Toronto Mike'd: The Official Toronto Mike Podcast - Shawn William Clarke: Toronto Mike'd #1461

Episode Date: March 28, 2024

In this 1461st episode of Toronto Mike'd, Mike chats with Shawn William Clarke about his new music while he kicks out his favourite songs by fellow FOTMs. Toronto Mike'd is proudly brought to you by Great Lakes Brewery, Palma Pasta, Ridley Funeral Home, The Advantaged Investor podcast from Raymond James Canada, The Toronto Maple Leafs Baseball Team and RecycleMyElectronics.ca. If you would like to support the show, we do have partner opportunities available. Please email Toronto Mike at [e-mail]

Welcome to Episode 1461 of Toronto Mic'd. Proudly brought to you by Great Lakes Brewery. A fiercely independent craft brewery who believes in supporting communities, good times and brewing amazing beer. Order online for free local home delivery in the GTA. Palma pasta enjoy the taste of fresh homemade Italian pasta and entrees from Palma pasta in Mississauga and Oakville. The Toronto Maple Leafs baseball team the best baseball in the city outside the dome with Rod Black's mustache returning for the home opener at Christie Pitts on May 12th. RecycleMyElectronics.ca committing to our planet's future means properly

recycling our electronics of the past. The Advantage'd Investor podcast from Raymond James Canada 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, returning to Toronto Miked is Sean William Clark. Welcome back, Sean. Hey, thank you for having me back. It's really fun to be down here again.

It's been way too long. I said this to you before we pressed record. It has been six years since you've been in this basement. Six years. Isn't that amazing? Yeah, where has the time gone? I know. And I gotta ask you about William, okay? Because sometimes you're Sean Clark with an E. Correct. Always with an E. But not like, because Wendell Clark has no E, but you've got the E. And sometimes you're Sean William Clark. What's your preference? Well, Sean William Clark sort of became my stage name years ago when I was trying to not be, I don't know, you know, but there was a period where a lot of songwriters took these kind of

names like, I don't know, the forests of Saskatchewan or something ridiculous like that, you know? Right. And it's just like one guy with an acoustic guitar. So I just decided to use my full name once and I like the forest of Saskatchewan. Yeah, is that available? That's it? Um, yeah, I think so. Yeah, you got a So, okay, call them Sean Clark call them Sean William Clark just don't call them late for dinner exactly. Yeah, okay So in February 2018 you made your debut and we did something at the time I had never done before I think you're the first guy who made his debut and kicked out the jams in the same episode I don't think I'd ever done that before and that's why that episode went two hours

So if people want to hear like the Sean William Clark bio about your career in music And then your ten favorite songs. They won episode 308. So you were 308 and now you're back for 1461. That's wild, man. That is wild. And I was looking back, you know, I was checking up on that and I listened to that episode and I was somewhat embarrassed by my speaking skills.

Well, listen, how do you think, I'm afraid to listen back to episodes that are six years. I didn't know what I was somewhat embarrassed by my speaking skills. Well, listen, how do you think? I'm afraid to listen back to episodes that are six years. I didn't know what I was doing. Some say I don't know what I'm doing now, but at least I put some reps in. I can't imagine how bad I sounded back then. You sounded great. Yeah, you're a natural, I think.

Well, takes one to know one. Thanks. But that's one thing I thought was really crazy was that it was 306 did you say 300 and 308 308 and you're you're way ahead of that now So we got some catching up to do you have new music. I have questions I even have some non music questions for you, but you're gonna kick out I'm gonna let the listenership know that this is kind of a cool thing. We're gonna do you're gonna kick out the FOTM jams, so that's like your ten choice jams. Maybe I can call them your 10 favourite songs by people who

have appeared on Toronto mic'd as a guest. Yeah. Yeah. You've had, you've had some really, really wonderful guests on your podcast and, and my list when I went looking through it to see who I wanted to talk about. And my list, when I went looking through it to see who I wanted to talk about, and my list was about 25 people long at first, so I had to shave it down and it was tough, very tough. And I like your choices because you kind of go off the beaten path on a lot of these. Like you could have done, I don't know, you could have done, guess who, and the tragically hip and bare naked ladies, and you could kind of roll like that

But I kind of dig what you did which is there are some mainstream artists, but some big artists But there are also some kind of cool lesser appreciated songs There's one gentleman I'm very glad to see on this list and I can't wait to talk to you about these songs as we as we roll through them So I'm gonna start with your first jam sure chat with you about it. And then of course, we're going to play some new Sean William Clark. I was listening. You know, when we kicked out the, we kicked out the Autumn jams once on, I think it was a pandemic Friday, and I kicked out one of your songs. I think you're a hauntingly beautiful singer songwriter. Oh, thank you. Yeah, I think you you kicked out Ottoman New Brunswick from beautiful song

Yeah, thank you so much And I'm listening to the new songs because I'm and these are only available for pre-order right now, right? Like people can go to your band camp site and pre-order. Yep. They can pre-order it digitally or on LP or CD all the while that's kind of it actually I was gonna say all the dead media But I didn't make any eight tracks or no eight tracks. No People do like to buy the vinyl though. You got any vine. Yeah. Yeah sure do yeah I am I always I always make vinyl even though it's it just basically means I don't eat for months because it's so expensive to make them but and I and I always do it because I like to see my records like the spine of

my records in between like Elvis Costello and the Constantines or something. Right. Amazing. OK, let's start with your FOTM jams and then we'll weave in your own music. We got some catching up to do. But I have one question before I press play right here. Sean and that's S-H-A-W-N. I've had a run lately of Sean's that are S-E-A-N, but let's we confuse these two. Sean, are you ready to kick out the FOTM jams? I am very ready. Let's do this. Sugar, oh sugar sugar You are my candy girl

And you got me wanting you I just can't believe the loveliness of loving you I just can't believe it's true I just can't believe the wonder of this feeling too I just can't believe it's true Ah sugar Oh honey, honey You are my candy girl

And they got me wanting you The Archies! Archie Andrews is an FOTM. Talk to me about Sugar Sugar. Oh man, what a... I think this might be one of the best pop songs ever written and it's so concise. It's under three minutes, which all good pop songs should be. It starts with the chorus, it's telling you right away what the song's about, the lyrics are simple, but still has this kind of meaning that you kind of understand when you're young, you know? That kind of like naive idea of love. Right. Yeah. And I just, yeah, and I've always loved this song for different reasons.

And, you know, when I was a kid, it was just fun, silly stuff. And now it's just, I marvel in its pop perfection. This is going to sound silly, I think, but who, who's on vocals here? This is, we're not listening to Andy Kim, right? That's not his voice. That's correct. You know, it's funny, I knew that Andy wasn't the lead on this. I think he's singing backgrounds, right?

