out. The way we feel that old red wine It's a squeeze, isn't your feeling? Living it not today in someone else's fantasy Makes it all harder than it was before No, we've changed over time, we need to realize

Nothing you do has ever, ever said so And it's been lodged into your head Wake up tired in your own bed But you just hear her say I want it all, want it all, want it all, want it all, want it all, want it all, want it all And then you promise everything Climbing diamonds on a ring Years of sadness this will bring Marching Through Your Head

by Toronto band Zeus. So much great music out there man you almost this is what I like I like when someone curates and says these are jams we love you might love them too

like that's that's what I'm always like that's the best way to find music I find like chatting with people who are passionate that's why this is awesome

kicking out the jams because like people come prepared with like their favorite songs and you're bound to find like if someone is so passionate about something it lets you dig into that as well and be like oh there must be something here if they're so into it okay here's the origin story because this is like i don't even i don't i've lost track like the 80th kick out the jams or something the origin is i was literally i was on twitter one day and mike wilner when he was

calling blue jay games sent a tweet about pearl jams 10 okay pearl jams 10 which just had an anniversary and which happens because of the age i was at that time it's one of my 10 most listened to albums of all time is progeny and i had this moment i was literally on the bike ride i was thinking oh wilner likes 10 because i picked him as more of like an 80s guy or whatever. I'm like, Wilner likes 10? I wonder what else Wilner likes. And I wrote him an email and said, would you come back on and just play your 10 favorite songs of all time

and tell us why you love those songs? And this idea was so exciting to me. I'm like, I want to hear people just play your favorite songs and tell me why they're your favorite songs. Like, I'm loving this right now. Now, do you have like an updating Spotify playlist that people can check out the James? Oh, dude, this is where it gets interesting because I threw in the live chat. Apparently, I threw Tyler Campbell under the bus for you guys showing up when I was recording with Jill.

So I didn't mean to throw him under the bus, but I might have done that. He actually meticulously maintains a Google spreadsheet that the public can access, which has not only every jam kicked out by everyone who's come on to kick out the jams, but Apple and Spotify playlists of the songs. That guy is working. I hope you're giving him some free lasagna, too. I need to take care of that guy. But if anyone listening or Jane's party

wants to go to torontomike.com slash KOTJ that stands for Kick Out the Jams KOTJ there's a link right there

to the spreadsheet I'm describing. It's amazing. He even kept meticulous documentation notes of the jams kicked out on

Pandemic Fridays which we did 76 of these things. By the way if Stu Stone and Cam Gordon are listening, I miss you guys. I just want to say that I miss you guys. We finished up on Friday at TMLX8.

And I miss you, Stu. And I miss you, Cam. And we're going to roll right into... Oh, any more to say about Zeus before we... I'm sorry. Oh, my God. Do we have another hour? He's a god.

So they collectively are gods. They're our gods they're not in my collection they they started out as like the biggest influence probably on our band i remember coming down in university traveling downtown i had tickets maybe like second year third year to to see Jason Collette's basement review when it was being held at the Dakota Tavern. And Zeus came up. I hadn't heard of, I think my friend at the time had told me to check them out and they came on and it was like about 1am at the Dakota Tavern.

There's probably like people had filtered out. Cause I think it was a Wednesday night, whatever night they were held on and Zeus went on and performed. I think they only had an EP at the time, and they did some Beatles song stuff. But it was like watching the White Album live. I'd never seen a band sound like the Beatles, but that close and rocking so hard.

It was just like three singers, three vocals. And our band had three singers. I think the stars aligned in a lot of ways because we were like still in university like up at jane and finch and trying to like think of like you know i wonder what like having a career like as a musician in like downtown toronto might be like and you're like starting to see a little bit of that you're going to check out some shows or whatever and then you see a band that just is doing all the things and you're like oh my god so man so man, so they became like, literally like, you know, our favorite band in the city. And then slowly through, like you said, was it 2013 or 2014?

We did Hot Noise. We ended up doing it at their East End studio, but with our friend Taylor Knox. 2013. 2013. So we were with, so that's sort of like, we sort of got to know them then. And then fast forward to, we played a show with them in Sault Ste. Marie. That was sort of like we sort of got to know them then and then fast forward to we played a show with them in sous sainte marie that was sort of where we got to meet them and it was like like they were on a tour and we fucking drove up to sous sainte marie just to open

for them so like our tour ended at sous sainte marie started and started and ended at sous sainte marie or we might have played blind river started in blind river and it was in blind river and we played to probably like five people but we got to hang out with them and we just thought it was the coolest thing ever fast flash forward to now and now we're producing our they're producing our new record so recording it's sort of like full circle you know they're helping us like put together our songs and it it's just like, we're like, okay, we want to do a rock and roll sounding record next. Who should we call? Oh shit, the gods of rock.

Let's call Zeus. They make everything sound amazing. And they just have this sickest studio. And they have great studio, great gear. The best coffee table books. They have a book on Beatles recording techniques and they own a lot of those microphones that you just do not see in other studios. Wow.

Kramer had a coffee table book about coffee table books. Unfortunately, you can't put your coffee on this book. And it was a coffee table, right? It became a coffee table. So yeah, we can't say enough about Zeus. I mean, Neil. Or Cosmo Kramer.

Neil Quinn, who was singing that song, has got to be one of Canada's best songwriters. For real. If you listen to all their records and you listen to all his songs, they are undeniable. I put them up with any artist that we like. They're so good. People, get on it.

Thank you. No, that's why I'm glad we're doing this, because we're going to introduce a bunch of people to some great, great new music. And I'm hoping I can introduce some people to a great new podcast called the CEO Edge podcast. It's from the good people at McKay CEO forums. Basically, it's fireside chats with inspiring CEO and thought leaders. Every Wednesday, I post the latest episode on torontomic.com. So I posted one yesterday. I urge you to subscribe and give it

a listen. Much love to Nancy McKay and the good people at McKay CEO Forums. And also I want to say thank you to Ridley Funeral Home. I missed Brad on Friday. I think work beckoned and he's great at his job. He's always there for people in need. So much love to Ridley Funeral Home. They're at 14th Street and Lakeshore here in New Toronto. Brad Jones is a great FOTM.

And if you want to pay tribute without paying a fortune, you can learn more at ridleyfuneralhome.com. Oh, the burden on your shoulders Tell me what you're running from Oh, my love Just treading up the water Getting through another day Oh, my love Why's it always have to be

so hard to find your way Life is such a precious thing to worry and to waste It's a motion getting in the way like an ocean growing away Burden on your shoulders. Talk to me about Brandon Wolf Scott.

So Brandon Wolf Scott, he is the guitar player from Canadian band Yukon Blonde. And for, I mean, hopefully your listeners know Yukon blonde. And for, I mean, hopefully your listeners know Yukon blonde, but they're a great West coast band with many, many great records. And they're,

they're just like, this is like the production on this is just so good. So it was like produced by, I think James, the bass player and Brandon, they produced it. Um, just came out last year,

2020. Um, and it's just such a great record, such great sound. just came out last year, 2020. And it's just such a great record, such great sound. And this song just like, just pops into my head. Like this melody, it just sticks with you. It haunts you. So like. I thought it was just me.

