Cúlturåł Treåsøn is a four-piece punk band from Ottawa, featuring members of four-stroke, Raw Raw Riot, International Maniacs Institute, 86it, Wet for Days, FInderskeepers, and many many more. Voted 'Most likely to claim to have won a made up award that nobody's heard of', their songs induce despair and loathing of humankind. My ol' buds Ken and Deirdre swing by South Hood Studio for a return visit.
https://cultreason.bandcamp.com/
E&V
[00:00:15] Oh, I see. Is this where the young elitist hipsters take on the ancient dodgy in the way types?
[00:00:22] Oh no! I love your band!
[00:00:24] I love your band too.
[00:00:25] You don't know my band. You've got a sexual race.
[00:00:27] I'm the 45 year old narc.
[00:00:31] I don't read that maximum rock and roll. I don't read that flip side. I don't watch that TV set.
[00:00:39] You ever get the feeling that LA is dead?
[00:00:42] Not deader than any other place.
[00:00:44] That's true.
[00:00:45] I'm deader than some people's minds.
[00:00:50] Okay boy, wrap it up. I'm cold. I'm wet and I'm busy selling out so I gotta get backstage to my women in my cocaine.
[00:00:57] So what else do you want to know?
[00:00:59] Dear Anne, you used to be fun. At least funny. At least gently and amusingly insane.
[00:01:05] But girlfriend, you've changed.
[00:01:07] The thousand-yard stare you've acquired in the last couple of years says lonely nights, too much wine and insecurity about the future of your career.
[00:01:15] Where to now, my sweet fascist?
[00:01:18] Listen to that fucking stupid asshole redneck tell me to get a haircut and go home.
[00:01:28] Listen to that fuckhead.
[00:01:31] Hey, go home, dearie.
[00:01:39] Go home and leave me so I can drink and fucking be non-existent, dearie.
[00:01:46] I don't want to be anything. I want to just fucking be dead and drunk and stupid there.
[00:01:50] Okay? So we're gonna cut our hair and we're gonna get some guns and we're gonna fuck you right in your ass.
[00:01:56] Most of my work comes from outrage. It motivates me to...it puts enough fire in my blood to where I can get up and have to write something.
[00:02:05] That's why I don't write it like, hi girl, it's nice to see you again.
[00:02:10] No, you know, I got so many of these bands. I just look at them and just go like...
[00:02:16] How dare you get on a stage and waste people's time with this insipid crap, you know?
[00:02:21] I've said it once, I'll say it a million times. Henry Rollins is my spirit animal.
[00:02:27] Eagle and Vice, episode 128.
[00:02:29] You got a real attitude problem, McFly, you're a slacker.
[00:02:42] I had it in bed.
[00:02:48] I spent my nights drinking with my mates.
[00:02:51] Just a short bus ride up to PA.
[00:02:56] Red River Red, 19 years ago.
[00:03:10] I may have seen me hanging around them.
[00:03:20] I caused stranger in this town.
[00:03:26] Hey, this is Mike. This is Eagle and Vice, episode 128.
[00:03:37] Thank you so much for coming back.
[00:03:39] Hey, I took a week off because I went snow chasing.
[00:03:42] What does that mean? It means it's the end of the season.
[00:03:46] And I wanted to find some places to go snowboarding, so I ended up in Trombla a couple times.
[00:03:52] And places like that.
[00:03:55] So, you know, when you have winters like this, when there's no snow on the ground, you have to find the snow.
[00:04:02] You have to go to the snow, so I had no time to do much, but chase my passion, my other passion, which is the snowboarding.
[00:04:12] And I had a great time. I had a great season, weird winter.
[00:04:16] But man, every time I went to the mountains, I remembered why I love snowboarding so much.
[00:04:23] I can't even explain how much I love it.
[00:04:25] It is the most cathartic cleansing, therapeutic, fun, exciting, exhilaratingly exhausting, stress-relieving, anxiety-relieving, pastime, hobby, passion.
[00:04:49] Whenever I'm on the mountain, all I gotta do is just close my eyes and everything just kind of goes away.
[00:04:54] Anyway, enough about me. I'm back at it now because the season's over, so that'll be it.
[00:05:01] On the show this week, I have a couple of repeat guests, but never at the same time.
[00:05:07] I have Ken Ketchum and I have Deirdre Dooley.
[00:05:11] Ken has been on the show before. He has been in the Ottawa music scene forever.
[00:05:18] Deirdre has been in the Ottawa music scene forever.
[00:05:21] Back in the days, she played in Rara Riot. Now she plays in a band called Wet for Days.
[00:05:26] Ken has played in bands such as Moral Hazard, Four Stroke, The Limbered Babies, just to name a few.
[00:05:35] Like real experience and talent and one heck of a resume from these two.
[00:05:43] I'm super happy to have them on and we are going to talk about their project, their band called Cultural Trees.
[00:05:50] As soon as we get back from one of their songs, I'll be back with Ken and Deirdre.
[00:05:55] This is Cultural Trees and this is Ego and Vice.
[00:08:02] Hey, we're back! This is Episode 128. This is Ego and Vice.
[00:08:23] As promised in the intro, I have two members of the local band, Cultural Trees and some friends of mine.
[00:08:30] I have Deirdre, I have Ken. How's it going?
[00:08:34] It's going pretty good. Thanks for having us over.
[00:08:36] I'm super happy you're here. As we were talking about Off-Mike, that's another show of his term.
[00:08:43] Off-Mike.
[00:08:45] Ken was on the podcast in 2018. It's crazy. Episode 17. Just gush about how great that experience was, please.
[00:08:57] That was a lot of fun. I seem to recall that you and I had a few wobbly pops that night.
[00:09:06] Back then, I think so.
[00:09:07] I think that was before you changed some habits. I think we were drinking and talking and drinking and talking.
[00:09:15] I think that you were originally planning for about an hour-long interview, and I think it turned into two.
[00:09:22] You ended up having to run on. I shared that link with a few people and got some pretty interesting responses.
