Toronto Mike'd: The Official Toronto Mike Podcast - Royal Wood: Toronto Mike'd #1328

Episode Date: September 18, 2023

In this 1328th episode of Toronto Mike'd, Mike chats with musician Royal Wood about leaving a career on Bay Street for a career in music, touring with Bonnie Raitt and living life as a Royal. Toronto Mike'd is proudly brought to you by Great Lakes Brewery, Palma Pasta, Pumpkins After Dark, Ridley Funeral Home and Electronic Products Recycling Association.

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Valuable perspective for Canadian investors who want to remain knowledgeable, informed, and focused on long-term success. And Ridley Funeral Home. Pillars of the community since 1921. Today, making his Toronto Mike debut. I can't believe this is his real name. Okay, it's Royal Wood. Welcome, Royal. Hey, thanks for having me on the show.

And for the record, right off the top, those words appear on your birth certificate, Royal Wood. That is correct. Yeah, I was named words appear on your birth certificate, Royal Wood. That is correct. Yeah, I was named after my great-grandfather, Royal Wood. Do people ask to see your birth certificate? Are there birthers out there, like Royal Wood birthers? Like, prove it to me. That's too amazing. That name is amazing.

Yeah, that's a good one. It was his first and last name. My parents wanted to keep it going, so they gave it to me. Okay, and you had to be, like, in music, I think, of a name like Royal Wood. Well, either that or a porn star. I had two avenues to take, and I thought one would make my mother just a little bit more proud. Any regrets you didn't take the other avenue? Oh, they're both growth industries.

Hey, hey now. No, no regrets. I'm very blessed and fortunate that I get to do this for a living for sure you're like Tom Cochran no regrets I might do that periodically so it's funny last night

I was recording this is like 10pm last night with Rob Pruce who was the keyboardist with the spoons and Rob Pruce was like a child prodigy he was on cbc when he was like i don't know 11 12 13 years old because he was a great like piano player as a kid like a prodigy but like i'm reading up on royal wood and you yourself my friend you're playing

piano by ear at four years of age like you just had it in your blood yeah i mean i was uh fortunate that my my parents um loved the arts and loved music, so our house was full of instruments. And I was just one of those kids, you know? I could have picked up a hockey stick or a book or something, but I went straight to a piano, and they couldn't get me off it. You know, Royal Wood would be a good hockey player name, too. It's true.

Well, when the sticks were wood. They're not wood anymore. Well, yes. We are old enough to remember. It's true. Well, when the sticks were wood. It's true. They're not wood anymore. Well, yes. We are old enough to remember. Oh, yeah. Yeah. You know what? I'm trying to remember.

Was it Al McInnes? I want to say, I don't know, are you a hockey fan at all? Certainly in my youth I was, yeah. I've lost, I don't have much time anymore to follow sports, truthfully.

Well, you know, there's better things to do. You're pursuing higher uh higher accomplishments but i the the al mckinnis story that's in my brain and i have to check if it's true later half the time i'm right and half the time i find out i'm like it's a conflation of like facts or whatever but i feel like in his 40s he resisted the composite stick and i feel like he was like sticking with the wooden stick or something way after everybody had switched to composite like i don't know.

Somebody tell me if I've got this memory correct. But shout out to Al McInnes, who I remember had that cannonading slap shot. It was, yeah, the fastest shot in the league, I think. Whether it's true or not, it's a fun fact that I can now quote for the rest of my life. Just drop it and say, oh, Toronto Mike told me that. Yeah, he told me.

Okay, I'll take a hit on that. Okay, so I actually, I can't wait to talk about the new music, but I'm actually going to take you back to like some really old music. I've got a bunch of songs loaded up, but I'm still interested. And so when you're a child,

you're surrounded by instruments. Like literally, can you name check instruments that you could play? Yeah, I mean, you know, obviously the standards, the guitar, piano, ukulele, harmonica, drums, bass, lots of horns, woodwinds, that kind of thing. I was really lucky in that when I went to high school, the music teacher, I guess, recognized something and just let me take home any instrument I wanted for the summer.

So I would just sign out everything and anything and then spend my time learning it. And whereabouts in the province are we when you're in your high school? Lakefield, Ontario. Okay. It's like Kawartha, right? Yeah, exactly. Kawartha Lakes. Yeah. It's two hours northeast of Toronto. And whereabouts do you call home today? Lakefield. Okay. So you're back in the Kawartha.

Yeah. So when the pandemic happened, I owned a bunch of property out there, 100 acres, and my wife and I left Toronto. She was expecting our first, and we moved to the country and renovated our house because I couldn't tour, obviously. And then I guess we ran out of things on Netflix

because then we had another kid. So two boys, Henry and George. Congrats on that. Yeah. Do they have Royal Wood on their birth certificate of middle names

Henry does have Royal okay keep the Royal going keep the Royal going it's not you don't find it it's not pretentious

right I always think of Royal Tenenbaums right that guy's name is Royal that was A one of my favorite movies of all time

such an incredible movie Wes Anderson such a wonderful that's my favorite Wes Anderson is Royal Tenenbaums. That's the one I can go back to over and over again and enjoy it like it's the first time. Yeah, it's real depth. And there's real

warmth and heart to that movie. It's not over the top, kind of fanciful. It's just beautiful. Beautiful and funny. It's got that nice mix. And it's funny because we talked about holding on to the wooden stick, Al McInnes, but I'm pretty sure in that movie, Luke Wilson, the tennis pro. Carries that wooden racket, yeah.

Like beyond Borg. Beyond Borg. Exactly, yeah. And I think Borg had a comeback like in his late 30s or something where he tried to keep his wooden racket, even though everybody had switched to composite and like it just wasn't going to fly. You are correct. And my brothers and I owned that that racket we were all tennis enthusiasts we're just we thought he was like he was everything man oh

man bjorn barg okay this is the wood podcast i love it so much okay all right so uh you do hang out now because a very good fotm now fotm means friend of toronto mike you got to come on the show you become an amazing you're now an FOTM. Love it. But one of the great FOTMs, been on many times, is Hawksley Workman. Oh, yeah. Like, isn't he in Peterborough or something? Like, can you guys hang out or what?

