Toronto Mike'd: The Official Toronto Mike Podcast - Robbie J Returns: Toronto Mike'd #355

Episode Date: July 6, 2018

Mike chats with Rob Johnston about his friend Martin Streek who passed away on this date nine years ago. Then, they kick out the jams in his honour.

This is Martin Streets Cold War 2 Saturday Night Lock On. Welcome to episode 355 of Toronto Mic'd, a weekly podcast about anything and everything. Proudly brought to you by Great Lakes Brewery, a fiercely independent craft brewery located here in Etobicoke. Did you know that 99.9% of all Great Lakes beer remains here in Ontario? GLB. Brewed for you, Ontario. And propertyinthesix.com.

Toronto real estate done right. And Paytm, an app designed to manage all of your bills in one spot. Download the app today from paytm.ca. And our newest sponsor, Census Design and Build, providing architectural design, interior design, and turnkey construction services across the GTA. services across the GTA. I'm Mike from torontomike.com and joining me this week to kick out the jams is radio veteran Robbie J. I don't know if I'd say radio veteran but sure let's go with that. Long long promise that I would make it to kick out the jams.

I don't think I've ever had the jams loaded into the soundboard for as lengthy a period of time as you. Your jams have been in there for six months at least. But when you think about it, it's almost apropos that today's the day. I was going to say it was like meant to be because you tell us us what is today? 46 and 2 just ahead of me, as I like to say on the 6th of July every year. So it's nine years ago today.

It's crazy. Martin Streak. I'm trying to put my T's into Martin. I know. Yeah. I'm not good at this. Or you can go Martin. I mean, my middle name is Martin, so I'm used to it.

But if I hit the T's too hard, I feel... You're thinking about it too much. You're right. Marty Streak passed away nine years ago today. And I thought when I saw it on the schedule, like, how appropriate is it that Robbie J... Because where I'm a fan, I listen to him on the radio. You considered Martin Streak a friend. Oh, he was. Yeah, absolutely. Yeah. So, remind us. I know... fan, I listen to him on the radio, you considered Martin Streak a friend.

Oh, he was, yeah. Absolutely. Yeah. So, remind us. I know, okay, so here. Here's the, I have to tell everyone. It was episode 159.

If you want to go back, Robbie J., whose name is Rob Johnston. Was it 159? Was it that long ago? Well, it was like two and a half years ago. Yeah, it was a long time ago. I'm prolific, okay?

I'm a prolific podcaster. So, episode 159, Mike chats with Rob Johnston. Not Johnson. There's a T in there too. I can get that one. A man who worked at CFNY 102.1 from 1989 to 2015. That's why I called you a radio veteran. That's a long time.

Yeah, I see where you're going with that. Yeah, fair enough. Fair enough. Yeah, yeah. And that episode was like an hour. It was an hour and 26 minutes. So go back to 159 and Robbie J will tell some great stories there.

But tell me... Oh, by the way, you're also the guy that on the Strombo episode, speaking of Martin Streak, his friend George Strombolopoulos was episode 103. And he said that you epitomized the spirit of radio. They said, and this is before you were canned, respectfully let go, I don't know what terminology you like.

Before you were let go, you were still there, and he said you were the only guy left who epitomized the spirit of radio. Yeah, when George said that, I was quite flattered by it because I never really thought about it. I guess I was there throughout a good run of everything that happened. And I wish I had written down a lot of what went on. Like a journal?

Yeah, like a journal or a blog. You know what I mean? I wish I had, but I didn't. And so what I do have is what's slowly falling out of my head as I age and whatnot. But yeah, those were, and I think I'll kind of talk a bit about it when we get into the jams. Well, you know what, I'm just going to mention it now. I was watching this documentary on CNN the other night, and it was about the 90s.

And I love when they do their decades ones, right? And this was about the music of the 90s. I don't know if you've seen this one or not. No. It's phenomenal. And what I really truly realized, and I've thought about this before, but it clicked that for me,

the 90s, they're my jams. That's my era, full stop. Some 80s, not much from the 70s. It depends on what it is. It depends on what it is. But the 90s, it's the golden years. Because you were, and I think you have a couple of years on me, so I'm doing the math quickly in my head.

But yeah, your big, your early 20s, your mid-20s, these important years for music, that's in the 90s for you. Yeah, it really probably started for me around mid-80s, mid-late 80s. You know, the John Hughes movies, right? The soundtracks. That's when it really kind of clicked in. But it really accelerated. Once it hit about 89, 90, you know,

Manchester, and then everything just kind of exploded from there. So I look back, I was watching the show in the 90s, and I look back on it, and I went, my God, that's where all my music's from. That seems to be where the majority of it comes from or has influenced whatever it is that I'm listening to these days. You know, when you kick out the jams, which we're going to do soon,

there's a spreadsheet, a Google spreadsheet maintained by Tyler. Tyler maintains a Google spreadsheet of all the jams, and he puts in this almanac information. Like, for example, who has the most jams from the 60s, 70s, 80s? So I believe right now the guy with the most 90s jams is our mutual friend, Bob Ouellette. Yeah, I can see that. I can see that, yeah.

I think he went to Italy. He was going to Italy, I'm sure, anyway. He's right there now. But he saw Pearl Jam in Rome. As one does. I don't know if you caught wind of this, but the week before that Rome show... He got laryngitis. Yeah.

Was that in England, I think, or something? Something like that. And they canceled the show. Bob was freaking out. Oh, my God. Because this is uncommon. They said it might be the first time that they canceled the show because Eddie couldn't speak. But yeah, he got his voice back

in time for Bob to enjoy Pearl Jam in Rome. But you're preaching to the converted there because I'm a 90s guy too. And even today when I'm sticking up, put on an album or, you know, it's not actually an album anymore, but I'm spinning MP3s. So much of it was recorded in the 1990s.

It's kind of ridiculous. Yeah, it is pretty crazy. But, you know, I mean, back to what we were talking about at the very beginning with Marty. I mean, yeah, nine years, it just seems... In some ways, it's amazing that it's been that long. Well, how about this? How about this?

Speaking of the 90s, let me play like a minute of Martin Streak from 1995 and then we'll talk about him further. Let's hear his voice. 102.1 The Edge. Club 102 Saturday night. That was the Foo Fighters. This is a call from their debut

album. They're going to play right here at the Phoenix Tuesday, August 8th. It is an Edge presentation. Nirvana before that, Soundgarden, KMFDM, Subministry, Just One Fix, Urban Dance Squad, Funky Demagogue from Persona Non Grata, Ragged F before that, and White Zombie, More Human Than Human from Astro Creep 2000, Songs of Love, Destruction, and Other Synthetic delusions of the electric head. I got more Lollapalooza tickets to give away. Here's the deal. Way back, Lollapalooza number one. Great child of Perry Farrell.

If you can name two bands from that year, the following year, all the way up until tomorrow, two bands from each Lollapalooza, I'll give you four tickets to Lolla so you can bring three of your friends, meet you at the bottom of the stairs. This is Tool from 102.1 The Edge. 46-2. Mike, you see what you did there? You didn't even realize it at the time, did you?

How weird is that? That was a fluke. You have no idea how many times I heard Marty do his breaks. You didn't even realize it at the time, did you? How weird is that? That was a fluke. You have no idea how many times I heard Marty do his breaks. Because I used to baby, I call it babysitting, but I used to be at 83 Kennedy Road when we were there. And on the Saturday nights, I would watch the board and just be there in case the signal crapped out. I would kind of take over.

So I would sit there between 9 p.m. and 2 a.m. and just listen to the board and just be there in case the signal crapped out. I kind of take over. So I would sit there between 9, 9 PM and 2 AM and just listen to the tunes and watch TV and just kick back and, uh, and go with it. No, no, I have to say as a,

like I said, I'm just a fan. I listened, I loved the live to airs from the Phoenix or where, whatnot. I loved all the live to airs that Marty did. And like hearing that I get this like strange, like time machine, like this like strange like time

machine like like it's 1995 again like i'm right back yeah it's it's amazing effect and it's like wow and then i realized oh my god i can't believe it's been gone nine years so i want to hear i can't imagine what it would be like for somebody who not only was a fan of marty but uh like knew him like you were his friend uh when you hear his voice right there, what kind of emotions does that conjure up? What does that feel like? You know what? It's all good.

It's all kind of puts a smile on your face. It's funny because I wasn't really thinking about the times in which he was doing the club stuff. I was thinking about the times when he'd come popping into the station, we'd voice some spots, or he'd come in as a long board and hang out and get ready for the Thursday 30 or, or whatever else was going on. Or, you know, we'd be out at some staff event. And then at the end of the night, we'd end up all end up back at his, at his condo till God knows what time in the morning or, um, one time I remember back in the 90s, he was renting a condo down at the Queens Quay Terminal.

That place, right? Okay. This is back when Joe Carter had a place there. Everybody had a place there. Marty being Marty was renting a place there. I don't know how it happened. It just did. So I remember we watched the air show from this balcony he had there.

It was good. I mean, there was always something going on. So hearing the voice, yeah, it brings back amazing and great memories. had there. It was good. I mean, there was always something going on. So, hearing the voice, yeah, it brings back amazing and great memories. And I might go home tonight and put on the three-hour show and listen to that as well.

Yeah, so you had a big role in that three-hour show that aired on Edge 102. Sorry, you always can't hear this, right? You know what? Tell me, though, right now, before I forget to ask. There was a period when it was Edge 102, right? There was a period. Like early 90s?

No, I think, I want to say almost even early 2000s. Oh, wow, okay. So in my brain, it's Edge 102, even though you're telling me it's actually almost always been, well, since they rebranded to the Edge, it's always been 102.1 The Edge. It was some alliteration of that. It started off as CFNY 102.1 The Leading Edge. And it just kind of progressed from there.

But I don't know who I was saying this to. Maybe it was somebody. I can't remember who it was. Matt Cundall, I think, was talking about it with Bob on his podcast. Okay. And I said... And maybe I said it to you. Edge 102, from a production standpoint and a voicing standpoint, doesn't flow as well as 102.1, The Edge.

You can't do as much with it from a production. You can't hang out. 102.1, The Edge. You're right. can't hang out. 102.1, The Edge. You're right. You punched the ending with 102.1, The Edge. That's where, that's the, what do you want people to remember? 102.1, The Edge or Edge 102. Was it Humble, I remember this Twitter exchange, we were talking about it.

I think Strombo was on this. Yeah, he was. That's right. Humble Howard chimed in and said he liked one going into a song, but one coming out of a song. Absolutely. And that's where it all comes down to the production and the voicing and the imaging, right? Interesting. And the other thing about it, too, is the reason they probably went to Edge 102 is because in a diary recall environment,

you want people to remember the frequency, so they write that down. Interesting stuff. They're going to write 102 down. Right, because now it's PPM, so it doesn't matter. You don't have to remember the frequency, so they write that down. Interesting stuff. They're going to write 102 down. Right, because now it's PPM, so it doesn't matter. You don't have to remember. Now, okay, so following the death of Martin Streak nine years ago, there was, like you said,

it was three hours, right? So there was a three-hour tribute. Can we call it a tribute? Yeah, like a coda, if you will. Like his favorite songs and people like people who knew him it was a lot of

I reached out to a lot of people we worked with him at the time or previous like Brother Bill was on there Brother Bill, May Potts Bookie I remember being on there Bookie was on there Freddie P speaking of Humble

Freddie P was on there that's right Strombo was on there. And then I got a lot of listeners involved in it too. And that aired, I think, about a week and a half later. Because first off, I had to come to terms with what the hell just happened. Right? Ivor was on it.

