SPEAKER_01 0:14

Welcome to How's Your Stool, the show where we pull up a stool and find out how things are really going. Not just the gigs, not just the music, but what's happening when the amps and the lights get turned off. Because if you ask a musician how they're doing, you'll get one answer. But if you check their stool, you might get the truth. I'm your host, Dave Randall, and today I'm sitting down with Asher Fisher. So let's get a stool sample. Asher. Dave! Welcome today to How's Your Stool?

SPEAKER_00 0:55

Thank you for having me.

SPEAKER_01 0:56

I am uh I am excited to have you here today because uh, well, we almost got to play together. We did a little, but uh um yeah, uh and um uh when I was you know coming up with the concept of this uh this get together, this episode. I thought of you because uh well, we're gonna find out like you've got some pedigree you go back sometime. A couple of years a different time uh before digital happened. But uh anyway, thank you so much for coming all the way out here and sharing your morning with us.

SPEAKER_00 1:31

My pleasure. I'm looking forward to reminiscing and uh bringing back some great memories.

SPEAKER_01 1:36

Yeah, and and uh even if they're not great memories, they they are still in our heads. So uh well, why don't you start off? Um telling me a bit about yourself, like where you were born, you knew to Montreal, about all that kind of stuff.

SPEAKER_00 1:52

Okay, uh I was born actually in in uh Haifa, Israel. I came from the same village that Gene Simmons came from. More than likely, we probably went to the same school. Um so when I was young, I I I saw uh uh a marching band that came by our house, and and I was just fascinated by the you know this the drums that they were playing, and I said, This is what I really want to do. Of course, it took a few years for me to do it, but I think I was smitten when I saw that. Uh we left Israel in 1960 and sailed past the Statue of Liberty and uh you know, little boy discovered snow and and and music and and all the wonderful things.

SPEAKER_01 2:41

So you uh you'd started playing drums though before leaving Israel? No, no at all.

SPEAKER_00 2:47

It was just implanted in in me that this is what I would like to do. Yeah. Uh I really didn't start playing until much later on in my life, like uh around 20, 21 years old.

SPEAKER_01 2:59

Oh, okay.

SPEAKER_00 2:59

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 3:00

All right. Um okay, so well, you you said you sailed into New York Harbor. Yeah. And uh, where did you go from there?

SPEAKER_00 3:08

Uh we uh we stayed there for about a day or two and boarded a prop plane and uh I came into Montreal. I I remember circling Montreal and just seeing fields really. There wasn't you know, Point Clair and Port Valley was like there was nothing. Yeah. But I remember it so vividly.

SPEAKER_01 3:27

Uh and where did you settle?

SPEAKER_00 3:29

Uh I was I grew up in Ultramont. Okay. Um in the Hasidic area, actually. Uh um and it was a great place to uh to grow up because uh a lot of my friends that I uh went to school with were very musical and uh we were able to uh to to discover all all the wonderful music that was coming out of San Francisco and and and California, you know, like the Janice Joplin and uh and and uh Hendricks and um there was a friend of mine, Kenny, who had an older brother, and he introduced us to many things. Uh but one of them being uh some wonderful music that I was just smitten by, cream, you know. So it that's where it, you know, the it started uh developing for me. Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 4:20

Did you come from a musical family?

SPEAKER_00 4:23

Believe it or not, I I I discovered later that uh my father did own a music store back in in Hungary because my parents were from Eastern Europe. From Hungary, just as uh Gene Simmons' parents were actually uh and uh yeah, that's as far as my musical, my family musical background goes.

SPEAKER_01 4:44

Okay. So it was mostly through friends and school and going out socializing that you discovered what well you mentioned a few bands, cream and and Jimi Hendrix and so on. Was it was it rock music that caught your attention?

SPEAKER_00 4:59

It was ro uh at first it was uh it was more like the the blues scene, you know, that was coming out of out of of of uh Southern California. And uh um I had a friend of mine uh who introduced me to you know m Mike Bloomberg and Al Cooper and uh uh you know bands like that. Uh so I that was my first initiation into into the music that was coming in. Okay. Uh later on I uh discovered the British bands, uh specifically the Who, uh Zeppelin, which uh was probably my first show, first live show that I went to.

SPEAKER_01 5:38

The first lucky you.

SPEAKER_00 5:40

Yeah, it was a great uh it was a great concert. I remember it so well because it was barely any any musical gear on this stage. It was so it was so you know bare.

SPEAKER_01 5:52

Essentially a three-piece band, yeah.

SPEAKER_00 5:54

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 5:55

Um but man, did they did they hit home with uh, you know, when I saw them, it was just uh had always wanted to see Led Zeppelin, but they had stopped touring through most of my high school years anyway. Um but then they were supposed to come to Montreal and uh John Bonham died.

SPEAKER_00 6:18

I think, yeah, I remember that. Uh it was the early 80s, yeah. Just about to come, I think.

SPEAKER_01 6:23

Uh yeah, they were yeah, everyone I remember everyone in school was excited about getting tickets and it just it just didn't happen.