We've been friends for a long time. Oh, I know. We're going to, yeah, go tell me your story and then we'll revisit it. Well, he played on my very first record. He played drums on it. We were managed by the same manager uh sandy panya at the time and yeah we just like when i first came to toronto i was in montreal uh living in montreal going to school and then moved to toronto to do music and uh someone handed me hoxley's first

record and i was just so blown i had never heard anything like it i didn't even really follow the canadian music scene at the time. I was very much into, you know, Leonard Cohen and things that were Canadian for sure, but certainly not what was happening now. Right. He was just on the forefront of it. And I just fell in love with his music.

And then thankfully, we got to become friends. We've known each other for years. So you guys are both in the co-authors now? Yeah. Is there like an artist hub there? I think he moved back, not I think I'm positive, he went back to the Muskoka's area. Is that right?

Yeah, he was in Peterborough for a while. I haven't talked to him in a couple of years, but he was like renovating some home in Peterborough. Yeah, Hawksley, he likes to move around. He likes, he's a free, he's a Huntsville guy. He is, yeah, Huntsville. Thank you, Huntsville, yeah. Okay, I think that's part of the Muskoka's,

but I mean, yeah, but what do I know? Okay, so we're going to get back to Hawksley because you mentioned he's involved with A Good Enough Day. So we're going to get back to Hawksley Workman. I just want to shout him out because he's a good, and there's a couple other FOTMs that you're kind of working with,

but I'm going to go way back to, if you don't mind, the Milkweed EP. That's way back, right? Yeah, that was my very first release ever. And then it was a five-song EP. And Hawksley played on A Good Enough Day, which was my first full record. Gotcha.

Okay, let's play a little of the early stuff here. Just a little bit here. I want people to hear what Royal Woods sounds like. Forming tails, please keep it up Lapping dog pup, clicking your heels now Dispense with this formality I've bossed you right on with such disdain Rattled by my creative own tale

So everything else is an almond in blossoming blood I suppose that I should say Is that Hawksley in the background there? I'm just kidding. What can you remember about this over 20 years ago now? Oh my Lord.

As soon as you started, I was like, this is over 20 years ago. Yeah. Uh, 2002, um, Milky DP.

I recorded, uh, in a rehearsal space in Toronto. A friend had set up his little studio and yeah, it was me playing all the instruments, doing all the parts, doing all the production, doing all the arrangements, mixed it with him, made my own cover. It was such an exciting, naive, you know, just hopeful time. It was just like my introduction to music and giving it to the world.

And so much happened for me after the CP. Yeah. You must have been very young. I mean, you look kind of young now. That's 20 years yeah i was yeah i was very young early 20s early 20s and uh i mean you know wikipedia thinks you live in toronto so there's a lot of errors on wikipedia but uh one thing they're right they're comparing they're they're talking about the critical acclaim for this ep that you put out in 2002. And there's comparisons to Jeff Buckley and Tom Waits and Randy Newman.

This is some heavy praise for a man in his early 20s. Yeah, it was such an exciting time. It's such a different time in media too, right? Shortly after that and then making the next record, you actually did press interviews and you did magazine and TV and radio and you were like a press junket and your publicist drove you around everywhere and there was records in stores and you walk into the store

and your record would be there. Yeah, it was the end of the sort of golden era of recorded music in my opinion. Yeah, okay. Now you mentioned you finally put together together a full album so let me play a little bit of something from uh a good enough day and then maybe back to hawk and then there's another fotm i want to ask you about yeah and see what other names you drop but uh i guess so how many years later are we so that's 2002 when you release that first ep but what do

we we're five years later or something yeah five, five years later for A Good Enough Day, which was the first real record in a real studio with a real budget. Real budget. And you know what's going to happen during this hour we're spending together is you're going to hear the evolution of your sound. Like it's literally, we're going to, you know, that was 21 years ago. We got new stuff, like fresh new

stuff, but here is a jam I want to talk about. I keep on running from the building stall Building stalls around Like in a circus or a circus tent A circus tent out of the cloud What good's a mirror without a face, without a face I'd like to lie back in the certainty, the certainty of you But now I realize there is nothing, there is nothing absolute

What builds a mirror without a face, without a face When there are spirits that take our place, take our place. A mirror without. Right, this should help you jog the memory bank. What do you remember about this album? And then basically, like now, not to bury the lead here, but this song shows up in like all over the place, right? It's in Grey's Anatomy.

That's the big leagues, man. That was the big leagues. I remember getting that phone call and saying, hey, we got your song on Grey's Anatomy. What I hear immediately and feel is that frenetic uh discovery of self in music when i hear this song because i recorded it to two inch tape in a big budget studio and i just jumped around from instrument to instrument and i can just hear the push and pull of time and feel has nothing's nothing's put down to computers there's no fixing there's no editing it's just you got what you got and you sang what you said live on the floor just yeah exactly like put down

the the drums first uh like put down a guide with with a piano and then drums down and then you just keep adding adding adding and it's just me just going from place to place uh and then suddenly you have this this full song and I remember just constantly buying new gear that I wanted to try and put on the song. I bought my first Fender Telecaster because I wanted electric. And I bought this crazy old organ because I wanted this organ sound.

And I still own all those instruments, but they were the first real major investment in gear that I was putting into myself because I just wanted this record to be huge. Okay, well, a good enough day. It's more than good enough. Come on. So we talked about Hawk.

We can talk about a bit more. So what well-known musicians, because I want to shout out a new FOTM who's been a great addition to the community, as I'm sure you will be as well, Royal Wood, but Kurt Swinghammer. Oh, man. Yeah, Kurt, at the time,

he was playing for everyone that I loved in the Canadian music scene. You'd go to a show, and Kurt would be there. You'd pick up a record, Kurt would be there. And he had such a unique, original, incredible sound. And he's just a visionary human. There's only one Swinghammer. And that's just a visionary human. There's only one Swinghammer.