Right. And do you know who the- Jeff Berry? Jeff Berry, I don't know. Well, Jeff Berry and Andy Kim, they write this together, sugar sugar. But I will, and I'll do a little dig in here to see who is, because obviously this is a cartoon, right? So I'm saying- Yeah, exactly. That's not Archie Andrews. So yeah, you know, it's funny, my, my,

I was wondering, so actually it might come up right here. Sorry, there's a, there's two points where two, where the female voices sing. And I was having this conversation with my partner about whether which one's Betty and which one's Veronica, right? Oh, that's that's a great conversation You have like like can you hear the blonde and versus hear the brunette and she says that the first one the low Register one is Veronica. I would go with that. Yeah, she says it's more sultry You know that kind of sexy Veronica thing and the the higher one is Betty because it's kind of cutesy and I can buy that.

I can buy that. I think she's a wise, wise woman. Okay. For sure. Now, before I dive into your second jam, so shout out to FOTM Andy Kim who's represented on that jam. this. These fleeting moments when I am at ease I listen to the cars pass Squirrels are chasing in the grass Church is letting out from Sunday mass

And I'm thinking of my family The ones who mean the most to me Generations weighing on our minds Interrupted by a blue jay Interrupted by a blue jay they're literally gonna have first pitch at 410 today. They'll be interrupting us maybe okay now This is the song is called Tall Trees. Correct, yeah. And this new album from yours, which I'm, like, that's seven years since, so the last time you visited was because you had new music then, I suppose, and you have new music now.

So it's been seven years since you put out a studio album. Correct, yeah. Yeah, I released some little kind of projects during the pandemic, which were kind of keep myself sane projects. Right. And I learned a lot doing that. And it was just time to finally put these extra songs I had together and make an album with some friends. And yeah. You want to name check any of those friends? Oh, well, we went up to Gravenhurst, as I've done in the past, to record with Rob Currie.

Well, we went up to Gravenhurst, as I've done in the past, to record with Rob Curry. Curry's music is a little slice of heaven up in cottage country. If you're ever up that way, you have to stop in. They have lots of great records, guitars, antiques, clothes, and a little recording studio. So it's a wonderful place. Sounds like heaven, man. Yeah. And then we got Claire, Coopland, and Sarah Hiltz singing with me on this song, and their harmonies are wonderful. And we'll talk a little more about this new album as we kick out these FOTM jams,

but I want to give the title of the new album is Softer Scissors. Soft scissors wouldn't be very effective, right? No, they wouldn't. It was the name come from like, I don't know, an auditory hallucination or something where I don't know if that's the right term for it, where I had heard something that I'd recorded backwards, like very Led Zeppelin, right? And it sounded like I said softer scissors. And then I couldn't get that phrase out of my mind.

And I started thinking about like, post pandemic, pandemic you know treating yourself a little kinder and it feels like softer scissors is kind of a way of saying that. Well we're gonna let you roll us into your second champion. Okay. Summer leaves as heavy wooden fingers, maparoni Oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, Please go away Girl has found another And gone away With her with my future My life filled with the gloom Day after day

I stay locked up in my room I know that you might sound strange, but I wish it would rain. I wish that it would rain. Oh, so badly, I want to go outside. But everybody knows that I'm not alone. Oh, so badly, I wanna go outside But everybody knows that a girl ain't supposed to cry You see, I gotta cry, cause crying eases my pain I wish she had some pain. Do you know this is the third episode in March in which this song was played?

Are you kidding? Really? Wow. What a song though. Well, because the first time I played it in March was when Jay Douglas himself was sitting here. What an honor to get to talk to Jay Douglas. Third visit and love it.

That's the closest I'm going to get to going to church is sitting down with Jay. It's amazing. Oh, to talk to Jay Douglas. Third visit and love it. It's like, that's the closest I'm gonna get to going to church is sitting down with Jay. It's amazing. Oh, you gotta crank this part. The horns, this is the best part of the song. ["The Cougars"] The Cougars! What a, wow, like production, production, production, production.

Those horns come so hot, they're so high in the mix and I think it's a testament to, you know, I'm just guessing here, this kind of maybe a lower fidelity production that was done because I imagine this was recorded here in Toronto or in Montreal's, do you know? I believe it's here, you know, I have the story recorded I just can't recall it exactly but I believe it was recorded here in Toronto. Yeah, and it's got this kind of like low-fi thing which I Think it's what really works for me. I think if that was produced, you know, I mean, it's a temptation song, right? So the temptation song is great, but it's missing that that kind of edge that this version has

right and Man, I just grew I can't help but groove when the songs on it's a great song The Cougars with Jay Douglas and I'm trying to remember the woman's name. Do you remember the woman's name? sure I'll dig it up. But yeah, but I love that the two singers I love how they use the two singers in the song. They go back and forth on the vocals and then they do these wonderful harmonies. Yeah, it's a real highlight.

Are you familiar with the Jamaica to Toronto compilation? Because I had the guy who put that together here. That was the other time I played this very song. Oh wow. Yeah. Kevin James Howes is his name. And the compilation is called Jamaica to Toronto, soul funk at reggae 1967 and 1974. And this song is on there. So yeah, you're, you're literally the third guest in March, 2024 that required me to play this exact gem from the Cougars. That is something and I can see

why and the B-side to this is really great too there's an instrumental tune on there. What's it called? I can't remember but anyways but that comp is amazing I remember that comp when it came out I never I was never able to get my own copy of it and I haven't been able to find it. I've been looking for a while so I'd love to find it. Well I could hook you up with Kevin I bet you. That would be amazing. I would love to get it. That's Light in the Attic I think. Light in the Attic. Light in the Attic has some of the best compilations ever like that's one there's a really great indigenous musician. That's also Kevin. You've got to listen to

Kevin James. I'm gonna listen to that now, yeah. Cause he put that one together too. Cause that one's amazing. That one's, the indigenous one's great. And you did a Willie Dunn. There's a Willie Dunn. Oh that Willie Dunn double album's great. He did that as well. They also have one of my favorites from Light in the Attic was one they did on New Age music.

That sounds like it might not be that great, but it's wonderful selection of music All right, we're gonna dive into your third jam by way. Did you want to crack open? So do I ever you have hop pop? That's a non alcoholic beverage from Great Lakes Brewery a lot of people say hey Mike Do they have any non alcoholic beer? So they don't currently offer non alcoholic beer, but they absolutely offer a non alcoholic beverage And Shawn's gonna crack that right in front of the mic. Here we go.

Okay enjoy and let me know uh let me know how that tastes uh I I think it's delicious but let's hear what you think. That's Great Lakes Brewery that sent that over. Now you will you will bring home with you uh maybe it's for uh loved ones or neighbors or friends but you've got some fresh craft beer from Great Lakes going home with you today. Great, yeah, no, my partner will enjoy that. Okay, good, good, good. And the hop pop I've had before, it's fantastic. I really enjoy the hop water thing

that a lot of brands are doing. It's simple, but it's perfect, especially on a really sunny day. I'd also like to send you home, Sean, with a large lasagna. It's in my freezer right now. It's from Palma Pasta. Amazing.

I love lasagna. That's exciting. Is this the case for it? That's an empty box, yeah? And I'll fill it up before you go. Wonderful. It's gonna be in there. Now I just, do you know Jane Harbury?

