Toronto Mike'd: The Official Toronto Mike Podcast - Kevin Hearn from Barenaked Ladies, Part One: Toronto Mike'd #877

Episode Date: July 2, 2021

Mike chats with musician Kevin Hearn about his years playing with The Look People, Corky and the Juice Pigs, the Barenaked Ladies, the Rheostatics, Lou Reed, Thin Buckle, and Cosmic Krewe’s Michael Ray and Laranah Phipps-Ray.

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from Palma Pasta in Mississauga and Oakville. Ridley Funeral Home. Pillars of the community since 1921. And Mike Majewski, who's ripping up the Mimico real estate scene. Learn more at realestatelove.ca. I'm Mike from torontomike.com and joining me this week is Kevin Hearn. Welcome, Kevin. Hi, Mike. Nice to meet you. What a pleasure.

I'm a big fan of your work. Why, thank you. And I don't say that to all my guests. I mean it when I say that. Sure, sure you don't. And you're a Grimsby guy, right? You're from Grimsby? Born in Grimsby.

I didn't live there very long, but I was born there. Where did you move after your brief stint in Grimsby? You know, I'm going to get right into the personal stuff here. But when I was born, my mom had ja jaundice so I had to have a complete blood transfusion so I was rushed to a hospital in Hamilton and not long after that my family moved to Montreal so I never really actually lived in Grimsby for that long. Yeah and my apologies I actually didn't realize I was asking such a personal question there, but, uh, I could have skipped all that, but it's, you know,

it's kind of interesting anyways. Yeah. Fascinating. And so was it in Montreal where you, uh, you realize, uh, that you want to be a musician or does that happen here? musician or does that happen here? Yeah, that happened when I was five, my family then moved to Toronto and that's when I started sort of hearing a lot of music and I got my first cassette tape, which was the Beatles Magical Mystery Tour. And that was my entrance into this wonderful world of music that I've made my life. And we're going to talk about a whole bunch of it. I'm going to start with a band. Okay, so here, let me get a prop here, even though it's a podcast, which is audio only. So, okay.

Oh, my gosh. Wow. Where'd you find that? James B. gave this to me. Wow. Where'd you find that? James B. gave this to me. When he visited, he gave this to me. The Look People, for those who are listening, this is Look People's Small Fish Big Pond. And you, Kevin, are on the cover of this album.

You have one of the rare unsigned copies. Eventually I'll get you to sign that, but it's actually still got its original rapper. Like I don't have anything to play it on. So I stream the music from Look People, but where do I begin with this? That's not the first record I was ever on, but it's the first record that my photo is on.

So that's interesting. I look about eight there. All my friends know the low rider on so that's interesting I look about eight there guitar solo Lone rider Drives a little slower Lone rider Is the real goer Drops a little slower A lone rider Is the real goer We'll be right back. Who's the one to meet you? guitar solo so so i've actually wanted to talk to you for a long time because I love the Look people. I love James B. I'm a big fan of James.

Maybe we begin, Kevin, on how do you end up in the Look people? Oh, wow. Okay. Well, I studied music for years at a school called St. Michael's Choir School. And then I left and went to a big public school called Lawrence Park, which wasn't for me. I was a little overwhelmed. So a friend recommended this school called Ingle Nook, which is an alternative school down near King and Parliament. And there I met a young lady named Susie Brady, who was dating a guy named Ian Sane, who was in a punk band. I forget the name of it, but he was starting this side punk band called Mr. Personality. And he would do lounge versions of punk rock classics and he needed a piano player.

So she recommended, she recommended me. And at our first show, I remember friends of Susie's showed up. It was James B and Bob Scott who, who had this band called The Look People. And there was a bit of a connection because James had also gone to Inglenook and had seen me play at one of their coffee houses that they do. So I was asked to join The Look People that night. And James B., what was it like being in a band with James? He's such a character in this city. He is.

I mean, I was still in high school, you know, I would skip class so I could get to London, Ontario on time to play at Call the Office, you know. James is, you know, he's a very extroverted person and very good at getting people excited about ideas and has an adventurous spirit. And that band was a lot of fun. Here's the big question. It's been asked of many guests on Toronto Mic if they have anything to do with James B. And I need your honest answer here.

Because this debate is ongoing, Kevin. Yep. Is James B. famous? I'd say infamous. I think that counts. I think in Toronto he is. Yeah, okay. Thank you so much.

