Toronto Mike'd: The Official Toronto Mike Podcast - Julian Taylor: Toronto Mike'd #1162

Episode Date: November 30, 2022

In this 1162nd episode of Toronto Mike'd, Mike chats with singer songwriter Julian Taylor about his years in Staggered Crossing, Further Again, why they split, The Julian Taylor Band, going solo and what he's learned along the way. Toronto Mike'd is proudly brought to you by Great Lakes Brewery, Palma Pasta, Yes, We Are Open, The Advantaged Investor, Canna Cabana, StickerYou, Ridley Funeral Home and Electronic Products Recycling Association.

It's Ill Vibe, local rapper-producer. Welcome to episode 1162 of Toronto Mic'd. Proudly brought to you by Great Lakes Brewery. Order online for free local home delivery in the GTA. StickerU.com. Create custom stickers, labels, tattoos, and decals. Palma Pasta. Fresh, homemade Italian pasta and entreals. Palma Pasta. Fresh. Homemade Italian

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future means properly recycling our electronics of the past. Ridley Funeral Home pillars of the community since 1921. Canna Cabana the lowest prices on cannabis guaranteed and Sammy Cone Real Estate

Ask Sammy any real estate questions at Sammy.Cone at ProperlyHomes.ca. Joining me today, making his Toronto Mike debut, is Julian Taylor. Welcome, Julian. Hey, how's it going? Good. Good to finally meet you. It's nice to finally meet you as well.

And you made the trek. I'm honoured that you would do that for me. It was a long trek. I mean, now that we live in the city, getting from the East End to the West End can be an hour-long journey. You know, Jim Cuddy refused. I had to come to the woodshed. Oh, well, not a bad place to go.

But you came, man. That's awesome. And I have lovely notes for you. Now, I'm going to just change the angle of the microphone just to get you more right in front of me. Right here? Yeah. We're good.

Right in front of that. Okay, then I can bring it down over here. It's all coming together here. I love it. Love it. Okay. Tyler Stewart. From the Barenaked Ladies.

Drummer for the Barenaked Ladies. This is what he wrote, and I think this is a good starting point. Julian is an inspiration, a survivor of the fickle canadian music biz but continually crafting quality material with a forward-looking and positive message jt is a study in perseverance and following your true calling glad you're having him on mike hey jt hey tyler very kind, Tyler. Very kind words from Tyler Studeb.

Wow, super kind words. I can't even believe it. I read that the other day, yesterday rather, on Twitter, and I was really touched. So thank you, Tyler. He and I had some adventures in 2010 at the Olympic Games and stuff like that. It was awesome.

He's a great guy. All right, in Vancouver Whistler. Oh, wait, no, it was 2002. We were in Salt salt lake city even further back yeah that's right oh you played both though i did yeah that's how did you get so how did you get involved with the uh the salt lake city one um i have a friend named jay englishman oh yeah of course he and i were signed to warner at the uh just before that. And I got a call because his manager, Bob Lutella, who's since gone and now is in the spirit world,

so we send love to him and his family. Godspeed. But he and Bob called me and asked if I was interested in going down. What's funny is that I think that before Jay and I, when we were on the same label, were sort of rivals. It felt that way at least. I mean, we were always friendly with each other, but it always sort of felt like there was a friendly rivalry

until both of us traveled down to Salt Lake City together in 2002, became roommates for a week, and performed each night at the Canada House and went to each hockey game. We went to every single hockey game except for the gold medal game. Oh, you missed out. Okay, because that's what the 2002 and the 2010 Olympics have in common. Gold

medal for the Canadian men's hockey team. I'd like to think it was my presence being there. And that 2002 win, I actually had a, we did a special episode about it because it just turned 50 years old. Not 50, sorry. That was the 70, no, the 72 Summit Series just turned 50 so I get my wires crossed. But it just turned 50 years old. Not 50, sorry. That was the 70, no, the 72 Summit Series just turned 50. So I get my wires crossed.

But it just turned 20 and it was the end of a 50 year drought for Canada's men's team and Canada hadn't won gold in 50 years. I didn't know that. Yeah, it was big because we didn't send our NHL players, right? Oh, right, right.

98 was the first time the NHL guys went over and you might remember a shootout against Dominic Hasek in the Czech Republic and the famous decision by Mark Crawford that the greatest goal scorer

in the history of the universe would not be taking a penalty shot. That's the great one. And we lost that game. So 2002 was the first time we ended that streak of fatality. That was a good choice on his part.

It's like, I always think like in the software world, we used to say like, oh, nobody gets fired for buying IBM. Like it's like sort of like no one's going to judge you for putting Wayne Gretzky on the ice for a shootout. Okay, so Tyler Stewart, but he's not the only drummer who chimed in. So Jeff Burrows, drummer for the Tea Party, Okay, so Tyler Stewart, but he's not the only drummer who chimed in. Oh. Jeff Burrows, drummer for the Tea Party, wrote, incredible!

I think Jeff is a big fan of yours. I'm a big fan of Jeff's. I remember touring with them a long time ago. I think one of the last shows I did with them would have been at Grand Bend Motorcross or something like that back in 2001. I camped down the street, as you say, at the Pinery. I'm at the Pinery every year. Oh, nice. Yeah, down from Grand Bend.

Jeff Burrow seems like a really nice guy. He does, yeah, he is. I'm surprised that he's a fan of my work. Thank you, Jeff. Speaking of fans of your work, Brad Wheeler, who actually, where's that book here? He came up yesterday because Brad Wheeler reviewed.

He reviewed that book by Jason. Yeah, The Longest Suicide, which is Jason Schneider's book. Jason says hi, by the way. He was here yesterday. Hello, Jason. And Brad Wheeler just wrote back and said, real deal. So he says you're the real deal. Well, that's very kind.

I'd like to think I'm in real life. I've pinched myself a couple of times and every time it hurts. So real deal well that's very kind i'd like to think i'm in real life i've pinched myself a couple times and every time it hurts so real deal and then uh monty says this guy is the definition of pure canadian musician as good of a musician as he is a human being well i don't know if i agree on either but thank you i really appreciate it monty Monty and I go way back. Okay. He was the first person I think to play further again on, it was an Ottawa Toronto hockey series. And I can't remember what year that was, but it might've been 2020. Sorry, not 2020. No, it wasn't that. 2002, perhaps that that happened.

So we're actually going to, you know, we're going to get up to date because like, like Tyler Stewart said, like your journey is amazing, going to you know we're going to get up to date because i like uh like tyler stewart said like your journey is amazing but we're going to go back to some staggered crossing and some early day stuff and then we're going to bring you up to current day but a couple more notes this is why you made the trek because you get all these nice compliments off the top but jason beattie jason i hope i see you on saturday because i'm hosting an event at palma's kitchen saturday which is the 3rd of December 2022.

