Toronto Mike'd: The Official Toronto Mike Podcast - Julie Neff: Toronto Mike'd Podcast Episode 1950

Episode Date: August 12, 2026

In this 1950h episode of Toronto Mike'd, Mike chats with singer songwriter Julie Neff about her debut album fine!?, her battle with endometriosis, managing situationships, the catharsis she eperiences writing songs, and why she now calls Montreal home.A version of this podcast without programmatic ads is available to all Toronto Mike'd Patrons at patreon.com/torontomike.Toronto Mike'd, an award-winning podcast, is proudly brought to you by Great Lakes Brewery, Palma Pasta, Toronto Maple Leafs Baseball, Ridley Funeral Home, Nick Ainis, and RecycleMyElectronics.ca.If you would like to support the show, we do have partner opportunities available. Please email Toronto Mike at [e-mail]. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Hello, everybody. My name is Julie Neff. I'm here to talk about my new album, Fine, which is out everywhere on the internet. And very excited to make my Toronto mic to debut. Oh, you can keep going. Because remember, that was the cue for me to hit the theme. But you sounded like you were going to say more. You just touch your nose when you're done. I'm going with the flow here. Do you have to do it again? No. That could be it. We can just go. I just felt like you had more in the chamber there, a bullet in the chamber. That was perfect. Just embracing the up talk. There are no rules on Toronto Mike. We make it up as I go along.

Welcome to episode 1,950, 1950. That's a milestone episode, Julie. Wow. Saved it for you. Of Toronto Mikeed, an award-winning podcast, proudly brought to you by Great Lakes brewery. Order online at Great Lakesbeer.com for free local home delivery in the GTA.

Palma Pasta. Enjoy the taste of fresh. Homemade Italian pasta and entrees from Palma Pasta in Mississauga and Oakville. Visit palmaPasta.com for more. Toronto Maple Leafs Baseball. Catch a game at Christy Pits

this summer before it's too late. No ticket required. Fusion Corps Nick Iienes. He's the host of building Toronto Skyline and Mike and Nick, two podcasts that you ought to listen to. Recycle My Electronics.C.A. committing to our planet's future means properly recycling our electronics of the past. And Ridley Funeral Home, pillars of the community since 1921. Today, making her Toronto mic debut. All the way from Montreal, it's Julie Neff. Hello.

Nice to meet you. You were singing your hello. You're always singing, Julie. You got to, you know. What a pleasure it is to meet you. Likewise. So I met you and I'm like, oh, I kind of want to ask her how she's doing and all this. And I'm like, no, don't talk to me, Julie, until I press record.

There's the washroom. Let me know when you're ready and we're going to roll. But I'm really glad you're here. How long, like you're here from Montreal. What brings you to Toronto and how long are you in town for? Yeah, I'm in town for. for this, for sure, and also to see some family, and I've been here about a week or so. So I come back and forth, I have lots of friends here because I used to live here.

Yeah, were you, okay, but you weren't born here? No, I was born in Guelph, actually, Guelph, Ontario. Okay, home of Mike Shriner. Oh, you know, he's the, he's my go-to, you know, either that or Ian's service. I'm going to name-check all the Guelphians. I don't know. Neither of those people. So, okay, we're going to get your origin story, but you've got a great,

episode number, Julie. Like you're 1950. That's a round number, right? Yeah. Pretty damn round. Yeah. I mean, it's even in some way. I don't know if round it and even are the same thing. I think they're like, well, no, even. Even, come on. Half the numbers are even. But round, man, you got to be like multiples of 50, I would say.

Yeah, that works for me. Okay, well, you got a good number. You got a good number. I like it. So off the top, before we get to know you and talk about the new music, we're going to get deep here, Julie, but right off the top, I have to give everybody a little Toronto history because I have to tell everybody something that happened in this fine city that you're visiting where you once lived in 1950. So here's what I got for you.

You ready? I'm ready. In 1950, the 38th Grey Cup was played at varsity Stadium. Of course, that's at U of T on Bloor Street. The game took place November 25th, 1950. There was 20, I don't know how you fit 27,000 fans in Diversity Stadium, but maybe it was configured differently back then. But they called this game the Mud Bowl.

Okay, this is the 38th Great Cup. It was known as the Mud Bowl. The Argos won the Grey Cup over the Winnipeg Blue Bombers by a score of 13 to nothing. That happened in 1950. Wow. Now you know, are you a sports fan at all? No, is Grey Cup football? Okay.

Not a sports fan. Would this be hockey? This is definitely football. Argos gave me football lives. Well, there's no Guelph team. I used to play sports, but yeah, I don't follow it very much. Guelph does not have a CFL team. Maybe one day, but there is a team in Hamilton, but you're probably closer to Toronto.

So, okay, so you're in Toronto for visiting peeps and doing things like this, and you got a new album out, which we're going to talk about in great detail. but if you don't mind like taking us back, so you're born in Guelph, but I was reading that you were studying in Spain, and I'm naturally curious, when did you realize you wanted to sing? You sang

hello to me. Hello, I can't do it. Like, you can do it, Julie. But like, when did you realize oh, I want to perform? I mean, I was always singing when I was younger. We were really involved in church, so it wasn't necessarily performing, but it was, singing

was a big part of my life. So, Um, that was just something that, that we always did and I always enjoyed doing. And then it really wasn't until kind of high school and then university where I did what I would call performances, where it was, you know, me intentionally singing in front of people, um, in, in front of an audience as opposed to like a congregation. What were you singing? Like church hymns? Yeah, church music. I mean, more like contemporary Christian church music. So, you know, get a little... What is that exactly?

Like, I'm a little ignorant. I used to joke it was like creed. But, you know, what exactly is contemporary Christian music? I mean, there's, like, the music that you... Jar of flies? No, what is it? Yeah, yeah. Flood?

Keep going. I don't know. I'm hearing you. I mean, there's a music that you, like, listen to for fun. And then there's a music that you would sing in front of the church. but there's yeah I mean there was a ton of like rock bands and rap and all kinds of bands when I was singing about Jesus and stuff yeah absolutely um but yeah at church we were more singing like kind of more contemporary hymns so so music that people can sing along to and and that um we had a band

and it wasn't a choir per se so um that was the kind of music we were singing there and then you know in high school i did a couple of high school assemblies and saying like a christmas song and You know, whatever. And then in university. And did you go to university in Guelph? Yes, I did. Yeah. So I ended up having a degree in Hispanic studies, but I popped around a little bit in terms of.

I thought it was mandatory, like, to be either a veterinarian or like interforestry as an industry. Those are the two big things I think of. Those are the big. Yeah, but I actually lived with like six engineering students as well. Like there's a huge engineering program there. And then I had gone in for biology and then switched around. a couple times and ended on Spanish. That's quite a switch, by the way.