Ivor, yeah, he's kicked out the jams, by the way. What I remember as an observer, Yeah, he's kicked out the jams, by the way. What I remember as an observer, it was uncomfortable because he was let go two months before he took his own life. So there was that kind of wrinkle in there, which maybe that caused the delay possibly. No, I don't think that had anything to do with it. I think it was the fact that we knew we wanted to do something. But for a lot of us, we were still so close and and was still so raw that i needed a bit of time to think about it and in order to do it the way that i wanted to get it done i said to to the pd at the time i said you know we really should do something and and i would

love if we could have three hours commercial free on a sunday night to just play music and have people talk it's like yeah do it, do it, go for it. That's great right there. You've got a three-hour block to kind of do what you thought was right. And I knew it had to be tasteful. And I think I mixed it a couple of times because I wasn't happy with the way it sounded. And I'm always impressed when people can do tributes right at that moment in time. It blows my mind.

Like with Anthony Bourdain, when he passed, CNN had this incredible tribute on that night. It blew my mind. It was phenomenal. It was raw, and the people speaking were raw. But the people I was talking to, I knew I needed to get a hold of them. I needed to get their songs. I needed them to deal with it as well. And then we just kind of went from there. And, you know,

everybody was gracious and generous and I didn't, I honestly didn't care if people liked it or not. But I knew they would. You know what I mean? It wasn't done, it was done for Marty.

That's the bottom line. The other one, so that was one, I really liked the Edge 102 three-hour block that, I mean, you know what I mean, that you helped produce there. And I remember also there was a five-hour block airing on The Rock in Oshawa. Don did that one. No, not Don. David Marsden did that. And so I made sure I secured the MP3s

for both of these. And I mean, you can still, believe it or not, because this is a whole separate story and I want to hear about your thoughts

of Marty, but when you're an audio guy, I'm glad you're here. I get crackling now from my cable, which I don't know if you have any tips

afterwards, but since I kind of get stokely over here, but you're here right now. But here, let me just... Okay. Don's...

David Marsden. David Marsden Specialist. I mean, that's, again, one of those ones that you do right then. I mean, that was incredible. The emotion, the power that came into that was tremendous. Well, I told you, I don't know if I told you or not, but someone, after Marty passed,

martinstreak.com lapsed and somebody pounced on it and put up like, they were selling something, I can't remember, they were squatting on it and I don't know, somebody took it over

who wasn't like a friend of Marty or whatever, right? And years went by where i went i was working on trying to get it but they wanted i don't know some exorbitant price or something that you know and they wanted a lot of money for this domain name and for years and years and then suddenly years later like i think like five years later after his passing uh maybe six years after his passing it became available very suddenly. And I pounced on this thing. So I have put links to your three-hour tribute and to David Marsden's

five-hour tribute. There are links right now at martinstreak.com. So if anybody wants to go and listen, all those MP3s are just sitting there. Well, in one of my jams, I will give you a preview. I will give you a standby. I have a couple of good stories from Marty that I'll relay in through there. Good. I want to give a shout out to one of Marty's friends who I was chatting with today, Pete Fowler.

And I want to let Pete, because Pete had the audio, or no, Brother Bill had the audio and got it to Pete who got it to me. But there was an F-bomb dropped. Did we talk about that last time we were here? I can't remember if we knew about it. The infamous Thursday 30. Yeah. Because he couldn't go to a Nine Inch Nails show.

Couldn't go to a Nine Inch Nails show. I didn't work that night. I worked the overnight after and I came in and Jason's like, you're never going to believe what happened. Jason Barr, right? Yeah, he's like, you're never going to believe what happened tonight. Right, Jason Barr, right? Yeah, he's like, you're not going to believe what happened. I still didn't believe him until I heard it. Well, I wasn't allowed to keep it, but I was shown a copy of the memo. Yeah, yeah.

Who was the PD at the time? Stu Myers. Stu Myers, right. Stu Myers put a memo out about how you can never swear on the air and all that stuff. And then I got to see that. And then I got the audio from Brother Bill. And I did share it on TorontoMic.com. I remember that memo.

But Pete Fowler, and I want to let Pete know, I've given you two Lost Indie City buttons. You have. And as I said when I got here, I'm like, damn, I should have worn my Lost Indie T-shirt. I completely forgot. I think it's in the laundry, to be honest with you. Well, luckily for you, I've got several. I don't know. These are awesome.

These are old school punk. These are like right back to the 70s and new wave 80s. These are great. I have three. Do you know that? I have three different Lost Indie City shirts. You got the Canada one, right? I got the Canada one.

So there's the yellow one and then there's the like the mod kind of. I got the white one. Yeah, the white and the black checkered one. The ska one, I call it or whatever. But yeah, so nine years ago today, just a lot of people my age, your age, even just anyone who listened to alternative music in the 90s have such fond memories of Martin Streak and those live airs and those Thursday 30s.

It's like just his voice has kind of lived forever in our minds and our hearts. You guys, are you and all of Marty's friends going to do anything for the 10 years? I can't even think about that right now, to be honest with you.

I imagine that some people will get together and meet up for a drink or something. What is this? It's coming home. It's coming home. I'm not even like a big fan of English soccer, but I get chills from this song. So this is the Lightning Seeds and Three Lions. I actually played it for Greg Brady earlier this week. He kicked out the jams, and he's a big English,

big fan of England soccer or whatever. So tell me, do you have a team in this World Cup? Well, yeah. And that's tomorrow at 10 a.m., is that right? It is. It is. I'm going to beat up some friends at the pub, at 10 a.m. Is that right? It is. It is. I'm going to beat up some friends at a pub and we are going to...

Being an England fan is like being a Leafs fan. That's what I hear. Yeah, every tournament comes around. You're like, this is it. This is the year.

We're going to do it. This is going to be great. You get through the first round and you're like, oh, no. We might win one of the round of 16, but we're not going to go very far. But this is a different team.

This is a team without the baggage of Rooney and Lampard and Gerrard and John Terry. Not that they're bad. Not that they're bad. But all of that heritage, all that history is washed away. These are all the new blood, the new generation. You know, these guys are ripping it up. You know, Harry Kane is on fire.

Gareth Southgate, he's not one of these managers who has his reputation preceding him. And he's a sharp-dressed man. He's bringing back the suit vest. Absolutely. But he's also a guy who's experienced the raw disaster of missing a penalty kick in a major competition. I saw that.

And he consoled the Colombian. Yeah. I saw those photos, and yeah, because he knows what that feels like. Yeah. Okay, so I'm not a big soccer guy, but I get all into it at World Cup times. I am watching as much as I can

and following it pretty closely, and I see what Harry Kane, as I call him, Hurricane, Hurricane's doing. And I got to say, what's happening is, it's kind of been a slow burn, but I find myself feeling it for England. I feel some kind of commiseration

because of my Leaf fandom. I'm starting to feel like... It is the same because every season you go in, we're going to do well. You get to the first round of the playoffs, you crash out in four games. You're like, oh. Oh, crap. But Robbie, I think a lot of it has to do with this You get to the first round of the playoffs. You crash out in four games. You're like, oh. Oh, crap.

But, Robbie, I think a lot of it has to do with this. Ever since I discovered this song and started playing it, okay, I think it's like propaganda. It's seeping in, man. The hard thing about my house is the fact that my son is a major Belgium fan. Oh, wow. They won today. They won today.

And he's a big fan of Kevin De Bruyne. My son's a Man City fan. I'm a Liverpool fan. Oh, that's how it works. No, well... Would it be like... Tell me if it's like this. Is it like a Leaf fan cheering for the USA in a tournament

because Austin Matthews is their star center? It could possibly be. He's like Belgium even in the last World Cup. He likes De Bruyne. He likes Kompany. He likes Roman Lukaku. He likes Roman Lukaku. He likes these players. And they're a bloody deep team.

They are deep. They've looked really strong this whole tournament. They're big guys. Now, what's interesting about it, if you look at all the teams left are European. I saw that. And they're not soft European. And what I mean by that is, when they go down, they don't roll. They get back up. That Neymar clip, I when they go down, they don't roll. They get back up.

That Neymar clip, I saw that he was rolling home back to Brazil. You know, I took a bit of shit, but I said to a friend, I said to some friends, I said, you know, I don't care who wins this World Cup. Cough, England, cough. Portugal's out. You know what I mean? Like, because England and Portugal have just had such a bad history. I still remember that game in 2006 when Ronaldo gave the wink after he got Rooney, red carded and everything. But yeah, tomorrow... So that's like a Leaf fan being happy because the Habs are... Yeah, exactly.

But the problem with England is, on paper, they should easily beat Sweden, but it's England. So you just never know what's going to happen, who's going to show up, how the game's going to go. Well, exciting times for you. You're right. This has become the Euro Cup, I suppose, because there's only, with Uruguay and Brazil exiting today,

it's all European teams. And I noticed that one side, the side that England's on, seems weaker, like Russia's there and Croatia. It's all European teams. And I noticed that one side, the side that England's on, seems weaker. Like Russia's there and Croatia and all these. It seems like that. On paper, they say it's the easier draw, but who knows anymore. And England's got Sweden tomorrow.

England has Sweden, 10 a.m. Okay. How come Sweden can field such a good soccer team? Where's Canada's good soccer team? Sweden's got a lot of good players in the EPL. Ericsson plays for Tottenham and he plays with Harry Kane. So that'll be interesting. Kevin Dyer plays for Tottenham and they play

together with Ericsson as well. I got to get a club team. That's what I'm missing. I don't have that. Because even Hetsy's like, oh, I like whatever I came out of. Columbia or something because they have all the Spurs. Spurs. Tottenham. Yeah, okay. So that's the same team. Or England has a lot of Spurs.

Some team has a lot of Spurs. England has a lot of Spurs. Gotcha. Gotcha. But the goalie for Belgium is the Spurs goalie. Oh, okay. I think it's Belgium or France.

I can't remember now. Now I'm confusing it with myself. I'll be watching tomorrow. I think I'm now cheering for England. I think it's happening. That song did it. It's a powerful tune. It is a very powerful little ditty.

And I don't even know what those clips of the British announcer kind of calling some big moment in English football history. And I have no idea. I have no context, I don't know what it is, but it gets me all emotional. Like, I don't know. If you're a Leafs fan, you get it to be an England fan.

It's the same thing. Go Three Lions. I'm now cheering for the Three Lions, so go England. That's tomorrow. Now, Robbie, we alluded to this earlier, and this is all in the other episode, but you had a long time at...