I do, actually, yeah. So Jane was over recently and she was taking the TTC and she couldn't carry the lasagna. So I biked it to, she was at the lasagna. So I biked it to, she was at the Harris Institute teaching and I biked it over, it's like Sherborne in Richmond or something. And I got, I got the loveliest email from her this morning about she, she made it for some neighbors and everybody fell in love with palma pasta and now they're like addicted. So just warning, I know you actually, you probably did not get any palma pasta lasagna because it's

been six years since you were here No back then I did get some beer. I remember that and I think that was like it for gifts. Okay Well, there's more today. So that's wonderful. Ridley Funeral Home is sent over a measuring tape good We're gonna record a new episode of life's undertakings. Do you want to hear that on the mic? Yeah, go ahead Nice I like it little ASMR action there. Okay, yeah. Nice. I like it. Little ASMR action there. Okay. And I have a wonderful book that's courtesy of Toronto Maple Leafs baseball team.

It is the history of Toronto Maple Leafs baseball. You're gonna love that book. And this is an opportunity for me to tell you, Sean and everybody listening, that the home opener is at Christie Pitts on May 12th, 2 p.m. There's gonna be like a lot of cool cats a lot of great FOTMs are gonna be there everybody from Stephen Brunt to Steve Paken to Rick Emmett to Blair Packham you know I would go on Mike

Apple's gonna be there Mark Hebscher is gonna be there there's a like a cast and crew Jane Harbury is gonna be there Sean you should waltz over. Get your butt to Christie Pitts. Christie Pitts, May 12, 2 p.m. Okay. And I just tip of the iceberg stuff. Rick Vibe is going to be there. Wow, really? Cool. Yeah. You kidding me? Holy smokes. Okay. I mean, what a like, sorry, I know. I'm just gonna say like, what a, what a, like a, what

a rogues gallery of people that you you've been able to interview on this show. It's like, this is the the FOTM section and there's just a you know, I was talking to Donovan Bailey. Would he make an appearance? Maybe. But like it's you know, as Peter Gross might be there. All I have to do is tell him there's some palma pasta lasagna in it for him and he would he would be there. Oh, and an exciting little tie in here. And you know, I'm trying to be the connector here, Sean.

So the official funeral home of Toronto May Leafs baseball team is now and I think I can make this announcement this is official Ridley funeral home isn't that wild? Yeah I didn't even know that was a thing like you could have an official funeral home for a... Everything's a thing if you if you want it to be Sean okay cool so we're gonna get to your third FOTM jam and then as you can imagine I have more questions about the new music and other things going on in your life. Let's kick this one. Had nothing to say to the men who drive by So that none of them get very far You may think that it's money But that's not the reason that keeps me a laborer at all See what I mean by off the beaten path?

I feel like it'd be easy for you to say, okay, I'm gonna kick out Grace 2 or something. Or even like Four Strong Winds or something for Sylvia Tyson. Okay, so I don't think everyone listening knows what FOTM we're listening to now. It's Sylvia Tyson. Sylvia Tyson, yeah. Singing with a band that she put together with Ian Tyson in the 60s. I believe it's 1969. This album came out.

They're called Great Speckled Bird and they're kind of like a psych folk, sorry, a psych country band which I love Psychedelic Country. I'm a big fan like bands like The Birds and Flying Burrito Brothers, Michael Nesmith from The Monkeys made some amazing Psychedelic Country records, New Riders of the the purple sage all these really great bands in the late 60s through the 70s made these wonderful albums and Great speckled bird made this one-off record as far as I know I'm not too sure that they have any other records, but And it's like the playing is wonderful. You're hearing. I think it's Ben Keith right now playing the

Slide you tell ya still playing the lap steel and Ben Keith right now playing the slide guitar. Yeah, playing the lap steel and Ben Keith went on to make, well, maybe he'd done it by now. He worked with Neil Young on one of my favorite albums, Harvest. He was a lap steel player or pedal steel player on Harvest. And you've got Amos Garrett. Sorry, my pronunciation is awful right now. Yeah, Amos Garrett playing sorry my pronunciation is awful right now, yeah Amos Garrett playing guitar on that and you got a bunch of well another connection with another song that's gonna come up is it's produced by Todd Rodengrin this album. Okay that's a teaser people are guessing right now they know exactly where that's going. It's actually the first album that Todd Rodengrin produced was this album. So what year are we talking approximately?

1969. Okay, wow, yeah. Yeah, Bad Out of Hell was almost a decade away there. Correct, yeah. I think 77, I think, for Bad Out of Hell. Or I don't even know if that's true, man, because everything that's before me, I think that's true. I gotta go Google that one.

You're probably close, yeah. Yeah, I'm not too sure what year it is, but that sounds like a 77 record. Yeah, Bad Out of Hell. Okay, let's see if we nailed it here. That sounds like a 77 record. Yeah bad out of hell Okay, the let's see if we nailed it here bad out of hell Look at this. Yeah, 1977. Nice. Good guess. Yeah, it's like I was there. I was there. I was listening to Sesame Street fever one final that was my jam in 1977. That's a good one Yeah, not produced by Todd Rundgren, but a good one. We don't know that Let me go that's true one and see here. Okay, great speckled bird

That's Sylvia Tyson and the album is is so fantastic like Ian and Sylvia They're sharing songs like singing just kind of like what they did with their folk stuff I guess and yeah, you got to check it out and it's always like if you can find it in a record store It's usually pretty cheap usually can't you usually don't have to pay too much for it Which I'm really excited about albums that are really good and don't cost a lot because that's getting rarer and rarer these days Well, I need that list. Okay great albums that don't cost an arm and a leg now Nice note came in from the VP of sales Tyler and he says tell Sean that I enjoy his thoughtful movie reviews on Letterboxd. Oh wow. Oh cool. Thanks Tyler. You're not just a great musician here. You're also the the Roger

Ebert of our time. That's so cool. You know for people who don't know what Letterboxd is. It's a it's just basically a film nerd site an app where you can like log the films you've watched and you can write little reviews if you want and you know you follow people people follow you but I don't actually expect anyone to read them so thank you so much for checking that out. Tyler's reading now my oldest two kids kind of chastise me because I do have an account on Letterboxd but I don't update it and they get angry at me like they you know my daughter's in Montreal and they want to know what I think of the films that I watch and I got to get back on that letterboxed bandwagon and just remember after I see a film to go in and

share some thoughts. Yeah, give it a give it a rating and log it and then they have stats on there which is the thing that really drives me. Like if you, I don't pay for subscriptions for things because I don't really have money but I couldn't help paying like the 25 bucks or whatever was for this Subscription for this just so that I can see stats like you know who my analytics who my most watch a director is and stuff Like that, you know, it's it's silly but your highest rated director is Martin Scorsese Basically, where is his SC TV documentary? Oh my goodness. Yes, we could talk all day about that one Well, let's kick out another FOTM jam and then that might come back I got a lot of stuff I want to talk to you about you mentioned you have no money

I got a question about that too. So let's kick this one out. Oh, yeah I have a hat for this. Oh, yeah, I gotta see this hat So cool Amazing Ah, so cool. Amazing. Yeah, it is amazing. Things are as bad as they seem is the hat from Hayden Desser. Yeah, I listened to that episode recently because I, sorry, I know we usually listen, but I'm a huge Hayden fan. It's a whole build up here. You and me both.