And then we talked about it. You're like, it saved me too. It pops into my head at the most random times. There's a burden on my shoulder. It's just like you're walking down the street. Anytime I'm putting my shirt on, it touches my shoulders too much, I think of that song. But it's so good, man. Just the production.

The other thing is I feel like it was so overlooked. I guess maybe just in tour it, or he didn't present the material live or something. Because Econ Blonde is pretty busy. So it just felt like it was this little nugget of gold just out to people that were paying attention or something. Yeah, it just got swiped into the void. It felt like I got, it was personal or something.

It was like a little treat for me. Yeah, I know. I wish for Brandon that this was a number one, which should be. But for us, it's a nice little secret song that we like to listen to. which should be, but for us, it's a nice little secret song that we like to listen to. So how does somebody like, for example, let's randomly say Brandon Wolf Scott, how does somebody like that with great music cut through the noise? How does James Party do it? If he knows, he should let us know because we don't know.

Man, it seems like, I mean, we've been at this for years, but it's really like luck and timing and, you know, as long as you can be content with what you're putting out and like, I mean, we've been at this for years, but it's really like luck and timing. And, you know, as long as you can be content with what you're putting out and, like, you know, happy with what you're doing, I think that's just the best mentality to have. Searching for, like, fame and glory, it's just a dead-end street. It's a tough business. There's a ton of music coming out every day.

No, I know. You need to write the theme song to the most successful sitcom of all time. Oh my God, no. That helps. That helps. If you could work that out. And then you see bands that have, you know, gone further than us and broken up for reasons that,

I mean, problems that we don't even have. And that's sort of... Would love to have those problems. An ironic thing. You know, how to split up lots of money, you know? Yeah, what a troubled decision to make. So not with this next jam, but the jam after this next jam, following that, which will be the sixth jam,

if you're keeping track at home, I'll ask you about some of the bands you've played with and opened for, et cetera, because it'll tie in nicely. home i'll ask you about some of the bands you've uh you've played with and uh open for etc uh because it'll tie in nicely but uh i always wonder when i have these great great you know young youngish canadian bands come over and i listen in the headphones and i'm like this sounds fucking amazing i always wonder like like it was tough for sloan to make a living at music like like you know that was back when people bought records i know i know i know so i always wonder it's hard like we all have other jobs like we're all music teachers so okay like so you we definitely spend our time during the week teaching which is great job

because it allows us flexibility to tour when we need to do it but at least it's in your field like you're not that was the thing right like driving a truck we went to university for music it was it's nice to at least put it to use you know put that piece of paper was york a good good university at the time that we were there it was really great yeah they just got like a hundred million dollar like donation to a new built brand new building new gear new everything it was a really great time to be there and they hired a whole bunch of new teachers too so it was like cream of the crop amazing we still know like i feel like on if you're like a gigging musician you play you know around in general uh the bulk of the people you come across with uh yeah across that um are playing

like professionally if they say they're from york they're likely from like our year it just i don't know like it just sort of happened that way wow cool stuff okay so here's your fifth jam do you have any tissues while i cry But I stopped and caught the wall And my mouth got dry So all I did was take in for a spin Yeah, we hopped inside my car And I drove in circles round the freight train yard And he turned the headlights off

Then he pulled the bottle out And then he showed me what is love I'll be your morning bright, good night shadow machine I'll be your record player,night shadow machine I'll be your record player baby if you know what I mean I'll be your real tough cookie with a whiskey breath I'll be your killer and a thriller and the cause of our death In the blossom of the months I will show that I get driven off with all This is the best lyric coming up.

Oh. Oh, goosebumps. His skin's tingling. And then this part. This guitar solo the way it comes in. Restraint. Four notes. Four notes. See you next time. You are just too much Shining on the cusp of your breath And I've been burning for you baby

Since the minute I left Is that not the best song in the fucking world? That's not a jam you can just fade down And like truncate No, we need to have some time alone To just contemplate what we just listened to Well, what are your thoughts? Like, how are you feeling?

I want to capture this That's the first time I've heard this song To be honest what we just listened to. Well, what are your thoughts? Like, how are you feeling? I want to capture this. That's the first time I've heard this song, to be honest. You hate it. I know, I love it. It's so sad, though. You do need some Kleenex. I can get some Kleenex.

So that really, that struck me. These guys know when a song hits me, I listen to it a thousand times. He's going to listen to it. He's one of those guys who will listen to one song a million times. Who's Paul? That's what I want to know. Who the hell is Paul? I got to know.

So Paul is like... The name, she... Well, so I heard a couple things. Paul is like a relationship that she didn't go well, and she could see from a mile away that it wasn't going to turn well, and she tried to distance herself before it you know caused caused pain to them both but then i also heard to take that paul was her personification of her depression and that also like gives it a whole other like spin you know when you start to say like paul brought the bottle out and you know

turn the headlights off it's like oh shit man that just hits me even harder i know right so that's like so this like the reason we pick big thief so this big thief paul is the song but the whole record the whole we were having a hard time picking one song this whole record 2016's masterpiece and like it's called masterpiece for a reason because this record is on fire and there's just like once in a while like a lyricist comes along that just strikes a chord with you. And it's like the, you know, sometimes we were attracted to songs for production, for melody, for what? But this one is just like her lyrics are so good that it just like the imagery, the surrealist imagery and stuff. It just like, I don't know.

It's so beautiful. Where is Big Thief from? From Brooklyn. They're a hype Brooklyn band. All right. The coolest of the cool. I've actually, if you guys don't mind, I came somewhat prepared for this interview. Okay, I'm ready. I brought a piece of paper

with me because as we were picking this song a few months back I was listening to a podcast with Buck Meek of Big Thief. He's the guitar player. And he said one thing about songwriting that just blew me away

because I related it. I'd never heard anyone describe songwriting so clearly and I related to it completely. I was never able to form the words in the way that he did to describe it. And he just did it. And I was like, oh my god,

that's it. That's what I've been trying to do and I just did it and i was like oh my god that that's it that's what i've been trying to do and i just couldn't that i couldn't say it that way so i'm just i want to read this to you because i wrote this out this morning and i was like like i was ready to just give it all up you know uh so here and then stop trying i know i didn't know that so here's what he says this is like near the end of this particular podcast he was on he says he's like there's like a break he takes he doesn't say anything like the guy asks the question then there's like a pause you think it's maybe like your your phone stopped or something you're like and then he starts speaking and he says uh it's a process of coming into a more honest approach to songwriting, to a more confessional space with his writing,

trying to pull the veil off of myself and really write something that feels true and naked, and just stressing that that will hold some kind of universal meaning, that my subjective reflection will also represent some kind of universal truth, as all of our subjective realities do, contributing to some greater mythology of human experience where at first i was more approaching songwriting as a puzzle at this point i'm just trying to be myself i suppose so just that sort of like the question was like what's your songwriting like now and he's like just that right sort of almost therapeutic nakedness is, and you know when you've reached it,

because it means that much more to you personally. It's so hard to get there. It feels like a therapy session that you're putting on yourself or something. Is songwriting in Jane's party, is it a collaborative effort? Or like, how does it work? Sometimes it's, I'd say'd say 80 of the time who's singing the song is who wrote the song and then there's always like a uh like a collaboration at some point whether it be with chords or a couple words here or there a melody change or something

but generally i'd say who's singing yeah i'd argue that songwriting is for us is first a personal yeah uh journey and then if that requires outside um influence or collaboration then we bring that to the table but i think we're all kind of songwriters in our own um by ourselves and then we bring that to the i I was even going to say that it... Because I actually don't write the songs, but it feels like individual therapy for each of the songwriters, like you were sort of talking about. And then it feels like therapy for me as well when I listen to these songs.

