Toronto Mike'd: The Official Toronto Mike Podcast - Sammy Kohn Kicks Out the Jams: Toronto Mike'd #567

Episode Date: January 6, 2020

Mike catches up with Sammy Kohn before he kicks out his ten favourite Canadian jams.

KBILLY, home of rock. Welcome to episode 567 of Toronto Mic'd, a weekly podcast about anything and everything. Proudly brought to you by Great Lakes Brewery, Palma Pasta, StickerU.com, The Keitner Group, and Banjo Dunk from Whiskey Jack I'm Mike from TorontoMike.com and joining me this week to kick out the jams is Watchmen drummer Sammy Cohn Hello Mike

Happy New Year Happy New Year to you sir and welcome back Thank you, good to have me here, no it's great to be here again. Thank you. I've already started up with my, still my favorite Watchmen track. And I know you're a fan.

Yes. Big fan of this song. I think it caught me at the right point in my life, like struck a chord that hasn't stopped reverberating, as they say, but... Before we jump into it, I just have to ask, we're sort of chatting off the air, but do you always broadcast without clothes?

Just when you're on, man. It's the Sammy special. I know that's the way you like it. That's your preference. I know that you think I'm a real sweetheart. I like that callback, too. I try to use it as often as possible. Ever since I heard it was offending somebody.

I saw that thread. I was to use it as often as possible. Ever since I heard it was offending somebody. I saw that thread. I was enjoying that from the sidelines. I'm going to lean in, especially because the guys I called sweethearts that offended this gentleman was Tom Wilson and Stephen Fearing. I know all about it. You know I'm a fan. But they're sweethearts, right? They are sweethearts. And I've got to tell you, before we jump into it here,

because when we were last chatting, you wanted me to come and talk about some music and what have you. Any excuse to talk about music, I'm all over it. But the episode with Bernie Finkelstein was top five for me. Toronto mic'd. Thank you. I thought it was great. Yeah.

I went back and I, first of all, I listened to a bunch of Bruce Coburn that I hadn't heard because I am a fan, but I've never dug into the catalog. And then Lacking the Rodeo Kings. And I didn't know about Marin McLaughlin. And then he's got that book out. And I was really fascinated. He was very articulate. And it was a time in Canadian music.

And we're going to jump into lots of Canadian music soon. It was just a time that I knew very little about. And I really enjoyed it. True North Records. I want to shout out Tyler Campbell who helped me book Bernie. I wanted Bernie. Tyler made it happen. He tracked him down. He was in Prince

Edward County. It turns out, I thought Bernie was coming from Prince Edward County to do Toronto Mike and it made me feel like, oh wow! How special is this? But he actually had a condo in downtown Toronto. So he came from toronto to do toronto mike okay which is still great because it's bernie but not coming who is tyler

i don't know tyler campbell has been helping me book the odd guest he actually helped me book uh hoxley workman okay i heard that one too there's another good one oh and actually we have We have a guest in common. Well, hold on. Who's the... Danko Jones. Oh, great, great. Who's the guy we have in common? Because you have a podcast with Cam Gordon. I do, yeah.

The Completely Ignored podcast. We've been sort of on hiatus since last summer. I know we're both pretty busy, and it's kind of in the back of our minds. But if you go to iTunes, it's still there. We've done about probably 40 episodes. You were on the show. Well, I can tell you a few guests we share so danco jones was on your show yes tyler helped uh he came on this show tyler helped book him on toronto miked uh you had on uh cam's good buddy uh the legendary stew stone yes who has a great doc out

right now that i i i god what's it called i'm drawing a blank jack of all trades jack of all trades thank you i think you might have introduced me to that as well because you guys were talking about it and i didn't know about it and then i found it on netflix and i was really blown away i i really enjoyed it i think it's um it took a lot of people back back in terms of its content it's It's simply not about collecting baseball cards. It's about way more. So anyway, yeah, that was great. And that's Stu Stone.

But Danko, he was a guest too. I have a lot of respect for Danko. He's been plugging along for probably 30 years now. Do you think Danko, I got to ask you, you're a musician. Do you think Danko's found gotta ask you, you're a musician, like, do you think Danko's found that they're, not a loophole, but he found a way

to take advantage of grants and money that you can receive for going over to Europe and touring? Because Danko

said himself, he said, you know, he spends most of his tourings in Europe and he's not as well known here as he is there. That doesn't matter. No, that doesn't matter. The fact that he's got audience in Europe and he's not as well known here as he is there. That doesn't matter.

No, that doesn't matter. The fact that he's got audience in Europe and in many other countries, Canada can be irrelevant for Danko Jones and good for him. He's carved out,

from what I could see, a great career. It's the journey. It's not the destination and he's been doing it for many years. He's jumped up on stage with Motorhead

and he should be very he should be proud that guy and as far as capitalizing on grants why not I mean everybody does it

Watchmen did it I don't know anything about that no shame I just wondered if that explains the constant US touring I'm not European

sorry European touring like if maybe he's found a way to use grant money to do that is that what he does I'm sorry, European touring. Maybe he's found a way to use grant money to do that. Is that what he does? Maybe. That was certainly something that the Watchmen never did

was access grant money for touring support, but I suppose that's an option. Never too late, man. Let's hire one of those. You can hire those grant application people. The problem is we're incapable of being in a room together for more than 48 hours at a time. So touring is not an option.

Well, hey, I want to say on that note, I saw you at the Danforth Music Hall. By you, I mean the Watchmen at the Danforth Music Hall. Opening band, by the way, was Grapes of Wrath. And I thoroughly enjoyed myself. You guys sounded better than ever ever like as good as you ever sounded you guys sound honestly uh i tell everybody go see a watchman show go live and see a watchman show you guys sound great yeah thank you well you know we play infrequently but when we do, we really give it our all. And that show was, it was special.

It was a great crowd, and we paid tribute to... John Mann. John Mann, thank you. I'm a little early for me. It's okay. I couldn't remember the name Danko Jones for a moment, so we're both struggling here. But yeah, John Mann, it was a fantastic tribute.

Yeah, I'm glad you came out. Yeah, it was a lot of fun. We often have shows. It's so hard for me to concentrate when I have music in my head. Oh, I know. I can kill it. I can kill it. So just here, 10 seconds.

10 seconds of Watchmen before I kill it. Just let her rip in here. Then I'll bring it down. For sure. Just let her rip in here. They don't bring it down. Sure. She's listening to that drumming, man. Holy, what great drumming I'm hearing there. Yeah, so thank you. So yeah, Danforth was a fine show. We played more shows last year than we have

since we've sort of reformed, so to speak, in 2008 or 2009 or something. We played probably about 10 or 12 shows last year. And to have a sellout crowd in Toronto with Grapes of Wrath, we try to keep the set list fresh and updated and throw a few sort of surprises and then to keep everybody interested, including us.

So yeah, it was a good one. Well, you got to, as a band, you know, you guys have to keep the fans happy. So you got to go hard on some of those hits, like stereo, right? Like you can't skip out on any of those staples. Well, you know, I think I've mentioned this before. We don't have casual fans.

We have people who've seen us literally 40, 50, 60 times. And I'm not joking. I don't know how they do it. I mean, I don't know how they don't die of boredom, but I mean, it's important for us to keep it as fresh as we can. Certainly, there's a few songs we can't not play, but we always ensure that even one or two songs, surprisingly, can add a lot of freshness to a set. So that's something that you'll always expect at a Watchmen show. Now, you mentioned the John Mann. You kind of did it twice because there was some John Mann earlier in the show

that Danny kind of put in the middle of another song kind of during a break or something. I heard some Spirit of the West. And then you decided, and I think it was the first encore, I think you played Political, one of my favorite Spirit of the West songs. And it was really like a moment,

like just you guys were great so yeah thank you yeah well you know we kind of worked that up in Soundcheck it's a pretty

straightforward song and Danny had played it at some of those Spirit of John shows that that happen around the country or at least in Toronto

in the past so he knew the words which is kind of half the battle so we we kind of threw it together and it sounded good

and that John had passed away I think less than a week before that show so we knew we had to pay homage we've worked with him in the past so it was our pleasure okay and on a very serious tip here

what is the relationship like between you members of the Watchmen oh real talk real talk I know that you made a passing comment there but we need now we need straight up like you guys are all getting along

oh yeah yeah listen you guys go way back like you guys uh well you and danny are related yeah we're first cousins actually so listen anybody who says that there's no friction or arguments in a band it doesn't have a real band i mean we we've been together for close to 30 years and there are definitely tumultuous times, ups and downs. There's friction when we're all in a room together, hammering out ideas. But that is what amounts to what the Watchmen do. So there's no band that's perfect and we're not perfect and we have our thing and, uh, I'm super proud of it. But, you know,

to say that, do we hang out on the weekends all the time? Not really. No, but, but we communicate as best as we can. And that sometimes takes a bit of a backseat because of our personal lives and what have you.