SPEAKER_00 6:31

And and the tickets were like eight dollars. Yes. I remember paying eight dollars for the front row, you know. It was like, wow.

SPEAKER_01 6:38

Before Ticketmaster and all those other shady organizations. Uh so uh no klezmer music in your uh in your history?

SPEAKER_00 6:48

No, no. Uh that that came up later in my life uh where somebody actually tried to initiate me into a klezmer band. And I I did attempt it, but man, it was it was another level. You know, it was just uh something that I could not not do. I'm essentially a rock drummer and I think he was trying to incorporate me into this klezmer thing, but you know, my kudos to the to those musicians they are.

SPEAKER_01 7:18

I'm I can't I can't remember how I um came across klezmer music, um being a good little Catholic boy. My parents certainly didn't listen to it. But I loved it. First time heard that, oh, this is fascinating. Like just it was so busy. It's kind of like jazz and traditional eastern folk music, uh Eastern European folk music, and all these elements kind of kind of going the way that uh you know uh traditional folk music, Americana music developed with music coming over with immigrants from overseas into North America. That's where bluegrass came from. And but anyway, I I I really enjoyed Clismo. I just had to ask you. Having having started your journey in more or less in Israel, uh, I thought maybe you'd like to do that.

SPEAKER_00 8:05

No, no, I think I was too young for that. But uh yeah, I it goes back to also the Django Rein Reinhardt. Yeah, Django, uh, you know, uh, which I discovered later also, and uh you know, the gypsy music.

SPEAKER_01 8:17

Yeah, exactly. And uh Stefan Grappelli on the violin. Yeah, that was again uh m music I could never cover, but it was definitely part. I mean, I always thought of Django as a the the first, the original uh Eddie Van Halen. He could just play so fast and so melodically, it was beautiful. Um, so you're listening to to rock music, you're loving rock music, and when did you start playing rock man? How did that come about?

SPEAKER_00 8:49

Um Ricky, Ricky Rice actually came by the house at one point, um, and I was living with Roddy, and he suggested that we put a band together, and we said, okay, let's let's do it. And we got together, and really I my playing ability was not up to scratch at that that time. I mean, I I I loved it. I I I remember going to a bar mitzvah somewhere uh and and and and watching the the the band intensely and and the drummer looked at me and he says, Would you like to play? I said, Yes, I would. And he actually put me on the kit, and I I just went without knowing what I was doing. But so I I realized then that I I I I had something, you know. And when Ricky gave me the offer, I I said, Yes, I I I would like to to join the band. And we had no expectations of where we were gonna go or what we were gonna do, but something clicked in that particular band, and you're going back to 1976. Um so we rehearsed and we realized that we wanted to do some original material. It was it was uh a work in progress, that's for sure.

SPEAKER_01 10:05

Okay. Were you exposed to live music at this time in original?

SPEAKER_00 10:08

Oh, always, always, always, always I've gone to uh many, many shows at the forum. I remember going to Place de Nation, seeing some great artists there. I got to see the original Alman Brothers band. Wow. Yeah. Um yeah, I was I was very much exposed to music at that point. Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 10:28

Cool. So what was the name of this first band that you the first band was called Mango.

SPEAKER_00 10:34

And it was with Ricky. Uh we were based out of Ganawage because that's where he lived.

SPEAKER_01 10:39

Okay.

SPEAKER_00 10:40

Uh and actually I moved myself over there. I lived on the reserve for three years myself. Uh, and uh we became we started working. I remember the first show we ever did was uh The Edgewater.

SPEAKER_01 10:56

Oh yeah.

SPEAKER_00 10:57

The Edgewater, yeah. And the very first show, Jerry Mercer actually showed up and uh and I asked him to tune the my drums and he very willingly, sure, he started taking off all the bottom skins, and I'm going, why is he doing that? But he obviously he knew what he was doing, and he had a certain sound, I remember that match mechanic sound, and he gave that to me. And so yeah, we started like that, and uh just we evolved uh we evolved very well. We were seen by uh an agent, uh French agent, his name was Pierre Brousseau, and he took took us under his wing and we started be becoming a show band. So he changed the name of the band to the Mango Boogie Show Band. If I could show you pictures of what we were wearing, you know, like that style back then. Uh but we were doing a lot of the the the interesting clubs in in the city, like uh Café de Nord, Café de Leste, the Lyon d'Or. And I've got some great stories if you have time. Oh man. And you want to listen to some great stories. Uh things that happened at those shows were unbelievable.

SPEAKER_01 12:08

Yeah. So you were having fun doing all this.

SPEAKER_00 12:11

We were having a blast, you know. We never we never thought that we would we would develop, you know, to this level. But because we were doing original material and very left field material, uh, we were sort of like REM, Husker Doo. We we we were um we were embraced by the university crowd, you know, like uh so we were doing a lot of the McGill, Sir George at the time, Lennoxville. Uh so we really grew out of that, you know. Um so it it it it it gave us the freedom to develop the way we wanted to develop, right? And that's something that we took on from the very beginning. We were gonna control our destiny, musically and and and any other way.

