Toronto Mike'd: The Official Toronto Mike Podcast - Sonshine and Broccoli: Toronto Mike'd #843

Episode Date: May 4, 2021

Mike chats with Sonshine and Broccoli about their origin story, inspirations, relationships with other children's entertainers, their Juno nomination and what's next.

Welcome to episode 843 of Toronto Mic'd, a weekly podcast about anything and everything. Proudly brought to you by Great Lakes Brewery, a fiercely independent craft brewery who believes in supporting communities, good times, and brewing amazing beer. Order online for free local home delivery in the GTA. amazing beer. Order online for free local home delivery in the GTA. StickerU.com. Create custom stickers, labels, tattoos, and decals for your home and your business. Palma Pasta.

Enjoy the taste of fresh homemade Italian pasta and entrees from Palma Pasta in Mississauga and Oakville. Ridley Funeral Home. Pillars of the community since 1921. And Mike Majeski, or as I call him, Mimico Mike. He's the real estate agent who's ripping up the Mimico real estate scene. Learn more at realestatelove.ca. I'm Mike from torontomike.com and joining me this week is Sunshine and Broccoli.

Welcome. Hi Mike. Welcome to the show. Hey Mike. Now one of you has a little... Thank you for having us. Little production note here as we start off but oh it went away but one of you has a little production note here as we start off. Oh, it went away, but one of you has a white noise machine nearby, maybe? A wind blowing machine, anything like that? A dehumidifier, maybe? Anything making noise? We're sending Broccoli to turn that off because it sounds... But Sunshine, nice to meet you. It is so nice to meet you. I've only heard the best things about you, so we're so pumped. I'm impressed you've heard anything about me.

That's exciting to me. Only good things. So while we wait for Broccoli to turn off his white noise machine, Sunshine, whereabouts do we find you today? Like, obviously, you don't need to give me an address, but what part of the world are you in right now? So we're in Toronto.

And where you'll find me right now is, I just put my son down for a nap, so I'm hiding out to get some peace and quiet. And fingers crossed that he takes his long, long, long, long nap. Well, if not, you can always bring him into the program. But how old is your child? He's 16 months old. Oh, yeah.

They're tiny at that age. Okay. And what neighborhood, like if you were going to describe what part of Toronto you're in, what neighborhood are you in? I'm at Bathurst and St. Clair. So we're midtown Toronto. And Broccoli, thanks for doing that, getting rid of that noise there.

Whereabouts in the city are you? I'm a stone's throw away from sunshine. I'm at Avenue and St. Clair. Hey, okay, I know. Nice to meet you. I always like to know where people are coming from. Hey, right off the top, listeners of Toronto Mic'd are going to be very, very interested to know how you're connected, if you're connected in any way,

to the mighty Stu Stone. Does this name mean anything to you? Oh, sure are. We met Stu at an amazing event that we did at Canada's Wonderland, actually. And we were in touch with him, I think also a few years ago, but what a guy, what a guy, just awesome guy. Yeah, he really has quite an amazing reputation before him. He's, I remember hearing his voice on Babar when I was a kid, I was just like, I heard his name thrown around. And it was just so nice to finally meet him in person. Well, Babar used to freak me out. I didn't like the idea that I think his name thrown around and it was just so nice to finally meet him in person. Well, Babar used to freak me out. I didn't like the idea that I think his dad or mom died from a poisonous mushroom.

Like somebody went and yeah, it freaked me out as a kid. Like this whole idea that you could eat the wrong mushroom and then you die. Like I was traumatized by Babar. Yeah, I remember distinctly that part of that story. And it was kind of disturbing. Yeah, I remember distinctly that part of that story. And it was kind of disturbing. But it was quite a show. It was really a big show. And it helped propel his career.

Well, I'm sure. I mean, he's been living off the heat from that appearance forever. Now, okay, are you aware he's in Donnie Darko? Like, are you guys aware Stu Stone was in Donnie Darko? I heard a story about that, but I saw that, like, wait many years ago. And what role was he in Donnie Darko? He was

Jake Gyllenhaal's best friend. Really? Right, yeah, yes. I'll have to re-watch it. I remember the bunny, the bunny mask, and that's what I pretty much remember of the movie. But'll have to re-watch it. I remember the bunny, the bunny mask, and that's what I pretty much remember of the movie. But I have to go revisit it now. Yeah, now that you know your buddy Stu Stone's in there, you gotta.

Now, okay, so you met Stu at this event, and you became friendly with Stu Stone. And so how did this appearance come to be? Because I think I have it right. You guys will correct me. But Stu Stone on a pandemic Friday, which he's done like 59 weeks in a row. We do these pandemic Fridays. So I feel like I talk more to Stu than I do my own wife. But Stu dropped the name Sunshine and Broccoli. He just dropped it and somebody heard that.

How does that story go? My father's friend Randall is a huge fan and always listens. And he sent my father an email. Guess what? Sunshine and Broccoli was just name dropped by Stu Stone. And my father was like, oh, I got to tell my son. And he told me. I was like, really?

And then he sent us the clip. And I heard our name. I was like, oh, i have to reach out to stew stone so i reached out to him and lo and behold he made this happen wow the powers like just having that connect with stew just opens all the doors for you yeah yeah it was president stew for president okay so sorry go ahead broccoli oh i just said he's got my vote so okay so your dad's friend is a listener of toronto mike does he just listen does he just listen to the stew stone episodes or does he listen to uh all the episodes all the episodes he's a huge fan he actually said if

there's a chance i could ever meet uh tor, that would be amazing. Or Stu Stone. He's like, I love the way these guys talk, their banter. So huge, huge, huge fan. You know, we could make those dreams come true. Really? Oh, he would be so excited. I think he's listening today, actually. Oh, I hope so.