But, uh, I'm, I'm, I don't have any issues with anybody in that band for sure. On the contrary. Well, you all like,

because you know, this is your part-time gig, right? Your side hustle, if you will, sort of like you've all got well i'm a other job i don't know if i'm allowed to mention this in your podcast i am a full-time real estate agent with forest hill real estate sammy cone.com if you're interested i don't know if you're allowed to do that but uh i'll try to create some distance between you and the kite. Or maybe you'll have to edit this thing, Mike. Never. I refuse.

Yeah, I mean, we all have other things, but it's certainly a big part of who I am to be playing music, and as we can maybe segue into some Canadian rock here. I'm a music fanatic, always have been, always will

be, and it's wonderful to have the opportunity to continue to perform together. Canadian rock here. I'm a music fanatic, always have been, always will be. And it's wonderful to have the opportunity to continue to perform together. Okay, so what we'll do is I will let people know that if they want to go back and hear the, I would call it the deep dive with Sammy Cohen from The Watchmen. That's episode 448. So just to read the description, I wrote at the time,

by the way, it was a long episode because I'm reading the description now. It said, in this 448th episode, Mike chats with the Watchmen's Sammy Cohen about the most underrated band in Canadian music history. I believe I gave you that moniker. That's my humble opinion, most underrated band in Canadian music history.

Dubious honor, but why not? But yeah, that's not to say you're not rated high. I know it sounds like, oh, because people think you're junk and you're actually really good. It just means you, I don't know say you're not rated high i know it sounds like oh because people think you're junk and you're actually really good it just means you i don't know why you're not up there with for example blue rodeo like why the hell not well i mean there's no there's no catalog there we've got six records we put out and um yeah i i i kind of know what you mean we don't have to explore all that you're just describing the last episode go Go back, listen to it. It's a good episode.

My wife still teases me because she's like, I said to her on the weekend, I'm going to speak to Mike again. And she's like, is that the guy who you spoke to for like three hours last time? Okay, so it was two hours and 31 minutes.

And I don't, other than, sometimes, of course, other than the Mark Wiseblood 1236 episodes, other than those, and other than live recordings at Tmlx events i don't ever go two and a half hours like we must uh hit it off we hit it off i listen i think it's safe to say we did and uh and it was a great chat and but but it's funny because literally my wife when she did

need to clarify she she only got through about half an hour of that and and and she loves you she does and she i started to tease her and say you never even listened to that podcast i was proud of that it was a good it's good you did you know nice editing on the fly and we incorporated some songs and but it was just too long but you know it's listen it's i i love podcasts and there's many instances where i'll listen to a half an hour i would like somebody get my car i'll listen to another bit so it's it's worth it yeah i mean i'm of the opinion that if it's good stuff i like it that it's two and a half hours if it's good stuff like i like a lot of a good thing and don't like a lot of a bad thing okay so speaking of good things uh i also want to tell people if they want more watchman talk your cousin danny graves came over for episode

473 mike chats of danny graves lead singer and co-founder of the Watchmen about his career in music a nice simple description I wrote and that one was only two hours and one minute so a half an hour less than yours but your cousin Danny was fantastic like I almost got a feeling from him that he was almost a little bit like

embarrassed by the the praise I was heaping upon him like he just like like like he you know he's just like he was just a regular guy and i'm like now with a voice like that and the hits that you guys wrote you're not a regular guy well i mean he's a regular guy but but the truth is none of us really live in in this world where we go to radio stations every day and we're doing this full time and we're trying to sort of push things forward on a regular basis so it's sometimes it's a bit uh we i know i can only speak for myself but when i from time to time somebody be like hey i

love your band you know they recognize me from something or other and i am kind of taking it back because it's just not where my head is at right um so anyway um thank you for for you so those are two episodes and again uh did you ever like do you and cam have plans to do another you call them seasons i noticed but another season of your what's your podcast called again it's called the completely ignored podcast and it's on itunes it's uh we've we what we do is we speak to people who we uh know love and respect in the music industry, either musicians or broadcast people like yourself, whatever, podcasters, and we ask them to sort of pick an album that they sort of can't live without, sort of a kind of a desert island disc.

And we dive deep into that for half an hour. Typically, we end up talking about the band almost more than the album, but Cam is a real music aficionado, and we learned that quickly when we were working together years ago and uh yeah we'll do it again i last we were texting back and forth maybe about a month ago he said he was sort of had something cooking that that uh prevented him from um doing that podcast that i don't know much about huh so um but we'll see it we'll probably hopefully we'll do another one this year but but it's actually, as you know,

better than anybody, I'm sure, because this is your thing. It's a lot of work putting it together. I just remembered another shared guest that I enjoyed on your program, Davnet Doyle. Love Dav. Yeah. Great, talented East coaster. Yeah, she was great.

I really enjoyed her bit with you as well. And she's out there right now talking about her, I guess, not sobriety, but her kind of drive. Sort of, though. Yeah, like sobriety. I'd say she doesn't drink anymore. I'm not a drinker either. And that was something I stopped about six years ago. Okay, I'm taking this back then.

The Great Lakes Brewery. Yeah, you can. I mean, you can give it to me and you can mention it, but I'll take a second lasagna maybe or something. If only I could do that. Now, here's what I can do for you here, since we brought it up here. I'll give you the six-pack of Great Lakes Brewery, because you have friends, right? And people drop by.

Nobody you know drinks craft beer. Honestly, it's a much-coveted fridge space. Okay, good. No, this is good, because I'm going to drink your six pack of craft beer. I'll give it back to you. You can have it, Mike. I want you to drink this. Sammy, my favorite.

No, I'm going to have you on more often. Every time you come on, I get a six pack of Great Lakes. Anyway, that was great. She was very candid and I think she's very talented and sweetheart. So that was a good one. Another guest we had in common,

she talked about, about Lucinda Williams, Car Wheels on a Gravel Road, which is a great album, so. Now, funny, funnily enough, Davna Doyle is actually coming here this week, not for another appearance on Toronto Mic'd, but she's going to be a guest on Ralph Ben-Murgy's new podcast, Not That Kind of Rabbi, with Ralph Ben-Murgy, and they, Not That Kind of Rabbi with Ralph Ben-Murgy. And they're going to have a one-on-one discussion about spirituality for an hour. And that'll be part of the new Ralph Ben-Murgy podcast, which everybody should subscribe to

because the first episode is going to drop on Thursday morning. So go to your podcast machine and search for Not That Kind of Rabbi with Ralph Ben-Murgy. And yeah, Davnet Doyle. I think she'd be fantastic on that show. She's so well-spoken and smart and interesting.

I really, really, really liked her. And I met her for the first time when she came on. And 90 minutes later, I'm like, wow, I totally dig what Dav is all about here. Well, it's your work too. You listen and you ask good questions. And so you guys made a connection. We made a connection. And she's coming over this week. dab is all about here well that's your work too you're you listen and you ask good questions and so that's uh you guys made a connection so we made a connection and she's coming over this this week

here so uh shout out i want to shout somebody out here uh lisa uh levy or levy l-e-v-y yeah eugene levy that's levy so i'm gonna go with levy here. Lisa Levy created Banjo-Dunk's fantastic poster, which is, if you're watching on Periscope, it's right here. In fact, there's a really cool Banjo-Dunk caricature that Lisa's husband designed. His name is John May, and he owns Heroic TV. So thank you, Lisa and John, for the very cool poster. And here's a message from Banjo Dunk.

Duncan Fremlin here. You know me as Banjo Dunk. And on April 16th, 2020, I'll be bringing my band Whiskey Jack to Zoomer Hall in Liberty Village to host the 7th annual Stompin' Tom birthday celebration. This is the highlight of the year for our touring show, Stories and Songs of Stompin' Tom. This year, we'll be joined by FOTM and Funny Man Sean Cullen, as well as Great Big Sea's Murray Foster. More guests will be announced soon. The show will be broadcast live on Robbie Lane's nightly show on AM 740 and 96.7 FM.