SPEAKER_01 13:01

Well that's that's very forward-thinking for a young band to and at at the time too, when might have also been the the excitement of oh w we're gonna be in a band and we're gonna do this and we're gonna do shows and uh yeah, um, but to have that control over your core uh was a very very mature attitude to have for a young rock.

SPEAKER_00 13:24

And very bold, uh because you know, obviously the club owners wanted the top 40 as they do now, but but really that they wanted that, but we we held our ground and and uh I'm so glad we did, you know. We we we realized early that we we were gonna control our own destiny, uh we were gonna get our own equipment, and and and surprisingly, you know, we walked into a bank and and and and went for a fifty thousand dollar loan and they gave it to us. Uh we realized that we we had to do this ourselves. And we had set up the band in such a way that it generated money. Uh even when we weren't in our studio rehearsing of when we were on the road, we definitely thought ahead, you know. It it was a whole different ball game back then. Okay, so this is what what year give us context in the year time frame that we're uh we're looking at uh 77, 78 by then, yeah. Because uh yeah, Mango had had developed into the Angry Young Ducks. Ah, yes. Uh I remember playing Quebec City and we realized we needed a new name, and so we drew a bunch of names into a hat, and uh Angry Young Men came up and Little Mad Ducks, and we said, okay, why don't we fuse those two together? And that's how actually the Angry Young Ducks name came about.

SPEAKER_01 14:44

So I've been waiting for you to bring that up because that was that uh you were one of the in my influences. You guys were uh Angry Young Ducks used to go see you at the at the Mapes. I mean, you were you were pretty regular there at the Mapes, from what I recall. And you guys were good. Like you kind of had a funny aspect to your show, sort of a little comedic, but even then, as young as and and inexperienced as I was, I could tell like you guys were really good. You because you were doing like Zappa and Steely Dan and stuff like that.

SPEAKER_00 15:20

We were influenced by that, yeah.

SPEAKER_01 15:22

Holy moly, that's like top shelf stuff to be playing in a bar, you know?

SPEAKER_00 15:26

Yeah, well, uh uh we had a original lineup at uh when we were Mango. Okay, when we switched over to the Angry Young Ducks, we we we brought in Sonny, Sonny Stone, who was uh McGill graduate. And we realized, okay, this this is it. It's either shape up or shape out. Yeah, basically we're going to another level. And he did take us to another level. Uh we would rehearse, we would have to we weren't we weren't musical geniuses aside from Ricky, who was very, very talented. The rest of us really had to work hard at what we did. And we did. We we had a studio. Uh if we weren't uh playing anywhere or touring anywhere, you had to be at the studio at ten o'clock in the morning till five o'clock that after you know that that evening uh practicing or writing or it all became part of our life and and and we breathed, we lived it, you know. Um so we worked hard at uh at what we what we did. Uh we it didn't come easily. Um but we knew we had to sort of bring it in with something else. So comedy was something that was very natural to us because we were just a bunch of clowns and and and uh I you know we we somehow developed a way to incorporate the two together. And it was very strange for a lot of audiences, a lot of agents and record people, they they didn't know what was coming off. You know I I remember at one point uh we were playing Toronto and and uh we had everybody come down to see us, including um uh Russia's management, Ray Daniels, uh uh Max Webster, they were all there, and they're going, You guys are great, but we have no clue what to do with you. Like it's just so different, you know. But we developed that over the years, and even in our songwriting, we developed that. Right. Uh the material was very tongue-in-cheek. Yeah. We wrote about uh funeral homes and edieum in and and and and we had songs uh you know entitled like uh I Wanna Eat Out on Uranus or Ricky's Wed Dream. And we didn't know how far that was gonna go, but it did go far.

SPEAKER_01 17:38

But but because there was a comedy element, but it was still executed perfectly, like really sharp musical arrangements. Um for anybody who who who's interested in more, there is a documentary on YouTube about the Angry Young Ducks. I can't remember the title of it right now, but just search for the Angry Young Ducks documentary, and it is a piece of history.

SPEAKER_00 18:05

It really is, yeah. When I first saw it, there were some pictures there that I have not seen in quite a while. It's done very tongue-in-cheek, you know.

SPEAKER_01 18:13

Yeah, but I it that's a nice memento to have of that time, not just of you guys, but of the of the time, what it was like to be a band in Montreal uh then. I I was talking about this with uh Martin Laporte last week about how I find in uh today's local bar scene uh the the well like you guys say you guys used to practice from ten in the morning till five in the afternoon. And and this was your thing. You were this was your living. You were this is how you were fun paying your rent and paying back your bank loan, I presume.

SPEAKER_03 18:51

Yes.