I'm on that side of the ledger here. I think he's Toronto famous. But this debate, you know, it comes up to like, you know, what is fame? And there's a very deep discussion to be had,

but if you approached a hundred random people on the TTC and you said, who's James B, how many of those hundred people know who you're talking about? So I guess it's kind of, you know, what is fame, but at least in my opinion, James B is a very Torontoonto famous individual yeah he's

especially nowadays anyone who listens to jazz fm will know you know his shows and now he's got a new show called uh jazz outside jazz or something like that um anyways he's playing some some of some of the music that i know james loves that no one else would play and he's getting away with playing all this amazing outside music it's great love it and i've heard through certain channels i have friends in high places if you will who tell me there's a james b documentary in the works so i feel like his fame is only going to increase when this sees the light of day well yeah i think from what i hear he's working on that with a guy named joel goldberg

that's the last i heard about no you got it joel you got it right please continue there of joel because i want to say lots of things about mr goldberg but please continue yeah joel goes way back with the look people he shot some of our You know, he shot our video for our version of Lowrider and a song called Stop Start. You know, it was always great working with Joel, a really nice guy. Joel's claimed, other than that, in directing all those great Maestro Fresh West videos like Let Your Backbone Slide and Drop the Needle, Joel Goldberg was one of the founders of Electric Circus, the city TV dance party show at 299 Queen.

Wow. So there you go. Are you friends with Joel? Yeah, yeah, yeah. I've had him on a few times. I just love the history of those old city TV shows. You know what's funny? Here, let, you know, it's funny here. Let me show you this real quick.

Okay. All right. So, so, you know, I, I think maybe you've got a couple of years on me, but not much. So this poster I'm showing you now is kind of like in the early days of like music, video, television, you know, all the, you know, the people who are on Canadian shows. You got Samantha Taylor and you got J.D. Roberts in there and Christopher Ward, of course. A whole bunch of cats, including the guy in the white suit in the bottom left there is Joel Goldberg, who was hosting a show on CFMT where they played music videos back in the early to mid 80s. Holy moly, that is a blast from the past.

And Erica Emma is on that poster as well is that denise donlan on there as well you know what no it's not it is that one okay so i try to here it's not actually denise donlan so okay so who's that on the far shirley mcqueen oh who's that so she was known i knew her best as a q107 radio host she's actually been on this program she moved out west but she uh was hosting a show maybe it was also on cfmt but uh shirley mcqueen had a video show for a period of time uh but she's best known as a q107 uh dj she was yeah she was good uh now she's in i think calgary or edmonton i hope I don't screw that up. But forgive me for asking this, but have you always been on the radio side of things or are you like James? Are you like a musician or artist as well? None of the above. So I've never worked in any mainstream media or ever had never. I've

never worked in music, actually. So really, this is just I'm just a fan with a passion for connecting all the dots and how all these pieces fit together. And I just have conversations with interesting people like you and try to kind of build the puzzle, if you will. Good luck. So one, one, so I mentioned James Beesman over, but Sean Cullen's been over, he's an FOTM friend of Toronto Mike. And you played on the album with my favourite Corky and the Juice Pigs song, Remember. You were on that album, right? Yeah, yeah.

Amazing. Hey, hey, you know here I am I'm here now, here I am I'm standing, I'm right here, here I am, I'm here now, here I am, I'm standing, I'm right here, here I am, on my legs. I'm standing, standing here, under me there is a place, and I'm standing on it. Here I am, and I'll be here forever Unless I move over here Remember how we dreamed Remember how we screamed

The vegetables were steamed The people that we seem to know there There I was just a minute ago I'm not there now, no I'm here, here again But a different here An eternal here, an eternal now And I'm walking, I'm walking I'm moving

I see you, my eyes are looking, I know you're there because at the end of my look you're there I have eyes in my head and I love you, but I look at you you sometimes see me

if you're looking at me and if you're not looking then you don't me? If you're looking at me and if you're not looking, then you don't. But I love you. Remember how we dreamed. Remember how we screamed. The vegetables were steamed. The people that we seek to know they're. I love you But I'm all alone

I'm here in my house alone And I think of you Lying in my bed I look over out of the window I see your face And I'm lying in my bed. I look over out of the window. I see your face. And I'm frightened. Because I live on the eighth floor. You must be really, really tall. You scare me. Remember how we screamed The vegetables were steamed The people that we seem to know there Even if I stop the show right now, just look people, and we're in plain view. I think we're done. I think that's enough. What do you think?

It's funny, when the look people broke up there was this moment in my life where I was like oh my gosh you know because I was in that band for eight years and just in my I guess my mid-20s when we broke up but uh soon after uh Corky and the Juice Pigs asked if I would go with them to the Edinburgh Fringe Festival and do a show they were doing with them called Doing Time in Prison. And the stage was set up that the three of them, Sean, Phil and Greg were up front. And then there was this like cage at the back where I was in the cage with all my keyboards. And I was like the quiet but deadly prisoner. It was so much fun.

It's one of the best, funnest summers I've ever had in my life. And great memories working with Sean. He's brilliant. As are Greg and Phil. I think that's a highly underrated, Corky and the Juice Pigs are highly underrated. Like to me, yeah, they were hilarious as were, I don't know if, you know,

bands like, actually bands like the Barenaked Ladies at the time sort of. But I feel like Corky and the Juice Pigs could have been really big, I feel, musically. Like I think even if they just became less silly or comedic and more straight music or whatever, I feel there was great potential for Corky and the Juice Pigs. Yeah, they had serious talent.

