Toronto Mike'd: The Official Toronto Mike Podcast - Stephen Stanley: Toronto Mike'd #1378

Episode Date: December 1, 2023

In this 1378th episode of Toronto Mike'd, Mike catches up with Stephen Stanley, talking Bookie, the new Lowest of the Low documentary, his new album and more before he whips out his guitar and plays live in the TMDS studio. Toronto Mike'd is proudly brought to you by Great Lakes Brewery, Palma Pasta, Ridley Funeral Home, Electronic Products Recycling Association, Raymond James Canada and Moneris. If you would like to support the show, we do have partner opportunities available. Please email Toronto Mike at [e-mail]

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Season 5 of Yes, We Are Open, an award-winning podcast for Moneris, hosted by FOTM El Grego and Redley Funeral Home, pillars of the community since 1921. Today, making his return to Toronto Mic'd is Stephen Stanley. Welcome back, Stephen. So good to be back, Mike. Thanks for having me. Do your buddies call you Steve?

Or do you prefer Stephen? There was a very short period in... So Ron Hawkins and Dave Alexander know me as Steve. My mom did not want me to call Steve. She wanted Steven, but there was a period of time. But I kind of stick with Steven now. Okay, I have a brother named Steven, and he's also the PH Steven, because you're also a PH Steve.

But there's V Stevens out there. There's lots of V Stevens. They're imposters. Where did you come from? Today I came from Hawaii. You's lots of E. Stevens. They're imposters. Where did you come from? Today I came from Wolf Island. You literally got thrown out. So you're straight from Wolf Island? Straight from Wolf Island. Wow. Which was more

complicated by the weather today, but a 6.30 ferry and after a bit of an alarm mishap. But we made it. We got on the boat and we arrived like two minutes before our start time. Like you literally, so who After a bit of an alarm mishap. But we made it. We got on the boat and, yeah, and we arrived like two minutes before our start time. Like you literally, so who drove you here?

That's my partner, Leanne. Okay, so Leanne literally just like came to a rolling stop and then she rolled out. But you're here on time. So Wolf Island is now home for you. Wolf Island's home, yeah. So it was a, started off as first going there to play hockey and then ended up working with Chris Brown

and you worked on two records with him now. And then eventually home. And you did a tour, of course, with Chris Brown and Ron Hawkins. Yes, and one of our favorite stops was here. Yeah, you know what? So I watched, I was at the premiere for the Subversives, the Lowest of the Low documentary by Simon Head. And of course, you're in that thing, of course.

You're a founding member of Lowest of the Low. But there's a moment in the doc where Simon Head, he sets it up with the reveal that you and ron hawkins toured together yeah so he's building it up and then there's a moment somebody says like something like will stephen stanley and ron hawkins ever play together again like this is like and i almost yelled at the screen yeah in my basement yeah well at the time the movie was being made we were only just discussing that idea and now we've done two tours, and that was with Chris Brown, too,

who was the guy that produced both my last records and a good friend of mine. So, yeah, in the movie, you're right. There's a bit of a reveal of something that's already happened. But that was a fun moment for me just because you guys were so great down here. It's awesome.

All three of you are FOTMs. Always good to see you. I'm going to just let the listeners know that this is your third visit. Yes. And your first visit, this is going to blow your mind. You ready? This is,

it was over six years ago. Yeah. Well, so have we not like sort of compressed the last four years into like maybe one year? It's like whenever, whenever somebody says, when did that happen?

And you go, Oh, it was two years ago. Oh no, nothing happened two years ago. That's a good point. So November, 2017, you came over, it was episode 282. So today's episode is 1,378, but you were there 282.

Mike and Stephen Stanley chat about his career in music as part of Lowest of the Low and the Stephen Stanley Band. And then we music as part of lowest of the low and the Stephen Stanley band and then they played we played your 10 favorite songs of all time and it was about 90 minutes but you came back with with Ron Hawkins and as I like to call him Hugh Christopher Brown that's a yeah that's an important distinction it's his name is actually Hugh Christopher Brown but everybody just knows him as Chris so right and that name was co-opted uh chris brown so he's a few times a few times also by my painter shout out to my painter so uh episode 1112 you were one away from having 1111 like we should have

timed that better yeah yeah september 2020 i should have timed this to november too because uh 2017 right so six years ago, almost to the month. Your day off. Okay. So Mike, this is Ron Hawkins, Stephen Stanley, and Hugh Christopher Brown. We discussed, you know, Bourbon Tabernacle Choir. We discussed Lowest of the Low. We talked about your tour.

That was fantastic. So I'll do a little housekeeping now, and then we'll really, you know, find out what's new with you. I'm hoping you'll chat with me about your late great friend, Dave Bookman. And I want to hear all about the new music. A lot of ground to cover here, but let me just do a little housekeeping, which is to tell everybody listening right now in eight days, that's December 9, 2023,

in case you're listening in the far off future. Hello from the past. Hello from 2023. What happened, Steven? Like what happened? We don't know. Somebody is listening five years from now and they're like,

you have no idea what's coming in 2024, but okay. So TMLX 14 is happening at Palma's kitchen. That's the location in Mississauga of Palma pasta. That's near like Mavis and Burnham Thorpe. It is wonderful. We have a whole floor that's going to be taken over by FOTMs like you. So if you can hear my voice, you're invited. Yes, the pasta's on the house. Palma Pasta will buy you a meal. Also, Great Lakes Brewery will buy you a beer. So you get free beer. I had you at free. Free beer,

free pasta. We're going to have a live recording. There's an open mic. If you get free beer. I had you at free. Free beer, free pasta. We're going to have a live recording. There's an open mic. If you want, you can come on the open mic and say hi to us and be a part of that episode we're recording. It's going to be great. Next Saturday, I'm sure Stephen can make it because he'll be on Wolf Island. I'll be on Wolf Island that night. I'm playing in Kingston on the 10th, I think.

That sounds great though. And what anniversary is this for you? Well, that's the TMLX 14, which means the 14th Toronto Mic Listener Experience. That's amazing. One day we'll get you to one, Stephen. Yeah, I'd love to. Stars align. Okay, and then we'll make you play. You brought a guitar today. I did, yeah.

So you'll play something from the new album. Sure. What's the new album called? The new album's called Before the Collapse of the Hive and it's been out for about, I don't know, like about 10 days now, I guess. Oh, that's fresh. Okay, so I have, I literally loaded up every song on that album. What's the name referencing there? Like what's the, why did you name it that?

Yeah, there was a theme that became apparent as the album went along, but it didn't really have a name for it. And in the song, which is on the second side of the vinyl called hornets that which is a song about um hornets and and their sort of uh innate ability to to understand who the perpetrator is attacking them and only attack those those that person or those uh other animals back so before the collapse of the hive is the moment in september usually when the uh hornets kind of are going crazy because they don't know what their life's going to become and they that's why we often get stung by hornets in september

because they're they're facing their um you, basically their society collapsing and going to be renewed the next year around. But it became about the whole theme of the record, which is really about, you know, hopefully we're catching it, but we're just before the collapse of the hive. Like, there's so many things happening right now. And that's what a lot of the songs were about. You mentioned my friend Dave, Dave Bookman, who passed away. That was a big part of our conversations on a daily basis.

So I'm sort of thinking of this record as like a bit of a continued conversation with him. Okay, let's listen to a little bit of Hornets, and then we'll come back and talk about Dave. John Wayne at the Alamo The hero's last stand John Wayne at the Alamo, the hero's last stand. John Wayne in a magazine said they selfishly tried to hang on to their land. The apologist's prayers conceived after the smoke has long cleared.

You are my God to me in this godless frontier Mothers say it's okay It gets worse every day It's a stone throw away Let it live in the tree Let the storm throw away Let it live in the trees Let it hum in the breeze In a world on its knees If you get stung in late September

It's just a last gasp to survive Remember the good old days Before the collapse of the hive Drunk on the power Of this stillborn bitter fruit This new cycle hour Don't reveal where they buried the loot You know what I would do, Stephen?