SPEAKER_01 18:53

Um and today I so I I when I used to go to the Mapes and see bands like you, I I I was really intimidated. I thought, wow, these guys are professionals, they are like so slick, and you know, I was learning to play guitar at the time, like I'm never gonna get up there. I did get up once on the Maple Stage, but uh that was it before it burnt down. And uh anyway, all to say is back in the 70s and even to the extent of the 80s, uh you had to really work hard as a musician to to do your hone your craft and do it well. Whereas today I find anybody with a guitar seems to get up on stage, and I'm not slamming that. I'm saying if you can go ahead, but I I don't see a lot of the same influences that I back that I saw back then. There are some guys around now, a lot of them are retired. Um uh so it's it's uh it's a little different the local music scene than it was back then.

SPEAKER_00 19:58

It's very, very different. Um back then, if you wanted to play the prestige clubs, you had to be good. And those prestige clubs were known to have good bands, so audiences came. They paid money to get in. Yeah. You know, we were doing all the top bars, like from here to Manitoba, all the way from Newfoundland, and we would tour constantly. Okay. Um well, you know, pi people we realize that if people are gonna pay that money, you've got to give them a performance, uh, you know, a g a good show. And it goes back to the Beatles when you you when you when you remember uh the the Hamburg days and they would go mach show, mach show, right? Put on a show. Yeah I mean John Lennon putting on a toilet seat, right? There's stories of that. And and they realized then that you know the look, the the slickness, the things that people today are are are are not considering important. Like for me, right, even when I play now, that dead air space, you know, is is just it it just didn't happen. It didn't happen for us. Uh for us, every minute, every second of the show was choreographed.

SPEAKER_01 21:12

Right.

SPEAKER_00 21:13

We knew exactly exactly what was gonna happen. You can come seven days a week and you would see us and it would be a different show every every day. Because there was a certain amount of ad-libbing. But there was still that choreographed instances where we knew what was happening on stage. And we were well aware of of that early, early on.

SPEAKER_01 21:37

Well that's that's something that seems to be missing. I mean, until you're you're booked with uh, you know, a record company or something and they start crafting you and calling you the mango showband. Yeah, you're kinda that Boogie Showband. Boogie Show, yes. The mango boogie showband. Which I think now would be a great name. But But uh yeah, so um yeah, there's it's just it it's you really have to go to a club and pay to see a high quality band, like go downtown to the you know, the any of the like the the B list venues, like um uh what else? Up Soda or Metropolis. Exactly, exactly. It tells you how much I get out. But uh but yeah, those those you know you go there and you're gonna see a professional band with with professional light show and sound and it's you're gonna pay, we're gonna be willing to pay forty, fifty bucks to go and see a band there. Um let alone like the arena shows and stuff. But yeah, today it it just seems like it's uh anybody can join in on the uh on the local.

SPEAKER_00 22:44

Well the bars have different uh values, I guess. I guess they're at the end of the night they're looking at their at their bar tab, and unfortunately, you know, if if the band has a following, you know, then they're hired and they don't really care, you know. Uh nowadays, because of the tribute bands and the the cover bands, as long as you play something that's you recognize and you can sing along to or dance to, yeah, it works. But in those days, it was quality, you know. We we we we had competition from some tremendous musicians, especially uh being out of Montreal. The Toronto scene was just like a different level, you know. Like you had to compete with that.

SPEAKER_01 23:26

And that's well, I thought you guys were from Toronto when I saw you back in the world. Oh, really? I thought you were a Toronto because you were so polished. It was we were polished. Yeah, it wasn't just another band on the stage. It was you know, what are we now 40 somewhat many years later? And I still remember the Angry Young Ducks like vividly. So uh it it's a testament to to the work that was that was put in then. And um so like so you were earning a living um playing doing this, like this is your full-time gig.

SPEAKER_00 23:57

Oh, yeah, yeah. We l we lived on that. We we weren't making a lot of money, so we ate we ate a lot of canned tuna sandwiches and peanut butter and jam sandwiches, but we didn't care because we believed that we were gonna, you know, slowly make our way up, and and we did. We were at a point where you know we did own our own sound, we uh owned our own lights, we owned two trucks, we had roadies, it was phenomenal for that time, you know. But we we we set our goals and and and we went for them.

SPEAKER_01 24:33

Um did you have a plan? Like did you know that you we you know we want to get a record contract, we want to and and what did you do to pursue that?

SPEAKER_00 24:46

Well, we started off properly by writing. We knew writing was the the key. Unfortunately, what we were writing about was not what everybody wanted to hear. And and we our songs would go like you know for five, seven minutes, and they would they would change tempos and and and it I think we were way ahead of our time. That's that's what people told us is that at at that time people were looking for that that three-minute hit, you know. And we just weren't writing like that. We did go into many studios like Listen Audio, Tempo, uh with all the producers, because they they knew about us, they heard about us, and they said, Okay, well let's see what you got.

SPEAKER_03 25:29

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 25:30

But like I I said earlier, we weren't high-level musicians, our show really depended on you know on our act, uh the comedy and all that. So to single out musically, like we just you know, they weren't ready for us, they they didn't know what to do with us at the time.