At the end, it was Chorus. I know I had multiple owners while you were there, but Chorus, you had a long time there, and then they packaged you out, which is something I know is near and dear. It's happened to me, but I was wondering if you have any advice for a 40 or 50 something who's maybe

been at the same job for 20 years and suddenly finds gets that pay that folder handed to them by hr and plus one or whatever like do you have any advice for that person now that you're like how long have you been out now at least two years now almost. Almost three years. Life has taken some interesting turns over the last little while. Even for myself, I still do work in the field, but I don't spend my days in the field.

I have started doing something that is so far removed from the business. You're a yoga instructor. I am not. Can I guess again? Can I get one more guess? You can guess one more time.

You're painting houses. No. Okay. I am walking 15,000 to 20,000 steps every day. I am outside. And when I go home at night, the job stays there, and I go home and do my freelance work. Okay.

Are you cleaning up garbage? No. Okay. Hold on. I want to get this. You're walking. You're a parking enforcer with the TPS. Nope.

Who walks out there? By the way, I've already left. Oh, okay. Okay. I know. You're delivering mail.

Damn straight. Wow. I always looked up to those. I thought, that's a great job. Yeah. It's really weird. So last summer,

I did a bunch of contracts and I had finished this contract I did in the spring with Spotify. That was a fascinating contract. I had a really lot of fun doing it. And it was with another company that we were working with,

Spotify. And then in the middle of the summer, I was doing some freelance stuff. And I found that contract work was so stressful. So stressful. Because as soon as you get comfortable with the contract, it's like, oh, now I got to halfway through look and see what the next one's going to be.

Right, right. So I'm online one night looking for, going through places, looking for people. And somehow I saw this thing for Canada Post. They were looking for temp people to work going through places, looking for people. And I, somehow I saw this thing for Canada Post. They were looking for temp people to work through the summer and the fall and whatnot. And I thought, all right, whatever. Maybe they can work around my schedule. So I went in, interviewed for it, you pass all this stuff. And then from about Labor Day onwards, I was just sort of casual working with them. And then November hit and I was working almost full time through till end of March.

Like crazy. And I'm working in my neighborhood. I was working in Riverdale, Danforth, East York. All those east of young places you're comfortable. All those east of young places, everywhere I know. And then come around the end of April, it's like, oh, by the way, you're now full time. Oh, wow. So what comes with full time benefits vacation and a pension but this is okay yet first of all sounds fantastic and I go home at night and I do my concern I do produce my ongoing histories or I do work for podcasters or I do my own stuff well here let's just play this real quick technical

productions by Rob Johnston that guy so that guy that guy's alan cross and yeah he's been over here a few times he was he kicked out the jams recently too and i bumped into him at like a twitter upfront event or whatever and we were like we don't belong here he's like no we don't but uh anyway he uh at least he dressed up for it i really didn't belong there but that that's another story. But Alan's there. So Alan Cross' ongoing history of new music, correct me if I'm wrong, but that's owned by Chorus, right? Yes, it is. The show's owned.

But obviously, you got some kind of contract work out of it or something. So you'll do that work at night, and during the day, you're delivering mail, and you're walking the east of Yonge Street. I am delivering in my neighborhood. Okay, they don't normally allow... Here's the thing. I have a... Where am I?

One block over, there's a postal employee who I once asked her how come she doesn't get this route and she told me they send her up north like Rexdale. And she said they don't let, I can't remember her wording, but something about how they don't usually let you work your own hood.

Yeah, you do. Well, you do. So you're living proof. So what happened to me was I was based out of Commissioners, which is down Leslie and Lakeshore, right? Not even 10 minutes from my house. Yeah, yeah. And full-time kicked in, and then I had to go to Brampton for six weeks. Okay. And I was right nearby where I started then I had to go to Brampton for six weeks. Okay.

And I was right nearby where I started in broadcast. It was so weird, okay? So I was up there, and then what I did is you can bid back to open positions. So I bid back to commissioners in their stations. There's like Station S, J, H, and blah, blah, blah, blah. I live in Station H. I bid to be relief in Station H. So two weeks ago, three weeks ago,

I was actually delivering in the neighborhood. And as I'm finishing up my route, my daughter's walking home from school to daycare. And I'm like, hey, Rowan, what's going on? Hey, Dad. Dude, I'm jealous of this turn in your life. This is crazy cool. So my advice, if I could give any,

is don't be afraid to just try something so completely different right and what i found fascinating now i don't know if i'm going to be in this forever i could end up back and i don't know but for right now it's paying me a steady wage and i you know and you're happy and you know i'm in the i'm in the best fit condition i've ever been in my life. It's crazy. I, okay, I don't know what it's, I mean, I'm going through something right now too, but I'm going to do something different. But I thought, you know, I even got,

I was thinking like I could become a bartender because I got my, what's that called? The certificate, the safe serve or whatever. I got that. And I thought I could do something, I thought I had the same fantasy. I could do something different. But what I liked is this idea.

I liked the idea of you'd go to work and you'd do your job to the best of your ability and then you'd come home and none of that job came home with you. That's foreign to most of us who have worked. That's one of the weirdest things. The other thing is I went into a business that I had no history with.

Right. So I had to prove my own ability to see whether I could do this. And from an operational and a strategy standpoint, it's amazing that this stuff works. So, you know, the logistics are crazy. But, you know, they've even said, hey, you ever thought about being a supervisor?

I'm like, yeah, I wouldn't mind doing that. So, again, we'll see how it plays out. But I'm looking, if I do stay long, the'm like, yeah, I wouldn't mind doing that. So again, we'll see how it plays out. But I'm looking, if I do stay long, the long game, right? Right. But for now,

it's quite fascinating. And if you want, yeah, you got to, if you want to scratch your producer itch or whatever you have, like you said, you're doing ongoing

history of your music. I'm doing Alan's show. I'm doing Wood's show. I'm doing... Oh, you're doing the Rocks, what's it called? Records and Rockstars? Records and Rockstars, yeah.

Okay, cool. I've been doing some podcast work for some people. I got some people Show. Oh, you're doing the Rocks. What's it called? Records and Rockstars? Records and Rockstars, yeah. Okay, cool. I've been doing some podcast work for some people. I got some people who are looking. There may be some more shows coming down the road with some other podcasters. Oh, we might be in competition then because I'm going to start. I'm trying to build up that side of the business.

Yeah. So we might have to compete for customers. Or we could be in partnership. Even better. I'm going to build a stable. Yeah, there you go. I'm going to take over the world. But, you know, at the end of the day,

I still get to, you know, hone the skill set that I've spent many years doing. Right. And I get to go for, I mean, to be able to walk in the weather that we've been having the last couple of months, it's fantastic. Yeah, the winter kind of sucked, but at the end of the day...

But if you dress properly, you're fine. You're talking to a guy who bikes in minus 20, and I always say there's no bad weather. I stole it from my friend in Copenhagen, but he goes, there's no bad weather, only bad clothing. And I so believe this. Oh, no. I mean, the gear they give us is hardcore gear.

I mean, when it was minus 20, minus 30, you dress up warm enough, you'll be fine. You actually burn more energy when you're in that weather, right? Mind you, this last week, I kind of strategically, because I'm relief, I don't necessarily know what I'm doing week to week,

but there was a couple of routes that came up that were early morning ones that started at 8 o'clock in the morning, so I could be done by the early afternoon. I'm like, I'm going to take those because the weather's going to be hot and crappy and I don like eight o'clock in the morning so i could be done them by the early afternoon i'm like i'm gonna take those because the weather's gonna be hot and crappy and i don't want to be out in the afternoon you're gonna drench you'd be drenched yeah so sweaty days here's another concept that was relatively foreign to me yeah you're scheduled for a certain number of hours if you finish ahead of time you'd go home and you get paid those number of hours if you work longer than those hours you get paid those number of hours. If you work longer than those hours, you get paid more.

And in some cases, more than what you would make in a normal hourly wage. Yeah, that's completely... It's so different. Let me ask you. So you have me already. But okay, so forever I've worked for B2B software companies, which is probably different but similar to you working for these big media companies or whatever. But the office politics, that's the kind of stuff that goes home with you. No, no.

It's greeting you in the door. I can't imagine. That's kind of what I'm excited about when I launch my own TMDS, I'm calling it, but my own digital services company. There is no office politics because I'm the guy. Like, you have no politics, right? You just do your shift and do, well.

I mean, yeah. Here's what happens. You go in in the morning, you get your stuff sorted out, you sort out what you need, you get it all sequenced, you put it in order, you figure out how your day

is going to map itself out. So let's say I'm starting at 8 a.m. By 9.30, I'm out. I'm going out. And then from 9.30 to when I get back, I'm master of the own of the work. And you're just integrating with the public and you just get on with it.

There's no meetings to go to. But do dogs ever bite you? Not, knock on wood, not yet. But, you know, I mean, it's so different. And it took me, honestly, it took me a while to kind of come to terms with it. I'm like, I can't believe I'm doing this. Well, did you feel like, was there any sensation of maybe you're overqualified? Yeah, there was a bit of that.

There was a bit of that. But then I just said, oh, screw that. You know what? Screw it. It's all vanity. It's all vanity. And at the end of the day, my main priority right now is roof over my head, food on the table, steady income coming in for the family. When I see my kids, that's the priority.

I'm so freaking happy for you. And I love this story. And I can tell you're happy. You're fit. This is great. I didn't know. I had you painting houses. But this is even better because it's going to be better for your health.

This is great. No, it's... I mean, if I was to look at how many steps I've done in the last little while, let me see what I can pull up here. Today, I've done 20,000. In the last 30 days, 422,000. And that's a lot of calories. The last six months, 2.5000. And that's a lot of calories. The last six months, 2.5 million.

That sounds like a lot. The last year, 3.9 million. There you go. That's probably more than you did in the previous decade or whatever. You know what? This app that I use, it says the goal is 10,000 a day. I'm in the top 98 percentile of users. Oh, I'm happy for you this that's really great that's

really great now about i want to ask you another question about ongoing history of new music i want to know how it's going like uh because that i can't remember is that last time you were here we talked about how you couldn't use any of the music is that last time i think we were talking about getting into the podcast business oh yeah you had it okay because there was an issue with the music right right? Yeah. We were really trying to figure out what to do. And then we finally just said, ah, screw it.

We're going to put in like 15 seconds of a song. And then... So is that though... I did ask this of Alan. I just can't remember his reply. But was that an arbitrary number? Did you just invent that it's probably... Like if we did 15, we're okay?

I think... Because, you know, in this podcast, we're going to play the whole song. No, no, I know. But you're a small guy. Right. I'm flying below the radar. You're flying below the radar. When you're doing a podcast for a major going to play the whole song. No, no, I know, but you're a small guy. Right. I'm flying below the radar. You're flying below the radar.

When you're doing a podcast for a major broadcaster in the country. Like Chorus. That gets a lot of publicity and promotion and pays SOCAN fees, they're going to notice. So I think they kind of figured if we do 15 seconds, it's, you know. But you'd think there'd be rules published somewhere. They're still, from what I know, trying to wrap it all up, figure it out and get it done. So, yeah, we launched the podcast in February of last year.

