Toronto Mike'd: The Official Toronto Mike Podcast - Lily Frost: Toronto Mike'd #1151

Episode Date: November 14, 2022

In this 1151st episode of Toronto Mike'd, Mike chats with musician Lily Frost about her career in music, her recent creative rut, and why she doesn't love her biggest hit. Toronto Mike'd is proudly brought to you by Great Lakes Brewery, Palma Pasta, Yes, We Are Open, The Advantaged Investor, Canna Cabana, StickerYou, Ridley Funeral Home and Electronic Products Recycling Association.

There he is. It's happening. Welcome to episode 1151 of Toronto Mic'd. Proudly brought to you by Great Lakes Brewery. Order online for free local home delivery in the GTA. StickerU.com. Create custom stickers, labels, tattoos, and decals. Palma Pasta.

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Canna Cabana. The lowest prices on cannabis. Guaranteed. And Sammy Cone Real Estate. Ask Sammy any real estate questions at Sammy.Cone at ProperlyHomes.ca Joining me today making her Toronto

Mike debut is Lily Frost. That's as enthusiastic as I get. Welcome, Lily. How are you doing? Thank you. I'm okay. Thank you. That was very good. I practiced all day. I can't believe you're here. I can't believe I waited until the first frost of the year for you to come over.

Do you realize that? Frost warning, yeah. Have you heard that one before? My dad, he's got a lot of good dad jokes. Is Frost a real name? I just think Lily Frost is far too convenient to be your actual name. So Harry Frost was my great-grandfather and he invented the frost fence. Remind me.

I know. I took fencing in university. I'm trying to remember. Frost fence. What exactly is a frost fence? You know the chain link fence? Yeah. Yeah, that you see at, like, the schoolyard and stick your tongue on it?

Yeah, of course. Like in a Christmas story. You're related to the guy who invented the, kind of like the chain link fence? And stuck your tongue on it? Yeah, of course. Like in the Christmas story. You're related to the guy who invented the kind of like the chain link fence? Yeah, he's my great grandfather. That's amazing. You know. Isn't it?

I don't know. I mean, it's something. He did it. He had a big factory in Hamilton and then he sold it to Stelco. Okay. See, I might be easily impressed. But to me, that's a BFD. That's a big fucking deal. And that means. It's kind of cool. It's a BFD. That's a big fucking deal. And that means-

It's kind of cool. It's your real name then. Like Frost is actually your name. Yeah. It's my middle name. Yeah. Okay. Okay.

I'll allow it. Middle names can be used. So you're a Toronto gal. Like you just mentioned the hammer, but you're from Toronto, right? I am. Don Mills area. I was born at the H Hospital. That's what I was called.

I thought it was called the H Hospital because there was a big H. Okay. I thought you were going to say I was born at the H Hospital. That's what I was called. I thought it was called the H Hospital because there was a big H. Okay. I thought you were going to say I was born at the Science Center or something like that. That'd be interesting. Because when I think of Don Mills, I think of the Science Center. Could you throw a stone from your growing up to hit the Science Center? Or am I in the wrong neighborhood? We were near the Pickle Barrel.

Okay. I think that's the home of the great Stu Stone, Mark Wiseblood summit that you can pretend you know nothing about because how could you? Leslie and Finch area. A lot of people, my old manager, Jake Gold, actually washed dishes at that pickle barrel. And my ex-husband used to frequent it as well, quite a bit. Okay. Your ex-husband was in this basement a few months ago. Okay. Yeah. Unless you have multiple ex-husbands no just one

we're going to talk about him because I have a song that you sang with him but Jake Gold real quick just to do the connection here of course famously the Tragically Hips manager but also he managed the Watchmen and a proud sponsor of this program you might have heard off the top

I said if you have any real estate questions you write sammy.cohn k-oH-N, at properlyhomes.ca. Sammy's the drummer for The Watchmen. Oh, okay. Yeah. And Jake Old used to manage The Watchmen. That's so cool. Yeah, but he used to wash dishes at the pickle barrel.

Like, he and I and Jose probably crossed paths at that pickle barrel before we even met each other. Wow. I think that's possible. Please, sprinkle those fun facts liberally throughout this conversation. Because I feel like you're somebody, when I was having Lily Frost on, I don't know if you've heard of her, but her grandfather invented the chain link fence. But when Lily Frost was coming over, I'm thinking, you're so connected to all these different things.

I almost need you to kind of just tell me like your life story. Like, and then, then I can just like punch it up with a bit of music here and there. Like, like in the beginning, you're, you're a damn good pianist. Um, well, like I did classical, you know, for like a bunch of years. Yeah. It was terrifying though. Cause it's so uptight, right? But it was a good foundation for sure.

You're studying at the Royal Conservatory of Music? Yep, I did that. But like literally it was so tense, right? Like the recitals are just, my hands are sweating and I'm like shaking. So it wasn't very enjoyable. And you're doing Rachmaninoff and I saw like Shine, right?

Like in Shine, that breaks the man. Exactly. It's too much. Shine, right? Like in Shine, that breaks the man. Exactly. It's too much. Okay. Before you go any further, because like I'm sort of jazzed for this, I'm going to crack open

a beer. Is that okay? And you can also crack open a fresh craft beer from Great Lakes Brewery. But you have to do it on the mic. So that's right up there.

Yeah. Yeah. Three, two, one. I'm behind you. Oh, okay. Keep up. I know. Keep keep up it's my first beer lily that sounded

really good actually so you're drinking a lager uh-huh lager because you asked for something blonde and uh well you are a blonde it is i know natural of course can't you tell i don't ask those questions you have to volunteer that information yeah i cannot ask but you uh you're drinking a uh yeah i'm so distracted now you're drinking the lager from great lakes brewery i have myself a burst which is an ipa from great lakes and i just want to say thank you great lakes for the beer thanks are we like swallowing into the mic and everything do Do it. Dr. Z's mic, if you go like 10 inches this way, like you're off mic. That's the thing. You're going to eat this thing like an ice cream cone here. Good to know. I have a daughter who is attending

University of Montreal. In fact, I'm going to hop on a train. I feel like I'm in the 1940s or something, but I'm going to jump on a train and I'm going to take it to Montreal. This is in two weeks and I'm going to visit her because she's going to McGill. But you also went to a university of Montreal. Yeah, it was great. Concordia though. So very different, I guess.

Well, it's a different school. Yeah. Different, you know, and you're studying jazz. I was taking jazz. She was taking,

she's taking business. Right. So there's any like in the Venn diagram of jazz and business? I don't know how they intersect. You know, they could go very well hand in hand. Would have helped me a bit if I'd taken some business. So in your story, like as we're going to tell your story, so we've kind of been all over the place,

but you start off, you're studying at the Royal Conservatory of Music here in Toronto. Then you're going to University of Montreal. like all along you you must have this passion like you know you're going to be a performer so no like I I actually grew up in Oakville like John Mills I was a kid but then we went to the suburbs so um and I feel like that's kind of relevant because the contrast between Oakville and Montreal was so extreme. I didn't really know that I wanted to do music in Oakville. We just as a family sing in harmony. Everyone's always like we're very churchy, you know, sang at church and that kind of thing. It was just part of life, but never like I just thought like princesses were singers and then i went to

you know concordia and i met uh john davis from the gruesomes yeah and he took me under his wing like because okay now yeah literally he had a wing he He had a wing. John Davis is mentoring you. Okay. And does this where the, I know that there's a record store that comes into this story, right? Cheap Thrills. Yeah, so I met him at Cheap Thrills. And he, it came up to me while I was leafing through music. Because I was just kind of singing some, you know, stuff at the coffee house like Joni Mitchell, whatever.