And that's a real name too, much like Royal Wood. Kurt Swinghammer, really. These are all porn names. Yeah, this is true. This is very true. Yeah, Kurt is... Even Huxley Workman, although that is not his real name. But Huxley Workman, that's another porn name. Now that I think

about it, there's a trend here. If you want to get noticed in Canadian music, then you better do something left to center. Wow. Okay, I didn't mean to interrupt you on the chat there. But I mean, who did I have on? Ron Sexsmith. So Ron Sexsmith owes such a great deal to Kurt Swing.

So many Canadian musicians come in and sing the praises of Kurt. And I talked about Rob Proust being here last night. He just played the Elma Combo, and Kurt Swinghammer joined him for a couple of Kurt. And I talked about Rob Proust being here last night. He just played the Elma Combo and Kurt Swinghammer joined him for a couple of songs. Kurt, not happy with the renovations of the Elma Combo? That doesn't surprise me. He's a stickler

for originality and for vibe. Yeah, the vibe, right? Yeah, the vibe. Kurt was in my very first real band and he was one of the guys who helped me put together the band that would be for a long time okay amazing yeah now it was just because i'm digging these jams i'm just gonna throw some in the background so that was a mirror without i'm gonna put juliet in the

background um but here i got the specifics here because i did a little homework so there's a cbc series called this is wonderful and they featured songs from this album there was a CBC series called This Is Wonderful, and they featured songs from this album. There was a CTV movie called Plane House. Oh, yeah. I remember Plane House, yeah. I don't, but I'm glad they used your gems. But there was a film called The End of Silence. Yeah.

Have you ever seen this film? I have. I mean, I saw bits. Truthfully, I was not a huge tv fan and i i had never even seen a single episode of gray's anatomy or private practice any of those shows all right because paradise is on private practice yeah yeah like lots of the shows have used use my songs and you you basically just get send rushes like here's here's how it's going to be used and you'd watch it on like a vhs or dv DVD or something. Probably someone's dying or something and you're seeing like all these like

sad faces and then you're sad music there. It was a death scene for Grey's Anatomy. Yeah. And yeah, there it is. Okay. Let's hear a little Juliet here. You can be my one if you want to go You can be a field, you're there and then And into the water we will go

But never flow away We'll never flow I know all the bones we'll go With everybody's in here Okay, so you're getting some exposure. You know, people are like, I love that song. People are like, wow, you know uh a good enough day is more than good enough and they're making silly jokes about it but how did how does how do things change for you mr wood uh with you know the success of this yeah well this is the record that allowed

me to quit my day job so what was your day job i worked in a foreign exchange company on bay street so i went in for a temp job and was luck would have it. I guess I was just stood out because instead of keeping me as a temp worker, they made me assistant to the traders. The next thing I knew I was a full on like foreign exchange trader, um, pretending like I knew what I was doing solely to make enough money to make this record. So you were working on Bay Street? Yeah, I was working on Bay Street. This tells me a lot about you right away, which is that you care more about art than you do money.

That is for damn sure. Yeah, I left a very good job to dedicate my life to the arts, which has paid in some ways and not always in others. Any regrets that you didn't just say I'll sell out and not for

my wife asked me that the other night we were watching an episode of billions and she's like do you think you should have stayed in finance like oh honey come on or did you ever consider you know doing both i mean so many canadian musicians come over and they're like yeah by night and on weekends i I'm a rock star. But I actually have this real job I do during the day. Like, did you consider doing both? I did not. I had one foot out the door the entire time.

I used to drive my boss crazy once he realized what I was doing. Basically, like the big article came out in the Toronto Star and I was like on the cover of the entertainment section. And he came in the next day and like put it on my desk. I was like, what is this? What's this side hustle? This is just the thing that I'm doing. And basically what happened was I got offered the Sarah Harmer tour

across the United States all across the Midwest. And I was like, I don't have any sick days left, vacation days. I have nothing left. I have to quit. And I walked in the next day and I quit., I don't have any sick days left, vacation day, I have nothing left. I have to quit. And I walked in the next day and I quit. Did that tour and never looked back. Okay, yeah, amazing. So, you know, Good Enough Day was basically

the success of that album is what allowed you to say goodbye to money and become a poor artist, a starving artist, which by the way, I love it. Like I would always choose art, almost always choose art over the dollar bill whenever possible like that that's that's a beautiful thing man it is a beautiful thing and i can tell you working in a place where people made lots of money there's lots of unhappiness and dedicating my life to the arts i've known lots of very happy people making art

and they don't have a lot of money. It's not to say that if you don't have money that you're going to be happy because there's lots of people with money that are also happy. It's just you have to be doing it because it's something that you feel a purpose for, vocation. It's a calling, you know?

And then I think you have a charmed life. Absolutely. But you are a Canadian and you are trying to have a career in Canada and it is tough enough sledding to be a professional musician. Part of the reason so many artists come over, you've got great music but you've got

another job, is because we undervalue in this country our artists, our musicians. We most certainly do, yeah. Unless you make it elsewhere. I remember I got off stage, oddly enough, at the Alma combo. Um, and there was a woman singer songwriter named Mia Sheard,

uh, who was a huge fan of at the time. And she saw my set and came over and introduced herself. And she said, you know, you're too good. And you should, my one regret is never leaving Canada,

leave Canada, make a name elsewhere and then come back. And I was like, ha ha ha, thank you. Thank you for your advice. But I guess I loved my family too much. I couldn't imagine just taking off and leaving at the time. Especially my father. My father was kind of ill

at the time, so I stayed in Canada and made a career here, and I don't regret it. I truly don't. No regrets there either. That is an interesting question because for many an artist, the goal is to sort of get the US hit because then

that changes your bank accounts. It definitely does. It definitely does and it's not like I don't tour the world and it's not like I don't spend lots of time out of Canada. But I love this country and I'm proud to have you know the biggest stages i stand on in the world are definitely in this country

um and that means a lot to me what is by the way if you had an all-time favorite stage that you've stood on in this country i know you you know what would that stage be like your your favorite place to play it's massey mas. Massey Hall. Yeah. I've headlined there a few times now. And, um, it is just, it's a,

it's a church, you know, I was, I was fortunate to be one of the last artists to perform there before they did the renovations. And then I got to perform there again after the renovations. So I've seen both sides of it. And,

um, truthfully, it needed it. It needed it. I think they made a wise decision in, uh, doing it. Cause they, they made it even it. I think they made a wise decision in doing it because they made it even better. See, what they were able to do is, because I've been there since the reno,

and they were able to just improve but not alter the vibe of that place. Yeah, it was masterfully done. The fact that they salvaged and saved all that stained glass and just salvaged and saved the roof. I think I saw Dave Hodge himself like Windexing it and cleaning it with a napkin, I think. Yeah.

