SPEAKER_00 0:14

Welcome to how tool. What's up? I'm your host, Dave Randall. Today I'm sitting down with Glenn Hamilton. We did this one by Zoom, so please explain. Let's get a stool sample. Greetings and salutations, Mr. Glenn Hamilton. It has been so long since I've sat down with you. Tell me, how's your stool? Dave. There you go. That's the spirit. That's it. Um no, it's it's really nice. And uh for anybody who who watches any of these, um you know I I've never done a Zoom one before, so here we go. Every week is uh is a new surprise. And um, Glenn, uh uh, why don't you tell the people uh where you're at right now that we're doing this by Zoom, and then um why don't you tell us a bit about where you came from, like um where you were born and so on and so forth, and we can start there.

SPEAKER_02 1:34

Sounds good, Dave. Uh so I'm uh residing currently in Niagara Falls, Ontario, uh the honeymoon capital, or it once was. Uh originally I was born in uh Brampton, which is just uh about a little northwest of Toronto. Uh moved to uh Pancore, Quebec in uh 1966, just in time for Expo 67.

SPEAKER_00 1:59

Oh neat.

SPEAKER_02 2:00

Um yeah, lived there for pretty much uh the rest of my well up until about uh 40 years old, with a slight break. I kind of my job took me up here in the Niagara Peninsula from 1977 to 1980, and then back to Montreal, and then I stayed there until the uh the turn of the century. Uh got a job with NAV Canada and moved out to Prince Rupert, BC, lived there for seven years, then on to Thunder Bay, lived there for eight years, and then here for my final years before I retired from NAV Canada. So I basically saw the country at NAV Canada's on NAV Canada's dime. That's pretty small. Yeah. Yeah, pretty interesting. Do you fly? I certainly do. That's my second passion in life. Uh, and I'm lucky that uh myself and four other people have a partnership in an airplane. Uh we keep it just about a half an hour from here in Welland. So I get to go up pretty much anytime I want.

SPEAKER_00 3:03

Oh, cool. That is very cool. Uh you'll have to fly down here sometime.

SPEAKER_02 3:10

I keep threatening my kids that I'm going to. Yes, they're all still here, aren't they? That's right. They all said they all live uh close to you, and you're in St. Lazare, correct? Yeah. Yeah. So yeah, they're all in St. Lazar. Two of them in uh yeah, exactly. Two of them, oh you're in Hudson, I'm sorry. No, I'm in the two of them Oh, you are in St. Lazar, okay. So two of them live in Saddlebrook, and the third lives in uh uh St. Lazare province. Okay. Uh but the oldest uh Tabitha, I'm sure you know Tab. Sure. Uh her and Michelle now they have two residences. They have their St. Lazare residence, but they also bought another lake house in uh just north of Kingston on Lake Collins. And they're they're planning on retiring within the next five years.

SPEAKER_00 4:01

How old is Tabitha?

SPEAKER_02 4:04

Oh my goodness, Dave. You're no, you're now you're very she's she turned 50 this year.

SPEAKER_00 4:10

50?

SPEAKER_02 4:11

What? 55. Unbelievable, Jesus Christ.

SPEAKER_00 4:17

That's crazy. I know that is crazy. I I still see her as this, like, you know, tweenage girl. Oh my god, that is insane. Anyway, yeah, time time flies when you're having fun, I suppose. All right, so you uh you were born in Brampton. Correct. And you moved from there to Pencor, you said, in 66. How old were you then when you moved to Pencore?

SPEAKER_02 4:48

I was nine years old. So uh I I actually got to go to Expo 67 at uh 10 years old, and I still remember a lot of it, believe it or not.

SPEAKER_00 4:56

Yeah, that that was a I got I got down there once, the but dad took me down one day, and that was uh that was a fun experience. Um when you moved here, well, but you know, going back to Brampton, were you doing any music or where were you know had you uh had you caught the bug yet?

SPEAKER_02 5:16

Not at all. I don't I think uh the music bug kind of first hit me uh moving to uh to pancore and elementary school is a typical recorder thing, uh as we all did in elementary school. And I also took up the uh the baritone ukulele. Uh I'm sure it's always some sort of like subconscious affinity for four-stringed instruments, you know. Okay.

SPEAKER_00 5:43

Uh that's uh a baritone ukulele. I don't think I've ever seen one of those, but uh I I understand what it is.

SPEAKER_02 5:52

Just a bigger one. It's like a ukulele, but maybe just slightly larger. But uh I think it's the same tuning. It's uh if I'm not mistaken, if I remember correctly, it's uh D, G, E, and E.

SPEAKER_00 6:05

There you go.

SPEAKER_03 6:06

So the last four strings of the car.

SPEAKER_00 6:08

Good recall. And um okay, so so you yeah you moved to Pancor, and what uh well let's let's find out where where you caught the bug and what it was that caught you, and uh and uh let's you know find out a bit more about where your musical life started.

SPEAKER_02 6:26

Okay, well, aside from playing the you, uh what happened, I think, when I got into high school, um, as you know, you're always given a couple of electives, a couple of uh option options. And I guess just for shits and giggles, I chose music. So and my first instrument uh was flute, and flute stuck with me throughout my high school years and maybe a couple years beyond. Uh but in my second year of high school, uh Matt Hyde had a very, very strong music program. Uh Ted West was the uh the music instructor, and uh he had three concert bands. He had junior, the intermediate, and a senior band. He also had a marching band, which was very active in the fall for football games.

SPEAKER_03 7:14

Oh, yeah.

SPEAKER_02 7:16

He had a dance band, which was basically like a 17-piece big band, and uh had a choir. And what happened in my second year of high school, um the uh the girl that was playing bass uh wanted to stop playing, she was getting blisters on her fingers. So I said, Well, you know what, I'm gonna try this out. So I went from you know, flute one end of the spectrum to bass guitar at the other end, right? And uh and after after playing the uh yeah the the instrument at school, it was a it was a Winston piece. I don't know if you remember those, but I think Sears had two brands in those days. It was like either Kent or Winston, right?

SPEAKER_00 7:59

Okay, yeah.

SPEAKER_02 8:01

This was a Winston, and I swear to God, David, the touch at the high end of the neck was a happy plus. If you wanted to play anything longer than an eighth note or a quarter note, you needed a C clamp, right?

SPEAKER_00 8:19

Yeah, you put a cable on the 12th fret. That would help out for sure.

SPEAKER_02 8:26

So yeah, and I remember sitting down to play it the uh first time, I had no clue what a bass guitar did or how to play it. So uh naturally, just like a typical nerd, I laid that thing flat on my lap. And my music teacher kind of looked at me and said, uh hold it like this.

SPEAKER_01 8:46

Okay.

SPEAKER_02 8:47

And I'm sure for the first uh year I probably just played with my thumb. That was basically it. But I'm sorry.

SPEAKER_00 8:56

So you didn't you didn't use a pick back then, just uh you just got right into the natural feel.

SPEAKER_02 9:03

I yeah, definitely, and you know what? Uh to my discredit to this day, I still can't use a pick to save my life.