[00:09:32] All positive. That was a lot of fun. When you invited me back, I thought I definitely wanted to come.
[00:09:38] Deirdre's been here more recently.
[00:09:40] You're both like veterans of Ego and Vice. Deirdre is also in the band Wet for Days.
[00:09:47] That's right. We got together last year? No.
[00:09:51] Let's look that up.
[00:09:53] Here we go. Wet for Days Episode 89. That was on, well, it aired on August 2022.
[00:10:03] Yeah, so two years ago.
[00:10:05] Anyway, so cultural treason. Ken, when you were on the first time, I think that band was just budding back in 2018.
[00:10:13] Back then, I believe you're in four-stroke for one thing.
[00:10:18] When I came on in 2018, cultural treason was doing a short hiatus because we'd been jamming for about six-eight months.
[00:10:33] Then we got our first show. We opened up for DOA at our first show.
[00:10:40] Then around that time, Deirdre decided that she wanted to go off to Ireland and find herself or something.
[00:10:47] But we ended up going into Dave's drum shop and recording a quickie demo,
[00:10:55] which we basically did and then minutes later, Deirdre just skedaddled.
[00:11:03] I think when I was chatting to you then, that was when we were waiting impatiently for her to get back
[00:11:09] and just kind of shopping the demo around a little bit, trying to get some interest in getting some shows when she got back.
[00:11:18] Yeah, it's supposed to be gone for four months.
[00:11:21] And you're great. Always just like, okay, well, I'll see you when you get back.
[00:11:26] I came back after two months.
[00:11:28] Did you find yourself?
[00:11:30] Oh, I always knew myself.
[00:11:32] Okay.
[00:11:33] It's like I already know you. I'm going home.
[00:11:36] That's cool.
[00:11:38] During that time too, I think it was the Lindbergh babies that was going on?
[00:11:43] Yeah. So sort of for me personally, in 20, basically I was in four stroke and the Lindbergh babies.
[00:11:54] And then four stroke ended in 2016.
[00:11:57] And I kind of continued playing bass in the Lindbergh babies.
[00:12:04] And then about a year after four stroke ended, I got interested in putting something new together.
[00:12:10] And so sort of at that time basically talked with Deirdre and Clayton who'd been in the last lineup of four stroke.
[00:12:21] So the three of us started going, we tried out one bass player and then we got this guy, Mott's, who, Mott's Norlin, who used to be in Psycho Punch from Sweden.
[00:12:36] So the four of us basically were the first lineup.
[00:12:41] And I learned a hell of a lot from being in a band with Mott's.
[00:12:45] Yeah. And actually Ken asked me if I wanted to be in a band at one of your shows because I was going to go see Sarah.
[00:12:55] Oh, Goat Show.
[00:12:57] Yeah. So I was out supporting Sarah, seeing you guys and Ken was like, hey, you doing stuff?
[00:13:04] I was like, yeah, you know, I'm always playing a little bit of music. He's like, but are you in bands?
[00:13:08] I was like, no, not right now. He's like, do you want to be in a band?
[00:13:11] Yeah, sure. Let's do it.
[00:13:12] That was my next question is how did you guys meet?
[00:13:15] At your show.
[00:13:16] At a Goat Show. That's where everyone met.
[00:13:19] There you go. You're the reason for it.
[00:13:22] I thought that was funny.
[00:13:23] Maybe I'm the center of the universe and I don't even know it.
[00:13:26] Exactly.
[00:13:27] Probably not.
[00:13:28] We'll just go with it.
[00:13:29] Yeah.
[00:13:30] I think I'm going to go with it.
[00:13:32] Yeah. No, but I mean, we'd known each other because like Four Stroke and Ra Ra Riot used to play together like fairly frequently.
[00:13:38] Oh yeah.
[00:13:39] And then sort of...
[00:13:40] That was a long time ago.
[00:13:41] Yeah. But I remember kind of like the first time, because I'm horrible at recognizing people out of context.
[00:13:48] And I was at the sort of the day that the Truth and Reconciliation Commission report got released.
[00:13:57] I was out at Navendate City Hall and I bumped into you there and you recognized me.
[00:14:02] And I just sort of thought like were you someone from work?
[00:14:06] And they're like, well, you know, music scene.
[00:14:08] And then I was like, oh yeah, you're the drummer for Ra Ra Riot.
[00:14:11] So I think we pretty much stayed in contact sporadically after that.
[00:14:16] I honestly don't really remember.
[00:14:19] I'm bad with like years.
[00:14:21] I was like, yeah, I was in this band and I played with Four Stroke.
[00:14:25] And I know you were in that band.
[00:14:27] So when we actually met, I don't know.
[00:14:30] Like, you know, you play so many shows and you do so many people.
[00:14:33] Yeah. You pinpoint the general vicinity of time.
[00:14:37] Somewhere in these four years.
[00:14:39] Yeah.
[00:14:40] I met Sarah at a Ra Ra Riot show.
[00:14:44] I saw you guys at Decuff.
[00:14:45] I don't know if anyone, if I've ever told that story where I was...
[00:14:49] We were looking for another guitar player and we just went to see Ra Ra Riot.
[00:14:54] Because Paul, the bass player, Paulie, he knew somebody of somebody.
[00:14:59] And I remember I said, Sarah was sitting there and I took like a video over
[00:15:03] and I'm like, that's the what she has to be in her band.
[00:15:06] And when you guys were done, I went up to her and I was just, I was drunk
[00:15:09] and I was like, you're super good.
[00:15:11] And Sarah was just like, thanks.
[00:15:13] I didn't know what to say.
[00:15:15] So Paulie's like, okay, so if you ever want to jam or anything like that.
[00:15:18] And then we just kind of started talking.
[00:15:20] But it was years later where she joined the band.
[00:15:22] Yeah, that was the first time we were at Ra Ra Riot.
[00:15:24] That was cool.
[00:15:25] That was a great band.
[00:15:26] That was fun and you're playing with Sarah now in wet for days.
[00:15:28] That's so cool.
[00:15:29] So cultural cheesing.