Amazing. Now, the funny thing is that we talked about Kurt Swinghammer's scathing review of the new El Macombo is his big complaint was that all the character of the place had been sanitized and clean. Like, you know, they took some Clorox and got rid of all the character. I haven't been in there,

uh, honestly since, um, probably the last time I played there, which would have been 15 years ago or something. Um, so I can't imagine, I can't imagine any other way than that,

that, that dirty weird old, like just the layout of that place. Right. Um, being on it, just, just, yeah, it was just the layout of that place. Right. Being on it. Just, yeah. It was a very, very particular room. Interesting.

Okay. All right. The concert hall has been fixed up too. I got to, I'm going there in, I think early November, but yeah, essentially when you fix up a place,

like you got to maintain the history, but just, you know, you got to bring it up up to 2023 standards or whatever. Do you remember Say What? Yeah, of course. Oh, man. When I first came to Toronto, I thought that was the coolest, greatest room,

and I wanted to play there so bad. And I was very sad when it kind of closed its music side of things, but it was a wonderful place to go see music. Oh, I love it when you name-check these places, especially defunct places. Okay. So we're going to get you up to speed here. So we're going to fast forward a little bit.

But in 2010, you released The Waiting. And I don't know what this means, but I'm going to congratulate it on it. In fact, maybe I'll give you some here. I'm going to give you, because of this accolade I'm about to share, I'm going to give you some fresh craft beer to take home with you.

Oh, amazing. Yeah, I'm a fan. Wherever you're going next. Great Lakes Brewery sent that over for you and Great Lakes has been wonderful partners with this program. If you're in Ontario, you drink Great Lakes beer.

That's just the rule here. Absolutely, yeah. And I want to shout out Palma Pasta. They make delicious pasta. They're in Mississauga and Oakville. Go to palmapasta.com. They're going to host us FOTMs at TMLX14 on December 9th at noon at Palmas kitchen,

more info to come, but they're going to be our hosts. They're going to feed everybody and it's going to be amazing. Okay. So the accolade is that iTunes Canada named you an iTunes songwriter of the year. So I don't know what that means, but I'm wondering,

did it come off a plaque or something? No, basically, I mean, at that time, obviously, uh, streaming was not

the thing it was it was itunes you purchased your music um and so to have front page uh on itunes any sort of banner mention or anything was was a huge deal so every year they would pick their songwriters their albums their whatever and itunes in canada named me one of their favorite songwriters of the year. That's a cool honor. That's awesome. Yeah. Any awareness is good. Because, you know, I was a lovely little Canadian singer-songwriter and to be named with the kind of people that were on there

was a big deal for me. And speaking of big deals, that's another Juno nomination. How many Juno nominations do you have? I am a Juno loser multiple times. You're in good company. Yes, yes. Singer, so Songwriter of the Year and Album of the Year have been my nominations.

Okay, so one day you'll win, maybe for the new album. It's an honor to be nominated. It is an honor to be nominated, 100%. You know, if you had a Juno, you'd probably wear it around your neck or something. The funny thing is, obviously, at this day and age, I know a lot of artists who have a lot of awards

in all kinds of, like from Grammys to whatever, and you go to their home, and it's usually, it's collecting dust in the corner, you know, with a box of kleenex like they don't you don't care once you have it it's a strange uh but it's a nice line in the bio i guess it's a very yeah you know award-winning songwriter and singer songwriter royal wood like we just you know a little answer to the bio although i will say there's been many as many a time where some mc on stage has said ladies and gentlemen gentlemen, Juno Award winner, Ro Wood.

And you never correct them, right? You don't embarrass them. For their sake. For their sake, I won't correct them. This is cool, I think, also. So we're in 2010 right now. We're building our way up to 2023 here. But The Waiting is the release in 2010.

And you supported David Gray on a full national tour. I did, yeah. Yeah, that was a very special time. That was my first real massive support slot, was getting that one. And David and his band, we definitely all became friends. Not so much me and David.

I could text him and that kind of thing. Would he text you back is the question eventually he's not quick to respond but he does but the rest of the band especially Robbie the bass player we stayed friends forever

and still see each other in Ireland nice that tour Canada, Europe, US that tour was Canada, what Canada, Europe, US like, uh, that, that tour was Canada.

That was, yeah, it was all, it was all big, beautiful theaters. It was my first real like taste of what that would feel like to do that. And then a few arena. And that's when,

you know, I mean, not that you doubted it for a moment, but you're like, I chose the art over maybe a bigger bank account or whatever. And look, you, you get to make a living playing these venues

around the world like to me that's that's everything yeah like you're a professional musician for goodness sake yeah i'm very very lucky definitely lucky i'd sleep in a tent to be a professional musician and many do and many do yeah um yeah i'm lucky i mean i know i am because i i started with a lot of other like-minded equally talented uh artists who've most certainly fallen away and they they don't do it anymore uh and the fact that i still get to do it is pretty special all right it's been a while since i played some royal wood music so i'm going to play another jam here but let's listen to this jam here, but let's listen to this. This room barely alive From all the ghosts we have I witness in your eyes

We may have nothing left What is the meaning of The lies we tell as truth One thing I'm certain of Is that I've little more to lose We'll be right back. Thank you. I used to feel a song on fire Now I feel heat for the truth With every flame of my desire I'm not giving up on you What do you think hearing

