Toronto Mike'd: The Official Toronto Mike Podcast - MONOWHALES: Toronto Mike'd #818

Episode Date: March 16, 2021

Mike chats with Sally Shaar, Jordan Circosta and Zach Zanardo from MONOWHALES about their career, the industry and what's next.

Welcome to episode 818 of Toronto Mic'd, a weekly podcast about anything and everything. Proudly brought to you by Great Lakes Brewery, a fiercely independent craft brewery who believes in supporting communities, good times and brewing amazing beer. CDN Technologies, your outsourced IT department. Contact Barb. She's Barb at cdntechnologies.com. Palma Pasta. Enjoy the taste of fresh homemade Italian pasta and entrees from Palma Pasta in Mississauga and Oakville. StickerU.com. Create custom stickers, labels, tattoos, and decals

for your home and your business. Ridley Funeral Home, pillars of the community since 1921. And Mike Majewski, or as I call him, Mimico Mike. He's the real estate agent 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 are Sally, Jordan and Zach, better known as the Mono Whales. What's up? Welcome everybody. So there's three of you on this Zoom. So it'll be my job. I got to be the host of the most and somehow keep things organized.

But I just want to say welcome to Toronto Mic'd. It's really awesome that we finally made this happen. Yeah, we're really happy to be here. Does anyone there remember, was this originally, were you guys going to come over here before the pandemic hit? I feel like you guys were in the calendar to visit and then the pandemic struck. Do I have that right?

Yeah, I think that was the plan. It would have probably been something last May. That sounds about right. Yeah, I think so. Here's what we're going to do for listeners too. Sally, you sound like a Sally. So Sally, everybody knows. Sally, say hi again.

Hey, what's up? So Zach, you say hello. Hello. Okay, so that's Zach. And then Jordan, let's up? So Zach, you say hello. Hello. Okay, so that's Zach. And then Jordan, let's hear from you. Hey, this is Jordan. Okay, so now when people hear the voices, they'll know and we'll get to know each other better.

But my first question right off the bat, because I've been curious about this, I literally went on bike rides and tried to think of like, where does mono whales come from? And in my mind, I've decided, and we're going to get the truth from you in a moment but in my mind i decided that you were fans of the uh the mono rail episode of the simpsons like this is where i've decided it comes from but can you tell us the truth where does the name mono whales come from okay this is a highly uh argumented point in the band because i agree with you i believe it's a simpsons reference

uh but the boys i know jordan there was like a monocle on a whale near coxwell am i wrong about this carla carla and dundas we had a rehearsal space that uh where there was a whale with the monocle like just up the street. I'm pretty sure that's where it came from. Okay. What say you, Zach? I was so spaced out that night. It was like 10 p.m. after work, and I was sick.

People were just like, apparently there was someone there that wasn't even in the band that remembers it, but I don't even remember them being there that wasn't even in the band that remembers it. I don't even remember them being there. Well, let's get them on the Zoom. Do you have their email? I don't know. By the way, I'm zonked at 10 p.m. too. I just want to throw it out there.

Like at 10 o'clock, I'm tired. I don't know. But I'm an old man. You guys are supposed to be fresh until the wee hours of the morning. I'm 19 years old. And I was only 18 when we named the band. What's that, Jordan? I feel fresher now than I was only 18 when we named the band what's that Jordan? I feel fresher now than I did then

that's for sure I feel fresher in this place than that jam space are you guys east of young band you know how Toronto has young street as the dividing line I just heard you mention Coxwell and of course Carlaw

these are all references I know from lowest of the low songs, by the way, but like, are you an East of Young band? I am an East of Young person, or I once was, but the other guys weren't. No,

I was actually, I grew up in North York. Oh yeah. East of Young. I guess, but I'm actually a West Ender now. I would identify, self-identify as a West Ender.

But the band was an East End band until February 20... 21. Yeah, until last month. Sally, what neighborhood are you in now? When you say West End, are you like a Ronseys girl? Whereabouts are you? Oh, I'm like a Bloordale village girl whereabouts are you oh i'm bluer dale village type of gal right okay cool and whereabouts are you in the in the city uh zach

i just moved to ron c hey hey hey i feel like i yeah i nailed that one okay so ron c by the way uh that means you're doing well i feel like like it's expensive to live in Ronci's now. Yeah, but COVID changed things. Yeah. I think we're way down when COVID hit for some people. So, lucky these two got to move out and get cheaper apartments than mine, I think. Do you ever hear a story from old guys? I don't know.

Let's say a Kim kim mitchell for example and they'll tell you about how the band was like living in some loft in toronto and they were paying like 150 bucks a month or whatever which meant they could just be musicians like they didn't need to actually have other jobs you ever hear stories and think like we missed out on the days when you could you know be a starving artist and live in this city we chose not to starve i think you guys i've been starving out here in the city but um no i think it is still a starving artist it's just different now i think you're like i think you were starting artists then for a different reason and now it's just yeah i guess inflation are we gonna get let's get talking about inflation you know get this podcast popping well no i mean i think unless you become the next tragically hip like you could never dream of owning a home in this city like this is such a depressing start to the show but i mean i have like i got i'm

telling you i could never afford to live in this city or at least own in the city if i were buying now like it's i feel like that ship sailed is is that too depressing to discuss it's just the truth man like this is the way it is you gotta you gotta make do somehow i just feel like i've never had any um desire to own property personally i know that j Jordan might be in the market one day. I don't know about you, Zach, but I just like, I never saw myself buying a place anyways. Like, you know, I didn't grow up with like a home like that anyways.

