Toronto Mike'd: The Official Toronto Mike Podcast - Josh Ramsey: Toronto Mike'd #1023

Episode Date: March 29, 2022

In this 1023rd episode of Toronto Mike'd, Mike is joined by Marianas Trench's Josh Ramsey as they talk about the band, co-writing Call Me Maybe with Carly Rae Jepsen, and his new album The Josh Ramsey Show. Toronto Mike'd is proudly brought to you by Great Lakes Brewery, Palma Pasta, Canna Cabana, StickerYou, Ridley Funeral Home and RYOBI Tools.

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And Ryobi. Join the cordless revolution with Ryobi's 18-volt 1-plus system. There are over 260 tools in the system, and it's available at Home Depot. Joining me this week is a man who just looks like a rock star, Josh Ramsey. Welcome, Josh. Thank you for having me.

No mistaking. Seriously, when I saw you heading into the TMmds studio here i took one look at you and there's no other occupation for you like you're wrong right like no one says okay the guy's here to fix my furnace right this is a rock star but uh thanks for uh taking some time out of your busy schedule so we're gonna get like we're gonna get a little serious and then we're gonna have a great time and talk music and it's gonna be a blast but uh little serious off the top is that we lost uh a valued member of our fotm community yesterday so um sadly and it's a lot of you who are gonna hear this news for the first time are gonna be a little shocked but be now Beck uh would contribute uh songs to FOTM KOTJ episode she

can be heard on episode 1000 she would come out to TMLX events and at the very young age of 48 she passed away suddenly yesterday I know I I didn't mean to start the episode on a bummer note but this is the first episode since I got the terrible news. What I will tell the subscribers is that I dropped a song in the Toronto Mike feed this morning. It's a world container from the Tragically Hip, but it's got Beck's voice on it telling us why she loves that song. And Josh, there's a line in that song.

The line reads, How did it get so late so early? And like all day, that line has been bouncing around my head because how did it get so late so early? Like to me, that line in a song chosen by somebody who didn't know it at the time but would pass away at the age of 48.

That's a line, right? You're a songwriter. That's a great line. That's a great line, yeah. And Gord. Gord was an line. Yeah. And Gord. Gord was an amazing lyricist. Amazing lyricist. Did you meet Gord Downie?

Yes. Uh, where, like, like Juno events? Whereabouts would you bump into Gord? Um, uh,

I met him a couple of times. Um, the most memorable time was, um, we were playing, uh, we were playing a festival. I want to say it was in London.

And it was either in London or it was Kingston. I'm so sorry that I can't remember now. It's okay. And they were playing the night before us, and we ended up at a restaurant at the same time, and we sat down and had a couple of beers together. He was a really nice guy. Incredibly loquacious with a really impressive vocabulary

that he used effortlessly. Well, when you use a word like loquacious, I know you've got a pretty damn good vocabulary. I didn't even mean to do that. Because I can't even spell loquacious. And I hope I'm saying it right. But you're forgiven for being confused. Were you in London or Kingston?

Because you're a BC guy. I feel like if you're from the left coast to the west coast, then all these Ontario towns of a certain size are pretty interchangeable. Oh, I don't mean to say that they're interchangeable. I think they all have their own personality. It's just my memory of this specific time

is just sitting on a bar patio and I'm not sure. But Chewing the Fat was one of Canada's most successful songwriters and performers. And that's amazing. And right behind you

on the wall, I got a picture of Gord. So it's sort of, that's Gord. So Gord Downie, gone too soon himself, lead singer of the Tragically Hip, which was Beck's,

F-O-T-M, Beck's favorite band of all time. So we're going to dedicate this episode to Beck, who loved her music. And if you don't mind, Josh, I'm going to crack open a Great Lakes beer. I'm going to need a nice,

a fresh craft beer from Great Lakes for this chat. Yeah, get into it, man. Right on the mic. Oh, that does sound good. And Josh, just so i'm not a terrible host just so you know there are uh cans of uh great lakes in front of you as well that are all yours thank you uh should you desire thank you very much some great lakes thank you great lakes beer all right so you talked about meeting gourd who is this rock star who could

meet gourd downy so let's go way back and then eventually we'll talk about what you're up to these days i've got some great jams lined up but is it right the original name of marianna's trench is uh ramsey fiction oh wow that's a deep cut i know listen do you know where you are josh okay it's all deep cuts here. Okay, you're very well researched. So it is and it isn't. There were basically, when I was like 16, I started wanting to, I was playing in coffee shops and stuff like that as one does when they're that age. And I was starting to record music. My father had this very famous recording studio where i would go to

work sometimes and then eventually uh there was a there was he built a second studio in our house that had this like sick vintage neve console that i had started learning to engineer on when i was like seven wow um and anyway so by the time i was about 16 i started wanting to have a band because i'd been recording all these songs but on the recordings I would just play all the instruments myself, and then I started to want to be able to play stuff live. So I had put together, first it was like a trio, and then it sort of evolved into having a few more people, and we didn't have a band name for a long time,

and then it was called Ramsey Fiction for a little bit, but anyone else who was in Marianas Ranch was not in Ramsey Fiction. a little bit, but anyone else who's in Marianas Trench was not in Ramsey Fiction. It was kind of like had rotating members. You're the only constant. Yeah, like my sister was there. My sister was in it for a while. Her husband was in it for a while.

And then right at the end, Ian Castleman joined, and that was right when we had another lineup change and right around when it got changed into Marianas Trench. So I'm very curious. This is a big deal, this band. Like when I think of, especially since the aughts, you know, when I think of big Canadian bands, I think of your band, Marianas Trench. Oh, it's very nice. Absolutely.

And I have a song that'll kind of introduce us. So we're going to talk about sort of the origin and talk a little about your band and then we're going to talk about another song that a catchy as, I'll just say it it a catchy as fuck song that we're going to discuss oh we're let's swear yeah oh that's so much easier for me i'm terrible with filters no i mean filters are for the cbc right right you know in my basement we swear okay sick and then after that we're going to play some of the new stuff and find out what's going on here but here let's talk marianna's trench how about this jam i never took you for a trip but sometimes i don't know

what you want i could take it if you need to wow okay so that's the first single we ever released professionally Yeah That one stings a little I'm always in the middle I don't expect, but try me And you will always find that here This is where I scream from Yeah, you can take it all the way down There's, there's a little bit of you in all this You can see all the things you know, yeah Please, there's a better bit of me to see I'll see it down.

We can hear you, Josh. But okay, so this is Say Anything. Yeah. Yeah, this is the first single we ever put out. And that album, we really had a lot of difficulties with that album we got into we really had a lot of difficulties with that album because I basically we serviced this song

to rock radio stations and all of the rock stations sure it has the rock guitars and stuff but my sense of melody writing is very pop so basically all of the rock stations said this is too pop sounding. Can I ask you, because I have a buddy, Brother Bill,

but I think in, I believe in BC, Vancouver, he went by the name Neil Morrison. Oh, yeah, yeah. So you know Neil because, you know, we were talking about Favor Drive and we were talking about you guys. Favor Drive's kid is a star now, right? I think he had like a TikTok hit for a second.