SPEAKER_01 25:50

Right, yeah. I guess yeah, they uh it's easier for management to pigeonhole people, say, oh, this is a uh acid rock band, or this is a progressive rock band. And you guys were a little bit of everything. We were everything, exactly. Yeah. I loved it. I I I I generally and when when we crossed paths many years later, and I was like, oh, there's this guy, Asher Fisher, who's you know, is interested in coming to play play drums with me. And then I looked you up and I go, Oh my god. It is one of the ducks. And uh well, I mean I've had the opportunity to see play many times since then. Uh mostly it's uh well there you let Kurt Well, I mean let me talk let you talk about uh what you're working on right now, and then we're gonna look at how you got from there to here. Okay.

SPEAKER_00 26:40

Um well uh after I finished my professional career, uh I joined a band called That Darn Cat, basically. Okay. Uh just for the fun of it. I wanted I had a year off and I I missed it. You know, it it flows in our blood, and we just we we have to keep playing. Even now, you know, it's the same situation. Um so that band kind of like uh was sort of going along very well. We would do the occasional gigs. It wasn't uh a difficult and this is an all-cover band. It was an all-cover band, yeah. Um but that sort of opened up doors for me for other things like uh I got back together with my old members like Ricky Rice and Joe Zanti, and we started a band called uh In the Dog House. Uh and that got off on the right foot, like we opened for Foreigner, uh Kim Mitchell at the time. Uh but unfortunately just we couldn't keep it together. Uh sure uh so uh I stayed with uh that darn cat and uh later on I started a band called Westerville. Yes so always trying to put some project together that really for the fun of it to be able to play, to be able to, you know, have my creative sources out and uh with really no expectations, you know, except except for putting on a a proper show and and and and still maintaining you know.

SPEAKER_01 28:18

Did did you have uh any large gaps in your playing history life uh where you didn't play at all?

SPEAKER_00 28:25

Where you no, it was just uh after I left uh well after the Angry Young Ducks we we you I you I we formed uh or I was asked to join a band called uh Beau Gest, which was a recording band. Right. Uh we were signed to CBS Records, and that was also another three, three years or so. Okay. Uh playing but it was a francophone band, so it was a uh a Quebec based band. Um we did French music, uh it was the same team that uh that uh took care of uh Beaudomage. Uh it's a wonderful signing. We were one of the original Miller beer bands. Uh so right after that uh I I just took off uh about a year, year and a half.

SPEAKER_01 29:10

Okay.

SPEAKER_00 29:11

But you were always intent to going back to uh I wasn't sure, you know, like when once you you you've you've had uh ten years on the road, uh you you you become a little weary and uh tired. But like I said, the the you know the juices flow and and and you you miss that. Uh you know, look at all the people that are playing now, all the older musicians that are playing, they just we can't stop. You know, we just can't stop.

SPEAKER_01 29:38

Well good for you. We're uh gonna take a sec here and uh cueing this up while I'm this is a track uh that you recorded uh with that band, Bogest, on CBS Records. If you wanna just give us a little uh introduction to it, like uh Yeah, it was uh this is the from the second album.

SPEAKER_00 30:03

Uh the first album was French primarily. Uh the second album was was an English album. Uh we've had interest from uh people in LA, Bob Clearmountain, but that never developed. But uh this particular album was produced by Aldo Nova. And the track that you're playing actually has uh a guitar solo in the middle, where there's a very, very difficult part to the solo, and our our guitar players were having trouble doing it, but we asked Aldo if he would do that little 10-second 10 fill, and and he just did it uh because he was the producer of the album. He he he helped produce, yeah. Tony Green was producing and with Aldo.

SPEAKER_01 30:46

So this is a very polished production as well.

SPEAKER_00 31:37

Yeah. It's interesting because this one, um first album that I I we laid down the rhythm track first. Second album outlisted, well, let's record the band first, and then we're gonna do the drums. Okay. So I had to play to a perfect perfectly distinct band. I spent a lot of time with Aldo just working the pocket and and and and with metronomes and was not an easy thing to do.

SPEAKER_02 32:16

Look across the wall!

SPEAKER_01 32:22

You were saying that this one got uh some regular airplay on Shom?

SPEAKER_00 32:26

Shown played with yeah, Shom played this one uh regularly. There was another one called Take These Chains that was played on K103 uh a lot. Yeah, the other the others the others were a little more poppier. You know that 80s down, yeah. That hair that hairband down and we did have some great hair actually back then. Start at the guitar solo. Yeah, the two the two of them would trade off here. That little part there at the end there. By the way, I have to say Maldo is just an amazing guitar player. He can just pick up a guitar and do anything. And getting to know him hanging out with them.

SPEAKER_01 35:14

I have to do my two-tal impersonation to talk up for that. Well, that was a lot of fun. Uh and there must have been fun recording that too.

SPEAKER_00 35:23

It was. It was a blast, yeah. It was it was fun hanging out with Raldo and uh It was around the time that uh Prince had just recorded Purple Rain, and we were just so fascinated by it and played over and over in this car. Yeah, it was a good time.