I was in North York apartment to apartment building. Lifestyle is just like, I can't imagine like what that would be like. So I rather just continue just like place to place for now at least so this is a good time to sort of set the stage and so I assume everybody knows mono whales but let's not assume anything here so firstly I want to just tell you uh I think it was December 2019 I know it was pre-pandemic because I was in the phoenix okay with a bunch of people very tightly crammed in there but my brother Steve and I went to a show because shout out to Mimico Joe, who actually works at Indie 88,

who hooked me up with, yeah, so shout out to Mimico Joe. He hooked me up with Sloan tickets because he knows I'm a huge Sloan fan. So I remember I biked there from the West End and I remember it being really cold because I was freezing. I don't know, that night night was freezing it must have been like minus 20 with a windchill or something like that but i was there in time to catch the opening acts and i caught this band called mono whales who i knew a little bit from the radio but honestly i said to my brother and you can ask him he never tells a lie i said these guys are these guys fucking rock like this is a fantastic band so i just want to say i'm not just like i didn't just catch up because you were booked on the show or whatever i straight up saw you live and thought you guys

kicked ass that's awesome thank you that was a fun night well was that like a was that the indie 88 christmas show or something like that like the was like the sock drive, yeah. Yeah, I believe. And did you... For concert, for sock, no, sock drive. Indiana, Indiana, sock drive, right? I think you're right. But did you get the hang of Sloan? Like, did you get any Sloan time? I don't think we hung out with them at that show,

but we actually played with them another show. Maybe it was months before or something at the auto show. So we did this show previously with them where we shared like a green room situation and that at that at that's when we like met them and had talked to them and they were super chill but the but at the phoenix you have separate rooms so you're like not really close by but uh it sounds like you guys uh had a fun night though performing uh that night uh and i don't know how many shows you've done since then i'm guessing when did things shut down mid

march so i guess you did you perform since then is that fair to say that was like the last like the second last big one and then we got a little one out in ot in January of last year. And then we did the Marianas French show in Kitchener. And that was like the last big one. Right. Okay. Now, so I guess I, so I caught your last Toronto show. Is that, is that true? Yeah. I think that would have been the last Toronto show. Wow. Okay. So what have you guys been doing the last 12 months? Like, like what have you been focusing on as a band?

Dropping songs and then writing new ones mostly so yeah we're putting out singles put out the record and then during that time wrote a new record that we're gonna go record soon so here let's okay so i'm gonna ask you some questions i'm curious about how you guys write songs together and all that stuff. But just checking my notes now, I see that you originally went by Ginger Ale and the Mono Whales. Is that right? Yeah, yeah, we did. That was almost like a whole other band, though.

Who made the call to shorten that to Mono Whales? That would be a Zachary. Yeah. Sorry, go ahead, Sally. He popped you the nail for that and we love him for it. It was the right call. I'm going to play a jam.

I'm going to play a bit of this. I hope you can hear it. I think you will because you never know with Zoom when it prefers what. But I'm going to play a little of this and then I'm going to bring it down and ask you about it.

But we're going back to 2017. So get in the time machine with me. It sounds like a long time ago now, 2017. Like, it's a whole different, like, time here. But here, let me start this up here. Living in the past life No, I don't want it So you can take it back I'm sick of watching you try

I don't want it, so you can take it back. I'm sick of watching you try. I don't buy it. Can't you see that I've been running with the cool kids? Cool kids. I should know better, but I don't want to be another name on your list. It's useless. I should know better to take it back. Taking it back, Mike.

I got to say, catchy single. Is this the first song you heard on the radio? Yes. Mono Whale song. I'd say, yeah. So I'll start with you, Sally. Do you remember, Sally, the first time you heard one of your pieces of music i guess this song take it back on uh on a radio station i i want to say that we were all in the car together when i first

when my first time hearing it for some reason we were on a way on the way to a gig or something no i think it was on the way back from a much or city TV interview. Something like that. And then we were on the car and it was on and we were like, whoa! And we turned it up and it was so, it was really like I want that, you know, the thing everyone talks about when they're like, when you hear yourself for the first time and you're kind of like freaking out and giddy. Is it surreal? Like, I mean, I've never heard any of my songs on the on the radio because my songs suck uh and and i and are not recorded so there's a lot of problems there but

like it's like maybe jordan is that a surreal moment like we're on the fucking radio like that's us there yeah i never know who i'm listening to at first like every time i hear us on the radio and experience is me being like who's this this? I'm like, oh shit. But do you like what you hear? Are you like, oh shit, this sounds really good. Turn that up. Oh fuck, that's us. It's just like a confusing thing. It's like my brain is trying to

It's like when you see a person that you only know from a certain environment and then you see them somewhere else and you're like, who are you? Fish out of water or a whale out of water, if you will. Although we are mammals, so we can breathe that way. Oh, yeah. So before you showed up, Sally, we realized, of course,

that a group of whales is called a pod, right? So I believe. I think I don't know. That's in my brain from grade school. I have to Google it. I believe you. Okay. So think about it then. This is three whales.