SPEAKER_00 9:10

Oh well, that's not a bad thing.

SPEAKER_02 9:12

Um you know what I think there's some tunes that actually cry for a pick. You know, like I I I think of certain Beatles tunes that actually a pick sounds great, you know, or or just like a typical eight note uh eight note kind of chugging sound. Sometimes a pick sounds great on those things, but I was never able to do no really.

SPEAKER_00 9:34

That's but you play guitar though, right?

SPEAKER_02 9:39

Not really. I know maybe three chords.

SPEAKER_00 9:42

Oh, oh, I thought you were a guitar player as well. Okay, all right. So the person out the window. Um so you played it, you played in the band. Um what you were were you in like the big band or the jazz band, or which uh which band were you in?

SPEAKER_02 9:58

Yeah, I was in the uh in the jazz band, in the in the big band, or what they call the dance band, and uh and that's where I learned to uh to read music, read the bass left. And those days didn't have chord charts, or most tunes that we play did not have chord charts. They had the uh the bass line written out note for note and bass left. Okay. Yeah, so I mean it it it became an advantage. Uh even now I I consider it an advantage because if I have to learn a tune quick, quite often on YouTube, somebody will put out a copy of it and they'll have the notation running along underneath it. So in case I miss what he's doing visually, yeah, I can catch it you know on the uh on the notation.

SPEAKER_00 10:41

Yes, that is it that that is a key skill to have. Uh not not many young musicians get that anymore. Um I I too was in band in high school, but only for a year and a half. And uh uh but it was just enough to teach me the fundamentals of like how you know how music is represented on a page. And I played uh I think I started on the baritone uh and then I moved to trumpet because that's all I wanted to play was the trumpet so that I could go to games and and do the do do do do type of thing. But uh yeah, I got scheduled out of out of music, and that was the end of it for me. Um were you were you uh listening to like pop music at the time?

SPEAKER_02 11:26

Oh, sad to say no. Uh those days because I was so concentrated on on the big band stuff, uh aside from the music that we were playing, like the Glenn Miller, the Tommy Dorsey, and all that stuff, uh I was getting into people like uh Maynard Ferguson, uh Don Ellis, uh all these big band guys, like all with electric bass rather than stand-up bass. And uh yeah, so a lot of the the the pop music uh and I was just you know what I was just telling Tom uh the other night I was texting with him uh that it took me to the late 80s to get into Led Zeppelin.

SPEAKER_00 12:03

Really, yeah.

SPEAKER_02 12:03

It's pretty sad.

SPEAKER_00 12:05

It's pretty sad. Well, I mean you you get in you you find it when you find it. I uh I didn't get into uh um the Rolling Stones and David Bowie until I was an adult. Like I I knew a few tunes and they're okay, but I didn't get like dive in. Like I I'm a Rolling Stones fanatic now, I'm a David Bowie fanatic now. And these were all current bands while I was coming up, but again, it wasn't um yeah, I I just it didn't catch me. Um so uh did anything bad happen to you at band camp? Or is that why you were I'm just curious? I mean you're playing the flute.

SPEAKER_03 12:48

No, I'm still in top.

SPEAKER_00 12:49

I'm still in the top, dude. Uh you're playing flute at band camp, I figured. Yeah, okay, be careful there. Okay, so you're going to Mackai and you're you're in band and you you graduate. Uh uh. Where'd you go after that? What'd you do?

SPEAKER_02 13:11

Did did you well I think right after high school, um uh what happened is that uh Ted West had a professional band, uh also 17 piece. And uh this actually uh this actually is concurrent with high school, like the last my last two years of high school. He uh I don't know how he was able to do this, but he fired his entire band and hired students to play in his professional band. So I mean at 5 at 15 years old, I was playing places like the Queen Elizabeth Hotel, the Ritz Carlton, and and places like the union to play those places.

SPEAKER_00 13:51

You know, I thought you should mention that.

SPEAKER_02 13:53

He actually he he actually got busted for uh because he was union, we weren't. And uh what is his name? I think the sergeant at arms for the union came in and and basically fined him.

SPEAKER_00 14:06

I mean Yeah, I mean that kind of went away as far as I could see. The last real mention of it was remember we had Evan Smith playing bass for us way, way back, the very, very, very beginning, because he was in blue line with Kim and Norm. And uh he was a good player, very good player, and his little sister is no slouch either. Um she's gonna replace Getty Lee when he passes away, and it's just gonna be the two girls and uh and Alex Lyston. Um okay, what was I gonna ask there? We were talking about uh about uh uh fuck, I forget. Anyway, uh we'll come back. So you're graduating, and um Oh yeah, I was saying Evan Smith. Uh we're talking about the union. Uh so Evan, we were getting down to okay, we you know, we almost had enough tunes to go out on and play, and and then Evan was like, uh guys, I can't play with you because uh I could get in trouble with the union. And for him, he was a professional working musician. Um so yeah, we had to respect, and I think that's when you came on for a very short bit in the very beginning.

SPEAKER_02 15:24

Um 1982 or 83, right, Dave?

SPEAKER_00 15:27

Yeah, that's it. That would be it, right? 82, 83. And um, yeah, and yeah, so uh and I was like, union, really? Like there's a union, and you have to pay dues and they can stop you from working. It was a very bizarre thing, but you know what? After that point in time, I never heard anybody mention the union again. Now, recently I've had people tell me that, oh yeah, no, it still exists, and if you want to play certain places, which I'm guessing is like the Queen Elizabeth and uh, you know, a fancy upscale the writs and so on and so on. And that's more the domain of the jazz musicians and and that ilk, which um we travel in different circles, me and those people, but um yeah, uh I never heard about heard about uh union after that. All right, so um backing up. So you're coming out of high school. Uh did you even have your own base at this point?

SPEAKER_02 16:24

I did. I actually bought my first base in high school. I can remember uh a very good friend of mine from high school at the time said, first of all, first things first, get the idea of a fender precision out of your head. You're never gonna be able to afford one. So and I put it. So I ended up buying, I think it was like a hollow body harmony bass. I think that was my first accent. Okay, and uh it was good, it was interesting. I mean, a lot of bass players use hollow body basses, right? Yeah, and uh intend to be back, but uh that's true. That's it, yeah. Exactly. But I think what happened is I ended up uh just after just after high school. Um my first sort of foray into the rock world uh was with uh Sean, uh Sean Donnelly, Dave Void, and uh Bob Hansen in uh the band Tobalcane. And uh sorry, what was the band? I think it was called Tobal Kane. Uh I think Sean Dea mentioned it to you on his uh on his thing.

SPEAKER_00 17:29

He he did mention playing with you, yeah.

SPEAKER_02 17:31

Yeah, and uh truth be told, actually, the the original name of that band was Chihuana Koala. I can I'm surprised I can even pronounce it to this. We did that for a while. That was a lot of fun, and it was it was interesting because I had no clue what I was doing. I mean, I'm used to like looking at sheet music and reading bass lines, right? And all of a sudden I'm thrust into these rock things like uh I don't need no doctor uh ten years after, you know, and so it was just like just you know, looking trying to find shapes on the bass that would fit that would fit the music kind of thing. But it's uh it was a long run, I have to admit.