We will get Palma pasta. By the way, Julian, you're leaving here with a large lasagna from Palma pasta. Whoa. Frozen in my freezer right now. That box will get full. Okay, thank you. And we're all going to enjoy Great Lakes beer that's fresh craft beer, brewed

right here in southern Etobicoke. I've got some GLB for you as well. Thank you. All these gifts. More gifts coming. That's very sweet. It's Christmas. I feel like it's time for giving

and I appreciate it. Thank you. It is. It's time to give. I got more for you later but Jason Beattie writes in incredibly talented. My buddy Derek

plays with him. Yeah. I'm not sure which Derek it is but I play with a couple of Derek's. So if it's Derek Downham he's an incredible musician here in Toronto,

multi-instrumentalist, producer, looking for space actually for his new studio, which is kind of cool. And other than that, councilman Derek Guyberson, who lives in Oshawa, has also played with me a lot in the past, and he's an incredible B3 player. I'm very fortunate to be able to play with these incredible musicians. So Beats, let us know which Derek. We got a couple of candidates here. They're the bomb.

Both of them are pretty amazing. Both good Derricks. David Escorcio. I think I nailed that. Okay. Amazing talent. Nice to see him getting more exposure. So this is it for you, Julian.

This is the apex of the exposure you've had. You're now on Toronto Mic'd. Amazing. And here's somebody, I saw your reply via Twitter. So Lisa McIntosh. Oh, she's amazing. I always love photographing my good friend, Julian Taylor. Yeah, she seems to be able to bring out something in everybody. She's actually got a book, able to bring out something in everybody. She's actually got a book, Portraits of the Great Hall, and I was asked to be part of that. That was the first time that I met Lisa. I think that was 2017, and we've been friends ever since. She did the promo pictures for my Ridge album, and she's done the promo pictures for this new album, Beyond the Reservoir. She's a sweetheart. She's actually been here to photograph yours truly.

She is amazing, isn't she? And you're the second guest in a row that is in that book you mentioned by her, Great Hall, what's it called again? Portraits of the Great Hall. Portraits of the Great Hall, yes. Because Art Bergman. Art's in that as well.

Also in that as well. Okay, so, and one last shout out here before we get to Staggered Crossing and we chat you up and get you to current day is I want to thank Bob Willett because Bob mentioned that you live in his neighborhood. I do. And he said he'd see you on the streets and sort of wave hi and say, hi, Julian.

I live on the streets in the neighborhood, yeah. And at some point I went to Bob and said, Bob, I would love Julian Taylor on Toronto Mic. I said, would you introduce me to him? And he sent us an email and that's sort of what started this whole thing. So thank you, FOTM, Bob Ouellette. Bob's a gentleman and a scholar. You probably hit me for saying that, but maybe not.

Shout out to Bob Ouellette. Good guy. All right. So let's go back. You're comfortable. We can go back before we get to current day. Okay. So here's a big jam.

The Gen X locals here are going to love this, but let's start with the obvious starting point and then we'll see, you know, get the staggered crossing story. And then I've got some more current jams, but here we go. I'm heading out on the 401 Don't make you nervous Bus stop, truck stop, and everything

Just to make me restless I've got my life on the line right now Can't you hear me coming? Bus stop, truck stop, a truck stop And everything Just to keep me running Five minutes, a new flight Everything is torn

I'm going further again Woo! It's like we're shot out of a cannon here, Julian. Love it. Still sounds great. But as a man who was listening to a lot of 102.1 The Edge at this time, this song was in high rotation and deservedly so. Yeah, I haven't heard it in a while.

It's good. It's a little bit like I'll tell you, you know, I'm going to be very honest with you. I hear a little tragically hip in there in some of the guitar parts. I do too, actually. A lot of people compared us to the Counting Crows at the time. Perhaps it was my voice and my timber. I'm not really sure. We were also a bunch of you know kids from high school with a colored singer and you know Caucasian backing band so that could have been it as well but it's interesting to listen to that i feel like my voice has dropped a lot uh certainly in my singing and my speaking so 25 years later

you won't like if you're gonna do a show and we come out to see julian taylor we're not gonna get further again um i've done it it's been it's a rare occasion um i have to go back, and I'm lucky that I've put out 12 albums, and I can go back and relearn the songs that I've written. Because I don't recall all of them. You could ask me to play it, and I might not know at this very moment, but at least I can go back and learn it again. So give me, if you don't mind, the staggered crossing origin story, because you're quite young.

I'm looking at you right now. You must have been very young when this jam hit. I was, I think I was 19 when it hit. Yeah. Yeah. So we had been a band from 1996 was when Staggered Crossing first, you know, became a group. It consisted of myself, Daniel Black, Jeremy Elliott, and Dave Marshall.

And we were all high school friends going to open stages in North Toronto area where we went to school. I went to school at North Toronto Collegiate and so did Jeremy. And that's how we sort of connected. But I was writing original songs way before that. I was in a group called The Weeds first.

That was our first battle of the band when I played at the El Macombo. Shout out to Canna Cabana. And I think I would have been 14, 15 at that time. Wow. And played the El Macombo, and then I was in a band called The Midnight Blues with another singer-songwriter by the name of Andre Flack, who became Freeman Dre. He's out there doing things in Toronto as well. And we're still buddies.

But Stagger Crossing ended up putting together like this four song EP. Further Again was one of the songs on that. I remember writing that, walking my dog, you know, literally and figuratively. That's not a euphemism you're telling me, walking the dog. Yeah, exactly. But we put four songs together, Further Again, a song called Living on 45, To Catch a Fever was the other one, and Crazy People.

And we kept on doing open stages and doing Battle of the Bands, and the tape ended up in a gentleman's hands by the name of Frank Davies, and he was the president of the music publisher. His daughter actually went to school with us, and it's that age-old story. What school is this? North Toronto Collegiate. Okay. She ended up giving the tape to her dad, and then we got this phone call to come in,

and he wanted to sign me as a writer because I was writing all the songs, and I said, yeah, that's cool, but we've got to make sure the band comes along. So he signed us all and we went looking for a deal and Frank had, I think, two years to secure a major label deal and he did it. And we released that particular song on Warner Music Canada back in 2001. The record was recorded in 1999 and 2000 by Jerry Mosby. He produced it. We did it at the

Chalet up in Uxbridge. And yeah, quite interesting. But actually, I should mention that Dave went to university. He left the band, went to McGill. And two gentlemen a little older than us, not too much older than we were, filled out the sound of the group. A guy named Daryl O'Day. He was a multi-instrumentalist. And Bruce Adamson was lead guitar. And we put out that record.

And it went bonkers for a little while. Well, if I don't doubt it, it was Omni. By the way, the hip song actually had a vinyl copy of Road Apples beside me. And I'm like, what song am I hearing in there? Of course, I'm hearing a little t like a little titch of Little Bones. Ah, okay. Like, two fifty four, a couple, and a book and a half. It's got that Canadian sound. But it sounds great.

Can rock. And I remember at the time, like, oh, it's sort of like, you remember that Simpsons episode where Spinal Tap talks about, we were on Route 401 earlier today. And everyone's excited, like, oh my God, I live near there or whatever. Like, I'm like, oh, he's shouting out, you know, Highway 401. Like, I drive on route 401 earlier today and everyone's excited like, oh my God, I live near there or whatever. Like I'm like, oh, he's shouting out, you know, highway 401. Like I drive on highway 401. Who doesn't?

It's horrible. Like we're so hyperlocal, but big jam. At that time it wasn't as packed as it is now. That's why I bike everywhere, man. I legit, like if you said, hey, I can't come all the way to New Toronto. You're going to have to come to me. I'll do what I did for,

I would do it for you too. I would pack up my studio in a trailer, a bike trailer, and I would bike to you set up and record the car on the east end. So next time I'll come to you. I just did it for Barney Bentall of all people. He was at the Glenn Gould studio.