So this is a pod and this is a podcast. Oh! That's right. That's why you got us here. The only reason we're actually here is for this joke. The thing is, yeah, I would like to say I wrote it for your first visit back when you were going to come in like 2020 and then i just kept it in the notes i appreciate it i just i

just thought of it okay so take it back just take us back so 2017 uh what can you share with us like like is it oh i guess the first question is was it indie 88 was that the station you heard it on first i think it was actually the edge which was kind of shocking for us that they would be the like it was it was like actually nuts we're like this this is the station i believe am i wrong yeah no i think it was the edge but i heard it on first say like it's never and like it hasn't ended like because i i rarely catch ourselves on the radio so it's like other people send me stuff when we are but anytime i catch it i'm that person who like blasts it open window and i'm like it's me and then i kind of freak out because like it sends me into this like psychotic loop of like there's other people in their cars i don't know who they are they're all listening at the same time.

And I like this moment happens every time, every single time I hear it, I go through this like same motion. I love it. I love it. So listening to that, I'm curious about musical influences and we can go one by one here. Cause I know on zoom, it's tough. Like, like when do I talk? What do I talk? So we'll start with Zach since Zach, Zach was the first to arrive in the zoom here so i'm gonna reward him zach um like what are your musical influences like what are the the bands that that influenced you when i was a kid like going back to even grade one i was

obsessed with the red hot chili peppers um and through my youth like uh i had an email address called rhcp fan and i it was my first concert and like they were i look back on it now they seem to me like uh my version of superheroes i wasn't into like spider-man or superman but i love the red hot chili peppers they're fucking out of the world and like so cool and i love their music well as a bass as a guy who plays bass like you must flee must have been an influence then because that guy's the fucking bomb right like that's his yeah so i i wanted i started playing guitar actually because a kid at recess in grade five was like want to join or i think i said can i join the band they were making a band no one played any instruments and he said uh sure you can play bass and I was like what's

bass and uh he's like it's like guitar but four strings and lower and I said cool like I want to play bass and I went home and I said to my parents I want to play bass and And they're like, you, this is what my parents said. You can't write music on a bass. You have to learn guitar first. So I learned guitar. That's good. I feel like that's all through college or high school. What's that? I was going to say, that's probably good advice. I think to learn guitar first. I mean, like it was less intrusive to them, probably. Low frequencies travel farther. Well, it could have been worse. They could have been like, like, it was less intrusive to them, probably. Low frequencies travel farther.

Well, it could have been worse. They could have been like, yeah, first you got to learn piano. Isn't that the parental line? First you got to learn drums. You wish. Okay, Jordan, my friend, what about your musical influences? Just in general, I would say, like, around that time, at least, that was, like, the resurgence of the strokes for me

and like that came out a lot in like the way I was playing drums on Take It Back just because like I was super into the strokes when I was like just out of high school and then you know you go through your phases and then I got really into like all this random other stuff and then I kind of found my way back where when we were writing that record I was like listening to a lot of that stuff and trying to channel like this stuff super cool and like that really like tight drumming that was whatever it does um so yeah that that was like definitely on my mind at the time when we were recording this stuff is there like the cars too okay yeah sure uh now is there a specific drummer that you would emulate when you were uh learning is there a particular drummer that you idolized in any fashion more recently um

someone who like always struck me was Lowell Campbell from Wintersleep. I hope I'm not flicking his name out. Do you guys know Wintersleep? Wadey Ghost. The band from Out East. Yeah, yeah. Wadey Ghost, right? That was the big jam.

That was the big one. Lowell Campbell is a crazy maniac drummer that I don't think gets... Canadian drummers know who he is. And they're all like, that guy's awesome. But I don't think he gets like the love he deserves or being as creative as he is. On that note, Jordan, you're joining an exclusive club. I feel like I've had a bunch of pretty cool Canadian drummers on the show because Tyler Stewart came over from Barenaked Ladies and Jeremy Taggart came over, formerly of Our Lady Peace. And I'm trying to remember his name, Tom Stevens from the Jeff Healy band a little,

a little before your time, but a pretty damn good drummer in his own right. But so you're on a great list of Canadian drummers here. Sally. What's up? What, what music were you into? What influenced you?

And I'll just say, I actually am. I I'm a huge pretenders fan. like I love listening to the Pretenders and I think there's nothing cooler than like a a great rock band with a a female front person like I think that's that's sounds so good to my ears I always wonder why we don't we don't uh we don't have more of that although shout out to like bands like metric and stuff who have been leading the way but what who influenced you sally yeah like i've had it's like kind of anxiety driven when i think of everything i've listened to because it started with like you know whatever my parents listened to which was like celine dion and abba kind of stuff you know um and then when I grew into my own it was like the obvious like