I hope so. Imagine this is the episode he skips. Not the one time. His buddy's son is on, and he's like, I'll pass. So, okay. So I got lots of questions, but let's just put a bow on this. You reach out to Stu and just say, hey, thanks for the shout out. And then Stu basically writes me and says, uh, Hey, like, uh, sunshine and broccoli heard their reference on Toronto Mike, you should have them on. And then I'm like, like, of course I'll

have them on. And, uh, I do a little homework. I learned a little more about sunshine and broccoli and here we are today. Look at that. It's amazing how things can unfold. look at that it's amazing how things can unfold can we start with the name origin uh and then i want to hear about the are you a group like would you consider yourself a duo or a group what are you we're a duo and a group but we're a duo a dynamic duo okay so maybe this ties into the story but like how do you guys hook up and at what point do you decide you're going to become like a duo to entertain the children? And where does the, where exactly does the name Sunshine and Broccoli come from? Okay. So this is a good one. I love telling the story. So Brock and I went to musical theater school together at Sheridan College and we were best friends and you know we spent three years together and when we graduated

I thought I was going to Broadway he thought he was going to be a major rock star and then when we graduated I started these mom and tot baby groups so um I played a little bit of guitar and I thought okay I'm gonna do this by myself got this. And I asked my friends, like, what do I call it? And my last name is Sunshine. So it's Lisa Sunshine. And Sunshine is S-O-N, Shine. Exactly. Okay.

Exactly. Sunshine. So all my friends were like giving me funny names, like Sunshine Soul Train and like all like these really funny. And then we decided let's do singing with sunshine so I advertised like so grassroots and I think I put up posters and I got one phone call from like a very what now is a very dear friend 18 years ago and she's like hey I got your you know I saw this like and I was like me like you actually want me to do it and I got and so I booked this. And I was like, me? You actually want me to do it?

And so I booked this class. And I got so nervous that I called Brock, who was my best friend. And I was like, hey, B, do you think you could help me for the first class? Just so I feel a little more comfortable. And he's like, for sure. So he came over. And we wrote a welcome song. And we wrote a goodbye song.

And Brock, his nickname in school was Broccoli. We all called him Broccoli. So I was like, okay, let's do this, Sunshine and Broccoli. Let's just like get her done. So we wrote a welcome song, we wrote a goodbye song, and then we went to go do this class. And there was moms with their babies and they were so blown away because I guess, you know, for us, we just graduated musical theater school. So we're performers and we're singers and we're actors. And so they really enjoyed it. And they, they were like, Oh my God, we just feel like we were at like rent. And so that was a really big compliment. So, um, I kind of was like, this is going well, Like B, do you want to just do this with me? And he's like, for sure. So 18 years later, that, that this is still kicking and it's evolved tremendously with

like five kids albums, a Juno nom, a whole team working with us. Um, we're in the works of a TV show and all these really cool things. So it definitely has evolved over the 18 years. I mean, I'm looking at you both on Zoom and it's difficult to believe you could be at this for 18 years. Like, I feel like Lisa Sunshine here, you're only about, what, 25 years old now. Like, when did you start?

When you were seven? Come on. Do I love you more than life? I mean, I have to say, when I tell people we've been doing it for 18 years, I'm like, how have I been doing anything for 18 years? Right, right. But okay, so you've been together 18 years, and you talk about the progression there. And I have like, I have some audio clips that'll kind of walk us through this. But would you believe that even though i did my homework and i knew you were elisa sunshine and i knew broccoli was a brock uh birth burford yes yeah i'm like i'm gonna butcher

how do i butcher an easy name like that i just wish it was easy like sunshine i can't even screw that up but it's only like right now as we're recording that i realized broccoli comes from Brock. Exactly. It's like, okay, I don't know how I missed that. I'm not the brightest light in the chandelier, but okay. So you met at Sheridan college, you were BFFs. I guess always just friends. This was always a platonic friendship. Always platonic friendship.

And you're okay with that, Brock Lee? Oh, I'm totally okay. Well, it was a musical friendship as well. And we just had so much in common. We were honestly, we went through ballet class together, if you can believe that. Yeah, ballet class at 7, or sorry, 9.30 in the morning. And we would just have so much fun in school together so yeah it just grew naturally our friendship you know what's funny mike is that people would call me all the time like parents and be like are you alone i was like yeah why

they're like are you dating brock i'm like wouldn't you guys know if i was dating brock so at my wedding when i did not marry bro Brock, we said a lot of kids are going to be very disappointed. I do feel like I'm prying with these like TMZ questions here. But here's that. So here's a little background. So fellow FOTMs are children's entertainers, Splashin' Boots. You might have heard of Splashin' Boots. Of course. We're big fans. We love them. And now I don't even know, like if you're 18 years into this, I don't even know who started You might have heard of Spodding Boots. Of course. We're big fans. We love them. And now I don't even know, like if you're 18 years into this, I don't even know who started first.

I feel like they might have started first, but you guys go way back. But you're both S and B. I guess you noticed that too. Yeah. Okay. So they were married. Yeah. Like they were married and now they're best friends, but they were married. Like, like, they were married. And now they're now they're best friends. But they were married. And that's why I'm always thinking like, okay, you know, like, I know,

I knew Lisa Sunshine had a was married to a different guy. But then I'm like, maybe they dated and then maybe now they're friends, like, you know, well, you know, what's funny, we also heard they were on a podcast splashing boots aboutin' Boots, about their divorce. And I was so blown away by how honest and open and candid they were with their community. I think that it's so important as we grow, as we change, as we evolve as people, as musicians, that we share deeply with our communities. And I think, I know I really respected that. I respect them tremendously. And yeah, I think people are always looking for juicy, right?