Oh, you did it there? Yeah, and I did it in the back room, one of the small back rooms. Yeah, Barney's amazing. Oh yeah, yeah. And his son Dustin's amazing too, yeah. And it's funny because there's a lot of overlap between those guys and Blue Rodeo, like Dustin plays a lot with Blue Rodeo and there's a whole

connection there. Okay, so Further Again hits. It's all over Canadian rock radio, I'm guessing. It was, number four on the charts. Yeah, big jam. So looking back at the discography of Staggered Crossing, it seems to be the peak. It was the peak as far as commercial success was.

Sure. And it was obviously pushed by a major label. Unfortunately, at that time, I think it was really a lot of these things is luck and timing. And Napster hit full swing as soon as that record came out a lot of people who were on the label then said we would have had a gold record but uh we didn't and uh management and and whatnot were disenchanted and we were uh let go we had to go fight for ourselves on our next record um which we did. We ended up working with Jay Bennett,

and Jay was the multi-instrumentalist for the band Wilco. We were at a show with Blue Rodeo, and Bob Egan was playing there, and he had played with Wilco, and I got to talking to him and said, you know, I really love Wilco, and he said, Jay's looking for something to produce, and one morning I woke up to the phone call, and it was jay bennett and i was super thrilled um because i was such a big fan jay made it up here into toronto for a couple weeks we remained friends we recorded last summer when we were famous uh which i still today think is the best album title i've ever had i can't take credit for it dan was the one who actually named it and uh it was just a lot of fun to record i think it's the most cohesive staggered crossing record but this is uh your your segues are impeccable here because i did get

another uh lovely note from steve leggett steve i hope i see you on december 3rd at palma's kitchen so steve writes in glad to see julian taylor is coming on a good friend of mine recorded the last staggered Crossing record. Here are two, so he sends in a couple of tunes. Oh, actually, let me play a bit of it in the background here, and there's more coming here from Steve. Oh, yeah. I feel so beat up again I keep holding on

To a place I don't belong And my heart it sees All the things I want to be I want to be all All the standards of my life Till I know what I love Grow Till I know what I love Grow Till I know what I love

Grow And that's Grow. So to finish up the great Steve Leggett note I got, he says, Jay Bennett from Wilco, as you just mentioned, Julian was the producer on that album. You might want to ask what working with him was like. I think he was difficult slash using. Again, I'm reading Steve Leggett's note here.

My friend Ed was the engineer. We hung out with the guys back at that time very cool dudes so share a little more about what it was like working with will koza jay bennett and this jam by the way is great oh thanks i haven't heard this one in a while yeah listen this is your life julian taylor you came to the right place okay working with jay b Jay Bennett was a pleasure. He certainly taught me a lot about producing, and after the experience with Jay,

I was definitely in the producer's chair a lot more. From this record with Grow, that's Burgundy Blue, that Ed was the engineer and co-producer. He and I really were the ones that put this one together. The one previous to that last summer when we were famous was really Jay Bennett showing us the ropes, and Ed engineered that. And then a guy named Jeff McCullough,

who owned Wellesley Sound, mixed it. But it was, yeah, Jay and I and everybody in the band, we like to partake in, you know, all sorts of things. And at the time, I don't know if I need to, you know, divulge too much more than that. Lots of late nights, listening to music, talking about music, and just trying to, you know, solve the world's problems in a different state of mind.

What happens in Vegas stays in Vegas. What happens at my house does too. But, you know, the song's called Grow. So I will let people know that if you consume cannabis, Canna Cabana will not be undersold on cannabis or cannabis accessories. Over 140 locations across the country. And they're great partners of this program. So shout out to Canna Cabana.

And well, since I'm doing this, since I'm doing this real quick, there's a Toronto Mike sticker for you, Julian. I do. I'm going to put this on my guitar case. Can you send me a photo? Yeah, I can. That's amazing. So that's courtesy of stickeru.com.

That's where you get your stickers, decals. They're in Liberty Village. Great, great business. We love those people. And here, let me do it now because we're going to be playing some jams and then I might not get back to it. So I'm going to give you one more big gift, which is that little brown box. Yeah, that little brown box. That little brown box is courtesy of Moneris.

It's a wireless speaker for you so a bluetooth speaker beautiful and what you're gonna do julian is you're gonna take that speaker and you're gonna subscribe to the yes we are open podcast which is a manaris podcast production and this is al grego who was on the show last week people should check it out we kicked out the jams he's uh telling the stories of Canadian small businesses and their perseverance. There's that P word again. I believe Tyler Stewart used it for you. Their perseverance in the face of overwhelming adversity. And everybody can subscribe at Yes We Are Open podcast. And since I'm shouting out great podcast, the Advantage Investor podcast from Raymond James Canada is hosted by Chris

Cooksey. It features insights from leading professionals and provides valuable perspective for Canadian investors who want to remain knowledgeable, informed, and focused on long-term success. And last but not least, because shortly after you leave here today, Julian, I have Brad Jones.

He's a funeral director with Ridley Funeral Home, which is like literally Lakeshore and 14th. It's really close to here. And we're going to record an episode, a new episode of his podcast, Life's Undertaking. I urge everyone to check that out. I get to co-host that one. It's about life, death. It's very soul enriching, I would say.

And Brad's a great guy. And so shout out to Ridley Funeral Home. Hey, did you ever play of The Watchmen? Yeah. Okay. This is another small world. We live in a very, very small world. But the drummer, today's about the drummers.

You know, is that? It really seems to be. The Tea Party, Barenaked Ladies, and the Watchmen. All their drummers are in this episode. So Sammy Cohn, K-O-H-N. I love Sammy, yeah. Great guy. He played with Art Bergman.

He wrote me a note to say he's got the longest suicide, which is the Jason Schneider book about Art. He's got it on his leg. He's reading it right now. So Sammy Cohen, if anyone out there has questions about either drumming or real estate, Sammy's a great real estate agent, and you can write him now, Sammy.Cohn, again, K-O-H-N, at ProperlyHomes.ca. Here's something I want to ask you about, Julian, because I found this very interesting. But it sounds like maybe you can speak to the Song Corporation's bankruptcy. You guys got, can you tell me about what happened there?

Yeah, sure. So the Song Corporation was a company that was made up of a bunch of other independent companies. They all came together to start this one conglomerate. And TMP, the musical publisher, Frank Davey's company at the time, was one of those companies. And our publishing was owned by that particular entity. So we went along and were part of the Song Corporation, but the Song Corporation didn't last. It went bankrupt,

and we all found ourselves in a precarious situation with our publisher. Certainly the first record had been recorded. Warner already had released that into the world, so they owned the master, and TMP owned the publishing on that. It was the other works that I had written during the time. And I had,

you know, I've written so many songs, but I think at that time there might've been about 80 songs sitting in that catalog. And I was about to lose them all. So. Like explain how, how are you, is it because, because I did, did some reading on this. And I was about to lose them all. So... Like, explain how... Is it because...