And because one thing about these guys is I think they do, even though it's a pop band and it's fun, the songs, every song we have, I think, has that simple twist that just strikes you. And I think that's why we can collaborate on them without forcing collaboration because there are a lot of universal truths in those songs.

Wow. You know, on this program, which has had 900 and something episodes, like I've had so many like sports media personalities for a long time. And that was kind of the go-to sports media, whatever Ron McLean or Dave Hodge, whatever.

I love Ron McLean. And love, I love them and people love them. And I would do more because I wanted to give people what they wanted. But as time goes on and I'm still doing them, I just had Michael Farber on and I have a whole bunch lined up sports media personalities, but, uh, it is these episodes, the musician episodes that resonate with me because in a weird way, it's going to sound maybe a little arrogant, maybe not, but I feel like I can do what I can do with Damien Cox. Like I feel I can do that. Like, I feel like I can do that.

I know I can't do what you guys do. Like it's like I'm so in awe of this musical talent. You can write a song, and then you can create the song, produce the song, play the song, and then it can sort of have that effect on people. Build a YouTube channel around it. That's Mrs. Zack. Mrs. Zack who makes the music video. She does.

So it's like that whole, I'm just so in awe of your ability. You guys are so fucking talented. We're also in awe once I write a song, I'm in awe, and then I'll wake up the next day and be like, ah, that's it. I got the tanks empty.

I'm done. Time to call up Paul Mapizza. I gotta bring it. Paul the boss. Time to get a delivery job. I've called both of these guys at inappropriately late times just to let them know

that I've been listening to their demos 25 times in a single night it's hell he's a good cheerleader when you said cheerleader he is a good cheerleader

he'll be like you know I'll be like I don't know I don't know if this song is any good and then Zach will call he'll be like

dude that demo on Dropbox I've spun it 50 times it's amazing bro and that's the thing too and I think behind sort of, and you were talking about like lifting the veil, or that's what he was talking about. That's what he was saying.

It's funny because I think there is a veil on this band of being, our name's Jane's Party. We were a party band. But when I listen to these songs, I hear just an authenticity of a person who's just trying to capture a moment in their life. And it's like, and when these guys do it, it, oh man, it hits me hard, man. And that's not just to cheerlead them.

It's just also like. We've debated a bunch if like we should like change our band name because, you know, like our music is now a bit more mature and whatnot. But there's, we always come back to like, we don don't we're not ashamed of like the growth you know i like finding a new band and like oh shit they've got like six records like i'm gonna listen to this from the beginning not like who's this mysterious buzz band that popped out of nowhere you know it's like we're not ashamed of our roots well it's like michael lang said you know the name threw him a bit he's like he didn't know what to expect and then he he hears what he hears and he gets blown away. And it's like, wow. The worst name reaction we had was we were playing this.

We were hanging out and going to name drop a hot minute here. But we got invited to Strombo's house for this after party. FOTM, George Strombolopoulos. There you go. So he had some after party for some gala. And then Jackson Brown and this Haitian singer were there and they started playing piano and jamming and they were doing like No Woman, No Cry and stuff like that. And then all of a sudden I see Tara Lightfoot picks up a guitar and goes and sits down to start strumming. I'm like, oh shit, if Tara's getting in there, I'm getting in there. So then Colton, this Colton Eddie who was a producer at the time

came by and he's like, hey yeah Devin, take your guitar, go sit. And so I'm sitting next to Jackson Brown on the piano just like playing piano

and stuff like that and then Tom gets in and then Jeff gets in and the whole time I'm like, Zach, take a photo. Zach,

take a photo. I was hanging out with Cuba Kudai Jr. It was a strange night. It was a crazy night. All this shit happens at a strong booth. it was so cool

and we ended up jamming. We ended up jamming with Jackson Brown until like three in the morning. Playing like, we were doing like Hungry Heart by Springsteen and Jackson Brown's like adjusting my mic stand for me. He was going to give that song away. Bruce was going to give that song to another artist

who would come back to me and then his management or something said, stop giving away your best song. He was giving away his best, all his hits from other people. Yeah, I know. Stop dragging my heart around. Blinded by the Light. Although he did record it first, but it was

a big hit. Anyway, there's a... Yes, exactly. That's a good example. That was a big hit for someone else. So, at the end of the night, after we've jammed with him and we're like this is amazing he's like oh you know if you guys are ever in la like come hit me up like what's your

band name we're like oh jane's party he's and he's dead pants so he's like boys come on because he's from la and like jane's addiction like honestly when we made this band name i couldn't name a jane's addiction song like that that is just a different era from us so it did but to him you know an la guy he's like boys come on and we were like oh no jackson brown doesn't like something like make sure you guys change that or something like that and we're like oh no but then we always come back to ah jackson brown we got it yeah that guy you don't need it we love you jackson don't know what are you doing but let me know if you end up at a party with like Michael McDonald or Kenny Loggins or something like

that. I'm so glad that bros kicked out that Michael McDonald song. Right. Regulators. And the thing is, we played that the prior week

it came up on a pandemic Friday. Stu Stone kicked it out. So it had just got played. And when I saw it on the playlist, I'm like, OK, here we go again. Nicely done. Nicely done.

Nicely done. It's just such a banger, that one. So we're going to kick out another banger from you guys. And then after this jam, I want to talk about some bands you've played with, opened for. But here we go. And I did not erase the white space at the beginning. So eventually the song will play.

What is this? I think it might be. White space? This is white space. Our bloke. A good friend of ours. Oh. oh oh it's my mate tom o'jell this this song might actually make me cry right now dude let it There's some walls I know I'll never reach But when I see you smiling back at me Somehow, somehow I know exactly what you mean

Somehow, somehow I know exactly what you mean Oh, how When you look It's a real slow build-up. We might want to fade down It's like five minutes long We can talk about it

When it builds into the last verse If you don't mind This one's very emotional for me I mean I love the song I love Tom O'Dell and his band But it brings me back to a night On Tom's birthday on Tom's birthday, this Tom's birthday, which is also Tom O'Dell's birthday. Ironically.