Like, but I love when we just share it openly and no, Brock and I are best friends. We've been best friends for 18 years. It's awesome. No, I love it. Love hearing it and I since you said people love juicy so I'm wondering is there any like hostility towards from splashin boots to you know sunshine and broccoli like is there any rivalry there we could sink our teeth into we actually we met them again at the Juno Awards and we were very, very on good terms with them. We were so happy and honored to be a part of what they were a part of. community which is called you know we call it um kindy kids indie artists um there is a beautiful

community around the globe and people that we are so connected to a ton in the states our friend just won a grammy um for best kids album and uh we love supporting the community and there's room for all of us which i think is is, is really cool. Yeah. There's a lot of kids out there, right? Like, yeah, yeah.

Sorry. Go ahead. No, that's the thing. There is, there's room for everyone out there and just to have such a nice support system is a wonderful thing to have in this community. Okay.

Shout out. So let me just take a moment to say shout out to Splashin' Boots. If they're listening now, which they might be. They've been over a couple of fun, but just give some love here, much love to Splashin' Boots. Now Splashin' Boots, they have that treehouse deal, but I just heard Sunshine like about 10 minutes ago, tease some kind of a television thing.

So you have to give me the real talk here. What's going on with you guys and the world of television? Yes, yes, yes. So we are so excited to be assigned with level film, who are just simply amazing. We have a lot going on with them during the pandemic. Obviously, things have slowed down. It is going to be an animated show. And we're super pumped about that. I have to say,

I was a little relieved because I was pregnant when we were going through all this. And in my head, I kept thinking, well, I hope they don't think I'm going to film when I'm pregnant. Like, I don't want to be, you know, on TV, you know, with this, you know. Anyway, so when we decided about an animated

show, I think the longevity, longevity of animation is so incredible. Um, we've seen our characters come to life, which is so much fun. Um, and we're, we're pumped to enter that kind of space. Any clue as to like where this will eventually like what platform or network where this might air stay tuned that's all i can say that's it teasers and i think animation's smart because uh it's firstly it's pandemic proof like uh like i know that i talked to uh the guys at corner gas right so corner gas is now an animated series. They were talking. Brent Butts was talking about...

Brent Butts or Brent Butt? I guess it's Brent Butt. Yeah, Brent Butt. One of those two guys was talking about you can animate from home and everything keeps plowing through regardless of quarantines and shutdowns and all that stuff.

So you guys have seen, like you guys have seen some of the animated footage. Yes, we have. Wow. It's really, it's really fun to watch it come to life. Actually.

Do you like how you were animated? Like when you review it, do you think, Oh, like maybe they could have changed this or that or whatever. How are you like your portrayals? They gave us some options and they, and we kind of all decided together and we really,

really are so happy with how they turned out because they really capture what our true essence of our characters are. Okay. I want to ask you what that is. What is your true essence? But first I want to make sure that there's a role for Stu Stone in this animated series. Obviously that's not even a question stew stone for president he could be president because he's a dual citizen he can he could be president yeah

i'll tell you something so when we met stew at the gig at canada's wonderland he is very connected to our friend, Doodoo the Clown. Oh yeah, they're cousins, I think. Yeah, and they have like a really awesome, awesome relationship. And it was so amazing to watch them together and how much they love and respect each other. And that's where I truly fell in love with Stu because I was like,

he's just an all-around good guy. No joke. Earlier today, there were discussions via Twitter DM about me having Doodoo the Clown on Toronto Mic'd and Stu Stone co-hosting that episode. That was a discussion today. Well, that would happen. Okay, so Doodoo the Clown, legendary figure,

but we talked about Splashin' Boots, who are kind of your contemporaries, I suppose. Are there any like inspirations, like a Fred Penner or anything? Like who would be like the children's entertainer role model for you guys when you guys are doing your thing? So I don't really think that there's,

because we've been at this for a really long time and I think that we've evolved tremendously throughout the 18 years um that I think you know at the beginning a lot of Sharon and Bram Sharon Lewis and Bram um I think what made us a little bit different from the performers that were around at that time was that we are musical theater performers. So when we were writing, it was all about the musicality and singing what we wanted to sing. So keeping it very contemporary and very new age,

as well as like it sounding really good and not to toot our own horn. I just think we worked with amazing producers and people that, especially our last two albums, our Juno nominated album was cool to be kind. And I think it really kicked it up a notch and kept it really fresh and growing with the kids and growing with music as it became very pop and new age. new age. I think it's time to hear a little bit about what you guys sound like. I basically pulled a couple

of jams here and loaded them into the soundboard. Kind of random, but kind of not. I cherry-picked a couple. I don't know if I have them in the right order, so chronologically I might have messed this up. If you don't mind, I'm going to play a little Sunshine and Broccoli. Is that cool? Yes, hit it.

And you have no idea what's coming, but here we go. Wave hello. Wave hello. Wave hello. Wave hello to you and me. Wave hello. Wave to everyone who's saying hello. Wave your hands up in the air, hello.