Britney Spears Spice Girls kind of saga um in my early childhood which I still like I love pop music I think that's where it started um but then once I became a bit more angsty in my teen days I turned more to like alt rock which was different than alt rock now so any bands in specific you want to shout out here just uh um yeah I mean in my early days like System of a Down I had an email called Sally to Korn with a k like I loved that uh I feel like they'll they're definitely to always be in me. Sounded wrong. Phrasing, phrasing, Sally. But like, as I got older, I got more into bands like Death Cab for Cutie or Bright Eyes

or my favorite artist to this day is Elliot Smith. So it turned into like that kind of stuff. So it turned into like that kind of stuff. And then I, as I got older, it was like more maybe electronic or like, like Little Dragon, Kimbra, Amy Winehouse, like, it's just like all over kind of the gamut, some, some metal in there, some, and now I feel like I'm getting more into like a hip hop phase a little bit. So it's just like kind of all over the place. Who writes the lyrics? Is it a joint effort? Who writes the lyrics for Mono Whales? This band is a joint effort with, with everything, including lyrics. Yeah. Amazing. So true collaboration. Okay. Cause you mentioned System of a Down and of course I,

I too love System of a down. And what I love about them is the same thing I loved about public enemy when I was in high school, which is that the lyrics were so politically charged. Like there was such substance to what they were saying. You know, you get a bit of that in like rage against the machine and stuff like that. But I, I always, like, I always wondered any, uh, any, uh, I want to say protest music. I don't know what you'd call it, but any politically charged anthems in your future?

I guess Out With The Old is like a very light version of that kind of thing. But yeah, I don't know what holds in store. I know Jordan is probably the most politically driven like guy in the band. So I feel like that's definitely to come. Okay. So let's bring us up to speed here. So we heard just so if you're keeping track at home, we heard a little of take it back.

That's from 2017. I'm just going to play a jam from 2019 and just kind of to bring us up to date with what's going on. So here's some more Mono Whales. Cause I really wanna skip town I'm in and I'm out Right here, right now Oh, she's haunting me Batter up, batter up, baby, let's go She's haunting me Hold me up, but I really wanna let you down

Really wanna let you down want to let it down. I'm digging it, man. Holy. Okay, so really want to let you down. Or as the cool kids would say, R-W-L-Y-D. I think that's what the cool kids are saying. I wouldn't know what the cool kids are saying. Okay, so tell me a little bit about,

so as your careers progress here, let me bring it down a tiny bit more here so it doesn't interfere with you guys. Okay, so tell me, like, give me a little bit about how the cake is baked. Like, how do you go from that first jam that you hear yourselves on the radio for the first time on 102.1 The Edge, and then I'm sure Indie 88 also played it,

and then, of course, this single is kind of a huge jam for anyone in this country who's listening to alt-rock radio. But tell me how it came to be. Yeah, this was like right after we wrote this, like just before we went on tour for Control Freak and like just after we finished recording the record. And it was like a time when we were putting we were like putting a lot of pressure on ourselves to be better and it was really stressful actually because we were trying to like you know we were trying to drop like a record as an indie band kind of for the first time and you know go out on a proper tour and do all the stuff we were like under a lot of stress so i remember zach and i were like trying to write one day because we're like just songs even though we had just come out of the studio we're like we want to write

new songs to play on the road and test out new stuff we just weren't coming up with anything and then we just ate really greasy hamburgers and this song ended up coming out and it sort of like felt like what we were feeling at the time which is like wanting to just like not live up to expectations or just wanting to be released from that and just be cool with like letting people down and failing a little bit. That's sort of where it came from. And this jam sounds really good live,

as you probably know, but you know, it just sounds really good. It sounded really good that night at the Phoenix. Anyways, it's just sounds like a, like a hit. Yeah.

It's one of those things we played it on that tour like before it came out you know more than a year before we dropped it i think and people would sing it at the shows yeah like they patched on to everything so we were like this is something like we felt like it was something special started becoming a favorite in the set do you test songs like will you if you're coming if you're working workshopping, that's the term I'm looking for. Will you workshop a song live just to see how the fans respond to it when you play it live?

Totally. Yeah, this last record we toured, we played all those songs in our set all the way out west before we recorded this last album. Awesome. And I see Ryan Wley uh is the producer for this uh and yeah just get checking out and and i have a couple of questions about you know how the cake is baked

i used to say how the sausage is made i'm really trying to say how the cake is baked instead that's something i'm working on here. I guess I'm curious. So what constitutes a hit these days? Like if I said that was a hit, because I believe that to be a hit, but that's a Canadian alt-rock radio hit. Is that fair? Sure, I'll take it.

It's hard to be like about yourself, that you're like, yeah, I wrote a hit song like we're just like i hope you like it you know okay because i have a note and i'm i'll be curious to hear uh i know you guys are a humble canadian band here who don't you know don't take praise well right but um but mono whales as i understand it, that's literally the only independent band in Canadian radio history that went to number two on the Canadian alternative rock chart. That is a fact. Because that's crazy.

We're informed of this fact. That's crazy because when you think back at some of the great Canadian indie success stories, and I'm thinking of my friends in Lowest of the Low with Shakespeare My Butt, and I'm thinking of my friends in lowest of the low with Shakespeare, my butt. And I'm thinking of like bare naked ladies with the yellow cassette. Like, that's amazing that you have the biggest alt rock hit radio hit in the

country for, I think that's amazing for an independent band. I think that's something we're really proud of. Like in terms of like, it's hard to be like, just of that fact, because we just are, we are independent. Like we're not just like on an indie label or something. We are actually completely independent.