Okay, because we played it on a 1236 episode. But all this is saying, he was telling me, he knew you guys coming in and stuff, but you're saying you were too poppy for the CFOX. CFOX would get behind us sometimes. They were the first station that were like, but nobody else in Canada. So basically all the rock stations said they sound too pop,

and then at the same time all the pop stations said they sound too rock. And I was like, well, all the pop stations said they sound too rock. And I was like, well, fuck. So, you know, we got stuck right in between formats. And thankfully, the one entity that didn't give a shit was Much Music, and they would play it. And so that's really like what broke our band initially was that Much Music gave us a lot of support right away.

Like, speak to that a little bit because have you seen Much lately? Yeah, I was there today okay so what can you tell me what's going on at much like don't they just run reruns of like simpsons or uh you know what's going on in much music they've got um they they've got much more of like a an online type oh it's like is it maybe a tiktok or something yeah okay i got you they just moved it off the the old school television for old guys like me. It's social media programming. Okay. But that was something else.

I had a much, you know, I had Moe Berg from pursuit of happiness. Uh, and, and he was talking about like when much started playing their song, I'm an adult now. It allowed him to tour the country.

Like this is this, you can't understand. Like, so just speak to the, uh, what it means for a band like Marianas trench to be played on, uh, the nation's music station.

Yeah, at that time, it was everything, man. At that time, that was the biggest deal was to get your video on MuchMusic. So when we released this video, they did not add it to the countdown. It wasn't a heavy rotation thing, but they did play it. And right from then, then I started seeing a difference. Then it was like, okay, now that was right

when we've, at first we had been trying to be a rock band or we'd been billed as a rock band. So we were going out on the road opening for like

Three Days Grace and what was the other band we opened for a lot? Three Days Grace. That's pretty heavy for you guys. And Theory of a Deadman. Theory of a Deadman. Heavy bands for you guys, right?

Like, I mean, those are, they're great bands. They're great bands, but that's a Deadman. Heavy bands for you guys, right? I mean, those are... They're great bands. They're great bands, but that's a heavier sound. Yeah, it's a heavier sound, and we were doing four-part harmony, right? I envision happening. The fans that come out to see Three Days Grace hear you and start throwing

bottles at you. No, they didn't do that. But I don't think we won over a lot of fans either. The guys in the bands were always super supportive. They were great. So then Much Music finally started playing us. And then someone had the bright idea of saying, why don't you guys play an all-ages show and let's see what happens?

And then all of a sudden it was like, oh, oh, people are coming. We've been marketed to the wrong people. Okay, okay. And then it wasn't a lot of people or whatever, but you know, all this, I used to, I remember we would like a lot of times we would go out and just headline

tours by ourselves, even though no one knew who we were. Cause we couldn't get on the bill with anybody. And we would go out and it was like, dude, it's like so soul soul crushing. Cause you go out, you know,

you get up at 4am, you get in the van, you drive for 10, 12 hours, you get to some venue, you load in the gear yourself. You have a super long sound check with someone who's never heard your music before.

Then maybe you have a time to take a shower, maybe you eat something, and then you play a show for 10 people. And then you make sure you're the last ones there because you want to get fan experiences to try and build fans. And then you load your gear back out into the van, you get to sleep by 2 a.m., 3 a.m.,

then you get up at 4 and you do it all again. And that's the life. And you come five thousand dollars in the hole have you seen the movie hardcore logo yes okay so and i talked to i talked to a lot of you know bands that i think of i'm just really uh excited to have them over because i i am canadian and from my canadian sensibilities these are big time fucking rock bands. But you hear how like, I think it was Acid Test that told me like they had to get off the road because they couldn't afford to be on the road. Like it feels like it's flipped.

Like you're supposed to make money. Yeah, but you gotta go in the whole, you know, it's an investment in your future, right? That's what I always thought. And so, yeah, I mean, we didn't actually turn a profit being on the road until our second album. And like the first time we made a profit,

I mean, like we were on the road living that life for like 90 days and came home with 500 bucks each. And we were like, woohoo! And when you're on the road, are you guys all like in some kind of a camper van or something? We were in a van with a trailer. Okay.

And then we would get hotel rooms and it would be one hotel room, two guys at bed. Right. um and you know it's funny so when before the first album came out we knew that we knew that much music was the biggest thing to get at that time it was like we got to get this is a fix me comes out in 06 yeah the very end of 06 and so uh we were like we've got to get we've got to get support for much music so what should we do so what we did is we actually moved out here for a while and And we lived in a... Our bass player, his father had a house in Mississauga, but he was out of town for work.

So we were allowed to live in his house for like six months. And we would play everywhere in Southern Ontario. I played like every week at the Horseshoe. And then I'd go out and play all these tiny little places. And just the point being, we wanted, by the time the album came out, we just wanted Much Music to have heard of us.

That was it. The whole plan was just, they've heard of us. Right. And at the end of that time, they actually, like the album came out and they actually had heard of us

and they started playing the song and they let us come in to do an interview. We weren't playing. We weren't playing. We were just coming in to do an interview and we sung acapella a little bit.

But at the time, it was the biggest thing in our career that had ever happened. And hilariously, ironically, so we did the interview. We sang a little bit. And it sort of introduced us to the country. And then our fucking van was at the end of its life. It was too broken down, and we had to get a flatbed tow truck to come in and tow it out of Much Music's parking lot.

So from our greatest moment to our greatest defeat right in the same day. Do you remember who did the interview at Much? I think it was Devin. Okay. You're talking to an old man here, so I'm trying to remember the more recent VJs. Devin. Okay. Gotcha. Very cool.

I have a few more questions about Marianna's Trench, as you can imagine here. Especially to give us a sense of success and stuff, but is it okay if I play one more Marianna's Trench song just to kind of, just a little more? I mean, what are you going to do? Stop me?

I'm going to press play anyways here. So let's hear another one here. I'm just suggesting you and I might not be the best thing Exit, exit, somehow I guessed it right Alright But I still want ya, want ya Don't mean to taunt ya If you leave now, I'll come back and haunt ya You'll remember, return to Xander now, now

Well I just wish we could go back one more time and begin it Back before I lost myself somewhere, somewhere in it We've been stuck now so long We just got the start wrong One more last try I'ma get the ending right You can't stop this And I must insist that you haven't had enough You haven't had enough

Stuck now so long We just got the start wrong No more last place You better get your story straight I've stuck now so long We just got the start from no more Last place, you better get your story straight You can't stop this And I must insist that you haven't had enough You haven't had enough And I still need ya, need ya

Don't mean to tease ya Sounds good in the cans, man. Thanks. Haven't had enough. What's it like for you to hear your own music back? I get really analytical and very critical because I produce it all too. So I'm like, does it sound good?