Wave them here and wave them there. Reach out your right hand up to the sky. When you see a friend, tell them you say hi. Reach out your left hand For a friendly greet Turn to someone next to you Just get up on your feet And wave hello Wave hello to you and me

Hello Wave to everyone you see Hello Wave your hands up in the air Wave them here and wave them there Okay, that's Wave Hello. That's a jam right there. That is.

That's our jam to get everyone up and wave hello to everyone in our concerts. And waving is a very pandemic-friendly thing. I feel like that's a good jam for the pandemic. Yeah, that's how we start our shows always. We always do the welcome song and we go right into wave hello and we get them up. And it's really fun, actually. OK, so I told you I they aren't random picks like I cherry picked.

And that's a good one. I cherry picked there. OK. And I'm listening to it like you could clean it up a bit. It could sound like uh a song from len or something like there's some steal my sunshine like this this could be a pop hit yeah well exactly that's the thing our music is meant for also adults to enjoy as well as their kids so all right yeah and then you know this this is uh could be like a jonas brothers jam or something i'm listening you know what i mean so this is a could be like a Jonas Brothers jam or something. I'm listening. You know what I mean?

So that's what we're doing that we're kind of like Taylor Swift for kids. Clearly, clearly. Okay. So how does the writing process work? Like does one of you write the music and then you get together and write the lyrics? Like, tell me how that works. Like, how does that song come to be? So oftentimes what happens is I have a note on my phone. I have a, an area where I just, you know, throughout the days, if I see something that's inspirational, I'll write it down. So I have a note that says song, song inspo. And so a lot of the times what I'll do is I'll say to Brock, like if we sit down for writing or, you know, now, obviously it's a lot

more distance, but when we sit down for writing, we usually have a theme. So whether that, you know, we're writing a song right now called the three B's behave, be kind, be you. And so what we'll do is we'll have that inspo and then we'll take it from there. So Brock, I'll kind of say like, this is what I'm thinking. And then Brock's a stellar musician and he just kind of does his thing and we create the background and then we start writing together. Cool. I'm going to play another Sunshine of Broccoli if that's okay. I got another one. Okay.

All right. Here's another one. We're not going to wave hello this time this time we're gonna we're gonna do a high five less pandemic friendly but we'll come out of this eventually from your finger to your thumbap some skin with your chum Time to celebrate Stretch your hand without a care Spread your fingers in the air Time to celebrate

Give me a high five, na-na-na-na-na Give me a high five Na na na na na I said up high Up high To the side To the side Down low Down low A broccoli, you're too slow

Oh no! High five Na na na na na Give me a high five Na na na na na I said way to go That's cool So many things there ain't no more Slap me some skin and give me some Okay, there's another jam right there. You know, it's really funny about that one.

So that is also one that we perform a lot um when we do virtual shows and we give an air five instead of a high five gotcha gotcha it does it remind uh feel like like is there any inspiration coming from uh the presidents of the united states of america there yeah a hundred percent like that there's not even in that song that feel like I am a huge fan of their music. So that's what we draw in a lot of inspiration from cool and contemporary sounds and songs. Right. Yeah, there's a Peaches vibe going on at the beginning of that jam, right? Yeah, exactly.

Which is good because you're smart. I think you're very smart because the music's for the kids kids so it's got to be like accessible and they got to get down with it but it's us it's us parents who are dragging the kids to these shows and stuff like if we hate the music like i could tell you my kids never saw barney because dad hated that show oh really that's what i actually find really cool. Now, as a parent, I absolutely get it. So many people would say to us, like, we found ourselves in the car singing your songs by ourselves. And I do that, too, to be honest. And I think what separated us from kids' music at the time was that it was something that the parents could enjoy together with their

kids and you know like exactly what he said you're not gonna play barney if it annoys them out of you and this is a good jam so like if you're on a road trip or whatever if i stick this you know and i i should say uh at least how would you describe your target like demo like what age group is typically like into a sunshine and broccoli well our age group spans about from three to even 11 it's a pretty vast expansion because a lot of the songs are curated towards all that all those audience ages and their parents but you know what's interesting is that I always say in our shows when people ask us that question, I say two to ten. But the truth is

my son is 16 months and he listens to our last album like 20 times a day. I don't even think he knows it's me. I'm actually sure he doesn't know it's me. But I have listened to it 7,000 times.

And I have like, sometimes I'm like, okay, enough. But sometimes I'm like, this is really good. And from a standpoint of like, I have to listen to this so much. So I think what's interesting about the last album and what I've noticed so much about my son is that the intros, it depends on the intro. Does it get his attention or does it not? And often I use our music to calm him down. If we're in the car and he's having a freak out, I'll put on B-Box with Broccoli. I won't hear a peep for three and a half minutes. Wow. That's your testimonial right there. Parents will pay anything for that.

Well, us and blues clues. So it's a toss up. I like blues clues, but then when the, when Joe, uh, Oh,

do I have the right in the guy? Who's the guy who went to college? And then his cousin, uh, anyway, the original, I like the original blues clues guy, but this,

cause I have a 19 year old. So he was raised on blues clues of the OG. And then I still, we had the DVDs and I remember that episode where he went to call, he went to college. Okay. I think he just didn't want to go bald in front of it, but then his cousin,

and I can't remember which one's name is Joe. It might be that I can't, it doesn't, none of this matters except blues clues was a popular show, but I also have two children that are in your wheelhouse because I have upstairs right now, there's a five-year-old and a seven-year-old. Oh, it's amazing. Right in the wheelhouse.