SPEAKER_01 35:40

It's funny, I uh telling other stories, but uh I just read an article, and I uh not an article, a little blurb on Facebook, so I don't know if it's entirely true, but apparently Prince approached Eddie Van Halen when the two female players in Prince's band left. Right. Um and he wanted he he didn't want to just any old guitar player, he wanted like the best of the best, so he he had asked, apparently he had asked Eddie Van Halen, and Eddie Van Halen had conditions, and he said, sure. Because he was going to give him creative control over the guitar parts that he played and that he wrote and and contributed to the to the songs. But Eddie Van Halen said, uh, alright, but you can never play Purple Rain again. And Prince was like, What? That's like my most popular song. Everybody comes to you, and he goes, Yeah, but you're not playing it anymore. You might as well just put the MP3 on or what C put the C D on because he says, I've heard you play it dozens of times, and it's the same song over and over again. Wow. So anyway, that's why Eddie Van Halen never played on any Prince stuff because that's funny.

SPEAKER_00 36:47

It's such an iconic uh but look, he yet he did the Michael Jackson one, right? The Beat It? Beat it, yeah. He would he just asked if he would come in and he said sure, he came in. I don't think he even got paid for it. Uh royalties or a flat fee, and uh that's an iconic solo right there.

SPEAKER_01 37:07

It absolutely is. It it changed where like I think where Michael Jackson's music trajectory was at the time from from strictly dance music to a little bit of everything rock music and and and so on. Well that was uh that was do you do you miss recording? Like do you get much chance to record stuff?

SPEAKER_00 37:26

No, I don't I don't uh I do miss recording. It was uh an aspect that I did enjoy. Um no, we nowadays basically reduced to uh cover material. I'd like to get involved in in some original material. Sure. But we may be a project in the future coming up that may involve some of that.

SPEAKER_01 37:48

Oh nice. Yeah. Well, it's good. So I because it sounded to me like you enjoyed your time in the studio. Um Tell me about like playing in venues back in the late 70s, 80s. Uh of course you were a you were a premier band, so you weren't getting booked into bigs. Hey, you were playing you were playing music venues like the mustache, uh mustache, well all all all the clubs here in Montreal.

SPEAKER_00 38:21

Mustache, the Ark, uh the Mapes, Club Soda, uh Club S uh the Pretzel, all these uh but we would tour uh extensively, like I said, from Manitoba to the Maritimes, especially in the Maritimes. Um and we did places like the Misty Moon, which was a great, great venue. Um we we we'd fill the houses uh and and we were known as a live act, you know. Um so we had an agent that had no problems booking us uh two-month tours at a time. And we'd come back for a week, and again, if you had that week off, you had to practice. Yeah you didn't just have it off. Yeah, you had to keep your chops up. Um so we were constantly working, you know, and and and that's what helped to keep the band tight and and the show you know fresh. Fresh, yeah. Yeah, so uh like I said before, those type of bars wanted the bands. At the time, uh we were touring with bands like uh Saga, right? Uh what was it? Uh Ryan Rhine Gold, which was uh uh Gowan's band.

SPEAKER_01 39:35

Oh, okay.

SPEAKER_00 39:36

You know, these these were premier bands that were touring, uh Dutch Mason.

SPEAKER_01 39:40

Yep.

SPEAKER_00 39:40

We were all doing the same bars. So you had to have uh your game, had to be up there.

SPEAKER_01 39:47

Yeah, yeah. And you're still gigging now, like pretty regular, like Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 39:54

I I I I fill in. I have two other bands that I play, my bands, you know. Um I'm just having a good time. It right now it's it's a whole different it's a whole different feel. It's it's for the fun of it. Uh 'cause certainly don't do it for the money, you know. Uh and and that's that's another thing that that's it's it's really it's a shame that that bands aren't being remunerated for what they should be, you know. Right. Uh I think they're being almost abused, you know, because it's a lot of work to to to you know pack your stuff and you know most places don't have PAs and lighting and you've got to bring that and set it all up and you know, and all of us here in Montreal are doing it for the love of of the music, you know. Um so it's i I wish that uh that the owners would take a different attitude and at least you know pay the bands for what they're worth.

SPEAKER_01 41:03

Because yeah, you have to love it. Um uh yeah, back in the 80s, I I I was in my twenties, so I didn't think about money. Uh we got paid, but it you know, I had a day job as well. I lost a lot of day jobs, but because you're playing till three o'clock in the morning. Right. And then the after parties. But uh yes. It was hard to keep a day job, but uh uh it was never I was never making enough money, though. As you uh I said, you could if you wanted to play, you could play. Montreal in the eighties, there were so many bars and and uh and yeah, you could you could get a gig uh so four or five six nights a week if you wanted to.