Really? Yeah. That's amazing. We were on tour on the same day in Hamburg. We were in Hamburg, and it was Tom's birthday, and we were playing in front of the biggest crowd we'd ever played in front of it was about 4,000 people and I also remember I had I had FaceTime my wife on stage so that she could be there it was just very tough right we were in a new relationship and being apart from each other and I just wanted her to share in that moment as well on Tom's birthday on this stage and whenever I hear this song that's what comes up it's just it just

really hits just an incredible chapter in our band's history and our personal lives as well for those who don't know we toured with Tom O'Dell twice in Europe and then played us some one-off shows in North America too. And it was, it's just every single time it's been such an inspiring time playing to, you know, his, his fan base is great.

And just them as people and players are incredible. And the music is like, it's just all the things, you know, to learn this, this not bury the lead here. Okay. Tom O'Dell and Tom Ionescu have the same birthday.

We are two years apart, but the day's the same. That's like finding out that Brian Adams and Ryan Adams have the same birthday. Do they? You know what I found out? Me and Rihanna have the same birthday everything. 1988, February 20th. Me and Rih, bad girl Rih. So that's why friends call me bad guy D-Ri.

I've never told you that. I'm your friend. I'm trying to get it going here. He's trying to get it going. So if you want to refer to me as bad guy D-Ri, I'm down. Obviously, her Fenty career has gone a bit better than our Jane's Party career. She's had more appearances on the Billboard Hot 100 than Jane's Party. I met someone who works with Rihanna, and she said that Rihanna and I have a similar vibe.

So I'm just going to take that to my grave. What do you mean? It doesn't matter what it means. It means I got the same vibe as Rihanna. Vibe? You guys smell similar? A Fenty sun lotion. You have the same tattoo, maybe. I don't have any tattoos. Do any of you guys have tattoos? We a fenty sun lotion yeah you have the same tattoo maybe

i don't have any tattoos we are a tattoo we are a tattooless band that's strange for a band i feel like at least one of you well maybe if we were a christian hardcore band we'd have a bunch of tattoos uh tom odell also brought us up for this song every night so we sang this with him yeah so this song is like special because i zach zach thinks of that that memory of walking on stage in hamburg but i think of the green room in was it prague yes yes so we're in the green room and we had connecting green rooms with like a little uh like the ceiling was the ceiling was cut out so you could hear each other but we weren't in the same room right and we just pulled out our acoustic guitars and we'd heard him play the song every night so we just started jamming

it press him a little bit too so you know sort of knowing that he might maybe he'd hear us but we're like we're jamming it you know because it's such a great song sure and it's so simple but that's what makes it so great it's not that simple though it's beautiful it's beautifully it's everything it's all the things exactly it hits once again it everything, but he heard us jamming this and he was like, Oh, I think maybe you guys like to come on, sing that with us tonight. And we were like,

are you kidding me? You know? So we like rush our ear pods into make, try and nail every harmony. Like that's amazing. And then he ended up bringing us out like the rest of the tour every night to sing this song. It was so beautiful.

I did. I jumped off of the drum riser on the first night. Cause I was so stoked and it's like a ballad or do you want to let Tom finish here and then I'm going to ask you some somehow somehow

I know that it will be alright somehow somehow Somehow, somehow I know that you'll be beside His voice is so good. And let me tell you, we have rocked out as hard as you can rock out with this guy. And he gets up on stage the next night and sings flawlessly whereas we're all like trying to sing our songs he is like i mean granted he's

the headliner so he gets to sleep till 5 p.m wake up on the bus and come soundcheck whereas we have to drive all night all day so you open for tomell, and you would come out and sing this jam with him, which is called Somehow. Somehow, yeah. You also opened for Blue Rodeo, right? We have opened a couple times for Blue Rodeo, yeah. Would they invite you out to sing Lost Together? Lost Together.

That's their thing. That's their thing. And I remember. And I feel like we were playing Key to Ballot with them. Wow, Key to Ballot. and I remember to do and I feel like we were playing key to balla with them and and because we Zach and I had toured with blue rodeo in uh in the in another band in the Devin Cuddy band so I sort of knew what the what the deal was with lost together and so when we were playing a balla we were sort of like oh are we gonna get invited up and like Jeff's like oh I don't know it sounds

like I don't know then down I'm like running to the bathroom trying to get the lyrics down because I'm like, I know they're going to ask. I know Keeler's going to ask. And so they're like, oh, you guys know the lyrics? Then you and Jeff are like, oh, I don't know. And I was like, I got them. I'm ready. Stole the mic from Jim.

That's awesome. That's awesome. Hey, did you ever come across a fiddler named Kendall Carson? Of course. In Alan Doyle's band. I first saw her play with Blue Rodeo or open for Blue Rodeo

or something. I think open for Blue Rodeo in some capacity. This is like a decade ago or something at Massey Hall. And then I saw her again Saturday night with Alan Doyle's band. And I remember being mildly infatuated with her the first time. Long blonde hair? How could you not?

The way she sings and the fiddle and everything. Just such an amazing guy. I'm like, oh my god, there she is again. It was just so exciting for me. I just wondered if you've had an encounter with Kendall Carson. She's awesome. Many festivals, many backstages.

She's a session musician as well, so you just, I mean, we've just crossed paths with so many people over here. Yeah, she's awesome. Alan Doyle's whole band is awesome. Corey Tetford is a great guy too. Okay, so you played with Blue Rodeo. We've covered Tom O'Dell. The Sadies.

Oh, yes. We love the Sadies. We got one gig with them, but they're good friends. And it's just such another band that you're like, oh, okay. There's another route. So maybe you don't get a bunch of hits on the radio, but these guys are still going. I saw them play in Cleveland, opening for Justin Towns.

They're all rest in peace. And I saw them opening for him, and it was like, damn, these guys in Kent, Ohio, and they're killing it. These guys are, you know, they have pockets of fans everywhere, so they can still tour the states. So it's just like another route you can take. Like, okay, so you don't make it on the radio with every song, okay? Here's a band that's still amazing

and has so much respect and admiration from their peers, like Kurt Vile and Neil Young. Like, come on. Like, oh, my God, they're so amazing. It's funny, actually, before COVID hit, we had quite a few things lined up, but the bulk of the gigs that we were getting were other musicians wanting us to be their band. That was sort of the reputation that we've developed,

is a band that can really play their instruments and accompany people. Yeah, and then you see a band like the Sadies who, you know, do that all the time, and it's just like, yeah, you know, they're players, you know, and we consider ourselves players as well. You know, like, talk to Boguski, like, he's a player. Like, Blue Rodeo, those are players, you know. That's sort of the camp that we fall into, and it's, you know, it's great. What about Sam Roberts' band?

Oh, man, those guys can rock. Good boys. Yeah, we played with them a lot, actually. Good Canadian boys. Yeah. I just saw them at the amphitheater a couple days ago with Matt Mays and Chaos. Right. That was great.