Okay, so you said something that I was thinking I was going to follow up on here. Hold on about the answer, but I'll get back to that one. So I mentioned Presidency of the United States of America. So what kind of music are you guys into on here hold on about the the the answer but uh i'll get i'll get back to that one but so i mentioned presidency united states america so what kind of music are you guys into that is influencing your sound like what would you listen to if you went for like a i don't know a run or a bike ride or just needed some peace and you want to listen to some jams like what would you guys listen to oh that's a great question me um i'm i'm kind of right now on the hip hop thing. I like the contemporary

hip hop like Tyler, the Creator or Childish Gambino. A lot of kids listen to that. I have guitar students and they love that stuff and they hear it on the radio. I try to keep hip with what is current. That's what I would be listening to on my bike if it was a nice day. Okay, cool. What about you sunshine? So this Jewish girl loves the Christian channel. I'm like obsessed with the Christian channel and I get so much inspiration

because it is like, there really is. So the, the energy and the tones and the music is, is awesome. I'm so into it. I love Coffeehouse also. So I love an acoustic version of anything.

And I also love musical theater. So we really, really get a lot of our inspo from everywhere. Some just sounds that really resonate for us. Well, no fooling. Like if you're going from like, I don't know, Earl sweatshirt or whatever to, uh, you know, you know, or Joey badass and then it's like, okay, let's, I'm just, I'm actually just thinking of all this stuff. My, my son listens to because of Jay Cole or whatever.

Yeah. Jay Cole. Yeah. Cause he's a, he's a big hip hop head. I'm more of a nineties hip hop head. So me too. You can't go wrong with like Wu-TangTang Clan, Notorious B.I.G., all those guys. For sure. Hey, here's your homework. You already are friendly with Stu Stone. He comes on Toronto Mic'd once a week for Pandemic Fridays, which we actually record on Thursday evenings.

But the last one we did last Thursday was hip. We called it hip-hop, but it's basically 80s and 90s hip-hop jams that actually cracked the top 20 of the Billboard Hot 100. We chose that topic because we lost the great Shock G. And Humpty Dance is an example of a hip-hop jam that hit the top 20 on the Billboard Hot 100. So we did a little tribute to Shock G, and then we kicked out our jams. That's amazing.

I'll have to listen to that episode. I love the Humpty Hump. Do the hump. I dance to that all the time. Love those jams. No, in fact, hold on. Let me grab this one. Because I have a few years in you guys but so this is the uh this is the do what you like

uh 12 inch single that i uh picked up at whatever it's called soundscape or whatever the whatever the young and wellesley record shop was called like soundwave soundscape i think it was yeah i know what one you're talking about that used to be there so i get that yeah this is the this is the real deal i've been holding on to this since 1990. Woo! Anyway, I took it out for the tribute. And of course, they gave us Tupac. Tupac makes his recording debut

as a member of Digital Underground. Yes, in that. Well, he was a backup dancer too, wasn't he? Yeah, he was hanging around the guys doing different things and then they gave him a verse on same song so go to youtube and listen to uh digital underground same song uh which was like part of a very bad dan akroyd movie it was and demi moore i think was in this movie anyway going way back here but uh yeah they gave him a verse and then the rest is history well I'll have to listen to that after.

For sure. All right, this is a good moment for me to just tell you both, Sunshine and Broccoli, that one day when this pandemic is all over, you two are going to come out to a TMLX,

that's a Toronto Mic Listener experience, where you will not only meet yours truly, but you will meet Stewstone. Well, you've met Stewstone, but you'll meet him again. And you'll meet, you know, Cam Gordon and all the rest of the crew. So what you'll have there,

this is a promise, you're going to have some fresh craft beer. I don't know, are you allowed, as children's entertainers, are you allowed to drink craft beer? Sure are. Good. Okay, so you're going to get some fresh craft beer

courtesy of Great Lakes brewery they've been fantastic partners of the program we'll hook you up with some authentic italian food from uh palma pasta you know if you were here in person i'd give you like a large meat lasagna to take home with you so we got to make sure you you get here at some point i have stickers toronto mic stickers for you courtesy of stickeru.com. That's where you can get all your wonderful sunshine and broccoli stickers. And I mentioned I have hand sanitizer, courtesy of Ridley Funeral Home. They're pillars of the community.

And I know you two are happy in your neighborhoods. But if you want to follow the cool kids to Mimico, Mimico Mike will take care of you. if you want to follow the cool kids to Mimico, Mimico Mike will take care of you. Realestatelove.ca is where you contact Mike Majeski or Mimico Mike, as I call him. He's been ripping up the Mimico real estate scene. So we'll take care of you guys. Amazing.

I'm holding you to it. You mentioned a Juno nomination. Yeah. And that's the most recent. That's the most recent. Tell me the name of this album again. Be Kind? What's it called?

It's Cool to Be Kind. I think you stole that from me. I've been saying that for years. It's Cool to Be Kind. Oh, I just remembered what I was going to say earlier that Sunshine triggered this thing. The whole, like, give me five on the side, up high, down below, you're too slow. Which I guess we all grew up with that.

But I've been feasting on that for 19 years of parenthood. Like, I'm on, I'm just, my youngest, who's five, like, I do that to her all the time, and she still loves it. Like, I don't know what it is about that thing, but, like, I guess every mom and dad does this with their kids. But for 19 years, I've been living off that move. It gets right it's like it's like all these things and they love repetition so it'll i see it with my son too it's like we can do something 7 000 times and it just doesn't get old right and i love that one because because just the nature of the fact that they're five and you're not, you always, you, you always, like they try to do it to you and they can't move their hand away fast enough. Like you're always right.