[00:15:31] You said that...
[00:15:33] Okay, maybe I'm getting all the bands mixed up.
[00:15:36] I listened to a lot.
[00:15:38] I shouldn't have listened to the podcast say of you
[00:15:40] because now I'm getting my facts mixed up.
[00:15:42] All I have in my mind is the vagrants, vicious dick, snatch bandits,
[00:15:45] moral hazard, one of your many bag of tricks of bands.
[00:15:50] So when cultural trees and started going and started moving,
[00:15:53] let's talk about the history of that.
[00:15:55] And actually when it just started giving her once Deirdre was in the band
[00:15:58] and you started playing, how was it?
[00:16:00] It was great.
[00:16:01] It was a lot of fun.
[00:16:03] And like I said, so I'd been in four stroke with Clayton before
[00:16:08] and I hadn't been in a band with Deirdre,
[00:16:11] but I just, I find that sort of...
[00:16:14] Just the other day in practice,
[00:16:16] like you were kind of commenting like,
[00:16:18] almost every time, you know, if I make up a riff
[00:16:21] just sort of whatever she plays along, I'm like, yeah, that's it.
[00:16:24] And then I think there's two songs where I'm like,
[00:16:26] actually can you do something else?
[00:16:28] And she's really unused to...
[00:16:30] It's very rare.
[00:16:31] I can see it in his face while I'm playing.
[00:16:34] I was like, oh no.
[00:16:36] It's not like an upset.
[00:16:38] It's like a thinking, like, you know when someone's,
[00:16:41] they're playing their guitar and they're thinking of their lyrics
[00:16:43] and they're just kind of in the zone and then they make this face
[00:16:46] and I'm like, oh, okay.
[00:16:48] All right.
[00:16:49] I'll play around with this.
[00:16:51] Yeah.
[00:16:52] Well, there must come a time too.
[00:16:54] Like you guys have been playing together for a long time though.
[00:16:56] No?
[00:16:57] Seven years?
[00:16:58] Seven years?
[00:16:59] Is it really been seven years?
[00:17:01] I mean, you know, and there was,
[00:17:03] there was interruption during COVID,
[00:17:05] but we kept on sort of like...
[00:17:07] Yeah.
[00:17:08] We tried to respect the,
[00:17:12] like the limitations
[00:17:14] and then we'd kind of like,
[00:17:15] let's go for it.
[00:17:17] And we'd sort of,
[00:17:18] we'd sneak over to our practice space
[00:17:20] and then I think afterwards,
[00:17:22] I thought it was a bit more of a gray area
[00:17:24] and I found out afterwards,
[00:17:25] like yeah, we really shouldn't have been doing that, but...
[00:17:28] Keep it on the hush-hush.
[00:17:30] Yeah, you can do.
[00:17:31] And we're like the OG members.
[00:17:33] So I think it's kind of cool that we're the two here.
[00:17:36] Yeah, right, right.
[00:17:37] Do you want to name the other members of the band
[00:17:39] since they're not here?
[00:17:40] Yeah, for sure.
[00:17:41] Yeah, so basically what happened is I was mentioning
[00:17:46] Mott's was in the original lineup and...
[00:17:48] Clayton.
[00:17:49] He and Clayton and Mott's just kind of short.
[00:17:55] Actually this is a funny story.
[00:17:57] So around the end of 2019,
[00:18:00] Mott's just sort of like came to us and he said,
[00:18:03] I really like playing with you guys,
[00:18:05] but sort of my musical interests
[00:18:07] are going in a different direction.
[00:18:09] So I kind of want to drop out of this and do something else.
[00:18:13] And so I got in touch with this friend of mine, Ian,
[00:18:18] someone who our paths didn't cross
[00:18:21] when we both lived in Vancouver,
[00:18:23] but we had friends in common,
[00:18:25] and then we had bandmates in common for a while.
[00:18:27] He used to be an international maniacs institute.
[00:18:29] He was in four-stroke for like...
[00:18:32] He tempted four-stroke for like three months
[00:18:34] when we recorded our last album.
[00:18:36] And so then when Mott's dropped out,
[00:18:38] I'm like, you know, hey Ian, do you want to come on?
[00:18:40] So he agrees to come on.
[00:18:42] He comes with this practice, like I think three or four times.
[00:18:46] And then we got a really good show offer.
[00:18:48] I forget what show this was.
[00:18:49] It might have been the Forgotten Rebels.
[00:18:51] So like, okay, you know, Ian,
[00:18:53] we're going to teach you 12 songs,
[00:18:55] learn them and then we'll play the set
[00:18:57] and then we'll sort of like worry about kind of
[00:18:59] turning you up on the rest of the material afterwards.
[00:19:01] So we go and we play the show probably like two days
[00:19:04] before we play that show, we got like another offer
[00:19:08] for like literally four weeks later.
[00:19:10] So, and then I think we missed a practice or two.
[00:19:14] So the show went really well
[00:19:16] and then we didn't really have any time
[00:19:18] to teach Ian any new songs.
[00:19:20] So we're like, okay, we're just going to play the same set again
[00:19:22] four weeks later.
[00:19:24] He refers to that set.
[00:19:26] We went and like banged it out again.
[00:19:30] And then there was a third show that we were doing
[00:19:33] for tragic reasons really,
[00:19:35] a friend of the scene, Paul Lacasse,
[00:19:39] like a lot of people know him.
[00:19:41] He passed away in December of 2019
[00:19:46] and we got invited to play his memorial show
[00:19:52] in January of 2020.
[00:19:54] So we were doing that one as well.
[00:19:57] So again it was like, okay Ian,
[00:20:00] we're just going to play the same set again.
[00:20:03] No one's really going to care like people are there
[00:20:06] for Paulie and his friends and family,
[00:20:09] but let's just do the set.
[00:20:11] So we played that set and then after playing that show
[00:20:14] we sort of said look, okay, you know,
[00:20:16] we're going to take some time.
[00:20:18] We're going to write some new material.