Does it still sound okay? Right. If I hear myself on the radio, I change the channel, I'll admit. I will change the channel unless it's the first time I've ever heard it on the radio because guys at home, people at home may not know this, but like when stuff goes to radio, it goes through an extra compressor, so it gets squished again. So I always listen to it once to make sure it still sounds, I think it sounds okay. And then, and then after that, I won't.

Makes complete sense here. Okay. So what album is this one on? This is Ever After. This is our third album. Okay, so by the third album, which comes out in 2011, you're kind of flying. I've seen photos of the band at the Much Music Awards

and all these things, and you look like a BFD. What was it like for the band at this point? This was a crazy time for us man this was um so this song came out this was the lead single from that album um and uh this was when we graduated to to playing in arenas like the the second album masterpiece theater we moved up from clubs into theaters and then this album we moved up from theaters into arenas in canada and i'll still i still remember it very vividly because we the album was coming out and we did a deal with simple plan right where they were doing an arena tour and they wanted us to come out and be direct support

and we already knew that we were ready to do an arena tour ourself so we were sort of like does that make sense but like i love the guys in simple plan but we were sort of like, does that make sense? But like, I love the guys in Simple Plan, but we were sort of like, does that make sense? But the deal we struck was you guys, if you guys come out and be direct support

for us in Canada, we'll bring you out as support in the United States and we had never toured in the United States because we have, people have always asked me

over the years like, how come you guys aren't bigger in the States? And the truth is we're an independent band who's never been promoted there. Well, that was my next question. yeah i was gonna ask about because

you know canada is is smaller than california right um so um uh in terms of population yeah yeah so we went out and did that tour of simple plan um and and the american run was great because that was our first we had done like a few little things in the States, but we didn't know what to expect. We were like, are people going to know us? Are people like, cause people, you know,

they can find you organically. Right. Right. You know, and we went out and, um, we were, we were opening for simple plan and we were the first of four bands or

something like that was us. And then two other bands and then simple plan. And, um, and to my shock and surprise, uh uh there were tons of people coming out to see us and they were stoked that we were there and they had just found us organically and they knew the songs and i was kind of blown away actually i was kind of blown away and um it was it was uh it was really exciting and then we came and we did the arena run with simple plan and in

hindsight i'm really glad that we did one arena run first where we weren't the headliner because i learned so much um on that first run um tons of things like one thing i really learned from simple plan was how to be a classy headliner those guys have no ego and you know the first show of the tour there's a bottle of champagne in the dressing room with a handwritten note saying welcome to the tour nice um signed by all of them and that's a move that i stole from them and i do that with every opening okay it's classy move honestly um so and them and I do that with every opening act now. Classy move, honestly. And I also really learned, it was great because I didn't

have a ton of pressure to sell tickets because they were the headliner but I still got to go try being in an arena and it's different, man. It's different being on that stage. I was going to ask you, what's the key differences from playing, I don't know, playing the Phoenix or whatever or the Horseshoe or whatever than playing the Air Canada Center? So as it gets, the smaller shows, the don't know, playing the Phoenix or whatever, or the Horseshoe or whatever, than playing the Air Canada Center.

So as it gets, the smaller shows, the really small ones, like, okay, my first sold-out Toronto show ever was the Cameron House. 30 people, 30 people. It's a 30-person room. Right. But we were still like, that's a sellout! That's a sellout.

So what do you get in the Cameron House? You get intimacy, right? You get real intimacy and it's very easy to convey vulnerability on stage. Um, if you're doing a vulnerable moment, that's easy. If you've got 30 people there, it's also a little more terrifying because you can make eye contact with everybody. Well, you literally will make eye contact. You will, dude. And so, and, and you gotta be confident enough in that moment to really commit to what you're doing. And a theater stage is much bigger, but you can still see most of the people.

You can't see the back row, but you can still kind of try and have, like my thing is I want everybody at the show to feel like they've had, I've given them personally a moment. I want everyone to feel connected. And that's really important to me as a performer. And I do my best to make that happen.

And once you get to the huge arena stage, now it's really fucking difficult. Now there's certain things you can do there that you can't do in those small stages. You can have big, larger-than-life production. We had on this tour, the Ever After tour, was called the Face the Music Tour. And we had someone from Cirque du Soleil

build me a flying rig so I could fly over the audience and flip around and stuff. So you get this theatricality, the larger than life persona stuff. That's easier on the big stage. But you lose the intimacy and the vulnerability.

And that's very, very hard to convey. So some of the things that I always do, like I always do, I always just trust that everything that is going to be safe and i always take a wireless mic and i'll have at least one song where i walk through the whole arena and i want to see the people to the back i want to i want to get back there and have a moment back there and then we usually set up a b stage with a piano at the back of the arena and i'll come back there and i'll do a ballad for the

people back there um just because i really want everyone to feel like they had a moment where they were at the front row. No, absolutely cool. Now just to revisit that, you know, that tour of the U S was there a moment where you're like, we could be, you know,

this, you know, name big American rock band. Like we could, you know, we could like, was it, was there,

how important was it? I suppose to you personally to, to have success in the USA. It's always important to be ever growing.owing, and I think we still are ever-growing, which I'm very, very thankful to be able to say this many years in. I think the interesting thing with our growth is we never had an overnight blow-up. We never blew up overnight. We just slowly, right from those first shows that I was talking about where there was 10 people, I used to say to the crowd,

okay guys, you know, I know this is small right now, but I'm just going to give you guys homework. I want everyone to bring one person with them next time. And next time we'll be 20 people. And then the next time we'll be 40 people. And, and dude, that fucking worked. It took a while, but it, but it worked. and by the time you're by the time you're looking at like 5 000 people right and you say just bring one person next time now you're really talking about a lot of people um and so there was a there was a moment on that tour that like that that simple plan tour the i didn't feel like the americans at that time i was like you know it was a crapshoot we didn't know what to expect. Are people going to show up? And I will never forget this moment.

The day ever after came out, we were playing the house of blues in Chicago. And again, simple plan sent us a bottle of champagne and congratulations on the album release. I hope it's great for you guys. And they were very, very nice.

So we went out on stage and we were going to play some songs from ever after for the first time. And I was like, the album only came out today. I don't know if people are going to know these songs yet. I don't even know if we're going to play some songs from ever after for the first time and i was like the album only came out today i don't know if people are going to know these songs yet i don't even know if we're going to have fans here and i'll never forget going out and playing fallout for the first time and everyone in the crowd fucking knew the words and that was a really amazing feeling because i was like we're not in our home country um i don't we've never been promoted here i don't know if anyone is here to even see us whatsoever. And the whole fucking crowd was singing that song

and it had only come out that day. And that was a really crazy moment. And you realize, you know, we don't need radio. I mean, you do and you don't, you know? I mean, I think with us specifically, like, yeah, we had a lot of support in Canada where we haven't had that in the rest of the world. But somehow, just, I mean, the internet, word of mouth,

somehow we go to other countries and people just show up and I'm so, so grateful. It's crazy. It's crazy. Well, that's awesome to hear. That's really cool. And you know, you talked about that gradual success and soon when we talk about the new album,

what's the name of the new album? The Josh Ramsey Show. Right. Good title. Who came up with that? The creative team. Okay. The Josh Ramsey Show. Right. Good title. Who came up with that? The creative team. Okay. The Josh Ramsey show.