Because I did some reading on this. It sounds like when Song Corporation declares bankruptcy in, like, May 2001, they can sell... The assets. ...your work as assets to pay off its debt. Yeah, that's correct. But what was so disturbing about that

is that the assets hadn't been commercially released. They weren't, you know, publicized. Right. So it was a few of us, a guy named Eddie Schwartz, myself and the band members that I had in line, Daryl, Dave, Jeremy, Dan, and Bruce. And we all agreed that it was kind of silly that our unpublished works were going to be used as assets and that we wouldn't be able to get them back. So a lawyer at the time by the name of Peter Steinmetz decided that, and he really flagship the whole thing, you got to give him the most credit here. He did the most work on it. We really just agreed with

the idea that it was unfair and put some cash towards it. I know that the Tragically Hip did as well, and certainly Eddie Schwartz as well. And we were not really allowed to talk about it for many, many years. But Peter Schwartz was able to win a case in the bankruptcy law. And the Canadian Charter was effectively changed to state that any company that does go bankrupt is not allowed to use any intellectual property. And that doesn't mean just music. It means writings, it means art,

it means any intellectual property. You could, you know, come up with an idea, like a patent or something like that. Wow. And if it goes bankrupt, they are not allowed to sell that as an asset. So if they go bankrupt, it goes back to you? Yes, it reverts back to the composers.

I mean, this thing went all the way to the Supreme Court of Canada. It did. Wow. Okay, so they basically revised the law and it applies to demo recordings, lyrics, and lead sheets. Yep.

Is how I saw it. Okay, well, listen, you're still very young. We're still in staggered crossing, for goodness sakes. Yeah, talk about, and this speaks to the evolution of your career, like from, I don't know, a cog in the wheel to owning your shit. Like, this is kind of part of your journey,

but that was pretty courageous. I know a lot of credit, of course, to Peter Steinmetz. Well, 100% to Peter, and I think that the rest of us just wanted to do what was right. And I think when you go stand up for what you believe in and what you think is right, then good things can happen.

And they did. Not a lot of artists in this country know that I, myself and my bandmates had a huge part in that. Well, that's why you're here, man. We're going to shine a light on this because good for you. That did smell like, the minute I read that they could do that it just

smelled like bullshit like uh oh yeah not vaccine not fair i i've always tried to stand up for what's uh not like when it's not fair you'll find me there right okay love it no love it love it now why why does it end for staggereded Crossing? Why do you guys split up? It was really just because it got to be so hard. Bruce had left the band voluntarily. I guess he had sort of smelt the writing on the wall. I was in a space of sort of depression because we had been dropped, and I was quite young.

I remember getting a phone call from both Jim Cuddy and Colin Linden saying, you know, don't worry about it. It's only over when you say it is. It's like, I guess it's over when the fat lady sings and I hadn't gained too much weight yet.

So I was in good shape, but it mentally, I don't think it, it did take its toll. You think you're there, you know, and. Well,

again, I'm not putting words in your mouth, but as a mere, you know, absorber of popular music like when your song further again is blasting out of you know cars on the street and it is in the top five of these rock charts like that's you think of that that's that's the that's the catalyst like that's the first building block to like you know you mentioned like counting crow by the way so the comparisons to you know counting crows or tragically hip or whatever like you would expect staggered crossing to kind of follow in that template i would guess uh we didn't um i remember all the support that we had vanished

and um i found myself and still find myself in a way of trying to, you know, get ahead. While I try to get ahead, I hope that I'm not losing myself sometimes. Because now that the older I get, I realize that it's not always about that. But at that time, I just stuck my nose to the ground. I started my own record label. We released both of the other records on that. What's the name of this record label? It was called Bent Penny Records.

And I released last summer when we were famous under Maple Nationwide, which is an independent distributor, as well as Burgundy Blue was released on that label. And I started to learn a lot about the business side of things. It was the first time that I had to do everything. Dan was helping with publicity, Jeremy was helping with tour management, and Dave was helping with accounting, because Dave came back from university and rejoined the band.

I had dropped out of York University where I was studying English literature, and Dan was still um taking courses in waterloo so we we did what we could and we we kept touring and uh you know i think that we were just under a lot of duress a lot of late nights a lot of partying a lot of drug drug abuse and and and whatnot like so we just sort of pulled the plug at at one point in time just to cite, you know, there was no creative differences. There was nothing like that. We all still remain very close friends.

In fact, I've played with Jeremy most of my life. And we all continued to play at open jams and things like that. But I think that the toll that it took on all of us was quite drastic. I know that Jerry and I certainly felt very similar about it and depressed and, and, and tried to keep going. Uh, Bruce certainly,

unfortunately he decided that it was too much for him to bear. Um, just life in general. And he, uh, he, he left us on his own accord. That was really,

really difficult for all of us and still is. And, you know, I just had to sort of find a way to keep going and decided to learn everything I could. So I've done everything in the industry that I can think of. I've been a record label owner, a publisher, a radio promoter, a booking agent. record label owner, a publisher, a radio promoter, a booking agent, anything that you can think of in the industry, a producer, an engineer, you name it, I've done it.

Maybe I haven't done it very well because I've spread myself a little thin sometimes. Sure, I can imagine. But I do my best. But even just touching all the parts gives you... Knowledge. Knowledge and perspective and insight into, yeah, as opposed to just, you know, delegating or outsourcing that and not even understanding how the pieces all fit.

I've been surprised that I've even been able to write any material at all, having to deal with all the business side of things. Right. Yeah. So this, you know know it sounds like you just kind of needed a you needed a break yeah in 2007 we decided to pull the plug tell me maybe it sounds like uh one of the things that came out of this break is uh the uh what do we call this like an open stage night at dora keo so i was like so you're we mentioned you're like from the danforth

neighborhood there so when i and i'm from i'm way, but you know, if I'm going to see a gig at the Danforth music hall or, uh, or meeting, I have a lot of friends out there or whatever. So I'll bike to, you know, East York and, uh, and although I guess one side of Danforth is actually Toronto, but I digress. Okay. This is my Toronto geography kicking in there. But, uh, what, what were you doing there at Dorik Hill at this time? Well, in the middle of the staggered crossing, you know, demise, which is a positive thing in my view, because obviously it saved more than my life, but it saved a few others. Unfortunately, like I mentioned, it didn't save us all. But I ended up working as a busboy and a bartender at several different places. Mad Monty's was up at Yonge and Eggington near Sporting Life, and I worked there

for a little while. I worked at the Quail and the Firkin. I worked at the Gull and the Firkin down in the beaches. And then I ended up at Dora Keogh as a busboy and a bartender there and worked there for a few years, about eight years. And John and Dora, the proprietors of that establishment, were so kind to me and very encouraging. I'd given up music. I was disenchanted with it completely. And then one day some dude came in and insulted me as a bartender. And I thought, I shouldn't be doing this.

This is not my calling. I should be playing music. And spoke to John and Dora. And they said, well, we don't want you to leave. How about this idea? And we came up with the idea of having the Monday night open stage at Dora's and it flourished into something that was really beautiful. And I hosted it for 10 years, every Monday night. Can you, just for fun, can you name check any, you know, better known Canadian artists that might have dropped in for a spot on

your uh you know your your open stage night ron hines was a regular yeah yeah and he and i became close buddies and obviously poet robert priest would come in and so many other people too i just can't i mean noel gallagher came in one night wow Wow. Yeah. After he'd played at the Danforth musical. Wow. Yeah. There's a big name for you. I, I did read something about,

uh, Kim Mitchell. Oh yeah. Kim. Yeah. Kim's great. The great FOTM, Kim Mitchell.