It'll also be streamed on the internet. But there's nothing quite like being part of the crowd when everyone stands to sing what is clearly our national anthem the hockey song it's not a large theater folks so get your tickets early go to hello out there.ca and click on show to buy your tickets we'll see you april 16th you're not supposed to be crazy to write songs like that but it helps a hell of a lot. Was there ever a Watchmen Stompin' Tom bill? Never. Never? Not a No Canada Day festival? I don't think so.

There might have been. I don't think so, though. That's too bad that you can't put that on your CV. Played with Stompin' Tom. Not on the CV. I certainly heard him at many hockey games, but yeah. I heard him at the World Junior Game yesterday. Did you watch the canada russia game i did not i did not you had uh other things to do my house it's a boring story i'm dealing with an insurance claim right now so that is boring yeah

you want to have your you want to have your listeners turn this thing off well here then skip that story you missed a great game we got the gold medal spoiler alert okay you finally this is a big moment uh i've had a note to like drop these off or get these to you for like some time now but then i knew you were eventually because you were going to come over in december i think right and we had to postpone it or whatever so you need your toronto mic stickers from sticker you.com and here they, they're here for you, Sammy. Yeah, they're great. I like them. Yeah, this is, I like stickers.

They're kind of retro and fun. And I remember you brought these to the podcast that we did. So yeah, they're great. Thank you. Sticker you.com. And you didn't get one. I did not. Maybe I didn't.

Did I not bring you one? I can't remember. Anyways, Cam took yours. Aren't there a few different? Is this the only one? Is there another one Aren't there a few different, is this the only one? Is there another one? There's a few different ones, actually. There's one that's got more white around it, so it's like a more white,

and this one's cut closer to the... All right, we'll take one of each. But I can, before you leave, I'll get you one of the other kind. That's good. For sure, for sure. So thank you, StickerU. A quick note from StickerU,

I was actually talking to Laura today, and the big news there is on just on january 30th which is a thursday night sticker you is launching a sticker museum and permanent sticker art exhibition at sticker you the store that's at 677 queen west and that we're hoping will be the location of the next tmlx so tmlx6 will be at uh 677 queen west so check out the new this is january 30th that this museum opens and you mentioned lasagna in my freezer upstairs is a large frozen lasagna for you sammy courtesy of palma pasta excellent and have you had one in the past yeah Yeah, it's funny because you gave me one last time, a meat lasagna, and I think I ate it that night with my family. I brought it over. We didn't have anything set up and it was thawing in my car on the way home and it was excellent.

Really, really good. Yeah. So looking forward to the next one. Yeah, well, you got it. You got one for sure. Everyone's happy. Thank you, Palma Pasta, for sending over the lasagna for sure. Everyone's happy. Thank you, Palma Pasta for sending over the lasagna for Sammy. And I want to thank our newest sponsor on Toronto Mic. It is the Keitner Group. And we're going to start a little segment called Toronto Real Estate Minute with Austin Keitner of the Keitner Group at Keller Williams. Austin's a great guy. And we're looking for questions about Toronto real estate. Any questions you have, if any FOTM out there has a question for Austin from the Keitner Group, DM it to me on Twitter. I'm at Toronto Mike.

You got a question, Sammy? Sammy thinks there's a conflict of interest, but Sammy, you know how it works. Send the questions my way. Send the questions to Toronto Mike, not Sammy, and then Austin will address them. More editing required here. I refuse.

Darn, you're going to see how far you can push it before I end up pressing the edit button. You want real talk, Mike. You got it. Austin, great guy, and KiteNer Group are fantastic people. They sponsor the real talk here. Sammy, you could have stepped up. How come Sammy Cohen didn't step up? You never asked. Is that how it works?

People got to knock on my door and say, please take my money. Any questions for the kaitner group send them to me by email if you like mike at toronto mike.com i understand we're kicking out jams here sammy but give us the rules like what not just your 10 favorite songs of all time there's something uh specific in the criteria here yeah i mean well you asked me last time we're here you said you can come and kick out the jams and i asked you what that's all about you mentioned your 10 some of your favorite songs maybe 10 favorite songs and i just that's an impossible thing with me because that is going

to literally change on a weekly basis so i thought i'd sort of narrow the scope a bit and find 10 important canadian songs that we can discuss and i also thought it'd be helpful and provide some color to consider that I don't have a sort of a guilty pleasure rule in my world. I love lots of different types of stuff and some of these songs might be considered to some people very uncool. But I just think a great song is a great song

and I'll tell you why I picked these 10 songs. There's a variety of different reasons. I tried to sort of tie them into relationships I've had with my instrument, with drumming and with the Watchmen, with the band and some stuff I currently listen to. But most importantly, it's all Canadian. So hopefully your listeners will enjoy some of the stuff. Some of the younger people probably won't even know of some of the stuff, but that's my preamble.

When I heard you were going to kick out your Canadian favorites, there's a jam I was looking for in your list that did not appear. And I'm just going to play a little bit of it and you can maybe explain how was it omitted? Where was this jam, Sammy? I know this. Oh, this is... Yes.

I know Cam, for example, our mutual friend Cam Gordon, will be disappointed. Where was the Doug and the Slugs on your list? Just don't meet the criteria, Mike. You know, it's interesting because the first few seconds of that song, it sounds like sort of German rock or something. Play it again.

Play the first few seconds because up until everything kicks in, it's got a really dark feel to it. But that's pretty... It could be like Rammstein or something. This sounds cool, right? You think, oh, it's cool jam coming up. What's going on here?

It's ominous. And then all of a sudden, sudden it's not but maybe now you're turning around like maybe you realize oh maybe this is a good song maybe day by day it's a good song it's a good song that's good so cam you have to add a little sort of uh context here cam and i joke about dug in the slugs for one reason or another no disrespect to these guys i mean they were a popular west Coast band, and we played with them years ago. And I don't really know their music outside of a couple of hits,

but three big radio hits in this market anyways. Day by day, making it work, and... There's another big one. In fact, let's get it before we move on because it's going to drive me crazy. Too Bad. Yeah, okay, okay. It's too bad that you're not as smart as you thought you were

in the first place too bad I just have very clear memories of making the video for making it work it was very sort of literal and a guy who literally can't make it work and it was just a little cheesy but again no disrespect

so you mentioned the beginning of that uh day by day by doug and the slugs reminded you it could be something else and i had a moment so my my wife likes to just play spotify playlists like so we have a little google mini in the kitchen and it's playing music randomly and my thing which she loves she doesn't really love this but i love that i do i love that she doesn't love it but i will try to name the song, name that tune within like five seconds. Like I'll hear five seconds on, I'll go, that's whatever by whatever.

So if it's a hit, usually I can get it. The other day a song comes on and like in the first five seconds, I scream out, oh, that's U2, Angel of Harlem. Like, yeah, cause I knew it. I could, it was like, I was- Guitar intro, I know the song, yeah, yeah. It was Bob Dylan's... Guitar intro. I know the song. Yeah, yeah.

It was Bob Dylan's Like a Rolling Stone. So I was... Very quickly I realized, oh my God, that's Bob Dylan's Rolling Stone. And I was sure after five seconds

it was Angel of Harlem by U2. And this is the first time in my life I realized, I didn't realize it until this moment, which happened on the weekend, that the opening

of those two songs are very similar. I don't know if I agree. I'm going to have to call you on that. Do I have to play these for you? One of them has a wild organ intro. One of them is exclusively guitar. And so I hate to be that guy.

Do we have time? It only took me four seconds here because I'm just going to go to YouTube here. You can get all your listeners to agree with me. Sure, go ahead. Angel of Harlem, hold on. Maybe the same chord structure. So we're on YouTube now.? Sure, go ahead. Angel of Harlem. Hold on. Maybe the same chord structure. So we're on YouTube now.

So I'm going to play Angel of Harlem now. Okay. All right. That's Angel of Harlem. Heavy tambourine. I'll give you that. Brass. Lots of brass.

Okay, so that was, you know what that was. Now here. This is Bob Dylan. Remember, I hadn't heard either song in quite a while. Yeah. It's closer than you thought. It's close. It's close. Okay, I closer than you thought. It's close. It's close.

Okay, I'll give you that. One song is just a stone cold classic and the other one was a band at probably their lowest ebb. But they had that great choir version of Where the Streets Have No Name on that rattle and hum, I remember. Okay, which is, I still dig that.