And as I said to Alan the other night, I figure by this weekend, we will have crested 2 million downloads. You do very well because I'm always looking at the charts because I'm always curious where I am and what's going on. I'm always curious in Canadian podcasts because I'm always curious where I am and what's going on with, I'm always curious in Canadian podcasts cause the vast, I'll take iTunes as example of Apple. Uh, the majority,

even though you said you're looking at the Canadian charts, okay. The majority of podcasts go like there are, most of them are American. Like it's, it's actually, it depends on your category. Like there are a lot of Canadian sports ones,

for example, that do quite well. But, uh, the most, yeah, it's, it's almost like, uh, in your category. Like, there are a lot of Canadian sports ones, for example, that do quite well. But for the most, yeah, it's almost like, in my category, very, very, very few Canadian podcasts on the charts. Well, it's going to be interesting to see what Chorus does now that they're starting their own podcast network. I'll read what I received as like a press release thing. It says, Chorus Entertainment and TPX, which stands for the Podcast Exchange, very clever,

have announced a sales partnership that will see TPX sell Chorus podcasts in Canada and the US. Chorus' growing podcast network features podcast programming from across its 39 radio stations and original offerings like the ongoing history of new music

with Alan Cross. TPX will be working directly with chorus sorry chorus is recently appointed director of podcasting and streaming chris duncombe and his team for all north american sales so this is a very recent happening uh do you have any more insight than that or do you just know what i know did i have any uh i've talked i mean i've talked with with ch with Chris about what they're doing. And he's going by Dunner, right? He's always gone by Dunner.

Always gone by Dunner. Always gone by Dunner. I need to make friends with this Dunner. I've known Chris for 15 years or more. He's in a very, very cool band, The Washboard Union. He's one of the singers and banjoists in that. TPX is Jean-Marie Heimrath is behind that. And I've known Jean-Marie for

20 years maybe. He used to be Sound Source Networks. He used to be up with Gary Slate and all those. Very smart guy. Very smart guy. He's brought in a couple of people who used to be working on the CBC podcast development side.

Right. So I kind of had a feeling they were going to partner up together. And I'm not surprised at all. And I think it'll be very good for both parties. There's a lot of really good thinkers in there. And I think they're just starting to get the ball rolling. And we'll see how it all plays out. It's interesting times.

Canada's an interesting place because we're just trying to crack it, right? I know Rogers just announced they have some umbrella, I can't remember what they call theirs. I don't know, maybe you know. But Rogers announced that they have a podcasting division

or whatever. And then you get, like the ones we know are the sports ones, like Swinging a Belt by Shulman and the 31 Thoughts with Friedman and Merrick. Anyways, there's a bunch of others going on. They've launched a new daily news one or whatever.

So you got your Rogers thing going on and then you got your chorus thing going on. It's only a matter of time. I'm sure Bell will announce something tomorrow or not tomorrow, but maybe Monday. And very interesting times. something tomorrow or not tomorrow but maybe monday and uh very interesting times and i'm just kind of watching it all go as i start my own little uh independent fire here in my basement yeah it's it's such it's kind of the wild west right now the advantage that the chorus is going to have is they got a big megaphone out there to promote their properties and they've got a lot of in-house talent who can do shows but i would imagine a lot of the new stuff coming down the pipe is going to be original creations.

So, yeah, it's going to be pretty interesting to see how it all plays out, probably over the summer, especially as the fall comes along, because that's when it's going to really kick in crazy. For sure, for sure, man. You told me that you have a favorite beer right now. What is your current favorite beer? My current jam.

I find myself hooked on the GLB. Yes. Is it the pompous ass? It is the pompous ass. You know what? Here I am saying it hoping to God it's pompous ass.

It is the pompous ass. And there's six of them right in front of me. Well, here, that's the thing. No one gets this deal. Nobody gets this. It's always a variety pack. It's my jam. I try to have six

different beers in there. But I went to who was at work in there? I went into the retail store and I talked to Bailey. Bailey, if you're listening, you should be listening. Bailey, Bailey, Bailey, Bailey. Bailey, Bailey, who I know is Artfish. She's on Instagram as Artfish and she's very talented. Anyways, Bailey,

I said, Bailey, I got a guy coming over who loves the pompous ass. I need more of those so I can give him six. And then she was happy to help. So you, my friend, got six pompous asses. So pompous ass for a pompous ass.

There's something about it that I just really dig. And I said to my wife the other day, I said, I don't know if this is a subconscious thing, but I've kind of made this obligation lately where I'm not drinking anything that is brewed in the U.S. Good for you. Or owned by

a U.S. brewery. You know what I mean? I'll drink Mexican. I'll drink Canadian. I'll drink European brews, but I've been on the GLB stuff and this is not because it's a plug. Oh, it's not? I've been on their stuff for some time. No, I mean, yeah. You could just fake it,

but you're telling the truth here, which is that Pompous Ass is your go-to beer right now, and you've got six in front of you, and I hope you enjoy it. I certainly will. And if you're around on July 19th, you can come to the Toronto Mic'd Listener Experience at Great Lakes Brewery. I can't think that far ahead.

How far is that? I've got to start promoting that. It's a six. That's not that far off. Holy smoke. 19, 13 days. So it's like a week. Now, you're smart you didn't do it next weekend

because that's World Cup final weekend. Once again, I fluked into something wonderful. Yeah, I got lucky there. Now, I... Here, let me talk about him while I play. But I think it is British Open weekend, so watch it. It's always something.

No question from Brian today, but I want to talk about Brian here, which is that Brian's a great guy. This guy is available to answer all of your questions about real estate in the GTA. You can call him. You can call him right now. I don't care if it's four in the morning.

I'm sure he'll take your call. 416-873-0292. If you're planning to buy and or sell in the next six months, Brian's your guy. He'd be happy to help you, happy to meet you. He's a sales representative with PSR Brokerage. He's also a massive tennis fan. Like this guy, I know from his tweets at Raptors Devotee that Milos, so he's friendly with Milos' dad, Milos Vranic.

Yeah, they're friends in Thornhill or something. And he's a big tennis guy anyway, especially Canada tennis, Canadian tennis. But he told me Milos was a kilometer an hour away from the all-time record for fastest serve at Wimbledon. Like, this just happened. This is fresh news for you. I know. And I mean, that's a quirky little record.

I'd rather win a major or whatever. But hey, there's no one serving faster than Milos right now. Another game for Milos. Another serve from Milos. That's a great episode. They're all great episodes. But Brian's going to the US Open. He asked Greg Brady for some feedback

last episode. Because Greg's a tennis guy. And coincidentally, completely coincidentally, is my son, my four-year-old, spent all week at tennis camp with Nike Sports Camp. So I'm going to write about that soon at TorontoMike.com. But he's been learning tennis. Brian loves tennis. Everybody Nike Sports Camp. So I'm going to write about that soon at TorontoMike.com. But he's been learning tennis.

Brian loves tennis. Everybody's loving tennis. The, who is it? Hebsey was telling me that maybe the final of the World Cup, if England's in it, could be on the same day as the Wimbledon final. It would be the same day as Wimbledon. Isn't that bananas? Now, there's a bit of a controversy right now in the United Kingdom.

Tell me, I want to hear about this. Because here's the thing. This weekend's the British Grand Prix. Tomorrow's the qualifying for the British Grand Prix. The qualifying for the British Grand Prix takes place right about the time kickoff. So the end of qualifying

is going to be right about the time kickoff. Only the British can get all in a tizzy about this, right? And this is controversial because they expect them to move this qualification? I don't know. Well, I'm like,

do you expect them to go up 3-0 in the first five minutes? No, qualifying is going to end like five minutes after the kickoff. Oh, so you pick your kids. So you can watch one and see the other. I don't get the… And Mick said you can't always get what you want. Sometimes you have to make choices in life. Come on.

Everybody wants everything all the time, which is ridiculous. Paytm. Paytm. Paytm. What an app this is. I've been using this app for, well, for a year now. I pay all my bills with Paytm. What I like to do is I like to pay all my bills with Paytm, putting it all in my MasterCard

so I can get those President's Choice dollars towards groceries, man. There's nothing cooler than walking into the No Frills and you buy like, let's say you buy $41 worth of groceries and you're like, you give me a card, you say, use my points. And they say, okay, that's a dollar, please. You feel like you're robbing the place. It's a good feeling. And it's because I pay everything on that MasterCard. The only bill I don't pay with my MasterCard is my MasterCard. That one comes out of my account. Could you imagine if I paid my MasterCard with my MasterCard? This would be like, yeah, that would be awesome, actually, but you can't do that. But Paytm lets you do everything else. And they give you rewards

for your bill payments. So I've got points piling up I can redeem. Here's the best thing you can do. I do it. You should do it. You use the promo code Toronto Mike when you make your first bill payment with Paytm Canada. And they give you $10, like $10 towards any other bill. So that's like real cash. You can't afford to sneeze at that, Robbie.

You got to get this Paytm going. You know what? Anytime I can make a few bucks, get a few bucks in my pocket, that's always a good thing. It's worth the drive from East of Young for you, my friend. I tell you. I know. What's the retail price of those six bags? I don't know. This covers my gas.

And I'm looking over at you now, and I realize I forgot to give you another gift. It's your lucky day. So did I mention I gave you the, did I say this on the recording that I gave you the two lost IndyCity buttons? So if Pete's listening, next time you see our friend Robbie J here, he's going to be

wearing the lost IndyCity buttons. But you also have a pint glass in front of you. Brian Gerstein. I mentioned he knows his tennis. I mentioned he knows his real estate. You got sidetracked. I got sidetracked. Something distracted. Oh, the tennis. The tennis.

I got excited about Milos in his record. Please, when you drink your pompous ass from Great Lakes beer, pour it into that wonderful new pint glass. So when I'm drinking my pompous ass off, pour it in here as well? Yeah. And that's for...

It's propertyinthesix.com. If you didn't, if you want to phone Brian, but you can't remember that number I dropped, propertyinthesix.com. I was hearing, you know, Drake's responsible for like X million dollars

in like our tourism money. Really? Like a lot of, apparently he generates a lot of money for the city. And they were showing all the places that have popped up called The Six or whatever. The Six, yeah, yeah. Like down the street,

I got this place called Physio in The Six. Like it's a physiotherapy place. Physio in The Six. I'm like, oh, that's where Drake goes when he like hurts his shoulder. Should I tell people, yeah, I deliver in The Six? Yes, you are, yes. You're a postal employee in The Six.

Delivery agent in The Six. But I can't laugh too long and hard at the fact these In The Sixes are popping up everywhere because he's propertyinthesix.com. I know. He's done it too, Brian. He's done it. So who am I to judge there?

102.1 The Edge, Edge 102, whatever works, man. CFNY. There you go. The call letters don't change. They're still there. No, they're always there. Census Design and Build have just come on board as a sponsor. I need to pick some music, maybe

Audio Guru, Robbie. I can't call you Audio Guru because Andrew Stokely will be very disappointed. That's his title. Andrew Stokely says he's coming to the Great Lakes Beer event on July 19th, so I will introduce him as the Audio Guru. But if you come, you can be the other. But

Census Design and Build provides architectural design, interior design, and turnkey construction services across the GTA. See, those guys I might have to hook up with because here's the thing.

