Tag: Toronto

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News Podcast

Ep. #268: PUP

PUP is a young, hard rock band based in Toronto, Ontario. Known for touring hard and putting on riotous shows, PUP recently released their second album, The Dream is Over, via Side One Dummy and Royal Mountain Records and they will soon be touring the entire planet for months and months. Ahead of their return to Guelph’s Hillside Festival, I met with singer/guitarist Stefan Babcock and guitarist Steve Sladkowski on Steve’s porch in Toronto, mere hours after he and his girlfriend found out they were being evicted. A dog named Jane sat with Stefan, Steve, and I as we discussed the short but already tumultuous history of PUP, which science believes shouldn’t even be a band anymore, plus Roncesvalles Avenue, as a hood, Polish yelling, gentrification, High Park and poison cities, getting out of Dodge, a sudden eviction, when Steve lived in Guelph and first met Stefan at the Hillside Festival in Guelph, tour managing Zeus, hash brownies at Hillside, Zack the drummer, time passes slowly or quickly, pacing your not-as-young-as-it-was body, a Toronto heat wave, not curbing your enthusiasm, sustainable touring, van snacks, coffee and water and beer, tiny bladders and a presumably meddling landlord, bananas and spicy nuts, unsweetened iced tea, shotgunning McDoubles, ice cream, Waffle House, green juice, stocktaking and maturity and pacing a tour, Stefan getting told “The dream is over” by a medical specialist after experiencing discomfort from a cyst on his vocal cords, the visceral response to this issue, too many shows, vocal coaches and speech pathologists, the book Bad Singer and amusia, musical training, a rock band, the description of punk to come, the mythology surrounding punk and proficiency, resisting the terms of a medical diagnosis, the rarity of success in music making and creation, artistic freedom, playing the night of the diagnosis on the first day of a seven week tour, Stefan gets help from PUP patrol, the stress of bodily harm or alteration, the song “DVP” and the gestation of The Dream is Over, jokes and rage, Canadian enunciation and producer Dave Schiffman, The Bronx album III, Americans and “about,” pointed humour, imaginary and blunt arguments, apolitical lyrics and inclusive spaces, avoiding white mansplaining, the Hillside Festival, a long tour without writing new stuff, a conceptual proposal, the song “Familiar Patterns,” and then the dream was over.

Related links: puptheband.com sideonedummy.com royalmountainrecords.com vishkhanna.com

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News Podcast

Ep. #264: Choir! Choir! Choir!

Choir! Choir! Choir! is a Toronto-based community music project spearheaded by Daveed Goldman and Nobu Adilman. Founded in 2011, Choir! Choir! Choir! features a committed group of gifted and amateur singers who meet twice a week, in a no pressure environment, and attempt to learn and interpret pop songs by artists like Prince, David Bowie, Extreme, Tegan & Sara, Patti Smith, and many, many more. Since forming, the group has performed in various venues across Canada, including the AGO and Massey Hall in Toronto, at ceremonies for the Juno Awards and Polaris Music Prize, and at Radio City Music Hall and Carnegie Hall in New York. Choir! Choir! Choir! will be performing at the Hillside Festival in Guelph, Ontario the weekend of July 22 and so I met with Nobu and Daveed at the now shuttered Caffe Brasiliano in Toronto recently where we discussed why Nobu brought us there before it closed its doors forever on June 17 2016, why Daveed applauds his efforts, missing Toronto in Halifax, the warmth of Toronto’s Annex in the 1970s, Nubu and Daveen, Drake and Kanye West and NOBU, C!C!C!’s origin story and connection to TUNS’ Matt Murphy and his birthday, the infectious energy of singing in a community choir, unusual choirs, sound people getting a grip on C!C!C! and its sound needs, a social choir, how the choir works and the hard parts, soothing people, you’re not cool, a McDLT reference, Toronto’s disposition and perceptions of the city’s attitude, the Hidden Cameras, C!C!C! paying tributes to Prince, David Bowie, and Extreme, hair metal bands and alt-rock’s rise, “We Belong” by Pat Benatar, Belle and Sebastian, Bryan Adams, Simple Minds and Jim Kerr, performing with Patti Smith at an AGO First Thursdays event, my Patti Smith story, a social media phenomenon, the Choir’s core, empowerment and entitlement, managing people, “Ignition” by R. Kelly, politics and context and music, listening to people’s concerns, protesting Putin with Sting, taking C!C!C! on the road to Vancouver to play a Taylor Swift’s “Blank Space,” playing Radio City Music Hall and Carnegie Hall for David Bowie, it was almost Bieber instead of Bowie, “Space Oddity” by Bowie, critical decisions, the good music industry timing of C!C!C! and ADD, covers and the potential for C!C!C! originals, playing the Hillside Festival and how that works, the New Yorker dot com, Prince’s “When Doves Cry” at Massey Hall, and then it was over! over! over!

Related links: choirchoirchoir.com vishkhanna.com

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News Podcast

Ep. #261: Hooded Fang

Hooded Fang is an excellent and adventurous rock ‘n’ roll band from Toronto. Over the past decade, the band has toured the world and released a number of daring records that chart a unique, ever-changing sound steeped in underground rock idioms and exciting ideas. Their latest album is called Venus on Edge, it’s out now via Daps Records, and has compelled Hooded Fang to travel to different cities, including Guelph recently, where Daniel Lee, April Aliermo, and Lane Halley joined me in the CFRU studios to discuss watching me tech this episode, whether or not it’s really all that fun to do it yourself, women in music, the meaning behind Venus on Edge, a sex show, many meanings, what love’s got to do with it, existential crises, more tension, boredom and fun and side projects, Lazy Lane, playing with yourself, Itchy Lane, guitars on fire, playing guitar in BART, through composition, Phèdre and Lee Paradise, April knows Daniel or so the marketers would have us believe, sassy music videos, children are excuses, working with kids, the rise of Toronto’s consciousness, marginalized people speaking for themselves, Toronto is in Canada, progressive kids, times I’ve experienced racism, Tariq Hussain, Samir Khan, co-opting oppressive motifs, Kanye West and the Yeezus and Watch the Throne tours, hot and sauerkraut, mixed people and The Future of Hate™, what will happen to the racists, Maureen Tucker and Ralph Molina, talking about everything, post-Rob Ford, including Lane, Toronto’s all-ages punk scene, trying to do good but also tokenism, doing not talking, it can take time to get things done, VCR, pronoun awareness, Jonah Falco, including Lane, the Lawnya Vawnya Long Night talk show and its programming, baby formula tastes like science, writing what you talk, nice looking condos, needing things to write songs about, making people feel things, a pre-Sled Island show and Sappyfest, Lane’s family in PEI, google.com, Where the Streets Have Been Renamed, Daps Records, the song “A Final Hello,” and that was the end of this talking.

Related links: hoodedfang.com dapsrecords.com vishkhanna.com

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