SPEAKER_00 18:14

Yeah. And uh how long did you play with that uh lineup?

SPEAKER_02 18:20

You know what? I really can't remember, Dave. I I'm gonna say probably maybe a year, possibly two, and then I ended up uh getting into a band with uh uh Harold Onger. Oh uh Harold Dealer and Russell Williams. And Russell Williams is actually right now, he's a pretty much sought-after uh studio guy in Toronto. He's uh he's done quite well for himself.

SPEAKER_00 18:46

Okay.

SPEAKER_02 18:46

So and that was called My Dest Touch, and that we kind of held together for about a few years. I remember doing like high school dances, and uh at the time I was right around 1973 or 74. Um all the kids wanted to hear at that time was smoke on the water. You could have played that like 30 30 times in one evening, and everybody would have gone, you know.

SPEAKER_00 19:11

Uh yeah, yeah. Yeah, I've been in places like that. All they want to hear is Sweet Home Alabama over and over and over again. And uh I refuse to play that song now, so that's that. But yeah, so you you finally got over your uh your feeling of loss for the uh big band Tommy Dorsey and uh and all that kind of stuff, or were you still pining for for the old days?

SPEAKER_02 19:37

Not pining for it, but I I I think my jazz tastes kind of like uh just kind of expanded into the into the fusion thing after that, you know. That's uh like when weather report came out and Herbie Hancock and Chivery and all these guys. I remember working at uh Gillette of Canada and uh getting a lift home with uh with a a colleague there, and he's so what kind of music are you into? And I said, Well, really, Maynard Ferguson. He just kind of looked at me and went, really? I'm gonna start playing some real music for you. And I think he put on I think it was Freddie Hubbard, maybe Red Clayer or one of those albums. Nice stuff, you know, yeah, it was fabulous. Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 20:20

That could open the door for me, although I could never play it stuff.

SPEAKER_00 20:24

Now, in your head, you're you're playing with these bands, and uh, you know, you were playing bass and you got into bands like right away, you're you're good to go. Um I I always thought that sort of in retrospect. Well, actually, to be honest with you, I originally wanted to play bass. I thought it would be easier to learn. I'm I'm I'm a teenager, I had no idea. But you know, it was Tom who talked me out of it. He goes, Oh, dude, if you're gonna learn something, learn the whole guitar. And so okay, I will do that. But I I love the bass guitar. I love the um I play some, but I like not like I'm not really good. And I love playing with my fingers as well. I uh I I can play with a pick, but I love that feeling, you know. Uh, there was a guy came into Montreal, Russell something.

SPEAKER_03 21:17

Oh, you know who you're talking to?

SPEAKER_00 21:18

Yeah, yeah. Is it Russell Jackson? Russell Jackson, yeah. He used to play bass with B.B. King. And uh I got I I don't know what he was doing in town, I don't know who he was friends with, but he used to come out to like we had get togethers musicians at the either at the club or one of the pubs. And I got a lot of time to talk with him. And the weirdest thing I noticed about him is his um so his playing index finger was like a paddle. The it it the the callus he had built on that finger was it was the size of a guitar pick, really. And uh yeah, he was he was evil on the bass, and and I I just really admired that. I think that's cool. And I I admire your playing too. We're gonna get to that uh that that that in a second because you weren't just uh yeah when when you came out.

SPEAKER_02 22:08

Dave, I I think I connected with you about him before. When I first moved to Thunder Bay, he was one of the first blues guys I saw play. And he his playing just it was it was so awesome. It's like it was like probably my second or third week in Thunder Bay. And as soon as I heard him play, I said, ah, I moved to the right town.

SPEAKER_00 22:30

Yeah, yeah. Well, if you live and breathe this stuff all your life, which is you know, it's a tough life, but uh yeah, you you definitely you definitely get get good. Um okay, uh just just roll back a second there. Is is um you were playing this bands, but you and you're fresh out of high school. Are you going to CJEP at this point? Uh or foregoing that for the time being?

SPEAKER_02 22:57

No, I only did the I only did two semesters of CJEP. My first uh semester was an epic fail. It was like I was uh I was cocky as a high school student. It's like uh I was a pretty good math student and physics and chemistry. So I went into year and applied in CJEP. And uh instead of doing pre-Cal, I said I'm gonna skip pre-cal going straight into calculus. And you know, skipping all the pre-courses. And two weeks after two weeks in these courses, I was so flustered. The rest of the rest of it was excessive absenteeism.

SPEAKER_00 23:30

I just blew it off and went back to Yeah, I went for two semesters of each program. I started off in uh health science. I uh just and I was a good student coming out of high school. I was I had good grades. I, you know, had didn't wasn't anticipating problems, but it was a very different world. It was still the late 70s, and uh teachers at Abbott at the time were either stoned or drunk or something, and it just didn't it just didn't jive with me. But yeah, I did two two semesters of health, then I did two semesters of pure and applied, and then what else is there? Social social side and uh yeah, a lot of humanities courses. Um I did get uh Kevin, is it Kevin? Yeah, Kevin Tierney, I had for an English teacher, and he's the he wrote or co-wrote the um uh what was that show called? Uh oh good cop, bad cop. He co he co-wrote that, and I felt like writing him a letter and saying, Hey, here's my critique of your fucking writing. I mean, that's a funny movie, but Jesus Christ, he was such an uptight asshole in class. Oh, I'm sorry. I've got a note up here. It says, no shitting on people, but uh, you know, whatever. And his son, actually, his son is now the writer, and he he does all the Letter Kenny and Shoresy stuff now. So he's and he did that uh gay, gay hockey player movie. What's his name again? Uh yeah, I can't remember his his first name offhand, but he he plays he plays uh the gay priest on on Letter Kenny. Anyway, all that to say.

SPEAKER_02 25:18

Um I do have one thing that I wanted to mention. Uh I was thinking about this all week, Dave. Um, I when I was going to CJEP, or just as I was transitioning to CJEP, that was in like 1973, and CJP was only in transition, like from you know, you know, how it used to be direct high school into university. Right. And then CJP only started, I think, I believe, in 1972. So in 73, uh McGill had an opportunity to take you direct from high school with like skipping the whole CJEP process. So I went for an audition at McGill. Unfortunately, another fail.

SPEAKER_00 26:03

Yeah, uh, yeah, I would imagine that's a tough school to get into. You gotta come with some. All right. Um, what was your what was your career or objective plan? Music? Well, you you know, there's that transition point, is like, do I get a day job or do I keep playing music and piss my wife my life away?

SPEAKER_02 26:27

Um You know what? Unfortunately, I always had it drilled into my head by my mom and my dad, rest of soul, that play music, but make sure you have a job backing you up. And I basically went through my entire life like that. I I've always had a job. Uh I've music, don't get me wrong, uh, but not enough that I was able to go wrong full-time music.

SPEAKER_00 26:55

Yeah. Um but you kept going at the music. Like there was no uh you were able. See, I had a I had a a built-in um built-in security device. I got fired from most of my day jobs while I was playing music because I get only at home at three o'clock in the morning, and then you gotta party for a bit before you go to bed, and then the alarm goes off at seven, and yeah, I I never made it to work on time ever.