And he's like, are you a singer? And I did not know how to answer that because, you know, I didn't see myself as a singer. But then he asked me to sing in his band. And I was like, well, I don't even know what that means. Like, that sounds great, but I didn't believe him, you know? Because you were just doing harmonies, like churchy harmonies in oakville yeah like churchy harmonies like very flanders kind of vibes like four-part harmony with the family i love that you did that because i speak simpsons so i know exactly what you're meaning okay perfect yeah very much, uber nerd vibes. And so Montreal was like just like a real lesson in style, culture.

Like John, I actually moved into his basement at one point because I hated residence. And he played music for me every day. Like we'd hang out in his room and listen to records. He showed me like Cab Calloway movies,ty boop movies introduced me to bessie smith screaming jay hawkins like all this stuff that i'd never heard right he put a spell on you yeah except nice and and then he got me to sing in his band and uh that was called the sheiks and it was like trying to be i don't know kind of loungy before lounge was lounge they were doing it and it was like trying to be, I don't know, kind of loungy.

Before lounge was lounge, they were doing it. Is this your first ever live show? Yeah, with the Sheiks, yeah. That was terrifying. Firstly, where was it? The Rockaway Review, second floor on Saint Laurent. And Bob's Your Uncle was playing in the next room over with Suk-Yin Lee. Of course, yeah, of course.

I remember Bob's Your Uncle, for sure. And her drummer was John Rule, who when I then moved to Vancouver ended up being my drummer, which was a coincidence. He's great. But it didn't really work out for me in Montreal musically. It was just kind of like dipping my toes in. But we weren't a great band and we didn't get good reviews. It was super floppy and amateur. But it did suck me in, though. So this is like, yeah, you get the taste of performing and you've never gave it up.

Yeah, well, when I went to Vancouver, so eight of us from Quebec went, my boyfriend and his band, The Minstrels and some other Klingons. And we went to a big house in North Van, eight of us. We were super broke. We were starving to death, literally. Like I think it was two weeks. My stomach was eating itself. And yeah, we're just like, what are we doing?

And we're like, but we are free. But we are artists. And we're not giving to the man. And it's like, okay, let's busk. Like, let's go down on the street and play some music on the street. And that's how it kind of started. But that's in Vancouver, right? Like there's a fun little like escape to Egypt before then, right?

That was, yeah. before then right that was um yeah like so i was at concordia and i had this um friend manager who was armenian and he offered me a gig at his uncle's ship on the nile in cairo wow and my friends were like you should just do it like it's like for the experience yeah like and just for the stories like i would do that just so i always had stories to tell at like dinner parties and things yeah exactly that was part of it and it was freezing cold so it's good to get out and uh so i sang there for about six months and that's like a whole sort of book you know what i mean yeah uh real culture shock um i sang every night for four sets every night no days off is this like i'm trying to imagine is this like billy holiday style jazzy yeah it was kind of jazzy but then

they wanted really cheesy stuff like they wanted feelings of love and uh what was the other one i will always love you oh that kind of thing and i'm just like really oh wow okay i guess and the pianist and i would play it and then when the manager would leave we'd go back into some like more obscure stuff okay so that was six months of your life in uh cairo have you ever been back uh no i haven't been back but you went off to uh vancouver and uh the swinging dukes you mentioned uh uh oh maybe you didn't mention i don't know am i jumping ahead here well yeah like vancouver then we started busking and it was also kind of a flop but then um like i remember these times blank we didn't know where to locate ourselves. And then finally we sort of figured it out. I have to cough. Where we went in front of Cheap Tuesday Movie Night.

So the lineup was huge. And we figured out that if we play the really upbeat, catchy stuff with the harmonies, that that's what works. You know, this is a dumb question, but are there still Tuesday discounts at movie theaters? I i don't think so i don't think so that's okay i should know that because forever i only went on tuesdays like for a long time because i was a poor guy and i'm still a poor guy but now i just don't go at all i know i haven't been to a movie in ages the last movie i saw like I paid to go see was like that's spider-man cartoon like this is in 20 I'm gonna say this is 2019 or maybe it's early 2020 I've lost track but it's been a while so let

me know please if there's still discounts if you go to a movie on a Tuesday yeah I don't think so if that was that was an era and anyway so people liked what we were doing and I started honing like a style and the guitar player was kind of this guy Bernie that we picked up along the way rockabilly guy and we had the double bass and it started becoming this thing and we got asked to play you know galleries private parties and then that led to clubs until we were literally playing every day and gathering like crowds of people it became a scene it's like when the swing scene was was big shout out to fotm james b he was all over that oh yeah he came out and heard us at one point. We called ourselves The Colorifics. Okay.

And then he came out. You wanted to sign us to his next... Would you sign his album for me? The Look People album I'm passing you? Me? No, I'm just kidding. But that's Look People, which is pre-Swing stuff, but his punkier stuff, whatever.

But yeah, sorry, continue. Love James. And so he wanted to sign us, but he and Bernie, the guitar player in my band, Bernie was a fencer and Bernie did not like James. Like the swords, not like your grandfather who invented the chain link. No, like actual fencing. Yeah, that's a theme, eh?

I feel like I'm analyzing you during this conversation. There's something with you and fences. It's very punny. So they had a duel and James still remembers that. He felt a little bit threatened. Wait, wait, wait. So is it real that they had a duel? They did, yes.

They did. Who won? I would say Bernie. He's sort of really into fencing. I can't picture James B. fighting. I know. He wasn't comfortable at all. He thought it was like entertainment, but he realized it was kind of real.

Because Bernie took this very seriously. Oh, yeah. And he didn't really want help or, you know, commercial success. So any chance we had to become successful, he would sabotage. Wow. Yeah, that was really after the years went by, I'm like, this band's never going anywhere because of him. And what was the name of this band? It was called The Colorifics.

We were named that by Lincoln Clarks, who's a great photographer and activist from out west. Already, like, you're still very young. And I know you were very young because we're in the early 90s like you're still very young and i know you were very young because we're in the like early 90s and you're young right now like i'm looking at you you look very young to me so like we already have your story there's like a toronto oakville thing we'll call it the gta thing yeah all the plastic there's a much real thing have you would you get plastic surgery uh no i mean i i don't think so if i had a bunch of money would i i don't know probably not but if i i'm learning so much about you so it's a money thing well if my face was

like falling way down i don't know maybe like because we you perform in front of people like would it be a confidence thing like you don't want to look like the guy at the end of like um what is it uh the indiana jones movie uh uh raiders of the look like the guy at the end of like, what is it? The Indiana Jones movie, Raiders of the Lost Ark. The guy's face just melts off at the end. Yeah, if that were happening, I would get a little plastic surgery. Yeah. That's a great movie, you know, like I saw that like when it was new. I don't know when that was, 83 or something like that.