I have a link with like, this is like, I know I got some, some music we're going to play, but, uh, one artist on this is Chad Kroger. Yeah.

And I just, I have memories. I used to go to these edge fests and they take this. I saw, I saw, I went to an edge fest and a nickelback was on the small stage. Okay. It wasn't on the big, it was on the small stage.

And the very next year they headlined the big stage. Like it was like, it was like a, I guess how you remind me. Yeah. Oh yeah. So like at that gradual success you speak of, it's a healthier, uh, you know. Yeah. But don't forget Chad had that too. Like, yeah, he had a blow up moment.

Like for, for sure. How you remind me was a blow up moment, but wasn't that their third album? too. Yeah, he had a blow-up moment, for sure. How You Remind Me was a blow-up moment. But wasn't that their third album? I know The State was the first. Is it the third? Okay, because I know they had some radio... I could be wrong about that. I could be wrong about that,

but I thought that was their third album. It's the second or third. It might be the third. You could be right about that. You BC guys know what's going on. I'd have to text him and ask him, but I think it was the third album. And you know what? You know what's going on? Uh, I, I'd have to, I'd have to text him and ask him, but I think it was the third album. Um,

and, and you know what, um, you know what, uh, Chad, one thing I really learned from Chad, um,

uh, I've learned a lot from him over the years. Um, he's a great guy. And one thing that he did that was fucking brilliant is they did the, all the shitty tours in a van too. They did it. And they, anytime they went to go meet or go in a van too they did it and they anytime they went

to go meet or go to a radio station um if someone from the radio station was going to come to the show uh chad always made sure to have drinks with the guys from the radio station and be everyone's best friend and he's a very likable guy right um he's really fucking likable and so he put in that time to to make an effort to be to actually feel like the radio uh people to feel like they had made a new friend and he took that time and the band all took that time and then all of a sudden when he had the big huge hit ready to go when he'd finally come around to learning how to write a song like that right and that song came out all of those fucking people across america and canada were like i'm gonna fucking play that song i out. All of those fucking people across America and Canada were like, I'm going to fucking play that song.

I remember those guys. I love those guys. Okay, two facts. One is you're absolutely right. It was a third album. I forgot about Curb. So Curb is the first and then The State is the first one

I hear on the radio and then Silverside Up is the one that blows up. Not a fun fact, but an interesting fact is what day do you think Silverside Up, which was the big release?

Oh no, are you gonna say are you gonna say it was 9-11 9-11 so silver side up was released unfortunately was uh released uh on 9-11 here okay so a couple of fun facts just to burn through because i do want to get you to a certain song and then i want to get you to this new album so we can talk about that but i want to uh just drop a fun fact on you uh so the next album is called astoria who named the album astoria uh my friend and guitar tech brett okay and uh i was just personally interested in the uh origin of that name where that comes from so do you know i mean of course you're in the band hopefully you know but if you don't i'll tell you where does that

name astoria come from um it's the name of a city in Oregon where the Goonies is. There it is. It's the hometown of the Goonies, which I think is awesome. So shout out to the Goonies. Yeah. So basically I've tried really hard for each album to sort of be like its own cinematic universe kind of. So not the first album.

I hadn't arrived at that idea yet, but Masterpiece Theater i wanted it to feel like uh being at a music theater show ever after i was really focused on i wanted it to feel like a dark tim burton kind of fairy tale story and then we were getting towards the end of the uh ever after cycle i think it was actually the last show and it was in the day um i was waiting waiting for the show and i would watch i was watching the movie super eight yeah which feels like which kind of feels like one of those even though it's a newer movie it feels like one of those classic spielberg movies right like it has that it definitely wears that influence on its sleeve and i it sort of dawned on me i was like you know what there's a there's a whole genre of movie that there isn't really a name for that is like 80s coming of age adventure stories and sure but there's a whole bunch of these

movies um like like the goonies like would you put et in that category yes i would yeah i can i can visualize it now i would put super that movie super eight even though it's newer i would put that in there i would put stranger things in that yeah absolutely like a gang of kids going on and going on an adventure together and so i came i came down to the guys and i was like what about this can we do this as an album somehow and um and and then actually my friend brett was like that's a really cool idea you should call it astoria and i was like why and he was like that's where the goonies take place oh fucking perfect that's beautiful um and i immediately started thinking of weird rhyme schemes like astoria boria more of, Moravia, like what I could do with it. And I was like, oh yeah, that's the title.

And then when we shot the video for the title track, we actually went to, we traveled to the city of Astoria and we filmed the video at all of the landmarks from the Goonies. And they let us actually film at the Goonies house. I love the Goonies. I'm a little older than you. Goonies was a big fucking deal to me

when I watched that as a kid. And of course, and the Cyndi Lauper jams man like that's what well between and the wrestling connection okay so i don't know if you're i just gotta bring out my georgie animal steel but the whole the whole rock and wrestling connection with cindy lopper in the mid 80s and how that ties into the goonies because that Goonies are good enough. That video has like classy Freddie Blassie and all these like WWF guys from the mid 80s in it. But there, okay. So I know that Astoria comes out in 2015, but I'm just gonna, a couple of fun facts

I'm gonna drop on the FOTMs regarding 2010s. We're gonna rewind five years. One, on this program, Josh, Toronto Mic'd, we're kind of mildly fascinated with Tears Are Not Enough. Do you know what that is? No. Too young, too young. Mid-80s, we did a charity single.

Canadian stars, rock stars, assembled, like the Avengers or something, like Neil Young and Bryan Adams and Corey Hart, Joni Mitchell, and there was a charity single called Tears Are Not Enough for a famine relief Corey Hart. Okay. Joni Mitchell. And there was a charity single called Tears Are Not Enough for a Famine Relief in Ethiopia. Okay. And there's all these different moving parts to this, but it's kind of fascinating

all these people get together. And you were involved in what I would argue the modern day equivalent to the Tears Are Not Enough is the song, is it Wave and Flag? Oh, yeah. The Haiti earthquake relief in 2010. Right. So we, I have a really funny story about this.