Not Giving Up in the headphones here? That was such an exciting time in my life. I worked with Pierre Marchand on that record. He mixed and produced a bunch of it. And he was behind all the Sarah McLachlan hits and a bunch of Rufus Wainwright. Records that I just loved as a teenager. And to finally be in the studio and work with him

and see, like, be behind the curtain, see his magic. Yeah, it was just exciting. Every day in that studio was exciting. And it was the first record that I made where I brought musicians in with me to play. So it was my band by that point, my bass drums and guitar guitar so we truly played live off the floor together as opposed to me jumping around playing all the instruments right it was a

it was like really deep cool you finally let some musicians uh play on your albums yeah exactly and it there's a power to it like you're handing the reins off to someone else and they do something that you never would have done and that's exciting as an artist. I'm pretty sure Billy Corgan played everything on Siamese Dream too. I have a memory of that. Even though he had the band, he just replaced their parts

without telling them or something? That happens. That most certainly happens. They don't always win. The band does not always win. No. Okay, look,

I love this real talk here. Loving it here. Again, another Juneau, a couple I guess. You got nominated for Adult Alternative Album of the Year. What is that? Is that like when much music introduced much more music?

Because they're like, oh, this is no longer for the kids. This is like, so your Adult Alternative Album. Yeah, it's like, well, you know, where does Brian Adams and Sarah Van Glocken and Bruce Coburn, where do they fit? And for some reason, as a 20-something year old, my music fits right alongside them. And again, it's in a headphone. I'm hearing this is like a sophisticated,

poppy, catchy, enjoyable song. And here's the big question for you, Roy. Again, this is now 2012. The album's called We Were Born to Glory. Does Canadian radio play it? Were they playing a song like this in 2012? And would they play Royal Wood today?

Like where would, in Canadian radio, is there space for Royal Wood? Well, I mean, certainly CBC has always played the hell out of my music. But it wasn't until, it wasn't until I made Forever and Ever in 2014 that Canadian radio like really started playing it. And that was, yeah, Forever and Ever was the song.

And that was like a number one, I think, at one point. You know, now that you've dropped the name Forever and Ever, of course, big Royal Wood fan. I, because I didn't load it up because I'm a terrible podcaster. This is why I don't get Juno nominations, but I do have access to YouTube. So hold on here. These two rivers meet, they run together.

I will be with you for worse or better We'll keep traveling long as the sun lasts Cause my future met and married your past When the stars fade to black I will Save Hey I wanna run with you

Hey So let them call us Fools Hey I'll sing this song to prove Forever and ever and ever Forever and ever and ever There you go, yeah.

Yeah. Okay, move over, Lumineers. We have oil in here. Are you kidding me? Come on. It's CanCon. Okay, so here's the thing. I always get frightened when I hear

Conservative Party of Canada leader Pierre Polyev talking about defunding the CBC, okay? Because what do we have here? Virgin 99.9, chum. They're not going to play a song like this. No. I mean, they did at the time, but they're certainly not going to play it now.

Listen, I think people talk about defunding public radio because they don't want public opinion. And that's just my opinion. I'm not saying that everything that CBC does is correct. I'm not saying that every mandate is correct. But I do think we need both sides of the coin to spin. And I don't just want to hear from the sun you know like i i think i think we need some uh both sides should be heard that's what i think so and

especially you know i we're in toronto right now and there's a lot of media covering activity in toronto but when you're in smaller town uh smaller places in this country. Sometimes CBC is the only journalistic outlet. It is it. That is truly. I grew up in a small town and that's all you had. And yeah, I mean, can you imagine the UK

without the BBC? Like what thinking is that? It's terrible thinking. Terrible. We actually have, so there's two public broadcasters in this province because there's CBC,

which we're talking about right now, but also we have TV Ontario, TVO, which, and those guys, I just had John Michael McGrath and Steve Paikin

were over here like maybe less than two weeks ago talking about the fact they've been on strike for like a month now and the province, the provincial government right now you might know is that doug ford's progressive conservative party they are showing

very little interest in making this strike go away apparently you know so as i told steve and john michael that uh this particular government is fine and dandy with one less uh outlet uh poking into you know green beltbelt and, you know, Ontario Place and all these different Doug Ford scandals. And they're happy to just let them sit on the sidelines as they seek a reasonable raise, basically, to match the inflation. Yeah. Yeah.

All right. Hot Top, you didn't know we were getting into the public broadcast discussion here. You know, let's talk about politics, religion, and what else. What is your religion, Mr. Wood? Let's talk about that. Okay. All right. So here.

I, you know, I'm going to play another song, and then we're going to talk about the new album. And in between, I'm going to shout out a couple of partners. But here is a song that I guess fairly recent but not the newest stuff. You're a prolific artist here

so how often are you releasing new music? I mean I was raised on the Beatles so I tried to put out something within the two year range which has occasionally

been delayed by things like I don't know a pandemic and having children. But I'm back definitely making a lot of money. They get in the way of things, man. I find, imagine what I could, I always think, what could I, I have four kids.

What could I accomplish if I didn't have any children? Just get off her, man. Well, I got a vasectomy. It's get off them, okay? Multiple, multiple women at play here. But no more, man. The store is closed. But let's, this is not done yet. Let minute play here. Gotcha, gotcha. But no more, man. The store is closed. But this is not done yet.

Let's play this. Let's play this. Is it just imagination? Is this another sad occasion for an old heart missing summer star? I got so crooked in my ways. Good times rocked and rolled away. How I miss those days. How I miss those friends I made. I still see her face The sun on my back reminds me of those lazy days Friday night we're all beat up

Remember how we used to laugh A job for just a substitute for cash Ooh, look at the lights, the sun came on Takes me back to where we were This is Royal Wood, California Dreamin' about California Nights. California Nights came out 2018, pre-pandemic. Yeah, pre-pandemic. It was the first thing I made just after my father passed away. And I'd also met my now wife, which is why I called it Ever After the Farewell. It was a farewell to my dad and Ever After with Allison.