I thought that was the greatest thing I'd ever seen. Raiders? Yeah, Raiders of the Lost Ark was unbelievable. I met Harrison Ford, by the way. Get out of here. Yeah. At a party in LA. Oh my God. It was the moment of my life. Highlight. Yeah. But this is the highlight. Okay. No, no, come on. Harrison Ford. That's amazing. So which era Harrison Ford did you meet? Like, is it this older guy of the earring who's like, sort of like. It was about was about 10 years ago okay was he with like calista flockhart i feel like that's his he was talking to mini driver oh my goodness keep dropping these

names yeah it was at a party it was at a private party in beverly hills wow and my friend dave who was originally from that remember the house i told you about that we moved into in north van yeah a bunch of quebeckers yeah he's the drummer from that group. And so we all moved to Van and then a bunch of them moved down to Seattle and then San Fran and then LA. And then one of them even moved back to South America where he was from. But Dave stayed in LA. So whenever I go to LA, I call up Dave. I'm like, what's going on? And that night he was like, well, I'm playing a party with my band, Los Super Elegantes. You should come. And I had no idea that Harrison Ford would be there. So I just showed, and a lot of other crazy famous people were there. It was very surreal. I love it. Love it. Now the Colorifics did release a few albums

here, right? Like this is not just like some live band yeah we did three yeah um girly door guilty pleasures and uh what's the other one living city living city and they were all done diy and we literally walked them into the record stores ourselves cool and why does does Colorifics come to an end? It just, I was dating the guitar player, Bernie, and it was just too fucked up, basically. Can I say that on podcast? Okay. Yeah. A lot of, you know, manipulation, psychological abuse. But the music was good. Like he was a great songwriter and he worked us hard as an md and we were a really good band but mentally psychologically it wasn't good for me and he also was in uh rattled roosters yeah that's right rockabilly so the rockabilly thing was super popular out in vancouver ray condo was part of that scene um he was like an underground legend in Montreal

when I was there so when I moved out west and he was playing at like the railway jams and stuff um I had already I already knew about him so when I finally met him I was actually singing at the railway jam and he was in the crowd and he came up to me after and he's like hey kid you're not bad wow i'm like what ray condo's talking to me and he asked me to sing in his band and i was just thrilled and i really loved ray condo so much like so much charisma the swinging dukes yeah swinging dukes uh hard rock goners, The Ricochets. He had a bunch of band names. But I was in the Swingin' Dukes version of it.

This might be an interesting time to mention that when Ray passes away in 2004, I guess, that's when Lily Swings, you pay homage to. Yeah. So, yeah, like when I read In the Globe, because by then I was living in Toronto again and, um, I, it was like the front page of the entertainment section of the globe. And it's the big,

you know, thing saying that Ray is dead. I'm like, what the fuck? You know, I just, shout out to Ridley funeral home. So,

yeah. Um, I flew out to Vancouver for the funeral and then also um recorded an album with his band of billy holiday songs because he loved billy holiday so it was for him basically and we did it in a western swing style and everyone was crying and it was so intense and but it felt good to do something for him instead of just going oh you know we're sad amazing hey so i mentioned i'll like i'll play some music throughout just a little bit here and there like and it might go out of chronological

order uh in which case you can like slap my wrist or whatever and correct me. And like, why are you playing that? I released that six years before the one you just played here. So I'm going to start. And I pulled some choice tracks. And there's always a method to my madness. But a little bit of something here. And then later in this combo, we'll play new stuff. So don't you worry. OK. Today, on the streets, in the metro, it's a melancholy day.

No one speaks, passing you by, wondering why. Today, like any day Rolled out of bed Talked on the telephone Went to the doctor She said, you're okay Still I wonder Who am I? Who am I?

Who am I? Who am I? Who am I? Who am I? Lily, who am I? Seriously, do you have any idea where you are right now? This is Who Am I? I don't. I don't know who I am at all. You just go where you're told, right?

Yeah. Tell me, though, because this is your solo album, right? This is Luna Mariam. Yeah, and so when I left the Colorifics, I thought the only way forward for me is just to do it on my own. But by that, I don't mean without other people. Right. I just mean under no man is an island under under my own name.

Right. Because I wanted to write. I wanted to be the writer, the main writer. But what's funny is you're playing this song and just this morning, Chad, I told you, called me. I didn't know his name was Chad, but it's the same. You did tell me a story just before we pressed record. And okay, and this is, okay, so.

He co-wrote this with me. That's wild. Yeah he wrote the the guitar part and he's like ah okay all those harmonies and that would just remind you because i have this problem where i'll talk to a guest in a record of a guest and then my brain can no longer remember which part was like off the recording and which part was on like it's just one big blob yeah but just so you know before you you know say anything that that whole chat was uh before i pressed record okay yes i know okay just i know so he so this morning so i was feeling i feel fairly uninspired these days um i just put out a big record. I don't know.

I should be touring, but I'm not. Why aren't you? I don't know. I don't really have the money. And we kind of did the math wrong. We were like, I think we have $20,000.

And then we're like, oops, we don't. So we're not going to be touring. Who's the we that did that math wrong? I'm not going to name any names, but it was just sort of like the team that I'm working with. Yeah, there's still an oops moment there. And I was going to go to Montreal.

I was going to go to Halifax, Vancouver, you know, the big cities. Do you want to play TMLX11, which is my event on December 3rd at noon? It might inspire you. Just throwing it out there. Please continue. Maybe. Sure. Just say maybe. Yeah. But anyway, Chad called me this morning and I don't know what he was doing. I think he stayed up all night and he FaceTimed me with a great bunch of songs that he'd just written. So that really warmed my heart.

Is it inspiring you? Like, I'm really interested in like the mindset of a musician. Like you're clearly very talented. Like you sound great and we're going to play a lot of your great music. And it sounds like you're in a bit of a rut, like creatively. You got the new music. I'll play a bit of that. But it sounds like, you know, you're not out there working it, if you will.

Like you're here in my basement now drinking beer. Like what does it come to Lily? Totally. Who am I? That's the big question. Um, I don't know, Mike, like you can, can you tell me like, at the end of this combo, I'll tell you exactly who you are. What do you think this is for? You think I'm not even recording this. This is literally a therapy session. It's, I feel like I need a bigger challenge. So part of me wants to do, I have a book that I've been chipping away at. And also then I thought, I'm not sure I can make it a book. I think it might need to be a screenplay. And then if it's a screenplay, then it has to, you know, be a movie. And I could do the music for the movie too, but the truth is I have no experience writing a book

or a screenplay or making a movie. So that's where I feel like in a rut. I know people who write movies and make movies. Like I'm dear friends of Stu Stone. I already dropped his name once before, but I mean, you must have like Lily Frost fans who can like sort of like guide you and help you out with the. I don't know.

Maybe maybe I should meet your friend. Why don't we. Yeah. Maybe I need to imagine that you'd be so blessed. Maybe at the Pickle Barrel. Like maybe this is like a Lily Frost stew stone summit at a Pickle Barrel. And maybe I get to record it all because it would be great content. OK, so I'll work on that.

He just literally I was just at a movie premiere for him. Sweet. Two weeks ago, maybe. Okay. Yeah, I love it. Look, what I'm saying is a lot of people are going to hear this conversation. That's me. I'm bragging.

Lots of people are going to listen to us. And then we could put it out into the universe that you're looking for. Are you looking for some kind of mentoring? I'm looking for, I don't like to work completely alone. So I need to work with someone. So it could be somebody who's a producer or a director or someone who's done it before. Yeah. You know, Jude Klassen is offering screenplay writing courses in January.