SPEAKER_02 27:22

Um see, I was lucky in that respect because I mean uh most of my jobs up until 2000 were basically sales jobs, and uh you know if you didn't show up, you didn't get paid. That's basically it. So if I had a gig, I just wouldn't show up, I wouldn't get paid. Uh after that, with NAF Canada, it was basically all shift work and uh and uh you you either like uh very rarely did I work a morning shift, so I didn't have that problem. And if it was an evening shift, uh particularly in Thunder Bay, quite often it's like the crew was they got along so well, it's like you could switch a ship with somebody else if you had a gig.

SPEAKER_00 28:05

Um was there any point in time? Well, let's let's uh take half a step back. What was the music that you were you personally were totally into at that time while you were playing in in these various bands? Um what was your aspiration? What jazzy, I imagine, something kind of jazz fusion rock.

SPEAKER_02 28:33

Not really. No, I mean uh I I I love listening to jazz fusion. Uh I don't think I ever ever had the chops to be able to cut that kind of music. Um I think I did play sort of in uh in Rupert, I played uh in a little bit of a jazz fusion event, but it didn't last long, it lasted maybe maybe a year. Uh more or less, I think uh the biggest influence when it came playing, there's two big influences, I think. Tom was number one, uh, and that was way back in the the stuff, the early days, because that was a lot of uh RB Motown soul kind of stuff. Yeah, and he turned me on to that, and I still love that. And you know, if you trace it right back to guys like Jamerson and and and the originals, it is superbly fun to play on bass, you know.

SPEAKER_00 29:19

Absolutely. It's it's funny that you mentioned Jamerson because he is my all-time favorite bass player. Just and you know, he's not Getty Lee, but uh as he put it his words once were it's all in the space between the notes. I don't know. That is so perfect. That that slight, you know, millisecond pause before you hit the note, and it's totally his hook. So I love that too.

SPEAKER_02 29:46

So uh there was a there was a story, I don't know, it was a rumor, I don't know if you ever heard this, but uh I think he did uh uh the Marvin Gay tune.

SPEAKER_00 30:03

Yeah, I mean he played on everything Motown in those days.

SPEAKER_02 30:06

Yeah, but I think there was one Marvin Gay tune that apparently he was basically drunk out of this world that he basically lay down and played on the floor.

SPEAKER_00 30:18

Oh yeah, the bad boys are. What's going on? Sorry, say it again. What's going on? I think was the tune. Oh, I see. Yeah. I thought you were asking me what's going on. Like yeah, I I broke down, I took a puff off my vape. So um it'll be fun from here on out. Uh yes, well, I mean, I there was that was that period in the 80s when that uh that Motown RB had its its uh come around again. I think maybe somewhat influenced by the film The Big Chill, because that whole soundtrack was classic Motown. Um other rock tunes in there too, but it was a lot of Motown.

SPEAKER_03 31:05

And uh I was I was gonna say it might and possibly the uh the movie The Uh The Commitments.

SPEAKER_00 31:11

Yes, the Commitments, definitely. Um, and then and then lo and behold, then Phil Collins releases a whole album of uh of Motown hits, and that just made it like Uber hip. Uh yeah, I remember I remember coming to see you guys and dancing to some of that stuff. That's that that's good fun stuff. Uh were you writing anything at that time? Like any you were collaborating, you know, you were with on stuff with Tom, but but any of your own? Did you have any aspirations to write something original?

SPEAKER_02 31:42

Not whatsoever, Dave. I played the bass. I just try to play the bass. Uh I think a lot of the tunes that the stuff, uh the original tunes that Tom wrote, I think he wrote them on bass. And he basically he showed me like the the skeleton parts, and I just put my own spin on kind of thing.

SPEAKER_00 32:00

Yeah, funny. He was just telling me a story about uh coming up with a bass line for one of his tunes, and he, I guess he had a bass and he had worked out something, and then he showed it to you, and he goes, Why doesn't it sound like that when I play it? It's all about your style and the and the the the your vibe that you bring to to the pieces. But yes, he did mention at the time.

SPEAKER_02 32:28

So yeah, that was that was a big influence, and then I had another big influence on me in the uh in the late 90s uh when I when I started playing with uh Jonas and the Blues Blood.

SPEAKER_00 32:44

Is this Jonas of Jonas and the Massive Attraction?

SPEAKER_02 32:48

Yeah. And it's funny how I got that gig. Uh uh I was uh well I worked with uh Dave Neal in a band called uh you wanna in the uh early 80s. Oh yeah, this is the Gary Stahlbrand was the singer in that, right? Sorry, the Gary's the singer, uh Sean McKinry, who I think is quite active, I think he released something within the past couple of years. Yeah um and myself and uh and Dave. Now, Dave, I think in the 90s at some point moved out to BC and then he ended up moving back. Okay, and I hadn't been I hadn't been in touch with him for quite some time, but uh I get a call out of the blue uh one week from Dave, and he goes, uh, hey, want to do a blue skig on uh on Friday night? I go, Yeah, sure. Where's uh where's rehearsal? He says, No rehearsal, just bring your gear over to such and such place. I think it was Brew Topia on uh on what you call it on uh uh not Stanley, but it's uh uh Bishop on Bishop Street. Okay, so go up at the game, Jonas, his father, who played uh harp in the band, uh Corey, uh Dave, and myself basically sit down at the table, sketch out a settlement, right, and just go up and work it. But the unbelievable thing is that the band, for some reason, right off the bat, just had this chemistry. It was just unbelievable. And it and it lasted like a good two years. It was like that was all and I think it gave me a whole new appreciation of the blues.

SPEAKER_00 34:27

Cool, very cool. Yeah, well, yeah, um, full disclosure, I've been trying to get Dave to come out to do one of these episodes, and um he's he's down for the idea, but he's he's I think he's a little shy. I don't know why. But anyway, hopefully we'll get his voice on here because yeah, he's played with everybody. Um and he's he's a great drummer.

SPEAKER_02 34:52

He's like drummer, and he would have a plethora of stories for you as well. I mean, you know, yeah, his playing experience, his years of experience, and he's also a full-time guy. He's he's at it pretty much a hundred percent of the time. Yes, and I think he's still active with uh Pascal, if I'm not mistaken, in a uh Beatles tribute and an Elton John tribute.

SPEAKER_00 35:13

Yes, he uh I didn't know if Dave was in the Beatles one, but I know he was in the Elton one. Um I had the I booked them at the Shat uh like it was their first year uh out, I think, and uh they were willing to play for less than scale. Anyway, uh I had them out, and um just a great band. You got Dwayne Dixon on guitar, uh Steve. God, I can't remember the singer that does Elton. Um man, oh man, I know his last name. Steve. But anyway, uh Pascal on bass and uh crazy. And what do you think about Pascal in his Beatles band? He learned to play left-handed.

SPEAKER_01 35:55

Oh, gig.