I feel like before we talked last time, we talked about how much we loved Hayden. Okay, how about we'll let Hayden go for a bit here and then we'll come back because I got a note from Stu Stone about the Hayden episode of Toronto Mike. Okay. So Open your eyes, put it in drive Get on the road and just go City lights turn to tree lights And national park signs The National Park signs The mountains approach More winds in the road

And the air turns Falling snow Miles away Just up ahead it doesn't matter what any of us is looking for we'll never find it because it's not even there Talk to me about Hayden. Oh my god. This is Dynamite Walls.

Dynamite Walls. I can't not sing that chorus. Like what a chorus. Hayden has been in my musical life since I was 15, I guess, maybe. Even though that first album came out probably a little before that I heard it a little late his first record and I'm gonna say 94. Yeah, that would make sense around there because it was probably around 95 or so when I first heard it and

It was so new to me because I was interested in acoustic music, but I't listening to it as much. I was mostly listening to classic rock and then I heard that Hayden record and he was kind of putting that stuff together in a really exciting way on that first album and also I remember playing it and everything I long for everything I long for yes yeah yeah no don't be sorry and I remember playing it and my dad was like what is is this crap? And you know, and I was like What no, there's something here, you know, like it's not crap and it made me want to dig it like understand it more You know how that happens when you're 15 and your dad says something when you're blasting a jam like I know in September or something The skates. Yeah, I love that album so much You too and you know skates is a great song like it's storytelling right like it's really good

storytelling absolutely which it tears well with Joni Mitchell's River the river right yeah, yeah I remember yeah, I listened when I listen to that episode when you said tell him that I can't yeah Yeah, you did and and when you said it. I wasn't expecting you to say that and then I was like oh I get it Yeah, I put them together, but uh let me just shout out Hayden Desser and uh I'm going to go on the record here and say you won't find a better Hayden Desser interview than his appearance on Toronto Mike. Is that arrogant of me to say that? No I don't think so at all. Um he's uh he doesn't he doesn't do interviews very well. Well he doesn't like doing them. Yeah you can tell but you were very good at like- He tells you.

Yeah he tells you yeah and you're really good at like rolling with the punches You know like it was a perfect storm because I had earned his trust by being a fellow soccer dad It's like it's like, you know, Ian Hanno Mansing won't be able to do that with Hayden Very true. Yeah, Ian won't give him, you know, 90 minutes to breathe, right? Yeah, exactly. Yeah, so So anyway, so this is on the album give them you know 90 minutes to breathe right yeah exactly yeah so so anyway so this is on the album oh geez my mind is shot here I was gonna say Elk Lake Serenade but it's not that one it's um oh geez the national park one anyways great a good time I can I can bail you out. Yeah, good. Good content here the internet hiding right over here

and I can tell you it is a You can talk and I'll just yeah anyway, so I scraped ice cream sky scraper national park I forgot that first word right which is my favorite hate No I think that was the one where it really all came together for me because all the songs are really great. It still has that a bit of that rocky stuff, but I was You know has that Neil Young thing. We talk about Neil Young and that drum beat is very much like like Harvest You know that simple

You know if I have a whenever I work with a drummer I always tell them that the Harvest drum beat for like out on the weekend is like the is like the drum beat that I aspire to hear on my albums you know it's so simple but it's all about feel and the right thing for the right song and I mean and that's here. song and I mean and that's here. Just love this guy man I loved my chat with him I loved hanging with him all summer we'll see if we end our kids end up on the same team again this summer who knows but I'll probably see him at High Park anyways if he's gonna play again his kid likes baseball too so I don't know cool but we'll see. But he's great. Stu Stone who went to the same high

school as Hayden Definitely let me know when he listened to the Hayden episode that he was like, this is amazing You've got a guy who says I don't like doing interviews and he doesn't want to open up in interviews and then 90 minutes later He was planning his return visit That's what happened in the Hayden episode. So I mean go you'll find some nice Hayden interviews I'm sure but I don't think you'll find a deeper Dive in which he gives as much as he gave to me that day Yeah, I'll never forget that totally worth listening to and he's he's one of those guys that like I hold on a pedestal And I've never met him before he used to live in Ronson's Wells where I live and he used to I used to see him

On the street, but I was still does though. I mean still live nearby I think right. Yeah, but I guess I just don't see my playing it. That's why his kid plays it high part, right? So I'd see him on on the street a lot and I would always want to go say hello, but I just couldn't do it Hopefully one day I'll be able to say hi to him and for a period of time in the summer We had similar hairstyles and I would do our little comparison, but I've grown mine a little longer, so it doesn't quite do that. It's a good look though. Stand up thing.

Is it, cause I was thinking just today, like it's time for me to end this experiment and get Andy to take her down so that I can go back to the Hayden thing I was doing. But if you like it, I feel like you're a cool guy. Like you wouldn't lie to me, would you? I wouldn't lie to you, that's for sure. Okay, well, if you like it, that's one for keeping.

Yeah, exactly. Cool. This next you like it, that's one for keep it. Yeah, exactly Cool this next artist. I'm kind of anxious to play because you know much like you and Hayden like this country's full of these Like beautiful hauntingly beautiful singer songwriters and here's another guy who had the pleasure of meeting just very recently Can I kick this one out please. But nothing's there, just the mirror and you Snow night in Nowhere Town Another coffee on a breathtaking day But have nothing to talk about Things drying up in my writing pen Slow night in Nowhere Town

Slow night in Nowhere Town I get all I can From the giving hand snake bit but I ain't dead This is F-O-T-M, Cheery I think I, Leger is how I wanted to say it because I know a léger. I can't remember if you... Léger. Léger. Right, yeah.

I feel like that one needs the E that you took for Clark. One of the first conversations I had with him was a similar conversation about his last name, which I... Because I know lagers and they have an E at the end. That's true. Without the E, it's like, what is this? You want to like anglicize it a little. Yeah.

Yeah. He's a local Toronto songwriter and a friend of mine and I think one of the best songwriters I've ever met. He's very prolific. He's always releasing albums. I brought his record, I brought like to a podcast, I brought like records to show, I brought visual stuff. Don Lands, the new album, yeah.

And this is Don Lands, which is his newest album, just came out this year, I think, or I guess at the end of last year and it's he was promoting that when he came in that's oh yeah cool yeah it's like so this is like at the very least this is his best sounding record I think it's produced by Mark Howard who who's an FOTM by the way you're kidding really no yeah because he was all with he was doing stuff with Daniel Lanois. He also produced a Tragically Hip album, Day for Day. I didn't know that.

So... It's funny, earlier I joked about you kicking out Grace too. He produced that album. Oh wow, that's so cool. He, so, me and Jerry are both Bob Dylan fans, right? And we've had many, many conversations about Dylan. And one we totally agree on is Time Out of Mind which was produced by Daniel Anwar and Mark Howard did a lot of...