So I might do that. But just that's kind of like, I've put out 15 albums, you know what I mean? And I'm like not a spring chicken. So I just, I'm like, do I just keep on putting out records forever more or do I do something bigger?

So. In this movie, you have an idea in your head. Is it a fiction? is it fiction or is it so it would be like a con i would comp compose like create a composite character so it's it's it's a dark topic so i don't know if you want me to go there but well if you're comfortable going there i'm i like dark topics as much as any topics i mean it's okay real talk this is the home of real talk like i'll try to try to speak in an upbeat manner about it.

No, I don't mind getting dark. This isn't like the romper room or whatever. Okay, that's good. Well, I feel like before I die, I really do want to make a better difference in the world and something that has followed me through my life. And I briefly mentioned it with Bernie there, but that, that is, is emotional abuse. So, and, and how there's no proof and how society does not do anything about it.

And it's like, it can be domestic, it can be against children, know primarily it's women and children um of course men can be the children victims of it as well but it's mostly whatever i don't mean that men are exempt but i'm just talking about that actual psychological and emotional abuse and how i can tie that into so like because I did the Billy Billie Holiday Ray Kondo the original vision was Lily sings Billie for Ray so if I use the Billie Holiday concept like um this Disciples of Billie right now is the working title in my mind where she came from abuse and how she you know brought the blues and the jazz can be through the movie but it can be kind of like then ray condo i don't know like i i don't entirely know how to do it but there's got to be a character who was a child and then moved up into

adulthood but came through abuse and how the music, you know, can, can help you. But I also want people to leave feeling like this society's fucked and we need to do something about these children and domestic abuse. So to my ears, just hearing this elevator pitch now, like I'm just imagining we're in an elevator and I'm hearing this now and I'm like, I think that's important work. Like I that yeah and because because you know physical abuse there are bruises and scars and yeah you can see these things but with psychological and emotional abuse you don't see it somebody could put on a smile and a brave face and you would think they have the best life yeah yeah so how do you save these people and i talked to chad about it today because he's

also been through some stuff in his life and uh and this of course chad kroger from a little band called nickelback no just kidding chad horton who co-wrote who am i and he's a great guy a great songwriter who sells cars now that's why we're both like but luxury cars i feel like i make the different like he's not selling like an old like yeah i don't know well there's no no no shame in that game whatever it is he's making money and okay there's someone dear to this program who i promise not the name who i have conversations with on a regular basis who's currently doing door dash so because he uh owed some money to some, he needed to make more money. So he now delivers food to people.

Yeah. And we were chatting and I was like telling him like how I think that's actually really fucking cool. Like he's not, he's willing to put in the work to make the money to kind of get himself back.

I think it's really cool. And I think there's no shame in that game at all. But he's talking about how he's got this pride and he's not sure he wants the public to know that this famous person is now delivering food and i said no i would lean in man i would

tell my i would tell my own it tell this is part of your story you're now delivering food there's nothing at all wrong with that and if this guy's selling cars uh who co-wrote you're wonderful who am i man that's all that's part of the story. Yeah, but he feels bad. I mean, he feels like he had his chance and he blew it. And I was trying to give him a pep talk, you know, like he's still writing the songs. They're still there.

And he's like, well, I don't have the money to produce it. I'm like, well, what are you working for then? Well, so that's the second time you've referenced the fact that to do these things that we think of these like great musicians of doing, like making the music and touring the music, we all think, oh, that makes you money. But like twice now we've learned, wait, I don't have the money to do that. Yeah, exactly.

Is that because we're in Canada? Maybe. It's different if you have like a family, like when Jose and I worked together, it was different because we were in it together. And that's FOTM Jose Miguel Contreras. Yeah, from By Divine Right. And he and I were a good team for a lot of years

because we're in it together. Like I don't have to say to him, you know, I'm going to pay you 300 bucks a gig. He's not going to charge me because this is our life and because we've written the songs together and we're in it together. So that's different. Like it's a family band or kids have grown up

since high school. But if you're hiring musicians, you need the money. And they want a bed and they don't want to sleep on a couch with fleas anymore not yeah you don't want to sleep in the van anymore i guess you hit a certain age yeah i think the age is probably like 32 ish you're done with that i would sleep in a van for the experience just like now because you have never done it no maybe that's true you do it one time yeah yeah okay this honestly so just to put it uh no it's so dark don't actually like i'm far more interested

in the i don't want you to come in here and bullshit me yeah i am i'm an attractive great singer i'm on the radio i'm fucking awesome and this is my new music buy it on wherever wherever like okay peace and love we take a photo you leave with a lasagna by the way you are leaving with a lasagna seriously so this this red box attractive red box i'm psyched now it's in the freezer but i have a question for you very important meat or veggie um okay the fact that you hesitate tells me you're not a vegetarian no i'm not i'm not. I'm not. Which one's better?

Which one's better? Personally, I like the meat lasagna. Yeah, I'll go meat. I'll go meat. Okay, you never know if these rock stars, if they're like off meat or whatever. And you're not off meat. I'm more off carbs than meat. Well, there's lots of carbs in there. I know, I'll break the rule for lasagna.

Although I did, I shot a video in Italy recently. Really? What part of Italy? The Amalf lasagna. Although I did, I shot a video in Italy recently. Really? What part of Italy? The Amalfi Coast. Can I ask, are you watching at all by any chance White Lotus? Is this a Navy product? Oh, I heard that was great. Didn't that take place in Hawaii?

Yes, that was season one. I'm now three episodes deep into season two, which takes place in Italy. Okay. Wherever like Godfather was filmed, like where, you know, Michael Corleone, I don't want to, spoiler alert, if anyone hasn't seen Godfather,

which came out in 1972. Like, remember he goes to Italy to lay low for a while, Michael Corleone, I mean, and then he gets married to an Italian woman

and then her car blows up and she dies. Do you remember this? Have you ever seen The Godfather or Lily Frost? You know, I have, but sometimes when things are super violent, I blot them out. Oh yeah, like the ignition turns and she's done.

Okay. Anyway, that neck of the woods in Italy, and I wish I had more specifics, is where this takes place. It's just gorgeous. It's ridiculously gorgeous. Okay. And I was going to say in relation to the lasagna, but the food over there, it's different.

Like there isn't much of it, but it's so good. And you've been like walking for hours because you have to walk everywhere. Yeah. And it's just perfect. Like I broke all carb rules over there. Okay. Well, you're going to break some more carb rules. But if it makes you feel better, this is the most authentic

Italian food you're going to find this far away from Italy because Palma Petrucci, the matriarch of the Petrucci family, it's all her recipes like for the sauce

and everything. You're going to dig it and don't leave here without it. Oh, I'm excited. Yeah, I'm going to remind you when you forget. And let me know

what time I should be at your place for my slice of lasagna from Palma Pasta. Okay. So I put a little bow on this Who Am I? And it's know what time I should be at your place for my slice of lasagna from Paul and Boston. Okay. So I put a little bow on this Who Am I? And it's amazing what that led to because you had that chat with Chad and it sounds like you're having a bit of a midlife crisis here. We're going to work through it.

Existential. I kind of dig it. I kind of dig it. But that also appeared on the Crazy Beautiful soundtrack. Hang on. Crazy Beautiful. That's right. Yes. Yes. I was getting confused with the being Erica soundtrack. Yeah.

That I have that jam too, though. That's a whole different jam. And what's the name of the being Erica song? Oliver. No, I don't like, don't play that.