Yeah, hit me. I have a really funny story about this. So that was done in Vancouver, and that was produced by legendary producer Bob Ezrin. Shout out to Alice Cooper. Yeah, yeah. And so they had asked us to come down and the, one of the main reasons they managed to pull that off with getting so many artists in there was because it was during

the Vancouver Olympics. So everybody was in town cause we were all, everyone was playing the Olympics, right? So everyone was doing gigs for the Olympics. I mean, you did like five free shows. Yeah. Yeah. We did a whole bunch in Vancouver and in Surrey. Yeah.

And we were playing an Olympics show that day. We were playing a free show downtown. We did a whole bunch. In Vancouver and in Surrey. Yeah, and we were playing an Olympics show that day. We were playing this free show downtown. It was a huge show. So we go down. Basically, it was like we go to the studio in the morning. I go to the studio in the morning, and then I had to leave to get to sound check. And then they were like, can you come back and sing some background vocals as well? Right.

So I went down, and the other guys from my band were like we're gonna go to soundcheck early so we're not gonna go to the first part but we'll come back for the second part and they got to the warehouse they got to the warehouse where we recorded that brian adams studio and they there was all this catering setup so they were having a snack because they were hungry because they've been soundcheck all day and by the time they came into studio we were already wrapped so everybody on that song got a juno except the other guys in my band because they were because they were like five minutes late and we're eating uh craft services oh that's funny that's funny now that i guess they gave the hook at the end to a young justin bieber as i recall yeah justin's on that

yeah justin's got like a big yeah big big part of the end but uh that that i think is your closest we've come in the last 20 years or whatever to doing what we did in 85 with Tears Are Not Enough. And Brian Adams, of course, and Jim Valance, who writes these Adams songs, were heavily involved in that song, Tears Are Not Enough. So I was talking about that I had this vintage Neve in our house growing up. My dad bought that from Jim Valance. Get out of here!

And I did all of Brian's early demos, yeah. Jim Valance is a BFD. Look at this. You were destined for musical greatness. I don't think you had a choice, Josh. Okay. So again, you're here to talk about a solo album.

So Mike, why are you going to waste all this time on Marianas Trench? Because I got to do what I got to do here. But let's see. So Phantoms goes out in 2019. Yeah. And so what's the current status of your band

before I play a song, talk to you about that, and then get into this new album? Band is alive and well. We're working on the next album as we speak. I've got one song done and a few more that are very close. And they were all super supportive of me doing a solo record. I mean, it was quarantine, right? So we weren't getting together anyway.

Yeah, that's a good point how many junos do you have uh two okay but you've had you've many many nominations right uh yes thinking okay so where do you where do you keep your junos uh be honest with me now um they are you don't know where they are do you know i do i do they're um they're they're at my studio i keep stuff like that in my studio okay cool because i think i'd wear them around my neck meet people at the door of my juno saying hey how you doing how you doing well it's funny i was i was here this is my brag part of the promotion i was just in the toronto star i was on the cover of the toronto star yeah you were okay i was this actually happened okay there is So just this past weekend, I got the PDFs for this

because I'm like, I gotta put it up in the studio. So I got them printed and then I got them custom framed and I'm like, oh, I gotta hang these up. But I'm like, in the meantime, I'm gonna put them right at the bottom of the stairs so when somebody visits the studio, they're forced to see me

on the cover of the Toronto Star. Deal with this. Hey, so Marianas Trench, you got a couple of Junos. Amazing. What stations in Toronto would play Marianas Trench? Oh. I don't know if I can name very many radio stations off the top of my head. I don't live here.

That's true. Yeah. It's okay. I'll let you off the hook on that one. Because, again, you're living in, where do you vancouver vancouver yeah you're vancouver man okay i love it out there so you're excused from naming all the toronto stations that play forgive me for not knowing them off the top of my head i'm gonna play a song you're gonna talk to me about this song okay and then we're gonna get back to your solo album sure

this one usually comes up. I threw a wish in the well Don't ask me, I'll never tell I looked to you as it fell And now you're in my way I'd trade my soul for a wish Pennies and diamonds for a kiss I wasn't looking for this

But now you're in my way Your stare was holding Red chain skin was showing Hot night wind was blowing Where you think you're in my way Your stare was holding Red jeans, skin was showing Hot night, wind was blowing Where you think you're going, baby? Hey, I just met you And this is crazy But here's my number

So call me maybe It's hard to look right At you, baby But here's my number So call me maybe Hey, I just met you And this is crazy That's a jam right there. You took your time with the call I took no time for you I'm fading the wrong pod, so we're stuck with it here.

Okay. Carly Rae Jepsen, Call Me Maybe. Catchy as fuck. So many words to say about this jam, but it is definitely a jam. Please tell the FOTMs listening, Josh, what was your involvement with this song? Right, so I wrote half of it.

So Carly and I were friends. We were really great friends, actually, at that time. And we had written a song, we had worked together before on her first album. Her first album was very singer-songwriter-y. And then, so when we worked on this one it was a funny I was a weird this is one of those like

thank you moments but like basically like one of Carly's great gifts as a writer is she is unbelievably prolific like she will show up to a writing session and be like okay I've got 25 ideas it's amazing she's one of the only people I know who's like that.

And she had written, she showed up to the session and she showed me a whole shit ton of ideas that she had. And one of them was the beginning of this song. And basically her and her guitar player, Tavish, had written a totally different song. I wish I, you don't have a guitar or anything, but they had written a totally different song. I wish I, you don't have a guitar or anything, but they had,

they had written a totally different song. It was a different tempo, different key, different chord changes, different lyrics. But in the pre-chorus, there was this line of, I just met you and this is crazy.

That was that melody. But it was like this tiny little part in the pre-chorus of this little acoustic folk song. So I just thought it was like you said, I was like, well, that's catchy as fuck. And Carly was like, oh, okay, cool. And she was fine with like, why don't we just take that one line

and we'll leave the rest of that original song alone. We'll just take this one lyric, this one melody that you've got, and then let's you and I write a new song centered around this pre-existing line, which is what we did. And it's funny. There was a songwriting trend at that time that I think a lot of people did.

I think I maybe just noticed it a bit earlier. And it was really started by pop genius writer, producer Max Martin. I knew you were going to say that. So I think you can hear the Max Martin influence in that song. So there was a formula that came out around that time, and other songs that Max had written, and I sort of was just like, ah, yes, I get it. Something just clicked in my head.

So other songs, songs of Max's that follow that formula. Teenage Dream follows that formula. California Girls follows that formula. TikTok by Kesha follows that formula. Basically, it's a certain style of chord progression and between 120, 128 beats per minute. And there's a certain style of chord progression for you music theory dorks out there.

It's only using four, five, six, never going to the one. So, and variations on it. And I, so I had noticed that formula and I applied it several times. You played that song of mine, Haven't Had Enough. That's the same formula. So when Carly and I were working on this song yeah i was basically like okay so let's do like a katie perry song but let's put it all on let's put it all in strings rather than synths because her first album had been all singer-songwriter acoustic-y so we wanted to

bridge the gap a little bit for going for something that was a lot poppier um so we did and and um yeah i mean it's funny when I listen to it now, when you were playing it there, I was like, I've sort of forgotten the way it all goes together. It's, yeah, it was, that song has been just like the gift that came, kept on giving. It's crazy.