Yeah, I know. A bit of a bit of whiplash was had by all. Yeah, so, but in my first year chemistry lab, I was, I, my lab partner ended up, like, playing guitar and we became friends, and we kind of started a band with some friends. We would go to these open mics. And, yeah, it was, it was a fun kind of, I don't know, departure from the music that I was used to.

Okay, so this is not a Christian rock band? No, very, very not so. It is a, yeah, a Satan worshipping. No, no, definitely not that, but yeah, it was definitely a departure, but it was like tons of different styles, like it was a mixture of like reggae and rock and pop and, like, you name it, we kind of mix it all together. There's eight people in the band. It was a little crazy.

Well, that's very Canadian to have like mashups of genres. like that. Yeah. Like Bedouin sound clash and there's a very Canadian thing. Yeah, absolutely. So it was a blast. Like, I learned a lot with that band and... What was the name of that band? It was called What She Said. Okay. Yeah. Um, yeah. So they, they were a great group and they always wanted me to write and I was like, no, no, I don't do that. It's like, I don't write music. Oh, that's funny. Um, and so it wasn't until many years later that I kind of found writing on my own. Okay, so you get a degree, I suppose, from the University of Guelph. Yeah.

Did you bring that degree with you? I want to analyze it, make sure it's on the up and up here. Okay, Hispanic studies? Yeah, that's what they called it. Yeah, basically Spanish. Mm-hmm. Is part of that, you're, obviously, you go to Spain to study. Like, is that part of that, or is that post?

I didn't study in Spain. I actually went to, I was kind of a teaching assistant for English. So I applied to a program that the government was having in Spain to go there. And I wanted to improve my language skills. And so I went for a full year after university. That sounds amazing. Can I do that now? Is that program still?

Can 50-year-old guys do that? I'm not sure. To be honest, I think it was like something that people would extend, though. Like they would stay for years doing the same thing. Oh, I bet. That sounds amazing. Yeah, it was cool. It was definitely like a good move for me after university,

not really sure what I wanted to do yet. And it was a way to kind of like improve the skill that I had been building for several years. And you're living in Spain. Yeah, and you're living in Spain. So that was really nice. So you showed great restraint by only doing that for one year. Well, I didn't love the job. Like I didn't love teaching English in that capacity.

And I also, I was, I still wanted to kind of like figure out the meat of life. You know, I was like, where am I going? And this kind of like purposeless year was like fun for. for other reasons, and learning Spanish, obviously. But, yeah, I wanted to kind of get into, like, what is it that I want to do in the next while? Did you ever figure that out? Yeah, I mean, I ended up working in, I moved back and, you know,

had a couple of years of underemployment, I would say, or a year at least of underemployment. And that's when I started writing songs, actually. But I ended up getting a job in, like, advertising post-production eventually. Okay. And have been working in that for a really long time. So. And that can pay the bills.

It sure can. Yeah. So. You're like Don Draper over here. Yeah, exactly. No, I'm the person who figures out how to make Don Draper's ideas come true. Oh, yeah. That's Elizabeth Moss's character.

What's her name? Do you remember? Why my blanket is her name? You know, it's funny. I watched that show multiple times. I really love that show. I'm sitting here and I can't remember. Peggy, Peggy.

Peggy. Yeah. Right, Piggy, yeah. It took me a minute. Peggy Olson, right? Piggy Olson. Which sounds like it's a character from like Superman or something. Piggy Olson.

Yeah, Peggy Olson. You're Peggy Olson. Kind of, yeah. Like I work as a producer. So it's, you know, you're working with the more the post-production side of things and making things happen, which is really where I learned a lot of, a lot about the creative process of like how to put something together and what it looks like to get feedback and then have to address it on something.

And like, when you're creating for yourself, it's a little different. You know, you're very able to. kind of do your own thing. But I learned so much and I've been able to collaborate with so many people that I've met through those jobs. So that's been pretty incredible. That is incredible. And now is this happening in Guelph? Like at what point do you end up in the big smoke here, Toronto? No, I moved. When I moved back from Spain, I stayed in Guelph for a few months and I was like, you know what, if I don't leave now, I'll never leave. You know, it's that kind of a town where it's a great place to be. But I think for me at the time, if I felt like it would really kind

of seal my fate if I stayed there. So I moved to Toronto. I had a one month contract with TIF and then I spent maybe like 11 months of the following year working at restaurants and nannying and like doing different things to kind of stay there and then eventually got this job in advertising. I was going to say on Madison Avenue in downtown Toronto. Okay. So that's, I'm curious like what neighborhood in Toronto do you settle in during your Toronto era? I've, lived in so many neighborhoods. And actually, I want to hear them all.

When I was back, I was like going to different places and I was like, wow, I've gone by almost all of my previous houses. So I first lived in Midtown, like near Davisville Station. And then I lived on Bloor,

near Bluer and Landsdown. Okay. And then I lived in Parkdale on Cowan. You're moving west, I noticed. Cowan and King. Okay. And then I did a big swing over to Cabbage Town. Okay.

And then I also lived in the beaches eventually. All the way out east. Yeah, I've done the full circuit. You're like, I'll move anywhere in this city except for Atobico. Well, my sister used to live in Atopico, so I did stay with her for a little bit. Okay, so shout out to your sister here. Okay, so I'm, because I've been listening to your new music. You mentioned fine.

We're going to get into it very, very, very shortly. And I've got some music and questions, of course. as you can imagine. But at this point in your life, when you're starting to write your own music, because of course we're going to need to know more about fine very shortly. But is Jesus still a big deal in your life? Like, are you still cool with Jesus?

No, I mean, I kind of, once I got into my 20s, I was exploring more of what I believed, and I don't really participate anymore in church. but, you know, it's something I have a lot of respect for with my parents and my family and everything. But yeah, it's not, I think there's like a spiritual aspect to life. I think there has to be, but it's less defined, I would say, than when I grew up.

Yeah, so. But when you're writing music, like, are there the themes interwoven in? Is this connection? At one point in your life, Jesus was a big deal to you. For sure. Does it still find its way into your lyrics? I don't think into my lyrics. I think maybe inadvertently sometimes,

I think sometimes, you know, the way we speak about things, obviously we learn language when we're growing up. So maybe there's part of that. I think even lyrically or sonically sometimes, I think there's like callbacks to some of the music that I would have sang at church just because it is so there's a repetition

that I think is, comforting to me and be it's easy for people to kind of pick up on um but i think they're you know sometimes i'm exploring spiritual topics and definitely like purpose and life and you know our path and things like that um but i don't think there's a ton of like specific spiritual references okay just curious because uh i'm elapsed catholic and i know you never identified as catholic right this is a different strain of uh christianity yeah it's more on the like um non-denominational or evangelical side of Christianity. I would say you have better music in those churches.

I mean, we had great music. We were not lacking in good music, that's for sure. I would probably be a Jesus freak today if we had better music. Like, we had those old-timey hymns, and they're singing along. But then you'd watch like a movie or a TV show with like a different, like, Baptist or some different strain of Protestantism. And then you'd be like, oh, that's how you rock out in church. Like, no wonder they're into it.