Kim Mitchell's great. He would, he popped in at Monty's. I remember on a Wednesday night that we did something there and, um, he's always been really supportive and great. And. To bring,

to bring it all back to Tyler Stewart, I saw Bare Naked Ladies a few months ago. I guess it was August, and Kim Mitchell was opening. Oh, no way. Yeah, this is at Budweiser Stage. Great show. Always great to see Kim Mitchell. Man, we used to have this event, man.

I'm kind of digressing here. We have a new city councillor here, FOTM Amber Morley, so maybe we can get this back. But we used to have an event in this neighbourhood called Lakeshore Mardi Gras. And it was Colonel Samuel Smith Park, which is pretty close. And every summer for three days, there was just great live music. I mean, I saw on the name check, like Spoons would play or Helix or Sass Jordan. Glass Tiger played once.

Kim Mitchell played. 5440 played. Like, this is just a free community show. Anyway, I'm going to... Great, great acts. Yeah, they were all, like, it was all so good. You know, you'd spend your night there, and it was just really good community events.

So, shout out to all these great artists and Kim Mitchell. Okay, so, does this re-spark your love for music and performing? The open stage was the beginning of that. And then I got a phone call from Tom Barlow who had to cancel on a gig, like a Boxing Day gig in Barrie. I don't know what year that would have been,

maybe 2010, maybe 2009. And my roommate at the time living in in my basement apartment was a guy and a good friend still a good friend ben spivak and jare and i uh i i got the call and they said can you put a cover band together to go do this show up in barry and i'm like well i'm not doing anything called jeremy he's. He's like, I'm not doing anything. And asked Ben, he's like, I'm not doing anything. So we all went up there and just hobbled together this three set cover show. And it was amazing. We had a great time. And the trio played anything from Motown to Stax to Can Rock to Reggae and country music as well. I remember doing a lot of Johnny Cash and whatnot

and even jam band stuff like Phish. We could pull out anything we really wanted to because we had all been playing for such a long time. And all of a sudden that sparked a few years of touring around Southern Ontario as a cover band. We were called the Barbiturates. Okay. Yeah.

More drug references. Oh boy. Lie on the couch there, Julian. We have to talk about all this. No, it's okay. So does that eventually morph into the Julian Taylor Band? It does. Wow.

Yeah. That trio became the Julian Taylor Band? It does. Wow. Yeah. That trio became the Julian Taylor Band. We added one more element with Dave Engel, who played keys. And he and I write a bunch of music together, or have in the past. And we wrote this song called Never Gonna Give You Up, which landed on Live 88 in Ottawa. And boom, there you have it. One of the most popular songs on their station that year.

Let's hear a little bit of it here. Looking mighty fine I said I really dig this girl I'm gonna make her mine I see that you're the girl I want And I know you won't leave So baby let's just get it on So naturally So baby, let's just get it on So natural Shake it all the time Girl, I know you're mad, I know you're mad, mad, mad

You're mad, mad, mad Shake it all the time Girl, I know you're mad, I know you're mad, mad, mad You're mad, mad, mad Sounds great, buddy. Sounds amazing. Thank you. Never going to give you up. Not to be confused with that other song. Never going to give you up.

Any SEO difficulties with the title of that song? No, not yet. People search it and end up, uh, Rick rolled or something. Okay. So the song, okay,

this is, uh, which is great. So, so the Julian Taylor band, cause you're not, you're currently just Julian Taylor, right?

Yeah. I mean, why not? Yeah. That name, how much creative effort was put into naming the Julian Taylor band? There was a lot of creative effort in naming that band. Actually, the funny thing about it is we were playing covers and we ended up getting a few wedding gigs.

My dad's a wedding photographer. Okay. And we thought that if we used my name, more gigs, more money. It wasn't wrong. Makes sense to me. You're the one with the top five hit under your belt. So we did that and continued to...

Three more records would come out under Julian Taylor Band. So that's off of Techno War 2014. Produced by Sam Hashami who produced The Ridge and Beyond the Reservoir with me. And then we would come out with Desert Star, which is a double record. And Avalanche would be the next record that dropped in 2019 under the moniker of the Julian Taylor Band.

Okay, so I've got lots to say about Beyond the Reservoir. I love it very much. I have some jams loaded up from that, and I want to talk in more detail about that. But I actually want to just kick out one more here. I mean, I got Julian Taylor in my basement, like, you know, just playing songs of you is a great thrill here. So just a little bit of this, because I dig this jam too.

Oh, from The Ridge. This is from The Ridge. This is from The Ridge. Okay, Ballad of a Young Troubadour. Okay, this one nicely bridges off. I left Teal quite some time ago Sometime in the spring With just a knapsack and a six-string I'd made this deal

I was barely seventeen Armed with delusions of a dream Awesome, awesome. So before we get to Beyond the Reservoir, and then we'll play songs from that, I did listen to your conversation with the aforementioned FOTM Bob Ouellette. By the way, FOTM means Friend of Toronto, Mike. Julian, you're now an FOTM.

So welcome to the club. Thanks. And when you see Bob on the street, you guys can say, hello, fellow FOTM. But now this is a quote, this is you speaking. I want to make that clear. I'm not using this term. But in this conversation with Bob, this is you speaking. I want to make that clear. I'm not using this term. But in this conversation with Bob, you kind of spoke about like,

I want to say embracing your identity as a quote, black Indian. This is your term. Would you mind speaking to your heritage, your proud heritage? You know, you're a black man of Mohawk and West Indian roots. And how does that play into you know you're you a black man of mohawk and west indian roots and how does that play into the the music you're making today i think it's always played into the music that i've made from the very beginning um a lot of people have said oh this sounds so different for you i've never actually felt that way i felt that i've been doing the same thing all along just writing songs on piano or an acoustic guitar.

What's different about it is the way that you approach things from a, I guess, instrumental sort of outlook. When Steger Crossan grabbed hold of things that I'd written, the sound was different. It was a bit louder, it was faster, it was harder. When the Julian Taylor Band grabbed a hold of things, it was funkier. It was more soulful in that way. But actually, it's all been soulful.

On this record, I'm joined by actual family members. My cousins Gene and Barry play on the ridge, and they are the rhythm section. Derek Dannem, who may be the Derek in question, we're not sure yet. He plays on this record. And I think really what happens, the best way to describe things are,

like when I was younger, I didn't really feel like embracing who I was. You know, I grew up in a pretty predominantly white area. And of course, I'm a visible minority. I look black, and I am. Not all of my family does. My sister is a lot lighter than I am, and so is my mom and whatnot. My daughter has very distinct indigenous features, and she looks that way.