But, okay, so more similar than you thought, but let's get to the Sammy Cone jams here. And here's your first jam. Oh, isn't that groove? So good. This is the edited version. There are lots of versions flying around. I wasn't sure.

This one, this is Running Back to Saskatoon by The Guess Who, but there's a version that kicks off. It's got about three minutes of harmonica intro that Burton Cummings does, and it just winds this groove over and over again and chugs on that intro this one kicks into the course about 15 seconds this is the radio edit yeah for sure is it because these guys are from winnipeg well i'll tell you why so it needs to be all gone because i i maybe i will i know i know keep every once in a while somebody comes on who simply can't they they don't like any music under them and i'm respectful of that so if you say uh bring it all the way down i'm happy to do it bring it maybe i see the problem

is i have like the attention span of a gerbil so i when i hear the music that i love i it's hard for me to continue to articulate so um I picked that song because, yes, wouldn't pick Connection for sure, but it was a really, really cool period for me in terms of what the Guess Who were doing. They were kind of in their kind of hippie-ish period. It was the days were long gone in terms of the very earnest, these eyes, no time,

like the cliche sort of hits that certainly one could have picked if they were looking at the Guess Who. But they recorded this, I think it's called live of the paramount in seattle and the album just sounds great it's just a beautiful live recording and i think there's a lot of myth to this record i think the bass player i think i read they had two nights they're recording he was just so um wasted or something or hung over or something on the first night. They couldn't get any proper tracks. And so that intrigued me a bit. And it's just this song in particular

I love because it's just so Canadian and he's cross-referencing so many sort of prairie rock. Edison hat. Yeah, exactly. Phrases. And it also kind of reminds me, and this is a bit of a stretch here.

Work with me here. It reminds me of the hip. And I'll tell you why. Because it chugs along and it doesn't have many chord changes. It's mid-tempo. The groove is something that Johnny Faye from the hip would play.

If you listen... Can I bring it a little bit up just to hear a bit of it? Bring it up a bit. Like a so hard done by kind of... Yeah, just two guitars, left speaker, right speaker. This is a chorus. The hip don't have a lot of choruses, frankly,

but the fact that it just kind of chugs along at a mid-tempo rate with a very simple drum feel, and of course the Canadian content is very hip too. Yes. I don't know, maybe get your listeners to weigh in with their opinions i just piano is certainly not tragically but some burden coming so again they were bearded and they they had the days were long gone of, again, the earnest, and what's the song now? Lee's Eyes.

Right. They were kind of a weathered season road band at this point. And it was a very prolific period for the Guess Who at that time. Here's the end. So yeah, it's a great song. Great album. so yeah it's a great song great album inspired choice too because uh you know somebody's gonna pick a great uh you know a song by uh uh guess who the guess who i was gonna call him the grateful dead i'm like we know this is not the great that the guess who they might go with something like

even like a share the land or something or no sugar tonight or exactly yeah this is not a cliche guess who song and i know it it stood the test of time one more point uh about this i i i don't love live albums but if you go back this one just it just sounds really it sounds like glenn johns recorded it or something with like one or two mics it's just really nicely recorded and when they did a guess who in, I think it was early 2000 or something, with Randy back in the band, it was the first time in many years, they opened their sets with this song. And Randy had not been a part of the band

when they composed this song and released it. And I thought that is a real sort of testament to the fact that it's a great song. If Randy, who I understand is pretty picky about these sorts of things, actually performed this track and they opened with it and Burton did that big, crazy intro on it was just it's just a great groove so on that note the um the watchmen have only ever recorded one album without sammy cone correct how many

typically and i think i know the answer but how many songs from that album might make it into a live set in 2019 or uh let me think maybe three or four oh that many okay i would guess like uh maybe is it absolutely any time is that's one of them like that's the one you'd think might make it in but yeah there's holiday we do that we've kind of reworked them holidays on that album isn't okay they're all yeah they replaced you with like a drum machine or something computers or something you're stirring shit right now. I know you are. But you quit, according to you, right? You quit.

Let's not go down that rabbit hole. There's something there. Yeah, there's different memories. Don't pull at this thread, Mike, even though you want to. No, it's fine. I don't mind talking about it. Listen, the album to me was a little bit unfinished.

I've said it on record before, and the versions we're doing now are superior to me than what's on that album um but uh that's kind of neither here nor there it's uh there's some great songs on that album here's a great song oh yeah kind of headphones are these can you say that okay it's not too much of a plug for your uh no i don't those ones are these? Can you say that? Okay. Is that too much of a plug for your... No, I don't...

Those ones are actually... The ones you're wearing, I can't remember. I just picked them up like maybe six weeks ago because I have these long corded ones that I have from when I first launched the studio and then one of them broke and I picked these up. They're Sony something or other. I can't remember.

I have to check my receipt. I don't know. Sound good. I know you're liking this, Michael. I am. I'm not going to bring, Michael. I am. I'm not going to bring it down until I get to the chorus. Don't you dare. Woo! So hot tonight But where will it be tomorrow? It is hot tonight So hot tonight

But where will it be tomorrow? Okay, before you tell us why you love this song, you're a baseball fan at all? Blue Jay fan? Not huge, no. Okay, well, Barry Davis, do you know this name? If you're not a Jays fan, you might not know the name Barry Davis,

but Barry Davis came over to kick out the jams, and this was one of his jams. Oh, really? Yeah. Okay, great. So tell us. Well, okay, so you remember my preamble about guilty pleasures.

Some people might not think Loverboy are the coolest, but I absolutely love their sort of opening statement, debut, self-titled Loverboy album with this song. It opens the album. And this one is particularly of interest to me and has stuck with me over the years. to me and has stuck with me over the years. I have a very, very clear memory of being a kid when I was probably 10 years old, 11 years old with my first set of drums playing along to this song with headphones with a Sony Walkman. My mom had brought me the tape and this song came on and I instinctively felt like I could maneuver this song on a drum kit. It's got a real sort of four-in-the-floor, basic sort of beat. Again, it sort of chugs along in sort of a mid-tempo. But I was able to sort of play along with this song,

and I remember being very proud of that. And there was actually, I have a funny story about a drum teacher I used to have when I was a young kid, about 10 or 11, and I never used to want to play in front of him. His name was Jim Thompson. He's a Winnipeg guy. And he was very talented.

He used to play all over the city with different pickup bands. And I was sort of intimidated by his talent and sort of just starting off as a drummer. I never used to want to actually sort of lay down a groove and show him what I could do. He was my teacher for probably a year. So here's the point. One afternoon, he was set to come and give me a drum lesson it was about two o'clock or something i

had my headphones on i was playing along to the kid is playing along to the kid is hot tonight and i finished the song and my door opens and he had been standing outside my door for about five minutes listening to me play this song wow and um and he said that's amazing that's fantastic what are you playing what is that and and and so it just kind of stuck in my mind as being kind of an important song and comes up on the shuffle when i'm running and i turn it up and and matt fernette is a great drummer this band i think a lot of some of the members were street heart another another sort of um canadian band and mike mike reno um at the time was this skinny, sexy dude.

And a real sweetheart, if you will, Mike. Real sweetheart. You know, you're telling the story and so much of music is the fact that it's like a time machine, right? Like when you hear this song now, you're that young guy of the drum kit. That's you, man.

That takes you right back. What, you know, that's amazing. That's like the power of music. And, you know, you mentioned this, the loyalists will come, the Watchmen loyalists who come out

to all those shows. They've been to 60, 70 shows. You know what they're doing, right? They're all back in high school again, back in college again. You know, there's another band

I like to go see all the time for the same reason, Lowest of the Low and the Watchmen and all these bands from this era of my life. I love to go see them live. Wait, what's the Lowest of the low and the Watchmen and all these bands from this era of my life. I love to go see.

Wait, what's that? What's the band called? Did you see that tweet from Lawrence? I did. I thought it was very funny. Very funny. Shout out to,

uh, to Lawrence. Hello Lawrence. Uh, but yeah, it's like, it's a time machine, man.

How else are you going to be back in high school? There's no other way. Yeah, no, I fully agree. So that, that one made my list. It's a DeLorean.

Okay. Let's kick out another jam. You know this one, Mike? Of course. Fresh as a daisy. Oh, this sounds really good in the headphones. I haven't heard it in a while. That's great.