So tell me the story then. I won't, I won't play it because no, it's your song. I want to play it, but I don't want you to be like feeling uncomfortable. I just, I don't know what it is about that song, but I like the show.

I watched the show. They called me in to write and I already had like the melody and the chords and stuff and they just got me to speed it up. And then I was doing all these abstract kind of poetic references and they said, can you just be really literal? That's what we want you to do. And I'm like, okay. And I spoke to the writer directly and uh wrote the song for the show and uh that thing paid so much money like jose and i even met with them going how much what do you need from us like our

blood and they're like no it's just gonna take you 15 minutes or whatever we couldn't believe how much money you're not proud of it in tv um do you consider it can i guess are you considering it like your sellout jam um you gotta eat no it just it sounds floppy like the production can i play it so at least we can talk about it let's play it don't think it sounds cool it's a little i never said it sounded cool no but it is the bean erica it's sounded cool. No. But it is the bean haircut. It's not cool. It's part of your story,

the way the unnamed FOTM delivering food is now part of his story. Okay. Right. Is this it? Yeah. I knew that. Just a little bit. I want to make a score of it. Okay. At the core of my heart Mystics and cynics

And crystals and memories Beginning to line up the stars Shining a light in the night Raising the veil from my eyes Waking me up to the light in that light There's nothing there to be ashamed of, Lily. Uh-huh. Tell me specifically what it is you hate about this song. It's not that i hate it it's

just um it was compromised vision it wasn't who fucked with this song a lot of people a lot of people involved names yeah no i'm not gonna give you news but you know what jose stepped in Names. Yeah, no, I'm not going to give you names. But you know what? Jose stepped in and he said, I want to be part of this production. And I am grateful he did that because I feel like he did help a little bit. And I'm not saying the producers were bad or anything like that.

It's just that it's more Disney than I've ever done, I guess. Sometimes you need to get paid. Like, sometimes you got to do something a certain way so that you get that check. Yeah, like, it wasn't even for the money. It was just, like, they wanted me to cooperate with them to get what they wanted. So it was their final say. And I'm just not used to making art that way. It's not art.

I could only imagine, because you are an artist, and I would imagine that there would always be a conflict between like, and I don't know who specifically, but it's a CBC show, but somebody here is saying, we're paying for this, so we are going to sort of direct you in what we're looking for. But meanwhile, you know,

I could totally see there's going to be a conflict there. But at the end of the day, I don't even like that expression. I don't know why I do, but at the end of the day, they're paying for you to deliver this theme song for their show, Being Erica, which by the way, this was nominated

for a Gemini award. Yeah, it was put out by Warner. It's like literally the biggest thing I ever did. Right, in terms of like money. And you almost didn't want me to play it. Yeah. This is like when Nirvana played it, they wouldn't play Smells Like Teen Spirit. Right, this is my problem.

It's like when I signed to Network Records and they wanted me to play who am I all the time and I was like but I just wrote this new song can I play the new song and I just um oh you artists just kind of wanted to do whatever I felt like doing and now sometimes I do uh talk with people like they'll call me for advice or whatever and I just tell them all the things I did wrong, basically. Don't do this. Don't do that. So if you could go back in time to 2009,

would you not work with these people? No, no. I totally would. I don't regret it. Okay, so you don't regret it. I mean, probably what I should do at every show I play from here on in is this song. But I literally can't bring myself to do it. Interesting. I think I talked to, so I play from here on in is this song but I literally can't bring

myself to do it interesting I think I talked to so I have a lot of artists on this show and I think there's a period of time and I'm thinking of like Ron Hawkins for example from Lois is the law okay because he's come up for many times and there's a guy he what a prolific great writer of music and he's great but when Lois the low play I'm gonna actually see so i mentioned that tmlx11 is on the third of december starring lily frost who's gonna sing for us but it should be great it's like a holiday theme maybe and you're frost and you know jack frost anyway we'll talk later but but that night i'm gonna see lowest of the low at low at lee's palace okay lawrenceols, who's in the band, tells me he has to come up with the set lists because all these Gen Xers like me show up

and we want to hear songs from Shakespeare, my butt. And if Ron Hawkins is coming up with the set list, it's going to be like the latest 10 songs he wrote or something like that. Yeah. So Lawrence controls the set list because they need to give the lowest of the low fans

the songs that remind them of what it was like in 1991 when they tuned in 102.1 The Edge and heard Henry Needs a New Pair of Shoes. Yeah, they want to hear the songs that they know. Salesmen, cheats, and liars. See, this is the business training that would have helped. But they reached that compromise. Yeah. It sounds like you need me on uh team lily

frost and then we'll find that balance between your art yes and the commercial part which is gonna put food on your table yeah i love it yeah thanks is the deal have we closed the deer and lasagna on my table yeah okay uh so commercially speaking yes this was the being erica theme song and that's cool i think that's cool and but you you know we talked earlier about that that uh who am i and we talked about how that was in a crazy beautiful but your songs have appeared and i mean i got a list here from wikipedia it was like gray's anatomy work and moms charmed felicity stargate sg1 m MTV's The City, ads for Chevrolet, Hudson's Bay. Like you've already sold out, Lily.

So, okay. So the first Who Am I got placed in that Disney film through Network Records. And they didn't even own my publishing. Like they just went ahead and did that because they were hooked up. And Chad and I were just laughing. We're like, what the fuck are we going to do with all this money and that was awesome and we of course spent it all completely like in the first week but um my daughter she's 11 she's so good with business and when I tell her what I've done with my money she's like you're so stupid mom hey um but she'd be a good manager but anyway yeah so those

other placements when I moved back to Toronto I signed to Aparia like within the first year I got signed to a label who basically focused on publishing and syncing stuff in movies and tv well tv tv shows so they did that you know like the cool thing about it is that I just made records it wasn't like the being Erica thing where it's like we want you to write this specific thing for our purposes like I'm not a at this point a staff writer because I actually did move into the position of being a staff writer for a while okay which is where you are doing their their bidding right I tried that for a while that was not good for me it's better to write from my heart do it create it if they want to use it for something great but me being their pawn it's like I I don't work well with a boss, you know?

Interesting. It sounds like you need a bad cop. Like, you mentioned Jake Gold off the top. That's kind of what he does, right? Like, you know, the late-grade Gordowney didn't have to worry about this. He just sicced the pit bull Jake Gold on it. Jake Gold is a pit bull for sure and he did yeah he's a wheeler and dealer and he will fight for his artists and um yeah that was good childhood

best friends with uh a gentleman named mark hebbshire who i co-host a show with called hebsey on sports every friday morning huh so stick that in your pipe and smoke it, Lily. Okay? Okay. Can I play a little bit of another song since we're talking about you selling out left, right, and center here? One of the bigger names I dropped there

was Grey's Anatomy. That show, which I think I watched in the very beginning, I have memories of like Izzy and a guy named George. Like I have memories of this. Oh yeah. I liked it too, yeah. so my ex-wife yeah was into it and i would be like seeing it on our you know bedroom tv because

there it is it's crazy i mean and i remember yeah like into it for a little bit and then uh i'm shocked to find out it's actually still on the air because i haven't been with my wife in a long time my ex-wife okay can i tell the story really quickly of course about this song so i was um when i first moved to toronto um jose's band by divine right was going on tour and colleen hicksonbaugh who was in the band was a nanny for steve kane the president of warner and also um dave eddie the writer for the globe and mail so they they needed she needed me to sub in for her nanny gig so i was subbing i was nannying for these three boys for dave eddie the writer and um he came cedal is the oh yeah i know this couple that's uh steve's wife gotcha so this is dave eddie though and or no you're right dave's wife is pam yes although you are now i don't I never know who's been with whom in the back of the day, but they moved out

of the city. Anyway. Yeah. That's right. Yeah. Yeah. They're awesome. And you should have him on the show.