It's like winning the lottery. It's like winning the lottery. Props to you. That's a number one song. Like, you know? Yeah. Not everyone writes a number one song. This know? Not everyone writes a number one song. This is amazing.

It was pretty surreal, man. And the funny thing too, I think people have forgotten about that song is Carly and I were not trying to write some global super smash. You can't predict that sort of thing. We were trying to get her on Canadian Top 40 radio and that is it. And we did

and then the song was going down. It was like, it had been out for a while. The song was going down. And then Justin Bieber fucking, thanks, bro. He fucking tweeted about that song, being like, this is the catchiest song I've ever heard. And I remember where I was when that happened. I had taken my parents on vacation to Hawaii for New Year's.

So, and my manager texted me. He was like, Justin just tweeted about the song and everything's exploding. And I kind of thought like, you know, managers, they always say, they're going to tell you that, oh, it's amazing. And then you're going to get back home and be like, it's not a big deal. So I kind of took it with a grain of salt, if I'm being honest. I was like, I'm sure.

Okay, cool. Like that's nice of him, but whatever. And I kind of forgot about it i forgot about it and i got home i was on vacation right i got home a week later yeah and i was like holy fuck um this is fucking crazy jesus christ and um and then it was like then it was like it i think it i i don't remember now i think in the u.s i think it stayed i think it stayed in number one for like nine or ten weeks. It was a long time and it just wouldn't die.

It was the summer of 2012 for those who are thinking that. Right. Like I said, it had come out in 2011 and it got its thing in 2012. And then it had this crazy second and third life online with all the memes and then all the lip syncing videos of it.

And it got cool for celebrities to do all these, like it was just fucking crazy. Could you, like if you had to put a, you don't be, you know, let me hear your best guess on this. Put a dollar figure on what it was worth to you for Justin Bieber to send

that tweet. I'm not going to, I'm not going to say any numbers, but it was like Justin Bieber being like, here, you guys get to win the lottery. but it was like Justin Bieber being like, here, you guys get to win the lottery now. That's amazing. It was crazy.

Wow. And, you know, I still remember where I was when I found out that we got nominated for the Grammy. And that was a really surreal thing. I was living in a penthouse in Gastown in Vancouver. And a bunch of my friends were over and hanging out, and we're allowed to talk about this stuff. I'll admit, I just smoked a joint. Well, dude, I'm glad because I got a cannabis sponsor.

There's a toque for you to take home with you. I mean, I am from BC. What do you expect? So I just smoked a joint, and my friends were all kind of like doing whatever, and my wife, then girlfriend, they were all hanging out. And I looked at my phone, and I looked on Twitter, and there were all these congratulations like doing whatever and my my wife then girlfriend was was you know they were all hanging out and i looked at my phone i looked on twitter and there were all these congratulations about a grammy nomination but i didn't want to say anything out loud because i was stoned and i didn't trust my own judgment and i was like this can't be fucking real and i kept scrolling through

and then i googled it and i saw our fucking names and i was like and i remember looking up at everyone in the room going holy fuck we just got nominated for a fucking Grammy and like the Grammy fucking song of the year. Holy shit. And you know what's funny is even though the song had had all this luck and all this lightning in a bottle luck that we were fortunate enough to get,

I had never once considered that we were going to get nominated for it. It had never occurred to me. It had never occurred to me one time. Not one time. And then, so it was such a shock when it happened i didn't know they were announcing it i literally never considered that we would be up for that and i and it was one of the most surreal moments of my life and josh for all eternity now when you want to place a movie or a tv show in like the early

2010s let's say around 2011 or 2012 or whatever you're gonna license that song for use because i just had ivan from Without Hats on this program. Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah. And it's eerie hearing you talk about writing that and listening to him talk about writing the safety dance because he preferred another song on the album and this is, you know, safety dance being the global hit. But if you want to place a movie or TV show,

be it Netflix or HBO or whatever, in the early 80s, licensing safety dance is a brilliant way to do that. And his bank account thanks him every day for writing that song. So as he tells me, he never had to get a part-time job. Yeah, it's like the, yeah, I mean, you've hit the nail on the head.

And as soon as you said that, I was immediately thought of Hot Tub Time Machine. And when they realized they're in the 80s, you hear the safety dance. Right. Start to play. Absolutely. That's the power of music, right?

And you can write a hook. A sensory memory of it. Okay. So I got a link. I'm going to talk about this new album. But first, I'm going to thank a couple of sponsors. But first, I'm interested in how the cake is baked. And of course, Call Me Maybe, you'd co-write it.

But can you just share a little bit about Dave Rave Ogilvie? Oh, Rave. I follow him on Twitter. One day he's going to be on Toronto Mike. Shout out to Skinny Puppy. You should have him on. He's a fucking character, man. He's got so many stories because you guys at home,

if you don't know, okay, so Rave, his name is Dave, but he ended up getting the nickname Rave because he worked on all the early Marilyn Manson stuff and the Trent Reznor stuff. So, I mean, the guy's got- He's Skinny Puppy, right? Like this is- Yeah, he was in Skinny Puppy.

Shout out to Chris Shepard, wherever he is right now. Yeah, he was in Skinny Puppy. And then, you know, Trent Reznor, young Trent Reznor was a huge fan of, of skinny puppy and asked rave to come and be involved with the nine inch nails record. Um, and, um,

so, uh, it was a bit of a funny pairing when him and I first met each other. We first met each other when I was, uh, doing the match piece theater record. And that was before I had taken over being the producer full time. So the match piece theater record,

I produced four tracks, but I specifically didn't want to do singles cause I didn't feel like I was ready yet. And so we had guest producers for, each producer did two songs. We did two songs with Dave Ginn from the Matthew Good Band and 5440, who had produced our first record. We did two songs with Greg Norrie from Trouble Charger, Lovely Guy, two songs with Rain Maida from Our Lady Peace, and then two songs with Rave, who was suggested to me by my manager. And I was like, the guy, he worked on Nine Inch Nails.

Is he going to get what I'm up to? And we just like immediately got along. And he has been my mixing partner ever since. I'm going to just read a quote from him and then we're going to move on here. But this is Rave, okay? So his words, pretend I'm him'm him okay is that too difficult i enjoy everything josh works on and like mixing his stuff so i was eager to hear what he'd done i went over to his studio the umbrella factory and when he

played me the song i thought it had one of the biggest hooks i'd heard in years i couldn't wait to mix it and did so a couple of months later. I knew that the Canadian radio would love the song and when it took off in Canada I felt vindicated in my initial opinion but I had no inkling at all of its worldwide potential.