That was, like, my first big post-COVID, like, show back. I didn't make it to the Arkells and i didn't make it to blue rodeo unfortunately but sam roberts that was the one and it was like oh it's back it's back so how do you i know that uh because mono whales were just here and they they said they're gonna do a tour with uh sam roberts like like super jelly that's that's a gig you want right you want to you want to open i mean we want any gig i'm that specifically. I'm about to food poison them to get it. We would love, I mean, we'd love tours like that for sure. I mean, it's just. We learned to stop being competitive.

It's a very competitive. It's a losing game. And we're not actually competitive with the other bands that get these gigs. It's just the nature of the business is that there's only so many big tours happening in Canada. Right. And there's way more bands open for supporting. Yeah. You're better off getting big yourself

and then bringing your friends along. Yeah, like the Sheepdogs model, right? Exactly. You know, the Sheepdogs, the, I don't know, how many, every band. Opening gigs are tough, too, because you really get your expectations up, and sometimes it's just like...

I love them. I love them. I love walking on a stage having something to prove like not having to stress of like did we sell tickets because it's like no okay the crowd is here all we have to do is win them over and there's one thing that i feel like we can do is we can win over yeah man i would totally take an opening slot for a headliner i don't ever want a headline i just want to only open i only only want to make $200 a show for the rest of my life. Hold on.

Here's a couple more bands that you've opened for that are very popular with listeners of this program. Tell me about working or playing with Lowest of the Low. The best dudes ever. Z, you can take this one. So I manage the band as well. Because you're the bookkeeper. Well front i'm the front of that side we make we make decisions collectively but i'm i'm on a lot of the emails usually and besides lois and lo being incredible musicians in terms of dealing with bands of any level or of any uh any any background any whatever teams they

have whatever success they've had they are the nicest guys in the entire world i act like i'm buddies of lois but i'm actually buddies of two members of lois alone like i i actually uh i'm buddies of ron hawkins and lawrence nichols yeah they're dope yeah they're the best guys but everyone all of them such a huge supporter of the band. Like, since we opened up one show for him, he's just had us back, you know, fought for us, told us, you know, told us to come on here with you. Might have made the introduction there. But there's, like, I'm going to go out of the way and just, like, let you behind the scenes. Like, Lois and Lo, we opened for them in Buffalo, New York, because we had our visas.

And it was an amazing show and like they didn't have to pay us like a thousand dollars us to open for them like no opening band gets that like they gave us like you you we opening hunt you know you get a couple hundred bucks you know and you do it for exposure i'm doing air quotes here listeners exposure these guys like they're giving us a paycheck that's going to make this gig worthwhile beyond exposure. No one does that, but they did it. And it's like, oh, sweethearts. Nobody realizes that that's their decision.

Everyone always thinks it's the promoter's decision. It isn't. It comes out of their line. So it's like, they're like putting their money where their mouth is. And it's like, if you look at the career of Lois alone, they clearly are not in it for the money.

Like they've made decision after decision that would suppress the, uh, you know, the financial income that would come from the band. Like we're not doing videos. We're in all these decisions. We're paying our opening bands too much. But,

I mean, now, now every episode of this program closes with the lowest song it's been like that since episode one I'm a huge fan

and when Ron Hawkins and Lawrence Nichols I've had they played here several times is there anyone more prolific than Ron Hawkins

like how many songs he's got the Dugan Assassins the Rusty Nails I don't think there's much going on there right now I don't think

but he's got a solo stuff going on and there's still Lois of the Lois stuff going on and there's much going on there right now I don't think But he's got a solo stuff going on And there's still Lois of the Low stuff going on And there's still good songs Like Power Lines The new one I like to sing that all the time It always pops in my head

Power Lines is a catchy ditty That's for sure I think one thing we've taken from them As well is Is their ethos And I like to think that we're a band That when people play with us

They feel like they've been treated fairly And given the right opportunities and to, you know, for exposure, but also being paid properly and valued, you know, and valued.

And I think that's something we've tried to do over the course of our career. But once we were working with lowest of the low, we realized we could do even more. And also like, like, Oh damn, other artists have been treating us like crap.

I'm so glad you're saying this because I have so much respect for Lowest of the Low. Us too, they're the best. As people, they played a TMLX. So, you know, we've had eight of these things

and I think it was number three. It happened to take place on my birthday. So they played the patio of, well, Lawrence and Ron played, the patio of Grey Legs Bre brewery at this event of mine and uh i didn't get an invoice at the end of the performance you know what i mean like they're just the most amazing guys yeah and you know what their fans are really great too like those shows that we played we got a lot of new fans from them um people who like checked us out and have followed us ever since you know love hearing

shout out david angus yes it's like a huge support right so last artist i want to talk to you about is uh you mentioned up and coming uh maybe the heir apparent to the tragically hip is canada's house band if you will but uh the arkells so tell me about uh playing with the arkells we actually we played with them twice i think was. Was it two or three times? Two or three times. The one that Ketabala sticks out the most. We still have people who were at that show come up to us and be like, I saw you guys years ago at Ketabala open for the Arkells.

It was amazing. So that's always nice to hear. It was just such a great show. There was also another band that we kind of grew up on when we were in university. I remember on your coffee table, he had a Zeus record and Arkell's record. Oh man. Jackson square.

It was like, that had come out around that time. And we were like, Oh shit. Like we could do that. Like it was like, it felt like it was like a bit of a beacon, you know?

And that there weren't even really all that big at that time, but it just felt like a, like a, like, yeah, like a direction for us. I think one thing I really appreciate about them is that um they are a band and um and they're a band that seems to stick together and work together as hard

as humanly possible and i think that attitude is something we really try to adopt is let's make our team better let's motivate each other let's let's let's figure this out as as as a collective and i think we sent max an email after one of the shows we played with he sent us and he replied or something like he sent one yeah to us that was like a motivational like coach speech yeah we were so great to hear, especially from him. It was like, it was, it was sort of a,

you know, thanks for having us on the show. And he wrote back, he was like, listen, boys, like you guys are great. I know sometimes it feels like you can just be spinning your wheels,

but like stick with it. It's, you know, keep with, and it was just like color from Max, you know, it's like what you want to hear from like bands that you respect and you're open for, like when they give you the support,

just like the low, like they're watching our set, you know, like Tom O'Dell and his band, like they watch our set, you for, when they give you the support, just like The Low, they're watching our set. Tom O'Dell and his band, they watch our set. So you sort of feel like you have the admiration of these guys you respect, and it just helps keep the motor running. I'll bet when Sky Wallace and Jane's party hook up that Lois and Lo are like proud parents. Definitely.

They are retweeting everything we do. Lawrence already feels like a proud parent. I don't know how much more of a parent he could be. It's funny because our agents are as well and our publicists, it's something about, maybe it's Canada and the sort of people that are in the music industry,

but you really do feel like the people that you work with are on your team. Awesome. Hey, so here's the deal here. We're now, we're 42 into this thing. So we really did two episodes in one here. I got four more jams. So firstly,

if you need to go to the, use the bathroom, tap your head. Okay. The only thing is you probably, I'm just push it back. Oh, you can't.

Okay. Yeah. I was going to say, uh, I'm sorry. It's going over time. I want to play these last four jams, but I don't have to. No, no, play them.