And also they're never fast enough to get you. Like you can, you, no matter how many times they try, like, they'll never be able to beat you to the, to the five there. That's the whole point of the game. Mike, I beat you to the, to the five there. That's the whole point of the game. Mike, I guess you're not that dad that like lets them win. Oh no,

that's it. It's like, why would you do that? Like that? Never. Never. You got to teach them lessons in life. And the two big games in this house for the five-year-old anyway is guess who,

which she legitimately beats me half the time. And guess who? That's where you say, Oh, uh, are you, are you wearing glasses and all that stuff, right? And then the other one, which she has also legitimately won at, is we play Go Fish. And so they win enough straight up.

I'm not going to let them win at the reflex game. Okay, so which Juno Awards did this nomination come from? Okay, so which Juno Awards did this nomination come from? Well, it was 2019 we went to the Juno Awards in London, Ontario. And we actually got to play at the Junior Junos with Splashin' Boots to a packed audience. audience and it was one of the most thrilling and unbelievable experiences to be honored by such an amazing I don't know a musical family it's just the best of the best that are nominated for the Junos and we got to be a part of that and we're so thankful okay I pulled a clip from your website okay so I noticed the beginning part of this clip.

It's a little low, but I'll beef it up for the final recording, but I hope you can hear it. But let me just press play on this. And this morning, I'm honored to be able to introduce to you the very first round of your 2019 Juno Award nominees. So I can't wait to see you there.

Please take a look. The 2019 Juno Award nominees are so I can't wait to see you there please take a look the 2019 Juno Award nominees are Children's Album of the Year Sunshine and Broccoli okay so I'm dying to know are you watching this live when they announce these nominees

yes we were at the press conference and that my god let me tell you when Sarah McLachlan announced us i mean can you do any like it's not even real like did that happen you know like it was so thrilling and because it was our first time being nominated when we got to the press conference um i didn't know 100 that we were nominated and actually i ran it when when i saw splash and boots and i spoke to nick he's like oh yeah of course you're nominated that's why you're here and i was

like oh okay just now i can breathe but it's true it was so thrilling and like brock said to be amongst um the elite of canadian talent felt so incredibly special. So you got an invitation to attend this? Like you got like an invitation come to the, uh, nomination thing? Yeah. It was the press conference for the Junos.

So if you had been nominated before, you would know why you were there. But when we walked in, I was like, whoa. But that would be quite the like cruel like cruel move to like invite you to the yeah the nominations and then have you leave like without hearing your name that would like why did you invite me to this thing so i could

hear i was not nominated that would be the worst trick ever and your sunshine your daughter is, is it your son? Son, yes. What's it like? Because my youngest is five and I'm done now. Like I closed up the shop in December, so it's all over. But what's it like when the bulk of your child's life has been during a pandemic? Like, does that, what are the, like, what is that like?

You know, when the pandemic first started, my little guy was three and a half months. So people would ask me all the time this question. I was like, oh, it's amazing. He's so chill. He sleeps a lot. He naps. We go for long drives. It's great.

Ask me now as a 16-month-old boy, toddler, it's hard. It's really hard. And I think that, um, we're definitely managing and we're definitely doing the best we can, but it's not easy. And it's not easy for any age, um, being a parent in a pandemic. Um, my son has never had a play date. My son has never interacted with other kids let alone really our families so it's it's something that I think of often and talk about often when we're when I'm you know interviewed in a parent space and I say that it you know our our kids learn from each other and so when they're not interacting, it's very hard to know, are they reaching their milestones? Are they, you know, up to, you know, doing what their peers

are doing? Yeah, no doubt. That's true. You, you know, you're supposed to be socializing them in that age. And then what, like, we don't know, I guess we don't know. This is all, you know, it's been 100 years since we had something like this so yeah i wonder what the longer term effects will be from this so what i hear from from a lot of people is thank god you know what they need right now most for their development is love and nurturing and to feel safe and um you know a girlfriend of mine, and we're laughing because we're both sending our kids in September to pre-nursery and we're like, Oh, these teachers are in for a treat.

Like these kids have never been away from their parents at all. They don't know life skills. How does he know how to share? It really is unbelievable. Thank God they won't remember this time in their lives. But we will. Yeah, no doubt. And then what are the, on a similar vein,

like being in a pandemic for whatever it's been now, 15 months or whatever, what does that do for you guys who are used to performing in front of groups of children? How has this been a curveball to uh sunshine and broccoli well um as lisa says it puts everyone on a level playing field and what we've been able to do is adapt to virtual shows which has been thankful and amazing it's a different energy than a live show because we do miss the high fives and the hugs and seeing all the kids sing and dance along.

But thankfully, we've been able to adapt and the reception has been wonderful. We've been doing so many online shows. We did an online show with Fred Penner the other week, which was a really exciting experience. And a fellow FOTM. Fred Penner has been over a couple of times. Oh, very nice. He's awesome. You know, I think to what Brock just said is we jumped online very fast. We pivoted very, very fast when the pandemic hit last March. And I think what happened when we pivoted, we started offering on our Instagram live free shows every single day at 11 a.m. So we had quite the

audience following us every day, knowing that we were around right before lunchtime and you could have lunch with sunshine and broccoli. You could rock out for half an hour. As the market started getting very saturated, we kept pivoting and we kept showing up in different ways and trying to reinvent and keep it really, really new for the parents and the kids. So we have partnered with incredible companies, Mastermind, Indigo, Blue Mountain, companies that you know what the truth is, if it weren't for pandemic, maybe we wouldn't have connected to. I'm moving into the parenting space with Hello Bello and, uh, Love Child Organics and all this stuff where we're using our talents and me being a new mom to help spread awareness. So that's something that if it weren't for a pandemic, I don't know if we would be doing. And yeah, online shows, we love them, but they're very different. And I think live audience is what we feed on. So we get a lot of great

response. We just did last week, we did about 200 kindergartens, like five classes of kindergartens. And the teachers were like, I cannot believe you engage them. And I was like, I couldn't believe it either, but they were so engaged. I guess this is the way of the world now through a screen. How do I get you to my, cause my daughter's in a junior kindergarten and, uh, like I'm basically tech support and it's just, it's just like, they need you guys. How do I get you guys to make a appearance in my daughter's JK class?