Yeah, of course. You know what? Catholics are doing it wrong. Just my two cents. If they, if the Pope is listening, yeah, pick up the pace. You know, just we need better jams in the church and maybe the youth will come back is what I'm thinking here. I'm dying to know, yeah, you know what, I've been right. I've been more wrong than that. Julie, you were in Toronto. Live in everywhere. I feel like Johnny Cash here, you've been everywhere, man. But then you, and it's funny because tonight, tonight, I'm, you know, docs myself. here tonight I'm going to be meeting my oldest daughter at the Elmwood it's a great restaurant and she's for my birthday which was a long time ago actually she she promised to buy me dinner and I'm taking her

up in the offer tonight because she lives in Montreal and she's in town for a short period of time because she's on her way to Vancouver to visit her grandmother that's what's going to get a lot of detail here except to say I'm going to see her tonight and she's kind of too big when she's in Toronto her boyfriend happens to live in Toronto so I found like when she does make her odd trips to live in Toronto, I don't see very much of her. Yeah. I mean, I had to book like a six o'clock appointment with her at a restaurant tonight to get to hang with my own daughter.

But she moved from Montreal. So this is a long-winded build-up to say, why did you leave us? Why did you leave us in the big smoke for, and it's a very, I love Montreal. I spend a lot of time there, and it's the second coolest city in this country. But why did you leave us for Montreal? I need to know. Well, I didn't, so I lived here for 11 years. So I felt like I knew what Toronto had to offer.

So that at least I was like, okay, I'm aware. And then I moved right before the like 2020 hit. I moved. That's the pandemic. I went on tour to Brazil. And I had like, I had gotten rid of my apartment. And I was like, oh, I'm going to go traveling for a couple years or like, I don't know, months or whatever. I was just not really sure, but I wanted to explore a little bit.

And I ended up going back to Brazil to do like a short contract. And then I had to flee the country when the pandemic hit. And I came back here. And then I kind of went on a little journey. I like moved out to BC. I lived with my brother for a bit. I lived in Vancouver for a few months. And then I came back and I moved back to Brazil.

And then when I came back from Brazil, I lived here for a year. and I had visited my old bandmate from that band we talked about earlier. I ran into him at a festival and he was like, hey, my wife and I have an extra room in Montreal. Like, if you're coming, you're feel free to stay kind of thing. So I booked a couple shows there and just went to check it out. And I'd always wanted to move to Montreal. And I was like, oh, like, I love it here.

It's a very cool city. It's just more chill. And I think at the time I needed that, you know, I needed to like bring. things down a notch and like not have my nervous system like fired up all the time. And living obviously in like São Paulo and then Brazil and then Toronto. It's those are they're just heavier cities in terms of like input and stuff. So and I like the art scene there. You know, I think it's people are still doing art just for the sake of doing art. And I really, I, I just needed that, you know. So I, I,

I moved there three years ago, and I've recorded my album in Quebec as well. And it's just been a nice experience. But I still love coming back here. And I think when I come back, I like the energy. You know, I do appreciate that. But I think on a day-to-day... Yeah, on a day-to-day basis, I like to, I like the chill nature of the city. And it's easier to get around a little bit.

So that's nice, too. Okay. Now, I'm curious, though, you're off to Brazil. And this is like a, to perform music, right? Yeah, initially, I like I initially went to perform music in 2018. I met some bands here in Toronto who are from Brazil and had a festival and we pitched like a video project to them. And we went, I had a collective at the time. I was running house concerts here in Toronto for about four years.

And we had a video team. And so we went down there and we were going to do some videos. and they were like, hey, we had a band from Canada drop out. Would you want to play? And I was like, of course. So I had just released one song. That's where I'm going on this because I know fine is your debut album. So I'm wondering, like, what do you have out there?

I literally had one song out there. And I hadn't released the full EP yet. And I went there. I was like, well, if I'm going to go, like, I'm going to throw everything at it. So I hired photographers. I did this. I made posters. You know, like I really.

Go bigger. Go home. Yeah. I was like. let's make a splash. And then it was such a great, they're amazing fans, like just the best fans in the world. And so it was really neat as like a completely emerging artist to have people coming up to you being like, I've watched all of your YouTube and like, I love your music and like telling you specifically about what they liked about your music. And like, I don't know, you know, sometimes in

Toronto, it's like you're hard pressed to have anyone even look at you after the show. So at the time I was like, this is great. How do I do more of this? And so I decided to go back for a tour. And because of my Spanish speaking background, I started to learn Portuguese. And then I, you know, it's very hard to make the switch, to be honest. But those are different languages. They're different languages.

They have like the Latin roots. But it's a little bit of a brain twister to like keep them separate in your brain. And the pronunciation in Portuguese is a lot more. complex. So, yeah, but I started to learn and I just was really interested in the culture and then I got some opportunities to do some work like on the post-production side as well in Brazil. And so like that kind of kept me going back and doing press there and different, in collaborating with different people there. And they didn't turn you on to soccer because you're still not a sports fan. I don't hate sports. I'd just rather play them than watch them. I know I hear you. I'm just causing trouble. Okay. I'm so, okay.

And how is your French, by the way? Not as good as my Portuguese, that's for sure. Okay, but is it three years now in Montreal? You would think that I knew more. Yeah, it's improving. I mean, I definitely, the basics are kind of there. Last year I took a course, but I was a little burnt out when I moved there, and I think you need brain space to kind of take in new information.

So I'm working on it, but. And Montreal, that's where you write fine. No, I kind of had written it all over. Like I started some in Toronto. I started some in BC, some in Brazil. And I actually mostly wrote it, not in Montreal. And then I moved and recorded kind of at the same time. So it really was prior to that.

Okay, so we're going to get into fine. I feel like I've got a taste of who you are, where you come from. You come from everywhere. You come from everywhere. So let me give some love really briefly here to some fine organizations that help make this possible. And then we'll listen to a little music. And then I'm going to just grill you, okay, about fine here. So where are you staying right now?

Like with a family member, a friend? Friends. Okay. So this is like a house. Or it's a home. We'll call it a home. Okay. And they have a refrigerator?

Okay. These are the tough questions. You're ready for friends. Why are you nervous to go on? Oh, you're going to ask me if I... Where is he going with this? Okay, so I have in my freezer. It was just delivered, actually, like moments before you arrived.

I have in my freezer upstairs a large frozen lasagna from palm pasta. Whoa. It is delicious, Julie. I wouldn't lie to you. You know, I don't know if you're going to bring it back to where you're staying, and if you're going to enjoy it with them, I don't know what your plans are like, but I'm telling you, if you get yourself a plate of this palm of pasta lasagna, you'll be texting me a big thank you.

I mean, lasagna, you can't go wrong. Like, come on. No, and they get it right here. So just ask Peter Gross. So thank you to Palma Pasta for sending that over for Julie Neff. I know you don't enjoy beer. For whatever reason, Julie, you're not a beer gal, but maybe somebody you're staying with drinks beer.