I would just listen to your entire album with you and you could just kind of chime in and explain. Do the director's version where we talk about the context. Whose voices am I hearing besides yours? Yeah, so that's a real mix of the Wolf Island Records experience because the piano in there is Chris Brown and that's a real mix of the Wolf Island Records experience because the piano in there is Chris Brown and it's a big part of the song and the vocals are Suzanne Jarvie

who's also on Wolf Island Records and Kate Fenner who was originally from the Bourbons and will be at the show tonight too. What show tonight? Tell us in detail. Yes, so tonight's the record release party in Toronto at the Redwood Theatre, which is at Gerard

and Greenwood, 1300 Gerard. And things kick off at, doors are seven and the show starts at eight. And there will be a few tickets at the door. It's sold really well, but it's a big place. So we can fit some more people in if you want to come. Yeah. I'm dropping this like five minutes after we take our photo in the rain. So yeah.

Eager beavers who jump on this. Speaking of jumping on episodes, again, we'll do a little more mopping up here before we dive right in. But, there's an episode of Toronto Mike's recorded yesterday with Dave Hodge. Stephen, do you know Dave Hodge? I do know Dave. I don't know him well, but I've certainly met him a few times

through music, because he's such a huge music fan. I haven't heard it yet, but he did his 100 songs of the year. 100, but he's such a huge music fan. I haven't heard it yet, but he did his 100 songs of the year. 100, but he has a rule. He won't repeat an artist twice. So it's his 100th favorite. I mean, how many music, even bonafide music fans out there are able to consume at least 100 new albums in a year?

I think this guy is incredible. People know him as a sports guy, but you have no idea. Dave Hodge is a music guy. He has a heart of gold from what i've what i've witnessed and um he was also a good friend of dave's um my first experience watching him in a music context was at a hold steady show many years ago and clearly both big fans and and he was just loving it and uh it was actually it was them hold steady steady and the drive by truckers at the Phoenix. Like that's a pretty damn good double bill, but yeah. So,

yeah, I mean, there's a, I, I've met him a few times through the horseshoe and through doing, uh, some events there and he's often functioning as the MC and, uh,

just a really good guy to talk to. Without a doubt. So he, he unveils his 100. I'm sure he will listen to before the collapse of the hive and steven maybe we'll uh be kicking you out next year when he comes back for his uh 100 jams of 2024 if he's got good taste it'll happen for sure okay so let's let's pay tribute before we talk i was curious about let me play a little bit yeah were you a fan of the post of course yeah yeah and those records mean so much to me um

you know and i sort of seemed like we were watching a slow decline of shane over the last several years and um seems like something very specific. Well, longer than that, I'd say. I feel like it's wild he lived to be 65 years old. Well, that's what a few of my friends have said in the last couple of days, is that it's amazing that he made it this far. But he did rebound a few times

and did solo records and tours. But, you know, living hard. There's a lot of people that aren't here anymore that lived hard through the 80s and 90s. And it catches up with you eventually, right? We're human. But it's very sad because it does, especially, you know, this time of year

when we're about to enter into the controversial fairytale of New York City. Oh, because there's an F slur in there. Yeah, exactly. So what are your thoughts on that? My thoughts in the context of the song and everything, I actually, like, that's not a word I will ever use. Same.

But in that song, I'm not offended by its use because of the context of everything. You know, you also have to sort of consider the source, and I believe Shane McGowan's opinion on that particular case was that he was trying to authentically embody a character. And that's exactly what that character would say. So, you know, we don't need to celebrate it, but I don't think we should also be rewriting history when history is so good. Like, that's a really good song.

Well, there's also the Dire Straits, right? Money for Nothing. Yeah. Which uses the same slur. Well, so there you go. I would have less affinity for that only because I have less affinity for Dire Straits and for that song. So, yeah.

So that doesn't make it right. But, you know, in that... I don't even know if I can... It's tough because neither of us are gay men, right? So it's like, you know, so I'm not offended. It's easy for a straight mic to say, right? But it is problematic in 2023. And it's not the same song without, you know,

you don't want to mess with the song, which is my favorite Christmas song of all time. It is amazing. So it's, you know, enjoy responsibly. Did the Pogokes not eventually do a second version of it where they changed i know like bon jobe john bon jobe did an absolutely horrendous oh yeah that was a remake of it but he changed all the words which i don't know how you but kirsty's been gone so long now i don't know how they could even recreate uh because

she's such a key part of christy mccall such a key part of fairy tale new york so i don't even know how you can recreate it but it was this year I would say you know very easily with AI and whatnot I listened to what

the Beatles just did but yeah you make a good point but I do remember hearing it and I think maybe they just moved some words around

and removed that word yeah I don't know I don't know it is quite the discussion though but it becomes like you know

there's the meme that comes out every time this year. It's like, sorry, we can't play Fairytale of New York, but here's Cardi B rapping about her ass. That's true. Here's our latest, the latest song, Wet Ass Pussy. And good point there. But great jam, none the less.

And often, I said this to Dave yesterday, but it can be July and it can be 30 degrees, and I will still enjoy hearing Fairy Tale of New York. And I can't say that about any other Christmas song. Well, but there you go. They didn't put it on a Christmas record. It's just on an ordinary record. It comes up in the sequence of tracks.

So chances are, I know for me, the first time you probably heard it wasn't in Christmas. It was probably just, well, you listened to a record. And Matt Dillon's in the video. That's right. Yeah, it's actually a really good video, too. It's probably just will you listen to a record? And Matt Dillon's in the video. That's right. It's actually a really good video too. It's a really good video. It's just everything about that song was perfect. It's a perfect song and I get

the controversy and as you said it's not a word I use and it's not a word I would condone people using. So you have to sort of... Enjoy responsibly. Yeah, enjoy responsibly but it's not our, for you and me, it's not our decision decision that's the way i see it and so if it becomes known that it's wrong for that to be said then i would i'll go along with that how so you mentioned the new

beatles song now and then uh i actually asked dave about this yesterday so i'm just gonna repeat my dave hodge episode of you steven except you got a guitar with you. He didn't bring a guitar. So what are your thoughts? A little context is that you have a cleaned up vocal on a tape from the seventies and you got a guitar part from George Harrison from the nineties. And then of course, still with us, Ringo Starr and Paul McCartney.

And what are your thoughts on that way to create art? That method. Well, so if my friends showed me the 15-minute video they made that was sort of an explainer video. Oh, Peter Jackson, I think, made it. Yeah, Peter Jackson made it, yeah. And Sean's in it, John Lennon's son is in it, and he's basically saying,

look, my dad would have been all over this because, I mean, the Beatles were. The Beatles, seemingly every record they made embraced some new technology so why wouldn't they have continued to do it you know as a fact what so my first thought when i before i'd heard it i was like oh boy like like yeah that's this maybe maybe this isn't the right thing to do but after hearing it i'm like oh my god this like brings back so many memories the part of the story that i love is that they they uh didn't tell the string section that they were recording a Beatles song but as you listen to those strings

I'm like okay unless these are all 14 year olds there's no other string section that could be but a Beatles string section on that note so there is a woman who did strings and is on the song now and then who actually passed away before the release of now and then and her mom was saying that she would have been tickled pink to know because she had no idea

she was recording a Beatles song. Oh, man. Yeah, and I was reading this, actually, I think it was in the New York Times, this article, and it's very interesting that they kept, even the artists on the track

were kept in the dark. They told everybody it was a Paul McCartney song. And, you know, don't get me wrong, I understand Paul McCartney could very well be doing something that uses a very similar beat, but that string arrangement is right out of the Beatles handbook.

The first thing I heard about the song was don't listen to it on Spotify because it compresses all the good stuff out of it, which I did listen to it on Spotify. And my first thought was kind of, yeah, it's okay. But then when I've heard it on Better Systems, it's rich. Like there's a lot going on there and it's, you know, why not? It's nice to seeing that George was involved and actually seeing a bit more footage of the three of them in the studio. I mean, I revere that stuff.

I revere that. Yeah. I mean, I'm digging it too. And it's not like, you know, when they use the word AI, you get your backup, like you're already like AI. But then they're only AI just cleaned up, you know, separated the piano and cleaned up the vocal. It's not like that John Lennon voice is AI. That's John Lennon's voice. It was just cleaned up, separated the piano and cleaned up the vocal. It's not like that John Lennon voice is AI. That's John Lennon's voice. It was just cleaned up by new software.