And, you know, whenever I see Jack Black doing his thing, I think, man, Sean was the same caliber, you know? Agreed. Yeah. It's almost like Sean is so talented, they don't know what to do with him. Like, they don't know, what do we do with this

ridiculously talented, frenetically paced, comedic performer? Like, it's almost like he doesn't fit the molds because he's so ridiculously uh talented sure i i was sort of recently um going through some old improv um tapes for the guys because they recorded a whole album of improv called the bunwich experiment and i somehow ended up with the master tapes and i

was getting them together for the guys but just to your point listening back years later i realized like wow sean especially it's like just so smart and way ahead of his time, you know, and talking about social issues in a comedic way, in an amazing way. Absolutely. So here, help me out, because I'm going to get you, obviously, we got to get you to Barenaked Ladies here. But so we've got the Look People. What was the first album, by the way, you ever played on? Well, I went to St. Michael's Choir School and we made records and went on tours. So the first actual album I was on was a choir record and we recorded it at Manta Sound. And I had to do a solo as a soprano one night, so I had to stay behind. I was a kid and I ended up playing pinball with Dan Hill for about an hour.

Wow. That's Canadian music royalty right there. Yeah, I was a kid. He was making his new record in the next studio over. And so the next proper record I was on after that was the Look People's first EP, which was called More Songs About Hats and chickens right okay and this is the first this one here to my left here first album you ever uh got your face on yeah that's the first proper look people record that has you know like 19 songs on it or something right so tell me uh how do how does the former you know keyboardist here with the uh look people and uh

quirky and the juice pigs how does he that's you by the way i'm talking like you're another person here uh how do you end up in bare naked ladies well do you know the connection between quirky and the juice pigs and the bare naked ladies see please tell me as if I don't, and then we'll see if it triggers the memory. Okay. Bare Naked Ladies started as a duo with Steve and Paige and Ed Robertson, and they had made a little cassette, but they were big fans of Corky and the Juice Pigs. And they were very much just starting out, but they went to one of their shows and gave them a cassette. And Corky and the Juice Pigs liked it so much that they invited Ed and Steve to open their Canadian tour, which I think was their first tour. And so Ed and

Steve absorbed a lot of what they did in their shows. And to this day, we still do a lot of improvising in our shows. Sure. So Ed and Steve, as they continued to come to shows, they saw me play with Corky and the Juice Pigs. And they also saw me playing with a band called the Rio Statics, which they were big fans of. So they knew who I was from the Toronto music community. And Jim Cregan's brother, Andy Cregan, was the original keyboardist. And he decided to leave the band after they'd recorded their second record.

And I ran into Tyler Stewart atart at the horseshoe tavern and he said oh it's strange i ran into you kevin we were talking about you today we're hoping you'll do a two-month tour with us because our keyboardist andy is leaving and it was actually a guy named dave bookman who you may know another another sort of famous Toronto guys. Bookie. Yeah, Bookie. He recommended that they ask me, and I'm grateful for that. So that's how it first started.

Yeah, I know Bookie was very close with Dave Bedini. That's for sure. So I'm not surprised they took his advice. And I'm glad that all worked out. So you stepped in for Andy Cregan and this is, I guess this is around the time Rock Spectac. Has that just been released when you joined? This is 1996, I suppose. Their third record, Born on a Pirate Ship, had just been released.

And that's what we were touring. And the first tour, we were still playing, you know, clubs in the clubs in the United States, but there was definitely a buzz building up about the band. And each time we'd go back, we'd play a bigger venue. And it was on one of those tours, I think, in Chicago, we recorded Rock Spectacular. and frozen bones This is where we used to live Why did you paint the walls? Why did you clean the floor? Why did you plaster over the hole I punched in the door?

This is where we used to live you passed it I punched in the door This is where we used to live Why did you keep the mouse trap? Why didn't you keep the dish rack? These things used to be mine I guess they still are, I want them back Broken to the old apartment Walk into your department 42 steps from the street Crooked landing, crooked landlord

Narrow laneway filled with crooks This is where we used to live Why do they pave the lawn? This is where we used to live Why did they pave the lawn? Why did they change the lawn? Why did I have to break free? I only care where the top This is where we used to live How is the neighborhood downstairs? How is September this year?