[00:20:20] We're going to teach Ian the rest of the songs
[00:20:22] and we're not going to play any more shows until that happens.
[00:20:25] Well, I mean, you know what happened in the next two years.
[00:20:27] And then careful what you wish for is kind of what happened.
[00:20:29] Yeah, I know.
[00:20:30] Did you, how did you stay busy?
[00:20:33] Did you go first?
[00:20:36] No.
[00:20:37] Now that the pandemic is over, I think it's okay to talk about it.
[00:20:42] It's just because you can look at it in hindsight, right?
[00:20:44] Instead of being stuck in it and being all like in that,
[00:20:46] well, I'm not doing nothing.
[00:20:48] But how was the pandemic for being in a band
[00:20:50] and personal lives and stuff?
[00:20:52] How did you get through it?
[00:20:54] Well, we kind of snuck in when we probably shouldn't have.
[00:20:56] You know, kept it going.
[00:20:58] I actually used to play,
[00:21:03] I kept my music by playing outside with my dad
[00:21:07] and people from the Ottawa Celtic Folk Night that I play with.
[00:21:12] We played at Britannia Beach.
[00:21:15] It was like really nice.
[00:21:16] It was that like just enough music to kind of keep going.
[00:21:20] We probably weren't allowed to do that too.
[00:21:22] It wasn't like a formal, it was like people,
[00:21:24] we just told a couple of people to come
[00:21:26] and play music.
[00:21:28] What do you play in that?
[00:21:29] What are you, drums?
[00:21:30] Yeah, so I played the Irish Bauron.
[00:21:32] Oh, is that so?
[00:21:33] I guess circle drum.
[00:21:34] Oh cool.
[00:21:35] Yeah.
[00:21:36] I think I knew that.
[00:21:37] I think I actually knew that.
[00:21:38] I just forgot.
[00:21:39] Very interesting.
[00:21:40] So that kept me going and I had a kid.
[00:21:42] So my son at the beginning of when everything got locked down,
[00:21:46] he was nine months old.
[00:21:48] So, I mean...
[00:21:50] They'll keep you busy on the best day, don't they?
[00:21:52] They'll look back and say it was tough, but...
[00:21:55] Lots of time.
[00:21:56] I don't even really remember it to be honest.
[00:21:58] Yeah.
[00:21:59] It's all parenthood music.
[00:22:01] Can all be tough.
[00:22:03] Yeah, it's strange.
[00:22:04] It's kind of...
[00:22:05] The way you compartmentalize it.
[00:22:08] People are like, it was so terrible.
[00:22:10] Oh my God.
[00:22:11] I'm like, I mean, yeah.
[00:22:13] I'm still here.
[00:22:16] I, me and my girlfriend,
[00:22:18] we talk about how great the pandemic was
[00:22:20] for a lot of things, because, you know,
[00:22:22] I like the people I like,
[00:22:23] but sometimes I don't like the people I don't like.
[00:22:25] Like, I just don't like being around crowds
[00:22:27] and general public and stuff like that.
[00:22:29] Great for being in a band.
[00:22:31] Yeah, well...
[00:22:32] Love to perform, but like when you're done
[00:22:35] with being around people, you're done.
[00:22:37] Oh, I would just drink myself into a bubble.
[00:22:39] Oh, you'd be in your bubble?
[00:22:40] Yeah, that was part of my coping mechanism.
[00:22:42] I would just drink myself silly to do all the stuff
[00:22:44] when I wasn't on stage.
[00:22:45] The only problem is it really fucked up
[00:22:47] what I was doing on stage.
[00:22:49] It didn't really work out too well, yeah, so.
[00:22:53] As a songwriter...
[00:22:55] Do you write songs, Deirdre?
[00:22:57] Nope, the Strumman.
[00:22:58] As a songwriter, I know this is a great question.
[00:23:01] Did the pandemic make you more creative
[00:23:03] or less creative?
[00:23:04] Because it's gone both ways in the question when I ask it.
[00:23:06] Yeah, it's a good one, yeah.
[00:23:08] It's interesting because I think for me,
[00:23:11] like, I go in waves and I always kind of go in waves
[00:23:15] that like Deirdre knows that like sometimes,
[00:23:18] you know, a few months will go by and like every week
[00:23:22] I'm showing up with like, you know, a new riff or something.
[00:23:25] Maybe that we turn into something
[00:23:27] or maybe that we just kind of play around with
[00:23:29] and then put aside.
[00:23:30] But there are other times when maybe like five or six months
[00:23:33] will go by and inspiration will strike.
[00:23:35] And I mean, like we've got a couple,
[00:23:40] like more than a couple dozen songs.
[00:23:42] So it's like, you know, we can...
[00:23:46] We can...
[00:23:47] And especially like there's some that sort of always have
[00:23:50] to a spot on the set list.
[00:23:52] So it's not like we need to be like constantly turning out
[00:23:55] new stuff, but...
[00:23:56] After seven years, it's kind of nice.
[00:23:58] That's definitely my favorite part of the night
[00:24:00] when it's like we run through the set list and I'm like,
[00:24:03] okay, great.
[00:24:04] Everybody's all warmed up.
[00:24:05] And I'm like, what do you got?
[00:24:06] What's the juicy, could the dream riff?
[00:24:09] What came to you randomly that you just like scratched down
[00:24:12] on a crappy phone recording?
[00:24:14] Give it to me.
[00:24:15] Well, and so that I think that was the thing is that like
[00:24:19] early in COVID, because a lot of time for me writing,
[00:24:23] like I'm more creative when I'm doing other stuff musically
[00:24:28] and then sort of other things flow.
[00:24:31] So I think at first I didn't really have anything.
[00:24:33] And then later on I was just doing more like
[00:24:37] I have this crappy little acoustic guitar that I play around
[00:24:40] with at home and then I was like coming up with some
[00:24:43] riffs and doing stuff, but it was really, it was up and down.
[00:24:47] I mean for me during the pandemic, like I was doing,
[00:24:51] I was biking tons.
[00:24:53] I decided to see if my skateboarding skills had improved
[00:24:57] at all during like the decade that I hadn't been doing any.