So to know that our small team and us were able to do this is a thing that we're like, well, we're really proud. And we hope that this encourages other people and youth bands to be like, yo, you can do this without a label. Like, just like, if we could do it, you can definitely do this too. So we hope to have that kind of effect on the industry. Well, tell me how you like, firstly, speaking to the bulk of the listenership right now is in the GTA.

So is there only two stations in this? And I think maybe CBC. What are the stations in Toronto that would play Mono Whales? Yeah, it's Indy 88 and Wonders of Home on the Edge. and then I'm pretty sure we've had like spins on like other stations that are like I want to say like the rock and stuff like that and like there's a station out in Hamilton that spun us oh you probably uh St. Catherine's probably with uh maybe hits 97.7 probably maybe yeah exactly so like we'll have you know like people will play us i know that indian edge has probably been spinning us like that's where if you're living in toronto where

you would have heard us most likely but stations across the country have been really supportive and like we're always surprised and thankful at how willing people are to play these songs and there's also college stations so even on those smaller channels they they get some play and uh sirius xm station the verge i think they're based out of toronto yeah their world are they north america north america yeah they're very supportive that's good to hear because uh you know we have the cancon rules here for terrestrial radio but i don't believe it applies to uh to the verge they can play whatever the hell they want and that's awesome and you're right i think i think

they do that out of liberty village i think uh but they don't have to adhere to any uh can con standards or anything like that but uh on that note since i brought it up and because just like a week ago i did two and a half hours on tears are not enough and uh that's a charity single from 1985 that uh yeah like i spent with cam gordon i spent two and a half hours talking about that four and a half minute song so we kind of talked quite a bit about can con etc and i'm wondering does it help you like uh are you grateful for the rule, the Maple rules, that stations have to play a certain percentage of Canadian music? Yes.

I think it's the only way that we don't get overrun by culture from the States. It's how we preserve some sense of identity as Canadians, which I think is relevant when you're a Canadian artist. I feel like from the consumer side, it's more, I don't know if people necessarily want to know the difference or like care, like they just want things they're going to like, but it's nice that there's something in place that will at least give fans like us, like the platform least give fans like us like the

platform and give consumers like the option you know like fans have the option to like know that a band with us exists right because without these rules it's it's possible you know sloan is uh steamrolled by like sound sound garden and nirvana and Pearl Jam simply because these huge, you know, big label American bands, you know, would hog all the airtime and giving a band like Sloan airtime and shout out to Much Music. You guys, I'm going to ask you about videos in a moment because I've been watching your videos. But back in a day when Much Music was a big deal for a band, we were all exposed to bands like Sloan. To me, Sloan is as big a band to me as, I don't know,

Alice in Chains, for example. That's how big a deal a band like that is to me. So it's good to get that exposure on our radio. Yeah, absolutely. Do you feel like you just like uh with the video wise like obviously youtube i guess is uh is now much music for you know kids and young people today like it's it's kind of a shame i don't think i don't know how to phrase this because uh the internet has disrupted everything and that was the whole the whole idea but i'm of an age where, you know, tuning in much music and watching the video roll was a very big deal and how I would discover new music, but there's no much music anymore. I like we all grew up watching much music slash MTV like they're you know that kind of thing so I also grew up with music videos and that's what you did the top you know the countdown and you'd

watch that every day so that's very much ingrained I mean I don't want to speak for everyone but for me it was really ingrained that that's how you took in music and then what's interesting is it was also like as we got older like we were still part of this youtube generation that was starting so we kind of caught the tail end of that and the beginning of this new age so we kind of um i don't know if we won or lost in a lot of ways, because, like, it's gotten pretty, I want, I always want to say awesome, insane in a good way. I think it's, like, given them, like, so many more people a platform on YouTube, although, you know, you can get lost really easily on that platform.

And it makes me sad, because I think, like, I imagine our videos, like, being on Much Music. Like, this latest video we just did, like, we talked about it, like, this would be so sick on much music um but so we like dream about it and think about it but we kind of have the best of both worlds on that knowledge yeah uh yeah no well said and again i apologize if i'm talking to you like you're 22 years old because this will happen i like it keep it up i'm like oh yeah i guess i did hear references to like the strokes and stuff so you know get it adjust my you know who i'm talking to here but the uh new album which i'm going to play you mentioned uh and i'm going to get to the new

album very very shortly but i'm curious as an independent band like how do you get your music on uh television shows like netflix series etc like like who manages that part of the industry so that would be publishers generally um so yeah right now we have vince from simba working our publishing and he hooked up that netflix show he's brought a couple things our way that's been pretty awesome. So yeah, thankfully we have someone on the team kind of helping us out with that. Cause that's sort of like its own universe that like trying to do that

ourselves would be sort of like a full-time job. So it's nice to have someone giving us a hand. No doubt. And the band, sorry, the series though, shout out the series. It's called spinning out.

So if you go to Netflix and you watch spinning out, we've got, let me see here. Is it? Yeah. Okay. So you, you basically not only get your music in spinning out, but you guys appear in it. Yeah. We have a cameo as ourselves playing our music in the show. It's kind of a lot of inception going on there yeah we have imdb profiles now i think i'm band member number one is it band member or musician i think i think it's band member true i'm number four so when that happens like uh

i guess the first thing when that drops i guess the first thing you do is you watch that episode, right? So if anyone's looking, I'm going to just help people out. So it's season one, episode five of Spinning Out. Like, I'm totally going to do this later today. I got Netflix. I'm going to go to season one, episode five of Spinning Out, and I'm going to find the mono whales cameo. Have fun.

