Toronto Mike'd: The Official Toronto Mike Podcast - Toronto Mike on Alan Dalton's Podcast: Toronto Mike'd Podcast Episode 1852

Episode Date: February 19, 2026

In this 1852nd episode of Toronto Mike'd, Mike is invited on Alan Dalton's podcast for a fun Wednesday night chat. Toronto Mike'd is proudly brought to you by Great Lakes Brewery, Palma Pasta, Ridley Funeral Home, Nick Ainis, and RecycleMyElectronics.ca. If you would like to support the show, we do have partner opportunities available. Please email Toronto Mike at [e-mail].

Good day, everyone. Welcome to Canadian music in the 80s and 90s and more. A. I hope you like what to see you do. Please subscribe. This is someone I've actually been trying to get on for a while now and I'm glad to finally have him here because I listen to his podcast all the time. It's wonderful Toronto Mike. Thanks for joining me, Mike. I appreciate it. Alan, it's my pleasure. You know I like to play hard to get. That's a way to do it, right? No, I really appreciate you doing this. Yeah, I listen. all the time you have just about how many shows have you done now you've done oh so to on what is that i'm at 1852 i think so yeah 1,8502 and when did this start like what year did this all start

august 2012 so we're going back a good what is what is that do the math for me that's tough 14 years almost. Yeah, yeah, 14 years this year. That's amazing. And you're doing something, right? Because you're still doing it. I'm just crazy enough to keep going. And what was your background before you got started in this?

Like, did you work in radio before? No, no, never worked a day in radio. My background was basically, I was a senior manager of digital marketing for B2B software companies. Like I did that forever, like from the time that was invented until 2018. And then along the way, because I'm a curious cat, I started a blog, like in 2000. No, in 1999, I started a personal homepage and it morphed into a blog in 2002. And then suddenly in 2006, podcasting started to like emerge. Apple in iTunes, they added podcasts. And I, I technically produced Humble and Fred's podcast in 2006,

December 2006. So that's the first time I was involved in a podcast, and I never had the courage to speak into a microphone until August 2012. And we haven't been able to stop you since. You know, I haven't shut up since August 2012. So you must have learned a lot working with veterans like Humble and Fred to get started.

Well, the main thing I learned from them is how to bake in sponsor mentions into your show. So like I learned how to like weave it in without a stopping. Although the ironic thing is they now stop down for an ad break, which I'm still like allergic to. But the other thing I learned from those guys is that they did it live to tape because they had all that radio experience. And that's when I realized, okay, we're going to, like, you're doing it now, but like I'm going to do the intro live with the music's all live. The whole conversation is live. I'm going to play you out with the music live. And then that, That's going to be the podcast.

There's zero editing in a typical Toronto mic episode. I know. That's what I love about it. I love the fact that you're hearing the unfiltered conversations you're having with your guests. And, you know, anything goes. You know, if you get off subject a little by, so be it. But you always wind up getting back on what the subject's about. Not all the time, but I got better at that as I did it.

Like I used to go on a tangent and I never got back to the original point. But now it's like I take a mental note. Come back here after your tangent. I got a lot better at that as I worked on it. I love your podcast. I listen every day. I think it's fantastic. And it's great to actually talk to you finally.

Do you remember who your first guest was? Well, that's it. The first like 30 episodes or so weren't guest related. It was me and a co-host would talk about what's going on in the world. I started introducing some guests. nobody particularly famous but I would grab somebody nearby and interview them just to put in reps

and I don't know when I got my first Toronto miced episode as it is now but I think it was probably like Freddie P from Humble and Fred who came over for like early 30s like I don't know 34 and then we did an episode and then you know you had Humble Howard over

and then I'd have Bingo Bob over and then I'd have like people related to the show like I don't know Jeff Merrick for example and then next thing you know it's like oh this is what toronto like does and then you just roll with it because you've had a lot of not just toronto legends because you're a toronto force um you've had lots of like like just amazing canadian legends on your show as well like i've interviewed blair packum you've had him on your show he's

probably one of the best guests you could ever have because he never stops talking which is great and we've interviewed duncan fumlin both of us he's a good friend of mine and just I've read some of the guests you've had. Not just, I was thinking, I mostly cover music, but you've covered everything from like acting, actors, media people, to musicians, to anything else I'm missing here. Well, my favorite episodes are the music episodes. Like, I can tell you, those are the ones I enjoy the most.

But for a long time, I did a lot of radio people and sports media personalities. Like that was kind of for a long time that was my bread and butter, if you will, like, oh, this is where you're going to, Ron McLean will drop by or Elliot Friedman will drop by or Dave Hodge will drop by a lot of that. But yeah, lately like the most exciting episodes like I, we're recording on a Wednesday and I'm going to drop my next episode is going to be Gordy Johnson from Big Sugar. So now that's my new, you know, I mentioned to you before we press record. You mentioned Duncan Fremlin. Well, he came over with Sean Cullen, and it was a great episode talking about Stomp and Tom Conners. But then two days later, I had Dave Bedini in the basement from the Rio Statics,

and he has a fascinating link to the Stomp and Tom Conner's comeback of the mid to late 80s. So, like, all these musician pieces, they all kind of fit together, and I love it. And if they'll talk to me, not everybody, I noticed the low-hanging fruit has fallen, So now I feel like I'm working extra hard to get these newbies, but I did just get Simone Denny over and she was part of that Chris Shepard dance act. Do you remember Love, Inc? I do, yeah. You're a superstar. That's my only singing you're ever going to hear.