And your first wife, a famous Canadian musician. My first wife was a famous Canadian musician, that's correct. Sarah Selene, and we split up in 2013? 2012. Been there, done that, bought the T-shirt. Yeah, yeah. Not with Sarah Selene. I am a member.

Yeah, divorce is wonderful. It's the happiest thing you can ever experience. Truthfully. I mean... No sarcasm. No, actually, no sarcasm at all. Can you imagine just staying with the person that you shouldn't be with? Now that's unhappiness.

Happiness is beyond you. No, you're right, you're right. You're like, oh, man. Well, I've lived this life. Sometimes you're with someone who you love very much and they love you very much and you got together very young and married very young and you even have children i'll be a children and then sometimes you realize that that's not your forever person absolutely very well said and you have a choice to make that's where you that's this is heavy stuff here but this is the moment where

you're like okay i can do what some guys do which is I got kids we're married which I'll just like be with the person I'm not supposed to be for the rest of my life and then some people are like short term pain for long term gain like this is gonna hurt for a while but then it's gonna get better absolutely I've just never understood the like if I mentioned from stage

that I was divorced or something and people act oh like a puppy I just said a puppy died or something, you know? Right, right. Eh, be happy for me. Be happy for someone who's happy. Right.

Okay, you found somebody who's a better match for you. I sure did, yeah. We sure are and I love my two boys more than anything in the world. Anything in the world. There's a happy,

the story's not over yet but the ending is unwritten but this is gonna have a happy ending. It's a good, we're not, the story's not over yet, but the ending is unwritten, but this is a, gonna have a happy ending. It's a good chapter right now. That's for sure. Does that change the music though?

Like I feel like bad relationships are good for music. They are. They most certainly are. Yeah, they're cathartic. No one wants happy songs from Royal Woodley.

You know, give us some sad, some sad dad songs. I'm still making the sad sack music. Don't worry. There's just a, there's just a tinge more happiness occasionally. Right.

Okay. So this song, again, California Nights. So now this is a big jam. You mentioned you loved playing Massey Hall, the cathedral, right? So this is the album that you get to tour, you headline Massey Hall with? This was the album that I headlined Massey for the first time.

That's correct, yeah. How many times have you played Massey Hall now? I've headlined twice. Okay, and you literally have an album live recording, live at Massey Hall. Yeah. You and Neil Young. The first time you're asked to headline Massey, you're like, will I get to come back?

Oh, yeah, you said it. Will I fill this place and will they be happy? We better record it to prove I was here. And we did. And thankfully, it was also full. So I got to come back. Okay, amazing. So we're going to talk about the new album.

And we're going to talk about a woman who came up in yesterday's episode of Toronto Mic'd, a world-renowned musician that you'll be touring with. So we've got lots to cover here still. But because I feel like I need a little music while I thank a few sponsors here, I'm going to play another older Royal Woods song, I'm So Glad. Okay.

So there you are. You're glad. Okay. Things are good here. This is just a little bit and then I'll bring it down and then I'll tell everybody how they can support the show. a hard way As long as I'm with you Yes, we are on our way And it might be

in harm's way But as long as I'm with you A little Elton John-y. Yeah. Do you hear it? Absolutely. A little tiny dancer. Holdy. Yeah. Do you hear it? Absolutely. A little tiny dancer. Hold me closer, Tony Danza.

100% of it. I didn't mean for it at the time. Wait, you know what's funny? I didn't notice it until right now because I'm just going to think, I'm like, oh, I'm enjoying this. I'm going to keep it going because I'm going to fade it down

and talk about some things. But I'm hearing it, and in my mind, I'm starting to hear Elton John sing Tiny Danza. Yeah. That's wild. Big time. Yeah. mind I'm starting to hear Elton John sing Tiny Dancer yeah that's wild yeah

okay were you a big Elton fan growing up I wasn't I didn't get into Elton John until much later in life obviously everyone knew and loved the hits

but I didn't deep dive his career until much much later like before the movie and stuff but basically people would reference him impress and stuff

like oh he loves Elton John and Billy Joel. I think it was kind of lazy. Like, oh, he writes a lot of songs on piano, so he must like him. Right. And it made me start to listen to him. Same reason why people reference Jackson Brown and stuff. And I had no clue what his career was like.

And now I'm a massive fan. Massive fan of Jackson Brown. This song made you a lot of money. You might have to give it all to Elton. They gotta catch me first. Alright, look. If you're not cheating, you ain't trying. Write that down.

Pumpkins After Dark, everybody. This is an award-winning Halloween event in Milton, Ontario, September 23rd through October 31st. If you buy tickets right now for Pumpkins After Dark, you'll save 15% with the promo code TOMIKE15.

T-O-M-I-K-E-1-5. Save your 15%. PumpkinsAfterDark.com. Royal Wood would have had a lot more money if he stayed on Bay Street, but you can learn how to plan, invest,

and live smarter with the Raymond James The Advantaged Investor podcast. Whether you already work with a trusted financial advisor or currently manage your own investment plans, The Advantaged Investor provides the engaging wealth information you value as you pursue your most important goals. Or you got a lot of instruments that feel like royal. You've got maybe a barn full of musical instruments.

This is just how I'm going to envision it. If you ever need to get rid of, I don't know, an old piece of electronics device, an old piece of technology, don't throw it in the garbage. Go to recyclemyelectronics.ca and find a place near you where you can drop it off and it will be properly recycled

and those chemicals will not end up in our landfill. That's what you're going to do. Shout out to Ridley Funeral Home. What did I have for you? Oh, yeah. Royal Wood. This is another porn joke. I feel like there's been enough porno jokes.

But if you need to measure anything for any reason, Ridley Funeral Home is giving you a measuring tape. So that's for you. Amazing. I'm still knee deep in renovations of the house. You never just keep it in your pocket, whip it out. Insert joke here.