It's like you're listening to CFNY in the mid-80s. Great time for Canadian music. Oh yeah, you were in Winnipeg. You didn't get CFNY. I knew what they were doing, though. You could sense it almost. It was an important time. Do you remember the station you would listen to in Winnipeg that would play a jam like this? Probably 92 City FM. That was the big FM radio station. So that's Martha and the Muffins, of course.

Yeah, that's, that one struck me at a time when I was sort of discovering what it meant to be listening to cool music. I'm putting air quotes. It was a veritable new wave

at the time. Right. I'm not sure if that term has a veritable new wave at the time. I'm not sure if that term has been used, but I mean, we can take credit for it. New wave. So it was, that was kind of what I think a worldwide smash, Echo Beach. And another sort of reference

to what I was doing musically when I was, I think, probably a teenager, I did this song in a cover band, one of my early bands. We played this song. I remember learning it, performing it, and it holds up. It's a great little lick at the beginning.

It's got wonderful sort of sax on it and great vocal line, great, great. Memorable lyrics, right? Yeah, sort of mysterious. And it's, I love it. I loved 80s Canadian rock. It was the sort of basic videos that would often accompany these songs.

What are your thoughts on The Spoons? Love The Spoons. I could have put a song by The Spoons on this list for sure. The same sort of circa as Martha and the Muffins. They have another song called Dance Park which I was going to put on there as well.

I don't know if you know that one. Do you know Dance Park? Was it? Because I know they changed their name, right? Martha and the Muffins. I think they moved it to Eminem or something.

Oh yeah, the Black Stations, White Stations, tear down the door now baby. Baby. This is 1984. I remember liking that they dropped the year in the lyrics, so I would never have to forget what year that song came out.

I don't know. Blackstations, Whitestations, I think. Was there a big, much music hit? They had a song, another song that I absolutely love. I don't know that one, but there's a song in an album called Dance Park. Okay. And it's got a very,

I don't know if you could pull that up with ease. It's not. Well, I'll go to you. And if it's on YouTube, I can pull it up. Yeah. It's like one word dance, D-A-N-S-E-P-A-R-K or something. It's like it's misspelt, but it's got a great guitar riff at the beginning and sort of a funky little sort of sax section.

And it sounds like, it just sounds like absolute Canadian new wave to me. Like listen to the drum machine right here. Talk about the spoons. Oh, it sounds a bit like Give me a kiss. I wanna know just what you need. Yeah, Teenage Wasteland.

Listen to that guitar. That jerky sort of... Oh, in great Toronto scenes I saw the old English sign that's that was a staple i've seen the old english sign near the cne there oh look at this old toronto views i'm looking at the youtube video 1983 yeah that's like a no wave

Gang of Four like guitar riff there that's absolutely ahead of its time and you're right they misspelled it twice right because it's S

and there's a C in part right wow okay cool and that black station's white since we're doing this real quick here and your wife will be upset if this is less

than two hours, but Black... We need to give her more content not to listen to. Okay, so this is the same band. They were called different names. I know this is on YouTube. It's credited to Martha and the Muffins,

but they were calling themselves something else. Wasn't it Eminem? Yeah, Eminem. Why would they do that? I bet your record company said you'll sell more records if you call yourself Eminem. That's my guess. They were ahead of the curve then.

Eminem, not the rap artist, but literally Eminem like the candy. Right. Like Martha and Muffins. Yeah, this is less interesting to me. This sounds like any 80s song. Okay. Well, we never got to the chorus, Sammy.

You can't never. You must have been told you don't judge a song until you get through that. You don't judge a song by its verse. Anyway. It still sounds good. Like, my ears respond well to this type of production. And it is a... What's this one called, Mike?

It's called Black Stations, White Stations. And we'll give it, like, ten more seconds, and it'll kill her dead. Yeah, I don't know this one. Black Stations, White Stations Break down the door with a set foot Stand up and play some music. This is my DNA.

That's cool. And now that I think, it wasn't even, I think it was like a, I would hear it, I think it was like Toronto Rocks or Video Hits or one of those two shows I used to watch on weeknights. Okay, so let's get back to the Sammy jams. And, oh yeah, you know what, by the way, a lot of feels in a lot of your songs, they bring me right back, including this one. So good. Another vintage drum machine at use here.

one two three four it could only be from one era when it sounds like this yep So I love the way you've got the drum machine here and then right here the acoustic drums kick in right here. Right here. Bang. Bang. I want you to see if you're real Is it nothing but something I feel Will my heart take the strain

Or will it break down again It's like a danger You've got the eyes of a stranger Sammy, are these one-hit wonders the Piolos? Because I can't name another

Piololas song. They had other hits. They had a song that I could have put on this list called Where Is This Love? Where is this love that comes from above? Where is this love? It's on an album called Hammer on a Drum. I loved and love their Piolas very much.

They represented, again, a gateway for me to a&m slash irs records which is digging kind of nerdy deep here do it there's a lot of nerds listening yeah i know there are a few for sure but but they they at one time they're on a label called irs which was owned by the drummer uh uh the uh sorry stew Stuart Copeland's brother, Miles Copeland, who was kind of a legend in the early 80s. And he ran a label, the Go-Go's,

the Police, the Cramps, Oingo Boingo. Sorry, did I unplug myself here, Mike? No. I think The Fall put out an album on this. And so the Pales

had a record out on IRS. This was A&M. It's an album called No Stranger to Danger. But I just, again, it opened up a lot of doors for me this band but I just they wrote great songs and actually a story we the Watchmen

played uh at the Horseshoe must have been maybe 1990 or something and we opened up for Paul Hyde from the Paolas it was probably a Tuesday night or something. And I remember being excited to meet him. And he was not that friendly. And in hindsight, I would imagine that it was a tough time for him. He was playing a club, a small club in Toronto in front of maybe a couple hundred people maximum. His former colleague, what's his name? The producer who was also in the Paolasos uh who produced metallica and produced why am i drawing a blank god damn um bob rock of course uh bob rock was ascending by the day in

terms of his career and uh you know i'm totally projecting i don't know what he was thinking of course but it was uh he was again not that friendly but he was great and i remember going up to him and telling him how much i loved his band the paolos and he was, again, not that friendly, but he was great. And I remember going up to him and telling him how much I loved his band, the Paolos, and he was polite, not overly enthusiastic. But anyway, great band, still love this song. It was also in a great movie called Valley Girl. Remember the movie Valley Girl? I remember the song.

Yeah, the song was in Valley Girl. And it's featured in a couple of key scenes. It's an early Nick Cage movie. Was he still Nick Coppola? As a matter of fact, he wasn't. It's funny you mention that because I was just reading about this. And I think it might have been his first movie that he was credited as Nicolas Cage. Because in Fast Times at Ridgemont High, Nick Cage shows up, but he's credited as Nick Coppola.

That's right. That's right. You're absolutely right. So go see Valley Girl. It's a fantastic movie with an even better soundtrack. And, uh, eyes of a stranger was,

was on there. And I, I, I have a place in my heart for these guys. Well, this jam you chose, I, uh,

eyes of a stranger is, uh, like can't that's can con royalty as far as I'm concerned. Like when they literally, when they, cause I bought it when it came out, but they put together the bot Juno people put out the old canada box set yeah like the definitive canadian uh singles or whatever that was on the list that the martha and the muffins track was on

that list as well bona fide 80s smashes you know i i i feel like at that time when the labels were not handing out record deals like they were in the 90s, like Candy, it was harder to get attention. Videos were just sort of taking shape. And I don't know a lot about that decade other than the fact that it seemed like it was harder to access and get attention in terms of what you were what you were doing musically as a band i i didn't i didn't know much about the pales i knew that

they were from out west i knew that they were in soundtracks in and amongst um um international bands so that was an immediate stamp of of cool right and um they just intrigued me for for some reason and uh sorry my phone is going off here um so and i still love that song very much when people come up to you and say uh oh i love your band and do you remember like to be nice and appreciative always oh absolutely i mean i've had instances where I've met people who I really respect and they've been less than kind. I met David Byrne once in New York and he totally, totally snubbed me. But he's probably, I don't know if he's on the spectrum, there's something there. Maybe. Some social issues. wife and and it was on the same day i met the drummer for the strokes who was it was the opposite i was he was with his grandfather and we had his grandfather took me took a photo of of his name

is fabrizio moretti we took a picture of fab moretti and my wife his grandfather took it and i told him how proud he should be of his grandson and he said oh i am absolutely my fabrizio and then but david burn was uh i saw him at a cross uh section he was at a at a light uh with his bike and i said to him hey i just looked and he was right there and i loved your music and and he didn't respond and i thought i gave him the benefit of the doubt said again maybe a little quieter i love your music and he just didn't want to make eye contact and uh so that stuff sticks with you you know so there's no doubt in my mind if anybody comes to me and says they listen to what we're doing, I'm absolutely grateful and appreciative.