Well, okay, dude, you need to listen to Mark Howard on Toronto Mike. We talked all about that recording. Oh man, you got to make a little list of all these ones. If you go to Toronto Mike, okay, these special ones, but I just let everybody know there's a link at the top of Toronto Mike.com which says notable guests. And I've organized it like your music guests are here, your print journalists are here, your TV stars are here, your radio stars are here, your athletes are there. So it's all kind of like everything's kind of listed out there in alphabetical order after that. But

absolutely Mark Howard's been over, we got all those stories. And I really enjoyed my chat with Jerry. Great, yeah. So all that to say that like this album is a beautiful album. His songs are great. It sounds great. His last album was probably my favorite album, which he released during the pandemic called Nothing Pressing. But all his albums are worth checking out because he is a really smart songwriter. And because I have the inside scoop, because he's a buddy of mine, I texted him to say I was coming here and I was like, any fun facts I should know about it or like what influenced it? And he said, you know, beside, he said, let me think on that. Besides the reference to Bert Jantz, there's a line that says me and Bert stuck on 13 down.

He says it was written at the beginning of COVID and that sense of isolation. And you can definitely hear that in the lyrics. You've got main drag was once a parade now it always looks closed down which is definitely a line that evokes that and I also asked him what sort of influenced him musically on this and he said he was listening to the replacements a lot which is pretty cool which is a band I haven't spent a lot of time with myself I'm not sure about you but no this is androgynous right this is we're talking about the right band here androgynous yes I think so yeah okay and which I first knew as a crash test dummy song and then I found out it was a cover oh wow and the crashes dummies are FOTM you could be kicking out crash test dummies here I could be talking about

Superman Superman Superman songs yeah yeah yeah yeah by the way you could also kick out our lady pieces Superman's dead because yeah the drummer is considered yeah he's I considered the song car crash by our lady piece that used to be my favorite our lady piece song okay shout out to our lady piece amazing and thank you for kicking out some Jerry yeah and everyone should listen to Jerry so go online find Jerry listen. Yeah, and everyone should listen to Jerry. So go online, find Jerry. Listen to Jerry. Okay. And now I noticed some bigger, bigger, like not no respect to Jerry, but, uh, you know,

he was too young to be showcased on much music. So we have some big, what I call Canadian much music bands coming up here. But I want to ask you about, and you tell me if this is out of bounds because you're here as a great musician and everything, but you know, your, your full-time job is not being a musician. You'd starve to death, right? You have a job. I have a couple jobs. That's correct. Multiple jobs. Okay. You're out there hustling. And I understand there's a labor issue with the art gallery of Ontario. Is that out of bounds? No, no, no, we can talk about that. Okay, good. Because I just did. I'm not editing. No, no, that's fine. No, I'm, that's true.

So I work what they call occasional part time at the Art Gallery of Ontario. I'm what they call a porter. And that means, so they do events. And so Jim Shedden's an FOTM. I feel we should shout him out because he is a curator guy there, but they do events going on. Yeah. Yeah.

So, so we're the guys who set the events up. We tear it down, that kind of stuff and so anyways We're on strike right now. So me it says about 400 employees 400 plus employees from different parts of the gallery that are on strike and it all comes down to the the obvious thing so you know a living wage and the obvious things. So, you know, a living wage and job security. And it seems so obvious, but it's such an important thing and we're not getting either and they're not offering either. I was reading your tweets. I figured, okay, well, if he's tweeting about it,

he's putting this in the public realm. Okay. So, yes, I read this tweet from, I think yesterday on the picket line last night, a transport truck tried to push us out of the way with his bumper. But don't worry, the goons our gallery of Ontario hired to film us all day watched from a safe distance. Yeah, I was being a little cheeky, but but that's true. It's we were there last night and we so I didn't know this until last night. But when you're on strike on a picket line, you're legally allowed to hold a vehicle up for 10 minutes, which I didn't know until last night. And we were holding up a transport truck that was coming in to pick up artwork that was, I don't know who was loading the artwork,

considering that all the people who normally do that are on strike with me and they were on the line right but and the truck came through and yeah he wasn't he stopped and then he slowly edged up against us and pushed us twice once and we were pretty pissed and then he did it again and we were more pissed so well I'm always on the side of labor here so luckily luckily nobody was hurt. Nobody was hurt. People were a little shaken up, but it's kind of crazy that we have to go through this. Well, good luck to you guys. So 400 of you, does that does that include the people like I'm thinking of FOTM Jim Shedden and Bob Ouellette's wife or is this is the porters and the like, like I'm just who specifically

at our gallery of Ontario's on strike right now. Well, it's a bunch of different places. So there's like the food and beverage, which is what I'm part of. So that's that includes event staff and includes the bistro staff members lounge cafe staff. You've got the facility people. So people who clean everything up and they're wonderful people who do really, really great work. And then you've got the logistics folks So those are the people who set up the art take it down they build things to accommodate art

and Then there's like AV people and I'm probably forgetting some others But yes, it's a lot of okay. Good luck to all of you. Thank you. Keep me posted how this goes I will here's a band. So I mentioned, you know, we had played that cougar song with Jay Douglas three times in March and here's a band that we've had a couple of episodes dive deep into the sort of the origin story of this band. Just in the last, I'd say, forget the last month in the last 10 days, I'd say, and maybe the last two weeks, we'll talk about it all on the other side, but can't wait to kick out this great Toronto

Jam Say that you're leaving Well that comes as no surprise Of being left behind This ain't nothing new to me Well, it's just like going home It's kinda like the sun sits I leave you feeling so stoned Oh, oh, oh Hey, hey, I guess it hasn't hit me yet

I fell through this crack and I kinda lost my head I stand transphixed before the street light, watching the snow fall on this cold, simple night. Love it. Love it so much. Yeah, it's a great tune, great album. Yeah, this is, of course, hasn't hit me yet by Blue Rodeo with those great tune great album. Yeah, this is of course hasn't hit me yet by blue rodeo with those great great Basil Donovan bass lines. I love I love that slide I mean I

Anyone's watching the video. I I did it myself on my my my fake bass that is always with me I that is always with me. I wish one of the pet peeves I have is that I this video I wish I could throw it on YouTube but the problem is all this damn music we're playing. Like I'll get knocked off very quickly and my wrist slapped. Yeah, no one wants that. Yeah, no one wants a slapped wrist. Don't slap my wrist. But so this this album Five Days in July was such an influential album on me. There's an you know I feel like there's a lot of Neil Young connections because they were kind of trying to make a Neil Young record here

like kind of a tribute to Neil Young with this record because I think originally they were trying they were trying to do like this as a side project or something they weren't originally thinking about this as a Blue Rodeo release, I think. Is that right? And they were trying to do this kind of Neil Young acousticy thing, and they went to Greg Keillor's farm and got together with a bunch of friends and the guys from Skydiggers and the band and, oh, speaking of a pedal steel, sorry, this is a great Kim, Kim Deschamps. Yes, it was supposed to be a tribute to the Harvest Era Neil Young sound.