I turned up your TV and stopped on the floor just for fun I know we don't live here anymore But I know we don't live here anymore We bought an old house on the Danville She loves me and her body keeps me warm I'm happy that this is where we'll still live Walk into the old apartment To the bone of the world Only memories, fading memories

Blending into the tableau I won't go back Letting it to the tableau I want them back I want them back This is where we used to live I want them back This is where we used to live I want them back This is where we used to live I want them back This is the way we used to live

I want them back Now, I'm a big fan of Barenaked Ladies. I saw you at Massey Hall a few years ago. I've been loving you guys since the yellow tape, and I know that's before your time, but I've loved the band before you even got there, believe it or not. Now, I guess I'm wondering,

did you join pre or post Peach Pit? No, I was at the Peach Pit. Wow. Okay, good. I just wanted to get my timelines right, please. Tell me. Yeah, well, on the record, Born on a Pirate Ship, there was a song called Old Apartment,

which was released as a single, so we shot a video for it and jason priestly um was a fan and he he directed that video so that's sort of even though i wasn't on that record i was already sort of in the band and i was in the video and went to the beverly hills 90210 to the Beverly Hills 90210 set and recorded at the Peach Pit and it was all very exciting. I as a again because I live in Toronto and born and raised I was sort of there for it all you know from the yellow tape on and then but the Peach Pit seemed like a moment like it seemed like that was a benchmark moment for the bare naked ladies in the united states of america like in terms of awareness and uh and and helping you guys you know eventually you know get a number one you know billboard hot 100 hit which was uh pretty darn rare for a canadian band at that time

uh so amazing that you were there at the i'm glad you were there for the peach pit i think that was a big deal thanks so uh I know you mentioned the real static. So, uh, Dave Bedini has been over. He's a, he's a good FOTM himself. And I need to ask you, uh, basically how did you get hooked up with the real statics? He's a good what himself? I know I toss it around. Here's what the move I've been doing for a few years now. I toss around FOTM as if I think everybody should know this term, even though I know I'm smart enough to know that it's very inside. And how would Kevin Hearn know what FOTM means? But I like to use it as if it's common nomenclature. But FOTM means Friend of Toronto Mic'd, which means this person has appeared on the program. So you actually, I think enough time has been recorded that you are now officially an FOTM yourself.

What'd you call me? It's a good thing. It's a good thing. It's got privileges. It's got privileges. Okay, great. I'll look forward to that. But Bedini, who, you know, another great Toronto character,

love Dave Bedini. How did you hook up with Real Statics? How did you hook up with Rheostatix? Look, people were recording it for Hypnotic Records and Hypnotic Studios, which was in a building on the southwest corner of King and Spadina. And in that same building, the Rheostatix had their rehearsal space. And in that same building, the Rio Statics had their rehearsal space. And we ended up sharing that space with them for some time. And that's how I was first introduced to them and was blown away by their music. I mean, they were, I think at that time, just had released whale music.

And they were playing regularly at the Ultrasound. I don't know if you were ever at that venue um but their music was really my speed and i totally was a fan and became a friend and then they they invited me into their galaxy and i became a regular guest and and then ended up working with them on a few records and still do, you know. Amazing. No, amazing. Amazing. I think they're like they're an eclectic band.

So I feel like they they won't have the the main they can't you know, they can't sell out some places where Barenaked Ladies are going to perform, for example. But Real Statics, a freaking underrated, tremendous Etobicoke and I'll call them an Etobicoke band, but just totally awesome. Just maybe almost like too eclectic and different to get a mainstream big hit, although Claire was kind of a big hit. Yeah, I don't buy

that. I think they're like Canada's radio head, and they should be playing in arenas all over the world, as far as I'm concerned. Well said. Okay, I appreciate that. Now, you opened this episode

by disclosing a private health matter when you were just a little baby. May I ask how you're doing now? Because I know you had to pause your career with Bare Naked Ladies because you had to pause your career with Bare Naked Ladies because you had to battle or you had to fight cancer. I just wondered how you're doing, Kev. Well, I appreciate that.

Thank you. You know, just before I move into that, I want to mention one person who is also connected to all of these groups we're talking about. And that's Michael Philip Wojowoda, who produced Gordon for the Barenaked Ladies. He produced Whale Music for the Rheostatics. And I became close with him and have made many records with him over the years and when I was recovering from cancer we actually made a record together called H-Wing so he's he's somewhere someone very important in my my life as well but yeah right at the the band just released a record called stunt which had the well-known song one week on it and um

there was a lot of momentum happening and during the recording process we were recording in a studio that was owned by willie nelson down in austin texas i started not feeling well and having strange pains. And, but I was kind of, you know, trying to ignore it because I wanted to just be there for the recording. It was such an exciting time. But soon after that, I had to get a checkup and I was diagnosed with leukemia and had to have a bone marrow transplant. And, you know, as luck would have it, I had my bone marrow transplant the very same day that one week went to number one on the billboard record charts. So it was very, a lot of extremes happening for me personally at that time. And thankfully, the cancer went into remission.

Well, they, they actually consider it treated. You know, after the bone marrow transplant, you kind of got to fight your way back to health, but then they consider it treated. And you mentioned H-Wing, but that's actually the name of the wing, the hospital wing that you were in when you were in the hospital. Yeah, the H-wing. And I wrote most of the songs in that room because I had to stay in that room for almost two months.