[00:25:01] No, they didn't.
[00:25:03] I ended up like late in the pandemic,
[00:25:06] I took up cross country skiing and I've now become
[00:25:08] like really, really enthusiastic for it.
[00:25:11] Just in time for this like non-winter that we've just...
[00:25:14] Yeah, yeah, right.
[00:25:15] I relate with the snowboard, yeah.
[00:25:17] But yeah, I mean I think just sort of like
[00:25:21] really kind of getting into outdoor recreation
[00:25:26] because otherwise I'm in a relatively small apartment
[00:25:31] and so being stuck at home was not something
[00:25:35] that I really relished.
[00:25:36] Yeah, I can relate to that too because in 2021,
[00:25:40] well I guess January 2022, I had snowboarded where I was
[00:25:45] when I used to live in Thunder Bay and I lived in Ottawa
[00:25:47] for 25 years and I never touched my snowboard.
[00:25:50] And then I started again in January 2022 and it's like
[00:25:54] my favorite thing and I dream about it all winter
[00:25:57] even when I'm doing it in the summertime,
[00:25:59] all I want to do is go snowboarding.
[00:26:01] It's like obsessive, like I love it so much.
[00:26:03] I couldn't write songs very well in the pandemic
[00:26:06] because I just had nothing to write about it.
[00:26:08] Like I need to be, I don't know, something.
[00:26:11] Yeah, and I have trouble writing on the best day anyway
[00:26:14] and I think I was kind of hard on myself
[00:26:15] because everyone was saying,
[00:26:16] oh, it must be nice to be writing songs during the pandemic.
[00:26:19] It must be getting tons done
[00:26:20] and I'd be like, I'm not though.
[00:26:22] I'm not getting anything done.
[00:26:23] Are you just writing the song that everyone else is writing
[00:26:26] so you don't want to write it?
[00:26:27] I'm bored, I'm bored.
[00:26:29] Well, I find at this stage in my life
[00:26:31] I write the same song every time
[00:26:33] and I realized I've written the same song my entire life,
[00:26:36] more or less.
[00:26:37] So it's just getting harder to find things to talk about,
[00:26:40] to sing about, I think.
[00:26:42] It's nobody wants to hear my complaints
[00:26:44] like fucking tuna went up 50 cents at Wilson's.
[00:26:48] You know that kind of shit?
[00:26:49] Fuck you, Galen Weston.
[00:26:50] I don't know anybody wants to hear that shit.
[00:26:52] Maybe they do.
[00:26:53] I don't know.
[00:26:54] No, I'm very much in that sort of like
[00:26:59] I struggle often with lyrics because it's just, you know,
[00:27:03] there are certain themes that are just so overdone,
[00:27:08] particularly in punk rock.
[00:27:10] And so I'm just that I want to say something interesting
[00:27:16] or even if I'm saying something
[00:27:17] that's not particularly interesting or original,
[00:27:20] say something that's not interesting or original
[00:27:22] but say in a way that's interesting or original
[00:27:24] or that sort of like looks at something
[00:27:26] from a different perspective.
[00:27:28] But yeah, I mean there's just,
[00:27:31] there's really no need for sort of more piling on
[00:27:35] of the cliches.
[00:27:36] Yeah, yeah.
[00:27:38] I've gone as far as like watched like songwriting videos
[00:27:42] on like YouTube and stuff,
[00:27:43] just looking for kind of little hints and stuff like that.
[00:27:46] And I found a couple of neat little chorus tidbits
[00:27:52] and also some things where it's just like,
[00:27:54] even if you think it's stupid,
[00:27:55] like don't refine lyrics too much.
[00:27:57] Sometimes when you just write it down, just leave it.
[00:27:59] And after you sing it a few times,
[00:28:01] you're like, yeah, that's actually pretty good.
[00:28:02] And if you kick your kick the shit out of yourself
[00:28:04] for that one line over and over again,
[00:28:06] it's just you might give up on it.
[00:28:08] So I think it was,
[00:28:10] I don't know if you've read Chris Walter's bio
[00:28:14] of The Day Glows.
[00:28:16] No.
[00:28:17] But apparently Creighton,
[00:28:18] like every set of lyrics,
[00:28:20] he writes it out.
[00:28:21] It's always his first take.
[00:28:24] So every single Day Glow abortion song
[00:28:26] is basically his first take.
[00:28:28] That's confidence I don't have.
[00:28:30] Or not even confident,
[00:28:31] that's just a, I don't give a fuck I don't have.
[00:28:33] Yeah, I couldn't do that.
[00:28:35] Yeah.
[00:28:36] I am not that.
[00:28:38] And even like a lot of the time for me when I'm writing,
[00:28:41] I'll sort of like,
[00:28:43] I remember it was funny,
[00:28:44] you were referencing Moral Hazard.
[00:28:46] Like that band was kind of interesting
[00:28:48] because I'd often write,
[00:28:49] like I'd write the first verse in the chorus
[00:28:51] and then I'd hand it over to Steve, the singer at the time.
[00:28:54] And be like, you finished this, right?
[00:28:56] Like, you know, I've given you a structure.
[00:28:58] I mean, I wouldn't do that with every song,
[00:29:00] but there were a lot of songs where I'd like,
[00:29:01] you know, hey, I've got a verse,
[00:29:02] I've got a chorus, you can finish this.
[00:29:04] But even a lot of the time,
[00:29:06] I kind of come up with certain elements of something
[00:29:09] enough that I kind of know the framework
[00:29:11] I want to work within.
[00:29:12] I'm like, eh, I'll fill in the details later.
[00:29:14] I'm not a detail-oriented person.
[00:29:16] I was kind of a tyrant and goat.
[00:29:19] Like everything had to be kind of like the way I wanted it
[00:29:21] and stuff, but I had the guys that were very...
[00:29:24] They were just kind of like, okay, whatever you want.
[00:29:26] That's why you're able to do that.
[00:29:28] You didn't have another one of you in the band.
