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News Podcast

Ep. #283: Dylan Moran

Dylan Moran is a highly esteemed and award-winning Irish comedian, writer, author, actor, and filmmaker whose work has been compared to that of William Shakespear and Oscar Wilde. In a four-star review, The Guardian once said, “His comedy takes on an existential dimension, as tubby, nicotine-starved, emasculated Moran comes to represent the struggles we all wage for meaning and connection.” After a successful tour of Europe, Moran brings his Off the Hook tour to North America, including Canadian dates in Toronto on October 14, Ottawa on October 15, Halifax on October 17, Calgary on October 30, Vancouver on November 2, and Victoria on November. Here, Dylan and I discuss life in Edinburgh, Brexit and the E.U. and Scotland, how inflamed xenophobia impacts an artistic mind, yearning for darker times, no more white filters and tribalism, the frightgeist, keeping up and comedy, getting out of bed, Off the Hook, having fun, feel and winging it, a whole other show, a world with no mirrors, articulating what you’re doing while you’re doing it, what we know about Ireland and what some people know Canada, Dublin’s different, Irish syntax, the Great White North, stock taking, and that was it.

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dylan-landscape_0

Related links: dylanmoran.com vishkhanna.com

Categories
News Podcast

Ep. #282: The Rutabega

The Rutabega is a two-piece pop-infused rock band consisting of Joshua Wayne Hensley and Garth Mason. Based in South Bend, Indiana, the Rutabega began some 15 years ago, as a solo outlet for Hensley’s fragile yet strong songwriting. In 2011, he connected with Mason, a multi-instrumentalist and sound engineer, who has bolstered the Rutabega to become this mighty, beloved musical force. In the summer of 2016, Comedy Minus One released the band’s excellent record Unreliable Narrator, and the Rutabega have been playing select shows ever since, including upcoming dates on October 15 in South Bend, Indiana, on October 20 in Chicago, Illinois, and October 21 in Mattawan, Michigan. Here, Josh and Garth and I discuss high rotation Rutabega, Jay Arner and Jay II and my family’s love affair with both, down in the Bad Breath Club, getting my head around South Bend, the Studebaker Car Company Factory there that shut down decades ago, South Bend on the mend, an openly gay Mayor in Indiana, Mayor Pete Buttigieg, Governor Mike Pence, progressive bubbles, whether or not most Americans want to discuss the presidential election, good versus evil, living through history, music as a realm expressing one’s thoughts about the whole world, new songs, personal and political, creativity and hopefulness, the band Space and Noise Productions, Josh’s early solo recordings and the origins of the Rutabega, nicknames Josh’s dad gave him, questioning answers, a rutabaga, a Studebaker, how Garth encountered Josh and then joined him in a band, multi-instrumentalism, Jon Solomon should’ve better prepped me for this interview, all of the instruments that Garth can almost play, South Bend’s segregated music communities, the city’s dubious crime history, Indiana music pride, “my favourite music is made by my friends,” discovering other good bands when you’re in a band, Canadindiana, Sloan, the Weakerthans, Propagandhi, Neil Young, Weed, Eric’s Trip, thoughts on Canada, the Inbreds and Mike O’Neill’s bass playing, the evolution of the Rutabega, 2013’s Brother The Lights Don’t Work, the Rutabega’s future, the song “Problem Solving Skills,’ the finer distinctions between the American and Canadian versions of ‘Rock, Paper, Scissors,’ and that was it.

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therutabega

Related links: comedyminusone.com/bands/the-rutabega vishkhanna.com

Categories
News Podcast

Ep. #281: Fake Palms

Michael le Riche is a musician, singer, and songwriter based in Toronto, Ontario. Formerly a member of the band the Darcys, le Riche struck out on his own to find an outlet for his own darker rock and punk leanings, which he now has with the acclaimed band Fake Palms. Following up on their well-received 2015 self-titled debut record, Fake Palms is releasing a new EP called Heavy Paranoia via Buzz Records on September 30 and playing select shows, which you can learn more about at buzzrecords.ca. In mid-August, I was in Ottawa for the Arboretum Festival and so were Fake Palms so that’s where Michael and I caught up to talk about his various names, Ottawa and Alanis Morrissette, getting punched in the face and being able to take it, a bar Cold War, the weirdness and Ottawa, the Darcys and trouble, Matthew McConaughey and Ben Affleck and Justin Trudeau’s shirtless photo bombing, leaving the Darcys, a musical downsizing and the dawn of Fake Palms, the Huff Po piece and financial infrastructures, going from home demos to putting together Fake Palms debut record quite quickly, Motown-y to heavy town-y, Simone TB’s amazing drumming, seeing Fake Palms in St. John’s, being a real band, Maria and Fuzzy Logic, Buzz Records, popularity and credibility, Toronto suburbs and Beaton, Ontario, working at chain record stores, customer service and the bizarre HMV no-receipt-return policy, resealing used records and selling them as new, learning how to play guitar and taking jazz lessons, knowing too much, the Buzz Records buzz, the vibrancy of Toronto’s music community right now, METZ and Fucked Up, the effect the late Mayor Rob Ford had on Toronto’s punk scene, how local music reflects the atmosphere in Toronto, the new Fake Palms Heavy Paranoia EP, losing his brother, the collaborative aspects of Fake Palms these days, an intimate but not so interactive podcast episode, the song “Holiday” and then no one got punched in the face.

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fakepalms

Related links: buzzrecords.ca/fakepalms/ vishkhanna.com