He's hilarious. I actually invited him and I have memories of him taking a pass. Like I have vague memories that I reached out like five or six years ago when he took a pass. He might do it now because he's bored because he's in the country. Let him know. He should do Toronto Mike. He gets lasagna and everything.

I will. And I'd love to hang out with you guys. And you're invited. So he's hilarious. And he was writing up in his attic and he came charging down the stairs and he goes, I just looked you up online. You're a songwriter. What are you doing looking after my children?

Get out there and write songs. And I was like, he's like, what can I do to help you? And I was like, you like what can i do to help you and i was like um you know i thought about that and i was leaving his house that day after nannying his awesome boys who are really brilliant and um i said just give me a word and so as i was leaving he yells enchantment okay right so he gave me a word And I went home to Jose. And I was really into Carla Bruni at that point. Yeah. And so.

He was married to the French president. Yeah. So we did it in that style. woods I'm finding my way to your heart by the light of the moon the forest can tell I'm under your spell you've taken me out of my shell I'll be the penny if you be the wishing well I'm floating away from my pillow and into the woods you said you wouldn't go because you told me so but I knew that you would enchantment enchantment gonna get me high gonna get me high enchantment enchantment, enchantment Gonna get me high So Dave Eddy inspired this song? Well, he threw me the words, right?

He gets points, okay. Wow, can I just tell you a little fun fact? And this ties into another songwriter I think you admire and respect. But famously, Little Eva. Do you know the name Little Eva? No. Little Eva's big hit was she recorded the original version of Locomotion.

Oh, yeah. Okay. Little Eva, and I hope I have this story right. I once screwed up a story of Jim Cuddy where I thought Sigourney Weaver was the daughter of Dennis Weaver and I really fucked it up and I'm still paying the consequences. You have nightmares. Seriously, I wake up in cold sweats

because Jim's mind was blowing. I think he's telling that story to everybody he meets now. Oh, shit, yeah. So, I think little Eva was the nanny for Carole King and, is it Goffin? Oh, really? I think she was a nanny and then they King and, is it Goffin? That was, right? Like, I think she was a nanny.

Huh. And then they found out she was singing on the side, and then she wrote, Carole King co-wrote with Goffin the locomotion. And she sang it. I love that. And then she had to, like, quit being a nanny, and they were like, next time they had a nanny, they wanted to make sure their nanny couldn't sing,

because they would lose these good nannies to, like, start on. Exactly, yeah. So thenies to like start. Yeah. So then this is like the Canadian version. Dave, Eddie comes down the stairs and he says enchantment. Yeah. And you write this, which appears on Grey's Anatomy at some point.

Yes. I think it's like episode 13 where they're having dinner. Oh, that one. That's my favorite episode. Yeah. Same. That's my favorite.

Is Izzy in that one? Okay. Um, you love Izzy. Yeah. She's so. That's my favorite. Is Izzy in that one? Okay. You love Izzy. I had a crush on Izzy. Definitely cute. Yeah. It's been a while. I was into Izzy, but then Izzy disappeared. Like she wanted to be a movie star or something. Well, she also went crazy. Remember that? In the show or in real life? Yeah, in the show.

Okay. She lost her mind. Hallucinations. Oh, she was like in love with a dead guy? Am I wrong? Yeah, exactly. Oh, the guy from The Walking Dead. Yeah. Okay, she was like in love with a dead guy? Yeah, exactly. Oh, the guy from The Walking Dead. Yeah. Okay, it's all coming back to me now. I love this conversation. Should I be recording this?

Because this is great. Yeah. Okay. So, can we chat? Are you comfortable chatting about, you've dropped his name a few times, and I had a kind of a neat experience with this man. Maybe you did too,

but Jose Miguel Contreras, by divine right. Yeah. So how long were you married to him? Well, we were together about 14 years. Why did it end? Is that too personal? Yeah. Okay.

You don't have to tell me. But here, can I play a little bit of like you guys singing together, like a short little something? Sure. What do you think? Just a little bit of like you guys singing together, like a short little something? Sure. Just a little something. Two of us? C'est toi et moi. Very short.

La reine, le roi, la grâce, la foi, l'amour, la joie. J'ai vu de grands orages, l'arc-en-ciel, le soleil nu, Mais le coup de foudre m'échappait jusqu'à ce qu'on s'est aperçu. Oh, toi et moi, que moi et toi, Que nous, nous deux, oui, grâce à Dieu, Mike, it's none of your business why they're not together anymore. You're right, though. None of my business. No, no, no. But it was a very, very romantic, uh, way that we met each other. He's a magical person and he, uh, brings tons

to the table and like, I'll probably, I'll never find anyone like him again. He's unique. Yeah. And, uh, you know, we made two beautiful children and I have no regrets. So we get along. I mean, I saw him last night. He recorded my son's band for the first time. Amazing. Yep. They're called Sundial with a T.

And Misha is my son. He plays bass. He's amazing. Amazing. They're super good. They're super cool. So, you know, it's still going like we're all interconnected. And we we toured the world together. We played and wrote seven albums together.

You know what I mean? So I think that our shortcoming was raising children. Doing music together was great. I have no bad things to say at all about that. Okay. Okay. Because of your honesty there and because I made you so uncomfortable by asking you why you're no longer together, I'm going to give you another gift, okay?

So you got your beer. I love gifts. You got your lasagna. This is a wireless speaker. Really? Using Bluetooth. Yeah, it actually sounds pretty good. Oh my gosh.

That, Lily, is courtesy of Moneris. Yeah, thanks, Moneris. Moneris wants you to use that because they want you to have a hidden agenda here okay they think you're okay lily frost is going to set up that wireless speaker you're going to connect it to her phone or something and then she's going to listen to a wonderful podcast called yes we are open and it is a new pod well it's actually not new it's in its third season which just started but it is a podcast from manaris yeah and it is a new pod. Well, it's actually not new. It's in its third season, which just started, but it is a podcast from Moneris. Yeah.

And it's hosted by FOTM Al Grego and people can subscribe to Yes We Are Open by going to yesweareopenpodcast.com. Amazing. That's your orders. And then while you're doing that,

because of course, there's some great stories. He tells the stories of Canadian small businesses and their perseverance in the face of overwhelming adversity. But then when you're inspired, because it feels like you're in a bit of a rut, it sounds like you're in a rut and you could get inspired by, yes, we are open. And then you're going to be like, oh, now that I'm inspired, I'm going to have all this money again. Not that you don't have money, but you're gonna have money

and you're going to need to invest it. So you're going to subscribe to the advantaged investor podcast from Raymond James Canada, where you can learn to subscribe to the advantaged investor podcast from raymond james canada where you can learn to plan invest and live smarter you got it yeah live smarter you're taking notes travel no but i think i should be yeah you definitely but it's recorded yeah i was gonna say you can listen back on that wireless speaker and take the notes when you listen back to this. Okay. So you don't, I mean, I'm hoping you'll talk to me a bit about decompression because it sounds great. It's now available on all digital platforms.