Well, a hundred percent. We're doing it for you. That's like not even a question. Oh my God. Okay. That's exciting. And yeah,

if anyone's listening and they, you know what I, what I found so interesting was that as we were getting on the zoom and the kids are like, I don't see them. Where, who is it? And the teacher's like,

they're not on yet. And you could see these poor teachers are like trying their hardest. And it's like these four-year-old, five-year-olds are like, wait, I'm hungry. I need a snack. And nobody's muting. And then we started. And then it was like, everyone just got so into it. And I mean, that I do believe is one of our gifts when we perform live is that we really

capture our audience for the 40 minutes. They're very engaged and it really translated well, which is kind of shocking, but it does translate really well. Okay, I'm going to like totally like hit you up via email later to hook this up. Like, oh my God, this is so exciting to me. Okay. All right. Look at that. You guys are making my dreams come true.

Okay. So I have another jam that you guys did not write, but I'm going to play it because I want to ask you about it. So here's a jam that's not from Sunshine and Broccoli. Nae-nae, whip, whip Nae-nae, whip, whip Nae-nae, whip, whip Nae-nae, whip, whip You already know what it is Solid talk, solid talk, solid talk

Don't even do it for me Now watch me whip, now watch me nae-nae Outro Music Do you guys know that song? Oh, I do. I do. Okay, that artist is Silento. And how do you guys know Silento? Well, we opened up for him at the NBA All-Star Jam.

And he was a huge, that song was a huge, massive hit, especially during that time. And it was such an amazing opportunity for us to open for him. Amazing. I think that's cool. Okay, so literally sunshine and broccoli, uh, open for Silento.

And, uh, so you mentioned this is the, is this the all-star game in Toronto? Yeah, it was when it was in Toronto, the all-star game. Yeah.

It was cold that weekend. Oh, it's freezing. And they were probably really, they, the snow was everywhere and all the players weren't used to it at all. So, um, it was a great time though. Amazing. And on the sport, The snow was everywhere, and all the players weren't used to it at all. So it was a great time, though.

Amazing. And while we're talking sports here, you guys have also done Blue Jays Junior Jays Days. Yes. We're huge fans of the Blue Jays, and that was an amazing opportunity. We got to go inside of the Dome and see the Jays open up right on the field with no one else in the audience it was just such a wonderful experience oh very cool and uh okay are those so so are those a couple of highlights i don't know if you want to just shout out some of the cool venues or festivals or whatever that you guys have uh but i mean eight over 18 years this is probably a long list but any any that kind of top of mind?

I would say Junos for sure is top of the list. A hundred percent. A hundred percent. Jays, NBA All-Stars, Canada's Wonderland. I mean, we've played basically every stage. Centre Island, Ontario Place, and we've traveled. So we've toured across Canada so we we've done a lot of like wicked cool shows and I don't know Brock is there anything else

that you want to add I don't maybe a Royal Ontario Museum we did for two years in a row we did how many shows do we do there 26 shows something like that over the Christmas holiday and it was such an amazing um experience that was wrong we love love love the rom we had such a blast there same thing every day we did i think it was two or three shows for two weeks um for a few years in a row we always did their halloween shows and they have such a loyal following and people with their memberships would come and they would just come to all the shows so we really like got to know these families and and they've they followed us like you know when we tour in the summer and we go to every

little town in Ontario people are like we saw you at the ROM. And I'm like, whoa, like that's super cool. Because for us, the ROM is, you know, we're in Toronto. But when you're outside the city, the ROM is like a big deal. I always think of like children's entertainers like Sunshine and Broccoli as sort of like NCAA basketball coaches or something.

Like where, like these are your people, but you don't get to keep them. You get to borrow them for a while, but they will eventually age out and graduate. What's that like, though? You have your fervent fan base, and you know there's a clock ticking on these guys. At some point, they're going to want to listen to Norwegian death metal or something.

I actually used to listen to Norwegian death metal. I could tell. I could tell. But you know, what's surprising is that some of the kids we've even been at our concerts and there's been 15, 16 year olds who've come dance with us on stage and who have grown up with us.

So we're still a part of their memories and their nostalgia, which still is over good point because i still like just literally it was rainy this morning i went outside and i this is true story okay this morning i saw a robin on the lawn and out loud outside to myself i started singing robin in the rain because it was on it was on the raffi album that i used to listen to when i was four years old like that's a true story you know what is so cool about growing up with these kids and i'll never i actually never forget the kids that we um you know sang to and we're connected to and oftentimes they'll come up to us and say oh my god God, I used to love you guys. Or do you remember me? Or, you know, I'm going to their bar mitzvahs and their sweet sixteens and they're in university

now. And it doesn't feel like 18 years is a long time. It's just like, I remember, I remember it's just so clearly. So it's wild that now having a son and I take him to some music classes. And when, when they say his name online, I'm like, Oh my God, they said your name. Like it's,

it's so thrilling and exciting. And yeah. And it must feel good. I would think that, you know, you're, you're putting a smile on these kids' faces. Like, you know, you get them for, and I love the fact that you got kids going away to university who are like, I loved you. And like, they'll have that forever. Like, they'll be playing Sunshine and Broccoli to their kids, right? Like, this is how it'll work. I have my kids listening to Raffi because that's what I listen to. So, but it must feel pretty damn good. Like you're just spreading joy to young people. Like what's better than that?