Absolutely, they do. They're going to love you. It's the best beer you can find in this entire province. The only beer. The only beer that matters, as I call it. But Great Lakes Brewery sent over some fresh, craft beer for the fine people you're staying with, apparently, because you're... Thank you.

That's so kind. You're going to enjoy that. So thank you to Great Lakes. What else I got? I mentioned, I know you like to play sports more than watch them. But, you know, I'm here to tell you, you know, if you wanted to watch some baseball, but you didn't want to, like, you know, give the credit card a heavy workout. Or it's like, what the hell are you doing, Julie?

Come on. I'm telling you, Christy Pitts for free baseball, man. I love that. Toronto Maple Leafs Baseball costs you nothing. It's so entertaining. There's only a handful of dates left in the Toronto Maple Leafs calendar. The season ends at the end of the month. So get your butt to Christy Pitts.

There's a book here on the history of Toronto Maple Leafs Baseball for you. Phenomenal. Thank you so much. I'm going to give you one more thing. One more gift here. This is why you're here. All the swag you get. The legends, it's all out there.

Even in Montreal, they're talking about it. I'm overwhelmed by all this swing. Underwhelmed is a word. I looked it up. Okay. So this is. measuring tape courtesy that's what it's called measuring tape

measuring tape courtesy of Ridley funeral home oh there is one there is one here you know what I'm giving you too this is so useful a pocket measuring tape love that that's what they hope it'll be useful for you and I am here to tell the listenership that Brad Jones and I

are going to record a fresh episode of Life's Undertaking at 4 p.m. today that's happening today so it's like we're going to talk I'm going to record with my good friend Jerry Scott then I'm going to record a Brad Jones from Ridley Funeral Home, and then I'm going to go to the Elmwood

and have some buffalo wings with my oldest daughter who's in town from Montreal. You got my itinerary there? I got it. You can join me. It's on hers, so she'll pay for you. That's a good deal. Okay, so thank you, Ridley Funeral,

and we're recording it. We'll see if Brad opens up about Elvis Gate, and if you get that reference, if you know, you know. We'll leave that one. If you know, you know. Okay, so fine. I was reading this about Fine.

Well, let's hear something from Fine first. Just to give us an idea what we're talking about here. You ready to listen to something? Like literally, you want to listen to something? I love something. See what I did there? Okay, here we go. Here we go.

Is there another voice with you there? Yeah. It's not yourself. I once asked that question. It's another you. That trick always fools me. Can I tell you a musician will come over. I'll hear like multi-layered voices and I'll be like,

who's that in the backing track? And I'll find it it's the actual you. It's, it's the actual you. It's my favorite part to record those parts. It's amazing. It sounds great. Sometimes there's another person, but... Okay, but that's... Not in this song.

That's Julie on Julie. Yeah. Okay, tell me about something. Like, firstly, congrats, because you wrote a great song. Thank you. I like this song a lot. I like it a lot, too.

I like it more than you like it. Okay. Let's fight about it. All right. Tell me, if you don't mind, what's something about? I wrote this one after hearing, like, I feel like,

countless stories, but, you know, my own stories, but in this case, I had been listening to a friend talk about this kind of on-again, off-again, relationship, or some people call them situationships. And I've experienced that many times, too, and I just was, like, weighted with this kind of the heaviness of it, you know, of this kind of, like, living in uncertainty around a romantic situation. And I think I also had, like, binge-watched.

Oh, my gosh, I'm totally blanking the name. I couldn't remember the name Peggy Olson. I know. What's that Western? Yellowstone. I had binge watched Yellowstone. And so I was in like a country mood, I guess. And yeah, I just, I wrote this song in like 20 minutes. Like it just flew out of me. And I think it's this idea of like, you know, situations that I've been in and this friend

that was sharing the situation with me. It's like, you know, someone who's like treating you like their partner and they're doing all this stuff that really seems like, relationship-y and then you have the audacity to say something about being in a relationship or some sort of label and they're like oh my gosh how dare you like we are not you know this is casual I'm like well then treat it like it's casual but this this kind of like mixed messages thing is so exhausting and I feel like modern dating is is like plagued with this and so the idea develops through the song is just like you know you're not giving me clarity and maybe I'm not asking

for it. You know, maybe I don't really want to know the answer, but like I would just love if you would say something, you know, like could you tell me? Therein lies the rob. I'm now your therapist here,

but therein lies the rob is that you got to like set the ground rules up front. Exactly. Yeah. Because it sounds like this gentleman in question doesn't want to commit to like a, a monogamous relationship. I could be reading more than there is here. You know, that's how I hear you speak about it.

And then the messages is such that, oh, no, we are a couple. and maybe we're an exclusive couple and then at the mere mention that the suggestion that that's what you are, like, no, no, no, no, like that's not what this is. But if up front, if the rules are established for the relationship, then there's no...

For sure. Yeah, and I think, you know, it's tricky. I think there is a lot of complexity in the way that we date now. But I think over the years, writing songs has really helped me reflect on my participation in the equation. And I, and I have, like, really changed how I engage. And I think just committing to the fact that, like, even if this, even if no one else is clear, at least I will be clear about what are my expectations, what are my intentions, et cetera. But this kind of, I think when you

hear other people's experience of it, it can help you clarify even your own take on it more. And so, like, in this case, I was listening to a friend describe it and I was like, ooh, this sucks. But, like, I've done this too, you know? Like, yeah, because you're like, why would you let that happen? And I'm like, wait, I've let that happen so many times. So, um, yeah, I think it does help you kind of say like, oh, you know, like there's another track on the album that talks about these kind of like, it's called cheap fallbacks. And it's like, all these kind of silly, like not great excuses people give you and you, and you, you take them, you know? And it's like, no, it's my bad for believing you. You know, it's my bad for not reading the red flag in this situation. Um, but yeah, there's a lot of mixed message. And so I think there's a lot of the album is pursuing clarity, and I think on the romantic side just as much, you know? Well, I can imagine writing about this alone that's very cathartic. For sure, yeah.

That's, okay. And may I ask, like, what is your current status? Is that a personal question? Yeah, I'm in a relationship now. I'm very happy. Not a situation. Not a situation. Not a situation.

Very much a committed relationship. And it was really clear from the beginning, which was really nice on both sides. So that is something, though. like that took a lot of trial and error of just trying to date and realizing like, oh, you do have to meet a lot of people. And then be clear, yeah, about your intentions and see what happens. But yeah, I'm very happy. Where is it easier to date, Toronto or Montreal? I mean, I met this person in Montreal, but I don't know that it's like a natural equation.

I think it can really depend. It depends. Yeah. That's the answer to everything, but there's a secret to life. The answer to everything is, it depends. But I do think timing is a big factor. You know, I think timing in all of our lives is a huge factor. And, you know, in this case, I met someone who's from Brazil.