SPEAKER_00 35:57

That is a whole other level of fucking crazy to me. My god. I whenever I try to show somebody something on guitar and they go, Oh, I just can't get it. Like, I and I say, look, I understand when I turn my guitar upside down, I have no idea what I'm doing. This hand doesn't know what it's doing. This hand doesn't know what it's doing, and I feel it's it's what I feel like, you know, when I when I started playing guitar. So uh respect to him for doing that. Um but yeah, so you played with what were you called, Jonas? What?

SPEAKER_02 36:32

Jonas and the blues blood.

SPEAKER_00 36:34

Okay, was his last name? Tomalti or something like that.

SPEAKER_02 36:38

Tomalti, yeah. And I think uh his father, Rick, was uh he was a high school teacher at John Rennie at the time.

SPEAKER_00 36:45

Oh, was he really? Yeah, that's crazy. I knew he was in uh I knew he was in the uh uh the harp player in his band until Jonas went big and the record company said, no, you can't have your dad in the band.

SPEAKER_02 36:59

And uh actually I'll I'll tell you a different version of that story. Um it was actually Corey, who I think Corey, if I'm not mistaken, he's playing with Pagliero now. I'm pretty sure. Anyway, Corey uh thought that Rick was getting in his way on the art. Oh so Corey put it to Jonas like it's either me or your dad. So we all had to eat at this particular bar while Jonas fired his father from the band.

SPEAKER_00 37:32

Oh my god, that's rock and roll stories right there. Oh, can you imagine? And you imagine can you imagine the next Thanksgiving? Now, Corey, uh, didn't he go on to play with uh Simple Plan? Like when they released, like record their first album with them?

SPEAKER_02 37:56

Could be Dave. I'm not familiar with Simple Plan. All I know is that uh somebody told me I maybe about a year or two years ago that he was with uh Ag, but I'm not I'm not positive.

SPEAKER_00 38:06

Okay, and and maybe I'm getting the names, but I thought he was also um like high up, like maybe even the head of the of the band council over in Ganawage. I I remember seeing his name on something like that, because he is native, but uh I uh But you know what?

SPEAKER_02 38:28

Getting back to that, I'll tell you another story if you got time for it.

SPEAKER_00 38:31

Yeah, yeah, we got lots of time.

SPEAKER_02 38:33

Well, it was uh 1980, and I finally uh finally had enough cash in the bank to afford uh a decent base. So in those days, obviously no internet, so uh go through the classified and I read about a 1963 Fender Precision for sale in uh in Ghanawagay. Yeah, and uh I said, okay, I'm gonna I'm gonna go over and check it out. So I go over and I go over to uh a house and buy it from these brothers. There were three brothers, yeah. Uh I forget all their names, but Corey was one of them, believe it or not, were long before I knew him. Bought the base, had it for about a year, and then it for some reason it just didn't play, it didn't it didn't live up to his expectations. I did like I wasn't uh wasn't that you know enamored with the with the base. So I ended up trading it or sucking it or doing something with it. I can't I really can't remember. All I know is fast forward 18 years later, and I'm uh playing with uh Jonas, and I said to Corey, I see he's playing an old old strat, and I said, Corey, he said, Do you know of any old like uh jazz bases for sale? Like, you know, pre-CBS 64 or or before. And he goes, No, he says, I got this old P bass at the house, right? And I said, Yeah, Corey, you know what? I had one like 20 years ago, and really it really did cut it for me. He says, Okay, well, let me bring it to a game, you could try it out and tell me what you think. So the next game he rolls in with this bass, and I look at the neck, and I see this gash that I had put in it 20 years before, right? It was your guitar. It was the same guitar that came back to me. And you know, that that kind of date, there's no way. So I ended up paying three times the original price for it, but I like that. This captain still had it.

SPEAKER_00 40:27

Well, if we're talking about basses um that you play and that you own, uh, you gotta tell us the story about the Steinberger, how that came to be, and uh where is it at these days?

SPEAKER_02 40:44

Steinberger is still in my in my hall of shame, in my room of shame with all my guitars. Yes. Uh I have not picked it up for I'm gonna say over 20 years. Okay. Uh but uh I guess the story was it was it was such a popular bass in the early 80s. It had that like uh that sort of like that techno sound, that uh you know, Jerry Seinfeld intro kind of sound.

SPEAKER_00 41:09

Yes, I know, Gene. Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 41:11

Exactly. So I found it and I bought it, and I I loved it. And at that time I was driving a two-seater car, a little Pontiac Firo, and it was the only base that would fit into the car. Oh god, yeah. It worked out well, and I remember doing one gig, pulling it out, and uh Duke Braun was doing sound, and he said, Ah, sound, he says, that's a good interest. He says, You ever get into a bar fight? That is your first kind of defense right there.

SPEAKER_00 41:45

Oh, that's hilarious. Yeah, yeah, I mean, well, you say they were popular back then, maybe uh to bass players. I had never seen one before, and uh it was only later on I I saw some like more advanced players like Leland Sklar. I remember seeing him. He he might still play it for all I know. Uh somebody else I was thinking of. But it was so neat, and well, you had a you had a unique style amongst all bass players playing the circuit in bands. You weren't uh you weren't uh like like when you came out and you you sat in with us back then in the early 80s for a couple sets. I I was listening to you, do do do do do do do do do do and I'm like, oh my god, he's wasting his talents here. And I think it was right after that is when you hooked up with uh it was either the stuff or there was another band, I think.

SPEAKER_02 42:44

Uh I think it was Larry Patton, Larry Patton uh Larry, uh Bob Ligan and uh Marla Kaplan on drums.

SPEAKER_00 42:54

Okay, okay, okay. Anyway, it was uh yeah, that that Steinberger it was uh it's why don't you play it anymore?

SPEAKER_02 43:07

You know what? I have I really don't have a reason for not playing it, Dave, but I mean I've got uh four other basses in that room. The same thing. I have a five-string uh Warwick, uh, which is a great bass. I have a uh a 63p bass that I you know that came back to be via Corey. Uh and then I have also a when I first got back into playing in 1980, I took a three-year break from playing between 77 and 80 because young kids, family, that kind of thing.

SPEAKER_01 43:37

Right.

SPEAKER_02 43:38

And I first got back into it, I didn't have a lot of money, so I bought like a copy made by Unix of a P Base. I still have that, and I've changed it into uh uh uh EMG pickups and uh and and took the front so turned it into a fretless. But uh my main axe now is a is a music man, it's a nineteen seventy nine Stingray. And I just I always come back to it. No matter what bass I like, I'll play the war for a while, but I'll always come back to that music man. Something about it that I just love.

SPEAKER_00 44:10

Yeah. Pete Berg has a has a well, he had a music man. I don't know if he still still plays that or even has it. But I remember uh when I got my hands on it, it played very nice, and he had an ashdown uh combo amp. I really nice. Fuck that sounded good. It was like solid and you know, I'm not a great I'm not like a bass player, but I it sounded good no matter what you did. It was like so punchy. I love that. Um yeah, so I guess is Music Man still around? Do they still make guitars?

SPEAKER_02 44:46

Yeah, well, they were taken over by uh Ernie Ball, but I believe they're still making the Music Man uh stingrake.