Because you don't want them to come on some podcast and talk about the time they met the drummer from The Watchmen and he was a dick. Well, it's not a calculated move. I know what you're saying, but I'm genuinely appreciative. So it's not hard for me to fake it. Maybe when we were in the heart of it day after day, you know, maybe if you had a bad conversation with your girlfriend or wife or something,

you know, you take it out on a sad little fan or something, but never what I did, Mike. Always about board. Here's another great Canadian jam. Oh, yeah. Oh yeah We can go where we want to Places they will never find And we can act like we come from out of this world We don't need no one far behind We can dance Safety dance

Stop dancing, Mike. Stop dancing. It's impossible not to sing along to the safety dance. Another song that brings back serious memory. I don't know if anybody really cares about this. I mean, when I was a kid at camp, I throw on a Sony Walkman once again, and I had one tape one summer. It was called Rhythm of Youth, and it was the debut. And it has some, I know that album, and this was the first song. I'm pretty sure it's called R of youth and um it's a great quirky little pop song i mean i don't know anything about this band they were kind of a

mystery they wrote almost almost like childlike pop goes the world sort of right i remember that one yeah kid songs and i think i'm friends with a singer on facebook or something i get kind of geeky with these people who were making music that was important to me before i was in a band but but this was not, like, you know, we talk about some Canadian hits that were literally like hits in Canada only, but this song was like,

the Americans were enjoying the safety dance. Yes, I think so, yeah. Because I saw Jimmy Fallon once did, I believe it was Jimmy Fallon, but I mean, I've seen Americans kind of spoof this and go with it. So I know it's definitely a hit beyond our borders.

I'd be very curious to know if I'd hope that the singer earns a living from this song in the event that it does get played worldwide still. It was just, I didn't know it at the time, but it's sort of bona fide electro pop. Some bands we're going to get into somebody later who I feel is representing electronic pop right now. But this comes up on a playlist I have.

My kids always ask me why I have a running playlist on my Spotify called Running Electric. But I say, kids, it's called Running Eclectic. And it's about a thousand songs. And it's beyond eclectic. We go from Judas Priest to Klezmir to Men Without Hats. And this is on it. So it's, again, it's a great little song and great melody and it's pure electronica and I love it.

I could run to this. Let's let it wrap up here. There you go. Nice. Yeah, that's another monster jam there. Again, no guilty pleasures, remember? Men Without Hats are not a name-dropping, best of 2019-list type of band.

Critical Darlings. But it's good music. You made a remark when you were telling that story. You were telling us, I can't remember, when you were telling a story just a moment ago and you said, I don't know if anyone cares, oh, at camp with your Sony Walkman, which I think the whole point of

kicking out the jams is that you tell the Sammy story about being at camp with the Sony Walkman and we the listeners, we can totally relate to that. We all have kind of our own version of that. Like it might not have been summer camp, but I mean, I have my own version of like when i had that one cassette and i had i had uh the clash is london calling and my sony walkman for i think it was like four or five months without

ever taking it out like just just and i mean i have i remember public enemies it takes a nation of millions to hold us back same deal like there are these examples of your sony walkman memories and you hear a jam from that era and you're right back there with your sony walkman on it's uh it's like i said man it's magic we love those stories and i'm excited to play this next jam because there is a member of this band who is sat in the very seat you sit in right now and i regard it as an fotm So let's kick this out. Who is on your show? Andy Mays, The one and only.

I was recently at a Dave Hodge event for the reporters at the Paradise Theater, and I met Andy there as well. He's a big... Nice guy. He's a good friend of Dave's. But this, as I told Andy, and as I told you, you have all uncovered. This song we're listening to right now is stunning. Nice choice.

It could be my favorite single ever created in this country. And that's not hyperbole. I could listen to this song over and over again. I could listen to it, and when it ends, I could put it at the beginning, and it would still give me goosebumps. The harmonies, the layers of harmonies at the end, the quality of Andy's voice, the melody, the beat. He's using something called blastics, the acoustic instruments. These guys were alt-country Americana, if you will, before that existed, before there was a genre. And you want to talk about the most underrated band in Canada, Mike.

You might be right. I think they're fantastic. You know, another memory with these guys, the Watchmen used to come to Toronto and open up for bands who were based out of the city to try to get some traction. We were based out of Winnipeg. We'd come here for a month or two and play on Tuesdays at Lee's Palace or something.

And we often played with the Sky Diggers. And they seemed like elder statesmen to us. They knew something we didn't know. They were using just acoustic instruments. They had this record out. I think it was an indie deal at the time. I don't remember the labels. A small Canadian label that put this out.

And it's on their debut. That's the one of Penny Moore is on there as well. No, that's the next one. Penny Moore might have been, yeah, it's the one right after this. But this one's got Monday Morning on it. It opens with Monday Morning and we don't talk much anymore. I think they lost the masters. I think this is the big thing is they got some record got Monday Morning on it. It opens with Monday Morning and We Don't Talk Much Anymore.

I think they lost the masters. I think this is the big thing is they got some record company deal. They got screwed out where they lost the masters. Wouldn't surprise me. I think I... Yeah, it doesn't surprise me

because I think they might have re-recorded some of the songs on this album. But there's a song called We Don't Talk Much Anymore. You know that one? Yes, yes, yes. Andy and the boys played with The Watchmen last Winnipeg last,

last, last November in Winnipeg. And I saw Andy from afar and I walked up to him and I said, we don't talk much anymore. And it was kind of funny, but, uh, I love that song.

I always will. He, they played it in Winnipeg. They kind of reworked it a bit. And I was at the side of the stage and I said to Andy, after I said, still love that song. It's a great song. And, um, it played it in Winnipeg. They kind of reworked it a bit, and I was at the side of the stage, and I said to Andy after, I said, I still love that song. It's a great song,

and it gives me shivers. It's a beautiful, beautiful song. I think you've convinced me that you're right. This is the most underappreciated band in Canada. I think so. You sold me. And the fact that... Oh, this part too. Listen to all those voices.

Pete Cash, the drummer. There's many, many layers of... It's very R.E.M., kind of pilgrimage-ish. That thing I thought should live Oh, you never know How it'll end And change me again This song should be re-released. And it holds up. You know, Peter went and put a band together

with his brother called the Cash Brothers. They have a song called Nebraska. You know that one? No. Seek that out. They put a record out. It's just called the Cash Brothers. And they have a single

that i think made some headway in the states it's called nebraska and it's also kind of on this level and i'm not just sort of blowing smoke here the fact that there became a genre that was that was called alt country uh when wilco formed a band out of the ashes of Uncle Tupelo. And Blue Rody are in there too. Skydiggers are right in there, and they just never got that credit. It was, I'm sure, you know, management, labels, whatever. There's a whole story there.

There is a story. Yeah. And Andy does tell, and yeah. And there's, if you remember when the Tragically Hip played on Saturday Night Live. Of course. You might recall Gore dropping a couple of lines from Penny Moore. Oh, did he really? Yeah.

In Nautical Disaster? Yeah, I'm trying to remember if he does it off the top, but my memory's foggy right now. But yeah, he definitely drops a line from Penny Moore. Yeah, in I think it's Nautical Disaster. Because everybody knew. They did race to an article disaster. But yes, because I asked Andy how he felt at home watching and hearing that. Yeah, and he was honored.

Well, everybody knew to instinctively respect those guys because they were great songwriters. And it was almost like people just knew that maybe they wouldn't break into a wider audience people who were you know success guilt was happening maybe or something i it's one of those stories they slipped through the cracks as far as i'm concerned so if i could draw attention and shine a light on on that album that band in any way i can i'm gonna do so right thank you for doing that and if if you can catch the Christmas shows, they do, usually it's at the Horseshoe Tavern.

The Horseshoe, like just before Christmas, has a Sky Diggers show or two. And if you can catch one of those, I caught one a couple of winters ago with my wife and they're, yeah, they're full value, man. That's a good time. Well, we have the same booking agent as the Sky Diggers, the Watchmen.