It's a night. I mean, what's the funniest part about that shoot? Is that like, because of the way that dialogue is filmed, like, technically, we had our in years, like playing our songs, but the room was actually silent. And they were like recording the audio of the actors. And meanwhile, the all the extras in the room had to pretend like they were like recording the audio of the actors and meanwhile the all the extras in the room had to pretend like they were like at a show but they were in silence like dancing to our music as we mimed out loud so well done though i think that they really pulled it off

no congrats that's cool and so so it sounds like you're independent, but you know where to like outsource what parts. So like who's making sure Indie 88 and 102.1 The Edge and all the other alt rock stations in this country, like who's making sure they've got the latest Mono Whale songs? songs and uh i i want to shout out kara heath um at with a bullet because she's been our champion since the beginning with take it back and with every song we've put out she's put it on the radio she's got it up the charts to this day with our new track out with the old i think it just hit top 10 so she's been killing it working our tracks for for years Wait, what's the name of the new song? Out With The Old. Okay, so what is He Said, She Said, I Wait? Like, is that a previous single? But that's from Daytona Beach, right?

Yeah, it's Daytona Beach. So it's our streaming single, separate from our radio single. Okay, okay, okay, okay. Because I'm going to play that in a moment. But if there's another one I should play, I could always play both. But I will say, I've been calling you by accident monorails

just because my mouth makes that word when I'm thinking monowales. And I'm doing the same with Daytona Bleach. It's fine, man. It's all good. It's like I'm seeing Daytona Bleach in my head and then I'm saying daytona beach so uh i do want to tell people the latest album from the monor whales i almost did it there

too it's daytona bleach and literally this like this just dropped right like uh what like 10 10 or 11 days ago yeah it's been exactly seven, eight, nine. Seven, eight, nine. It's the 11 days. Yeah, 11 days. What a wild ride, yeah. What a wild ride. Okay, so we're going to play a little bit of He Said, She Said, I Wait,

which is in parentheses. I always love it when there's parentheses in a song title. We're going to play that. I'm going to thank some partners first. But even before I do that, you don't have to give me like, I don't need to see your T4 or your like tax receipts or anything. But in terms of like how a band in 2021 makes money, I know, because you can't tour right now. And I'm sure you need to tour and you need to sell swag uh but maybe i'll let you speak to this uh how lucrative is it to get a a netflix series to uh to play a mono whale song i mean everything helps yeah we're not buying houses yet but it's it's definitely not no money so that's cool

yeah and it really depends on the sync but like yeah it's a combination of like you know for us at least it's a combo between radio or merch buying really has been so helpful with this album um and then the shows was also a part of it that was like a a pillar and the sync so yeah it all comes in together to make an okay wage for now until I'm making this sound so sad. But you know what? This is not why we do it, right? Like we obviously do this because we love it. And we're also really committed business people. So we hope to take our business to the next level. But first and foremost, like we just love to make music. Well, you're artists, right? And it just so happens the art you're creating,

in my humble opinion, is, is excellent. Like it's, it's palatable to a point where I want to consume it. Like not most artists. I could, I could take a pass on. That's an amazing compliment. That's like, that's all I'm going to compliment people when they cook for me. I'm going to be like when they cook for me. I'm going to be like, this is so good.

I almost, I could eat it. Like I can stomach it. It's great. Like, yeah, it's art. I can stomach, but also that I want to eat.

So it's beyond just palatable. It's, it's the fucked up way to say it. So Zach, so Zach straight up, like, did you, do you have to have a day job and then you, your passion is to be a monowale or like, like I'm straight up, do you have to have a day job and then your passion is to be a monowale?

Straight up, because I know a lot of very big bands. I'm thinking of the drummer from The Watchmen, who I forgot to shout out when I was shouting out. Great Canadian drummers who have been on the program. Sammy Cohn, great drummer, but he's selling real estate to pay the rent. Not bad, not bad. That's a tough industry too actually no guarantees in real estate so he's like double risking it um we definitely had day jobs and we were fortunate enough to uh you know starve a bit more and forego the day jobs to put a big focus

on the art jordan and i were both music teachers for a minute um but it was funny it was the monowales was still a full-time job it was just in the evenings you go teach uh some people how to play guitar smarts i know shout out to steve fall from acid test that's what he's he teaches guitar to kind of keep his band going acid test and they're they're great early early 90s success story but they're still out there kicking ass so shout out to acid test my high school band had a song called acid test and acid test part two we were cool like that no i i dig it uh but you know orange alabaster mushroom mike no i can't say i know orange alabaster mushroom going out all these groovy canadian 90s bands did they i i want to hear a bit more about

them though like did they ever get like i always say did you get a song played on like did it make the thursday 30 on 102.1 the edge at all that's always my i have no idea if they did i think they were pretty low key. All right. So let me thank a couple of partners here before I want to kick out this jam. And then maybe another one. It sounds like you guys got the streaming release. You got the radio release. I got to keep track of all this action from Mono Whales. So we mentioned real estate. Tough game. But if you are looking to move to Mimico, which is where all the cool kids are going, Mimico, you got to talk to Mimico Mike. He's ripping up the Mimico real estate scene. His motto is in the know in Mimico and you can go to realestatelove.ca to learn more. So that here,

I'm giving you guys like your Southwest Toronto history. So that's Mimico. Right beside Mimico is New Toronto. That's where I'm headquartered, talking to you from right now. And a pillar of this community is Ridley Funeral Home. So I just want to give some love to Ridley Funeral Home. They really came through. Shout out to Joe from TO, who's a good FOTM. And there's a sad story about a five-year-old who passed away in his school. And we basically went to Ridley Funeral Home and said, look, they have no money. A tragedy happened to this family. What can we do?