[00:29:30] Yeah, like Mike and Polly would just be like,
[00:29:32] what do you want me to do?
[00:29:33] All right.
[00:29:34] And I'd stop and he'd do, da-da-da,
[00:29:36] and he'd, okay!
[00:29:37] And he'd get it, and there it is.
[00:29:39] And shit like that.
[00:29:40] And it was great until it wasn't.
[00:29:42] Fuck those guys.
[00:29:43] No, I can't, I'll cut that out.
[00:29:45] Anyway, yeah, so how do you find time for two bands?
[00:29:49] It's just what I love to do.
[00:29:51] I technically counted as three,
[00:29:53] because I also do the Irish music.
[00:29:55] Oh, right, yeah.
[00:29:56] So I have three days a week,
[00:29:58] but it's more flexible.
[00:30:00] So Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday,
[00:30:02] so if I have like a packed week and a show,
[00:30:05] I'll drop out the Wednesday.
[00:30:09] You know, as like four parents,
[00:30:11] there's just something that comes up.
[00:30:14] Busy, kids, sick, life.
[00:30:18] Sarah's on a bi-weekly schedule with her kid, too.
[00:30:22] Like it's, you know, single mom,
[00:30:25] like it's just too hard.
[00:30:27] So it's nice to be a little more flexible,
[00:30:30] but I find like, you know, week goes by two weeks.
[00:30:35] If I miss enough practices, I feel it, you know?
[00:30:39] Is cultural trees in your only gig right now?
[00:30:43] It is.
[00:30:44] So Lindbergh babies, we played
[00:30:48] what we didn't know at the time,
[00:30:50] would be our last show.
[00:30:52] I think it was in like, I'm going to say May of 2022,
[00:30:57] and Greg Kerr, the second guitar player in the band,
[00:31:01] died like shortly after then.
[00:31:03] I think it was like June or July of that year.
[00:31:09] And we sort of, during the summer,
[00:31:12] we kind of kept not practicing.
[00:31:15] And then eventually,
[00:31:17] we kind of, we were going to have a band meeting
[00:31:20] and basically sort of two of them,
[00:31:22] I was good to continue,
[00:31:25] like maybe find another guitar player.
[00:31:27] And two of the members were saying,
[00:31:29] like this is kind of a punctuating point for me.
[00:31:34] Rosie.
[00:31:35] Yeah, yeah, yeah.
[00:31:37] Rosie LaRose.
[00:31:38] So that's when that ended.
[00:31:41] And I mean, obviously, like totally tragic.
[00:31:46] Like, I mean, that guy should still be with us today.
[00:31:51] And amazing guitar player,
[00:31:53] just a really solid human being,
[00:31:56] like a really good guy.
[00:31:59] I think for me, one thing,
[00:32:01] two things I'm actually really happy about
[00:32:03] is first of all that we did get a last show in
[00:32:07] because like cultural trees in Lindbergh,
[00:32:11] kept practicing through the pandemic.
[00:32:13] And we'd sort of like, we'd start and then we'd stop
[00:32:15] and we'd start and we'd stop.
[00:32:17] That was the only show we played after things opened up,
[00:32:21] but it was good to be able to do that.
[00:32:24] And then the other thing was he came out to,
[00:32:28] he came out to the first show that
[00:32:31] cultural trees did after the pandemic.
[00:32:33] We were opening up for DOA again, funnily enough.
[00:32:37] And that was his first time that he'd managed to make it out,
[00:32:40] just like sort of conflicting schedules.
[00:32:42] He hadn't made it out.
[00:32:43] And I remember like him talking to us afterwards
[00:32:45] and him like being really complimentary about the band
[00:32:48] and about the songs.
[00:32:49] And that meant a lot to me coming from him,
[00:32:52] like someone who I had respected musically
[00:32:55] from like when I'd first seen him in The Phantom Shifters,
[00:32:57] when I first moved to Ottawa.
[00:32:59] So that felt really good.
[00:33:02] But, you know, so obviously a very kind of small good element
[00:33:08] into something that otherwise just sucks.
[00:33:12] As far as recording goes,
[00:33:15] cultural trees and just released a new EP I guess?
[00:33:18] You want to call it a record or EP?
[00:33:20] I mean, it's...
[00:33:21] It's too long for an EP.
[00:33:22] Okay.
[00:33:23] I mean, it's an album.
[00:33:25] It's ten songs.
[00:33:26] It's a lot of material.
[00:33:27] Okay.
[00:33:28] Called The Growing Lai.
[00:33:31] We recorded it sort of basically,
[00:33:35] I think we started recording about a year ago
[00:33:38] and then sort of our secret weapon is that...
[00:33:42] So I was mentioning Ian replacing Mott's
[00:33:46] and then Clayton who was the other founding member.
[00:33:49] We didn't do a proper shout out.
[00:33:51] We talked about Ian
[00:33:52] and then there's a perfect segue into our secret weapon.
[00:33:55] Yeah.
[00:33:56] Our secret weapon is Chris.
[00:33:57] Yeah.
[00:33:58] So Clayton was the other founding member
[00:34:03] but I guess around...
[00:34:07] It wasn't much.
[00:34:08] It was probably about two years ago.
[00:34:10] I'm terrible with dates.
[00:34:11] You got to go to this guy for all dates.
[00:34:13] But he basically said, you know what?
[00:34:15] He's really taken up drumming.
[00:34:18] What's the name of the band that he's...
[00:34:20] Society.
[00:34:21] He's drumming for this band called Society.
[00:34:23] I was so excited when he told me.
[00:34:24] I was so sad that he was leaving the band
[00:34:26] because he was an amazing guitarist.
[00:34:28] But when he told me he was leaving to drum,
[00:34:30] I was like, yay!
[00:34:31] You're growing up now or something.
[00:34:33] And he's like, I don't know why I didn't do it years ago.
[00:34:36] I'm loving it.
[00:34:37] And I was so...
[00:34:38] He was just beaming.
[00:34:39] You're one of us.
[00:34:40] That beautiful creative energy
[00:34:42] in this tiny fierce bearded man.