It's 100% his voice. And when you hear it out of the mix of the track, you can even tell more how much it's John Lennon. I think the mix itself, when I first heard it, I was like, oh, that does sound a little bit overproduced as far as Lennon's voice. But hearing it out of the track, which you do in that video that I was talkingced as far as Lennon's voice, but hearing it out of the track, which you do in that video that I was talking about, it's Lennon, for sure.

It's wonderful. I think that's George Martin's son who does that, right? Giles? That's right, Giles. So, yeah, enjoy. If you don't like it, you don't have to listen, because there's a lot of people who jump on it, like, what an abomination.

This was a demo for a reason. You're Tarnasch. I'm like, chillax. Yeah, exactly. If you don't want to listen to it,'t listen to it you still got the beatles like you know immense catalog if you're a purist then just be a purist it's fine you got it you got it and i like how you have the musician's ear to hear a difference between the spotify compressed version and a different version because many of us uh probably couldn't tell you the difference well i mean i don't know that i have that great an ear but but I was prompted to listen to it that way,

and because I wanted to hear it quickly, I listened to it on Spotify first. And it does, it does. It just sort of, you know, it's a lower-res file. A little compressed. Yeah, it's compressed. Okay, last piece of cleanup here is that there's a couple of East Coast musicians

who were in the Toronto Mike schedule, and then not so sure, because these great musicians come from uh the maritimes and then they're only in town for like a cup of coffee but i have lately steven i've been like i want to do it live like i want it live in the studio so a couple guys i'll just shout out both very much into being on toronto mic one of which we're going to do next spring when he returns because he couldn't quite make it work. He almost came over. The great rapper Classified. So Classified, almost here,

but says he wants to come on in the spring when he's in Toronto because I want him in the basement. The other guy who's actually flying in tomorrow for a gig at Hughes Room. And then we're trying to figure it out, but he was going to drop by yesterday at 8. Excuse me, but I'm going to be at Horseshoe Tavern tomorrow night watching Junk House.

And I told him, if you come, you're going to record with my kid because I won't be here. And that's Ashley McIsaac. So Ashley is interested in coming on. We just got to figure out when he's in town. Anyway, so these are just a couple of East Coast musician updates. I'll try to get Ashley on while he's in town, but he's got a short window.

And I got other shit going on, right, Stephen? Of course, as we all do, especially this time of year. Yeah, a lot's going on. Okay, now please remind us about your relationship with Bookie. Well, it grew out of lowest of the low. I mean, he was one of the first people to sort of jump on the music and spend a lot of time talking about us on the, what was the show at the

six o'clock live uh live in Toronto live in Toronto yeah so you know and that led to the two of us meeting and after Lois DeLoe broke up the first time which was early 95 uh he and I just sort of started a friendship that that became you know really we were really tight and we you know not often he wasn't much of an in-person guy but we talked by a phone or by text multiple times every day and uh you know so you have this person who's like i think even unbeknownst to him is creating this mystique with his love of music and particularly the canadian indie music that he was really really pushed and and helped and you know i think a lot of what the scene became is because of his hard work and because

of well it's not even i don't even know he certainly he certainly worked hard he certainly uh spent a lot of time researching and putting uh making sure that what he did on air sounded natural but there was actually it was actually a lot of thought went into it beforehand, which is amazing. But I know it wasn't work for him. It was like he loved it, and he loved being part of the scene. He was a musician himself first when he came to Toronto. The Bookman, right?

The Bookman, yeah. And he continued to play. He and I did, with Dave Bedini and John Del Deloria had a band for a short period of time called the Midi Ogres. And we did a single. And then, uh, Dave and I wrote about nine songs together and one of them ended up on,

on my album, the Thin Wild, that Thin Wild Mercury. And, uh, one of them was an out, was an outtake, um,

a song called, um, First Saturday of May, which he wrote about the Kentucky Derby. But yeah, it was just great because I really enjoyed that too because he would just hand me full sheets of lyrics and say, just put music to this. And he wrote in a very, the lyrics kind of told the story

of where the song needed to go. So it was a lot of fun doing that with him. But yeah, just, you know, like watching when when he as you know he passed away quite suddenly and um when that happened there was this sort of deeply personal thing that was going on but there was also this concurrent realization of how wide his birth was and how much of an effect he had on people and the toronto music scene one of the one of the nicest sort of byproducts of a horrible time was um when his uh personal record collection went on sale and all went all the money went to music counts which meant tons to him anything that sort of put money into music with kids was was sort of his focus all the time and uh i went to the store and watched

it all go down and watching people just trying to grab up a small piece. And I got two beautiful things. I got his version of Blood on the Tracks, which was probably the album we talked the most about over the course of our 20-plus year friendship. But it really came out of those Tuesday nights at the Horseshoe. We would hang out, and then he and I would inevitably head to Sneaky D's, and we'd be sitting there

at four in the morning eating nachos. and we just developed a long friendship that way. Well, I am very sorry for your loss. Yeah, it's horrible. Well, and we all, we all miss Bookie. Uh, I mean, I discovered Bookie from CFNY and listened to him all the time. And, uh, I mean, I've had Alan Cross on the show. We talked about how Alan got like, I don't know what they call him, like a guidance counselor or something.

He had a weird title, but he got a gig at Indy 88. So people kind of forget that Alan hasn't always been at. Yeah. They forget there's some gaps in there. But Alan's at Indy 88 and he's like,

you got to hire Bookie because Bookie was available. Unrestricted free agent, we might call him. And then, yeah, like you said died suddenly uh very young and it was still on the air at indie 88 of course and what i miss about and i don't listen to as much radio as i used to because i would listen to radio and then i would

love it when the dj would tell you something about the artist or song like would educate you so it's like we're not just going to throw up a song we're gonna you know bookie had uh you know great knowledge about uh music and he would share that and that's why i always liked it when like when like stromba would do this you know alan cross of course does this but i need a little uh context and not just the music yeah he had his ear to the ground constantly about what was going on um you know for multiple sources when i think once you establish yourself as that sort of that source then the news starts to come to you right and then he's just repurposing it putting it out but he spent so much time every day putting his show together and he was he was he was very

meticulous and very much uh what's the word i'm looking for he just sort of followed the same patterns every day as he built up to his time on the air and like being in the room with him on the air when he was on the air was amazing it was just a whirlwind he was a whirling dervish and i loved doing interviews with him and that transcends before we were friends right up until you know very close to the end of his life um six days before he he uh had his uh aneurysm and collapsed we were at jeff tweedy together and that was a nice sort of last memory to have been at the show. We went out to dinner before the show

although it was too very sort of, just because we couldn't we had little time, we went to like a real sort of fast food pizza place, which is kind of perfect actually. Yeah, sounds great. I bet you Dave Hodge was at that Tweedy show. Oh, I'm sure. It was a really good show, too.

Oh, man. And, you know, I mentioned just in passing, I mentioned tomorrow night I'm at the Horseshoe to see Junk House. Yeah. Because Tom Wilson is a great FOTM, and I'm going to check it out. And, of course, you were at the unveiling, right? There's the bookie. What's that called?

Is that like a historical plaque? Yeah, something Toronto. What's their,'s their not history toronto but they basically there's plaques all over the city honoring locations honoring people and there was a few people that worked on getting that one put together and putting in front of the horseshoe of course makes sense that was kind of dave's home away from home right um but there was other places it could have been although like the uh the radio stations are a little more off the beaten path so it's nice to have it there and I still sort of just get a little bit choked up

every time I walk by there and see it. Well, I'll take a photo of it tomorrow night for sure. Yeah, yeah. And you were at the unveiling, like I said, and you and Bedini, and he had so many friends who were great local musicians. So he was truly a friend of the music. He totally was.

And his friendship with the Reostatics and those guys was long before I'd met any of them. They had some of the stories. If you ever get Dave talking about some of the early day stories of Bookman on tour with the Reostatics, it's truly funny and amazing.