And I was on a hell of a lot of morphine and other things. So it's quite a psychedelic record. But I actually have a nurse, a sample on the record of a nurse. And she says, Kevin, could you please call the H-wing? That's H as in hell. So if you listen closely, there's a little ear candy in there. But what a funny, just funny little things I put in that record that, you know, I tried to address the humor,

but the darkness and the hope and so many emotions going on during that time. Did you find that therapeutic, like just expressing it through your art and when you're dealing with this trauma, essentially? Yeah, it was therapeutic, cathartic. It was, I was learning a lot cause I'd never really dealt with anything like that in my life. I was dealing with my mortality. So suddenly I was reaching in more deeply than I'd ever had to before to try to express something.

And also I was thinking it could very possibly be the last uh group of songs i ever wrote you know so um it was a very meaningful record to me and can we shout out your brother i understand uh he uh donated several actually is it yeah bone marrow transplants came from your brother is that right yeah to have us to have good odds with a bone marrow transplant, you need a genetic match. And you test for that through blood tests. And so there's six kids in my family. So I told all of them, I said, please, I need you to get a blood test and see if any of you match me. And I'll never forget this.

My brother, Sean, so cool. He lights up a smoke and puffs on it and goes, don't worry, Kev. It's going to be me. And we're going to get through this. And puffs his cigarette again. And it was him. It's like in a movie. we're going to get through this and puffs his cigarette again. And it was him. Wow. It's like in a movie.

I think that's a great scene from the, the Kevin Hearn biopic that they should be making. Yeah. Who would play my brother? It's gotta be, you know, the coolest actor. Well,

is Brad Pitt available? Maybe he could do it. Yeah. A young Brad Pitt for sure. Or an old Brad Pitt. Yeah. Yeah. I mean,

you know, in that Hollywood, that tarantino movie uh the hollywood one uh he still looked pretty damn cool so i think he's uh he's doing all right so yeah all right kevin we're making our way because there's some new music i want to talk about but i want to ask you if you could just uh thin buckles so whoops thin buckle this is like your your own uh solo band or project? I guess it's not technically solo if it's a band, but explain to me what Thin Buckle is.

Thin Buckle was a group that began when I was making H-Wing because I reunited with or reconnected with Chris Gartner, who was the bass player in the Look People, and Bob Scott was the drummer in the Look People. I mean, we really loved working together and decided to continue. And there's always been a fourth sort of rotating member. First, it was Derek Orford, then Martin Tielli, then Brian McMillan, Sheena Coe, and then Hugh Marsh.

So if I get this right, so you've got your two kind of two outlets for your creativity. Like one is you're playing in this, you know, big time rock and roll band called the Barenaked Ladies. And you're, you're, you're playing to big crowds there, but you know, big time rock and roll band called the Bare Naked Ladies. And you're, you're, you're playing to big crowds there, but you can, you still have your own projects kind of concurrently where you're, you're able to write, write your own music. And that might not necessarily be Bare Naked Ladies style songs.

Is that fair? Correct. Okay. Nailed it there. Okay. Yeah. And a couple of questions about Bare Naked Ladies though, before, just a couple of questions about bare naked ladies though before it was just a couple of you know quick questions one is i've always wondered this what's it like to join a band that's sort of you know like midstream like you're not a founding member they've established momentum before you got there what's what's that like like does it take a little while to feel like you're an actual member of the band? Do you feel like an outsider for a while or do they make you feel like you remember the band right away? Could you share a little bit about that? I was most worried about Jim because I was replacing his brother.

So not only a band member, but also a sibling. But Jim was the nicest. He's one of the nicest people I've ever met, you know, and it was really the sense of humor, I think, that bonded us first, because we were just laughing, and it felt very comfortable. And because I'd played with Corky and the Juice Pigs, and I'd done a lot of work with Harland Williams, my cousin. I was comfortable improvising and I think they appreciated that. Shout out to your cousin, Harland Williams, because I used to watch Ed's Night Party on Cable 10 television. Oh, Ed the Sock.

Ed the Sock. And I thought Harland, there were a number of you know co-hosts or i guess they were yeah ed co-hosts through the years harland was always my favorite i felt i just loved watching that on cable 10 back in the day yeah harland is a very natural comedian i've never met anyone that he couldn't make laugh and And there's something about Mary in that movie, which a few people saw, rather big success. I got to say, I think he kicks ass in his role in that movie. I think it's just very, very funny.

Yeah, he always made the most of his little cameos, didn't he? Yeah, yeah. And I think Dumb and Dumber too. I'm trying, yeah, whenever you see Harlan Williams got a cameo cameo he's gonna make you remember it it's gonna be funny so so it's wild that he's your cousin and i know you did some work with him i was gonna kind of throw that in at the end but here's an act i'm gonna throw at you right now here uh lou reed you worked very closely with lou reed uh in the last chapter of his life. Yes, I did. Yeah. It was actually, again, through that record H-Wing, he did a little cameo on that, but I met him over the phone

a year or so prior to that. We were on a label called Reprise. And whenever we would head to the, to Los Angeles for a show, we'd go to the head office and Howie Klein, who ran the label, would always have us in his office. And I asked, Hey, do you have the new Lou Reed record by any chance? And he said, Oh, why are you a fan? And I said, Oh, he's my hero. You know, I had his picture up in my locker all through high school. And he just said, Oh, well, Lou's a friend of mine. And he dialed him up on the phone. I was like, No, you're not doing this to me. Come on. And he said, I'd like you to meet this guy, Kevin. And we chatted for a bit. And if that's all that ever happened, I would have been delighted. But then when I got cancer, and I was in a really bad place. cancer and I was in a really bad place, I got an email from Lou and it said, hi, Kevin, it's Lou. I hear you're not doing too well. I hope you get better and get back to music. And that's what started a friendship between us. And he eventually invited me to New York. As he put it, let's see if we can play together. And we could. And he treated me like a son.