But now I'm into like, I'm looking at it. I'm trying to get Liberty Silver to come by, you know, these kind of, I'm trying to get the, who am I working on? Dream Warriors. I want the Dream Warriors. Capital Q and King Luce. It's not just Rock. It's all over the place. No, it's great. It's not just Toronto Legends. It's Canadian Legends, period. But a lot of them happen to live in Toronto, I guess. So that helps a lot. Except Alfie Zappacosta lives in Edmonton. I want the people to know that. I had to Zoom with him in Edmonton, Alberta.

He was my first big interview, actually. Is that right? Alfie's Apicosta? Yeah, he came to Charlottetown. I just sent him with a Facebook message and he said, yeah, come by my sound check. We'll have a chat. I'm just like, okay. I'm sort of processing this.

First of all, you're in Charlottetown? Yes, but I grew up in Mississauga actually. So, but I've been here for six years now. So I have a lot of respect for the Toronto thing because I spent most of my life. What brought you to Prince Edward Island? Uh, work. My wife got a really good job here. Um, my dad is from here.

So I have lots of family here. It wasn't a strange place to move to. I've been coming here for a long time. It's been like a second home. And Toronto was getting kind of expensive. Ontario, period. I noticed, but how are the winters in Prince Edward Island? Actually, you probably had a worse winter here than we have.

This is a bad one. And last year, I think you guys got more snow than we did. It actually hasn't been that bad. Is there good biking trails in Prince Edward Island? Yes, there's a trail called the Confederation Trail. It basically used to be the railroad that ran across the entire Prince of Rhode Island. It's a beautiful trail. You can go from tip to tip on PEI just by bike.

How many kilometers is it tip to tip? I'd say about in the neighborhood of 300, 300 kilometers. Okay, so that's a, I don't go over. Well, 130 is about my limit, I think, for a bike ride, actually, 130 kilometers. You should come here and make a trip of it. Well, listen, I've been. I've been there with the family. I think it was just before the pandemic.

I think it was 2019. I was there. And, like, loved it. And I'm still tasting that cow's ice cream, right? Like, I loved it. It's fantastic. I loved it. You know, shout out to Anne of Green Gables.

And I would love that at some point, I'd love to come back and do, like, to bike, Prince Edward Island. Like, that sounds amazing. And visit the Stop and Tom Center since you've been doing the stomped and tom thing the past couple of episodes. Do you know what Canadian Rockstar was born in Prince Edward? Edward Island? Haywire.

You know what? Haywire. I love, I could, you know, drop the needle was a sample from a haywire song. It absolutely was used on, let your backbone slide. Yeah, we used to all, no, used on Drop the Needle, which was the second single from Symphony in Effect. So, drop the needle. Yeah. That came from Dance Desire.

Yes, that's right. But the guy I'm thinking of who's from Prince Edward Island, because this band comes up. because this band comes up a lot on Toronto Mike. Chris Murphy from Sloan. Oh, I thought they were from Halifax. Well, they are, no, they are from Halifax. But Chris Murphy's from Prince Edward Island. And then they moved at some point to Nova Scotia when he was a kid.

But he's from Prince Edward Island. Okay. Yeah, well, I mean, as you know, probably, the Maritimes is a really hotbed for good music. And in the 90s, I had a real surge. I'd like to cover stuff like that because I remember. Do you want to talk about that? because I just had Tara Sloan over here. Okay.

I say that, but actually, as I remember, at the last minute, because of weather, she asked if we could do it on Zoom. I try to, like, I know you got to, when you're living in Prince Edward Island, I think you have to do a lot of zooms, but I try to get people in the basement because this is Toronto, for goodness sakes, you know, a lot of people are here. But Tara, I am of the opinion, having talked to Tara Sloan about her relationship with Sloan, that possibly Sloan have named. their band after Tara Sloan they just changed this spelling because Tara Sloan and Jay Ferguson worked at the Halifax Sam the record man together okay yeah that might it checks out I think it checks out so I will I mean I have I've talked to all the guys have you talked to the Sloan guys I have not I would love to you got to do that you got to I really want to talk to TransCanada Highway men the project that

Chris Murphy's got going with Moberg Stephen Pays Stephen Page and Craig Northy from the odds. Like, what a combination. Oh, yeah, I've seen them. I saw them at the Horseshoe, and they play, like, the best, their best songs from each of their bands, and then they do some, like,

classic, like, April Wine and all these classic Canadian songs. It's pretty good. It's amazing. I bought the CD. I still buy CDs. I still buy records. I love it.

Like, they do just such great, fun versions of some classic songs. Yeah, like, guess who? Come undone. And then I'm thinking there's, a Gino Vanelli song in there, I think. Yeah, there is too. Definitely April Wine.

Yeah, there's definitely April Wine. And some of those classic one-hit wonders from the 70s that were played on. And they're all Canadian. Like Edward Bear and whatever these, yeah, these 70s one-offs. I had this, I don't know if we're similar vintage, but I had a four-cd collection called O Canada. I have it. Okay, so I remember, I think there was two of them that came out, but I had the first one.

Yeah, so the first one I had too. and there's a lot of what we're talking about these one hit wonder cancon jams like these are four CDs full of big Canadian hits and there's a bunch of those songs on that collection I used to spin those albums all the time and they came out and like I think every CD was like an era like I think the four CD was mostly 80s

and then it was like 70s 60s and just yeah it really every CD was like a certain era of Canadian music and it was just like wow you didn't know these guys are Canadian? That's great. Well, yeah, I know. It was a good intro because, yeah, of course you know already, you know going in. Oh, yeah, Russia's Canadian. You know, Anne Murray's Canadian, you know, speaking of the Maritimes. And you know these big, you know, guess who or whatever, or Sarah McLaughlin, okay?