Wow. This is getting sweaty in here. Okay. So thank you Ridley Funeral Home for your support. Brad Jones has an excellent podcast called Life's Undertaking, and you should subscribe and listen while you're subscribing to the advantaged investor from raymond james okay now everybody has their marching orders much love again to great lakes and to palma pasta let's play something that's super fresh and then we can compare like how has the sound evolved here's something new We'll be right back. Lightning bolt could go It was just another day Till I ran into you

It was just another day Oh, at least that's what I thought It was just another day Now look at what we've got Love could be a sweet surprise Yeah, just waiting in the wind Still we can't shift this feeling Oh, it wasn't just another day

Just another day. Just another day. We've been here before. I already knew your name. Now I sound a fool. Something has changed. At first you don't succeed. Try and try again.

One thing is for sure. It was good to play the game It was just another day Oh, at least that's what I thought It was just another day Now look at what we've got Look, it'd be a sweet surprise Yeah, we're sweeping in the wind Still again, I ship this feeling

Oh, it wasn't just another day Just another day, Royal Wood. Okay, now bury me in information. So one thing, so this is actually your new EP. That's correct, yeah. Yeah. All right.

Is this your first release post-COVID? This is my, no. I made a record called What Tomorrow Brings right during COVID but this EP

was my first foray into recording everything from the ground up myself so not only did I write that song I wrote it arranged it

engineered it produced it because I could because I was at home and had a chance to do it. And my studio was finally built. I'm actually surprised that you hadn't done that before. I feel like you're a guy who would want to control all the parts. All of those things I've done many times.

Certainly lots of the production and performance. But I've never engineered, like literally, with setting up microphones and capturing it to tape and doing all the fun stuff. Do you master it yourself? I know. I do not mix it. Is that what you call Noah Mintz and say, I need some help? Yes, 100%. Or Jorica

Vela. It was so much fun. And you know what? Because there was no one in the room at all. Right. This is a home studio. It was just unencumbered. It is every bit as good was as nice as mine Royal it is

every bit as good and as decor as yours and I mean that as a compliment it's yeah it's like this it's just

it's my little studio but you can hear so much guitar in that song and it's because no one was like yeah put that down I just kept

grabbing different guitars and doing overdubs and more parts and more parts and more parts and i loved it well that's so much that single that lead single from uh the ep just another day that song of course also called just another day everything's called just another day but uh honestly sounds amazing oh thanks that sounds big like so you you actually produced that yourself i did yeah yeah i did okay you didn't uh place a call for uh linda perry or something i did not

call linda on that one. No, no. But you have worked with Linda Perry. Yeah. Yeah. A few times now. I go down to LA a lot.

Certainly. That's a big name in the production world. Linda Perry is huge in the production world. Yeah. Everyone from like Pink to Dolly Parton to. Right. She used Four Non Blondes was her, her claim to fame.

What's going on? That's it. That's her. I can't name a second though, which is terrible. Don't tell her that. No, it's to fame. What's going on? That's it. That's her. I can't name a second though, which is terrible. Don't tell her that, okay? No, it's fine. I'm sure she would say the same thing. But as a producer, writer-producer, oh man, she's just a monster.

She's a vision question too. Adele, Alicia Keys, Christina Aguilera. These are people who didn't have to choose between art and money. They could just have both. That's correct. And she certainly has that as well. It pretty insane but here's okay so just another day i actually took a note here uh this is you know obviously available now uh but there's a tour okay i'm gonna play so last night we were kicking out angel songs this is me rob pruse and bob

and we all brought three of our favorite songs of Angel in the title. There's a lot of great songs of Angel in the title. Yeah. Do you have one? Well, I would have referenced Bonnie's for sure. Well, I mean, it's John Prine. So what I did... She does it justice. You're right. So last night, I played the John

Prine version, which comes out in 71, but then I played Bonnie's version, which comes out in 74. I didn't even discover Bonnie Raitt until late 80s i get whatever time yeah given some to talk about yeah um songwriter canadian woman just passed away by the way but eckhart but okay i'm gonna play i was gonna play so last night i played angel of montgomery by bonnie ray wow it's amazing like just just listening to it but But then I thought, just play a bit of this to talk about her. Like, I mean,

I don't know, I'm going to have you talk about Bonnie Raitt since you know the woman. When did you meet her? How did you guys end up touring together, and how is she involved in your upcoming tour? Tell me everything.

Yeah, I mean, the Coles notes is, um, touring together and how is she involved in your upcoming tour tell me everything yeah i mean the cole's notes is um bonnie's very hands-on on who opens and supports her tour and my name was put forth in 2017 for her national tour um and she chose it she she said yeah i want this guy to do it she liked the cut of your gym she liked the liked the cut of my jib. That might have been a quote. Yeah, she liked the cut of my jib. And we definitely became friends and have spoken many times since to her.

She's the kind of art, like she's just so warm and genuine and kind and she'd watch every show. She'd sit side stage with her dog and her hair in rollers and she was just in it you know um and she's been very gracious she gave a shit yeah like she has me out to shows now and she had my wife and i have to see her and james taylor and buffalo and she's just a good

she's a good person so when this tour came up now uh in 2023 um my agent immediately like let's just see if uh they'd want back. And sure enough, Bonnie said, yeah, we'd love to have you. But this means you're going to play Massey Hall again. It means I get to play Massey again, but opening for Bonnie Raitts again. And I can't wait. Like she's just,

there's very few artists, I said this the other day in an interview, there's very, very few artists that have only gotten better. And Bonnie has gotten better. Her voice is incredible. Her stage presence is incredible. Her ability on the guitar is incredible.

And she's just a powerhouse on stage. It's amazing to watch and listen to. And she has good taste in music. Very good taste in music, yeah. She keeps tapping Royal Wood on the shoulder, and we need you. I don't know if she needs me there. However. She wants you there. She does appreciate there. However, she wants you there.

She does appreciate what I do. Alright, so as we're recording, this is September 18. We're in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. You call the Kawartha's home. I see you're off to the West Coast here. I'm just looking at the tour dates you have with Bonnie Raitt. So September

22nd, you're in Penticton, British Columbia. Yep. And then you're in my wife's hometown of Edmonton, Alberta. All right. That's September 24. And then you're in Calgary, Alberta.