I am fascinated by the new possibility of laneway housing. I've been reading a little bit about this. Because I have a laneway behind my house. And I've done the...

I looked at the skits on everything online from what the cities were posing. I'm a laneway behind my house. And I've done the... I looked at the sketchs on everything online from what the cities were posing. I'm like stroking my chin going, hmm. Listen, this is what you got to do. 416. You're going to call them at 416-931-1422 416-931-1422

or go to their website censusdesignbuild.ca census is S-E-N-S-U-S so censusdesignbuild.ca give them a call schedule, they do this thing this zoning and cost project feasibility

study that they'll do for you do it man, you could have a laneway home, whatever you could expand the complex well you know, my palatial estate. Because it costs too much damn money to move these days. How far away from Bob Willett do you live? I am pretty much due south of Bob.

As I understand, though, that's even pricier when you go south. Yeah, I'm right between Kingston and Girard just east of Woodbine. I am true what they would call upper beaches. Upper beaches. Yeah. They say anything above Kingston and below Girard is upper beaches. It's a weird place, man. It's a weird place.

Technical Productions by Rob Johnston. That's me. But Bob, yeah, Bob's not very far. Bob's maybe a 10-minute walk. Robbie J., epitome of the spirit of radio as per Stromba on episode 103. Are you ready to kick out the jam?

Can I ask one question before we do it? Oh, my God. I was so close to hitting play. What is it? I'm trying to decide whether to talk over the songs or talk before and after the songs. Okay, only Dave Hodge. In the history of Kick Out the Jams,

which is your episode 47 or 48 of Kick Out the Jams, in the history of the podcast, the only person who has spoke before and after and left the song intact was Dave Hodge. You're no Dave Hodge. Dave Hodge used to live by me. I used to live by Dave Hodge. He lived around the corner from me. Have you ever bumped into him at a concert?

No, but I used to see him as a kid in the neighborhood. That's kind of a fun fact. It is really weird. But maybe what I'll do is I'll give you a little nod about when I want to move on to the next song because I have some stories that I might have before. But I want to play the song here. No, no, no, no. Okay, you've heard one before, right? Yeah, oh, yeah, yeah.

Okay, because Greg Brady never listened to a kick of the jam. I have to explain the concept. I might hit some posts on some, and then we'll just let it go, and then I might come back partway through a song. Okay, I'll try to read your body language over there. Okay, so you are ready? Let me ask you again.

Let me ask you again. Robbie J., are you ready to kick out the jams? I am there is no better duet than Bowie and Freddie Mercury this song just blows my mind

I'm just gonna to let it go, and I'll give you some more at the end. Pushing down on me Pressing down on you No man has fallen Under pressure That burns the field in dread Spits the famine too Which people on streets Eat it up, eat it up It's a terror of knowing what this world is about

Watching some good friend screaming Let me out of here tomorrow Let's go higher There's a lot of people leaving our streets Da-da-da-da Da-da-da-da-da Oh, baby Streets Da da da da da Da da da da da Oh, baby Oh, baby

Trippin' around Keep my brains round the floor These are the days It never ends but it comes Eat away Eat a ba ba ba Eat a ba ba ba Bell up Beat those streets People on streets

People on streets It's a terror of knowing what this world is about Watching some good friends scream Let me know Let me out No, no Ha, ha, ha Turned away from it all Like a blind man

Sat on a fence But I don't want To keep coming up with love But it's so slashed and torn Woah, woah, woah We're suddenly lost under pressure, we're breaking Can we give ourselves one more chance? Why can't we give love that one more chance? Why can't we give love, give love, give love, give love, give love, give love, give love, give love Cause love's such an old-fashioned word

And love dares you to care for the people on the edge of the night And love dares you to change our way of caring about ourselves. This is our last dance. This is our last dance. This is ourselves. Under pressure. Under pressure Under pressure Under pressure

Under pressure Under pressure Every time I hear that song, I think about my kids. They're Bowie fans. And they love that song because they love freddie mercury's voice as well um when bowie died it just that was my john lennon moment you know what i mean like i it was it just blew my mind i thought how was he's not supposed to die bowie is not he's supposed to live forever you know and um years ago when they had the exhibit at the art gallery,

we took our kids to see that. And my daughter, she was really young at the time. She just loved it. And she especially liked Bowie's costumes from the Ziggy Stardust phase. Right. And she said, she said, she says, Dad, is that a mommy or is that a daddy?

Right. So in my house, my kids grew up listening to Bob Marley, The Clash, Bowie, Queen. So this song to me just epitomizes, it's like a weirdly optimistic song. When you said it was the greatest duet of all time my first thought was there must be better to me and i start scanning all the duets and the only thing and this is only in the last three minutes as i listen i was trying to think is there a better duet everything i came up with no you know under pressure is better than that the only thing that came close in my mind was fairy tale of new york yeah that's the only one yeah i will give you that i will give you that

they're probably neck and neck um but man that's a that's a only one. Yeah, I will give you that. I will give you that. They're probably neck and neck. But man, that's a great jam. And does it tick you off that when people hear that jam, at first they think you're going to play a Vanilla Ice song? Does that piss you off at all?

Nah, I've gotten over that. You know what? I wish I had seen Queen live. Well, you get to see the movie now. Yeah, you know what. And it's funny. I don't have many pictures from my years with musicians. I was never one to want to get a picture with a musician. I just never felt.

You weren't a John Gallagher who took a photo of every famous person he came across. No, I never, ever, ever, ever. But I do have a picture with Bowie. And that is hung proud on the wall at home. And back years ago, my wife and I, we were dating at the time. She was living in Bosnia. This story might come up a few times. She was living in Bosnia and we decided to, I went over and visited her at Christmas.

We were going to do some traveling. So we went to Prague, we went to Berlin and we went to Budapest. And when we were in Berlin, I love Berlin. I've always been fascinated by it. It's like the ground zero of the 20th century, right? And just walking around, the architecture,

the history, everything. I had to go find Hansa Studios. I had to find it because of the trilogy, Low Lodger Heroes, and Iggy Pop recorded there, and Ak-Tung Baby was created there, which we'll get to that one later. So I dragged her all around Berlin trying to find Hansa, and sure enough, where Hansa is, is just down from where the ball was. So he wrote Heroes because he saw one of his producers out by the wall. Yeah, that's an amazing story.

And I agree with you on Berlin. I spent a good week there, but I would wander it. I would just walk that city, and it was just amazing. It just oozes history absolutely oh there's checkpoint charlie yeah it's just like holy smokes yeah it's it's relentless so that that's that to me like i said when i hear that song i think of my kids i think of my family and i just get this big smile on my face because i'm hearing two for me the the best musicians of my youth growing up from that era. Now I'm down in it Now I'm down in it Kinda like a cloud, I was up way up in the sky And I was feeling some feelings you wouldn't believe

Sometimes I don't believe in myself And I decided I was never coming down Just then, a tiny little dot caught my eye I was just about to smile and see But I watched it way too long It was pulling me down I was up above it I was up above it

Never do it I was up about it I was up about it I was up about it Shut up! So what? What does it matter now? I was swimming in the haze Now I crawl on the ground And everything I never liked about you

Is kind of seeping into me. I try to laugh about it now, but isn't it funny how everything works out? I guess the joke's on me. She said, I was up above it. I was up above it. I was up above it. I was up above it. Nine Inch Nails. I was worried about talking over the song. Will Robbie J leap across the table?

No, I won't. Down in it. When I hear this song, it takes me right back to my beginnings at 83 Kennedy Road South. Because this song came out right about the time I started there. And I hear this, I think of Marty, I think of Pete, I think of Brother Bill. I think of all the awesome people that I worked with back in those days. And I just started university just shortly after this came out. And this album was so absolutely out there compared to everything else that was going on right now.

And I remember when I first heard this song, I just turned my head like, what is that? What is coming out of those speakers? Now, I should have said, what are the interesting things about the songs on this list? These aren't necessarily my top 10 songs of all time. Wait, what? No, no, no. These are 10 songs that have a moment in time or tell a story about a band

or are representative of something. Some of them might be my favorites of all time or certainly for certain genres. Under pressure, top 10 all time Or certainly for certain genres Under Pressure, Top 10, All Time, Without Question This is a song that takes me back to a time And every time I hear it, I am transported right back To 1989, 1990, 83 Kennedy Road South Hanging out, learning the business Wondering what's going on

And I remember when they played this at the first Lollapalooza when they rolled out on stage. That was something spectacular. It's such an amazing album, that one. Pretty Hate Machine is... Yeah, Pretty Hate Machine would be a Desert Island disc for me. Without question. Pretty Hate Machine would be a Desert Island disc for me. Without question.

That was the first single, I think, off that album. Down in it. Remember, did you go the first Lollapalooza? Nope. Yeah, that was pretty cool, though. That was an amazing one. It's funny, when I was pulling clips of... Because you know that earlier we heard Martin Streak live at the Phoenix, and it was the eve of another,

I don't know which ball, the 95 Lollapalooza. Yeah. And he asked, actually here, let's do it real quick here, because you can't get enough. Let me,

because I pulled it in. Let me play, where else would I play it? But let's hear it really briefly here. It's mine. It's mine. It's mine. It's mine.

It's mine. It's mine. It's mine. It's mine. It's mine. It's mine Lollapalooza number one. Perry Ferdow and his band Headline, a bunch of bands. Meet me at the bottom of the stairs, just to the left of the stage. Name all the bands at Lollapalooza number one, the venue,

and the year it happened. I'll give you a pair of tickets to go to Lollapalooza 95. Can you do it? I think I might. Well, I'll get most of them. And I won't be able to say if you're right or wrong. Name all the bands on Lollapalooza number one, where it happened, and when it happened. It happened at the C&E in July. The year that is.

The Grandstand, July 1991. It's just that simple. Henry Rollins. The Lola Party. Ice-T. Body Count. With the band. Nine Inch Nails.

The play last year at Lola. I want to say Suzy and the Banshees. 102.1 The Edge. Hold on. I want to say Suzy and the Banshees played that one. I want to say Suzy and the Banshees played that one. Janes, obviously. And I know I'm missing one or two.

I know I'm missing... But I remember when Ice-T rolled out Body Count, his thrash metal band. I remember thinking, what the fuck is this? That's because you didn't own his album album uh original gangster in which he actually plays at the very end of original gangster which is an ice tea rap album he plays body a body counts uh what can i uh he plays a body count song on the end and it's like he's introducing his hard rock band and yeah they were killer they had the well they had the speaking of killer they cop killer but that's right bodys in the House,

Body Count. That was a staple at the Phoenix. Absolutely. Absolutely. I mean, that was an amazing Lollapalooza. Now, here's a weird ongoing history parallel

to Nine Inch Nails. Yes. First episode I ever did was Nine Inch Nails and Trent Reznor. Oh, yeah. Bury me in those fun facts. I think that was it.