I mean, Bedini's been on a few times. I'll get him back and we'll do a whole bookie segment. Speaking of bookie segments, again, you're in this new documentary called Subversives, which is about Lois Lelow. You're a founding member of Lois Lelow. We might revisit that a little bit

before we talk more about the new album and everything. I've got it, like I said, you could literally call for a song and I'll play it and then we'll get something live at the end of this chat. But there is a very nice tribute

to Dave Bookman in subversives. And I thought that was a classy thing to do. Yeah. I mean, you know, like my, it's, it's a bit stranger for me because my friendship with him was,

was almost completely separate from the band by that point. Really, you know, it wasn't, and, but there's just no denying what his sort of influence on what lowest to low became it was just huge you know it started with um brother bill neil morrison was the nighttime dj when we released shakes for my butt and i was working a graphic design night job at that point and i'd be sitting

there it'd be three in the morning and i'd hear this song come on the radio i'm like oh that sounds really familiar and then it would be he was playing us and that's where it started with him just being a fan of that record and having a bit of latitude to choose his own songs um and you know it grew from there and dave certainly carried the torch for a long time but i think i think he came back by it from an honest place he really really liked the band and like what we were doing. I'm always, as you know, I'm very interested in like who champions certain bands at certain stations

and that was kind of a neat time at CFNY. Now, Brother Bill's a great friend of this program, Neil Morrison. I don't call him, he knows I won't call him Neil Morrison.

It's Brother Bill for me. But, you know, we've talked about his love of Lois Lowe, Shakespeare My Butt, that was a big deal to me. I close every episode of Toronto Mike with a song from Shakespeare, my butt,

this song, I will say this, there's the documentary subversives. I'll get back to the CFO, I think. Yeah. But there's also this, um,

you can get, I think you can stream it, go to Simon Head's website and you can find a way to stream this, but there's a track by track discussion. You and Ron and Lawrence chimes into, of course, but there's, uh by track discussion you and ron and lawrence chimes in too of course but there's uh yes okay yeah you had the masters in your basement well so during the pandemic um you know a lot of people did some deep cleaning and uh i honestly didn't know i had them i know they would they'd moved around a few times and it was at a point where everybody had apartments that were too small.

Somehow I ended up with them. I didn't know they were still there. So when I found them, we took them into Pheromone, and they baked the tapes, which you have to do when they're that old. Were you nervous? You only get the one shot. Is that right? Yeah, I wasn't nervous because either it was going to work or work or it wasn't gonna work and they were in the right hand so right so like if they're on them if

it's messed up yeah exactly but if they're in my basement and already past the point of decay then they were just garbage um but they work perfectly and it really and i really like that piece that hour-long discussion yeah that album because it really i want the thing that I think struck us all listening to the tapes was like, there wasn't, we kind of expected we'd go in and find all this stuff we hadn't actually used in the mix, but there was nothing.

It was like one, I think we determined there was one guitar part in Under the Carlyle Bridge that didn't make it into the song. Wow. So there was a real sort of efficiency in the way we played those days

because we were coming at it as a live band that was playing 200 shows a year and that's the way we recorded the album. uh it's cool because there's some there's some more intricate playing on that record than i realized no it is it's fantastic to go so what are the so there are some songs though you didn't have the masters for us on shakespeare right i think it was i think it ended up being just subversives and it's probably because it was recorded in a different way with just like a Ron live off the floor.

So that wasn't on the tapes that I had and likely lost somewhere along the way. You know, the thing is, the problem with being bad archivists is stuff just gets thrown away. I can't believe that was in your basement all this time because this is a 1991 album. Yeah, I know.

But just to be clear it didn't move several times i didn't have it from the from the get-go i think i think um one of ron's girlfriends had it at one point and then i moved out of their place when that when it was uh too small to hold and when it ended up with me i don't know because the house i had before that house there's no way i had it there it was just there was no room so i don't know so this again, I loved hearing you and Ron talk about Bleed a Little Wild Tonight, which is one of my favorite Lois to the Lois songs. And the way your voices dance. I'm actually going to turn this up for a minute.

Here we go. Damn, damn the circumstance Don't let me bleed again tonight Damn, damn the circumstance Don't let me bleed again tonight Damn, damn the circumstance My mistakes are taunting me And I'm hanging around in my own months And I remember you telling me That Alex never gets what she wants.

But you got someone, and it ain't me yet. I got myself again, but I just can't let this be. want you and I need you and I need you and I'll be a little wild tonight Yeah I'll be a little wild

tonight Yeah I'll be a little wild tonight Yeah I'll be a little while tonight Yeah, I'll bleed a little while tonight Yeah, I'll bleed a little while tonight Yeah, I'll bleed a little while tonight Yeah, I'll bleed a little while tonight

Yeah, I'll bleed a little while tonight Yeah, I'll bleed a little while tonight I'll bleed a little while tonight I'll bleed a little while tonight What do you think of that, Stephen? Well, I think that you're listening to, you know, how many years is it now? So it sounds like a different person when I hear myself because it's so long ago. But yeah, I always was very aware that my voice

and Ron's voice worked really well together. And it was nice to revisit that because, you know, I mean, time and I guess time heals all wounds. I mean, certainly he and I have had our troubles and everything's kind of back to a place where everything's good now. But, you know, this, we were. You've had your troubles? You know, I've seen the documentary, Stephen. Okay. There was an email, I believe, that was discussed in great detail. Oh, yeah, the email. Yeah. Do you still have a copy of that email?

I probably don't. Yeah. It looks like, you know, how email programs have changed and that would have been some kind of simpatico account. Right. You got, you know, it's not like Gmail where you don't delete anything. Do you remember what you wrote in that email? Oh, my response was basically, I quit. This was a long email. Mine was very, very short and to the point. And this is what year?

That would have been 2012. Right. This is the second. Okay. so people should seek out subversives for the ongoing history i will tell you i had a moment at i was at a sky digger show last weekend and uh josh and andy are doing uh i will give you everything yeah okay and their voices do this dance that it's really his and then i'm listening to that and i'm actually thinking about the way your voice with ron's in Bleed a Little Wild tonight. And I realize I'm just a sucker for that.

I love it so much. It's really, I mean, the idea of harmony. I've heard Graham Nash describe what the Crosby, Stills and Nash did as not trying to be harmony, but trying to have three voices create one voice. And I think that's what we were doing, kind of the the same thing um but yeah it's powerful it's like it's great and it's nice to be able to sort of sit back and realize that there was some good stuff done back then for sure so brother bill big uh champion of lowest of the low at cfy and then of course uh dave bookman bookie also a big champion as we just discussed is there anyone anyone else at CFY you can name check

who is a huge, like a booster of Shakespeare, my butt? Yeah, sure. Kim Hughes was a big supporter too. And we did so much with those evening shows that they had back then. It's hard to believe that that stuff doesn't really exist anywhere because that was such a sort of look forward to moment

in the course of a day where you got to hear from the bands that were coming to town and what stories that you wouldn't normally hear. Like, you know, as you said, a lot of people love context and often with, especially with like satellite radio now, basically you kind of hear the song and that's it.

So having a place where you could go every night and hear about the bands that were playing in town, what crazy things that happened in the business, that's great stuff. And it wasn't sensationalist. It wasn't like, you know, I mean, I don't know if entertainment tonight was considered sensationalist, but it didn't strike me like that. It was kind of like just real stories about real stuff, which is great. Yeah, I believe, you know, because Scott Turner tells me all the time about the CRTC rules were foreground programming. Like the FM, like part of their promise of performance with the CRTC was you had to have like informational programming and talky talk stuff like live in Toronto. Like I think it exists to satisfy some requirement with CRTC.