So, like, it was like things that we had in common of, you know, me having lived there really helped kind of connect us. And then I think I was ready. You know, I was in a place where I was ready to, to, like, actually get into something. And I think sometimes we think we're ready and we're not actually prepared. So, yeah. I like,

I like that you're using songwriting as like a cathartic outlet for your, to manage your. Well, it's funny. Like, sometimes you're like, oh, I've written this song before. Like, this is embarrassing. Like, I have to learn this lesson and move on, you know? It's like, it's like, wait a minute, maybe it is me. How do I take a different, different angle on this? Because I'm like, I actually need to take some responsibility for.

Well, that's the accountable. Okay. So the album is called fine. Stylistically, though, this is very important listenership, okay? F-I-N-E, I feel like I'm Aerosmith here, right? Remember that fucked-up, insecure, neurotic, and emotional? No, you're way too young for this. No, I don't know.

It was on pump. F-I-N-E-E-F-N-E-E-FIN. Okay. But your fine is a lower-case fine with a period at the end. So why stylistically is fine written that way? Well, I love how loaded the word is. You know, I think when we say it, at least for me, and I feel like this changes generationally. Sometimes, like, if my parents say fine, like, I think they just mean, okay, like, fine.

But I feel like in the generation of texting, it's like, if you say fine with a period, like, you're angry. Or if you say like, yeah, if you say all caps, obviously, you know, depending on your tone when you say it in person, it can change. Like, it's, I think it's a really loaded word. but I feel like it's also the word that we say when we're deflecting, you know, like, how are you doing? Oh, I'm fine. And you just, I'm fine, it's fine.

You know, you're kind of, it's a little passive aggressive. It's a little like deflecty. And so I think the album deals with a lot of topics. It deals with mental health. It deals with physical health. It deals with romance. And so I felt like it was this kind of all-encompassing word

that can change in meaning. And it has changed even since I recorded a few years ago. So like, now I feel like maybe I'm getting closer to the acceptance version of the word, you know, but like maybe at the beginning it was more of, I don't know, of like a sarcasm or fast-up regression. Now that you say texting now, of course, stylistically, just lowercase F-I-N-E period, as a text message completely changes the meaning to me. Like it all makes sense to me over here.

Yeah. It's like a light going on here. And I'll just say like for most people I know. They could be having like the worst day of their life. Like their dog just died. Like whatever. It could be the worst day of their life. And you go, hey man, how's it going?

I'm fine. How are you doing? Like that's like a default go-to. And they could be having the worst day. Yeah. Like they just, they don't want to burden you. Well, actually, thanks for asking. My dog died.

And it's like, what do I do of this? Like, it's like, I'm going to do the favor of telling you I'm fine. Yes, exactly. And I, courtesy. Yeah. And I think the album is like, there's a lot of songs on it that are an effort to not give that answer.

Like, it's like when you are really struggling and nobody knows, like, you know, there's the title track obviously talks about this a lot, but it's like this idea that you can appear to be fine from the outside, but you might be dealing with a lot on the inside. And you can't hold that all by yourself all the time. 100%. Yeah. 100%. You never know what someone else is going through, but everybody's going through something.

And on that note, so, because I am going to play the title track. I always play the title track. I mean, like, you name the album this for a reason. You know what I mean? I'm going to play the title track. It's funny because, so I got like a nice, like, PR bio about you. And I'm going to read the paragraph, but I will tell you that the song that we just played, they call it the album's focus track.

And I'm not even sure I've ever heard this term before because, like, you have a title track. This has the same name as the album. And then you have the focus track. You know what I mean? Like, I feel like I'm not in the industry. but that feels like a new thing. It's a, so what they'll do is they'll have like a, you'll put out a single.

So in my case, I put out the single fine and I put out another single trapped. And then when you release the album with Press, you need to have a focus track. And so they, see, I had no idea. They choose an unreleased track. And something is, you know, I feel like there's a lot of singles on the album.

But you probably, because I know you like something very much. It's a great song. You must have some influence. Okay, you're going to have a focus track. It's going to be something because I love that song. Mm-hmm. Yeah, absolutely. Control your world here.

Okay, so fine, which we're going to play in a minute. And how do you say fine? Just fine? Or fine? No, that'd be all caps. It's more of a fine. Fine? Is there a question mark in there? Yeah, it's a fine, exclamation mark, question mark. Oh, you know, geez, style is important. Okay, I got to check the Julie Neff style guide and get back to you here. Oh, it's all good. Okay, but here's the paragraph in that bio I was referring to that PR bio. Okay, I'm going to read it. So this tells me this is,

public information. I'm not prying into your personal health matters. I'm reading what's in this public bio. Ready? Yeah. Okay, it's about fine. Created while navigating the daily realities of living with chronic illness, namely endometriitis,

acclaimed Canadian alternative artist, Julie Neff has just released her debut album. Fine. It was released on July 10th, 2026, a project that captures what it feels like to live in a body at war with itself while giving voice to the millions of people living with chronic pain who often feel unseen. Okay, so obviously you know where it's going, but coincidentally, complete coincidence, there is a

local blogger. She's been blogging in the city of Toronto. I started blogging. The word blogging, do you know what that means? I do. So I started blogging at TorontoMike.com in 2002, and there was already a local blogger who went by the moniker Ramey the Minks. And I was kind of like very interested in this whole like cyber world she created.

She was very open and honest on this blog and I would follow this blog. So when I started this very podcast, 1950 episodes ago, I had a mental note. See if Ramey will come over and talk about all this. And then Ramey did come over. An early episode of Toronto Mike does with Ramey the Minks. And we did it. And that was over a decade ago, I think. Well, out of nowhere, out of the blue in the palace,

Last week, Ramey the Minks has been sending me emails. Can I come back? And she wants to talk about a number of things, but one of the key things she wants to talk about is her battle with endometriosis. Am I saying it right? Endometriosis. Right. Okay.

And she was explaining. She sends me photo. She said, here's a photo of me. And it looked like she was pregnant. Yeah. And then she was explaining that this is what she looked like a year ago. And except she's going to speak for herself because I said, yes, you may come over. So at any point now, the second Ramey the Minks episode of Toronto,

and we will talk about this. But I want to hear from you, would you please tell us, idiots, exactly what is endometriosis and how it's affected you? Yeah, so endometriosis is a full-body inflammatory condition. It is, you know, they're still researching it. Women's health is underwhelmingly researched, to use your word for earlier. That's a word. Yeah, so basically tissue that's like similar to the lining of the uterus that you shed on your period.

It grows in the abdominal cavity on other organs, on, you know, the diaphragm. They found it in the heart, the brain. Like it goes all over the place. And it's an inflammatory tissue. So it's growing where it's not supposed to be. It engages your immune system. And then it can create scar tissue and it can fuse organs together. It can fuse organs to.

walls and, you know, pelvic walls. This sounds horrific. It is awful. And so the problem is, like, a lot of people don't even know what it is. And then they might take up to 10 years to get diagnosed. And then even when they get diagnosed, there's not a lot of great treatment options available

yet. And so, you know, the most common is surgery. So they go in and they remove it, but it comes back. So there's not like a great solve. It's not curable as of right now. You manage it, essentially. Yeah, you're kind of managing it.