And our family is a mixed bag. But when I was growing up, my grandfather and my grandparents held the torch of what had happened before them. Their families had to work really, really hard to afford what they were able to achieve in their lifetime. And they also did too. I mean, my grandfather, you know, went to school, had his language beaten out of him, and went to work when he was 12 years old for his family to put food on the table. And so knowing those people and being able to be around those people when he was 12 years old for his family to put food on the table. And so knowing those people and being able to be around those people when I was a child, I was very proud of

my heritage. But when I would come out into the world, I would be harassed for my looks or my beliefs. And like I played hockey and I was never a fighter. You know, my grandfather was a boxing coach and he taught me how to fight at a very young age. But I never used it until I ended up being on the ice and called names all the time. And so I reserved everything that I was going through and buried that pretty deep inside of me and didn't really want to be part of my family and decided that I wanted to be whatever I could be outside of that

and who would accept me and and you know that's a that's a horrible place to be in your mind heart and soul when family members started to to pass away that's when I realized that I needed to step up and sort of take the reins in terms of knowing and learning and taking what I had already known and learned and sharing that with people because missing them and being proud of them was something that I hold dearly. I don't know if that makes sense, but a friend of mine asked me once, how come now? How come now you've decided to say that you're this? I said, because everybody else is gone. Wow.

Wow. So this is the Tom Wilson, only recently discovered. His line was, to me when he sat here, I always thought i was a big sweaty irishman and then i found out i was a big sweaty mohawk man tom wilson he is big and sweaty this is true and you know much like yourself i'll say uh great voice like uh tom is the kind of guy i feel i could listen to him like read a phone book or whatever but listening to you in these

cans right now you want to read the phone book for me? I think it would sound pretty good, man. Let's read the instructions. Why can't I sound like that? Wireless connection distance, 30 feet. Box and. Yeah, box and. Awesome. Wow.

Okay. And, you know, I talk to a lot of Canadian musicians. I mentioned, you know, Art Bergman just yesterday, but I love talking to Canadian musicians and talking about music. And I will, in my opinion, just from where I'm sitting here, it seems like it's an awfully white world,

the Canadian music scene. It has been. It's changing. I also don't sit... And when people talk to me, I have to be very careful because I don't want to be known as an Afro-Indigenous musician, to be honest with you.

That's what I am. I don't want to be known as that. I just want to be known as a great songwriter, just the way that the greatest songwriters are looked at. And that's my goal. I don't want to be that person. My family, I have family on the reservation in Kahnawake, but I didn't grow up there, So my experience is very different from theirs. It doesn't mean that I,

I am any less than them, but they do have a very distinct indigenous, um, coming of age experience. Whereas mine is, is extremely different, uh, from theirs. And we are, we, all of us, you know, to coin the term, and I know it's a derogatory term, but we've used it in our family just at dinners and things. We're all black Indians. My cousins out there are as well. We just have different, you know, shades of color and, and we're, we're all family. Um, and certainly my dad is from the West Indies. So, uh, that, that comes into, to my experience as well. And, and there theirs, you know, maybe not so much. But from the very beginning of our family lineage, we are black Indians.

That's what we are. We're mixed. And I think that a lot of people have to realize that that's a space as well. And so what I'm trying to do is create that space for people like myself. I've often been ridiculed for being not indigenous enough or not black enough. And that doesn't necessarily come from white people. That comes from, you know, the inside circle, which is very difficult to deal with as well. But I've had numerous conversations with people. I had one with Adeline Bird who said, you know, you got to own

it. Please keep doing what you're doing. I've got cousins that look like you. And so that's why I do it. And that's why it's important. But I do want to make extremely clear that my experience and, you know, lived experience is very different from others. And I've been very fortunate to live in the big city with parents that have worked their asses off to provide for me and my sister and whatnot. And I'm very grateful for that. It doesn't change the fact that I have a story to tell. It's mine and it's mine solely.

And that's what I try to share. And this latest release, do you have something coming out soon? I mean, the most recent release I was listening to was Beyond the Reservoir, but is there anything in the pipeline there? That's the latest release. It came out about a month and a half ago.

And... I talk like insane. Yeah, like it was ages ago. Where's your next... Come on, what have you done for me lately? Work harder, work harder. Julian, come on, a month and a half ago? The Beatles would have put out three albums in this time.

Come on. I'm working as fast and as hard as I can. I gonna play a song from beyond the reservoir var if i can say that word it would be easier for me uh beyond the reservoir but can you explain the title for us exactly beyond the reservoir yeah there's a few meanings to it it's there's a double entendre for sure and part of it goes back to what i was just discussing with you is that i didn't grow up on a reservation i grew up here in the city and a lot of my time during high school was spent being in, in, in places like the St. Clair Reservoir, doing things that necessarily weren't very positive for me or for anybody else in society. It was a hard time growing up and, uh, you know, I had a lot of fun as well because

that's what you do, but, uh and uh that park was where you know i first ended up getting arrested and and things happened to friends i've lost a lot of friends it's actually quite um astonishing by the time i was i think 25 i had almost buried 30 friends whoa and um oh yeah i I'm listening, man. I'm listening. I can't relate to that. I haven't lost, I have not lost 30 friends yet. Wow.

Yeah, by the time I was 25, I couldn't count on my hands. Wow. And they were all young. Wow. So that kind of took a real big toll on, and I think it's one of those things that you carry with you forever. Um, but I didn't realize a lot of things like, you know, a lot of privilege, um, you know, was because of that privilege ended up being a problem and for kids growing up in that period of time the 90s

was a crazy time to grow up i think there was a lot of anger and violence and and drug abuse and all sorts of stuff was happening in the city of toronto and growing to where it is i think now which is extremely dangerous um i'm stuck on that number 30 that that 30 that's quite the life experience to lose 30 friends at that age yeah I can't count it anymore yeah that's horrific man that's tragic that's tragic

I have no words no words may I play a song from Beyond Reservoir while I try to find some words here sure just a little bit of this May I play a song from Beyond Reservoir while I try to find some words here? Sure. Just a little bit of this. You're flexible And all your power You got all the sunlight

And the air that you need They tried to bury us But they didn't know we were sea Now here you stand Hour after hour Strong as an oak, tall as a tower The storm keeps raging But you never pay no heed

They tried to bury us But they didn't know we were seeds Somehow Everything eventually dreams someday somehow everyone eventually dreams someday now see you shining strong and clear No one can stop a good idea. Nobody like you. There's nobody like you. I was a flower.

I was an oak. I was provoked. And when I awoke, I started grazing for all the things that I need They tried to bury us but they didn't know we were seeds They tried to bury us

but they didn't know we were seeds Somehow everything eventually But they didn't know we were thieves Somehow Everything eventually treats Someday Somehow Everyone eventually treats Someday

They knocked it down I don't even want to fade it down, my friend. I hope you're very, very proud of this effort. This is excellent. Thanks, I am. I think this is your best work, like Beyond the Reservoir. I just want it out there. There's a gentleman who needs to hear this album.

Dave Hodge. Do you know Dave Hodge? I don't know Dave Hodge personally. I know who he is, though. So Dave Hodge would love this. Like, this is right in his wheelhouse. And Dave Hodge, there's been a tradition we've done for five years now where Dave Hodge comes on Toronto Mic

and unveils his 100 favorite songs of the year. Cool, cool. 100. Okay, and we actually have a website I maintain with the VP of sales. It's hodge100.com. we keep it all we have playlists and document it all nice anyway i'm gonna be chatting with dave about beyond the reservoir uh he would absolutely love this release now oh man dave you're listening we have edits to make to your list let's do it 2022 beyond the. So what can you tell me about Seeds?