But it's guys like you and i we we miss it now that those requirements have been lifted like we absolutely miss the that context and having a somebody curate it and sort of like what dave hodge did yesterday in toronto maybe that's what podcasts are for now maybe that's what we're doing right now 100 and i also think that just the sort of the onset of the internet changed everything because now you can you know there was a time when if you had a band you loved you would get one chance to see them a year maybe and one chance to hear about them a year really except for if you're like reading circus magazine or something like you it just now you can basically if there's a band you love you can

look at them 24 hours a day and you probably watch them sleeping if you want to like it's just it's a little bit over the top now okay i want to get to i want to get back to before the collapse of the hive and again we're gonna chat more about it i'm interested in how the cake gets baked uh we're gonna do a thing literally all the jams are loaded up i heard you say the word hornets yeah hornets started playing it was like magic that's ai at work i didn't touch anything didn't touch a thing so we're kind of going to do that in a minute here i want to let people know actually i'm going to let people know that i'm giving steven some gifts so oh nice this my friend since this is your third time you've earned a wireless speaker you can connect to it via bluetooth it sounds damn good that's's amazing. Thank you.

Courtesy of Moneris, because with that wireless speaker, you're going to listen to season five of Yes, We Are Open, which is an award-winning podcast from Moneris, hosted by FOTML Grego. He was down here a couple of weeks ago. That was a great episode. We kicked out jams, talked about the new season. He went out east and he collected inspiring stories

from entrepreneurs and small business owners and then he shares them on this excellent podcast. So yes, we are open, season five. And you need to invest your money wisely. I think your move to Wolf Island is amazing. And I'm wondering, have you had a winter on Wolf Island yet? Well, I've certainly spent a lot. It's funny because a couple of friends of mine,

when I sort of made it known that I was moving there, one of my friends took me aside and said, you can't do this. And I said, what do you mean? He goes, you don't know what a winter's like on Wolf Island. I said, well, I've been here enough in the winter. He said, no, you don't know. You don't know what it's like. So it's coming.

You're going to report back. We'll get you back. OK, because they do have lots of snowy owls. This is a big thing on Wolf Island. I've not seen one yet, but there apparently is a place you can go and they're a little more prevalent. it's you know i mean lots of deer the deer the deer are when you go out sort of the back roads i've seen deer like jump the entire road like two lanes it's just it's like you're watching like a deer take flight i i do i will

tell you i want to get to Wolf Island next summer. And what's this hotel that Chris Brown has? Like what's, what is this? So I guess two years ago, three years ago, Chris bought the hotel Wolf Island with a partner named Tom Carpenter. And they've turned it into a number of things. It's a real community hub, but there's two amazing live rooms. The island itself right now is a bit stymied by the fact that their ferry construction on the new docks on both the Kingston side and the Wolf Island side have taken forever.

And it looks like we're about to get the ferry coming into the village again. And that will change everything because literally you can get from Kingston to the Hotel Wolf Island faster than most people can get to the Horseshoe in Toronto. And they're bringing in, I think five times a week, there's amazing music almost every night. Not the least of which will be with me this Saturday. Okay, so this is like, I mean, I think I said

this last year, but I mean it this time. I need to carve out a weekend in the summer of 2024. I want to go and check all this out. Like I want to document it all and check out what's going on. Yeah. You should come and do some episodes from there because there's,

well, first of all, the street that I live on is like pretty much, you know, except for a couple of peoples, all musicians of some renown, you know, Jason Mercer,

who was part of the bourbon tabernacle choir played with Ani DeFranco for years, is a producer extraordinaire in his own right, just did the new Gertrude's record, which is really good. And Chris Brown, as you know, Rocky Roberts is on the street too, and he worked for, he was Neil Young's guitar tech for many, many years. And it's just like, there's just this clutch of, and that's just the one street.

There's artists everywhere, and it's a real nice little community it's a small community and the hotel and a couple other places are kind of the centerpieces and you know it's different than toronto that's for sure yeah we're losing a lot of our great toronto artists to you guys out there a lot like a drain artistic drain okay i will shout out uh fotm gare joyce because he up and moved to during the pandemic he up and moved to king uh kingston oh yeah and he tells me he when he was younger he would get mistaken for stephen stanley from lowest of the low really yeah so i'll show you i'm sending my deepest sympathy um kingston too is a is a uh a lovely music scene like i'm really digging what's going on there.

I don't know the science behind it, but the number of live venues per capita must be higher than most places, I would think. Okay, the road trip, I'm going to make it happen. It's totally worth it. I was just in Montreal. I drove right by. I've got to make the stop next summer.

Okay, so all that is to say that you can learn how to plan, invest, and live smarter with the Raymond James Canada podcast, The Advantage Investor. Whether you already work with a trusted financial advisor or currently manage your own investment plans, The Advantage Investor provides the engaging wealth management information you value as you pursue your most important goals. And that's creating great music, Stephen. That's what you do. That's what you do. That's what I do. There's a measuring tape courtesy of Ridley Funeral Home. You never know when you have to measure something.

That's great. And fresh craft beer from Great Lakes Brewery is yours. Awesome. And I have a lasagna for you. Now, I don't know where you are tonight. What's the plans for you while you're in there? Yeah, tonight we're here in Toronto and then back to the island tomorrow for a show.

I'll gladly take it. It was the highlight of the last visit. No, it's yours. I'm just hoping that you have a freezer. It'll probably thaw before we get back, but we'll figure it out soon. All right, well, it's none of my business what happens to that lasagna once it leaves the premises.

I'm not liable. It's frozen solid. Well, it's cold outside. I what happens to that lasagna once it leaves the premises. I'm not liable. It's frozen solid. Well, it's cold outside. I feel you can store it outside. Just don't let the raccoons cook that up. Okay, so you're getting the lasagna. Let me see if I've got everything. Oh, Recycle My Electronics.

If you are on Wolf Island, you have any old cables or old devices or old electronics that you need to get rid of, I feel like you've got a bunch of stuff because you just found the masters of Shakespeare and my button. So you go to recyclemyelectronics.ca and find out a place near you. You can drop it off and it'll be properly recycled

so the chemicals don't end up in our landfill. You got it, Stephen? I got that. That's great. Okay. That's essential. Give me the details. I know a lot of places are like, oh, that's in the weeds, man.

I'm like, get in the freaking weeds steven like i'm good to go in the weeds okay so and again as you talk to me about this feel free to shout out like say i want i want a straw man whatever you want and then that'll come in and then we can play with it it'll be awesome to do this but like where did these songs come from there's 11 songs on this new album we've already heard one and don't make me play the song you're gonna play obviously because oh yeah i'll keep that one keep away from that one um you know half of these songs were kicking around pre-pandemic and we were getting ready to go in and make a record and then that happened and you know being at that point from toronto where the

rest of my band's from as well uh we couldn't go to the island we we had to wait and when we finally got started we got into it. And then the pandemic caused a couple other breaks that one of them was a longer one for nine months. So it took a long time. And going back and forth, I kind of just loved the vibe of making a record there. I've obviously made records in studios and cities

and both in Vancouver and Toronto and all over the place. And there's a little more of a regimented feel to any sort of studio work when you're especially close to home because you kind of go in there and you go out. With Wolf Island, it's all completely not regimented. It just sort of happens when it happens. There's often a lot of conversation. People drop in.

And a lot of the sort of arrangements happen because of, oh, somebody comes in and we put them on vocally. We put them on playing banjo. Sounds like heaven, Stephen. It's pretty cool. This sounds like in Field of Dreams. It's pretty cool. That's Idaho.

It sounds like heaven. Yeah. So it is heaven. And about half the songs were written during the pandemic. So when we went in the studio, the band didn't know them. And that was a lot of fun. So we reverse engineered all those, where I started with a vocal and an acoustic guitar and then the band

built it backwards where usually we would do the rhythm section first and build the song that way so that was cool and Straw Man's a perfect example of that because that was really kind of pieced together piece by piece I knew what I wanted to say and I knew what the lyrics were going to be we're going to play it tonight live

for the first time which I'm actually a little bit nervous about because there's a lot of words in this song. Just fake it till you make it, Steve. Yeah, I'm going to have to. Okay, let's listen to a little bit of Straw Man. Oh, my ashen glow. The old moon in the new moon's arms. I doubt myself.