This is your newest release. By the way, people should go to lilyfrost.com if they want to learn more and access, you know, decompression and more from Lily Frost. But can you tell me a little bit about decompression? Sure. So, yeah, over the time that we don't mention that happened fairly recently, I was, talk about a funk, like I was just like mute and smoking way too many cigarettes. And I was just on my couch going, there's no point to living. Yeah.

Cigarettes. Yeah. You should be smoking weed. I know. That's what I should switch over to, but it kind of makes me insane. Well, okay. How about maybe we start you low on some edibles

and then I'm just shouting out Canna Cabana because they have 140 locations across the country and they will not be undersold on cannabis or cannabis accessories. I'm just shouting out Canna Cabana because they have 140 locations across the country and they will not be undersold on cannabis or cannabis accessories. I know. CBD is good for me for sure. But the THC, if there's too much of it, I get a little, I feel like the walls are caving in on me. We don't want that.

No, it's not good. So then I, so what was I doing? I was on Instagram and Aaron Goldstein, who was a block over, mentioned something about my post because I saw these stilted people on hand drums. And he's like, they just passed by my house. You must live around the corner. We should get together and write a song. So we got together. We went on his porch and we had some coffee and we talked about songwriting. got together we went on his porch and we had some coffee and we talked about songwriting and he's like you know blah blah blah I produce and and I'm like yeah well that's all good and well in any way he convinced me to to let him produce my next record he's like I think your last record was okay but it was overproduced and I think you need to just like be real and play the stuff that you play for yourself. And I'm like,

well, you know, that wouldn't be bad. And so we went ahead and what were you going to say? I was going to say, if I named these three songs and you were going to pick which one I play right now, as we talk about this album,

never looking back. Um, I'm going to say open highway because it's the first. Yeah. Came in a little hot there. Sorry. That's okay. Bring it down.

And this is the one we shot the video for in Italy. I wish I could be everywhere. But I'm just a particle in this vast cosmic ocean. Missing love terribly I fear But is it worth the pain For what they say is gain We are just scattered around

Grasping for connection Scattered around Grasping for survival Traveling in my mind Sailing to a tropical desert island I think I'd see you in my dreams You're just a particle in this vast cosmic ocean It's such a struggle to be here

And though the moments pass They are but all we have We are just scattered around Grasping for connection Scattered around Grasping for survival I don't even want to fade it down. I'm like bathing in it.

It's beautiful. It's great. Thank you. And you're still not inspired and you're making music like well it's it's dark right it's like leaning into that darkness and the kind of questioning and the existential midlife crisis breakdown and and part of me felt like i like i did present it at the Paradise. And it was a beautiful room of mostly friends, right? Like close friends of mine and family. It was really heavy. And I put everything into it.

And then it just ended. I wanted to continue. And I'm just not. And it's like kind of just this hanging thing. I wanted the moment. There was no momentum. So I wish we could get you out there playing live because I feel like you're this great artist with this great music. And your fuel is the fans that hear you perform live.

Like that's your calling. Get out there and perform how do we make this happen well i gotta pay the musicians and i need some gig offers i need like i did reach out i reached out to ron sexsmith you know um jen grant i don't know blue rodeo like a bunch of people and they're all super sweet i know you know lu Luke Doucette from White Horse and Sarah Harmer, all the people that I know. And anyway, it hasn't happened yet. I'm just kind of working at my radio show. Which is on Zoomer?

Yeah, Zoomer. This is a good chance for Zoomer radio. Tell me, just tell us a little bit about your radio show. Yeah, I've got a show on Sundays at 6. Every week is a good chance for you. Zoomer Radio. Tell me, just tell us a little bit about your radio show. Yeah, I've got a show on Sundays at 6. Every week is a different theme. And this next theme is going to be the blues and heartbreak because I just got dumped. And I just go with... Is that fresh?

Yeah. How fresh? Four days, maybe. Oh, they heard you were coming on Toronto Mike. They said, I can't compete. I make a joke because otherwise it's too sad. Okay, I'm sorry to hear that. That's okay, whatever.

You know, we just keep on going. And live in the city, I do it too on Saturdays. And then 7 p.m. on Saturdays, it's like a dance party until 1 a.m. I got friends at Zoomer. Can I just shout out FOTM Joel Goldberg? Oh, yeah, he's great. He is holding it together there. You know, he co-created Electric Circus.

Oh, yeah. Yeah. That's a big deal, right? Totally. And he also directed those early Maestro Fresh West videos. Oh, did he? Like Let Your Backbone Slide. He directed that.

Really? Now you're impressed. Yeah. Now when you look at him next time you meet him, you're like, I'm looking at you differently. I need to talk to him about that. Yeah. a true star even and uh drop the needle he did a whole bunch of those great uh there are lots of great people there from like the city tv days and much music and yeah it's a good team i love it so you got the radio outlet uh i'm sorry we couldn't get a tour but what if you stripped i'm trying to think like my buddy blair packham like literally

like he'll just pick up a guitar and it's him and a guitar. Yeah. And he'll go, he was just here last week with David Quinton Steinberg and we were talking about kind of all this and he'll, he'll do this. He'll just perform at the sauce or whatever and he'll play live or whatever. Like we need to, just needs to be you and a microphone. Just strip it down. Yeah.

Strip it down. Like, yeah, go bare minimum on this thing and cut out some of that overhead. Right. Yeah, possible. Yeah. It's not as great, though. But I hear you. It's not.

It's just different. And it's great in a different way. But at least then, at least you're performing live and that overhead disappears. Blair asked me to sing, actually, at his show at Bluebird North. I think it's called Songbird North. That would make sense. Yeah. In December. I'm doing that. He's very involved in that. And by the way, Blair, who's listening to us right now, we should say hello to Blair. Hi,

Blair. Great. He played actually TMLXX, which was our 10th Toronto Mic Listener Experience. He played that live right between Rob Pruce from The Spoons and Danny Graves from The Watchmen was Blair Packham. Oh, okay. And he was fantastic. He was really, really great. Yeah, he's amazing.

We've written a song together. Which song? Oh, you haven't heard it and it's not complete and it hasn't been released. You know, I can text Blair right now and he'll send me what he has. Yeah.

So careful. It was pretty good and I like him. He's, he's awesome. Uh, I'm playing that show with Jane Sibury. She's on the bill as well.

What venue? Um, I'd have to check my notes, but I think it's the 13th of December, something like that. And I know, uh, I know you're a busy lady and you're almost out of here,

but, uh, if I were going to play a little bit more of another jam and you had to choose between Never Looking Back or Seagull. Play Seagull for sure. Nothing's too far away. Nothing's too far away except the happiness. Who's humming there?

J-Ball, my friend J. It's a good hum. Might have been me too. My brother wrote this. I'm up in the sky. Up around the sky, I do not cry. Out in vain.

Out insane. People are everywhere. Out in vain, out insane People are everywhere And everything's power Seek all Why I may seek all Like a deer in a snare I dig it. Seriously, like, this is inspiring me. I think I'm going to hit the road. Yeah?