If you say the word, we'll wind it down. Okay. Let's keep it rolling. One by one, I'm going to play the song, but literally, honestly, if it's number one, as I think. Yeah, there's a bush back there, and it's the official TMDS studio. Just bury it so the bears don't come here. So I'm going gonna play this song

and you guys just take turns taking a leak in my oh yeah push back there should we go cross swords in the back I cross the beams is how I always do

alright I wanna hear what song it is okay here we go I'm gonna play it here Tom will catch up after oh okay here we go this is mine

this is mine this is mine you go hi who took the money who took the money away Oh, okay. Here we go. It's mine. It's mine. It's mine. Now make sure you get it on the camera for Facebook. We got that wonder What was the place What was the name We walked away We got a diamond

Love that bass. No need to worry Everything's under control Love that bass. Here it comes. Once the chorus hits, it just makes you want to punch someone in the face. It's so good. Ah. Here we go. Uh-huh. This is like, this is like my, when Tom and I were making our list, we were like, okay, this will be songs that we can get into together on the tour bus. But then it veered from, hold on, I say tour bus, I mean van and I mean Dodge Caravan.

I don't even mean bus. So this is Girlfriend is Better by Talking Heads. Oh, it's so good. Hold on. If you see me walking down the street punching people in the face, it's because I'm probably listening to this song right now. It just gets me so jacked.

So we were talking about like quarantine jams, like what songs got you through quarantine? And this one, 100%, I just went on the biggest talking heads kick. I like before quarantine, I only really knew like Psycho Killer and Burning Down the House and stuff like that. Or same as it ever was. Exactly. Right. And so, and that was it.

And I was like sort of of capped off at that. But I don't remember what it was that got me into them, but once I got in, it might have been the great curve off of Remain in the Light. There was just like, I don't know what it was, but Talking Heads has single-handedly got me mentally through the pandemic just from rocking out so hard whenever i can in my car walking down the street you know punching random people it's so great um and i

can't reckon and like obviously one of my favorite love songs is on this album as well this must be the place so i couldn't decide which one to pick out of those two but i thought this one's a little less less known and it just oh god it gets my blood pumping man that sound there's this this part that comes out of it love it so much crazy sounds but then i also went through a bit of a depression as i was listening not just because of covid but as i was listening to talking heads you're sort of like always trying to think well where, where can I go next? What's the next sound that I can find?

And then I was listening to Talking Heads and I was like, oh, fuck. They've done it all. Like, oh my god. Where can we go? They've done everything. And it's just so good. How long have you been married? I just got married December 2020. So

a couple months. And you know what? I think that also... Eight months, is it? I feel like that's eight months. I don't know. But we dated for 13 years before we got married. So marriage was just sort of a...

So why ruin it? It seemed like it was going well. It was, you know what? It was just a spur of the moment thing. We got married with my dad and her sister in our apartment. It was very low key, very chill. That is low key. And so I think there's also like now that I'm married and it's my wife,

there's something like nostalgic about I got a girlfriend. That's sort of like there's something cool about saying I got a girlfriend versus my wife. Yeah, because girlfriend is better. Girlfriend is better. I didn't marry twice, okay? So I didn't tell you for sure sure no i'm just kidding but uh zach how long have you been married uh we had our third anniversary on august 25th nice yeah in los angeles that's everything's about los angeles yeah i was there last week my wife's still there she She's a big BFT. She's still down there. Big fucking deal, right? I had to fly home alone.

You had to fly back for your Toronto Mike appearance. He's got to call his wife's assistant to book dinners with her. I am her assistant. He's got to text himself. That's too funny. And Tom, you're a single man? I am engaged. The only reason I'm not married is because of COVID.

We are planning it for next summer, it looks like. But we don't know. Fuck COVID. Yeah. It's tough, man. It's tough to plan a wedding during COVID. I'm not sure if I want that kind of wedding, you know? Yeah, I know.

It postponed a whole bunch of activity. Are you bad? Are you shit-talking my wedding, bro? We weren't invited. Yeah, well, it was pretty low-key. Yeah, don't trip on wires and I'm gonna start the uh

I know the word anti-penultimate jam that's the word for third last anti-penultimate jam oh yeah this is mine your boyish reassurance is no

reassurance is no real issue and I need it Bojana's mowing the lawn next door. So that's okay. It's a nice ambiance. Great song. If you go to hell Don't expect to come home to me

To me I can't get you off my mind I can't get you off in general So here we are, we're just two I want you and you want something more beautiful Like a renovation Alright, Tom, talk to me. Love this one. This was, I come back to this one like probably once a year and re-realize that it's so great.

It's Japanese Breakfast, boyish. There's a song, Exploder, on this that I listened to at one point after I'd heard the song a bunch. It was kind of listened to at one point after I heard the song a bunch and it was kind of cool to kind of get deeper into it but the reason I really love it is just like lyrically it's so free freeing

maybe I'm always astounded by people that can say things in songs that are just what they want to say. Do you know what I mean? So you're so often like led in music to rhyme a certain way or to say like baby in this spot or like whatever, you know, like things like that.

But to have the freedom to feel like you can say anything at all is kind of like the ultimate in my mind. And I'm always searching for that. So there's that. And I just feel like she does that so well in this song. Like it, she really, it feels like she could just, she's talking to you. It's got that wall of sound.

And the production's great. Yeah, it's got that Phil Spector thing. That's what she, in the song Exploder, she talks about going for that sound. Okay, she succeeded, I think. Yeah, totally. On the lyrical front, I think it's that, it's such a fine line, and we always talk about it between, like, stock lyrics, which is, like, love sent from above, baby, what do I do, I'm so blue.

You know, like, a million songs like lyrics that they're using the 50s you know it's like if you're still using lyrics that they use in the 50s like look a bit harder and so then you catch lyrics like you know i can't get you off my mind and you can't get the hostess off yours or something that's like it's just these little lyrical things that paint a really great image and describe a feeling and you know you know, maybe you didn't hear the lyrics like that 20 years ago. And it's just cool. Wow, 20 years ago. That's still the year 2000.

40 years ago. There's also... There's just also... That's Silverchair? That's actually... That's from the Conan O'Brien late night. Oh, yeah, yeah, of course. The guy who put the flashlight and do that.

Shout out to Conan O'Brien. Shout out, Conan. Love his the flashlight and do that shout out to Conan O'Brien shout out Conan love his podcast and thank you to Bojana who stopped mowing the lawn there so right because she knew

the penultimate jam was coming but I don't think we've said the name yet and if we have I gotta say it again so that's the song is called Boyish

by Japanese Breakfast Japanese Breakfast yeah really really cool and there's a cool song Exploder on that track if you want to get some more background about it. One last thing on that tune.

I was talking to Shad about songwriting. He's been a collaborator of ours. He's an FOTM, you know. Is he? Yeah. We just put out a track with him. Put out a track with him. I think he's extremely talented. He's unbelievable. One of the great lyricists of Canada. I played in his band for about two years and it was a great experience.