So man, Rave owes you a beer. Oh, that's very nice of Rave. Yeah, man. Rave and I mixed that song together. And like I said, ever since the first time I worked with Rave, we have been mixing partners ever since. Amazing.

A little warm up here. We talked about Chad earlier. These handshakes coming Only you can cool me down I can't leave well enough alone I bet you must have noticed And I'm not the type you bring back home I'm the type that you go with Two shots from the fever One drink I do and I'm done Feel me

Any less of you will kill me No body, but the lady mind I'm done, I'm done Fill me with any less of you will kill me No body, but the lady mind Don't you look, don't you look like a lost kiss goodbye I can listen to the whole thing, man. One taste and I'm singing three-part harmony. It's so hot, I know you've got the last drop. I can listen to the whole thing, man. Honestly, listen to that.

You must be proud of yourself. Thank you. This sounds great. Thank you. This is the first song on the Josh Ramsey show. Yeah. The new album. Speaking of Nickelback, so hey, tell us a little bit about Lady Mine featuring Chad Kroger. And then I'll thank some sponsors and we'll get back to this new album. Speaking of Nickelback, so hey, tell us a little bit about Lady Mine featuring Chad Kroger,

and then I'll thank some sponsors, and we'll get back to this new album. Sure. So this was one of the first songs I wrote for the record. Because I was doing a solo record, I had always planned on doing an album where I played all of the instruments myself, and I just never had time to get

around to doing that idea until the pandemic and quarantine happened, and then it made sense to do that. And I got really lucky time to get around to doing that idea until the pandemic and quarantine happened. And then it made sense to do that. And I got really lucky with a lot of great, great guest vocalists because everyone was fucking available. Right. Because no one's on tour. Right. Which was. And they could do it in their underwear at home.

Right. Right. So. So I was about halfway through writing this song when I started to be like, I wonder if Chad would do this. I wonder if I sent this to him. I wonder if he would say yes. And then it quickly became, oh, fuck, I hope he says yes

because I don't know anyone else who could sing this song. And so I really started to write it picturing him. And then I sent it over to him and he was super nice and he actually said yes to singing on it before he even heard it. His words were, he just said, if it's up to your normal standard, I'm sure it's fine. Send it on over.

It rocks. This is a blistering hard rock track I'm listening to here. Thanks. Yeah, I really wanted every song on the album to be a different genre. So it's not like this is the sound of the album. The album doesn't really have one specific sound. It like it's really all over the place and i'm sure there was with chad there must have been some kind of like a 604 code here right looking out for your uh fellow 604 i mean chad and i've been buddies for a really long time man like chad and jonathan

simpkin signed me to 604 records when I was still a teenager. And, you know, I've been very close with both of them ever since. And I also worked with Chad on a Nickelback record as well in a co-writing capacity. And, you know, we had a lot of fun working together on the Nickelback record. Dude, that's a story in and of itself, actually. I had released Marianna. Sorry, I shouldn't say in and of itself, actually. I had released, Marianna, sorry, I shouldn't say I,

Marianna's Trench, my band, we had released a song in between albums. We released a song called Pop 101 that was a pop song about how to write a pop song.

So it was sort of tongue in cheek and sort of my attempt at being clever. And the song came out and chad texted me and he was like i love this i love this song this is really funny and really clever you write you know you've written this song about the music industry and he really liked it and i was like oh thanks dude you know what are you up to and he was like i'm working on a nickelback record in maui

and i was like fuck you too tough life bro um and then he was like do you want to come i was like what and he goes yeah do you want do you want to come and like write on some Nickelback stuff in Maui? And I was like, seriously? Yeah. Okay. And I was on a plane the next day. I was on a plane the next day and we had a blast. That's why you look like a rock star.

And I look like a guy who dressed himself in the dark. Look, honestly, that's incredible. Okay. So right now you're here. Obviously, you're a Vancouver guy. So how long are you in town for? I'm here just today. And tomorrow I go to Montreal to play Marianne's Trench Show.

Okay, so I've got you for a little bit. So I don't even know if this makes sense, but you have somebody with you here. We can shout her out here. It's Sam. My publicist, Sam. So I have a meat lasagna from palma pasta frozen meat lasagna i don't know if it makes sense for you to take it if you're on your way to montreal but

maybe sam takes this would you take it sam okay big thumbs up from sam sam's getting your this is thanks to you being here uh palma pasta delicious authentic italian food here in the gta palmapasta.com you've already got the Great Lakes beer. We talked about Canna Cabana. This won't be undersold on cannabis or cannabis accessories. Go to CannaCabana.com. There's over 100 locations across this country. They're just amazing partners of the program.

StickerU. Okay, here, this is for you, Josh. I know this is going to make your day. A StickerU.com Toronto mic sticker for you. You got that. You got the toque from Canna Cabana. Ridley Funeral Home. You never know what you have to measure.

Maybe Sam's going to steal this from you, stick it in her purse. You never know when you have to measure something. That's courtesy of Ridley Funeral Home. Listen to Brad Jones' excellent new podcast, Life's Undertaking. And last but not least, RYOBI. So RYO I have this

actually I'll show you I can't give this to you though you're not taking this okay alright there you go there you go the Ryobi One Plus

oh it's a drill it's a drill they have 260 tools my wife my wife is the handy one in my relationship oh my god

I'm exactly the same so my wife is the daughter of a contractor okay and she's like handy as fuck and I'm not kidding it's actually a house god, I'm exactly the same. So my wife is the daughter of a contractor and she's like handy as fuck and I'm not kidding, it's actually a house rule that I'm not allowed to play with the power tools. When she needs like heavy lifting and stuff, she's like, I'm right

there, but yeah, I'm not allowed to, I mean, she'd prefer I didn't play with the power tools to be honest because she's so much better than I am, you know, measure twice, cut once. And there's 260 tools in the Ryobi 18 volt one plus high capacity system. And they all use the same tools and chargers. So it's really like, it's really convenient.

I could do so much damage with that. Oh, me too. I'm glad. I feel better knowing I'm not alone here. My wife is so handy. She's done these woodworking projects. And I'm like, how do you do that? Like I can do this, but how do you do that?

Yeah. My wife has flipped a couple couple houses in this area. She's from... In Toronto. Yeah, she flipped a couple houses in Hamilton. And she fucking went out and was, like, actually doing, like, the shit with the tools and stuff, too. She's amazing.

Okay, so we have amazing wives. We're lucky guys, right? Okay, so I could play anything. There's some great jams on this, but I'm actually cherry-picking, like, guests you have featured on this. Okay. Is that cool?

Yeah, you'll see stylistically it really moves around a lot. Okay, well, let's listen to future FOTM, Serena Ryder. Sure. This is Beat the Devil. Beat the Devil. Yeah, I know just what you're doing here in front of me But I don't need to see those bedroom eyes

In between of what I am and what I should be But I don't need another compromise Yeah, I did a little over time I don't need another compromise. I don't need no savior. Cause I'm about to get, I'm about to get high. What I need now is a way to beat the devil Yeah, all I need now Is a way to slow me down Yeah, what I need now Josh, you ever write a song for yourself?