And I miss him so much. Yeah, my condolences. I know you were literally very close to him at the very end of his life. And Lou Reed's a legend, man. And missed. What a performer. But it's kind of amazing you did get that time with him at the end, professionally and personally as well.

Yeah, it's a real honor. And he is really one of the funniest people I've ever met as well. He was funny. Now, I'm thinking of the drummer of The Watchmen. His name's Sammy Cohen. He's an FOTM. And I know for a fact, Lou Reed is his favorite performer of all time.

He just absolutely loves Lou Reed. And I like Lou Reed myself, not as much as Sammy Cohen. But Lou Reed, he had the album that was just all feedback, right? Lou Reed had... That album was like a an fu to the the music company like do you know the inside story there was that art or was that him trying

to like make something nobody wanted to listen to do you have the inside scoop well it's called metal machine music sorry yes yes and regardless of what people may think the intentions were, he was totally into it and he's always loved feedback and he's always loved noise. And I don't think he would waste all that time and creative energy as a fuck you. I, I know he loved that music because he was still making that kind of music till he died. You know, he, he had a trio called the metal machine trio and he would do shows with them

where, you know, you'd see the poster and it would say Lou Reed, metal machine trio, no songs, no lyrics. And he just was happy as a, you know, he was, he loved it. So, yeah. I'm going to talk to you about common sense and then i'm gonna talk to you about uh hello hello so but just i just want you to know that and of course you know this but just a listenership to know that when steven page made his toronto mic debut uh last summer i was i was personally pleased to hear that that you guys are still very friendly. It sounds like you guys are still in touch and good friends.

Which pleased me to hear that. Well, I'm glad. You know, I always think of Steve as the guy who came to the hospital every day to visit me, you know? at me, you know, and, and though there is other stuff that happened between him and the band and, um, you know, at the end of the day, that's, that's more important to me, you know? Absolutely. I mean, you know, you know, I don't, I've asked, I've asked Tyler Stewart when he came over and, you know, we talked to Steven about it. And bottom line is you're all, you're all human beings and you've reached a, you know, an arrangement, a business decision has been made. And I know that when you guys reunited for the Juno Awards a couple of years back, there was some speculation that, oh, maybe there'll be, maybe there'll be projects in the future that are Barenaked Ladies plus Stephen Page. But, I mean, in the conversations I had with Stephen Page,

it sounds like that's not the plan. This was simply a one-off reunion and it was a great time while it happened, but that doesn't mean, you know, Stephen is, you know, rejoining the Barenaked Ladies by any regard. So there's zero, you know, Steven is, you know, rejoining the bare naked ladies by any regards. So there's, there's zero, you know,

truth to that. Uh, but hopefully there are other one-offs in the future, perhaps where Steven can join the, the band for this, that, and the other, hopefully.

Well, I think you've summed it up perfectly. I'm half of the fans. Uh, it was lovely to fantastic to see you guys together at the Juno Awards it was a fantastic time we loved it

we all belonged there when we decided to do that with Steve I also said we've got to have Andy come. And I extended the invitation to Andy to play piano. So he joined us for If I Had a Million Dollars. What a moment.

We all loved it. That's for sure. Now that I'm thinking of when Tyler Stewart was here, the best story you told me that we can comment on before I move on from BNL here is that he says he got the call to come back to Toronto to make a song for some, there's some TV show, the guy who did two and a half men at a new show. And, and,

you know, and he didn't want to, he didn't want to leave the car, the cottage like this. And I'm wondering like, uh, how happy is he that he, you know,

decided, Oh heck, I'll take one for the team here and interrupt my cottage stay for this song because that was quite the, uh, quite the, uh, project for Barenaked Ladies. Well, he's happy, but we will never let him forget it. You know, um, to be fair, when they sent us the, um, the show to watch, it was a very, very rough pilot.

It wasn't properly edited yet. It wasn't sound corrected, color corrected. It looked very raw. So, you know, for someone at their cottage enjoying their summertime, I can right perhaps understand but um you know when he came back we convinced him to come back to record the theme song and he goes okay well this better be the next fucking seinfeld what a story i think it's worth it for the story because the whole idea because he's he's of the mindset this is going to go nowhere no one's going to know this show and it's not going to make any money or whatever.