And then the rest of the story, which I get to tell soon, it's just unbelievable. It'll just, it's just what a wonderful story. So pillars of the community, talk to Ridley Funeral Home. Guys, I wish you were here. Like even if it was warmer and you were in the backyard, like 10 feet apart or whatever, because I would totally give you guys, and I hope to do this at some point, I would totally give you guys some fresh craft beer from Great Lakes Brewery. So we got to make that happen at some point. And I would get you guys, speaking of starving artists, I would make sure you weren't starving artists because I would get you lasagna from Palma Pasta. So we got to hook that up.

We got to hook that up. And yeah, it's awesome. In fact, they catered my daughter's fifth birthday party on Saturday. And honestly, so good. Like just so delicious. So shout out to palmapasta.com. And last but not least, well, actually two more, stickeru.com. I want to see Mono Whales stickers everywhere.

Like when I go on these bike rides on the trail, I just want to see like plaster the city in Mono Whales stickers. They're in Liberty Village as well. But if you order from the GTA, they'll deliver the stickers to you safely in the StickerU mobile. So, StickerU.com is where you get your decals and your stickers and all that awesome stuff. And last but not least, if anyone listening is responsible for a network of computers and you're considering outsourcing your IT department, you need to talk to CDN Technologies. Barb Paluskiewicz at CDN Technologies is available to take your call. 905-542-9759.

And now I'm out. My head on curve, heart on the sleeve Tossing in my sleep, waking up like I'm caught on a leaf I wait, like a disease, yeah I wait, chemical breeze I wait, second degree death That's what he said, that's what he said That's what she said That's what he said That's what she said That's what he said

Awesome. So this is the streaming single? Yeah. Awesome. By the way, shout out to Cam Brio, who's watching live on Facebook. And Cam Brio just wants you to know that his buddy owned D Beatstro. Oh, no way. So what can you tell me about D Beatstro? Is that a hangout or a place you would play?

That's a place I hold real dearly and close to my heart because it's it's gone now but it was um down the street from me in Bloordale and it was a live punk cafe venue all ages bistro like they did everything and they were all vegan and um Jess who's the owner was is like still one of my closest friends and i was there every day it was ridiculous like it's one of those things where like even if i didn't eat there i'd be like hello everyone you like drop by kind of place and it was so such a great part of community i think chris is the name of the chap that chris yeah yeah that Yeah, that Cambrio knows.

Cool. Cool. And tell me a little bit, if you don't mind, about Daytona Bleach. Like the process, was this written during the pandemic? It was written before, but there were parts of it that were done like during the pandemic to finish it up. So it kind of got again, bookended with like before and after type situation. Right. And how do you, how do you,

are you able to get together like, or do you guys have to stay in your, I'm going to say pods, just because that seems to be what whales do. They stay in pods, but like, have you been able to collaborate in the flesh that sounds dirty but it's not meant to be but can you collaborate in the flesh or is this all happening uh virtually these days we've been trying to keep it as virtual as possible like we got together because we had um like a live stream performance like a few weeks back so we had to get together and do that but all the writing has been on zoom

just like this and do you find that is uh more difficult or the same uh or potentially even easier it's different all of the above right yeah it's not it's not certain things that are actually really great about it and then other things that are not so awesome, but you just, you just have to adapt. For sure. And for the last time, what is the name of the new radio single? Okay. So is it cool if I want to play a bit of it? I actually thought I loaded up the latest single and I didn't realize there was a streaming single. So can I, can I just play a little off of YouTube here? Oh, we would be so happy to. Yeah. This is, this is our one. That's like kind of, go ahead and set it up here and then I'll bring it up. What were you saying there?

I was saying, this is the one that I was saying is like the touch of political mess. So, well, I see the newspapers on fire here. so let me turn this up here. Sack to the table, throw out the rulers Out with the old and in with the new Out with the old and in with the new Out with the old and in with the new Out with the old and in with the Out with the old and in with the Out with the old and in with the Young and adulterated Okay, very cool.