Which is a sound I love, for sure. And I think they do a very good job at that, but they still make a great Blue Roto album. It's not derivative anyway. And this album, like, you know, when you're younger there's kind of a, you kind of think of popular bands like you're too cool for them, you know. I used to think about that, about Blue Rodeo, and then I was on tour, actually in autumn in New Brunswick, I sing about this actually, I was on tour with a band called The Lankan, the Autumn Lovers, and on one of our late night drives, my friend Blair put this album on, we listened to it,

and I was like, oh my god, I am so wrong, you know? Like, I've never been more wrong in my life. This album is beautiful, it's perfect, it's catchy, it's got everything, it's so good. And the ending, the last few songs that are all you know kind of quiet and a little you know even a little trippy I think is great and the hits are great, yeah. That's that bass. Yeah. Shouting out a couple of recent episodes of Toronto Mic'd. If I may, there was a wonderful episode of Bob Roper who had never actually appeared on a podcast before.

And this is sort of what sparked the whole, like, cause Bob Roper is the guy who sent the first Rush album to WMMS in Cleveland. Yeah. A woman named Donna helper and Donna in charge of music at WMMS threw it on the air. She liked the song working man particularly and Cleveland seemed to react to it and loved it. And next thing you know it like they only pressed like 3,500 copies of this album. They self produced it and they sent a bunch of copies to Cleveland and they sold out quickly and then they did a tour in Cleveland

And they were big in Cleveland and this is sort of the spark that lit the the rush fire So I actually just recorded with Donna Halper to get her side of the story But that was that was only sparked because Bob Roper came on and told his side of the story But in the Bob Roper episode episode, he also talks about signing Blue Rodeo. Okay, so he talks and then he got something wrong. Sometimes your memory messes up. And he had Try as the third single because Try is the single that breaks Blue Rodeo. I'm actually looking at Michelle McAdory's album right here and she's in that video. OK, she's a wonderful songwriter, too.

Like she's she's fantastic. Yeah, I like her very much. And long story short, if that's possible this time, Bob Roper remembered Rose Colored Glass as being the second single. Outskirts is the first single. It does nothing. Rose Colored Glass is, and then Try. But in actuality, Kevin and I've talked to Jim Cuddy about this. So it's all well documented, but Kevin Shade came over the other day and set the record straight. He let everybody know without a doubt Outskirts is the first

single from the album called Outskirts and it does nothing and then Try is the second album and much music plays the hell out of it and radio adopts it and it was a big freaking smash across this country and the rest is history. Yeah what a vocal performance by Jim Cuddy on that that song like it's and I think he still nails it when he does that song. Like that's a... the Cameron House thing, right? Like they're all guys from the Cameron House and anybody who's in Toronto, if you ever get a chance to go to the Cameron House, it's an institution and I tell people they have to go see something at the Cameron House. Like it's a Toronto institution and you can still see some of the best music in the city there any night of the week.

Yeah any night of the week. Now let's kick out another great, by the way the FOTM, if you don't know the FOTM on that song is Jim Cuddy. Jim Cuddy and you did talk to another Blue Rodeo guy I think but not on that album. He wasn't on that album yeah. Bob Wiseman. And you also, well that, exactly so Bob Wis Boguski. Exactly, so Bob Wiseman was gone before that album. So that keyboardist passed away, right? James Gray, I wanna say. James Gray, yeah, did he pass away? I believe he passed away.

Oh, that's too bad. Shout out to Ridley Funeral Home, but they had the current keyboardist is definitely, and with all due respect, of course. Of course, oh yeah, for sure. Current keyboardist went to my high school, and he's an FOTM. Right.

And Bob Wiseman came over, which was wild. I had an hour with Bob Wiseman. That's one I have to listen to because he's an interesting fella. Yeah. It's amazing he gave me an hour and I basically extracted every good thing I could get from Bob Wiseman. I think much like Hayden's episode, I'm going to go on the ledge here and say you won't find a deeper dive with Bob Wiseman than his episode of Toronto Mite. Look at how arrogant I'm becoming. Putting it on the list of must listen episodes. All right and let's kick out. There's a couple of FOTM's on this jam. Let's kick it out. I bet you found a way to end it peacefully I remember finding shoes near the lake under a tree And I'm sitting on the shore

I thought I saw you trying for a fight It doesn't matter now, cause all you want to do was die Yeah, if've only stuck around. I know you made a sound. But now you're on the ocean floor. And I've opened a brand new door. Brand new door. Swimming out to sea, trying to find something else while I'm...

Sloan. Ladies and gentlemen, Sloan. That's brother Bill who says that on that song. That's the good in everyone, right? That's on this album. That's on this album. Yeah, this is a great album. I love that you brought vinyl.

I love it. I just want to... Even though, of course, I would bring visual things to an audio podcast, but I brought a copy of One Chord to another because it's a great album obviously. And I could have picked, because you had Chris Murphy and Jay Ferguson on and I could have picked a Chris, I mean although that was Chris singing there, I could have picked a Chris led song, but I went with a Jay led song because I think he's a little maybe unsung in the Sloan crew as a songwriter and you might be right you might be right and I love how they share the like

all four of them just sort of share it all yeah and they're there this album and Sloan was a big influence on my new album which is kind of weird for a folk artist to say I've been listening to so much power pop and because I love it and I love the energy of it and also on this album we did something that they did was they recorded all their drums to cassette for these recordings and we thought we'd try the same thing so my new album we recorded the drums straight through a cassette recorder, an eight-track cassette recorder, and then... Yeah. And then...

And that sounds wonderful, actually. I like how your next jam is by an artist who's in a band with Chris Murphy, so we'll get to that in a moment. But I actually would rather just take a break before we get to your last three songs. Mm-hmm. last three songs. It's within our heads or most do anyway And I am certain that everybody, everybody gets sad sometimes Everybody, everybody gets sad sometimes So just another cut from Saucer Scissors New album from Sean William Clark My guest today and you can go to his Bandcamp page and pre-order that

And it's true, everybody gets sad sometimes. Yeah, it is true. Yeah, I agree with that. And this is kind of one of the songs that has that power pop influence that I sung about earlier, like Sloan. One chord to another. Elvis Costello. I hear a lot of Elvis Costello in this, after the fact, and in the production. And yeah, I just, post pandemic, I just needed to rock out a little, you know? Love it. Love it so much. Everybody gets sad sometimes. A lot of great cuts on this. I was lucky enough to get an advanced copy and I've been listening to it and a lot of the

lyrics resonate with me and the sound is great. So good job, Sean. Thank you very much. And I'll just shout out Graydon James, who's the drummer on this, who we ran through that cassette recorder. He's a great songwriter himself. He's got a band called The Young Novelist which is totally worth checking out. Love it. Okay, I mentioned this artist, this FOTM is in a band with the FOTM we just heard. Well, technically we're listening to an FOTM right here, but, you've gotta find your own space Have a nice day She's so young, she's not the answer

She doesn't need to question herself Like I do, like I do I love it. Yeah. What a song. I think it's one of the one of the best like power pop songs ever written in Canada, ever recorded and released in Canada. I think it's great. It's such a good song. It's so catchy. It's lyrics are great great, musicianship is great, the guitar part is, I've been trying to figure out for a while and I still don't quite know what's happening. And yeah, and they're in the Highwaymen together, right? The Trans-Canada Highwaymen. Trans-Canada Highwaymen, yeah.