And then it ends up being quite literally the most successful sitcom in the history of television. That's amazing. That's amazing. I think that's amazing, and I'm glad you guys were a part of it, because get on board. I personally didn't find it the...

I thought the theme song was great. The show itself left a bit to be desired, I felt personally. But I'm glad it was a massive success for you guys. People love that show, man. And, you know... I know. The cast came to Toronto once

and I took them all out around the town. We did the Ossington Strip and went to the Dakota and Communist Da town. We did the Ossington strip and, you know, went to the Dakota and communist daughter. It was fun. Amazing. Uh, you mentioned you saw like rough footage of a pilot. I believe they had a different actress playing Penny, uh, the female lead in that show for the pilot and they replaced her after that. And I believe the woman who was playing Penny in that pilot was a former MuchMusicVJ. Like, this is a story that's bouncing around my head.

So former MuchMusicVJ was the original Penny, and they didn't like how she was in the pilot, and they replaced her with the woman who did it for the rest of the series. Wow. You know, I don't remember. I don't remember. Well, here. Now let's get more current here. I know there's a new Barenaked Ladies album coming out. Just give us, what's the name of the new Barenaked Ladies album? It's called Detour De Force. And hopefully, with this pandemic, do I knock on wood?

What do I do here? Hopefully, there's an opportunity to see you guys live again soon because it's been a tough go this last, as for everybody. Yeah, you will. Don't worry. Okay, good, good, good. So I can't wait to get to Hello, Hello, but I'm actually going to play if you don't mind. And I had a few songs I was going to play, but then I didn't want to interrupt our convo of music, but here is,

I'm going to just play a little bit of Common Sense. And then we're going to talk about that project. And then I'm going to play some Hello, Hello, and I can't wait to get the details on that one. So here's a little Common Sense. it's calming me already i'm gonna put in the background here but it's kind of tell me just a little bit about this project uh when when when did you complete this uh common sense and i should spell it for people though because they're gonna be like how do i complete this common sense? And I should spell it for people though, cause they're going to be like, how do I spell this common sense? Calm and sense.

So C-A-L-M and sense. C-E-N-T-S. Yeah. This is a, yeah. 20, 2019. Is that when a common sense is released?

It was released, but I think we recorded it like 2015, 2016. That's the challenge with stuff I do. It's like I have to wait sometimes because, you know. But yeah, I recorded it up north in the forest at my cabin with Chris Gartner and Hugh Marsh. I had all these sort of piano ideas and we would just sort of improvise on them and arrange them. And I love that record. It was so fun to make. It's got a little like a Brian Eno feel to it, maybe a little bit.

Just a little bit. That song in particular, yeah. A little more, and then we're going to get to Hello, Hello. Nice. All right, here, let's hear a little Hello, Hello. And this is, again, this is super recent now. So I had to go back to 2019 there. But Hello, Hello, super fresh. So let's hear a bit of this and then let's get the details. Hello, hello How you doing?

Hello To our brothers and our sisters Who are all across the planet We wanted to stop by and say hello Our native tongues are different Our cultures come from many But music is the same Let's get in tune with the mother mother earth let's get in tune with each other for what it's worth

who who's involved in this project with you kevin isn't that fun yeah it's great especially in the headphones fan sounds fantastic that is a group called the cosmic crew and Cosmic Crew and they're led by Michael Ray and Lerana Phipps Ray and Michael has been a member of the Sun Ra Orchestra since 1974 and also plays with Kool and the Gang since back then as well. He's a pretty legendary jazz musician. And Lerana Ray Phipps also comes from a very renowned jazz family. James B. would be proud. Oh, he's been playing this on his show all the time. Amazing. So you guys, again cosmic crew and cosmic crew by the way is k-r-e-w-e see these things you got to spell them out for google

right but uh so kevin this is basically kevin hearn cosmic crew and uh i mean i'm hearing like it's got like an alien like an extraterrestrial uh vibe to the song? Like, what's the song about? Well, do you know Sun Ra at all? No, I mean, I know of, but I don't. No, I need to be educated here. There's a running theme through all of his life's work about space. And he himself said he's work about space. And he himself said he was from outer space.

And one of his famous sayings is space is the place. And I think Lurana sings that at some point in the song. So the song is called Hello, Hello, One Planet, and we basically decided to sing hello to, in all the different languages, and not just human, but alien languages as well, and so that's what we did, and we decided to do it to coincide with World Unity Week, which happened last week, and it's just sort of a joyous song that sort of seemed like uh timely in a time when everyone was kind of disconnected and isolated so on that note so is this is this recorded like did you get to record this in person or is this people remotely putting your parts together and then uh using the the power of the internet to collaborate.

Yeah. Michael, Michael did his keyboard and horn track with a drum machine and a bass player and sent it to me and I added real drums. Gavin Brown played the drums and then I added piano and keyboards and I sang the hello, hello. And then sent it back. And then La Rana sang on top of that. So it was a back and forth kind of thing. It worked out pretty good.