SPEAKER_00 44:52

Oh, okay, okay, okay.

SPEAKER_02 44:53

Yeah, you don't see the way the way I see it is I think that Leo Fender, when he when he opened up the music and business, I think he meant the original P bass to sound like a music.

SPEAKER_00 45:09

Okay.

SPEAKER_02 45:11

Yeah, that's that's sort of like I don't have any basis for saying that, but that's the impression I get, you know? And it's active electronics, it's uh there's just something about it. It's like there's no dead notes on it. It's just a right, it's an all-round great bass.

SPEAKER_00 45:26

Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. You have you heard what Fender's uh latest uh brew ha ha is?

SPEAKER_03 45:33

They're they're sending this maybe about two weeks ago. Refresh my memory though.

SPEAKER_00 45:38

What is it that's they're sending cease and desist letters to any company that makes a strat-like or strat, or I guess any fender guitar looking um uh guitar. Um yeah, did Rick Beatle do a uh a thing? He did. He did a little rant on it. That's where I first heard about it, yeah. But I've since I've since heard other people talking about it, and uh it it really seems dumb. It seems dumb. I mean, Rick Beatle was shitting on Fender guitars across the board, and I took slight offense to that because I am a Fender player. I have two strats, I have uh a telecaster, uh, I have a Gretsch, uh which is made by Fender now, and um, and I have uh uh what do they get? Those uh Squire P bass, which I bought for my son for James, just just to have around. And uh I I I I got familiar with how to set up guitars and stuff, so I set it up. I mean, arguably I could change out the pickups and make it you know really great, but I've had other bass players come in and say it's really not a bad bass to play. It's it's fine for I think I paid 350 or 400 bucks for the for the bass and a little whatever 25 watt amp that went with it. But uh yeah, I love it. So yeah, I'm a I am a Fender guy. I love uh I put my boots in that camp many, many moons ago. Back in the days when uh Tom and Pete and I were debating over guitar style and stuff, and uh they went the Jimmy Page route and got Les Paul's, and I went the Aaron Clapton route and got a Stratocaster. Yeah, yeah, but I honestly like the Stratocaster in particular because of its maple neck, because I found uh it warmed up to play a lot faster than uh than uh an ebony or whatever rosewood neck.

SPEAKER_03 47:41

Rosewood neck, yeah.

SPEAKER_02 47:43

Yeah, I you know there's a one base, one base that I wouldn't mind having if I could ever find one and it was reasonably priced, which is you know that the stars would have to align. Is an old uh pre-CBS jazz like I was asking Corey. I would love to have one of those. Yeah, but you know what, you're talking probably 20 grand plus if you if if you could find one.

SPEAKER_00 48:05

Yeah. Yeah, yeah, yeah. That's it, that's crazy to pay that much. I mean, um uh I can't say who this was, but I had the opportunity to do an inventory of a well-known Quebec um rock musician uh to do an inventory of the equipment in his house, and he had stupid amounts of guitars that just like guitars that were, I guess, gifted to him that were shoved into crawl spaces in his basement. I was like, what a shame, what a crime. I wish I could give you the details because there were some epic guitars there. Umbody's playing them, and this basement must be like 85% humidity down here. These guitars are getting trashed. Anyway, I've never understood owning I've never understood owning more guitars than I needed, you know. I have like I said, I have two strats at telly, but they each one sounds different. Like even the two strats, they don't sound like they're different electronics in one than the other. One has a rosewood neck, the other one has the maple neck. Um back in the 80s, I had to when we were doing the rock and roll stuff, I had to uh and then we started doing more modern stuff. Well, a strat was really cool for the 50s and 60s. Uh it was easy to get the right sound, just put a slap delay on it and there and some reverb, and there you go. But then we started getting into more modern stuff when we were doing like Billy Idol and and so on, and I didn't have a really good uh overdrive set up for my guitar. So I got this Ivanes Roadstar, and it is it is still a rock solid guitar. I use it for my my um off-tuning mostly when I'm when well I don't play anymore, but when I was playing live, I'd uh I had it tuned for open tuning like Keith Richards uh open G for uh all those Rolling Stone songs. And um it's an awesome guitar and and because it had a the reason it was good for the Billy Idol stuff in that is it had uh a split humbucker at the bridge. So you could push in the tone knob and it would make it a single coil, so I had a strap back in my hand, more or less, or I could push that in, make it a double coil humbucker, and I could be Steve Stevens from well, I can make noise like Steve Stevens.

SPEAKER_03 50:32

Yeah, it's full of versatility, huh?

SPEAKER_00 50:35

Yeah, it was a great and yeah, I just uh and then I after after all that I fell back in love with my my strat, my original strat over there. And uh it's a great guitar. Um are you gigging these days?

SPEAKER_02 50:53

I am. I uh I uh I have a band that I'm playing with here. Uh I'm completely in love with their uh repertoire, but some of it I like. Uh it's you know, there's some classic stuff. There's the the funk and soul stuff I love. Uh some of the other stuff, maybe not so much. So I have that band. We're not really playing a lot, maybe once a month. Uh and then uh because like uh I'm at an age where like all the current big players, my age, they're all retired and are you know, they all like to travel in the summers. So I seem to pick up a lot of sub work in the in the summers, which is great. I love doing the sub because there's no commitment. It's like you sit down, you learn the tunes or whatever tunes you need to learn, right? Yeah, show up to the gig, uh, you know, have fun.

SPEAKER_00 51:45

You don't have to get involved in the the band politics and and all of those dynamics. You come in, you're a hired gun, you do your job. I I think that's excellent. That's that's the best way to go. Um exactly.

SPEAKER_02 51:57

A lot of them don't even they don't even watch it, but they don't they don't care about rehearsing, just show up to the gig, do it, that's it.

SPEAKER_00 52:04

Well, I mean uh you can do that, so no big deal. And um, is it a is there a healthy uh live music scene happening there around Niagara?

SPEAKER_02 52:15

I don't think it's as healthy as it was in the 80s. Um yeah, although I wasn't here in the 80s to to to to verify that, but the way the guys that I work with talk about scene in the 80s as compared to now, there's still quite a few bars out there. Like uh we have this, there's this Facebook uh page called See It Live Niagara, and they list all the live acts like Wednesday right through to the next Tuesday. And I see there's a good 30 around town that are you know that uh that have bands, not all full bands, some are duos or you know, like uh small pub sites. Yeah. But I think there's enough to keep busy if uh if one of us was you know motivated enough to go out and get the case kind of thing. I think that's what it is, you know.

SPEAKER_00 53:02

There's that too. Well, that sounds a lot healthier than here. It's uh yeah, it's not it's not great here. Uh particularly out west west end. Um yeah, it's uh it's slim pickings, and I feel for the musicians uh who are still making, still able to make a living. Uh because I mean the pay. I I I guess for for uh you know uh a well-known uh you know well-experienced act like somebody like Dwayne Dixon or whatever, they can they can ask a premium from these from these clubs, but your average band, and most of the bands, I have to say, are they like mom and pop bands, right? They're they're you know, there's there's no legacy bands, there's no bands left from the 80s that still do this, you know. It's part of what I'm learning in this uh in this milieu of discussing what are you up to type of stuff. Um you say the West End, do you mean like a St. Lazare way or Old West? West Island, I think West Island. So uh I don't know if you remember the Mayfair Tavern down in Valois.