Yeah, with Craig Northy and Stephen Page. Right, of the odds, Craig Northy and Stephen Page of... What band was he in again? Oh yeah, Bare Naked Ladies. Bare Naked Ladies. He's also, you know, sorry, this is slightly off-topic. Chris Murphy's also in another great band that I love called Tons, and I almost picked the Tons tune because I think they've released...

Well, their first album is a perfect power pop album. And it's with Matt Murphy, who is in a band called the Super Friends and the Flashing Lights, and Mike O'Neill, who was in the Pandacy and he was in, oh geez, another great band. Anyways, if you can get a hold of that, both Tun's albums are the first one. It's so good. And he's got yet another side project. Wow, how does he do it? Yeah, he's got another one that did that. I'll come up with in a minute, but it

might have Huxley workman in it. I got to check out who's in that one. But OK. Oh, the inbred. Sorry. Mike O'Neill is in the inbreds. Of course, of course. But did you know there's actually like you're listening to there's three FOTM

really on this song? Yeah. Mo, obviously Mo Berg. Mo Berg, absolutely. But also, Leslie Stanwyck is an FOTM and Johnny Sinclair, her husband. And they left the band and formed their own album, their own group. What was their group called? Do you remember?

Of course, how could I forget? The great... Sorry, Brandon. This is where you vamp while you remember the name of the... Universal Honey. Oh, Universal... Okay, yeah. I don't know if I've ever heard... They had one big hit that Safe and White played all the time, and Universal Honey, they're

FOTMs as well. And I should shout out the manager, I think at the time I believe is Jeff Rogers, who's also an FOTM. So it's all like- There's so many connections to this song. But no Todd Rundgren yet, so. No, oh man, can you imagine if you got to interview Todd Rundgren, who is it?

And I just wanted to talk about Love Junk. Like I'd get him on and it would just be about Love Junk. He'd be so surprised probably, like his whole career and you're like, just want to talk about Love Junk, which I get, I totally would want to talk about that album too. Can we get off Black Cars already? Oh, that's a teaser. Oh, yeah, that's a tea leave that we'll leave that there Yeah, I'll just say that song. I I also play in a cover band that I put together years ago

And we only play Canadian power pop from 1986 to 1996 Very very really specific and we are called the Kim Campbells. So look for us. And anyway, so I put that band together because I was more interested in the earlier half of that. So the odds, Pursuit of Happiness, 5440, things like that. And my buddies who are in the band, they were really interested in the later half,

Super Friends, Sloan. And so we kind of put this stuff together and it's a lot of fun. And my buddies who are in the band, they were really interested in the later half, you know, Super Friends Sloan. And so we kind of put this stuff together and it's a lot of fun. We never play though. Well, you know, you got to you make music. What do you do? You just just for shits and giggles. If anybody wants that band for like their wedding or something, we'd be happy to put

it together. Somebody wants that band. So let us know. Okay. And before I kick out the penultimate jam, I've been thoroughly enjoying this by the way, and I appreciate you kicking out these FOTM jams. I want to tell you about a podcast called the Advantage Investor podcast from Raymond James Canada. They offer insights, valuable perspective. It just doesn't matter if you manage your own

financial investments or you have somebody who does that for you. You'll learn a great deal by subscribing and listening to the Advantage Investor podcast hosted by Chris Cooksey. And while I'm shouting out, you know, best practices on the worldwide web, I would recommend that you, Sean, go to RecycleMyElect dot see a because if you have that old electronics old tech old Cable sitting in a drawer at home. Don't throw that in the garbage Go to recycle my electronics dot see a and you put in your address and then it'll be hey you can drop it off

At this depot where it will be properly recycled. So the chemicals do not end up in our landfill good I have a VHS player that kind of stopped working that I could probably. That's precisely the kind of product you drop off. VCR. I don't know, like a VHS player. You call it a VHS player. I have some old VHS tapes and no way to play it. That's unfortunate.

I guess I do too now, actually. I went through an old crate recently and I'm like, oh, I'm holding on to like these old like the passion returns VHS cassettes and some of these things and this documentary on like the grunge scene that I kept. And it's like, okay, uh, I can't play these anymore, but I still have these old VHS cassettes. All right. FOTM jams. Yeah. You ready? Yeah, let's do it. Penultimate jam. Here we go. It sure is. When there's nothing left to burn, you have to set yourself on fire. God, that was strange to see you again Introduced by a friend of a friend

Smiled and said, yes, I think we've met before In that instant it started to pour Captured a taxi despite all the land We drove in silence across Punch-a-Plank And all of that time you thought I was sad I was trying to remember you anyway To be the one that you want to be This scar is a flak on my porcelain skin Tried to reach deep but you couldn't get in Now you're outside and you see all the beauty Repent all you see It's nothing but time and a face that you lose

I chose to feel it and you couldn't choose I'll write you a postcard, I'll send you the news From the house down the road, from real love Yeah. How do you turn it down? Like you just... It's one of my favorite songs of all time. Yeah. Without a doubt, yeah. Yeah, it's wonderful. This takes me back to a time,

unlike, you know, like more than many other songs. It takes me back to the mid-2000s and something I didn't maybe realize then, but look back on how great it was for music in Toronto, and especially Montreal at this point, like Stars and Arcade Fire and all those bands. And I think about, you know, I saw them,

I think it was December 2005 at Lee's Palace playing, touring this album. And I just love their, I love how they do the two vocal thing again, we were talking about that earlier. Yeah, Forquill Campbell and Millan, both FOTM. Yeah. And yeah, what a song. And I mean, there might be better songs on the album, like Ageless Beauty or something.

I don't think so. I think this is the song. This is a song that just- Subjective. Yeah, but yeah, this is a song that just really takes me somewhere, you know? The song is epic. It's epic. Yeah, the build is fantastic. The youth, this is where you really see how they utilize the two voices because it's like a conversation right. It's this great conversation where you've got the two characters talking to

each other and then singing in harmonies at points and it tells a story, it tells the story without really even hearing the lyrics. It's great songwriting. And that opening voice is Torquil's, well he's no longer with us sadly, but his father. Right, he was a stage actor I think, right? That's right, that's right. Here's another little tie-in here. So Amy Milan was on Toronto Mic right after Sam Roberts made his debut and she literally crashed. Oh, I might turn off, that's actually a I want to take, but I'll call him back. That's an FOTM who called that.

I don't want to reveal who it was, but when I tell you later in a while, who that was, but okay, that's exciting. I'm going to call him back. But where was I? Oh yeah. So Sam Roberts came on, made his debut, but we actually, I left the door a jar. So Amy Milan could come down and surprise them because they both live in Montreal, but they never see each other.

They have to come into South Etobicoke to meet up. You had them recording on the same back to back. Wow Wow and then Amy Milan stuck around and we did her album But here's the fun fact tie-in I was thinking it was a Huxley workman who was in that side project Anyway gang that's the name of the band with Chris Murphy. No, it's not it's not it's not FOTM. Huxley workman It's FOTM Sam Roberts. So anyway gang is Sam Roberts, Chris Murphy, and a guy from Colorado. Oh, and also Dave Monks from Tokyo police. Yeah, he's a man over a steag.