Yeah. But you're right. Some of these jams you're listening to and you're like, oh, I know this from the radio. And you know, it's like to quote Maestro Fresh West, Nat, this kid can't be from Canada. Like, it's pretty cool. Oh, and I think he lives in the Maritimes now, too, actually. from what I've heard. He's moved out here. St. John. Yeah, he's moved out to New Brunswick,

and he's been here for quite some time now. Moved during the pandemic. I gave him the gears for leaving us, but he said it was during the pandemic for his kids' schooling. Yeah, not the only Canadian legends that have moved out here to the Maritimes, actually. I don't know if you remember Brian Potvin from Northern Pikes. Yeah, I saw him open up for the Watchman at the Danforth Music Hall.

they call it Cain and Potvin. Yeah, and Kevin Kane from Grapes of Wrath has moved out this way too. So I see them playing around the Maritimes quite a bit. Who else is out there? You know what blows my mind? Can I just shut up? Because I love the Marit. I've only been once, but I like to pretend.

Yeah, for sure. But I'm a big classified fan. Yep. And he was in the basement. And of course, well, his biggest hit is Inner Ninja. But I also like another song he did with the same singer songwriter, The Day Doesn't Die. The day.

This guy, David Miles, is an MP now. Yeah. Just like who else was. Andrew Cash was for a while? Well, yeah. And the other guy from Lettronjay. Charlie Angus. Charlie Angus, who, since we were talking about banjo dunk and Fremlin,

but Banjo dunk will tell you, when Trump started talking 51st state, I said, Charlie, I need you in the basement now. Charlie came in the basement. We talked it out. And that was like a big, you know, spark that lit a fire. I mean, Charlie Angus has been touring on that ever since. That's what I love about your podcast because I don't think anything goes on your podcast.

It's great. Like, I mean, you can talk about anything and everything and you do. And it's like I said, I love the fact that it's unscripted and it can go off in any direction. And I love that. And that's why I do here. I don't edit. I like, you know, if someone like yourself has been. doing this for so long wants to talk for the next half an hour you go right ahead you know i'll tell you

all my uh my sloan theories uh love those guys i think sloan is the most under i'm going to say this it's going to be maybe it's a hot take i don't know but the most underappreciated band this country's ever produced is sloan oh they're fantastic i actually before i moved here we went to see this the rolling stones up at burles creek and it was close to Canada Day. Anyway, Simone was on that bill as well. And I think they were the best band of the day.

I wouldn't argue if you... They got up, they didn't do anything but play their hits. Like they knew everyone there wasn't looking to hear like songs. They didn't know. So they just got on state. And for an hour and a half, they played every song you would ever know by Sloan and heard on the radio back in the 90s.

And it was fantastic. Like, I mean, I thought they were better than the Rolling Stones. It's funny because I just tease that my next guest is Gordy Johnson from Big Sugar. And a big moment with Big Sugar open for Rolling Stones as well. Like it's fun to track down these Canadian artists who opened for the Stones when the Stones came to Canada. Funny enough, actually, I'm a huge Big Sugar fan as well. I've seen them about three or four times back in the 90s. But their album 500 pounds.

Yeah. The drummer on that record was a guy named Al Cross. I saw that Al Cross, right? Just like Al and Cross. Al Cross was playing drums for Duncan Fremlin on February 9th at the horseshoe. See, you and I have a lot in common because that's the stuff I like the hook to my veins.

Like, let's talk about what a small freaking world this is, what a small industry, how it all connects. It is. It's amazing how some people are connected. Like, I mean, I was amazed when Duncan brought Douglas John Cameron into the band because I knew Mona with the children very well. I have three copies of it. I have the single, I have the record, I have the tape of all things.

It affected me too when it first came out. And I never forgot that song. And it was wild because Duncan brought Douglas. John Douglas Cameron. What's the full name? Douglas John Cameron. Douglas John, I got inverted. Brought him over.

And I couldn't believe, oh, there's the Mona with the children guy. Like, that was amazing to me. I agree. Oh, it was a big hit. I remember getting played all the time on much music and stuff like that. Yeah. Did you have anything to do or did you get involved in the CFNY documentary that just came out? Well, I'm only involved in that I cover it like a journalist, okay?

I've been doing a lot of coverage on it. But so I think I might be the only place in the world where you can find an in-depth conversation with the director of that documentary. Like I don't think you'll, I don't think so. I mean, you could prove me wrong, go Google it or whatever. But the production company didn't authorize the director to talk about the doc, believe it or not. There's a lot of muck going on there. But I'm not one to follow such rules. These rules don't apply to me, Alan.

So I reached out to Matt, and his name's Matt Schichter. And we talked for like an hour. And it was kind of fascinating to find out, okay, you delivered a 90-minute version, and then they needed a 60-minute version. you delivered that and then I got to watch both versions and then I got to see what did TVO aired TV Ontario here and then compare the versions and then you know have discussions about that so I've been all over the dock just because I love to cover that station CF and Y well the only thing I love the documentary don't get me wrong I also loved the much music documentary that went across the country because it came here to Charlottetown as well the only thing I was really disappointed about is neither do covered how they really broke some really big Canadian bands back in their early days. Like CFNY and Much Coast broke Canadian bands and they didn't really cover on that. They were kind of just covering the international band.