Maybe this didn't happen exactly as I remember it. It's been a long time gone. But it happened, and by that I mean it really happened. Sometimes you have no choice but to doubt your own memory. That's the way it is. The mind's eye remembers something, believes in a pinpoint accuracy, until

somebody else takes that pin and bursts your fever dream wide open, and it spills out right in front of you. A river of half-truths rushing away before you can soak them all back in. I'm incandescent, you burn as you get too close. Sanguine desires, I'll serve you a lethal dose. One moment strong, and the next moment gone. It's that vein in your neck, you can feel it right there. Not sure if something is pumping towards your brain

Or away from your brain But you know it's moving And you know it's altering everything you thought to be true But see, consciousness begs for something more than just salience It's not just what came before But what might be possible come what may The narrative is a beast And the beast must be constantly fed to survive

But two people, two people can read the same story, those exacting words, and the end result is two untypical meanings that barely resemble each other at all. So yeah, it happened, but that means almost nothing. I stood unaltered, you measured defeated. Took what you could, never got what you needed. I named you, in you needed I named you In the process I named you You sent a strong man

When it wasn't needed And I was already defeated I was already singing that tune And I would have stood by And watched all that dust fly And my love was the earth's shine By the spare sliver of the moon There are a lot of words in this, Stephen. You're going to hear how this sounds tonight. You know what?

When you were doing this part too, I was thinking you were going to say, all I wanted was a Pepsi. You know what I mean? I was like, can I go back? Guys, it's my show, Stephen. You can't actually stop me. You can do whatever you want.

It's been a long time gone, but it happened, and by that I mean it really happened. Sometimes you have no choice but to doubt your own memory. That's the way it is. The mind's eye remembers something, believes in a pinpoint accuracy, until somebody else takes that pin and bursts your fever dream wide open, and it spills out right in front of you, a river of half-truths rushing away before you can soak them all back in.

All I wanted was a Pepsi. All I wanted was a Pepsi. Which is no joke. Brother Bill has kicked out on this program as one of his favorite songs of all time. Suicidal Tendencies Institutionalized. So it's all connected, man. Yeah, it is all connected.

But great, this is a great song. Thank you. Yeah, it was a... So Kate's vocal was recorded in New York and I heard it for the first time when it was coming back, it came back to Wolf Islands and it was just so moving.

It's just amazing. Yeah, no, it's all going to come, so you're going to play that live tonight. Who's going, Kate's not here, right? Kate will be here tonight, yes. She will be here tonight. You know what, I wish I had known. I've been working on getting Kate Benner on Toronto Mike and I didn't know she was in town. She's really in for one day.

She's got to remember me when these things are happening. What's going on? I need to be high on the radar here. Okay. Amazing. Is this like one of the older songs on the new album? That's one of the newer ones, actually. Okay, that's a newer one.

Okay. Sorry. So tell me the name of the song that you're going to sing live. Oh, today. I was thinking I would do Here Comes That Rain. Okay, I'm just going to isolate that track so I don't... Okay, what do you think is the oldest song that's on the album? Hey Darlene.

Hey Darlene. Okay, let's go taste that. guitar solo Yeah, hey darling I'd like a word with you Cause you've been thinking out loud And none of that is true When you talk through your hat Well, no one wants to hear that

I hate Arlene I hate Arlene Ooh, the return Of the prodigal son Happens every day, yeah When your work gets done Let's not get caught up in dissection But you burn his affection

Hey darling, hey darling Hey darling, hey darling, hey darling Ooh, light a fuse and let it burn There's a lesson to be learned Hurling piss is dripping wet in gasoline I guess the deepest blood connection Will somehow lead to an infection Of the body, mind and floating beds clean

Hey darling guitar solo Yeah, hey darling My flat are just the same You talk a lot about me and take it all in vain. When you whisper in the night, oh, does your left hand know the right? Hey Darlene, hey Darlene, hey Darlene Hey Darlene Hey Darlene Hey Darlene Who's Darlene? Oh, that's a story

I find that with writing music there's like that's about gossip the song's about gossip and I probably do have an actual reference point but there's some things I like to keep to myself and let people in a live show I tell a lot of stories

and some of the stories are very directly about the songs and others I like to just let them kind of percolate and be what they are everyone has their own Darlene right? I think the world's full of Darlene and they're often they're often male the Darlene

can't apply a gender, the Darlene's. Yeah, that's true. There's no, can't apply a gender to this Darlene here. Okay, amazing. I want one song in the background while we wrap up the talk, because then you're going to tune that guitar, and we're going to get something live, which is amazing. And I'm going to even record it on my phone here, which would be cool to get that video.

But name check another song that's not here comes the rain um why don't we do you have a favorite song or are they like your children yeah it's kind of it's kind of like bouncing around so let's let's talk about chase that devil um which is the first song on the album um we just did a video with sean ryan that i'm really happy with and i don't know it's like this song kind of happened really quickly from a writing point of view and was inspired by watching the news one night and a politician. And this is the hard part. I really like to know my references. And it was late at night.

I know it happened. But when I went back to try to find it, I couldn't find it. But basically, it was during a federal election. A politician in Ottawa, a conservative, was asked, what are you going to do if you get elected? And he said, I'm going to chase that devil out of Ottawa. And I was like, this can't be political discourse anymore. This can't be what we're talking about. But it is.

It really has become such a big part of political discourse. And it passes off as something that actually has meaning, which it actually means nothing. So yeah, I took it and built a whole song around it. It's usually what happens. Usually one line triggers a whole narrative. Yeah, it's almost like maybe because it's late at night, you're watching the news.

It could even be like you mishear it just a little. I feel like that's a line I feel would be indexed by Google somewhere. But chase that devil out of Ottawa. Yeah. No results. Wild. Okay. Let me hear a little bit of this.

And it goes like this. Chase that devil. Chase that devil. Chase that devil. The that devil, chase that devil When the TV camera's on Chase that devil, chase that devil, chase that devil It's the only place you run, oh Woah, woah, woah, woah, woah, woah

You've gone all in straight to the dustbin For history's remorse That duplicitous grin Is always filtered through a second hand source Bridges or crosses, you'll burn anything Glint to that high Find yourself a seat as you blink The cortege rolls on by

And it's bye, bye, bye, bye Chase that devil Chase that devil Chase that devil When that devil Chase that devil When the TV camera's on Chase that devil Chase that devil Chase that devil

The only place you run, oh I breathe a sigh of relief The joke's gonna be on you. I hear that in the next federal election, Pierre Polyev is gonna use this as his theme song well you know because i can hear the crowd now chase that devil it kind of riles you up the mob mentality i'm like let's let's tear down a wall let's let's make some shit hopefully the verses will deter him from doing that no it's like when uh ronald reagan used born in the usa yeah oh and what like trump

pulled all kinds of songs tom petty and the village people like he was using everything he could get his hands on um i i really just listening to the song with you i just wanted to say um yeah i haven't mentioned my own band which well this is it talk to me about yeah because they're playing on this record is just like stellar chris bennett is the guitar player um that's his work throughout this song i think some of the guitar playing he does in this album is just mind-blowing to me and the rhythm section is chris rellinger on bass and cam piesiak on drums and they just did some amazing work as i said a lot of it got pieced together in the studio this time because there wasn't the there wasn't the availability of pre-production because we

couldn't get together for the moments we were making this record. That's kind of neat to have it organically piece itself together on the floor like that. I love it and I think that's probably how I'll make another record if I make another record, just to try to go in with no pre-work and just try to build it that way.

It's so much fun. So much happens. Before we started recording, you're like I'll tune my guitar and I'm like no, we're doing that live like i even want you to tune the guitar live that's where i'm at here and i think i said this to you when you came over with ron hawkins and chris brown i said you have an affinity for chris's like this is clear you like if your name is chris stephen stanley's gonna want to work with you chris brown chris bennett chris rellinger uh and then uh dj chris powers is a sort of a guy on the island he's like he lives in kingston but he was around he wasn't around for

this this record just because of the pandemic but he was around all the time during uh the making of jimmy and the moon so yeah the room by the way that song's still great uh you know every time uh i think did you play the most recent grilled cheese challenge? Not this year. Okay. Two years ago. Yeah. Right. And then even when that song,

when you were playing that song live, I'm like, that's a great jam. Yeah. I thought we had a really good set that day. It was a fun, it was a fun one for sure. I feel like.