You're managing inflammation. You're trying to reduce stress. You're, you know, for some people, certain hormonal medications help. But it's not a cure-all for sure. And then it can cause a host of other issues with other organs. And, you know, even they're finding now, like heart health is impacted because you're chronically inflamed for so many years. And so your heart is under more strain.

You know, your brain can take a toll too. So it's been, you know, a long journey for me with that and I've had a couple of surgeries. But it's, you know, it doesn't solve the whole problem. And then even when you're trying to get treatment, like if, you know, they're only offering you one option, it's really frustrating because you're like, well, that option didn't work for me. So like, what else do you got? And they're like, nothing. Like, I don't have anything. And why are you talking to me about it if you're not trying to get pregnant?

Like they all they care about is like, are you dying or are you trying to get pregnant? And there's no in between. And it really, I feel like most of the time the specialists are really focused on fertility. And they're not really caring as much about your quality of life and like your ability to participate in life. So what it means is for a lot of people who suffer with this and certainly for me at different stages of my life, it's like it can take you out. You know, it can absolutely take you out. Or in my case, like, how it released to the album, a lot of the times I was just forcing myself to go to work

and taking pain meds or doing whatever I needed to do to kind of push through. And then I would go to the bathroom on breaks to, like, ball my eyes out because I was in so much pain. And, you know, and then you wipe the tears away and go back to a meeting. So, like, it's a real, it creates extra tension, I think, where, you know, One thing is pushing through on days where you want to and you need to. And like, we all need something to get up and get out of the house for. But another thing is to push your body to the, to its absolute limit. And I really did a lot of the time.

And I would be like, oh, I don't know why I'm always getting sick. Like, I would get colds and stuff all the time. And I was like, oh, I'm just overdoing it. You know, I'm just overdoing it. And I would not really give my, myself the break to know, like, okay, I need a lot of rest. I need to be able to rest and they need proper nutrition. And there's often kind of like digestive issues involved. So sometimes you're not even able to absorb the right nutrients.

And like super low iron is a big part of this. So there's a host of conditions. It's poorly understood. And, you know, over the years, you can end up spending a lot of time and money on, you know, naturopathic treatments or like alternative treatments or body work to kind of help manage the pain, but it's like, it's cyclical. So it's just like, it keeps coming back and you keep having to do it. And so, yeah, it's definitely been a huge challenge. And I think I didn't really

tell people how bad it was. You know, I was like, oh, well, I'll just suck it up and like go to work, you know, or like do my thing. And so once I started kind of sharing with people, I was like, oh, this isn't normal and like this isn't okay and pursue treatment and tried to figure out how best to manage it. But I think this idea that like a lot of people who suffer from this and any chronic pain can also suffer from depression and anxiety and associated with that because obviously it's really difficult to deal with any chronic condition, but certainly one that that causes so much pain.

And, you know, and I had a hard time identifying that that was what was happening and then also telling people about it. And they'd be like, oh, well, why don't you just ask for help? like, I don't know what to ask for, you know, like, I don't know how to, like, I feel like a bummer to be around. And, like, I don't know, even to like invite you over feels like not the right thing or, like, you know, asking for a meal. Like, I just didn't even know how to approach that. And so writing these songs has helped me to be like, how can I start that conversation with people that are close to me of like, okay, like, at least just telling you what's going on. And, and, and then

realizing that it's not a burden to them to let them know that you're struggling and you know they don't always have to be able to fix it it's just something where it's like you're not carrying that alone um and then sharing these songs publicly and having you know shows and stuff and having people coming up to me and in tears being like this is me like I have an invisible chronic illness too and I think the invisible part is is what is the most isolating because it's not you're not you don't have a wheelchair or crutches or something you know that's obvious and so people are just like assume that you're good to go or they're like why is she so lame she's canceling plans like why she's tired all the time like you know and you're like I am trying so

hard to be here like trying and even when I am here it's hard to pay attention because I'm in pain so I think that's that's been a big challenge um to learn to manage for sure well that was a very like I'm glad you opened up and shared in that way because I we talked only like moments ago I said you never know what somebody's going through. And that's precisely what I mean. You don't see it. But this sounds like a debilitating chronic illness, disease, disease, I suppose. And I'm really sorry that you have this affliction. Like I'm sorry. Yeah, thank you. Yeah. It's been a journey. Like I think obviously with everything that we go through in life, I think there can be good things that come out of the bat. And I think with this album, I really wanted the like, you know,

the whole visual of the album is based on Kinsuki, which is like the Japanese art of repairing pottery with broken pottery with gold. And it's like there could be gold in the linings, but you're still not going to be the same as before you were broken. But maybe it'll be a little bit different. And, you know, a lot of people are dealing with that. And there's different ways to manage. And there's different seasons.

Like right now I'm in a season where things feel more manageable. And I feel able to be in front of people and able to like do things like this. and that's why I waited so long to release the album because I wasn't there for a couple years. Is that like weather related? Like just the temps are higher and the symptoms are less or unrelated to the tent? Sometimes that can make it worse for people.

Okay. No, I think, you know, I think I was dealing with some depression at the same time. And so it took me a while to kind of re-engage with like just joy. And like I did a lot of like paint my numbers and just like sensory things to kind of get back. You know, it wasn't just that. It was a lot of things together. But I took some time just to live and take the pressure off and try not to feel this pressure to be present online all the time

and, you know, try to manage all those things and then get ready for the album, which is a big release. Well, the song fine. We're going to play it at a moment with that context. I think it'll change it for people when they hear it. But it's funny that earlier it kind of adds more like weight to the whole idea of fine, like the title of fine, because you alluded to it, but I feel like we have a tendency where we don't want to bum people out. We thought, oh, I'm having that. My dog just died, but I'm

fine. I'm fine. You know, you don't want to bump people out. You're like, I'm, yeah, I'm managing a debilitating chronic pain from an uncurable disease called endometriosis. But for your purposes, I'm fine, because I'm going to try to be present and tough it out. You know what I mean? Like, you don't know. Like, it sounds horrible. It really does sound, when you describe it, it sounds nightmarish to me. Yeah. And you don't want to like, I mean, you also don't want to share your personal business with absolutely everyone that you're talking to. Well, too late. You put it on an album. I know. I know. But like, you know what I mean? When you're just talking to someone in casual conversation.

Right. Like on the subway or something. But yeah, I do think that we have normalized women's pain way too much. And so it is something that sometimes I get surprised by people's reaction because I'm like, oh yeah, like this is horrible. But you get used to some aspects of it. I mentioned like, you know, I'm stupid or whatever, but what I mean by that is there's an overwhelming amount of ignorance amongst some men when it comes to ailments of this nature that affect women. Like, and you mentioned underwhelmed, okay, you know, that is a word. Okay, Chris Murphy says it's not, but I believe it is, okay? But I looked it up.