I have an answer for that. I have an answer for that is that these filmmakers are so focused on appealing to an international audience, which actually often means an American audience. Like they're so afraid to make it Canadian-centric because it will see. scare off the yanks. Yeah. I'm not afraid. And then I know you're not afraid.

I'm sorry, but the 90 minute version where I might be, you know, outside of the people who worked on it, I might be the only person who's seen the 90 minute version. There is a good amount of love given to the bare naked ladies because they got the $100,000 to make Gordon by winning a CF and Y thing. And there was a bit,

a bit about Billy Talent, a little bit about Billy Talent because he worked there. Ben worked there. And there's a bit more about Blue Rodeo because I believe CFNY was the first station to play Blue Rodeo. Yeah, I would agree with that. And of course, much music was probably one of the first to play their videos as well. Oh, that's Michelle McAdory. So the face, the beautiful face from the try video, which was everything for Blue Rodeo,

is a woman named Michelle McAdory, who was dating Greg Keeler at the time. but was the lead singer of a band called Crash Vegas. Oh, amazing band. Yeah, and that Colin Cripps was in that band. But Colin Cripps was also in, well, now he's in Blue Rodeo, but he was also in Junkhouse, who I freaking love. And he was in spoons for a little bit. Okay.

But he was Kathleen Edwards' husband for several years, and then she left him for Bonnie there. Wow. I did not know that. See, you're giving me stuff. I thought I was a nerd here about Canadian music, but you know as much as I do, if not more, and it's great to talk to you about that.

Love Michelle McAdroy. Yeah, is she related to Bob? She's the niece of Bob McAdory from 1050 Chum and Global TV. Yeah, I remember he was one of my favorite entertainment reporters back in the day. He was great. Yeah, he used to talk about when he used to be on the radio on 1050 Chum and used to sneak in Hank Williams records once in a while. No, he gone too soon, but.

Yeah, Bob McAdory was one of my favorite guys, too, to watch doing entertainment on. And he would do it like Elaine Lorraine. Do you remember this name? Yeah, I do remember that name. Yeah. I now follow her in Facebook, but I invited her over, and she seemed kind of hesitant. So I didn't want to bother her too much. But maybe one day.

Yeah, like, I'm blown away at who I've been able to interview, period. Like, I mean, give me your favorites. Rick Emmett. Oh, yeah. I can't believe I got to talk to him still. Well, I mean, I grew up in Mississauga. I usually like you see him in the grocery store once in one.

Yeah. But there's a big Blair Packham connection to Rick Emmett. Yeah, well, that's how I got to interview Rick. Blair was a big help in that. He told me Rick had a book coming out, so he'd probably be doing a lot of press. So I covered the book and then of course I snuck in the triumph questions at the end. But Rick's a great interview. He talks and you hang on his every word because he's just, you know, a legend in Canadian.

Well, music period, not just Canadian. music. Is this the poetry book? The one about the telecaster. The telecaster. Okay, because he wrote a book, a poetry. Yeah. And then I remember, like, sometimes, like, if someone comes on to talk about a poetry book, I have that internal debate. Like, how much time do I give the poetry book? Because I have so many triumph questions, you know? Well, the thing is, he did a, I think he did, uh, instrumental CD with the book.

And Blair produced, Blair engineered it and produced it. So that's how I kind of got into that. But I mean, I was blown away that I got to speak to him. I mean, Blair is one of my favorite interviews. He's just, he's a great talker. He's funny. And he's got a great insight to the music industry. I keep telling him he should write a book.

I've interviewed the Spoons. I've interviewed Gord and, um, Sandy? Uh, Rob Purs. Oh, so Rob was here yesterday. Oh, okay. Yeah, great guy. He was sitting right here yesterday because he comes over once a month. month for we call it toast but it's a with a thematic jam kicking and I just want to say I am

going to headline this event at the Elma combo and my Paul Schaefer for this event is going to be Rob Pruse on keyboards so he'll be on stage with me amazing musician just I mean the fact the guy could leave the spoons and just fit in with Honeymoon Sweet the way he did back in the 80s just absolutely and that got him a Juno award yeah yeah I've interviewed uh I've interviewed uh Martha and the Muffins? Yeah, okay. So it was via Zoom, oh, yeah,

I was going to say, because Martha's, I had Martha and Mark on for Martha and the muffins, and she has multiple, I want to see, is it Parkinson's? What does Martha have? Yeah,

I was actually surprised she came on to the Zoom call. I was happy that she did. I was surprised I got her in the basement because, you know, you have to come down the stairs, but we made it,

we made it happen. I'm so, like, honored. Two of the nicest people I think I've ever met, like just, even though it was on Zoom. just fantastic people she was a real trooper yeah um she answered quite a few questions and i was just blown away to have her own too um i've interviewed a lot of local people as well like around here

there's um actually funny enough how i got started doing this i started helping two guys run stomping tom fan club on facebook so it all comes back to stomping tom I started interviewing people that played in his band, one being Duncan, and then Billy, who plays fiddle with him now in Whiskey Jack. Billy's a Prince Edward Islander. Here, I have in my studio, I've got you, you see there I got my Whiskey Jack, Stomp and Tom, the rhymes and Good Times of Stomp and Tom. Oh, it's a great CD. Yeah, but I've been going to see Whiskey Jack for quite some time as well, just seeing them do their Stomp and Tom shows. And it just, when I started helping these two guys

with the fan club. I'm like, I'm just going to start interviewing guys that played in his band. Amazing. For the Facebook group, because I didn't know what else to contribute. So I started doing that. And then I started doing this on my own. And I can often cross-refer cross-post videos too, like the Stomp and Tom style fits right into the Canadian music thing. And Stomp and Tom group. So it's, yeah, I've kind of enjoyed it.