Long lineups for the grilled cheese. That's all I'll say. Well, you know who won that year, the grilled cheese challenge. This is not a joke. I know this. I'll let you,

I'll let you. Well, Ridley Funeral Home won that year. And I know the last year that Ridley came in second, I think, last year. But another competitor in that is Great Lakes Brewery. So there's a lot of Toronto Mike sponsors that are involved in the Grilled Cheese Challenge, Stephen. I can say that the year that Ridley won, they were well-deserved. It was a really good sandwich, that's for sure.

Oh, my God. You could be like the celebrity grilled cheese flipper, man. Okay. Where are you going? I'm going to Rid be like the celebrity uh grilled cheese flipper man okay where are you going i'm going to ridley funeral home from you know to eat enough of those grilled cheeses you'll be at brad's you'll be calling brad for a pickup here okay so soon in moments mere moments now do play by play you can tell you what's going on i don't know how to tune a guitar i need to know what you're doing with that guitar tuning and then we're gonna you're gonna play live yeah uh do what was the name of the first band i don't know if it was in high school or whatever but the first band you were a part of

the deadbeats it was uh me andy koyama who produced shakes for my butt and uh his originally his brother gourd and who else was kind of john i forget john's last name was the drummer oh and john arrow was the bass player that was a fun group of guys. We did, Andy wrote most of the songs. We did a sort of a mix of covers. And, you know, this was probably like 1987. And we had a pretty nice little run of playing live when we rehearsed down at Johnny McLeod's space on Queen Street. And I haven't seen Johnny in years because, you know,

my rehearsals have taken me other places. But at one point, I was his longest running client at that jam space. Wow. That now is in, is now down more in the Baldwin area, but he's still at it though. Okay.

And what was the name of your, the second band you were a part of? Second band, second major band would have been Popular Front. Yeah. That was with Ron and Dave. And Popular Front, yeah,

people who don't know the origin, if you don't know the origin, go, go see the documentary. It's all in there. Yeah. But what did you think, people who don't know the origin. If you don't know the origin, go see the documentary. It's all in there. But what did you think? And I know you were involved in it and you're very close to it. But again, you're not in the band Lowest to the Low anymore.

So what did you think of Subversives? Yeah, I really enjoyed it. You know, I missed the Toronto premiere because I got sick a couple days before and couldn't go. And I actually went to the doctors that day and said, I'm supposed to go to a premiere tonight. Can I go? And he goes, no, you can't go. It wasn't COVID, though, but he didn't want me out in public. So that was fine.

So I ended up going to Allura and watching it in this amazing sort of little limestone theater that they have there with surround sound and a room full of people. And it was a great experience. And Uncle Harry and the Kickstands did a courtyard set outside before the movie. It was just a great night. But yeah, I really like it. I saw many parts of it as it was being made,

because Simon's very forthright. And as you probably know, I did four different interviews for it. And then on top of that, the interview for Above Shakespeare, My Butt as well. So I saw a lot of it leading up to it. So there were some surprises, but I had a pretty good sense of where it was going. You know, I mean, what can you say about a story that you're involved in?

And your involvement is really interesting because Ron is this constant, of course, but then there's you and you're there for the Shakespeare, My Butt. And then what is it whatever after hallucinogenia uh and getting uh i had uh ron hawkins in the backyard and we were talking about don smith and that's in the documentary too but it's just very interesting because paul anglois was down here and talked about how amazing don smith was to work with

and then i was like i was gonna pull a clip of ron saying like how horrific the experience was for him well so that's yeah that was one of the things that you know that particular story that got told about don like i either i've willfully omitted it in my mind or i just didn't remember it happening but it was it wasn't great because don during the making of our record found out he was going to be producing the next Rolling Stones album. Once that happened, like those were his friends, like Petty and Keith Richards. He was often in the studio loft on the phone with them for hours

while we were recording. And you would hear, we'd be doing like bed tracks and we'd finish a song and there'd be like this 30 second pause. And then the talkback would come on and he'd go, again. And that was all he'd say.

And you know, for all i know he wasn't even listening but so there was some there was some troubled times he he took the tapes to uh to california for a week like in the middle of the session that wasn't expected and we were living in vancouver so we now had a week of downtime just just sort of kick around the city which wasn't all that bad but he said he needed to put percussion on it and came back with what I think was two cowbell parts. And one of them was a cowbell on a song that Dave was already playing a cowbell.

So there's some weird stuff like that. But I will say, and this is where I suspect Paul Lang Waugh comes in on this story, is that I got to spend some late nights in the studio with him doing guitar work. And he loved the guitar and he was a wizard. And his energy during those moments, you know, those extended moments, because I think it was two or three nights where it was just he and I and the engineer in the studio and we were working on guitars. It was infectious. Like it was just to see somebody so passionate about sounds. And I think, you know in the end it's elusive genie a great sounding record i probably

not like it's sort of out of its time oh you know what i was going to say before um andy koyama has uh remixed all the shakes for my butt tracks all of all the raw tracks and it it's really i don't know what's going to happen with it i don't have a lot of skin in the game now but um i'm not sure if they're going to release it or not. But it really sort of makes it, really updates it. So you get the same, it's the same music and the same recordings, but it's just kind of takes away a little bit of that early 90s overuse of reverb that was really, I mean, you can hear it on that album.

Everything's just bathed in it. And it was nice to hear the album that way. Yeah. So it's out there. It's like when they did Let It Be Naked album that way. Interesting. Yeah, so it's out there and whether or not anybody gets to hear it. It's like when they did Let It Be Naked. Do you remember this? Yeah, kind of. With Let It Be Naked, they stripped a lot of George Martin's stuff out. There was nothing stripped

out of this. He just sort of re- Well, it wasn't George Martin, right? Wasn't it the guy who killed his wife? Oh, it was Phil Spector. Phil Spector, right. The guy who killed his wife, that guy. Yeah, Phil Spector. Alright, that's problematic too. Okay, so Don realized, you got to have more cowbell. I think that was what he said when he was listening to you. He wanted more cowbell.

I think what he wanted was a week off in California. No, it's for sure what he wanted, because there was no work done. He had this whole backstory about working with Tom Petty's drummer, and I just don't think any of it actually happened. He probably put a cowbell on the plane way back. So, okay. So there's an episode of Toronto Mic dropping tomorrow morning,

which is, it happens at the end of every month. It's the Ridley Funeral Home Memorial episode. And we talk about those we lost that previous month. So we're going to talk about people we lost in November, 2023. And one of my conversations, because his mentor passed away in November 2023, is going to be with Perry Lefkoe.

So if you could take a moment, obviously you don't need to talk about Perry, shout out to Perry Lefkoe, but Perry's brother, Elliot Lefkoe, his role in the, was it 2012? When was the big... Earlier, that was 2001 and 2002. There were so many there.

Stephen, who can keep track? We did too many reunions. He was instrumental because I think throughout, whenever the conversation of doing more shows came up, and I think for six years, everybody said no. When he got involved,

he was the guy we all trusted and we all thought someone was going to handle it. And there was a lot of courtship to be able to do it, but we started getting together again. And once we got into the jam space, we realized it was probably going to be a lot of fun. And it was.

Those were really great shows, those first reunion shows. But Elliot's just such a lovely guy, and also a really good friend of Dave Bookman's. And he just knows his stuff so well so in those hands we knew something good was going to happen it really was we had a great sort of uh we did um toronto and buffalo and excuse me and then and then we did uh a run out west and then um ended up being the amphitheater show and he wasn't involved directly with the 20th anniversary thing that ended up in

Massey Hall, but that would have never happened if he hadn't gotten involved in the first part. Okay, so from lowest to the low to the Stephen Stanley Band, now's a good time to get yourself ready there, prepare. So I'll give the play by play here. In fact, I'll put a little something of yours in the background

while this all happens. How about the Winnipeg? There you go. See, okaypeg? Play by play. Stephen Stanley just knocked over my Fuji Feather single speed bicycle so I'll be sending an invoice to Wolf Island. Alright, don't worry. Just lean

that against... Don't worry. That was an accident waiting to happen. I'm waiting on my contract. that against uh don't worry that was an accident waiting to happen the winnipeg sun is uh oh gun it's a big difference uh this mike put on your glasses here the winnipeg gun is playing in the background that's from the new album from the stephen stanley band it's called before the collapse of the hive stephen's got a band. It's called Before the Collapse of the Hive. Stephen's got a guitar now. He's picked up my bike.