At one point we were having a chat about songwriting and he said, he's, he's really good at saying really poignant, short things that stick with you. Like I've got like Shad quotes all the time. He said something like, I think that there should be an element of humor in all songs. He,

he finds that to be precious. Like that should be a thing. And at first I was like, I have like a joke song. Like when bare naked ladies make you say underwear. I just made you say underwear. That's probably leaning a little more. I don't know if I'd go that direction.

But then I listened to this song and the chorus goes, I can't get you off my mind. I can't get you off my mind i can't get you off in general right and it's about you know double entendre there and it's just funny enough that it's catchy and it's like it's spoken in a way where it feels truthful and it it really does encapsulate like all the things and all the feelings i just i think that song does such a great job of it's humorous it's honest it's catchy production like it just you know what i mean no i love and i i loved it but not familiar like again i told you

i only have one of your 10 songs in my uh personal mp3 collection because that's how i roll but this is the one you ready for the one that was in my collection Ampe 3 collection, because that's how I roll. But this is the one. You ready for the one that was in my collection? I know it. Here we go. I feel foolish I wanna drink too much You look Polish Got a wicked sense of humor I feel dizzy

And I want your touch Let's get tipsy And start a rumor I feel restless here I can't sit still Everybody at this party's Got their fingers in the till I bet their parents

Are ridiculously loaded. Let's get moving before I'm loaded. Rhyming loaded and loaded. I mean, that is just great. That's a great song. The dancers need a dance floor. The swingers got a swing. Fashionable people Doing questionable things

Fashionable, fashionable, fashionable People Fashionable, fashionable, fashionable Fashionable people I really like you So good Another great example of like weaving Humor into an otherwise

Great song Such a great song right here You don't think it's cheesy it's just real So hard to do that It's such a fine line man You can listen to tons of pop radio and be like Why do these lyrics make me want to vomit? Like, why do I hate this so much?

And then why can I listen to Joel Plaskett and his lyrics, like, make me smile and laugh and have a good time? And it's like, what are these words? And this is what we're always trying to, like, this is what gets us off. It's like, what words and, like, what isms make it too cheesy? Like, where's the line between corny and funny and quality songwriting? We're just trying to find it all. We're just searching here, Mike.

Will you help us find the way? A wasp came out of my beard. As you drank it? Yeah, so I went to finish off the last gulp, and I could feel like there was something on my lip. I'm like, what's that on my lip? So I pulled back. There's a wasp.

I got stung like that once. I was in Berlin enjoying a nice beer. And same thing. My whole day was ruined. Yeah, my whole face blew up. I'm just grateful for the fact I did not get stung

there. I think these lazy September wasps don't have it in. That was impressive. I think these lazy September wasps don't have it in them anymore to fight. I think August, there's a last hurrah in August where all the bugs are like, I need to hibernate or something because I got huge welts from mosquitoes

and then come September, it's like they're hibernating. And they're throwing off a bit this year, I think, because Labor Day is so late this year. Here we are in September. It's September 2nd, but we're still not at Labor Day.

Still wearing white. Still wearing white. Still wearing white. And here, you guys don't have kids yet. Smart move. But here's how it works. I got a dog, though. For the first time, I can remember, kids don't go back to school the day after Labor Day. You remember you went back the day after Labor Day, right? Always. This is just the rule. Labor Day, maybe you're at the C&E

or something. Labor Day. Had a bellyache at the C&E and then head to school on Tuesday. You go to school Tuesday. This year, Tuesday and Wednesday are PD days. Like the kids don't go to school.

They start with gym days? Wait, is PD? PD is like professional development days. But the teachers don't teach. So, that's a great way

to start school. My kids, well, the three that are in that kind of level of schooling don't start till Thursday. And then Thursday, Friday, weekend. Yeah, and then it's a weekend, right.

So there's no school Tuesday, Wednesday. So if you guys are around, I need someone to watch a five-year-old and a seven-year-old. Just leave me your business card or whatever. I'll hook it up with Tom there before he escapes to LA. I love Joel Plaskett

and the Joel Plaskett emergency and the fashionable people is a great song and I'm glad you guys kicked that out. We got a chance to buy him a shot of Grey Goose in Halifax one time. That was our introduction to Joel Plaskett was him and Andy Mays. I love Andy Mays.

We were at the Carlton. Shout out Mike Campbell at the Carlton. We had just played there or something with, was it also with Steve Poets? We might have just been hanging out. It might've been HPX. Oh, it might've been Halifax.

I don't even remember now. And, um, we saw, we knew Andy Mays from Toronto. And then we saw him like talking to this really, really tall dude. And we were like,

I think that's Joe Baskin. Yo, hey guys, I think that's Joe Baskin. Let's just let, he's hot. Somebody tips us off. They're like,

they're like boys. Like he really likes, like his drink is shots of Grey Goose like you need and we're like we gotta get him a shot of Grey Goose and then we like

came over like presented him with Grey Goose he's like oh boys how'd you know and we're like oh so Andy

try to play it cool I got so Andy Mays I got for some reason I accidentally I had my furnace broke and I had a furnace guy

come fix it and my phone I accidentally got his number mixed up with Andy Mays so I wrote Andy Mays on the furnace guy's number and then there was this he did this repairs oh i thought you were gonna say andy came to fix her almost but i texted andy maize like late at night about how the furnace wasn't didn't kick on their furnace didn't come on and that was mine so andy maize did not come over to fix the furnace but he let me know i had the mixed up the guys

but andy was a sweetheart and i think skydiggers are one of our most underrated bands oh so his That was mine. So Andy Mays did not come over to fix the furnace, but he let me know I had mixed up the guys. But Andy was a sweetheart, and I think Sky Diggers are one of our most underrated bands. Oh, so his voice and his dance moves are so good. You know what? Now I'm missing those horseshoe Christmas shows. I know. I just got to get things back to normal, man. Get shit back to normal.

Are you guys fully vaxxed? Am I allowed to ask that? We're fully vaxxed. We're a pro fully vaxxed band. You're a pro vaxxed band? We are very pro vaxxed. Yeah, it wasn't a question, really. You're a pro vaxxed band? We are very pro vaxxed. Yeah. It wasn't a question really.

It was like, oh, if I do this, I'm going to get to work again. Okay, great. Let's do it. We've got no issues with vaccines. Like you'd push over like some old lady. You'd push her over just to get your shot. I was listening to Girlfriend is Better at the time. And you punched her in the face.

Poor, poor Shanna. I tell you, I did have some discomfort the day after the second jab. I had more than that. Both, because I, well, I want to hear your story.

I got two dirty dirns, as they call them. I got hit hard twice. Yeah, I was knocked out for like two days or so.

The first one, I just, my elbow hurt a lot and I was a little tired. My elbow, sorry, my, they put it in your elbow, right?

I think you went to the, where did you get your shot? There was a discount At the Valley Village At local 5 and 9 High and Zells

Dollarama had a backdoor discount Bargain Herald Byway The byway There's a road byway You saw that? No the next day I had like The worst like heart

Like heartburn Like it felt like severe heartburn. You're turning people off the vaccine now. It was awesome. It was so cool. It was like, man, this heartburn's sick. I can't wait. What flavor did you get?