It's been a lot of fun. Well, you need to, have you talked to Dave Badini yet? I want to. I just can't nail down a time where him and I are available at the same time. But I have spoken with him through emails and stuff like that. Because his story, because he was here last week and I just got the story fresh, but his story about finding Stomp and Tom, who was, you know, well retired, he had, you know, he was done. And basically convincing Stomp and Tom that, you know, the country needed him. He needed to come back.

And then all of a sudden, guys like me are seeing Margot's got the cargo. when Redge's got the rig, like we're watching Stomp and Tom videos on much music. Like what a different time that was. Like, I mean, because he was in heavy rotation on much music back then. I think he was even on the charts. Well, that song there. There's a song that was like right there with me. I'd be watching that just alongside I'm an adult now or, you know,

My Street, Fresh West, whatever. But that's what I loved about much back then in general, because you'd think all those Canadian artists are superstars just like Springsteen and Madonna wear. Yeah. You know. I said the spoons. You talked about having Gordep and Rob Pruss on. And one of my pet peeves about the CFNY doc,

I know we moved on quickly from that, but one of my pet peeves is that they're so excited about OMD and they're all going on about Buzzcocks, whatever. They're all about, what's... Oh, they have Simple Minds on. Simple Mind, yeah, Jim Kerr. Right, right, right. Like, they're all about Jim Kerr,

but there's no love for a huge Burlington band that they help break. Spoons. Like, the, and I know for a fact they interviewed Sandy Horn for that documentary, but left her on the cutting room floor. Like I feel like what? Spoons is too Canadian. Americans don't know the band, but Americans know simple minds because Americans have seen breakfast

club. Oh, of course. The other thing that, what about a band like Skinny Puppy? Oh, shout out to Chris Shepard. And did you know like one of the biggest, um, Nine Inch Nails. Trent Resner was a huge fan of Skinny Puppie. Like they would not exist were it not for them. You know, and they were Canadian.

Skinny Puppy was only played on CFNY during the late night live to air. They didn't make it into the daytime rotation. But again, you know, another band that had a huge, you know, they were pretty much broke by CFNY and you know, you didn't realize what, Trent Resner was a big fan of them. Like, yeah, you can hear it. And you're just like, wow. I thought that deserved covering too. Well, that is, yeah, I mean, they weren't going to get to that in a 60-minute cut or even a 90-minute cut.

But they did do a lot of time with, they spent a lot of time on Chris Shepard, which they could have maybe leaked that in there. But one band I want to shout out because it's a huge Toronto band that was broken by CFNY was lowest of the low. Right. Like they played so many singles from Shakespeare, my butt. Yep. Yeah. And they played the horseshoe a lot too. They were at the horseshoe.

Bees Palace, Horseshoe Tavern. I mean, they're still going strong. Well, Stephen Stanley's not in the band anymore, but Ron Hawkins is still going strong. But yeah,

like I'm listening to CFM. Why in the early 90s and hearing these songs, you know, bleed a little while tonight. Just Rosie and Gray, which is my closing theme on Toronto mic and then of course Henry

needs a new pair of shoes and I could go on and on and it's like what is this yes exactly I still break that song up to this day salesman chiefs of the line is a fantastic song and you you actually brought up one of my favorite bands from the 90s with Duncan and

Sean was Rusty yeah love Rusty I played them yeah you played them doing the hockey song but yeah I'll always be a fan of that video where they mocked Alanis Marisette Yeah. So that was empty cell, right? That's right. Yeah.

Empty Cell was the first single on the follow-up, which was called Sophomoric, I think it was called. But that first album, Fluke, that's a play-through. That's loaded. And that's another one of my all-time favorite albums, Fluke. Oh, same here. Like, just, you know, they really did get a lot of Canadian bands did break in the 90s. And they were one of them and getting played a lot on. That's another thing. They didn't really cover the edge in the 90s. Well, that was on purpose, though. They said they only wanted to cover the spirit of radio era,

which is the time that David Marsden is there. That makes sense. That makes a lot of sense. Like the Brampton days when they were in the house and stuff like that. Yeah, so once, what is it? I know this. I should know this. I'm the unofficial because Ivor took offense when I called myself the official historian.

But 87 is when Marsden leaves. And then there's this period of time when they're trying to sell the station for more money. so they start adding mainstream songs like George Michael or Madonna and all this. And then there's an uprising. But quickly back to Rusty, Scott McCullough starts Rusty, and he comes out of a band called The Do Boys. I remember them, yeah.

And they're out of Montreal, but their lead singer and founder, and the main guy there is a guy named John Castner. And I just got him on the show, and he's married to Megan Draper from Mad Men. Oh, really? Yeah. He's in California now.

Megan Draper, whose real name is Jessica Parre, I believe is her real name. But you get a band called One Free Fall, which is Ken McNeil and this guy, Jim Moore. You take that band and you merge it with in Scotty Macal. Scotty Mac, I call him,

but Scott McCullough, who comes out of Doe Boys. And that's what creates here in Toronto. That's what creates Rusty. And, man, fluke. I've been promised. Jim Moore, who listens to every episode of Toronto, Mike. He now lives in England.