So that's why they played with us last november and it was funny because andy came and did a an rem song with us on stage he did a song called driver eight which an early rem song and we're all like little sort of school kids when he came to the sound check i don't think we didn't really want to admit it to each other but we were genuinely excited to have andy on stage with us i don't know if he liked the song or what. We just said, we know this one R.A.M. song and we emailed him a week before, can you come and play with us?

And he did his thing, did his Andy Mays thing and it was a thrill for me. Your first clue that Andy is a sweetheart, as we say, is that he came all the way over here just like yourself and came down in this basement and let me ask him all my pestering, annoying questions for 90 minutes. That's your first your first sign that hey this guy might be decent yeah that's well you know your stuff mike it's a pleasure it's a pleasure to talk to you well i'm honored to talk to you sammy and this next i'm going to play another a short a very short

uh short song by a great canadian band but a member of this band has also been down in this basement, so let's go. One, two, three, four. I forgot about this. We could make it like we never met Keep in mind that you'll never hear the end of it You know this one, right? I couldn't, you know, I thought I knew all my Sloan. I'm a big Sloan guy. I just saw them.

Like, in the last month, I saw them at the Phoenix. But I couldn't remember this one. And it's like a minute and a half long. We saw on that album that they had that there was about 20 songs on it. It was like a double album. I forget the name of the album. But it opened the album. Again, short song, quick to the point.

They all sing. But insanely short. It's all right. No, it's all right, except it leaves you wanting more, I guess. That's the idea. Tell us why this particular Sloan jam. Well, because just digging a little deeper, maybe I'm just recognizing how much I enjoy this band

and what they did, what they do. I have piles of respect for any band that's been together for 30 years off and on. I know how hard that is. Right. And they have done that successfully early on. I always, truth be told,

kind of envy these guys in terms of how they approached what they were doing. They seem to sort of have a good sense of how to make things really interesting for for their fans uh with you know you pick your favorite sloan member you know four guys on four different covers of chart magazine or here's a reissue of twice removed with an extra disc and outtakes and murder records and very very creative videos artwork artwork. Their artwork was stellar. And I always, it was around the time when the Watchmen were sort of ascending and I would often sort of cross-reference

what we were doing with what they were doing. They were on the same, they were on MCA at the time as were we in the early 90s. And I'll admit it, there was just a bit of envy in terms of how they approached things. They seemed to really know what they were doing. I especially liked the fact that, and I said earlier, that you could sort of

pick your favorite Sloan member like Kiss or like the Beatles, which is, sorry, go ahead. I was going to say, like you guys, though, they're a Halifax band that realized if they were going to make it, they had to come here kind of deal. And you guys at some point reached the same conclusion well i mean yeah sure i mean we never moved here i think they moved here from what i understand but okay so you didn't you never moved here when you were active for that the first we were we we had an agent early on who said you guys might want to move to toronto and we we uh said no

we had families and girlfriends and it didn't appeal to any of us to relocate but we definitely spent lots and lots of time here. Months and months at a time. So 75% of you live here now? Is that right? That's right. And one member lives out close to Peterborough. We're all in the same province.

Is that Ken who lives out? Yeah. But yeah so these guys did everything right right uh as far as uh their career another underrated band uh and i think maybe they're you could look back and think it's hard to sell a band that doesn't have one lead singer and there's a few things that it was a disservice to them and from a marketing perspective um that they were so eclectic, but they always were interesting and super creative. And I said it before, I love the fact that you could pick your favorite Sloan member.

Do you have a favorite Sloan member? I knew you were going to ask that. They had an identity. And I don't know if you know what I mean by that, but at a time in the 90s when there was a selection, and not present company included, of sort of rock bands, grungy rock bands, groove rock bands, Sloan were not that band.

They were heavily influenced by the Beatles. They wrote really great pop songs. And they created a bit of an identity for themselves, a clear, cool little identity. and they created a bit of an identity for themselves, a clear, cool little identity. And so as far as a favorite member, I think it's usually Chris's songs that I like the best, but they've all had good songs and there's a lot there to dig your teeth into.

And this song, Flying High Again, was on an album and again, the's escaping me but it was sort of a double album and i thought oh again they're doing it they're doing something cool they're putting out a double record it's got a song that has or album rather it's got 20 north of 20 songs or something and um yeah check it out and uh it's a great song great way to open an album with a little sort of minute and a half. I love Sloan. What's the album called? Never Hear the End of It. Never Hear the End of It.

There you go. Great title for, they had great titles for their albums. I mean, they just. Right, one chord to another. You're right, yeah. Somebody in that band really knew what they were doing. Somebody in that band,

I think it's probably Jay Ferguson, he knows his rock history. And I feel like, not to brag, I feel like I know my rock history a little bit too. And I saw the touchstones and what they were influenced by and what they were doing. And they did it with a fresh take.

And they still do. So they're on this list. Long may they run. Yeah, you got it. Ooh, what's this? Now, I'm trying to think what version it is. I know what it is, except I pulled it from my personal collection. Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah, got it, got it.

We're moving into the 2000s here. That sounds great. Arcade Fire. Great. Arcade Fire. Yeah, I just noticed it's in chronological order. I just noticed that. Yes, you start with the guess who.

Try to. Notice that the beat kind of makes you move. So this is Arcade Fire. It's an album called Reflector. It's a song called Reflector. We can get to the chorus and all. I'll bring it down and then I'll bring it. Okay.

We'll keep it up. Let it ride, Mike. Let it ride. Now he says it. I've been trying to let it ride. I know. I need your stories more than I need the, people can hear the jams anywhere, but they can only hear Sammy right here, right now.

This change here is cool. Now, not all this band is Canadian. It's a Canadian band, but he's American, right? Is he? I think he is. She's from Montreal. I thought they were primarily Montreal-based. Yes, they're Montreal-based for sure,

but I believe he emigrated here. You could be right. I think you're right. But these guys are on this list. Wynn Butler, his name is. That's right. He's a good basketball player. I keep seeing him at those NBA All-Star games when they have the celebrities go in.

I see him in all those. He's like seven feet tall or something. His brother plays in the band too. So here's a band that were kind of rammed down everybody's throats in 2000, 2002 or something, maybe a little later. Yeah, The Power's Out, Neighborhood 3, The Power's Out, that out, Funeral. Funeral, yeah. everybody's throats in 2000 2002 or something maybe a little later yeah uh the power's out neighborhood three the power's out that at funeral funeral yeah and um i didn't get it i didn't

understand it i'm like what is the big deal with these guys and i'm immediately skeptical when i have a a company sort of forcing me to listen and to pay attention to something i need to sort of discover it and i'm on my own for the most part and they are getting attention worldwide british magazines that they're the second coming the best things and to me they're this sort of bizarre looking kind of dexys midnight runners overall wearing kind of old instruments you listen to funeral hurdy-gurdy yeah i did. I did. I did. I just didn't see what the big deal was. I wasn't offended by what they were doing,

but I didn't. And then they had a few albums after this one, Neon Bible. I didn't hear Neon Bible, but then I heard The Suburbs. And okay, starting to hear some songs here. This is cool. And then they put Reflector out

and they made what I think was a calculated move to start some songs here. Like this is, this is, this is cool. And then they put reflector out and they made what I think was a calculated move to start incorporating dance beats. Cause if you look into that, I said, listen to the tempo. Cause it's a dance tempo. Like you could hear that in a club. And it's got the length of a club jam, right?

Like this song here, at least the version I'm listening to now, is about seven and a half minutes. Yeah. So it opens with that sort of noisy intro, and then it kicks off with a drum beat, and then you can hear congas. So what Winn Butler was doing, for lack of a better word, he was incorporating sort of sexiness

into what the Arcade Fire were doing. Because let's be honest, before this album, that wasn't there. And they brought that in. They brought sexy beats, sexy tempos. And sorry for lack of a better adjective, but that's when I started to get really interested on this album. That's fascinating because most people heard Funeral and felt like it was the best thing since sliced bread.

Including me, who if you told me now, and I've never kicked out the jams, but if I ever kicked out the jams, there would be a song from Funeral probably in my top 10 songs. Is that of Wake Up? Yeah, that's the jam. Wake Up's great. Wake Up's great.

I saw U2 and they opened their show with Wake Up. That was their intro music. And it was really powerful. Wake Up was great. David Bowie played wake up with them and some right some awards some fashion thing or something like that that was the best song that they ever had at that time but they just stepped it up uh in terms of their appeal to me when they incorporated dance beats and they were just way more interesting and they put an album called

what's it called every day now or something they put a record out a few years ago that sort of followed that thread they're continuing to do that um the the dance beat um feel so yeah i i the whole record's great our reflector is a great album and they're canadian and it came out this decade we're getting even more recent now. Here's some more Canadian music. You know these guys? Of course. Yeah. And from more than the Lego songs, which is popular in this house. So that's, what a great song. What a great pop song.