Well, you know, I'm a big fan. I don't know if I made this point earlier, but I'm a huge lifelong fan of ongoing history those fun facts. Well, you know, I'm a big fan. I don't know if I made this point earlier, but I'm a huge lifelong fan of ongoing history of new music. Well, we're 800 and... I'm catching up because I'm at 340. 820 or 830.

We take the summers off to recalibrate and go. But one thing we are doing this summer. Here's an interesting thing. We're getting a lot of people asking for old shows to turn into podcasts. So this summer I put in a bonus podcast where I drop another one on Sunday nights and I basically go through my archives and pull a show that somebody's requested. Hey, did you ever do a show about Christian rock? Well, yes, we did.

And we'll pull it out and we'll podcast it for you. And I bet you that comes in handy when you have the sad news will come out like Chris Cornell is taking his own life. Yeah. You can go back and do a seven-part episode. We've done that before. I bet you that comes in handy when you have the, like, sad news will come out like Chris Cornell has taken his whole life. Yeah. We've done that before. I hate doing that. No, but you gotta do it because the appetite becomes so ferocious for that content. Like, you know, you might not, you know,

yeah, you gotta make the listeners happy. We want to hear about Soundgarden at that point. Absolutely. Alright, let's kick out another jam. All right. All right, I'm going to be bold again and say, well, no, this is my favorite Britpop song, bar none.

This is Britpop to me. All mine Don't you know you might find A better place to play You said that you've never been But all the things that you've seen Slowly fade away So I start a revolution from my bed Cause you said the brains I had went to my head Step outside, summertime's in I stand up beside the fireplace

Take that look from off your face You ain't ever gonna burn my heart out And so Sally can wait She knows it's too late as we're walking

on by. Her soul slides away. But don't look back in anger. I heard you say. Here comes the best line. Here comes the best line. There it is. Please don't put your life in the hands of a rock and roll band. Throw it all away.

I'm gonna start a revolution from my bed. Cause you said the brains I had went to my head. Step outside cause summertime's in blue Stand up beside the fireplace Take that look from up your face Cause you ain't ever gonna burn my heart out So Sally can wait You know what's great about this song? It's Noel singing. He's your preferred Gallagher player.

He's my preferred Gallagher. I've been fortunate to have many conversations with Noel over the years. We spent one time, spent half an hour just talking about Premier League football back in 2000 or 2001. I love Noel. I absolutely love Noel. To me, when that era came out, Manchester, I loved it. I thought it was phenomenal. It was fantastic.

I was a Manchester Britpop kid. I wasn't a grunge kid. And they kind of just hit at the same time, right? Right. And you were kind of like one or the other. Um, Britpop really kicked off after grunge ended when Kurt killed himself.

But, um, there, there's just something about this song. First of all, when you made your bold statement Again, you said two bold statements now And every time you say the bold statement

My brain just tries to call you out Like, what about whatever I gotta say I can't come up with a better Britpop song than this one Is there a better Sigalong Britpop song? I don't think so I don't think so And I'm thinking

Well, you know, Common People is a fun song But it's not better than this You know what I mean? Like, this is't think so and i'm thinking well you know common people's a fun song but it's not better than this you know what i mean like this is a better song and i'm thinking oh wait oh for sure blur's gotta have something no they got some great jams but they don't have anything better than this but i will say you said uh you're a noel guy i mean uh are there really any liam guys like because noel seems to me to be the heart and soul of this band. He writes the music. He is the nucleus of it. I remember years ago, we did this command session with Oasis. We were doing it down near the station, and it was done with the Deep Sky crew.

And Liam decided, just, ah, screw it. I'm not going to do it that day. Ah, piss off. I can't be bothered. I'm not going to show up. So Noel stepped in, and it was awesome. Because Noel just does it. He'll just get in, and he'll just do it. He can't be bothered. I'm not going to show up. So Noel stepped in and it was awesome. Because Noel just does it. He'll just get in and he'll just do it.

He's a responsible adult. He's the professional. Yeah, he's the heart and soul. He's the professional. To me, there's no doubt. These Liam people have no soul. What's wrong with you? Yeah, he's better looking.

And he sings on more of the hits, if you will. So he's like your main front guy. But please, if you're looking for the heart and soul of Oasis, it's Noel. Well, when we did this interview with Noel back in 2000, I think it was. I think it was just around Standing on the Shoulder of Giants was coming out. And Brother Bill did it. And after he was done, Noel and i just ended up talking for

a bit but out of that interview came neil's infamous what the hell is noel gallagher saying game show and it was so smart it was so brilliant because he's got such a thick mancunian accent right you don't understand what the hell he's going on about no um now i've struggled to get into his solo work and I don't know why. Well, it's funny you say that because the last guy who kicked out the jams, Greg Brady, we mentioned him a few times. He's a big Britpop guy, and he was asked, Liam or Noel? And of course, he said Noel. And one of his jams was, what's it called?

Noel Gallagher and the Flying... No, High Flying Birds. Right. And that's one of his 10 jams is from that. Well, I think the other thing, too, about it is when my wife and I met, we met in 98

on a Friday night club night that Brother Bill was hosting. I love that we're always going to call this man Brother Bill, even though he's been calling himself Neil Morrison for,

well, like, what, 15 years? Yeah, for the last 10 years, 12 years, which is his real name, by the way. Right. So, well, like, what, 15 years? Yeah, for the last 10 years, 12 years. Which is his real name, by the way. Right. So anyways, she was a huge Britpop fan. So we kind of just, we bonded over music. And, you know, Trainspotting, 24-Hour Party People,

phenomenal movies. The music is just so epic. And that's why, like, there was, I don't know what documentary it was maybe it wasn't a cnn documentary they were talking about the death of grunge they were talking about the birth of britpop that came out of it and britpop people the britpop musicians they all love being musicians grunge guys were like oh everything sucks blah blah blah there's like no we're doing the greatest job in the world this is the best thing that could ever happen.

When you listen to the music, it's generally all moving forward, upbeat, optimistic. I'm not trying to slag on grunge. I'm just saying that to me is maybe what drew me to Britpop was this common positivity. And it's the stereophonics

that are the big hip fans, right? The tragically hip fans. Yeah, that's right. Now, there's a great book out there. If anybody's a fan of Britpop, it's called stereophonics that are the big hip fans right the tragically hip fans yeah that's right now there's a great book out there if anybody's a fan of Britpop it's called The Last Party

and it's a phenomenal story about the rise and fall of Britpop and how it all tied in with the rise of Tony Blair's Labour Party too right

so get out there and read kids and go buy that book just like you get the great music great punk came out of the Thatcher years. That's right.

Well, that's exactly what it is. Yeah. This jam we're about to play from you is a personal favorite of mine. I'm glad you chose it. And I always joke it really should have been two songs. You know what? We don't want to spoil anything.

I will say this. The first time I heard this song, I'm not a music expert, but I knew, I knew for the first 10 seconds, this song i'm not a music expert but i knew i knew for the first 10 seconds and this song is going to be huge because it's excellent it really is and i can't wait to hear it i'm just you know what i'm not even gonna say anything over i'm just gonna let it go it's that good they're your jams my brother So if you're lonely You know I'm here waiting for you

I'm just a crosshair I'm just a shot away from you And if you leave here You leave me broken, shattered and like I'm just a crosshair I'm just a shot that we can die I know I won't be leaving here with you I say, don't you know You say, you don't know I say, don't you know? You say you don't know

I say, take me out I say, you don't show Don't move, time is low I say, don't know You say you don't know I say Take me out If I move this could die

I'd move this could die I want you To take me out I know I won't be leaving here I know I won't be leaving here I know I won't be leaving here I know I won believing here I know I was believing here With you

I say, don't you know You say you don't know I say take me out I'll wait, this could die I'll wait, this could die I want you to take me out, I move

this could die, I move this could die, come on take me out. I know I will be leaving here. I know I will be leaving here. I know I will be leaving here. I know I will be leaving here with you. Two of my all-time favorite debut albums are self-titled debut albums, Franz Ferdinand and Crowded House. And start to finish, they are phenomenal.

But that song, there's just, there's again that positive energy. These guys are a brilliant live band. One of the greatest concerts I ever saw, my wife and I went to, we were, it was 2004. We were, we decided that October we were going to go backpack through Morocco, as one does. Sounds amazing. Why not, right? So we flew to London. My wife had lived in London for a year when she did her master's there. So we flew to London and we were there for three days and hooked up with some friends. And some friends, the guys I knew, they were managers of the Stranglers, hooked up with them, went to the Soho house, had dinner there.

And that's where the nucleus of Britpop started. It was just this amazing night, right? Had a really good time. Flew to Morocco. Backpacked for 16 days. The night we flew back from Casablanca, we flew back to London. We went to the Brixton to see Franz Ferdinand play. My friend Val Mazik, who worked at Sony

at the time, set us up with tickets. He says, you're going to be there. We're going to get you some tickets. The Brixton Academy is an incredible venue. This show, when they played this, the place went off, but it was actually Dark of the Matinee that had a bigger response. But there's just something about this song, man.

Like you said. I think it's a two in one. It could very well be a two in one. And I'm glad they did what they did, but it almost reminds me of like No Sugar Tonight, New Mother Nature. You know what I mean? It's the same key and you stitch it together,

but they're two different songs. That opening part, whatever the first minute or whatever, they could have just looped that, extended that or whatever. That could be a three and a half minute single right there. Yeah. And same thing with you though.

When you first heard it, you probably thought, what is this? I love it. It's great. I love it. And also, the assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand was the catalyst of starting World War I. Yeah. And where did that happen?

Sarajevo. And where did my wife work? Sarajevo. Where did I spend a Christmas once? Sarajevo. So you know that song, A Christmas Eve in Sarajevo by Trans-Siberian Express? Yes. Been there, done that. Been there, done that. Bought the t-shirt.

Well, great. They're a Scottish band. Scottish band, yes. So they're a Scottish band. I'm very curious if you'll have any Irish bands on your list here. None. Let's play your next jam. Irish bands on your list here?

None. Let's play your next jam. This is from Dublin, 1993, live homecoming show, U2 on the Zoo TV tour. Until the end of the world, still one of their greatest live songs that they do. To me, this is more powerful than the album version. Diolch yn fawr ia yn bwyta'r bwyd, rydym yn drwy'r wy, Mae pawb yn cael amser da

Yn siomeni, rydw i'n dal i siarad am ddiwedd y byd I took your money, I spat your drink You miss too much these days if you're stuck to think You left me all with those innocent eyes You know I love the elements I was surprised In the garden I was playing the guitar I kissed your lips Broke your heart

You, you were up to it It's the end of the world It's the end of the world What I love is this part where Ed just shreds it. No one else sounds like this. No. This is such a distinctive sound. It's this next part coming up, too. I remember when I was reading a story when Bono first came up with the idea,

he said to his wife, I got a great idea for a song. It's about Jesus and Judas in the Garden of Eden. And she's like, okay. But yeah, I bought this album. This is from Bootleg, recorded in Dublin, 93. I bought it at Camden Market. One of the best soundboard recordings I've ever had. This is where it gets really good. Tired it up Come on love Come on love Tired it up Tired it up

Come on Come on Yeah La la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la And then it goes into New Year's Day. How good is that? How good is that? I'll say this, because I'm not... I've actually never seen U2 live.