He was bassist with the doughboys. He promises me that Scotty Mac is going to visit soon. We're going to book this, and he's going to come over and gift me fluke on vinyl, because it's now coming out on vinyl. But there you go. Shout out to Rusty. I'll have to watch for that one for sure, because I'll be listening to that one. Oh, and last thing here, and then it's all your show, man.

I'm going to stop taking over. But one last thing. Oh, this is what I want. The album that I madly, I still adore, and I've been listening to it since I first heard it, which was probably like 93, is everything I long for by Hayden. Do you own this album? I do. I do. I love Hayden.

I remember someone, a kid I worked with actually turned me on to Hayden. He gave me a tape. Okay. So the big much music single was called As Bad as They Seem. Yes. that's right filmed at the Rivoli by the way here on Queen Street

but but hated I love that album played it like crazy I wrote him a snail mail in the mid-90s to just to like just to tell him I love this album and I loved loved every cut on everything I longed for he kind of changed the sound

and I would always be like oh I really want you to stick to that sound that's what I want but he evolved as a songwriter and became more euphoric euphoric ethereal he changed these are big words okay but somehow with my thirdborn I'm at a soccer game a house league soccer game at high park and my thirdborn is starting to fall in love of soccer and I look and it's the first

game of the season so you know new parents and their kids and I look over and I see I see Hayden okay he's standing there watching this game and it's like I don't know eight year olds or nine year olds or whatever and I go up to him and I go I go something I go you're Hayden Dessor or something and I told him how I just talked to Noah Mintz because they went to thorn Warren Lee and then head comes out of this. And on this, CFMY New Music Search, Hayden entered a song called Take, but he was too nervous to sing it. And Noah sang it instead, and it was, that blew my mind. And Hayden's kid was on my kid's soccer team, and I got to know Hayden, and I got him to come over.

And I think, again, this is a big, big brag here, Alan, but I don't think you'll find a better interview with Hayden. If you search this planet for a million years, it was Hayden in this basement. and because his kid was on my kid's soccer team. Okay, your turn now. I'm going to stop. You drive the combo. I feel I've taken over. No, this is what I wanted.

No wonder Blair likes this show. Anyway, the other thing that you guys touched on a little bit that I wanted to touch on is, I believe Mike Bullard didn't get a lot of credit for what he was doing in the 90s for Canadian industry. Because he had musicians from Canada. He promoted the film industry. He promoted the TV industry on his show. And he was making a good go of it there for a while. And I don't think he gets enough credit for that.

Hey, does your show allow swearing? You can, yep. I don't want to offend anybody. I never know. Okay. No, no. So you've hit a nerve because the late Mike Bullard was a fucking psychopath who threatened my life several times. I'm sorry to hear that.

I'm telling you now, if you want me to be. to start, if you're looking for kind words about Bullard's contribution to the Canadian music scene, you're going to have to talk to Blair Packham about that one. Right. Psychopath. I was

talking to police. That man made my life very difficult for a period of time because he decided to target me and threaten me and I had to block them everywhere and I had to worry about this loony bin coming

after me. No. Mike Bowler who is dead, so this threat no longer exists. Sure, maybe he had on these cool bands, but fuck that guy. Oh, I'm sorry to hear that. I didn't mean to touch it. It's okay. I just had to make sure I could swear before I went off on The Dead. Well, the thing I loved is that I used to go get into the audience of his show.

Whenever there was a band I liked, his audience coordinators used to sneak me in there. Okay, good for that. That's good, because the music's beautiful, but, you know, Yeah. Well, I mean, I just thought it was really cool. They were like because they said they wanted fans of whoever was going to be on the show in the audience. They didn't want a bunch of people who had no idea who these people were, which was probably a good idea, you know, to have fans of these bands in there. No, it's funny though that you now, you're talking about, and this is, I'm guessing this is the concert hall, 888 Young. Yeah, the old Masonic Temple. Yeah. Right. It's funny because I was in the audience to see Conan O'Brien in 2003. when he was at the Winter Garden Theater.

And his musical guest for the show I watched recorded was Stomp and Tom Connors. Wow. That always gets back to Stomping Tom again, doesn't it? Yeah, and he sang the hockey song. Of course. Yeah. Which, yeah, and I remember thinking,

oh, this song talks about, I can't remember, it talked about, was it Detroit and Toronto in the Stanley Cup final or something? Well, it might have been New Jersey or something like that. I think I remember, I saw that episode and I was like, yeah, why is Stomp and Tom on an American television show? I couldn't believe that for starters. Well, because the show was in Toronto.

And I remember Ron James was the, did a, was the second guest. Adam Sandler was the first guest. But then I think Jim Carrey was on it too. Yeah, one day probably. Yeah. So my show, though, Ron James came on. And it's funny because I become like a good friend of Ron, speaking of the Maritimes, I become good buds of Ron James.

Like I just, I produced another show. I put him on. yesterday like literally yesterday i put him on a show i produce and i chat with him often i saw him perform live in december yeah become a big ron james budd oh i've met him before as well um i actually did work at the local community station in mississauga um which was owned by a big corporation which you probably know the name uh but i don't want to really give them too much too much uh attention Does it start with R? It does start with R.

But I learned a lot of TV production through there just by volunteering my time there, sports, entertainment. Did you work with Carolyn Cameron? Or no, was I mean, I'm trying to think of some some people I've had on worked at Mississauga cable 10 stuff. Maybe she was later. Yeah, she's been over, yeah?