Moderna or Pfizer? I got two Derns. Two Derns. I got the Pfizer. All the hot people got Pfizer. I mixed and matched, man. I went AZ the first time. But you're not allowed to travel with that, right?

I don't know. I don't know what I'm allowed to do. You're not going anywhere. I didn't have anywhere to go. But I had an AZ, as I like to say in Canada. And then I followed that up with a Pfizer. So it was a good time. Hey, you ready for your last jam?

Yeah. I can't even remember what our last jam is. Oh, yeah. This is a good one. Oh, yeah. Kind of reminds me a bit of that Bahamas song. That crunchy tone. There she goes.

There's the Beatles. The Beatles. Like, there she goes. Do you know what? What's that Bahamas song? What is the one that does that? I can't think of the song while I'm listening to this song. This one's in honor of Jeff, too, isn't it? This is the Jeff Giles.

Shout out to Jeff Giles. Yeah, he loves. He loves to do it. I think I introduced him, but it's all good. That's not what he told me. What's the name of the artist? So this is Lucas Nelson and Promise of the Real. So for those who don't know, Lucas Nelson is Willie Nelson's son.

So this, yeah, they were Neil Young's backing band. That's how I heard of them. Oh, he did the music for that movie. And then he did the music for Stars Born. And if you listen closely. So if you listen, if you listen to the background, they tell you Cooper.

No, listen. This is close. Is it Lady? Wait, wait, wait. Well, it has to be Lady Gaga. Hell yeah. So when I first heard this song, it was before Stars Born was coming out.

And I was like, wow, he's given a lot of freedom to this backing vocalist. Like she is tearing up this track, like going all over the place. And then I looked in the liner notes. I'm like, Lady Gaga, like, holy shit. Right? Oh, it's such a good song. So he's just one of those guys that's like, he's got this voice that just like, you know,

So he's just one of those guys that's like, he's got this voice that just like, you know, obviously his dad's voice is iconic, but man, he's got this vibrato and this like intonation. Like you can watch any YouTube video you want of Lucas Nelson and he's singing like pitch perfect, dialed in this beautiful vibrato, you know, and the band is just so incredible. And what we drew a lot of, like we cover this song, we like you know set three at the cameron house or something um but there's such a great live off the floor feel that we try have tried to capture on our new recordings um because it's just something you get when it's like you can tell a band's jam in a room together you know you know lady gaga sounds a little bit like uh a little bit like Sass Jordan on this jam. There's a bit of that Sass Jordan tradition going on here.

Oh, freedom. That's freedom. We didn't give Sky that kind of freedom. You should have, though. It's more like a duet. Oh, yeah. Wow. Yeah.

And then when you get to, like, my favorite section, 420, of this song, he does some insane, like, just his vocals are just like, oh, this guy can sing, man. We love when just, like, singers are singing, you know what I'm saying? When players are playing. And when players are playing. Players only love you when they're playing. It's like sort of Lady Gaga and Lucas Nelson start like dueling. Before I find somebody else to be my lover

We're also a sucker for a one minor two chord progression, which is what this song is. It's so good. Before I find somebody else to be my lover Here we go. Oh, baby, I say I hope you find me I hope you find me Here we go. He's got that like Cookie Monster. It's so good.

Controlled Cookie Monster. I feel fine I feel fine And then the band starts getting a little loose. Getting squirrely, getting squirrely. You know, like, okay, now we've been jamming for like five minutes, now the band really starts to cut loose. This is what we love to do. You always got to listen to minute five

to hear what the band's really capable of. That's why these podcasts go long, because you get the good stuff at the 90-minute mark. But you know who's got the Cookie Monster voice? It's the guy from July Talk. He does, yes. It's like a Tom Waits kind of thing going on there. But guys, as this song winds down, the final jam, I just want to tell you, you hit it out of the park. I really, really enjoyed this.

I'm glad we could introduce to you some songs that have gotten us through many a tour feel like you're in the van with us i might end up in the van with you if uh i'm lucky if i play my cards right uh but dudes sorry again for fucking up whatever that was two years ago and uh having the double booking and i'm so glad that we finally made things right. And I think it's better this way. Again, you're getting that 75 bucks from Chef Drop. This is a way better deal, man.

I think we put the blame on your assistant too. Is this too altruistic? But I would be happy to donate it to a dedicated fan of the show. Wow. That is too altruistic.

Get out of here with that shit. What am I going to do? Run a fucking... Do I have to do that? Run a fucking contest now? What am I going to do here? Come on here. Alright, I'm taking it. We bullied him out of it. It's because you're off to LA. Is that the deal? It's got to be a GTHA.

This is key. It's got to be delivered to the greater Toronto and Hamilton area. I'm leaving in about 10 days. Well, look, I can do something. I can do a quick Twitter contest or something. Who wants Zach's $75 digital gift card? And have we decided who's getting the lasagnas from Palma Pasta? These two.

Us two. Okay, wow. They don't allow it on flights to LA, so we're going to... You got to check that. It's very... You got to check that out of the plane. Lowest of the low. I love this song.

You know who just showed up here? This gentleman who looks like he's coming here to see Jane's party. That's Mike Majewski who bought the 40 beers for the FOTM. What a guy. In the know and mimico. Jane's party. Kick-ass band. They're kicking out the jams.

We're winding down right now, though, here. Holy smokes. Amen. You're right on on time just give me two minutes here wow everything people go bonkers for this song at their shows yeah they usually close with it yeah and uh it kills and it's from shakespeare my butt which is one of my favorite albums of all time And that brings us to the end of our 908th show. You can follow me on Twitter. I'm at Toronto Mike. What is the official Jane's Party Twitter handle? So at Jane's Party Band on Twitter and Instagram. Jane's Party on Facebook.

And YouTube as well. And YouTube. Is it Jane's Party or Jane's Party Band? Just Jane's Party. Just Jane's Party on YouTube. You can see everything we've been up to. A lot of live in the woods sessions where we've recorded field recordings.

We've done some 45-minute epic movie sort of cinematic things. Near Magwood Park? That is near Magwood Park. We did one up in Gravenhurst called The Marshmallow Review last year. That's like a 45 minute epic there's skits there's music composed specifically for

this special we're going way overboard we shouldn't do this stuff but we did your ass to youtube and search for jane's party uh just do it uh our friends at great Lakes Brewery, they're at Great Lakes Beer. Chef Drop is at GetChefDrop. McKay CEO Forums are at McKay CEO Forums. Palma Pasta is at Palma Pasta. Sticker U is at Sticker U. Ridley Funeral Home, they're at Ridley

FH. And Mike Majeski, he's on Instagram at Majeski Group Homes. See you all later tonight. This podcast has been produced by TMDS and accelerated by Roam Phone. Roam Phone brings you the most reliable virtual phone service to run your business and protect your home number from unwanted calls. Visit RoamPhone.ca to get started.