SPEAKER_02 54:14

Listen, I mean in the 80s there was the Mayfair, there was uh La Cachette, there was uh Urban West, um there was the V-Bar. Uh there was there was plenty out there to play. You could keep business on the West Island by itself.

SPEAKER_00 54:31

Yep. So um Cashette's gone, obviously, been a while. Um the Mayfair, I don't remember back when I was playing that the Mayfair ever had bands. It's only since it's only since in the past 15, 20 years that I've noticed the Mayfair has bands. And it's been that was the place we went to drink beer after playing hockey in the park. It was a tavern, and it was a quiet tavern, and it was it was only men there, old men. And you could sit and drink a beer and nobody, nobody would hassle you, but now no no, it's a got a full stage and lights, and it's it's quite the thing. So, yeah, so the Mayfair came in. There was the Topaz for a little while, it's gone. Um, said the Cashette's gone. Bourbon Street West is gone, but Bourbon Street West was kind of replaced by McKibbons. So those McKibbons pubs downtown expanded to the West Island. They have a a big place uh at Point Clair Shops, like across from Fairview, and they have another big place out here in Vaudreuil. Um, so they they have regular music. I think almost every night of the week there's something going on. But yeah, all those other places are they're just not there. Uh out here, off island. Well, so things were slowing down as it was, and then COVID hit, and that just kicked the other testicle on the bars. Like, you know, and and they're not they don't want to pay more $100 per night per musician is the standard, unless you can make an argument that you're worth more.

SPEAKER_02 56:06

I was like, I and that's that that's that's the standard up here for me. Uh 100 100 you're lucky if you get maybe 120, 125 on occasion. Yeah, uh, and that was the good thing. The one good thing, like back in in the day in Montreal, I can remember doing gigs for like 50 bucks. 50 bucks. How much did it pay? 50 bucks. Okay, I remember doing that.

SPEAKER_00 56:28

Um hundred bucks a night per person was the standard back then. Um, it was okay. So I was getting ripped off. Somebody ripped me off. Yeah. But but also there were so many bars around back then that and everybody wanted live music. And I don't know if you've noticed this in your playing of recent. So when I was last gigging, uh the I found very much that the uh the audiences back in the 80s, that's where they went to see live music. That's where they got most of their music. You had the radio, or you went out to the bar and there was a DJ or live music. And so when you played, people seemed to appreciate it. And now uh I I refer to it as the uh the iPod generation, which is an outdated expression, but they are so used to uh this song next that I've literally had people come up to me, mostly I'm not gonna say it. I've had people come up to me while I'm in the middle of a fucking song and go, Can you play this for me? And I'm like, what the fuck is wrong with you?

SPEAKER_02 57:43

And and hence the You know, Dave, I was working with a guy in Thunder Bay, and I remember I was I would just turn 52 at the time. He was half my age, he was 26. Comes into work one day and he says, geez, I went down to the rock pile last night and couldn't believe it. What a drag there was a ban there.

SPEAKER_00 58:09

Oh my god. Punk! That is that is um that is offensive to my senses. It is, it's we're uh we're we're coming up on uh 55 minutes here, and I do want to get some music in. Um so let's uh let me do the zoom thing, and I'm gonna share this screen. Uh all of you. And uh let's have a look over here on the right hand side is um some stuff that Tom's posted up from uh as he told me even though it says two years ago, it was 1989. And uh this was the stuff with Tom on vocals, you on bass and backing, Ian Spencer, keyboards and backing, James Collins, guitars and backing, drums, Jerry Callahan. You guys are great together. Jerry was a great drummer. That must have been fun playing.

SPEAKER_02 59:18

I want to say he was a guy that was not schooled, Dave, but he just had such an incredible feel for his instrument.

SPEAKER_00 59:24

Clearly, yes. And you could see it while he was playing. There was no, he wasn't rushed to do anything. It just it just all went together. It was, yeah, he was it was as much fun to watch as he was to listen to. And uh this is a song that you guys uh well you know you can say Tom Tom wrote it, but you guys all collaborated, and um it's called Pray for the Sun. And if you want any uh I'm not gonna play the whole thing because we'll run out of time, but uh play a bit and um you can tell me about your your your your experience on it. Sure.

SPEAKER_03 1:00:13

It was definitely a blast to play, I'll tell you that man. Uh I remember Tom once again had an idea for the baseline, and uh I just basically built upon the his idea, you know.

SPEAKER_02 1:00:28

Yeah. Yeah, and uh I just remember one thing, uh, and it's near the end of the two, so we probably won't get there about that.

SPEAKER_03 1:00:38

There was an old there was another report too called Palladium. And there's a particular line of Gocko plays, and probably the only Gocko line that I could ever play in my life that I totally interested.

SPEAKER_00 1:00:52

Uh so if anybody's interested in checking this out, this is Tom Sim. Tom Simpson. Tom for Simpson, and this is on Cloudflare. Uh I'm gonna pause it. Uh go to his homepage. Yeah, Tom, I don't know what the station is just called Tom 4 Simpson. So you go there, there's a bunch of other stuff, tunes on there. You guys have a very got some very funky things happening in there.

SPEAKER_02 1:01:25

Yeah, it was a it was a fabulous band to work with. It was a just a great, great bunch of guys, and the camaraderie was excellent as well between the four of us, I thought.

SPEAKER_00 1:01:35

For sure. Uh, and and that is a common thread through most people, you know, being on the road with your buddies, uh, no matter what kind of shit you gotta go through, it's nice to have people that uh that you can, you know, get along with and and and commiserate with when when not the best of things are happening. So this is uh this playlist here, um it's just called Originals by S.

SPEAKER_02 1:02:01

I just put that title in there. Uh these are songs I'll tell you, I'll give a little background on this stuff. Yep. Uh this this happened basically during the height of COVID when everybody was locked down. So three of us went down into my basement, set up a uh a home studio with a DAW, and uh put uh the guitar player wrote the originals, um, and he plays guitar and keys on it. Uh I play bass, and the drummer who has rest his soul, he passed away about three years ago. Uh uh he was had some incredible street cred. He we used to play with uh iMother Earth. Uh he was on uh two of their albums and did uh two or three tours with them. And he basically he is the guy that got me started uh musically in Niagara Falls. Because you know when you move to a new city, it's it's pretty tough, right? Right. So I used to go to three separate jam nights just to get you know to get a little bit of exposure and meet people. And I remember jamming with him when the connection, and then on my way out, I'm walking out of the bar door with my face slung over my back, and all of a sudden I hear this Hey you get over here! And it was Armando. Turns out we were playing at a bar in Fort Erie, which is about 25 clicks away. Uh turns out Armando lived used to live a block and a half from me. So we we hung out uh till all hours of the morning pretty much every every uh weeknight now once I was retired. And we had we had some very similar tastes in music, so it was it was great. It was a great experience, like I say.