Oh man, Seeds is a song that I hope stands the test of time, really. It's a song certainly that was written during the pandemic and has a meaning that

most things that I do, I try to be as different and as original as I possibly can and allow the music and the words to flow as best I can. And I got a text from my cousin after they announced the 215 unmarked graves and Kamloops. It was also around this time that George Floyd had been suffocated by the police. And we talked about it briefly, and she said they tried to bury us,

but they didn't know we were seeds. And I just thought that was so beautiful. And so I ran with that, and I actually co-wrote this song with a friend of mine, Robert Priest, and he and I have been buddies for a long time, and it's really nice to have someone like that on your side who can edit your work a lot and i i run things past robert a

lot and he came up with a bunch of lines for the song and i came up with a bunch of lines for the song and certainly the the feeling and and the meaning behind it started there but then i realized later as i was writing it and continuing to write it that it meant a lot for a lot of people. It could mean, you know, anybody who's sitting there locked down. It means I've had people who have had relatives

that have been in the Holocaust and were Holocaust survivors and say how much the song has meant to them. It's a song for the marginalized, and I think all of us feel that way sometimes. I also used this song in the record as a starting point because I believe that I'm a seed, that my daughter is a seed, that we have planted all these seeds,

and that people and our ideas are seeds. The next song on the record, Beyond the Reservoir, is Stolen Lands, which cements my belief in that. And then the last song in Concession is a song called I Am a Tree, which really shows the growth and the learning of being who we are as people. When I say that, I do want to include everyone. My experience has just been different. And so very important for me to use that metaphor.

Now, we talked about you with Staggered Crossing when you were 19 years young. You sort of have to live life, right? You've got to live life to write a, to write an album like Beyond the Reservoir. Like you can't, you got to go through that to come out with this. Yeah, you don't start there.

I know. Unless you're Bob Dylan and he didn't, I don't know how that happened. Right. Blowing in the wind, I think he was 19 or something. Come on. Unless you're Bob Dylan. But yeah, you know, you're probably writing your best stuff today

because you've gone through all the things we've talked about to get to this point. The wisdom has to be earned. Oh, I appreciate that, yeah. All right, I'm going to play another Beyond the Reservoir, and then I got a great question from Lanrick Bennett Jr., and then I want to just quickly ask you about radio before I set you free.

Again, you're not leaving without your lasagna. I got to get the lasagna. You're getting the lasagna. Thank you. Thanks, man. Thank you. I used to play here Down on the restaurant downstairs Out there in the parking lot

A couple of fold-out chairs Down the block was Bedford Park A lot of my friends went there It wasn't nothing much It could have been it could have been anywhere Could have been anywhere And I've had enough Excuse me, I'm leaving now

Just don't feel like being here anymore Yes, I've had enough. Excuse me, I'm leaving now. Just don't feel happy in here anymore. Do you remember Kay's party? First year, the blue jersey... You're a storyteller, man, but whose voice do I hear with yours there? It's mine.

So there's no other voice of you on the chorus there? No, it's me. Okay, really? Yeah. Hey, I thought I heard a woman's voice in there, but okay, this is, of course, this is Murder 13. Can you tell me a little bit about this song before I get to Lanrick's question?

Yeah, sure. Like I said, I've buried a lot of friends. One of my close friends was murdered back in 2005. And yeah, I'm not going to go into what happened. But I do remember getting the phone call, and I do remember being picked up by the police myself because I was one of the last numbers in his cell phone. I remember going to the shop.

It was actually the first day that I was working at Dorokio, St. Patrick's Day. And I just had to tell her what was going on. I was scared because I was broke and I needed the job. It was St. Patrick's Day, a bad time to leave a busing job at an Irish pub. Right, right. But she was very kind and said go.

So I went, and I remember being there in the cop shop. The first question they asked me was, did you kill so-and-so? It was the first question. And this is all based just on the fact that your number was in his phone? Yeah. Like you were a recent conversation.

Yeah, I can't relate, man. And then the second question was, well, if you didn't recent conversation yeah i can't i can't relate man and then the second question was well if you didn't then do you know who did obviously i guess when you look back at those questions i guess it's obvious you don't expect that when you're sitting there to happen to you but they uh they found his body a few days later um i've been trying to write this song for a very long time some people didn't want me to write this song for a very long time. Some people didn't want me to write this song because no one was ever really convicted of this crime

and were worried about my safety and maybe I should be, but I don't know. I decided to work with it with my friend Freeman Dre who had also been there during this experience and we decided to write this song from a different perspective, from a third-person point of view. First-person, sorry, point of view,

about the life that we remembered having with him. But it's an interesting fact that I can only look back at now. I did comment about growing up in a predominantly white neighborhood, and that is the truth. There weren't a lot of black boys that I grew up with. I think there was him and another one, maybe about six or seven of us, and there's only two of us left. The others were murdered or died or went to jail,

and there's only two of us that sort of are standing still. You're a survivor. I guess. Wow. I just hope you know how much I appreciate this conversation. You came all the way west, southwest, and you sat down here, and I'm enjoying my conversation with you.

Thank you so much, man. Thank you. Another guy who actually biked here fairly recently to make his Toronto Mac debut, because he bikes everywhere, and I love that so much because I do the same. But Lanrick Bennett Jr. biked over here, and how do you know Lanrick?

He's from my hood. I see him all the time in the East End. And he actually had hired me to do something at the North York Center of the Arts years and years ago. I don't remember when that was. I think it was even before Technoire came out. So maybe 2013. And we've been friends ever since. He's got, he's a lovely, lovely man. He has a lovely family. Just a, just a, just a sweetheart.

And Lanrick writes in, when my children were much younger, they just figured all the music we played in the house was kids music. Because if they could listen to it, it had to be for them. Question for Mr. Taylor. Look,

when you're this big, you're Mr. Taylor. Okay. None of those JT nonsense. I'm mr taylor who does he write and perform his music for i did see that on twitter and i answered i write it for the kids and uh the way that i look at it is that we are all kids and uh all music is for us and his children were absolutely correct that any music played in their house was for them. And I think that any music that we listen to, no matter how old we are,

is something that we can jive to, dance to, learn from, because we are absolutely all still children. So I write it for the kids. Thank you, Landrick, for that. That was great. So we talked about you playing my last couple notes where I wanted to ask you about the Olympics, but maybe, can you tell me anything about the Golden Goal, Sidney Crosby at the 2010 Winter Olympics? Like, did

you play right after that game? No. I was actually in the hotel bar hanging out with whomever would like to hang out with me. And my buddy Dave Marshall was there because he had traveled across the country to be in Vancouver. I was at that hotel bar and I had met this wonderful lady, Mary. And she and her friends basically took me in. It was such an interesting story

that we became very close friends for a little while because at the time that I met her she was terminally ill and she had cancer and we just had a wonderful connection during that game. Everybody in that bar did. Wow.

And I stayed in touch with her and conversed with her for as long as she was alive. Wow. We became close. Wow. Sounds like quite the moment there. The night before, though, Gretzky was there. And Janet was there.