Okay. Don't hit your head, Stephen. Oh, I dodged that one. Yeah, great. Yeah, I mean, I tried to warn you, but you can lead a horse to water. I think I've been blessed by the tuning gods. That's good.

Really? See, that's why I didn't want you to... It's kind of strange on a day like today because you figure a two-hour drive plus this weird damp weather would do something. Maybe this guitar likes that kind of stuff. Okay, so what happens between your visit on Toronto Mic and your performance tonight?

What is going to happen with Stephen Stanley? Yeah, it's going to be hopefully a couple hours of getting something to eat, but I think we start pretty early with soundcheck. I'll be there at 3 Stephen Stanley. Yeah, it's going to be hopefully a couple hours of getting something to eat, but I think we start pretty early with soundcheck. I'll be there at 3, 3.30, and then getting ready for the show. And so the band, Chris Brown's rehearsed with the band, and the band's sounding great,

and this will be the first time we've played live with Kate for a long time, so that's going to be fun. Amazing. Okay, stick on those cans. I have a second mic. I can open up this guy if you want. Oh sure yeah you tell me that could be the guitar all right yeah professional operation here yeah you might have to move the chair a bit swing that guy over okay now i have to send him an invoice for that microphone you're gonna get afford this visit

it's like yeah well luckily the label label a couple of everything they know i'm they know i'm destructive so oh now that i know that break more things. I need new stuff. Okay. That sounds nice. So is it in tune? It is. So hold on, because I want to record.

I mean, I'm recording this, obviously. Should I have recorded this conversation, Stephen? Has that ever happened to you? You did an interview, and then they said, oh shit, I don't have it? Not interviews, but certainly with some music stuff

where you thought you had something great and it didn't actually make it onto the tape. Or the tape. You're like, I'll never sound that good again with tape. I still say live to tape, even though. Okay, so I'm going to get my video to go. Where are we here? Oh, yeah, you look camera ready here.

Okay, so I'm going to start recording this, and then the floor is yours, Stephen Stanley. Thanks, Mike. This is called Here Comes That Rain, and it was actually the first. Do we call them singles anymore? I don't even know when you put a song out on the streaming service this is the first one that came out it goes like this I've been baptized and circumvented

moralized infantilized and and schooled. Gaslit and dog-whistled, overheated, melted down, and cooled. I've been stood up and worked over, and demagogued and dropped on my head. If my story's almost written and yours is still yet to be said

But here comes that rain You've got my eyes Push past this bane Into the light of sunrise Oh Here comes that rain And I was pleased by the progress And I spun in time to see the bubble burst

And I woke up the watchdog Just too late to recognize the worst And I've seen daylight and darkest hours With real tears right before the dawn. Beaten down by populists, so take back that hill and you'll live on and on and on and on and on. But here comes that rain. You've got my eyes

Push past this pain Into the light of sunrise Oh How come this water keeps rising and no one seems to pay it any mind? This water keeps rising and your body's turning it to wine. Beat an unbeaten path and stomp your own grapes of wrath

Cut the time it takes to make some sense of all this pain in half Cut the time it takes to make some sense of all this pain in half. Cut the time it takes to make some sense of all this pain in half. One, two, three, four. guitar solo And I've had your eyes locked on mine And I couldn't hide the plot that we lost So rage against or die by And rewrite this poem at all costs

Here comes that rain You've got my eyes Push past this pain Into the light of sunrise Oh, here comes that rain light of sunrise oh here comes that rain rain rain

rain amazing Steven and it even rained because they knew you were going to sing that was fantastic, man. Thank you. I can't believe it, how talented you are. It's a rocker with the band, and that's a nice one to play acoustic to.

We're going to start the show with that song tonight. Oh, my God. So we're going to close this show, and you're going to start that show. It was perfect. The album's called Before the Collapse of the Hive. If you were king for a day, how would people consume your new music on Before the Collapse of the Hive, if you were king for a day, how would people consume your new music on before the collapse of the Hive? Well, if I was king for a day, I think, you know, as many people as possible listening

to it on vinyl is kind of the way to go. It's nice that there's been a resurgence. But honestly, Mike, I think I'm just happy if people listen to it, no matter where. I'm not sort of precious about, you know, I mean, I obviously understand the argument about streaming and band camps better and all that. But if people mean, there's, I obviously understand the argument about streaming and band camps better and all that. But if people listen, that's, that's good by me.

And remind people, uh, if there are any tickets available for tonight, where do they go to get tickets to see you, uh, for the release of the, the release party for before the collapse of the hive. Yeah.

I think tonight will be what's left will be at the door, which is at 1300 Girard street East. It's called the Redwood theater and doors are open at seven. So yeah, come, it's left will be at the door, which is at 1300 Girard Street East. It's called the Redwood Theatre, and doors are open at 7. So yeah, come. It's going to be fun. Did you know you play on this song?

I know that. I was told that. I don't know. I don't remember being there. Whatever we're calling it, Shakespeare, my butt. Reproduce? Who's the gentleman? Spell the last name of the gentleman who remixed this album.

Well, he actually did the, produced the original version. Andy Koyama, K-O-Y-A-M-A. And he's a film musician, mixer out in California now. But, you know, did an amazing job.

And that album basically is the reason I'm sitting here. Well, we don't know that. We have to go through the sliding doors and see what happens if you're not in.

We don't know. But it did grease the wheels here. Grease the wheel. Thank you. This is your third visit. You hit it out of the park again and I can't wait

for your fourth visit, man. You're amazing. Thanks, Mike. Pleasure being here. I need to hear that new remix version of Rosie and Gray and see if that becomes

the new closing theme song. So tell them to send it over. I need to hear that ASAP version of Rosie and Gray and see if that becomes the new closing theme song. So tell them to send it over. I need to hear that ASAP. That would be a good place for it to go, actually. And by the way, in that one hour where you talked about the songs on Shakespeare My Butt, I was hoping when you got to the Rosie and Gray song, you might mention, you don't have to name me,

some podcaster uses this to close everything. That might have been in the extended version. There was a lot of conversation that didn't make it to the actual cut. I think Simon shot so much stuff for those docs. Shout out to FOTM Simon Head. Yeah. And that brings us to the end of our 1,378th show. Stephen, I used to follow you on Twitter, like SStanleyBand.

I'm not there anymore. You're not there anymore. So where would you like us to follow you on social media? Yeah, follow on Facebook, which is just Stephen Stanley, or on Instagram, which is also Stephen Stanley. My website is StephenStanleyBand.com. So yeah, I kind of got out of the Twitter thing. I was chastised for that the other day

because a friend of mine that was posting about my new record said he couldn't tag me. Well, I actually experienced that exact same thing yesterday. Stephen Stanley's and I'm like, where is he? Because he used to be a Stanley band. But I don't blame you for getting off. Like, I actually, I'm on, I'm still on Twitter as Toronto Mike, but I created a Blue Sky account at Toronto Mike because when Elon's right there, like when, when he goes at, I'm close. Like once I bail on Twitter,

I'll just do my tweets on blue sky, whether anyone's there or not. Right. Blue sky. I don't even know that. Okay. Well, I'll get you an invite.

I'm looking. Um, yeah, I was told that I should probably start a band Twitter account again, just so there's something that people can tag. Right. Just make our lives easier. Yeah.

Anyways, much love to all who made this possible that's Great Lakes Brewery that's Palma Pasta that's Raymond James Canada

that's Mineris that's Recycle My Electronics and Ridley Funeral Home see you all well it might be Ashley McIsaac

this weekend but if it's not him it'll be John Lawrence from Spacing we've got to talk about Ontario Place. See you all then. And I'll play this casage The best that I can

Maybe I'm not And maybe I am But who gives a damn Because everything Is going to Rose me in gray Yeah, the wind is cold But the summer snow

Warms me today And your smile is fine It's just like mine Yeah, the wind is cold, but the sun's cold. It warms me today. And your smile is mine. It's just like mine. It won't go away. Because everything is rosy and green.