SPEAKER_00 41:46

At the time, yeah, you were you that's that was the the going you would play for like you know like you said, four or five nights. Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 41:53

And then I got out of music altogether for for quite some time and came back in the mid early 2000s. And um again, I wasn't doing it for money, I was doing it just because I had time and and the inkling to get together with other people and try this again. Now it's rusty as fuck. But that was also kind of fun. It was fun for me to get back into it, and um I'd uh I'd become a better player over those years off. I did I wasn't sort of woodshedding down here and and and getting better. But uh so when I did start playing and getting gigs, and I realized like again, I didn't know what to ask for. You go to a bar, like we want to play, and uh how much you pay? Oh well, we'll pay you three hundred dollars per person? Uh no, no, no, no, no. Your three-piece band will pay you three hundred dollars. Like, oh my god, how does anybody make a living at this anymore? Like, uh and and uh most bars only have music Friday and or Saturday, occasionally a Thursday, but mostly it's Friday and or Saturday.

SPEAKER_00 43:10

And I mean, unless I so I I branched out and started doing the pub thing because there were a lot more pubs and a lot more opportunities, but still you I think that's what's happening now is is that a lot of these musicians like like Dwayne, Dwayne Dixon, and uh you know, they they they they have to branch out and do duos or solos. Because for them it they are making uh a living out of this. Yeah and you know, I feel for them. It's not an easy living. Um you're doing it for the passion, your pa you know, to for your passion, but it's a lot of work, you know.

SPEAKER_01 43:49

It is a lot of work and uh it it takes uh having this conversation with somebody else, it takes a team. Like you really have to enjoy. the people that you're working with as well because personnel problems it doesn't go well with artistic expression. No. Because your artistic expression is sitting on top of your emotions, right? And and um if those emotions have been skewed by some less than optimal interaction, it's uh it's tough to it's tough to do that.

SPEAKER_00 44:26

It takes away from the focus of of of the music, unfortunately, you know? Yeah. Um I I'm fortunate now to be playing with people that that I I like. Yeah. I actually I can say I really like this band and I I I enjoy getting together with them and on stage or at at home to rehearse. So it makes a world of a difference. And my previous bands uh in the Angry Young Ducks we got along great because we were a bunch of nobodies that that came from the ashes, you know, and and and and built up. Bojas was a different kind of a thing where we had a record company, we had management, we had lawyers. It was a little it it was tiresome for me. Uh after four years you you just had to to to walk away from it and go okay because the the the the fun ran out. You know it wasn't fun anymore. And personally I think if you're not having fun then it's time to leave. You know either the music industry or or the band or or or whatever you're involved in.

SPEAKER_01 45:30

That's that's uh very wise advice um because uh well we we're we're more aware now than we have been ever really about mental health and the impact it can have on you. Um and again um but sort of the underlying theme of this show is the is the emotional impact of putting yourself out there you know rehearsing songs uh going out and doing your best and uh you just gotta roll with whatever happens from that point on the audience loves you the audience hates you the audience wants you to keep playing the same four lame songs over and over again and and you've already played them so uh it's it can be tough to to pick up and go out and do it again. So you're sounds like you're in an ideal place where you are once again doing it for fun.

SPEAKER_00 46:27

Yes I I'm I'm strictly doing it for the fun of it you know uh and listen we all have to adapt you know to to I I heard a very interesting thing uh uh uh advice uh somebody gave uh when you're playing somewhere and you kind of lose the audience you you you don't get depressed over it you know and and most bands go okay you know what's happening here you know you you you've got to adapt you you've got to have a song that that you can call out and and bring them back you know so adapting to things I think is very important you know uh on the stage just as long as you don't call it pandering no no you don't want to pander no yeah let go of all your creative integrity and play sweet home Alabama all too well yeah um so you you are you uh keeping busy like this summer your you've got a lot of gigs? There were yeah I I've with the bands that I'm with like I said I'm I'm I'm subbing for some uh I get called every now and then can you do this? And I'm professional enough to to maybe hear a song a couple of times and then get up on the stage and and and do it. My other two bands are working you know I I have a life. Yes uh I enjoy my life I enjoy my family uh and I don't want to give that up either so and I'm not as young as I used to be uh so uh I I I still will do it to a point where I'm having fun uh I don't overdo it you know I I I'm not put here to compete or start a second career again you know uh there's lots of other musicians that that are are able to do that. I that's not my thing but uh as long as I can keep playing for me I I love performing. And if I can do that you know every now and then I'm happy.

SPEAKER_01 48:32

Yeah. Well I mean performing for you as a drummer means hauling a lot of gear.

SPEAKER_00 48:38

Although although you know what it's funny because we talk about it's a different scene now a lot of places now will will will provide a backline right as you well know. Oh that'd be great yeah so they do like the bigger shows like the the the Ripfests and and the festivals and and you know like uh they do provide that. Um I try not to carry a major load anymore you know uh and and and what's interesting that has that has popped up uh recently is is the electric drum you know right uh I I'm aware that there's a lot of bars that have actually said you know no acoustic drums here you know we don't want acoustic drums so so sound and volume has become a uh an issue also and it is a major issue uh because they want the patrons to be able to talk and you know yes so I've actually had to go out and buy a second set of electric drums yeah which I never thought that I would use for a live performance but to be honest they they actually make them really really well now so uh they can be a lot of fun so uh sometimes I do perform with just electric drums you know well that's interesting I've only done sound for one band where the drummer used an electronic kit uh a smaller venue or yeah it was a smaller venue um I think he he was just on that kick.