[00:34:45] But anyhow, so he decided that he wanted to
[00:34:52] basically focus on that.
[00:34:54] And so we looked around
[00:34:56] and I ended up talking to Chris Cook.
[00:34:59] He's been in lots of different bands over the years.
[00:35:03] Right now he's also in 86 it,
[00:35:06] who are a great powerful three piece.
[00:35:09] But so...
[00:35:12] And one of the things about Chris
[00:35:14] is he records bands like he generally does recordings
[00:35:19] for the bands that he's in.
[00:35:21] He actually, the last four stroke album
[00:35:24] that kind of only really got released on Bandcamp.
[00:35:28] But he recorded that for us.
[00:35:30] We were trying to talk to him to record our demo back in 2017.
[00:35:37] But just we couldn't find a time that worked for everyone.
[00:35:40] But anyhow, so like...
[00:35:43] We invited him to play because we needed to get to our player.
[00:35:46] But then after he learned the songs it's like, you know...
[00:35:48] So we need to record.
[00:35:50] And he's like, well, you know, I can help out there.
[00:35:54] So it was sort of...
[00:35:56] Because we had the producer in the band
[00:36:02] it meant that we took a bit of a longer process to record.
[00:36:06] We'd record and then we kind of like kept going back.
[00:36:11] As one does.
[00:36:13] But I think it was a bit different
[00:36:16] because we didn't feel like
[00:36:18] there's like the meters running type of thing.
[00:36:21] So we could kind of keep on going until we got things right.
[00:36:24] And then we were probably pretty much done late last fall.
[00:36:32] And then I basically...
[00:36:34] Like I had a death in the family.
[00:36:36] And so just kind of stepped away from everything for a couple months.
[00:36:41] But then just sort of earlier this year we said,
[00:36:45] okay, you know what, ready?
[00:36:47] Let's put it out.
[00:36:49] We sort of picked...
[00:36:52] We'd recorded 13 songs so we decided to put 10 on the album.
[00:36:57] Sequenced it up through it on Bandcamp.
[00:37:00] And we'll see if we do anything physical with it or not.
[00:37:03] But like right now it's...
[00:37:05] The main point is that sort of when we're going to be playing shows
[00:37:09] or when we're going to be kind of trying to get people interested in us
[00:37:13] or something that's reflecting who's in the band now,
[00:37:18] reflecting the songs that we're playing now.
[00:37:20] It's not something that we recorded like two weeks after our first show
[00:37:24] seven years ago.
[00:37:26] So it's nice that we finally have something fresher out there.
[00:37:29] Good, good.
[00:37:30] Physical copies of things are getting harder and harder to do now.
[00:37:35] I heard like the wait for vinyl is like a year at some places.
[00:37:41] Something like that. It's crazy.
[00:37:42] People are into tapes now.
[00:37:44] Are CDs making a comeback?
[00:37:46] Who knows?
[00:37:47] Why doesn't anyone want CDs?
[00:37:48] I don't think it...
[00:37:49] Because there's nowhere to play them anymore.
[00:37:50] Like my girlfriend just got a new car.
[00:37:52] She got a new Subaru.
[00:37:53] And she made a point.
[00:37:54] She's like, look no CD player.
[00:37:55] Your computer?
[00:37:56] I was like, I didn't even think about it.
[00:37:57] Right? It was crazy.
[00:37:58] You have to get the special drive or the CDs for your computer.
[00:38:02] How do you feel about cassette tapes?
[00:38:04] I made cassettes like five years ago for Goat.
[00:38:07] I thought they were hilarious.
[00:38:08] But now they're like, actually there's places that make professional like here's my tape.
[00:38:13] The thing for me is like I am a Gen Xer.
[00:38:16] So when I first got really into music, I bought everything on cassette and it is the worst format.
[00:38:24] Absolutely.
[00:38:25] It disintegrates so fast.
[00:38:28] I guess so, yeah.
[00:38:32] When I compare to...
[00:38:34] I've got music on vinyl, on CD and on cassette.
[00:38:37] You're talking like functional.
[00:38:39] There's like an aesthetic for just vintageness of it.
[00:38:43] The aesthetic of cassettes is crappy too.
[00:38:45] Do you remember and it depends on the machine you had.
[00:38:48] If you had like a shitty machine and it ate the tape, remember when you had to delicately like pull it out of the teeth of the fucking thing?
[00:38:54] Yeah.
[00:38:55] It was all folded and crinkled and it'd be like, wow.
[00:38:57] We're old.
[00:38:58] We're so old now.
[00:38:59] And you roll it back up and it's all in there.
[00:39:01] But when you played it, it would be like...
[00:39:03] The audio would be fucked in that part.
[00:39:05] So I actually, I literally bought a cassette last night.
[00:39:09] My friend's been a critical witness.
[00:39:14] Played a house show in town and they had a cassette.
[00:39:17] So I'm like, you know what?
[00:39:18] Love you guys.
[00:39:19] Gonna support.
[00:39:20] Gonna buy the cassette.
[00:39:21] But like, I'm gonna download it on Bandcamp.
[00:39:24] I'm probably never gonna...
[00:39:25] I have a cassette player but I'm probably literally never gonna play that thing.
[00:39:29] It's a souvenir.
[00:39:30] I feel like the guys, like unless Ian and Chris are like really into tapes, I think it's highly
[00:39:36] unlikely that we're gonna go that route.
[00:39:38] I actually went on eBay or something like that.
[00:39:41] And I found, or Kijiji and I found a guy who was selling old like TDK cassette tapes
[00:39:47] and I went and met him and I bought like, I don't know, 200 of them for like a hundred
[00:39:51] bucks off of them.
[00:39:52] And then I went to a pawn shop, like pawn shops trying to find like the double deck
[00:39:57] ghetto blasters.
[00:39:58] I don't know if we recall those anyway.
[00:39:59] Is it, can I call that a ghetto blaster?
[00:40:01] I don't know.
[00:40:02] I think you might get canceled dude.
[00:40:03] Yeah.