Okay, I'm just, this video is great because if people, people should go to the Mono Whale YouTube page and stream all these. But it's Sally's reading the, and it's on fire. And that's real. That's not a fact. Some people thought it was fake, but that was literal fire in front of my face. I'm guilty of that myself. I assumed this was some kind of CGI or some after effect here. No movie magic. That's real fire. I had

to do that take like six or seven times with fire, like this close to my head. We call that practical effects. I think that's what that's called. That's, uh, that's awesome. Uh, is there any fear? I got to address, uh, Zach and Jordan. This is some real talk. We do that on the program, but is there any worry of, uh, I don't know, like Gwen Stef or beyonce effect here uh when sally ditches you guys and goes solo um no because no doubt was always better right destiny's child is obviously on top of what you might call it be, Beyonce whatchamacallit Green Diana Ross I don't mean to be a shit disturber kind of a tongue in cheek question a very unfair question too

I think she's worried about when I go solo these guys are going to leave me first well I hope you guys stay together forever because you got good chemistry and a good thing going here and you have a great sound. Honestly, congrats on all of this. This is a tremendous. Thank you.

Thank you so much. Honestly, thanks so much for having us and waiting this long to have us again. And I think that we will do it in the flesh. Well, that's why I waited so long. I'll be very honest with you. In fact, I'm doing the same thing of Jane's party if they're listening. Cause I, I prefer doing the same thing of Jane's party if they're listening. Cause I, I prefer, especially these,

uh, like current musicians who are still kicking out great shit. Cause sometimes I'll have on like a musician who like the, you know, the last time they had an awesome thing was like 1997. Right. So it's a whole different kettle of fish, but for bands like you,

it's just so much more fun for me to do it safely in the flesh. Like if we can all be 10 feet apart and outdoors or something like that. Uh, so that's why I waited, but I'm glad we got to do this via zoom because you guys are kicking ass. So again, I don't want to leave any details on the, on the ground here.

So, uh, Daytona bleach is the latest mono whales album. And where would you like, I don't know how streaming works. I always feel like streaming is screwing over bands like Mono Whales. But how would you like a fan of Mono Whales

to consume this content? Well, no worries. For people like you, we have vinyl. So we've got that going. You can buy it on our website and it comes on like a translucent. Oh, Jordan's modeling it for us. A translucent.

All right, good. I have a Maestro Fresh West 12 inch from 1989. So we have that. We have CDs for, for people who prefer that. And for everyone else, you can also go on Spotify. Oh, sorry. Toronto, you know, out there. That's okay. Spotify, Apple, sorry, Toronto, you know, out there. That's okay.

Spotify, Apple Music, Amazon Music, YouTube, you know, and Deezer. We're on everything. There's no way you can miss us. On the radio, you'll find us. So what's your best guess as to when you can perform? I'm not talking about a virtual performance, but actually perform in front of real people. Do you have any guess?

There should be some stuff in the summer, but it'll be outdoors. Yeah. Obviously pending any future fuckery that may occur. But right now we're hoping, and there's a couple of things in the works for us to play in the summer. And then we're hoping and praying for clubs in the fall.

That sounds like best case scenario to me because I know everything's shut down until Canada Day anyway. So it's like best case scenario is after Canada Day, you can do some outdoor stuff. And you're right, maybe in the fall, you can be back in the Danforth Music Hall or wherever the heck you want to go,

Lee's Palace or wherever. But is there anything ready to be announced in that regard? Or are you just going to say, stay tuned here? Got to stay tuned. Things are changing weekly right now. But we're really active on our socials. So if you are a social media kind of person, then we will let you know as soon as we can.

We'll be screaming it from the rooftops when we can play a show. Okay, last uncomfortable question, because I got to make it we'll be screaming it from the rooftops when we can play a show. Okay. Last uncomfortable question. Cause I gotta, you know, I gotta make it a little uncomfortable cause it's been too easy, but, uh, would mono whales ever consider playing a TMLX event, which is the Toronto Mike listener, uh, experience typically held on the patio at great lakes beer here in Southwest, uh, Toronto with, with, with that ever be considered by the great mono whales?

We would obviously consider it. We would give it great consideration, as a matter of fact. We just love to play. We'll play wherever we can play. Even if you're compensated with beer and lasagna, if that's the only compensation? Lasagna is more compensation than we usually get. Well, these guys are Italian, so I'm sure they they're gonna have to try this place at some point amazing honestly uh love watching you guys you know uh succeed and and kick ass and take names

and everybody should grab uh i mean i don't have anything to play vinyl on even though i have some vinyl but everybody should grab uh Daytona Bleach from the Mono Whales and honestly, continued success. You're now FOTMs, so you can also put that on your CV, that you are now FOTMs. And I'll tell you later what that means.

Yeah. You gonna tell us what that means? You're now friends of Toronto Mic'd. I see, yes. You're FOM. us what that means? You're now friends of Toronto Mike. I see, yes. You're F-O-M. F-O-T-M. You are now F-O-T-M. So congratulations.

Thank you. And that brings us to the end of our 818th show. You can follow me on Twitter. I'm at Toronto Mike. Mono Whales are conveniently at Mono Whales, and they are a good follow. You should follow Mono Whales. Our friends at Great Lakes Brewery

are at Great Lakes Beer. Palma Pasta is at Palma Pasta. Sticker U is at Sticker U. CDN Technologies are at CDN Technologies. Ridley Funeral Home, they're at RidleyFH. And Mimico Mike, they're not on Twitter. They're on Instagram as MajeskiGroupHomes.

See you all next week. This podcast has been produced by TMDS and accelerated by Roam Phone. Roam Phone brings you the most reliable virtual phone service to run your business and protect your home number from unwanted calls. Visit RoamPhone.ca to get started.