I know that sounds crazy, but I do appreciate them, and I used to really like them. But if I'm going to go to a U2 album right now, I'm probably, believe it or not, I'm probably going to go to Rattle and Hum right now, I'm probably, believe it or not, I'm probably going to go to Rattle and Hum. Really? Yeah, that's a good one.

I just really like that you captured that live energy in that cut there. And you kind of got that all over Rattle and Hum. I liked Rattle and Hum. I've been a fan of the band since Under a Blood Red Sky era. Unforgettable Fire, I thought, was phenomenal. I liked Joshua Tree, but I still remember when this started coming together with Octung Baby.

I remember the night and day cover that had a Cole Porter. And I thought, oh, okay, this is interesting. But I was at my sister's in Chicago. It was Thanksgiving of 91. And MTV had just gotten the video for the fly and they played it and i was just like what the fuck is i was blown away and this and this is where they're going i'm all in i am all in um and ultimately this this album maktung baby that's not my favorite song from the album by the way that's not my favorite song from the album, by the way. That's my favorite live song from the album.

My favorite track on the album is The Fly. But to me, that is my desert island disc of theirs. It's such a dark album. You want to really appreciate that album. Listen to it at like 2 o'clock in the morning driving. It is a dark album. Speaking of dark music, I was thinking that I should do all my

Kick Out the Jams episodes late on a Friday night because I'm leaning back, right? It's the live U2 and I've got the headphones on. I'm leaning back listening and it's like whatever it is right now,

but it's about 8.30 p.m. on a Friday night. I'm thinking, yeah, this is it, man. This is fun. This is great. And there's so many weird connections between some of those songs and life for me and whatnot.

I mean, that was the tour where, you know, when they were in Europe, they decided they would do Uplinks from Sarajevo. And then that came to be a part of my life later on. My all-time favorite concert was their 1992 show at the gardens i remember walking in seeing those trebants hanging from the ceiling thinking okay let's go and it just blew my mind nice so there is a special place in my heart for that band and that album for sure is one of my top three of all time

And that album for sure is one of my top three of all time. The Fibonacci sequence of Latin Alice. No, you'll need to speak over this one. I will. I got a lot to talk about. It's like almost 10 minutes long. No, there's a lot to talk about. That's why I said it was kind of appropriate tonight that I had chosen this song.

When this album was being previewed, the boffins at Sony BMG at the time said, hey, we're going to, why don't you guys come down to Manta Studios down in Adelaide when it was there? We want to play you the new album. Okay. Well, usually when you went to these sessions,

they would just play it in a big thing. We walked in. There was individual seating stations all facing apart with AKG headphones. Marty was there because he was the tool guy, right? And they said, we're going to play it. You put on the headphones and we're going to play it start to finish. And this album just was phenomenal. The best way to ever hear it was doing that.

So they load it up, they play it, and they actually stopped it after this song because we were just, this was like the crowning point of the album. I can still remember that I can still visualize it and I remember when it was this song was done in particular we took off our headphones

and Marty just started cackling this cackling laughter he had whenever he's just blown away by something and I can still hear that and still see the vision it was just like almost perfection had been achieved. Watch it bend Over thinking, over analyzing Separating the body from the mind

Weathering my intuition Missing opportunities and I must Be my will to feel that moment Darling, we have a sudden life Black than white are All I see In my infancy Red and yellow then came to be

Reaching out to me Let's me see There is so much more And beckons me To look through to these Infinite possibilities The morning beckons me to look through to these infinite possibilities. As below, so above and beyond I imagine. Drawn outside the lines of reason.

Push the envelope, watch it bend. I want you there Lower thinking, lower analyzing Separate the body from the mind All right. Tool, The Clash, and Nine Inch Nails. All three playing on the same night. Marty can only be at one of those shows. Where does he go? There he goes to see The Clash. I could have chosen any number of Tool tracks. Sting Fist, The Grudge, 46 and 2, Vicarious.

There's something about this song. It's technically perfect. I think even hearing it in the headphones right now, it's like you don't have to be a Tool fan to appreciate this song. You want to test out a stereo system? Put this on. Seriously, I did this in one of the new studios when we moved in, and I just cranked up the new monitors,

and it was phenomenal. But I remember this was also the album where they played Edgefest 2001 and Neil and I, Brother Bill, Neil, whatever you want to say, snuck up onto stage and almost got our ass, well he got his ass thrown off the stage. He got basically

headlocked and thrown off. It was like the year later it was a perfect circle. I'm trying to remember because I was at all these Edgefests. This is the time where I was at all the Edgefests. But perfect circle was uh was it here late i'm trying to remember because i was at all these edge this is the time where i was at all the edge fest but i know one year was tool and the next year was a perfect circle i think could have been yeah something like that anyway yeah yeah this was one of the only edge fest i remember where everybody stayed to the end and it was a cold cold july 1st It was like 15 degrees.

There's so many themes in this song. It goes through so many progressions. Swing on the spiral Swing on the spiral How I live in the night again Here's another change This part right here though, this is it right now. Coming up in 3, 2, 1. Here. That face, that richness of the face that just underlines sitting there. Whatever will be will come to me Whatever will be will come to me And following our will and winning May just go where no one's been We'll ride the spiral to the end

And may just go when no one's there Spiral out Keep going Spiral out Keep going Spiral out Keep going Spiral out Keep going so imagine listening to that on headphones for the very first time and i remember this is the

point marty takes his headphones off and he just starts laughing and just utter disbelief of what he just heard we were all just like that last part it just builds and builds and builds and builds and then bang it's so good it's so good and and have you seen tool live just at edge fest okay the the thing that blows me away is watching like danny carey play drums. He's just like, do-do-do-do-do-do. How does he do that? How do any of them do that? It doesn't make any sense.

That technical proficiency there is Russian, if you will. Like, you know, kind of... Well, yeah. I mean, if you look, yeah, it's like... Tool's kind of like the progressive version of Pink Floyd. You know what I mean? Yeah. That's great.

We'll dedicate that jam to Marty nine years ago today. Let's kick out another one. Now for something a little different. Another song that I just love the production on. I'm a huge fan of Butch Vick. And I've been caught out Like a giant juggernaut Happy hours, golden showers

On a cruise to freak you out We could fly a helicopter Nothing left to talk about Entertain you, celebrate you, I'll be back to frame you When I grow up, I'll be stable When I grow up, I'll turn the tables Crying hard to fit among you Floating out to wonderland

Unprotected, gone and pregnant Damn the consequences When I grow up, I'll be stable. When I grow up, I'll turn the tables. Here comes the compression on the drums. Here it comes. Love it. So back in 98, I think this came out.

This is back when record companies used to have a lot of money Right The good old days The good old days They wanted to do They wanted to do a presser So they wanted to Get a bunch of us To Wisconsin

To do some interviews So I was doing the tech It was cheaper to rent A private plane And fly to Madison, Wisconsin Overnight for one night Than it was to go On airlines

So we hopped into a private jet. Wow. Took off from Pearson. Flew to Madison. It was so cold the jet froze the next overnight. Right? So we go to Smart Studios. Smart Studios is the birthplace of grunge in some ways.

Because this is where Butch Biggs started the scat work for Nevermind. Right. So in some ways it's part of the nucleus, right? Gish was partly recorded there. A lot of other bands have recorded there. Watchmen recorded there. Oh, really? I didn't know that. Yeah, they did Boneyard Tree there. Which is my favorite

Watchmen album. I think they did Boneyard Tree. They did one of them there. Maybe there's one after that. Anyways, Watchmen recorded there. So favorite Watchmen album. I think they did Boneheart. They did one of them there. Maybe there's one after that. Anyways, Watchmen recorded there. So, we fly to Madison. Fly to Madison and they decided,

well, we'll play the record people down there. So, let's play the album for you ahead of time. So we sit in this bar. One side is the bar,

and the other side is this performance space. We're in the performance space listening to the album. Halfway through the album, in walks Shirley and Butch and everybody else in the band, and she just had this look on her face of absolute abject horror. Not at us.

She was like, oh my God, I didn't know anybody was be listening to the album oh that's funny so yeah so she was completely caught off guard so we talked for a bit anyways we ended up drinking having drinks to like for hours on end chatting with them they're fantastic and then the next day we go to smart do the interview there and butch gave us me and pete watson who was one of the record label guys came came down. Pete's a big gearhead too. Gave us a private tour of the studio and the setup and everything. And he was showing us how they recorded the album. They were doing it on Pro Tools at the time.

He says, yeah, we ran about 115, 120 tracks on this song and this and this and this. So to me, when I hear that, it takes me right back to that moment in time. And then when I hear that compression on the drums, it reminds me of this fantastic tour. But I've always been a fan of Garbage. I think they're just a fun band, incredibly talented. And they found the right vocalist to match what they wanted to do. And she's Scottish too, right? She is Scottish.

You know, it's really weird. Look at this. There is a very big theme. I'm not going to say Commonwealth because that would offend the Irish. Right. We don't want to do that. Right. But certainly a theme coming from that area of the world, if you will.

Not on your spoiler alert, but not on your jams list is anything by the Cranberries. But I always think of that era, like that garbage era. I always think of the Cranberries, too, out of Dublin there. I was never big into the Cranberries. I appreciated them, but I was never a huge fan of theirs. Not even Zombie. But you don't like the grungy kind of...

I heard it too many times. I heard it way too many times. Overplayed, right. Let's kick out another jam. Couldn't do a list without Rush. There's no way I could do a list without Rush. And it's not the Bob and Doug McKenzie take off. No, no, no.

This is a, you know, I chose this one because there's a lot of reasons, actually. I love the theme of the song, Red Barchetta. I love the story behind it. Red Barchetta, Ferrari, back in the day. I'm a huge race fan, Formula One fan. There's nothing like going to Montreal and seeing Ferrari win in front of the Montreal fans

because so many of them are Italian. Before the motor law Down some days I lose the eyes Of the turbine frame Too far outside the wire Where my white hair don't go away So, on one of your podcasts, I think it was with dan o'toole you talked about eden fest yes yes which happened in july of 1996 and i remember it well because i was up there that entire weekend in a camper behind backstage doing interviews to get there neil morrison and i brother bill and i drove up together listening to this album the whole way up.

So it reminds me, this song, Driving to Mossport Raceway, which is where it was held, the synergies behind it are just incredible. I should tell the people who can't see you, and I realize now the one problem with recording at night is that my traditional spot

for the picture, it'll be dark outside. We'll have to figure that out. We'll have to do it somewhere else. But you're wearing a Jill Villeneuve T-shirt. Yes, I'm wearing one of my Suquis Jill Villeneuve shirt, yeah. Now, I've seen Rush many times over the years. years one of the best was this band from kingston called the hip open for them in 1992 at maple leaf gardens

This band from Kingston called The Hip opened for them in 1992 at Maple Leaf Gardens. Wow. And they debuted a song that night called 50 Mission Cap. Wow. So we're going to play a song about a guy who scored a goal at this very arena. That's amazing. Yeah. And that number, of course, hangs from the rafters. That's right. That's the garden.