And we had a dance party. The great one. The great one with a fellow great one. Okay. I want to ask you about radio stuff so i'm a bit of a radio geek i like to talk radio on this program uh you do you still host julian taylor's jukebox i do uh it's a show that i designed uh and produced with my uh my good friend uh greg nisbet luca capone pat Patricia Fleming, Gregory Scott, and Brandon Sherman,

and Diego. And we put that show together and it goes out to about a hundred, well, 84 stations across North America. That's a lot. Yeah, it's good. And I'm trying to, you know, when I was coming up, we got further again on the radio, but I never really got too much more out on the radio, except for now things are starting to pop, but was always an uphill battle and I was always trying to get more culturally um sounding and looking things on the radio and so I support uh you know 75 percent BIPOC music indie music as well um plus I play anything from Queen to Earth Wind and Fire why not those those are always a bang and jam. But yeah, so I used to be the afternoon drive host at Element FM

when Elephant FM launched here in Toronto. I took a tour of the studio. They're in the Chorus Key Building. Yeah, they're still there. Yeah, Doug Thompson was working there. Doug's great. I love Doug. So Doug's there. Dave Charles, was he there? He was the general was working there. Doug's great. I love Doug. So Doug's there. Dave Charles. Dave Charles, was he there?

He was the general manager. Yeah. Okay. Yes. Okay. So these are all FOTMs. And I got, I actually, I remember now I was, I was bringing Doug his lasagna from Palma Pasta because he's a vegetarian and I only had meat.

He is a vegetarian. Yeah. So I had, so I biked over to Chorus Key Building and he gave me a tour and. Oh, cool. So your, your show, Julian Taylor's Jukebox, still airs on Element FM? It airs there on Sundays, yeah. Sunday afternoons at 5. 5 o'clock, okay.

But it's not part of the actual station. It's like a package. Syndication. It's a syndication, yeah. So if I own a station in Barrie, I could license it or whatever and air it on my station. Exactly. Okay. Yeah.

It's a separate thing. I stopped doing the afternoon drive around the time that the Ridge was nominated for the Junos. I was getting so busy. A lot of stuff going on at that Element FM, some head-scratching stuff. I know they brought in the new morning show and then they discarded the morning show and there seems to be a lot of... A lot of moving and shaking.

Turnover at the Element FM. Yeah, no comment. No comment. I don't know what's going on. But all the power to them. I want to see everyone who's out there trying to succeed at whatever they're trying to do. Well, with that voice, I think you'd be a great radio personality.

And I'm actually mildly shocked that CBC hasn't tapped you on the shoulder yet and said, would you host a show for us? You never know, right? Any conversations at all with CBC? I think you'd be perfect on our... Just interviews. I've done my playlist, which was a lot of fun.

I'd like to do that again, actually. But yeah, just me that is i do a thing here on toronto mic i've been doing it for many many years where guests return to kick out the jams and what that means is you tell me in advance these are your 10 favorite songs of all time yeah we play them like i'll play it and i'll fade it down and you tell us like why do you love that song is that like what is this cbc show you're describing love that song? Is that similar? What is this CBC show you're describing? Is that similar? Yeah, it's similar

but it's not like my favorite songs of all time. It's mostly indie music that I did. I did a show for SiriusXM, The Village, down in D.C. And that was for,

I did a couple shows. I did an interview with Dan Hill and then I did something for Indigenous Heritage Month as well. Dan's amazing. Yeah, he's great.

He just made his Toronto Mike debut this past year. Wicked. He's amazing. You've got all the regular suspects, all the usual suspects. It took me a long time to get Julian Taylor though, but dude, I'm so glad you're here. And I think- So glad to be here. How badly do you want to do, like, you're happy with Julian Taylor's jukebox,

you're on all these stations across the country syndicating, or do you have a bigger goal in mind for your radio life? I'm not sure. I really would like the show to take off. I would be happy if someone would come on board and help me fund the whole thing and keep on getting more stations across the globe.

Well, you know, everyone in that industry is listening to us right now, Julian, so... Perfect. You know, you put, everyone in that industry is listening to us right now, Julian. So, you know, you put it out into the universe and we'll see what happens there. So, Randy Bachman, move over because Julian Taylor is here. Shout out to Winnipeg. Dude, maybe one day in the future, I'm happy

to even come east and do it in your hood, but at some point you should kick out the jams on Toronto Mic'd. I will do that. Okay. I recorded that, you know. I know. It's legally binding, I think.

Right. It's a curse that can't be broken, right? Like in Harry Potter? Yes. My six-year-old just got into Harry Potter and these movies have been running on a continuous loop lately. Thank God they're not bad.

You know? Yeah. Well, the first one bores me. It's funny. It's funny. The first one I find boring. And then the rest are cool. Yeah.

The rest are cool. That's exactly right. And that brings us to the end of our 1,162nd show. Wow. Woo. That's incredible. Better late than never to get JT on the program. That was fun. You can follow me. We have to take a photo than never to get JT on the program. That was fun.

You can follow me. We have to take a photo outside too, so don't disappear on me. You can follow me on Twitter. I'm at Toronto Mike. And do you remember your social media handles where we could follow you? Julian Taylor Music. Just check that out and you'll find them all. And you actually do your own tweets, because I saw you going back and forth over the last couple of days.

Yeah, it's mostly me. Mostly you. A couple of days. Yeah, it's mostly me. Mostly you. You've got a couple of people that assist. When it comes to shows and things that I can't get to, then I have someone help me out, but everything else is authentically me. I'd like to come across and not just come across. It has nothing

to do with that. I just want to be authentically me. Ron Sexsmith has a thing where, I guess he used to have people that would, you know, promote shows and stuff on his Twitter, but he would also, he's kind of a Luddite actually, but he figured out the Twitter machine.

He did. Yeah. He's funny. He's got a great sense of humor. But he always puts RS. So when it's him, he puts a little RS at the end to say to the world, like,

this is the real Ron Sexsmith tweeting this, not my people or whatever. But now I've noticed they're all RS. And I said to him when he came on and I said, now that they're all RS, you don't need the RS. Like, you only needed the RS when you had tweets that were not RS. But anyway,

it's fun to see the Ron Sexsmith dad puns. Yeah, it's good. He's funny. I like it too. He's funny. Did I think? No. Our friends at Great Lakes Brewery, they're at Great Lakes Beer. Palma Pasta, where was I? Palma Pasta is at Palma Pasta.

Sticker U is at Sticker U. Moneris is at Moneris. Raymond James Canada are at Raymond James CDN. Recycle My Electronics are at EPRA underscore Canada. Ridley Funeral Home are at Ridley FH. Brad will be here in an hour.

Canna Cabana are at Canna Cabana underscore and Sammy Cone real estate is at Sammy Cone K O H N. Everybody listening to me right now is invited to TMLX 11. That's the 11th Toronto Mike listener experience. This is at Palmas kitchen in Mississauga, kind of near Mavis and Burnhamthorpe. Come on out Saturday, December 3rd, noon to 3pm. We're going to do a live recording.

Your food is free. Great Lakes will give you a beverage and we're going to have a blast. So see everybody then. Maybe I'm not and maybe I am But who gives a damn Because everything is coming up Rosy and gray Yeah, the wind is cold

But the smell of snow Warms me today And your smile is fine And it's just like mine And it won't go away Cause everything is rosy and green Well I've kissed you in France and I've kissed you in Spain And I've kissed you in places I better not name

And I've seen the sun go down on Chaclacour. But I like it much better going down on you. Yeah, the wind is cold But the smell of snow Warms us today And your smile is fine And it's just like mine And it won't go away Cause everything is

Rosie now Everything is Rosie Yeah, everything is Rosie and Gray Yeah Yeah, everything is rosy and gray.