Yeah, Faranasser. I worked with Pooja Honda. I've met her, because I met her at a, speaking of Simone Denny, I met Pooja at an electric circus 30th anniversary night. And Simone Denny was the special guest singer. Francis DeSuzza and I were good friends for a while. Oh, I know of.

I never talked to him, but I definitely remember him from City TV. And I found out working with him that we went to the same high school. Okay. Shama Jumder went to my high school. There's a big name for you. Who I'd really like to get on the show someday. Um, Gerdip Alwalia, who hosts the morning show. He's a, I worked with him.

I know him pretty well too. Try to get him on and Rogers. Oh, am I allowed to say that name? They basically refused, refused him permission to come on. I've worked with Jason Agnew over the years. Oh, I've known him since he was in high school at Bishop Allen Academy. Yeah. I know him a long time.

I worked with him for a while. Shout out to Bite TV. Yeah. well he worked on a show we did called daytime so he hosted that for a little while yeah he does he's like a go-to host guy he has a trivia show sunday mornings on 10 10 here in toronto yeah he's fantastic i love him he's uh was the wrestling guy live he's a big wrestling guy um but yeah a lot of a lot of people i worked with though i did that for 20 years volunteering there And I've always gotten a kick out of seeing the people that I worked with move on to bigger things, whether it be on air behind the scenes.

He was my brother's butt in high school. That's how I knew him because my brother's the same age. They were born in 78 and they were friends in high school. And another friend from that same high school class in Etobico, this, what did I call it again? Bishop Allen Academy, I guess it was called. but is Justin Rutledge, who is a great community musician. Yeah. Yeah.

Wow. And also, Justin is Dave Hodges' favorite musician of all time. Really? I didn't know that. You got to listen to Toronto Mike for these tidbits. Yeah. I usually put it on when I'm at work and there's not much going on. And I keep it on in the background.

And I just, like I said, I love listening to it. It's, you have the most eclectic guests, I think, too. And Jason Agnew, huge bare naked ladies, fan from back in the day. He used to go on those cruises. Yeah, that's right. I was a big fan of the trivia show when I was back in Ontario, but I can't call in and win anymore because I don't live in Ontario anymore.

So, but that's, that's okay. Are you familiar with Ed Sousa? Yeah, he came over. You can't miss his hat. No. He came over and then he, you know, you know what happened was? I had mid-year on the show. So mid-year from UltraVox.

And Midge was going to play the Elma combo, where I'm playing on May 21st, get your tickets now. But mid-year was doing like this, was doing a concert. And then I, I believe, I hope I don't have my stories mixed up. I believe it was Ed's 60th birthday party

at the same place at the same time or something. So I was there. Like I crashed the party. I watched mid-year and met Ed. And then I said, Ed, you got to come over and answer my questions because I got to talk about, this, you know, all these 80s bands that are playing at the bowling alley in Mississauga.

And he did. He came over and, yeah, he books spoons all the time. He books Honeymoon Sweet all the time. He's at strange advance. Yeah. Lee Aaron. Yep, who I've interviewed as well. She was one of my favorite interviews.

She actually put me on her guest list when she came to Moncton. Oh, wow. That was something I never thought. She's a Karen. You know this, right? She's a Karen. I didn't. Yeah, because Lee Aaron was the name of the band.

Oh, really? And she just, sort of like Alice Cooper, you know, kept the name of the band. That's cool. Oh, yeah, I interviewed Ed about the bowling alley shows and the charity stuff that he does. Oh, the Ronald McDonald House. Yeah, and I've actually interviewed mid-year twice myself. Get out of here! Which was huge for me.

I couldn't believe I was talking to that man. I know there's a lot of people I know that don't even know who he was, but the second I say, do they know it's Christmas? Oh, okay. I know that. That's right. I just, I'm watching this HBO show and it's called Industry. And there was this kind of intense end of an episode set to the song Vienna by UltraVox. And it was like a perfect needle drop. I'm telling you, that song, man, that's a hauntingly beautiful song, Vienna. Absolutely is. Yeah. And if you've ever heard him play it live, it's even better. Well, you know, I got to say, though, I saw it live, but what he does now is he put the, he, I guess to save money or whatever, he put the band on a laptop. Yeah. So he plays everything on a

laptop and then he sings to it. And to me, it's basically glorified karaoke. I guess you could say that. But I mean, you got to understand. Like, I mean, it's such an expensive. It's not the same industry. It was in the 80s and 90s where you could make money by touring. You know, you've got a, I don't It's a lot of money to travel with a full band. Well, then pick up, I don't know, pick up a local band. I just think it's like, that's not my problem. Like, you know what I mean? That's not my problem.

More money for Midge because he doesn't pay a band. Like, that's not my problem. But even the grapes of wrath were doing that. They were doing an acoustic duo thing. Yeah, I saw that. They came to Charlottetown to do their show and it was absolutely incredible. Like I loved it. But, I mean, you know, they have to do that too because it's not, it's very expensive

to travel with the whole band where it's like when it's just two guys with acoustic guitars there's very little setup and you know there's a there's another song the hauntingly beautiful canadian jam all the things i wasn't fantastic song that whole album is that whole album now and again is probably i put that in the top five of some my favorite albums of all times well do you want to do your favorite five canadian albums of all time do you want to do it yeah i can try and put that together uh in no order um I would actually put now and again by Grapes of Wrath in there. Snow and June by Northern Pikes. I love that band.