Tegan and Sarah. Yes. I mean, that sounds like it could be the safety dance. Same production value. Vocals really loud. Super melodic. Yes. I mean, that sounds like it could be the safety dance. Same production value. Vocals really loud, super melodic, all electronic instruments for the most part. So I'm tying it back to safety dance. This is not something I thought through before I got here,

but when I'm thinking about it, this is a band, to me, I wanted to incorporate some sort of more recent stuff in my list for you. I remember seeing these guys probably over 20 years ago at the Rivoli and they were just an acoustic duo and they still, there was a germ of an idea there. They were kind of sarcastic and cute and funny

and you could see that there was something going on there and sort of, again, to me, it wasn't until a few years ago when they started getting really poppy and incorporating um electronic instruments so they became something that was of interest to me they were sort of more of an acoustic act i think for the first while and then they sort of tapped into the lgbt community and their twins and and i was just thinking what is it about these guys that that i like or what i

think responds um or or resonates with people? They have something. They've got something unique. They're identical twins. And that's what it takes these days, I think, is just to have some sort of a twist. It's always the case, been the case, but these guys have a few levers that they've been pulling that really allow them to be an interesting band right now. Maybe it helps you cut through the noise maybe, like if there's a lot. Yeah, maybe. Yeah. So I just, I didn't pay attention to these guys for a long time. They

were putting albums out, but then I heard a couple of dance mixes. There's a song called Closer that they have that there's, if you go on Spotify, there's a dance mix of this song called Closer that's also great. So, and I know know that they're i think they're working with warner music canada in canada other other labels outside of this country but they incorporated a book like a memoir with their last release that i thought was a good idea and you know this day and age you've got to be sort of different and interesting when you're putting an album out you can't just throw it up on itunes and for the best, right? So, but there, there, there's something I listened to a lot of these days, these guys, Tegan and Sarah.

Any new music from the Watchmen, uh, in her future? Nothing planned. Yeah. It's, uh, we've talked about it at length and, uh, we just have to figure out a few things. Uh, it sort of harkens back to the point that when we get back into our lives it just becomes difficult to coordinate schedules and uh and get that motivation i think it's a different level of of maybe intimacy that maybe we're not there yet or something to be in a room together and be creative you have to be pretty vulnerable to do that okay one more real talk question here before we kick out your final jams.

Any possibility at all of getting some members, as many as possible, of the Watchmen to play TMLX7 in June? Listen, if you got 100 grand kicking around, is that all it costs? Because Great Lakes will pony that up. Yeah, I don't know what's involved. I know you have those, but let's talk offline.

We'll have to talk offline. Negotiations have begun. I have people you can speak to. How about that? Do you have people? Oh, yeah. My person is Jake Gold. You ever heard of him?

No, I'm just kidding. I've heard of him. I joke. He's a good man. I can't afford Jake Gold. Okay, let's kick out your final jam in my secret life

in my secret life in my secret life In my secret life In my secret life I saw you this morning You were moving so fast. Can't seem to loosen my grip. Sounds so good.

Down the path. And I miss you so much. There's no one in sight And we're still making love In my secret land In my secret land I smile when I'm angry I cheat and I lie The one and only.

The only person who could say the word making love in a song and have you take him seriously. Seriously, the gravita, like the heft when Leonard Cohen... Do you know this album by any chance? This song or... I know the song, but I haven't dove into this album yet. The production is superb

and that's all electronic instruments too, now that I look at it. That's not an acoustic drum kit. But I love..., but I love, listen, I love Leonard Cohn. There's been much written about how wonderful he is and how big of a gap everyone's feeling and seeing now that he's passed away.

But to me, what's really cool about Leonard, if I may speak to him on a first name basis or refer to him as Leonard Lenny, his music was getting better as, as he got older, which is kind of an anomaly. Usually you come out of the gates with some music as a band or a performer,

and it's good and it's strong. You're developing and you're building and you're growing and you're learning and you come at, you peak with, with your statement, your, your hotel, California,

and then it kind of drops off a cliff. But with Leonard Cohn, it was at the time that this album came out, 10 new songs, 2001. He, he, he had a series of albums after that popular problems, old ideas, dear Heather, you want a darker, he was, he was doing the best work of his life. Uh, I would, I would argue, I mean, I loved his early So Long Marianne, Hallelujah, Nylon String Leonard, Sensitive Guy, Poet Guy. I love that stuff. But how many bands can you say that about,

that they're music or artists? That's a great question. Because you're right, typically the creative peak is either, like when the members are in their 20s or 30s, this is the creative peak of a typical it's very canadian i mean joni mitchell continues to she hasn't put a record in ages but she put good stuff out when she was probably in her 60s well neil young as well neil's on that list an american named bob dylan put out some amazing stuff in his uh 50s yeah and yeah i think it's let's let's take credit for that here in canada neil

gordon lightfoot joni gordon gordon's had some ups and downs but um neil but bid leonard is the absolute sort of quintessential artist as far as a guy who had his last gasp was some of his best work and it started with this album i love his titles too. 10 new songs, five new songs, new songs, old songs. And, um, cause they were, he just was sort of making light of the fact that an album title is just a banal thing,

right? That really nobody should care, but 10 new songs. I mean, that's the name of this album and that's, that's genius, but it's, but the music aside is what sort of mattered.

This album start to finish is real thing of mattered. This album's start to finish is a real thing of beauty. What got me thinking about Leonard again is because there's sort of a posthumous album out right now that his son put together called, I think it's called something Last Dance or something. Adam Cohen. Adam Cohen. And Adam, it's called uh something last dance or something adam cohen adam cohen and adam uh it's not uncommon miles davis did it and uh who else john lennon with free as a bird you know you put albums out based on demo tracks that were done oh sure yeah and it's happened a million times for tupac shakur for example yeah yeah i think i heard a podcast

with with adam saying that he would get his father to speak to a click track because he knew that, Leonard knew that he was dying and he knew that he wanted to put an album out with these kind of remaining tracks and he sort of instructed Adam. I shouldn't, not going to quote

anybody or anything, this is what I understand happened is he gave Adam the sort of like the the reins to put together this last bit of music on this last album he did um and from what i understand it's very good but my point is i haven't heard it it's sort of reminding me that that leonard has been putting out some really great albums over the past uh 20 years now sammy you were so amazing today kicking out these 10 canCon jams. That was fun. I enjoyed it so much. I have an extra gift for you here. Oh, wow. This is courtesy of the Electric City Candle

Company. These are special needs adults who sell candles in order to help finance their hockey league. Let me just tell the listeners that if they go to electric city candles.com, they can buy these candles. And if they go to electric city, special needs, hockey.com, they can learn more about the, the hockey league. I know right now they've been,

uh, this was ready for you before the holidays because you were going to come in in December. So I held onto it knowing you were eventually going to get your butt over here. They were fun. I'm sure they still are, but they were fundraising to buy a used van

to help with the players' travels. So enjoy those scented candles from Electric City Candle Company. Very cool. Electric City Candle. Okay. Thank you for that. Here's your favorite band of all time. I'm surprised I didn't hear any Bleed a Little Wild tonight or anything on your list. Next time.

Next time. Hello, Lawrence. For the record, I am a fan. That's on the record now. That's the only edit I'm going to make in this episode. And that brings us to the end of our 567th show. You can follow me on Twitter. I'm at Toronto Mike.

Now, Sammy, how can we follow you on Twitter? Thanks for asking. At Sammy Cohn. S-A-M-M-Y-K-O-H-N. At Sammy Cohn. Our friends at Great Lakes Brewery are at Great Lakes Beer. Palma Pasta is at Palma Pasta. Sticker U is at Sticker U.

The Keitner Group are at keitnergroup.com. Keitner is K-E-I-T-N-E-R, keitnergroup.com. And Banjo Dunk is at Banjo Dunk with a C. See you all next week. Thanks, Mike. and drink some goodness from a tin cause my UI check has just come in where you've been because everything This podcast has been produced by TMDS

and accelerated by Roam Phone. Roam Phone brings you the most reliable virtual phone service to run your business and protect your home number from unwanted calls. Visit RomePhone.ca to get started.