We had the opportunity to have lunch with Bram from Sharon, Lois and Bram. And I was like, wanted to cry when I saw him. And I was like, oh my gosh. Like it was Bram. Like I grew up with Bram. Bram was like every day in my home. So sitting and having lunch with him as a human,

as like two children performers. And he was so wise and gave us such beautiful insight into the business and was so gracious with his time. And it was so awesome because I was like, I see it now that kids look at us. I mean, for many, many years this way. And it's, you don't forget it. You really don't. Amazing. And your most recent album is Hug Life. That's the one.

2019. Okay. So Hug Life is the most recent album. Are you working on a new one? Yes, we are. We have a bunch of new music coming out. And we can't wait to release it. And it's going to be new. It's going to be fun, pop, contemporary. And it's going to be amazing. Okay, hear me out.

So you're working on this new album. Just hear me out, okay? Because I don't know how long ago, over a decade ago now, I guess, but, uh, Stu Stone collaborated with Jamie Kennedy for an album. Okay.

Yes. I heard about that. I heard one of the songs. Well, a couple of notable ones would be circle, circle, dot, dot.

Yeah. Yes. And they did, uh, a song about rolling with Saget with Bob Saget having a cameo. Okay. These are real, this is the real deal, okay?

They sold 300,000 albums, okay? Which was a disappointment because there's a whole different scale south of the border and this was a California project. But anyway, so Jamie Kennedy's Stew Stone, they did this collaboration. You gotta have a Stew Stone collaboration.

This guy can write and rap and it would be great to have a jam on the. This guy can write and rap, and it would be great to have a jam on the new album, Stu Stone Collaboration. Stu, if you're listening, what do you think? Of course he's listening. Are you kidding me? Stu, we're doing it.

That's it. Get your best rhymes ready. I'm going to make it happen. This guy is a great rapper. I mean, circle, circle, dot, dot, don't forget your cootie shot. That's the,

that's the perfect pandemic song. Like that's like a get your vaccination jam. Brilliant. Absolutely brilliant. Okay. So you're working on the new album just so I get us up to speed here. That's what you're working on. And you have this animated series.

I'm not getting any, you're not going to give me any hints as to where I'm going to find this thing. It could be anywhere from CBC Gem to who knows where this is going to be. You're not going to give me any hints. We already gave you our Easter egg. That was it. Okay, so final question

before we say goodbye here. I've thoroughly enjoyed this, by the way, and I can't wait to meet both Broccoli, I guess Sunshine and Broccoli at some point. But my question for you, Brock, do you, like you straight up, you really do love broccoli? Like this is a food you enjoy eating? I do. I love broccoli. There's only two green fruits, vegetables, sorry, I really like broccoli and Brussels sprouts. Broccoli is number one. Love it, eat it, and it's me. So you're not helping me with getting any juice out of this.

I'd be like, find out that broccoli doesn't eat his broccoli. I'm sorry to disappoint you. Love broccoli. So good for you. Everyone, please enjoy. Sunshine, do you like broccoli? Um, like, depends. Like, you know, just depends. I'm with you. I'm with you i'm with you uh okay i don't know though

you're not named broccolis i don't think i have any shoes here but honestly guys uh i hope you enjoyed yourselves but it was great to find out is there anything you want to share just before i play some lowest of the low and say goodbye to everybody uh it's basically stay tuned you don't know when this pandemic's ending, so you can't really have a tour date because how would you know? No, we don't. We're booked for some in-person shows this summer, so fingers crossed. And also, we've always got so much going on on our Instagram page, so feel free to check us out at Sunshine and Bro um you know live shows giveaways content um it's it's really fun we're we're getting honest we're getting real and uh it's it's fun so meet us over there

and get our music on spotify and amazon prime itunes band camp and look forward to uh beats having another interview with you again can't wait okay so parents who are listening again this is a key detail sunshine is spelled s-o-n-s-h-i-n-e so when you're doing your when you're hitting up google to find out where to get this great stuff sunshine and broccoli and as i learned broccoli has two c's and only one L. You can always learn something from broccoli. I'm pretty sure the first time I typed it out, I put two L's in there and then I got that. Really? Yeah, that red line underneath it that I screwed it up.

So I'm learning here. It's a common mistake. Guys, thanks so much. Can't wait to meet you in person. This was a lot of fun. Can't wait. Thank you for everything. That was awesome.

Thanks again. And that brings us to the end of our 843rd show. You can follow me on Twitter. I'm at Toronto Mike. You already heard Sunshine and Broccoli want you to go to their Instagram, but they are also on Twitter because I found them there. And it was like S underscore B music is where I found them. Our friends at Great Lakes Brewery are at Great Lakes Beer. Palma Pasta is at Palma Pasta. Sticker U is at Sticker U.

Ridley Funeral Home, they're at Ridley FH. And Mimico Mike, just like Sunshine and Broccoli, they're on Instagram at Majeski Group Homes. See you all next week. This podcast has been produced by TMDS and accelerated by Roam Phone. Roam Phone brings you the most reliable virtual phone service to run your business and

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