Absolutely. And, you know, especially in the last year and a half here, you got to, you do what you got to do, but it sounds fantastic. Congrats on that. Amazing. Honestly, what a pleasure it is, Kevin, to get you on the program here. I could have spent an hour on the look people

or an hour on Bare Naked Ladies, I think. I think you're just a part of so much of this city's great musical fabric. You're just kind of in a part of so so much of this uh city's great musical fabric like you're just kind of in the mix there so i hope i hope you're proud of your uh of your legacy here i'm very proud and feel uh very blessed and grateful for all the great people i've um been able to work with and uh we talked about harlan williams i was going to close with that fun fact I thought that might be a mind blow

that you're Harlan Williams' cousin but I'm going to ask you about really quickly here before we hear some lowest of the low have you ever played of lowest of the low? well no but I've chatted with them over the years

every episode of Toronto Mic'd has closed with Rosie and Grey from Shakespeare, My Butt. So we're going to hear some Lois and Lois. Why? Just love that album. I think of it as like a definitive Toronto album, Shakespeare, My Butt, and one of my personal favorites. Who produced that record?

Do you know? Oh, I don't. I don't know, actually. I don't know off the top of my head. It'd be interesting to know. I would text Ron, but he doesn't have a phone. I don't know if you know that. Ron Hawkins doesn't own a smartphone.

No. I used to run into him sometimes at the bar at Taroni's, you know, to get having lunch or something. Well, you know who does have a phone or something. But well, you know, who does have a phone and I could probably get a text from him right away is Lawrence Nichols has a phone. So I get him on the phone, but I was going to ask you about, uh, there's a kind of a neat story. I don't know. It was neat for you. It might've been shitty for you, but, uh, you got screwed over by an art gallery. Can we get an update on this story? So, uh, you bought a forgery?

Mike, that's a whole other show. It's like a miniseries. You want me to sum it up? Well, I'm not in a rush. I know I promised you an hour, so I've been trying to keep to my word here. This is a good story, I think.

I know there's a documentary that covers it, but if people haven't seen There Are No Fakes, they might want to hear about it here on Toronto Mic'd. Sure. Well, I don't need an hour. I don't usually talk that much anyways. I bought a painting in Yorkville at a gallery called Maslach McLeod Gallery. I'd always loved Norval Morisot's art,

so I bought a painting. Two years later, I was asked to help, you know, guest curate a show at the AGO, and I lent them that painting for the show, some others and received a phone call and said we had to take the painting down we think it's fake which started me on a journey to find out if it was fake or not and took me down a very deep dark rabbit hole into a whole twisted tale that you can sort of follow in the film. There are no fakes. We got to check that out, though. But at the end of the day, did you get your money back? No, no.

But I think it was never about the money, Mike. It was more about finding out what the truth was. And the more I found out, the more I found there was a lot more than just art fraud going on. There was exploitation and abuse. Wow. So I couldn't turn my back. Yeah, I didn't know what I was getting into. Well, now you've sold me. I didn't know what I was getting into, but.

Well, now you've sold me. I gotta, I gotta make sure I watch this, uh, this doc. Uh, I gotta get the full story. Go ahead. It's pretty heavy. So be in the right, be in the right zone and be warned. It's, it's, it's a dark tale. Kevin, my friend, uh, that was tremendous for me. me. I really appreciate you making some time here on a Friday afternoon. Did you have a good time? Nice to talk to you. I did. Yeah, it was fun. It flew by.

Sorry if my answers were rambling, but they're all sort of stories that need to be put in context. No, I didn't think you were rambling but they're all sort of stories that have you know need to be put in context no i didn't i no i didn't think you were rambling at all no i i thoroughly enjoyed it i can't wait to share this with everybody uh again i'm glad i had my copy of small fish big pond from look people on the standby just waiting for kevin hearn to uh show up on tor Toronto Mike. Thanks for letting me look at that photo through the whole interview. That was inspiring. And that brings us to the end of our 877th show.

You can follow me on Twitter. I'm at Toronto Mike. Kevin, are you on Twitter? I'm on Instagram. I am on Twitter, yes, I am. What's your Twitter handle is it at Kevin Hearn Music

I believe so yeah and what's your what's your Instagram handle Kevin Hearn Music and I I post something every day

okay that's where I'm most active so go to Instagram for Kevin here our friends at Great Lakes Brewery they're on Twitter at Great Lakes Beer

McKay CEO Forums they're atwery, they're on Twitter at Great Lakes Beer. McKay CEO Forums, they're at McKay CEO Forums on Twitter. Palma Pasta is at Palma Pasta. Sticker U is at Sticker U. Ridley Funeral Home, they're at Ridley FH. And Mimico Mike, much like Kevin, he's on Instagram at Majeski Group Homes. See you all next week. This podcast has been produced by TMDS and accelerated by Rome Phone. Rome Phone brings you the most reliable virtual phone service to run your business and protect your home number from unwanted calls.

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