So they did the... Remember those Molson blind dates? Yes. Yes. So I told... I'm going to try and interwine the story. So last year when I did

this thing for Spotify, part of the project was to go and interview Canadian bands about Canadians in music that influenced them. So we would go and we'd interview

all these bands. The director on it that I worked with for the video part was Mike Downey. Fantastic guy. Right. Gord Downey's brother. One of the bands we interviewed was Rush. So if the last thing I ever do in this business on a large scale is sitting down interviewing Rush, I'm good.

I'm good. I'm done. I'm out. That sounds like an amazing project. So Mike Downey directs this. You're the... I did the production end of it. I set up all the line production on it. Got everything

arranged. I thought you were going to say I was expecting smaller Canadian bands and you went back to Rush. We did Rush. We did Cardinal Fischel. We did Ruth B. We did Metric. We did a whole bunch of these bands. And then we did a bunch Fischel, we did Ruth B, we did Metric. We did a whole bunch of these bands. And then we did a bunch of playlists with them on Spotify as well for Canada 150. So we did Rush.

We interviewed them at their offices. And I said, do you guys remember when you did that Molson Blind date? And they're like, yeah, yeah, because it was at the Phoenix. I said, I got to tell you this funny story. I knew it was you playing, and I really wanted to go to the show. Now, they had so much front of house, it took up the entire width of the Phoenix, okay? But Neil and I were standing at the back bar

getting a couple drinks, and everyone's trying to guess who the band is, you know? Right, right. Because it didn't leak back then. It didn't leak back then. Curt comes up, and they come out, and this guy, he's got two beers in his hand, band is you know right right because they didn't leak back they didn't leak back then curtain comes up and they come out and this guy he's got two beers in his hand he just goes holy fuck it's crash drops his beers and just goes screaming to the front of the stage and i told them that they

kill themselves laughing but i i do remember these blind dates and uh great concept were the bands always that big? I can't, I don't remember. I saw them, the Sex Pistols. I think I saw STP. I think STP did RPM.

Those are big bands. Yeah. I just wonder that disappointing like one hit wonder little band. No, they didn't. Oh,

I could see these guys at the local park. No, they never did that but there's something i have a special place for rush i mean they're just they're they're in that tool sort of that thing there's just so much going on right yeah well they get technically proficient oh my god and you can hear that i think because of your production background you appreciate that more than the average uh bear that's what i think because of your production background you appreciate that more than the average uh bear that's what i think possibly um you could be right i mean of all the people i've ever seen

interviewed in my career the one that has blown me away the most i think is neil pert um jeff woods did one a couple years ago and i attacked it and just to listen to neil. He never pauses. He never stumbles. He never hums, haws. He always has the perfect thought for what he's talking about. And it saddens me to know that we will not see

Rush the Hip or Spirit of the West live again. There's still a chance to see Rush, though. They could do something at some point. They could. But I hear you. You know what I mean?

I totally hear you. Yeah, those are massive Canadian bands. There's a song I could have had on my list. Home for a Rest. Yeah. I mean, again, is there a better song to put on at a club at night to get everybody up and going? No. I can't think of one.

I honestly cannot think of one. No, you might be right. And by the way, so far we've heard eight of your jams. And I believe all eight, I think you kicked them out for the first time. I don't think we've heard any of those jams before. I don't think so. You can tell me if I'm wrong. I can them out for the first time. I don't think we've heard any of those jams before. I don't think so. You can tell me if I'm wrong. I can check it in the spreadsheet later.

If I were on the ball, I'd confirm it during the song. I'd be surprised if you haven't heard Don't Look Back. I don't think so. I have to check. I don't think so. We've only had 47 or 48, but I'm saying that because your ninth and tenth jams that they've both been played before and that surprised me honestly when you told me that it really really surprised i know i'm even seeing these this ninth and tenth song uh we're gonna kick the ninth one out right now but

uh i'm surprised too like but they have both been kicked out now i did hear the tenth one before on a podcast and as i said to you when i when I heard it, I honestly did double take. And I thought, how did that happen? Well, while I play this ninth jam, I will look at my Google spreadsheet for Kick of the Jams and find out who kicked it out before. Again, one of the all-time great debut albums. This is a Desert Island disc for me. And maybe this is my production heritage again. Acadie, Daniel Lanois. Black and cold like the night

I stand with arms wide open I've run a twisted mind I'm a stranger in the eyes It was Stephen Brunt. Okay. Who, much like the aforementioned Dave Hodge is a massive music fan. Yeah. So you're in good company, is what I'm telling you.

You know who else performs on this album? No. Larry, Adam, the Neville brothers. If you listen to the latter tracks of the album, you'll hear Aaron Neville. My body is bent and broken By long and dangerous things And danger sleeps I can't work the fields of Abraham And turn my head away I'm not a stranger In the hands of the maker Brother John

Have you seen the homeless daughters Standing there There's Eric. You cannot mistake that voice. You have to have this album in your collection. You have to have it. Full stop. I feel shame. It's a great Sunday morning album put on.

It's deep. It's got textures, the lyrics, the content. Oh, river I see From your speech We did a really cool Ongoing History live session With Daniel Lanois On the Hard Rock last year Talking about the Joshua Tree

And they're in podcasts If you want to go Search them out But what was amazing about it was Lanois was telling a story About how the Infinite Guitar Which was huge on the Joshua Tree especially on

With or Without You and tracks like that was born by Michael Brook and it was actually born in Toronto in Cabbage Town because he couldn't he wanted to get

a certain type of guitar and he went to Long McQuaid and they were closed or something and they ended up making it himself or something like that

wow so again I don't have many pictures with people but Lanois is one of those ones and I'm glad somebody else has it on their list. I mean, honestly, if you had to pick what other jam kicker do you want to share it with, you've got Dave Hodge and Brunt.

Those are the two. Those are pretty good companies. I'm there on my Mount Rushmore of jam kickers. Are you ready for the final jam? I am ready. This has been fantastic. I've really enjoyed this. And like I said,

these aren't necessarily my all-time top songs. The Maker is one of them. I will say that. The Maker is one of them. Don't Look Back in Anger is one of them. This last song,

to me, represents everything that is incredible about this band, especially live. I'll talk more about it afterwards, but the last year, I'll give you a hint, last year they toured for the first time in about 15 years, and they were as solid then as they were when I first saw them in their early 90s. You say times are tough We've got the best of both worlds here

Things are rough We've got the best of both worlds here Times are tough We've got the best of both worlds So you say times are tough We've got the best of both worlds here Things are rough We've got the best of both worlds here I absolutely love, love Midnight Oil. And one of the few bands that's actually played my birthday twice.

Oh, wow. Yeah. How weird is that? And one of the few bands that's actually playing my birthday twice Oh wow How weird is that? They played my They played number 19 With Hunters and Collectors At the rainy, rainy, rainy Victoria Day weekend back in 89, 90

And last year at the Danforth Music Hall Hunters and Collectors have that Put your arms around me Am I getting the title right? and last year at the Danforth Music Hall. Hunters and Collectors have that Put Your Arms Around Me. Am I getting the title right? Wrap Your Arms Around Me? Put Your Arms Around Me. It was covered by Pearl Jam, okay? And I loved the track so much, I can't tell you,

and that's when I learned that they existed, Hunters and Collectors, because I had to find out who did this song. But what an amazing song. I've done some work with Mark Seymour to get him some representation up here. He's a good friend. He's a good guy. Amazing. But we should tell the people who

originally kicked out this jam. Jay Michaels did and it blew me away when I heard it. I was like awesome, man. Fellow Beecher. Fellow Eastender. That dog who's all over the radio these days. I know, he's everywhere. He's on 104.5.

So, they did this last year at the Danforth. This song was recorded in 1984. 1984. They sounded as tight last year as they did on this album that's awesome I'm blown away I'm blown away that Midnight Oil has only been kicked out twice

in Kick Out The Jams episodes and it's the same song and it's this song because for your casual radio top 40 listener guy like I was you had you know Beds Are Burning The Dead Heart

or whatever this one I don't remember I only I didn't remember this song at all you never nobody would have ever heard this this was off Red Sails

and The Sunset this was the album before Diesel and Dust this was 84 but if you've seen them live you will have heard like if you've seen their club shows you

will have heard this on twitter i'm gonna connect you and mad dog and bond you for life because of your love for best of both worlds which is not just the hannah montana song anymore no that's what i knew it is but um Yeah, this is like... Oil's on fire. Amazing. Absolutely amazing. Your jams were amazing. The stories Absolutely amazing. Your jams were amazing. The stories were amazing. I'm so glad that if I'm going to have somebody record in the anniversary of Martin Streak's death, it's somebody who was a friend of his and could share some fond memories of Marty.

Thanks so much for doing this. No, this is great. I'm glad we finally got to do it. And I just find it rather, I don't know if ironic is the right word, but fortuitous perhaps that it occurred on this eve. It does appear, and I almost feel like I don't want to reveal this,

but it does appear as if this was intentional, right? No, absolutely not. It just, you know, it's funny last week, I was, we had agreed, we had tried to do this a few times and then we said, no, let's No, absolutely not. It just, you know, it's funny last week I was, I, we had agreed, we had tried to do this a few times and then we said, no, let's do it this day. And it was last week I was, I was sitting there at home and I'm like, what, what, what day is the sixth this year? I think it's, I think it's Thursday. No, I think it's Saturday. No, it's Friday. Huh. How about that? Well, I'll tell you what happened. On Facebook, I had memories.

There's a memories tab, okay? This morning, I was on it. And last year, David Marsden had written something thanking me for sharing his five-hour tribute to Marty Streak on the anniversary, the eighth anniversary of his death. And I saw that and I go, oh, it's nine years ago today.

And then I tweeted something to that effect. And then it struck me, Robbie Jay's coming over tonight. And it was like, it was really, really one of those moments where it's like, it was meant to be. Oh, man. Thanks so much. Thanks so much, Robbie. And I really love that you've taken, left your comfort zone, if you will,'re you're finding happiness doing something completely different they say you're gonna have many many different jobs or in your career or many different careers in your lifetime they say and that's the new the new world order so to speak and uh you're an inspiration to me because uh maybe i will become

a bartender you know what it's just i i jumped and I thought, let's just see what happens. Let's just see where this goes. Through rain, sleet, snow, or is that just America? No, I've done it all. I've done it all. Good for you, man. I'm enjoying the weather right now. Trust me.

And that brings us to the end of our 355th show. You can follow me on Twitter. I'm at Toronto Mike. Robbie, who epitomizes the spirit of radio, by the way, is at Robbie J. Underscore. Underscore J. Is there? Okay.

Yeah, don't follow that Robbie J guy. No, that guy's never tweets, man. I'm like, come on, dude. Get rid of the account. Did you offer him 10 bucks? No. Maybe you can get it for 10 bucks. Robbie underscore J is for Robbie. Our friends at Great Lakes Brewery are at Great Lakes Beer.

Propertyinthe6.com is at Raptors Devotee. And Paytm is at Paytm Canada. See you all next time.