SPEAKER_01 49:58

He was a good drummer uh just for me like all I was getting was one stereo signal from him so I couldn't mix the drums I couldn't tweak the hi hat or the or the snare or anything like that. It was all just whatever whatever signals that was the only real drawback but I I'm sure for a drummer you've much lighter to carry a load around like that. It is and in a club it's true I could see where the level is uh sort of contained by the the sound man so there's one point of of volume really in that um but yeah I like real drums but uh you know what we spoke about the the we don't have those live venues anymore anymore with with proper stages and and and and uh big enough rooms where you can actually play all out.

SPEAKER_00 50:54

Right. You know it's uh it's the smaller venues right now that are hiring bands. Right. So like I said you have to adapt. Yeah you adapt to the situation and and uh unfortunately but I do have to say that the the electric drums and and the a lot of the digital things that are coming up uh you know for guitar players and keyboard players they're phenomenal you know they they're amazing.

SPEAKER_01 51:19

Hey you said to me earlier that you uh had a a bag full of stories from uh from the old days uh oh my god let's see if what's uh uh maybe let let's look at a a good gig or or a bad gig and then a good gig like what's what's what is your your horror gig story horror story well back when we were the Mango Boogie show band and we were playing uh these venues like uh Cafe de l'Est and Lyon d'or I remember playing uh Cafe de l'Est we were just about to go on there was uh talent show going on and people that can actually play harmonica while holding them by the you know the harmonica they're holding the harmonica by the lips and they were just glass walking and things like that you know but all of a sudden the police kind of raided the the the bar and lights go on and going what's going on what's going on and and some guy jumps on on the stage and goes uh just just pretend I'm in the band I said okay and then he puts something into my bass drum I don't know what what's going on here slowly the word's getting out that somebody got shot in the parking lot and this is the guy that did it and the gun is sitting in my bass drum so and this is part one part two is this guy turns out to be the owner of the Lyon d'Or.

SPEAKER_00 52:46

So he hires us to play two weeks later at his place and the guy that got shot his brother comes to avenge his death but this guy finds out that he's here to avenge his death so while we're sitting in the restaurant eating our supper before the sh two two week uh engagement that we have he decides to shoot the brother right in front of us. Oh my God. Yeah so we're witness to all it yeah that that was an actually actually we made it into Alopolis. I think that was the most horrible horror story that I can think of yeah. That that is tops every story so far it's in the documentary actually it's oh is it yeah oh yeah they brought out the finest I remember I remember the detectives and cops were in addressing room within a matter of minutes and because we witnessed witnessed everything you know we're sitting there we're rolling joints and they're going it's okay go ahead go ahead smoke all you want you know because we're we're terrified.

SPEAKER_01 53:52

Yeah I I have been I have been playing in um a couple of bars a couple of outdoor events where the police have shown up it's mostly a noise complaint. And I always tell the band if the cops show up we break into I fought the law instantly which version? The clash of course um yeah well that's uh and what and and the gig that you know stands out in your mind it's your your dreams you'll oh that was with Bojest um we got the call that you're opening up for uh Johnny Winter who was my idol uh growing up um and when I heard that I went wow this is phenomenal so we shared the arena in St.

SPEAKER_00 54:45

Hyacinth actually uh and it was great to meet the band we did meet him he was we were supposed to hook up with him after the show but being Johnny Winter forget it the press and everybody was all over the dressing room yeah but I did meet the band uh they were very very cordial they were great and ever since the John Lennon uh shooting he's become very very recluse oh yeah and he at that at that time he didn't like to meet people he stayed in his room smoked his pot very content you know but just opening up for him was you know my dream dream come true. Because I've always said I wanted to play with two people growing up I said I'd love to play with John Lennon or Johnny Winner. So I got to open up for him which That is fantastic.

SPEAKER_01 55:37

Yeah Asher I uh we're gonna sort of slide into home plate here because uh we're getting close to our time but I would love to have you come back and uh and we'll we'll focus more on stories and we'll we'll oh I have lots of them dig dig into that. Again thank you so much for coming out here today sitting down with me it's uh it's been a pleasure for me to get to know you better I mean I I I didn't know you but um now I got to really know you're cool well anytime David was it's a blast going down memory lane you know and uh yeah okay well um ladies and gentlemen Asher Fisher and check him out with that darn cat and uh we'll talk to you again soon bye bye all right that's a wrap huge thanks to Asher Fisher for pulling up a stool and hanging in if you like what you heard go check him out support local music go to a show buy some merch make some noise before we go one last check in house your duel I'm D Randall this is how you're stuck and we'll catch you next time it's a win abandon under production