I was just thinking of them. Actually, what's the, give me a second to try to remember the, what's the song? There's a song that's going to, you know what? I know you don't edit, so I'm just going to sound like an idiot, but there's a song that will come to me later,

but there's a bunch of big hits from that band that I do adore. Yeah. She ain't pretty. No. It wasn't like, no, keep going. Kiss me, you fool. Nope, keep going. There's a big hit earlier than like she's a girl of a problem and all that.

Okay. When your hopes go astray? No. See, I could Google this, but I'm going to make you name more. Keep going. Yeah, not teen land. Oh, the things I do for money. There it is.

Is that the one? That's the one. The things I do for money. I'll never. I understand. Yeah. Yeah, that's the jam.

Couldn't remember the damn title though to save my life there. I'd also have to put Five Days in May by Blue Rodeo. Like, it's a Canadian classic.

Like, I mean, is there a song on that album that isn't great? But what are your thoughts on huge, like bigger Canadian bands,

like the tragically hip? Fantastic. I love the tragedy. I wonder if they'd make your, make your top five. Up to here, would probably make that. Yeah.

I love that record. And I'm, putting a Stomp and Tom album in there because I feel I learned a lot about Canadian history through Tom. Okay. Did my Stomberounds album? I think every Canadian should own it. I mean, there's a song about Wilf Carter, who no one would know about if it wasn't for Stomp and Tom. He wrote a song about Watt May, the pilot from World War I that no one really knew about.

He did that song called Name the Capitalist, which told everybody the capitalists. which told everybody the capitals of our country like i mean that it's just a fantastic record um it's it really is a canadian history lesson if you don't have it i recommend listen to it but i haven't put anything in by my favorite canadian band which was spirit of the way oh geez okay i did talk to the drummer and the manager vince did trick Vince did i have talked to him as well and you don't realize the people he's played for was Sue Medley. He's been on Super Dave.

He's even better. Do you know who was Super Dave's driver when he was filming in Aging Court Scarborough here? I did not know. It was Tyler Stewart. Really? I did not know that. That's amazing. Yeah.

Yeah, Spirit of the West, I've seen over 20 times. I actually became kind of friends with them. Vince actually set up that I proposed to my wife. about one of their shows. That's amazing. But that's so, it's funny. I mentioned hip, hip, we lost, we lost scored so soon. We lost John Mann.

So, so freaking, far too soon. Great band. And I love that song, so political. Oh, it's a fantastic song. Everyone talks about Home for Arrest. But political is probably, and Venice is syncing is one of my favorites of all time, beautiful music. But here's a funny thing.

I mentioned this to a lot of people. Do you realize in the same year, We lost Rush, and Tragically Hip and Spirit of the West. No, I actually do realize that. But yeah, that's all three bands. And I put Spirit of the West in that grouping because I think they were as important to Canada as any of those other two. The most shocking thing about Spirit of the West is that they were from Western Canada because they presented as a Maritime-style band. Yeah.

But, I mean, they did a lot Toronto stuff. I remember seeing them at an anniversary show for the horseshoe. They played their three nights in a row. I remember seeing them at Lee's Palace. They were everywhere. I mean, I used to see them. Whenever they came to the Toronto area, I went to see them. That's why I saw them so many times.

And I got to know them as people. And they were fantastic people as well. And they know everybody, too. They know everybody from the odds to, you know, they're friends with everybody. 5440. Name all the Vancouver bands. And they know a lot of the Ontario bands, too. They're friends with Blue Rodeo.

Yeah. And they're just fantastic people. They're friends with Great Big C. They've toured with them, you know, two ends of the country right there. Love great big gap. I've always thought they were an underrated band. They did have a documentary. I don't know if you saw it.

It was, it's available on YouTube. It's called Spirit Unforgettable. I have to look it up because I would watch that. I would watch that. I think you should. It's fantastic. There's interviews with the odds. There's interviews with Paul Hyde from the Paola's.

Rock and Hyde. because he produced their first record. You've got the eyes of a stranger. That's right. And Bob Rock, of course, started in that band as well. Bob Rock. There you go. He was a big mind blow in the tragically hit four-episode documentary series that dropped on Prime.

He was. That was a great documentary, too. Yes. I was really enjoying the early years when they touched on all the early years before, you know, when they were still in Kingston and stuff like that and trying to break through. I was absolutely amazing. But stuff I didn't know.

I didn't know that story about being offered the Tower Records thing. I wasn't aware of that either. That was a mind-blow. Great documentary. And Alan, this chat was great because I feel like we could hook up and just chat for 45 minutes about Canadian music whenever you want.

Well, we should do a part two then. Okay. And if you'd ever like me to be honest, your show I'd be happy to me. Yeah, you can have Blair's spot. We do a quarterly thing called Rewinder. I feel like it should be Allen and Toronto Mike and we'll boot Blair. You let me know. I'll put some fun stuff in the link in the description of this video, some links to your stuff. Oh, amazing. We'll go from there and hopefully to talk to you again sometime. This is great. We could go on forever.

Thank you for listening. Like you said such kind things about my podcast. And then, you know, you drop some big names on me. And I mean, you talked to mid-year twice, okay?

I was, I thought I was lucky man to get him one time. You had him twice. So, so, you know, I would say, keep doing what you're doing

because you got the, you got the spirit in you. And, you know, any friend of Rick Emmett, any friend of Blair Packham is a friend of mine. Amazing. Great to talk to you,

sir. I appreciate your time. All right. Peace and love to Alan Dalton. Yes, thank you very much, Mike.