Then my first wife's hometown. I like the Western Canadian girls. My second wife and final wife, Ali's from Saskatoon. Okay. My first wife from Saskatoon. We've got something in common here. We like the Saskatoon girls.

Very girls. Come on, all the way. All the way. So that's September 27th. Then you're in Regina, Saskatchewan, and then you're to Winnipeg at the Bird and Cummings Theatre. Great, great, great theatre.

I love that room. And then you're back to Ontario here to... Okay, I see the name Thunder Bay, so I'm just going to shout out Bill Viggers who was my guest last week because Bill Viggers was with the

Canadian sorry the Ontario chapter of the Cancer Society and he's the one who went to Moncton where did he go

Edmundston New Brunswick when Terry Fox was doing his Marathon of Hope and he met up with Terry there and they became

quick friends and then basically once Terry had to go through Quebec, Quebec did not support this run because he didn't speak French. Like literally he was getting run off the highways running through Quebec. But once he hit the Ontario border with this guy Bill Viggers, they made this Marathon of Hope what it always should have been. And Terry got the attention he deserved. His run ends in Thunder Bay. So I see Thunder Bay, I think, and Terry got the attention he deserved as he, you know,

his, his run ends in Thunder Bay. So I see Thunder Bay. I think of Terry's. Yeah. But the bill of vigorous episode of Toronto Mike recorded last week. I did the Terry Fox run on Sunday. Listen to it to everybody.

Uh, you might not recognize this name, bill vigorous, but we chatted for an hour and bill talks about being in the van with Terry. And he talks about Terry, the human Terry was like humanizes him and it's really a beautiful thing and there's tears shed but it's a beautiful episode

but all this is a tangent because Royal Wood is in Thunder Bay on October 2nd maybe you'll check out the Terry Fox statue while you're there yeah yeah come on man very very few people in their lifetime will

accomplish what Terry Fox did in his brief time on this earth and that's commendable. No one is perfect, no one was perfect. I don't know very little about him but for that alone, the courage it took to do what he did. Without a doubt. Come on. Okay, but now that we've got you back in

Ontario, so October 5th so now here, because Toronto Mike, as you can imagine, mainly GTA listeners, but not necessarily only GTA listeners, but London, Ontario, I've decided that's close enough to be the GTA. Sorry, London, but okay, London. I love London.

London's a big deal, London. Okay, so you're at Centennial Hall on October 5th, again with Bonnie Raitt. What a great tour this is going to be, but then you're back here in the big smoke. October 6th, Massey Hall. Amazing.

Yeah. Yeah, it's going to be a good night. This, I mean, Bonnie's, she's living her best life right now. You know, this now, what, 15 Grammy nominations she has.

She had three in that last. Although it was hilarious did you see all this stuff going around where some, some reviewer or whatever said unknown blues singer steals three grammys right what is wrong and she's i think they had the same headline when she won with that uh nick of time was that the name of the album nick of time is the record and what is uh full circle for me is that the very first record i ever bought myself was Bonnie Rae, Nick of Time. And I saw her on SNL.

Wow. And I saw her something to talk about, and I heard that slide guitar. I was like, what is this? I hadn't discovered the Allman Brothers yet. I knew nothing about Dwayne Allman or any of that Southern rock. But she got me into it, like really and truly. Well, that's totally Full Circle. Does she know that story? Yeah, of course she does. I told her that right away. Does it make you feel old? It's like, like really and truly. Well, that's totally full circle. Does she know that story?

Yeah, of course she does. I told her that right away. Does it make you feel old? It's like, wait a minute here. But I am still so, so that Angel of Montgomery cover she had, I can't believe that was 74. Like it's, anyway,

what an amazing artist, but you yourself, I've thoroughly enjoyed this. How did this go for you, Royal Wood? This was great. I enjoyed it immensely and I hope to be back again and I will recommend it

to all of my friends. Well, next time you come back, will you bring a guitar? Yeah, of course. Because that's a cool thing. Like, yeah, okay. And I'm just going to brag here. I said we're going to do an hour

in three, two, one. That's an hour right there, Royal Wood. What a great hour. Thanks for doing this and making your Toronto Mike debut. My pleasure. And that. Look, Royal,

once you dive into the Toronto Mic episodes, because you're episode 1327, you're going to hear they're all ending with and that brings us to the end of our 1327th.

Is it 27 or 28? Do you know? I feel like this is important. Yeah. What number are you? Do you have any idea? I'm going to find out. Okay.

This is 28. I'm glad I found it. I did last night and then this morning and it's all a blur. Okay. This is episode 1,328. So I'm going to do that whole thing again, but I'm not going to fix it in post because that's part of the charm. And that brings us to the end of our 1,328th show.

You can follow me on Twitter. I'm at Toronto Mike. Royal is at Royal Wood. Find out what's going on with Royal Wood. Our friends at Great Lakes Brewery are at Great Lakes Beer. Palma Pasta is at Palma Pasta. Recycle My Electronics are at EPRA underscore Canada. Pumpkins After Dark, they're at Pumpkins Dark

and Ridley Funeral Home are at Ridley FH. I'll see you all next week and you guys should see Bonnie Rayett and Royal Wood here in Toronto at Massey Frickin' Hall on October 6th.

My next guest on Toronto Mic'd is going to the calendar in real time. Oh my goodness. Finally. This is amazing. Chris Tate. The real Chris Tate. There's multiple Chris Tate musicians and I thought

I was getting one Chris Tate and I got the other Chris Tate. But this is the Chris Tate and got the other Chris Tate. But this is the Chris Tate from Chalk Circle, who's here in a couple of days. See you all then. Yeah, the wind is cold, but the smell of snow won't speed a day. And your smile is fine, and it's just like mine, and it won't go away. Because everything is

Rosy and green Well I've been told That there's a sucker born Every day But I wonder who Yeah I wonder who