It's one of those things I did in my school. But the, like, awareness to this word, I think I might have heard it in the past, but I didn't stop to focus on it because nobody in my inner circle was afflicted or whatever. And then it's funny, I had this experience of Ramey the Minks, and she's showing me pictures. And she's showing me like, this is what I looked like last year.

And it really looked like she was rather pregnant. And she was saying, and she was explaining it's funny. And then I saw that you had the same affliction. And now I'm like aware. And I wonder, like, I'm so glad you're talking about it. And we're about to play the song. But I'm glad you're talking about it so openly in public here.

Because how many people, how many women listening will be like, like thank you. I suffer from endometriosis. I don't know how common it is, but it's common enough that it's, you know, two people in my circle

have mentioned it in the past week. At least one in ten. Like I think, one in ten. Yeah. So they're finding it more and more and then it takes so long to get diagnosed.

We don't have accurate numbers of everyone. That's good. That's my question. So I'm going to play fine. The promise I'm getting to it. But like, was there a period of time where you,

maybe you're just like talking to your doctor about this pain you're feeling? Is there a long time before diagnosis? Like how quickly? Seven to ten years. Before diagnosis. Before they give it a name and say you have endometriosis.

Yeah. Seven to ten years. I'm wondering our doctors like, oh, maybe you need to go to a spa and just like, are people trying to like gaslight you, I suppose, and tell you like, oh, maybe it's in your head? All the time. The first doctor I went to about my, the first issues of, I was literally like, almost like hemorrhaging. And he was like, it's just in a regular period.

And I was like, okay. And then I went to Spain and I had, I went to the doctor there. They did an ultrasound. They were like, oh, no, you have a massive benign tumor. And this was definitely there two months ago when your doctor in Canada examined you. Oh, my God. You're pissing me off right now because you have to be your own advocate, but we're too polite. I think Canadians, I don't know if we can blame Canada for this.

You know, that's the South Park thing. but like I feel like too many of us are too polite that a doctor says it's an irregular period and we're like thank you for your time and we move on no I was like I'm calling you from work passing out and you're telling me this isn't a regular period like get out of here and you have to be your own advocate yeah you have to just not settle I've had to switch doctors I've had to like pursue multiple opinions over the years and obviously moving around doesn't help but it's it's like it's absolutely insane and looking back I'm just like wow so many years of suffering where like maybe I could have had some solutions earlier. Seven to ten years. Yeah. And I'm not looking at a, you're a young woman. Yeah. Yeah.

And so imagine. Like if you start too, like people start really young with symptoms. And they're just like, oh, just put her on the pill. She'll be fine. And then that can make matters worse or it masks it. And then by the time they get off of it, they've got a whole host of issues. And it's a big problem. Yeah.

Now one thing you did not, of course, I'm not challenging anything you said. there, but you talked about how it's typical with these women-only ailments to be under, I can't remember the term you used. Under research. Under research. And I produced a show for the Women's Brain Health Initiative where we talked about how women's brain health, because apparently like Alzheimer's and dementia, more common in women than men, but all the research was about men.

Terrible. But in this instance, I'm here to tell you, because you mentioned, unless you're dying or trying to get pregnant, they sort of have. have less passion to resolve your symptoms. It sounds like. But I did have FOTM, friend of Toronto, Mike. You're now an FOTM as well, Julie. But Blair Packham was over here talking about his prostate.

Okay, this is like the men's side of the whole thing. And he was talking about how he was literally like two minutes. He had to go to the washroom every two minutes with his prostate was awful. And the doctor didn't care because it wasn't cancer. So I'm just saying it is not just women stuff too. It's like, oh, you're not, it's not cancer. We'll just manage it. I think the medical system is absolutely overloaded,

and I just don't think they have capacity to care about it beyond anything that's like urgent and urgent intervention. Are you dying? Yes or no? Preventative medicine? Like, forget about it. Yeah. You're not dying? Well, are you a woman trying to get pregnant?

No. Okay, take a couple of Advil and sleep it off. Take Tylen and go home. All right. I'm playing fine now. All right. I can't hear everything they say, you've got a fight, but it left me alone. Like I'm getting lost in the fray, but I can pretend to be fine. But she's crying on the inside.

Pressed a big smile, lift my chin. They say I can fight this from within, but... I'm so glad we talked about you managing your endometriosis before hearing the song, because it, I totally get it. I totally get it. It's exactly your time boat. It's like the pressure of maintaining that, this appearance that you've got it all under control,

it's all good, but you're privately struggling. Great song, too. Thank you. Yeah. I think it's funny, too, like the, oh, but like she was productive. So, like, it's all good.

Right. Right. You know? Yeah, well, she hit her deadline. She hit her deadline. I don't see the problem here. It's fine. You know, it's almost like just get the lie.

and say, I am actually dying. Yeah. I am dying. What can we do about this? Who are the music? Because when I hear this, like, I don't know, these 90s rockers jump in my head, like, oh, Holly McNarland or Tracy Bonham.

Like, it's got a little bit of that 90s. Yeah, I hear it. Who are the influences for this sound? I'm trying to bring everything back to the 90s, okay? I mean, I love in the 90s, big fan. I have a whole refs playlist that we've made. made for this album. But I have a lot of different references and definitely rock, definitely like 2000s rock is definitely an influence for me as well. You know, grew up listening, not grew up, but in high

school forward was listening to a lot of different fans like Alche and Coldplay and, you know, lots of different aspects. But the producer of the album, she's from Brazil and I feel like she brings a lot of those rock influences too. And really, I think, brought some of the music. cool elements into this track in particular. Without a doubt, it's here more. Here, that was more. I turned it up just in time. I do have one more song here, but I'm curious,

like, so what's next for you? Now you've put fine into the wild, and you mentioned it was recorded in multiple places, different parts of your life or whatever, and you've got your first album. You had some EPs in the past, but now you have an actual full album. What is next for Julie Neff on?

the music front. Yeah, so I'm excited to, we're gonna, we're working on making some physical copies of the album. I prefer cobbodies, actually. Comedy's. That's it. Coppities is a new word I'm gonna use.

Yeah. And then we're also working on building out some live shows. And I love, like with this, we've done a couple shows where we've had really full band and it's amazing. And I think now more than ever, leaning into the live like feeling of like I want to feel the visceral like joy of playing music.

So we got even a violin. There's a bunch of tracks on the album that have strings. And so we're trying to incorporate a bunch of that. So yeah, stay tuned for that, hoping to have some shows potentially later in September. I am waiting on, ironically, from our discussion, some medical scheduling, which is they never like to tell you when things are happening. So I've been hesitant. to like book things because they may have to cancel,

but trying to move forward as much as we can. And then, yeah, looking ahead at next year and shows and kind of rolling out different aspects of the album. Well, that's another element of living with a chronic illness you might overlook, which is it's not just the pain. Yeah.