You're going to hit the road? You're going to go to California with me? Woo! Let's go. So, to remind the listeners, the FOTM's listening, but I know you heard the term FOTM. You're like,

what the hell is he talking about? It's Friend of Toronto Mike. So you're now an FOTM, Lily. Like forever. Aw, thanks. Thank you. You will be addressed

as FOTM Lily Frost. I like it. Decompression is the name of this new album from Lily Frost. It's available on all digital platforms and I would urge you

to go to lilyfrost.com. Grab it. It's got that nice atmosphere to it. And I know you shouted him out thoroughly, but I'm going to shout him out again, that this is Aaron Goldstein who produced this. Yeah. And he produced Lee Harvey Osmond, right?

I think so. He's done a lot. He's a great pedal steel player. That's Tom Wilson's artwork. Oh, yeah. Yeah, he's really coming into a whole new zone, hey? He's amazing. Well, he thought he was a sweaty Irishman,

and then he found out he's a sweaty Mohawk man. That's right. So now he's on a new journey of discovery. There's a new doc. I haven't seen it yet, but it's based on his book Beautiful Scars.

Yeah, I want to see that too. I want to see it. Do you want to see it with me? Yes. We'll see it together. Yes. Lily, honestly, this has been amazing.

Like I could just keep you hostage by just playing Lily Frost jam after jam because there's like a million Lily Frost jams out there. Oh, there's, oh yeah.

Don't, you can't go. I know you've already, you already get leavings. Come back, Lily. I got to play something for you. Hold on. Because this is the song that plays first. If I ask Spotify to play Lily Frost, I got to play a bit of it and ask you about it.

I was focused and fly like locusts in the sky to the cocoon broken. I arrived. You want a pimple butterfly in the sky to the cocoon broken. I arrived. You want a pimple butterfly? I swarmed to get more light. Can't stop feeling like a moth to the porch light. Fending off competitors, my wings in a sword fight. I will be the last one alive. It's not Fortnite.

It's wicked in the thicket. Staccato chirping. Listen, the crickets are violinists. I'm running from a dozen mosquitoes. It's vampiric. Eating off you when you're buzzing you can't hear it woods aren't safe you can get hurt in there i put bug spray all over my sweatshirt and hair because the bugs are really bad out here the bugs are really bad

out here smack them if you catch them do the best you can that's the price you gotta pay come around this way okay so lily's face has been like what is this but okay so please tell i mean that's clearly you yeah these guys uh you know they sampled me so you're okay so this actually just it didn't happen with monster truck was sampled by kid rock and i said oh they just took his original like recording and chopped it up or whatever but you know this exists right like literally if I ask Spotify to play a Lily Frost

song this is the first one it plays really wow I don't know like how the algorithm works or if it's because they think they think I like hip hop because I play a lot of hip hop like I don't have a clue I don't have a clue but this is the first song that plays when I ask so maybe the FOTM listening can ask Spotify

to play Lily Frost and tell me what you hear. So can you tell me anything about this? Like, did they ask your permission? Yeah, yeah, they did. And they approached Aporia

and they asked for permission and they loved this song and they were super nice guys. And that's all I know. Are they Canadian? Like, where are they from? No, they're American. and what do what are their names do you know what's the name of this outfit okay i should know this uh this should be there hold on uh the book i just had to ask you about this one uh so it's called the the bugs are really bad out

there that's what they're calling it my song is called the bug tax okay they changed the name on you there wow really bad out there. That's what they're calling it. My song's called The Bug Tax. Okay, they changed the name on you there. Wow. I kind of dig it. I like it. It works with you. Yeah, it's cool.

I like it too. So like the closer thing that I do to this is a side project called Dream Speed with Slack of the Beach Child. If you like hip hop and stuff like that, we have a few songs that are kind of in this vein. It's cool. I like him a lot.

Awesome. Awesome. It's all awesome. And before we say goodbye here, just before I play us out with some lowest of the low, because that's how every episode ends. Oh, nice.

Uh, do you have, uh, like any, any chance that I've, uh, sparked any inspiration in you? Like,

are you going to go off and like, I don't know. I just feel like you're in a bit of a rut and we need to get you out of it. Cause you're extremely talented. Okay. Two things that they're inspiring. I want to go see that movie with you okay and also uh your friend stone who's stew stone yes that's what it takes to inspire the great lily frost i need collaborators now

stew stone's not a real name okay i know you got frost as a middle name or whatever stone was invented there's no uh stone going on there So there is some hope for Lily Frost, which really benefits all of us because you're fucking awesome and I'm so glad we got to meet here today. Thank you for having me. And you'll be back tomorrow? Yeah. For more lasagna. For the veggie.

You know, that's good. And how old are your kids? 10 and 16. Sorry, 11 and 16. It's hard to keep track. I have the same problem. Okay, so 11 and 16, there's yourself. You're going to have leftovers. That's my prediction. That's how big this large lasagna is. Oh, nice.

And you're going to love it, and you're going to be going to palmapasta.com for more. Amazing. Thank you, Lily. My daughter's Paloma, so it's very close. Palma. Palma and Paloma. Very close. Because, yeah, Palma's the name of the matriarch.

That's her first name. She's Palma Petrucci and they started it in like 87 or something are they in Etobicoke? Mississauga uh huh Mississauga and Oakville

your old stomping ground oh yay see it's all coming full circle shout out to the the big O Oakville and that

brings us to the end of our 1151st show. Wow. But you'll be back because I'm going to insist upon it because I dug it so much. Okay. Is that Stretch Armstrong over there? No.

That's George the Animal Steel. Okay. Which, by the way, you ready? You want to know who gave me that? Yes. It's Two Stone. Oh, interesting. It's meant to happen.

Yeah. You can follow me on Twitter. I'm at Toronto Mike. Lily, I doubt you're active too often, but you are there as Lily Frost Music. FYI. I don't know if you know. On where, where? Twitter.

Oh, yeah. Not really. But people can go to lilyfrost.com and get all their Lily Frostness. Our friends at Great Lakes Brewery are at Great Lakes Beer. Palma Pasta is at Palma Pasta. Sticker U is at Sticker U. Mineris are at Mineris. Raymond James Canada are at Raymond James CDN.

Recycle My Electronics are at EPRA underscore Canada. Ridley Funeral Home are at Ridley FH. Canna Cabana are at Canna Cabana underscore and Sammy Cone Real Estate is at Sammy Cone again it's K-O-H-N for Cone see you all

next week Yeah, the wind is cold But the smell of snow Wants me to date And your smile is fine And it's just like mine And it won't go away Cause everything is Rosy and gray Well, I've been told That there's a sucker born

Every day But I wonder who Yeah, I wonder who Maybe the one who doesn't realize There's a thousand shades of gray Cause I know that's true, yes I do I know it's true, yeah I know it's true, yeah I know it's true

How about you? They're picking up trash and they're putting down roads And they're brokering stocks, the class struggle explodes And I'll play this guitar just the best that I can Maybe I'm not and maybe I am But who gives a damn Because everything is coming up rosy and gray Yeah, the wind is cold but the smell of snow warms me today

And your smile is fine and it's just like mine. And it won't go away. Because everything is rosy and gray. Well, I've kissed you in France and I've kissed you in Spain. And I've kissed you in places I better not name And I've seen the sun go down on Chaclacour But I like it much better going down on you Yeah, you know that's true

Because everything is coming up rosy and green Yeah, the wind is cold but the smell of snow warms us today And your smile is fine and it's just like mine and it won't go away Cause everything is rosy now

Everything is rosy Yeah, everything is rosy and everything is rosy and gray.