SPEAKER_00 1:03:40

That's great to have uh someone you can share that stuff with. So um, did you record these all like in the same room, or were you social distancing, or how did you accomplish that during COVID?

SPEAKER_02 1:03:53

Um I guess we were social distancing. Uh we were at the first evening, the first time we did it, uh my mom had made uh homemade masks, so we were all wearing masks. Uh but that became tedious within about an hour or two, right? So off came the mask, and we just we just kind of kept our distance, you know?

SPEAKER_00 1:04:13

Yeah. Go on, spit in my mouth, get it over with. We're all gonna get it anyway. And now nobody gives a shit. Walking through the through the grocery store and somebody's like, baby, you should stay home. All right, um, I'll uh I'll step through these songs. Uh provide us any commentary you got. I I re I just they're fucking great compositions, so uh, and the playing is on them is definitely uh top shelf.

SPEAKER_03 1:04:56

So this first one I think is called Epic 674. Uh the title comes from uh one part of the tune is in six, so there's an art and seven, and then there's an art and four.

SPEAKER_00 1:05:10

Yeah, this is a moving song.

SPEAKER_02 1:05:13

Yeah, this this part's in six, I believe.

SPEAKER_00 1:05:21

Speaking of weird time signatures, uh Tommy and I are heading down to see Angin to Poitrine tomorrow night.

SPEAKER_03 1:05:30

Oh, no kidding! I've seen them on YouTube. They are interesting.

SPEAKER_00 1:05:35

They're doing a live show, like it's it's the big live show in front of Last Desar tomorrow night. Uh because it this is the open this is the opening weekend for Jazz Fest. And yeah, it's gonna be it's gonna be a zoo down there. They are they are local heroes big time, so yeah. So they are from Montreal, eh? Uh no, they're from a small French town with long names. Um I I wanna say Saganay or Sherbrooke. I know it begins with an S, but somewhere not Montreal proper, no. Um yeah, my only guess on them is that just based on their costumes and the whole persona, uh, let alone the playing, is uh they must have been involved with uh Cirque du Soleil or something like that, but I have no idea. They're definitely catching the wave. So alright, so let's try this one. This one's called Hangtime.

unknown 1:06:37

Yep.

SPEAKER_00 1:06:48

Nice base battle work.

SPEAKER_03 1:06:51

That's uh believe it or not, I use warwork for the uh the nice It was a lot of fun. A lot of fun doing that snow. We waited half a time and move it.

SPEAKER_00 1:07:12

This is very groovy. I can't decide Bossa Nova You play it with your hips good stuff. Let's uh light up the gun, Jamon. Is it great production quality for a home recording?

SPEAKER_02 1:07:51

Uh yeah, and I think so. I I I'm kind of a little bit disappointed in the drums and the bass sound, but you know what, we produce it ourselves, so that I think that's that's where a good producer comes in handy to get the big sound, you know.

SPEAKER_00 1:08:07

You ever see any of the videos that Duke puts up? Uh he records them with uh Rick Plow. Um they have they have us a channel, I think it's called RPM, Rick Plow Music or something. Um all those years that Duke was doing sound for us back in the 80s, I'd heard that he was a guitar player, but I could not get him to come and play guitar with us at all. So I never heard him until all these years later, like literally 40 years later, and then I hear him and I'm like, oh my god, I am so embarrassed now that he heard me playing guitar because he's such a wizard.

SPEAKER_02 1:08:52

Uh he is, and you know what, he was probably one of the one of the very first bands that I saw at the Edgewater Hotel, Point Clair. And uh I don't even know how I got the bar because I'm pretty sure I was 16, but I was so impressed with that band, I had a real-to-real tape report. I asked him if I could come in and tape them, and I did.

SPEAKER_00 1:09:11

Was that the Sane Agath Flyers?

SPEAKER_02 1:09:14

I don't think it was. I think Barb Harris was in the band. Okay, yeah.

SPEAKER_03 1:09:19

And do they're the one too that I remember. Or Big City? Was it no, not Big City?

SPEAKER_00 1:09:25

I can't remember.

SPEAKER_03 1:09:26

I don't think it was.

SPEAKER_00 1:09:27

I can't I really can't remember. I can't take. All right, fun and five. This is uh five four Yeah. Nice job there, bud. That sounds great. It's very sexy music. Very sexy. Alrighty. Okay, well, um, yeah, uh I always end up saying it's a running running down on time because uh the gods of podcasts say they're supposed to be not much more than an hour. Anyway, we we've had to talk about a lot of stuff, and any other any other stuff you wanna wanna throw out there?

SPEAKER_02 1:10:50

Like uh only I'm uh I'm honored that you uh that you asked me to be on, and uh and uh I had a blast.

SPEAKER_00 1:10:59

Well, I'm glad I had a blast too. I've learned more about you in this uh one hour that we've been sitting here than I've in the past uh yeah, going on 40 years that I've known who you were.

SPEAKER_03 1:11:12

Uh you say that the other boys.

SPEAKER_00 1:11:16

Well, I said it to Randy Bowen because it was true. I've known who Randy is for years and years and years, but I didn't know him. And uh and I figure also so for many of the people that come out and see you guys play, uh they're up there and you're you're a good time Charlie to them. But uh people remember they're human beings with hearts and souls, and uh don't trample on them. Be kind, be kind to your fellow musician. That's a good that's a good thing to keep true to.

SPEAKER_02 1:11:48

Absolutely. There's a game I listen to on uh there's a jazz station in Toronto I listen to, and uh uh this one guy he does uh what what what they call dinner jazz, and he hosts that. And at the end of every dinner jazz, he always ends with the same remark. He says, People will remember, sorry, people will forget what you say, people will forget what you've done, but they will always remember how you made them feel.

SPEAKER_01 1:12:14

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 1:12:16

You know, yeah.

SPEAKER_00 1:12:18

That's pretty sad, isn't it? That is a very good philosophy. Um, thank you, Glenn. Uh it's been an absolute pleasure, and um, I'm not gonna rule out the the possibility that we will do this again. Um perhaps in a different context. I'm I'm I'm I'm kind of open to how this thing unfolds and where I go. It's up to now it's been one-on-ones. Uh, but uh there could be opportunity to have like a little reunion, you know, get uh get Ian and and uh I don't know where the fuck Jerry lives, but and James was out of the question. Um and uh yeah just get together and uh and and do something like that. I don't know. We'll play it by ear, but uh once again, ladies and gentlemen, Mr. Glenn Hamilton.

SPEAKER_03 1:13:11

Thank you, Dave.

SPEAKER_00 1:13:13

All right, bud. You take care, have a great weekend, and um we'll catch up with you soon.

SPEAKER_02 1:13:19

Cheers. And you as well. All the very best.

SPEAKER_00 1:13:36

Alright, that's a wrap. Huge thanks to Glenn Hamilton for pulling up the stool and hanging out. If you like what you heard, go check him out. Support local music, go to a show, five to four, make some noise. Before we go, one last one. I'm Dave Randall. This is Outer Stool, and we'll catch next time. This is gonna end it on 25.