Right? It's also managing the different medical appointments that are tough to get. I don't have, I'm blessed as I speak, no chronic pain, but I do have to see a hebatologist once a year. And even that, like, Just today I got an email, like I have to go do one week before. I have to do life labs. I have to do my blood work.

And then this hematologist once a year will review it and whatever, whatever, whatever. And this is the time of year it happens in mid-August. And I got a note today like, oh, this life labs appointment you booked for reasons beyond our control, we're canceling it. I know. You're like, I waited all year for this. Yeah, that I only booked probably a week ago or whatever. But still, it's like, all these curveballs, it's like, no, because if I don't do the blood work, the hematologist can't do their thing.

There's like a whole thing. And that's me with one little thing I have to manage once a year. And you're living daily with endometriosis. So I'm not trying to compare these two things. But that's a little taste of how, like, oh, yeah, you have these appointments. You got to keep it. You got to block your calendar and make sure you're there. And I'm guessing maybe your doctor's in Montreal or whatever.

I don't know. That could be too private. But you're in Toronto right now. I know that it's a long train ride or whatever. And earlier, I made a joke because you said coppity. Half the words I say I mispronounce. you know, coppity, and then you made a joke about zippity doodah, and I'm here to tell you in primary school of my dear friend Joe,

I saw a song of the South into theaters, and that's where Zippity Doodah comes from. And that movie has been deleted by Disney because of some dated references to people of color. Oh, no. I know. So I'm here to tell you, that song is a banger, Zippity doodah.

And the movie, as a, I guess I was like, I don't know, five or six years old, I really liked the movie because there's singing. and there's like cartoon birds and stuff. But you can't get that movie anymore. I'm just putting it out there. That movie, Disney has deleted that movie the way they deleted the Simpsons episode,

Stark Raving Dad. So these are all some fun facts. Okay, Julie, how was this for you? I know you didn't come to Toronto just to see me, but you made time to visit South Atobico, one of the few boroughs you haven't lived in in this fine city. And I'm wondering, is there anything you want, wanted to share before we say goodbye, I got to tell you I loved it.

I loved it too. This is great. A great conversation and I love, you know, I think it's the stuff of life to talk about all the things, you know? I think one thing I've learned over the course of making music and doing life over the past few years is like you can experience joy and sorrow on the same day. And I feel like that's, you know, we talk about all the things, living places working and music and creativity and health and all the stuff. We talked about your situation ship. Yeah, we covered it all. There's joy, there's pain, there's sunshine, and rain. I think that's what I learned here. I realized I pulled another song, so I'm going to actually make you stick around for a few more

minutes to talk about one more song. Let's hear it. Because you can't leave now, right? Where are you going to go? Don't hit your head. Okay, so let's listen. But I know that you've changed. And every time I want to see your... But I know that you can stay. But we should burn bright Until you left Take you Is that actual audio from a campfire?

It's from someone's campfire, yeah Okay Please, normally I was planning to fade that down After about a minute or so But I was sort of lost in it What's it like for you? I was going to ask you

What's it like for you to sit there And hear your, you know, debut album in the headphones? It sounds nice. No, it sounded great. I'm pretty excited about it. I think it's cool. Like, you know, there's so many phases of listening to it, right?

Like, sometimes you're listening at the beginning to evaluate it and see, like, what are we changing? What are we? You know, is it mixed good? All that kind of stuff. Does it mean more campfire? Yeah, or there's just, like, you know, sometimes I've had these moments of just listening to it, but for pleasure, like, just to enjoy it or to practice or, you know. So it's kind of nice to listen to it on headphones and remember all the little details that I love about

the production of, you know, what we put into it. Well, I hope you're very proud of this effort. Yeah. You're proud, right? I'm very proud. Mm-hmm. As we were talking, my phone had this thunderstorm warning thing that came up, like a yellow warning for a thunderstorm.

I'm like, oh, like, you know, what's going on? And I just clicked in. It's Woodbridge. Okay, stop bothering me. I'm in South Atobico. Like, you know what I mean? We're fine here. Let me know when South Atobico.

Like, my phone knows where I am. I guess Woodbridge is close enough, I guess, but thunderstorm warning in Woodbridge, I don't know if I need to be. Sensationalist weather reports these days. Yeah, you know what? If it bleeds, it leads. You know this, right?

Julie Neff, what an absolute pleasure it was to talk to you about your life and music and to hear some cuts from the new album, fine, and thank you for being so, like, I guess the word I'll use here is vulnerable. I think I just love vulnerability. Thank you for having me. been a pleasure.

I realize now I never did give the tip I like to give on every episode. And this will even work in Montreal. So I'm going to do it very quickly, which is tell you, if you have old electronics, old devices, and old cables, old computers, don't throw that in the garbage because those chemicals end up in our landfill. Go to recyclemyelectronics.ca.

Put in your postal code and find it where you can drop it off to be properly recycled. You got that tip, Julie? I got it. Also, Karen Stince was on my show most recently, and she's going to be a guest of Nick Iienes is on his podcast, Building Toronto Skyline, and we'll record that next week. So we'll learn about how we can fix the...

We didn't mention this, but my daughter lives in Montreal because the rent is so much cheaper than here. We didn't mention it, but affordable housing is a big issue in the city. And Karen and Nick are going to chat about it on Building Toronto Skyline. I urge people to check it out. Thank you, Julie. Where should people go if they want to consume fine? You can find it on any streaming platform. So wherever you listen to your music, Spotify, YouTube music, title, wherever.

And then you can keep up with me at Julie Neff Music on Instagram or at julienfmofmucic.com. You've been everywhere and that music is everywhere. If you can't find it, it's on you. Yeah. You're not trying hard enough. And that brings us to the end. of our 1,950th show, 1950. It's a round number.

We've come to that conclusion. Go to Torontomike.com for all your Toronto Mike needs. And much love to all who made this possible. That is Great Lakes Brewery. You've got some fresh craft beer, Julie. Palma pasta, don't leave without your lasagna. It's in my freezer upstairs.

Toronto Maple Leafs Baseball. We're going to turn you into a sports fan, get you to Christy Pits. Nick Aini's, subscribe to building Toronto Skyline and recycle myelectronics.ca, of course, and Ridley Funeral Home,

and we have a new episode of Life's Undertaking, recording in an hour and 41 minutes. See you all tomorrow. Okay, this is exciting. He's been covering the Toronto Raptors since the Raptors were born in 95. He's been doing so,

for the Toronto Star, Canada's largest circulated newspaper. I believe that's still true. Doug Smith, who has only been on the show remotely, is going to make his basement debut, Doug Smith from the Toronto Star. He covers the Raptor. So we're going to get into Kawai Gate. What the hell is happening? We're going to break it down.

Is Kawhi Leonard a Raptor or not? Will he be a Raptor or not? We're going to get into it tomorrow on Toronto Mike. See you then.