He's a nice from Colorado. So that's one of the many, many, many, many projects. What a busy guy. Mercy has going on. But think about that. Sam Roberts, Chris Murphy. Yeah, he's just, he's like Dave. He's living his best life.

You know, he's just like getting all whoever wants to play. He's like, he's like sending out calls being like, who wants to play with me? And everyone's like, yeah, I mean, I would if Chris Murphy sent me that call. Yeah, who says no to Chris Murphy? He's a funny sob too. Yeah, hilarious. I saw him do his solo thing. He was doing a solo tour recently. I mean, I saw him just saw him at the do. I saw him on stage at the horseshoe in December with the trans Canada highwayman. Oh cool. He's hilarious there, but I had him, he was in the basement with Steven page, like maybe just that month as well.

I think it was in December, 2023. Hilarious. Yeah. Funny guy. And you know, he was doing all these like Sloan tunes, a solo acoustic and in between, he would tell the most hilarious stories and I'm not very good at that. Well, I don't think I'm very good at that kind of like in between song banter. And so it was interesting to watch him because like he didn't try to tie anything in. He was just like, he had like a list of stories and he'd just be like, oh yeah. Yeah. And then you tell a story and then he plays a song that's not, he's naturally gifted when it comes to the banter between songs.

There's no one better in this country. I'm so excited. We kind of teased it earlier. I, uh, I remarked that, uh, with Todd Rungrin, we're only going to talk about love junk and he's going to be like, can we get off black cars already? Let's kick out your final jam. Got the vinyl everybody. Love it. Powerful people. Now Sean's taking out his chest hair. What's going on down here?

It's getting exciting down here. Gino Vanelli. Tell me why you chose this. This is going to sound like an insult, but it's not. I think it's like the silliest Can-Con hit of all time. Like it's so like... But is this a hit in the States too? I'm not too sure. I know it was in...

Yeah, I think it was number 21 in Canada. On Billboard Hot 100. I think it was like 2022 or 23 or something in the US. Oh, that's a hit. Yeah, I'd call that a hit. That's a top 40 hit. And it's just like- Casey Kasem's gonna say his name.

Exactly. And it's just like such a, like it's such of a time. So it's 1973. You could tell, I feel like you could tell the year by the production. I'm gonna say 74. I'm gonna say 74. Yeah, you could tell the year by the production, you know? Like it's all synths, you've got synth horns, you've got a synth bass doing all the funky

bass lines. And it's his brother, I guess. So his brother, Joe, is doing all the synths and programming. And it's a great funky song. It's so fun. And I laugh because it's so silly in the most wonderful way. And it modulates like four times, like it changes keys like four times for some reason. And you get this cool like, get those disco boots on here.

I love it so much and I love you brought your powerful people vinyl with you here, Sean. I did, yeah. I love it and I love that this song, yeah, absolutely a hit in the States. If you're number 22 on the Billboard Hot 100, that's a hit. Yeah. And you know, this song and him, he was the first white performer on soul train and this was the song he played Wow, I love the fun. Love the fun facts, and I love that we closed with a lot of Some Montreal action. I mean let's go down here we got Gino Vanelli a Montreal guy stars are a Montreal band

Even though Amy's American eat Torontonian, but okay even though Amy's a Torontonian, but okay. Torkwell's American, but okay. Pursuit of Happiness, they're originally from Edmonton, Moberg's an Edmonton guy. Sloan is from Halifax. We're really covering Canada here. Yeah. And you got Hayden's Toronto and Sylvia Tyson. And Jerry's a Toronto guy. Jay Douglas was a... That band was like, it's a Toronto band, but there's a Montreal Roots there with the Cougars, right? What a life that guy lived I mean I

could talk forever about like with him about just Young Street in the yeah 60s and 70s that's what that's what I've done man you can I got to record those Jay Douglas chats love that guy loved kicking out the FOTM jams with you and I urge everybody listening to get their softer scissors now. So what's the official release date? It comes out April 19th for everybody and the official Toronto release party is April 20th and that's at the Burdock. Is that 420?

It is 420, yeah. So smoke them if you got them. Shout out to Canna Cabana, my goodness gracious, and Canada Kev of course always on our minds Canada Kev is such a sweetheart that I told them toast is recording tomorrow at noon with Rob Bruce and Bob O'Lay and He offered to drive over a keyboard for Rob Bruce Who was the keyboardist for spoons and Honeymoon sweet and he's a sweetheart And Canada Kev's a sweetheart too, but Sean, I think you're a sweetheart as well. Thank you. Thanks for having me back.

And I really enjoy hanging out and chatting about music. I'll do that anytime. And that brings us to the end of our 1,461st show You can follow me on Twitter and blue sky. I'm actually all over the place, but I'm at Toronto Mike at those places Where's the go-to spot to follow everything going on in the world of Sean William Clark? I would say just go to www.seanwilliamclark.com. That's a good place to find everything I like how you still say the W's. I feel like we drop those W's. I don't do the HTTP thing anymore.

HTTP colon backslash. Exactly. I've dropped that. I'm in the now. And I'm on Instagram a lot. I like Instagram at Sean W. Clark. And yeah, so say hello. And I am on Twitter, but no one ever talks to me on Twitter so. I'm going to tag you. I'll tag you everywhere.

Yeah, I appreciate it. And I'm on Blue Skies but I don't have many friends. I think it's just you and maybe a couple other people. Well, you've got many people there but Mike Wilner's there so I believe the first pitch is in 40 minutes. Oh my goodness. So he'll be talking about that on Blue Sky. Much love to all who made this possible. That's Great Lakes

Brewery. You got your beer there. Palma Pasta. Don't leave without your frozen lasagna. It's in my freezer. Wouldn't dare. Recyclemyelectronics.ca. Raymond James Canada. Subscribe to the Advantage Investor. The Toronto Maple Leafs baseball team. May 12th. Mark the date. 2 p.m. There's a lot of stuff planned. We got some ceremonies and honouring some people and I'll be there recording amongst the people and you can drop by and say hi. It's going to be like an unofficial TMLX event. So come on out May 12th, Christy Pitts for 2pm. And much love to Ridley Funeral Home at 5 o'clock today. Brad Jones is gonna drop by and we're gonna kick out more popular funeral songs. I think we're covering the

90s or the 2000s. Tune in to find out. See you all then and again tomorrow Toast noon Live at live.torontomike.com. It'll also be episode 1462 of Toronto Miked. We're kicking out songs we dig from bands we're not supposed to dig. Tune in to hear what that sounds like. See you all then.

And I'll play this guitar just the best that I can Maybe I'm not and maybe I am But who gives a damn because Everything is coming up Rosie and Grey Yeah the wind is cold but the smell of snow Warms me today And your smile is fine and it's just like mine It is cold but the smell of snow warms me today And your smile is fine and it's just like mine

And it won't go away Cause everything is rosy and gray Well I've kissed you in France and I've kissed you in Spain