Like for the Josh Ramsey project And then you have a moment where I, like for the Josh Ramsey Project, and then you have a moment where, I'm sorry, the Josh Ramsey Project is not the name of this album. It is called The Josh Ramsey Show. But I think the Josh Ramsey Project is a good name for your follow-up. Sure. Just give me credit when you do this, liner notes. Do you ever write something and have the guys in Marianna's Trench say,

hey, that would be a good MT song? That's a good question. We didn't really see each other while I was doing this. When they hear this, there's not going to be a cut on this album where they're like, that could have been a great MT song. No, they won't. I have the full support of the guys. I will say there are only two songs that I feel like could have gone on a Marianas Trench record.

But one song was specifically, this is a weird story. So for a while, we were briefly signed in the United States. Fuck, man. This was actually, you know what? I'm going to be totally candid. Be candid, man. This was actually, you know what? I'm going to be totally candid. Be candid, man. Real talk. Okay.

So I was really glad because there was this record label for a while called Cherry Tree. Wonderful guys. Wonderful people. They were basically a small label inside of a huge major. So they were in the Interscope building. They got their funding from Interscope, but they were their own label at the same time. It was amazing. And they had a great roster.

It wasn't a huge roster, but it was great. They had Ellie Goulding. They had LMFAO. They had Far East Movement. And they signed us, and I was stoked, man. It was like, finally, we're getting a major label push in the States. And I recorded the Astoria album for them. So we had this huge budget.

We had the symphony in all the time. And then I was like, okay, I'm finally going to get my real shot at the States. And then unfortunately, at the CD release party, so like days before the album came out, the guys from Cherry Tree came and said, we've all just gotten fired and Cherry Tree doesn't exist. Oh my God.

And it was like days before the album was supposed to come out. And so then what happened is then we got swallowed up by In interscope but we had no one there who actually wanted to you don't have a champion yeah we didn't have a champion i hear this from so many musicians everyone's got this story so um anyways but i stayed in touch with martin the guy who had signed us who was the owner of cherry tree i always stayed in touch with him and his other gig is he's sting's manager oh so so i because of that i've met sting a few times and when martin heard that i was doing a solo record with a bunch of guests he texted me and he was like you should write something for sting and i i was like do you think he would do

it and he was like yeah if he has the time he'll do it and so write something for it and if it's good he's like so so write something for him so i if it's good, he's like, so write something for him. So I wrote a song called Reckless Heart where I was specifically trying to write a modern day police song. And then, of course, Sting didn't have the time to do it. So I ended up being just me. But I feel like that song could have gone on a Marianas record. But just picture the police when you hear this. Okay, this is it. Reckless Heart.

Why can't I ever choose the simple way in front of me i ought to know by now when fingers were still with me me but i'm only happy when i'm living dangerously. I know I'm forever searching for another day where something's gotta give in me. We all need a fantasy. I just need somewhere to go, somewhere to stay, Somewhere to be Yeah Yeah, yes. Totally. So yeah, I wasn't bummed that, I mean, it's Sting, right? I wasn't bummed or anything because I still at least got that song out of it and I never would have written that song had I not had this goal that Martin had given me of trying to place a song with Sting.

Now, I do think that is the only song on the album that I'm like, yeah, that could have been on a Marianas Trench record. But, you know, but it was just it was still part of this writing process. So I kept it for this record. OK, we'll play one more, a little bit of one more. And then you're going to tell us all how we can uh when and how we can score this album the genres keep morphing here this is And I remember it, you're on the tip tip of my tongue You scandalize forever, I'm my only one It won't take away, take away, take away, take away what I've done But I rewind every time, don't you think you would try one?

Let it taste, just a, let it taste, just a drop under the ocean You know that I've been stuck in between every In between every opposite emotion Delirious It's just a drop under the ocean Delirious In every opposite emotion Delirious This is great. Thank you.

And this is Fifi Dobson, for those who don't recognize the voice. Yeah. Bye, boyfriend. No, just for an example. Yeah. And now for something completely different. Yeah. Can you play just one minute of a song near the beginning called Blame It On The Beat?

You got it, buddy. Hey, you got it. Let's do it. Hey, it's like Jump, Drive, and Wail over here. Shout out to the Stray Cats All right, Josh, how do we get the Josh Ram? Like, when do we get it? Is this even out yet? No, it comes out April 8th.

April 8th. Okay, very cool. And you should be very proud of this. This sounds great, and it shows your range as an artist. You're all over the place. All over the place. All over the place. It's all good. It's all good.

I think because of that, like because stylistically, it's so, there's a lot of, a lot of like diversity. I mean, musically speaking, there's a lot of variety.

I think it's actually probably the most difficult thing that I've produced. Like as a producer, it's probably the most difficult thing that I've done because it's just so varied. I mean, we should point out, Dallas Smith is on this thing. Like you've got, like as a producer, it's probably the most difficult thing that I've done because it's just so varied. I mean, we should put it, Dallas Smith is on this thing.

Like you've got some like country going on. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Yeah. Is there any genres you missed here? You got any reggae on here? There's no reggae, but there is a song that's like, that's definitely got some raggaeton feel in it. Good.

Dude, Josh, dude, what a pleasure it was meeting you, man. Yeah, likewise. We got to take a photo by the tree before you leave. That's a mandatory requirement here. But again, Sam gets the lasagna. But dude, loved it. You're a creative guy. Maybe if you're bored

and you want to chat, you can call me maybe. See what I did there. I'll fix that in post. And that brings us to the end of our 1023rd show. Wow, that's amazing, dude. Good for you. Thanks, buddy. I waited.

Save the best for 1-0-2-3. You can follow me on Twitter. I'm at Toronto Mike. Josh, do you do your own tweeting? Be honest with me. You're a rock star. Yes. What is your Twitter handle? I think it's just Josh Ramsey. At Josh Ramsey. I'll tag you on this

when I drop it in like 10 minutes. Our friends at Great Lakes Brewery, they're at Great Lakes Beer. Palma Pasta is at Palma Pasta. Sticker U is at Sticker U. Ridley Funeral Home, they're at Ridley FH. Canna Cabana are at Canna Cabana underscore.

And Ryobi are on Instagram at Ryobi underscore Canada. See you all next week. mine and it won't go away cause everything is rose and green well you've been under my skin for more than eight years it's been

eight years of laughter and eight years of tears and I don't know what the future can hold or do for me and you But I'm a much better man for having known you Oh, you know that's true because Everything is coming up

Rosy and green Yeah, the wind is cold But the smell of snow Wants me today And your smile is fine And it's just like mine The wind is cold with the smell of snow. Won't you be today? And your smile is fine and it's just like mine. And it won't go away.