[00:40:04] Boom box.
[00:40:05] To all this...
[00:40:06] I think you're safe here.
[00:40:07] And I had to sit there and it wasn't even one of the...
[00:40:10] Remember in the back in the day where you used to hit and record and you can hit
[00:40:13] the auto dub and it'd be like, it would go fast.
[00:40:15] This thing didn't have the auto dub on it.
[00:40:17] So I had to sit there and just do everyone manually.
[00:40:20] It took me like a week to make like...
[00:40:22] You didn't.
[00:40:23] Oh my goodness.
[00:40:24] Yeah, it was so crazy.
[00:40:26] And I made all the...
[00:40:27] I'll show you guys before I leave, but I made all the covers and stuff like all by
[00:40:32] hand.
[00:40:33] Like I cut little things out with a razor blade and then I went to the staples
[00:40:36] and photocopied it all fucking.
[00:40:38] I called it the goatest hits.
[00:40:40] I just put every goat song on the cassette and it barely took up one side.
[00:40:44] It was crazy.
[00:40:45] Yeah, it was good.
[00:40:46] And then I sold them, but they all sold.
[00:40:48] I sold them for like ten bucks and people were buying them.
[00:40:50] Damn.
[00:40:51] I just had a gig in December.
[00:40:53] In December I did an acoustic gig with that band Class of 91 and that guy Ian on
[00:40:58] the right there, he bought one.
[00:41:00] He's like, I gotta have one of them cassettes.
[00:41:02] He's an older guy.
[00:41:03] Yeah.
[00:41:04] Yeah, he bought a goat cassette.
[00:41:05] I'm like enjoy, you enjoy that.
[00:41:06] I think I gave it to him actually.
[00:41:08] Anyway, sorry.
[00:41:09] I got sidetracked.
[00:41:10] Don't be.
[00:41:11] I know.
[00:41:12] So yeah, physical copies.
[00:41:14] I don't know.
[00:41:15] I don't think you could ever recoup your money anymore either because
[00:41:17] people aren't buying stuff.
[00:41:19] Yeah.
[00:41:20] I think so we have t-shirts.
[00:41:22] We have stickers.
[00:41:23] We have pins.
[00:41:24] I mean, I think really it's and I kind of feel conflicted about it because I know that I
[00:41:33] really love kind of having physical copies of things even if a lot of the times I'll
[00:41:38] buy a record and predominantly listen to the download but I like having the record.
[00:41:43] But I think less and less people really seem like that interested in it.
[00:41:48] And when you look at what it costs to actually produce something and I still have boxes of
[00:41:56] four strokes, boxes of moral hazard CDs.
[00:41:59] I still have CDs from LBAN.
[00:42:06] You can put it out and especially like.
[00:42:08] Yeah, the internet's an amazing thing like so many different platforms, right?
[00:42:15] Like what's the first?
[00:42:17] What's the next one?
[00:42:19] Facebook.
[00:42:20] At one point we had our online presence was on mp3.com and then Facebook was where you
[00:42:27] were going to have your stuff and sort of like you keep on migrating from platform
[00:42:32] to platform to platform.
[00:42:35] And so I guess that like the great thing about physical copies is that they're
[00:42:41] forever.
[00:42:42] Anyway, we're getting super off the beaten track here and I really feel bad for you
[00:45:00] trying to edit something going.
[00:45:02] It's been worse.
[00:45:04] It's been great though.
[00:45:06] Honestly, like as long as it's good conversation, I don't care.
[00:45:08] Sometimes I'll just make them a little longer but let's wrap up cultural trees
[00:45:13] because I still want to do our question game.
[00:45:16] So what have you been doing?
[00:45:18] What does 2024 hold for cultural trees and you guys got a bunch of shows
[00:45:23] coming up.
[00:45:24] You got some plans, any touring anything like that?
[00:45:27] Right now we just have one thing booked.
[00:45:29] We're going to Toronto at the end of May.
[00:45:33] We've got sort of a couple irons in the fire trying to get some things
[00:45:39] going but unfortunately as a band where everyone is a parent and everyone
[00:45:45] is a parent.
[00:45:46] We've got kids, we've got day jobs, we've got relationships.
[00:45:51] So we get show offers and sometimes it's like, ah, you know, like can't
[00:45:57] make that happen.
[00:45:58] But I think we're just looking forward to playing some more,
[00:46:04] trying to get word out about the album.
[00:46:08] And meanwhile, like we're writing.
[00:46:10] We've got a couple.
[00:46:12] Yeah, got a few songs that we're pretty excited about.
[00:46:17] Ian's written some stuff too where he's singing so that's fun to have
[00:46:22] like the different dynamic in the band.
[00:46:25] I personally love performing.
[00:46:27] It's why I do this so I just want to play shows.
[00:46:31] Yeah, that's what I do and shout out to you asked how I'm in
[00:46:37] the two bands and doing more music.
[00:46:40] I have to give a pretty solid shout out to my husband who is also named Mike
[00:46:45] and just holding it down on the home front so I can go and do whatever
[00:46:50] I need to do.
[00:46:51] You know, I remember playing a ton of shows when my son was like three
[00:46:55] months old and Ken was like, do you need more time off?
[00:46:57] I was like hell no, I was like I need to play.
[00:47:00] Get me out of the house.
[00:47:03] That's good to have a supportive other for sure.
[00:47:07] And hopefully they're a fan.
[00:47:10] Well, I don't know.
[00:47:15] Way to go Mike.
[00:47:16] Way to go Mike.
[00:47:18] You're a good guy.
[00:47:20] Solid guy.
[00:47:21] Any shout outs on your end, Ken?
[00:47:23] Before we...
[00:47:24] I mean, I think shout out to band members past and present.
[00:47:30] So, Mott's Clayton, Best Wishes as You Go On and Chris and Ian,
[00:47:37] awesome to have you guys on board.
[00:47:40] Also my fiancee Yasmin, she's been...
[00:47:46] cultural treason is kind of her intro to punk rock but she's
[00:47:52] been pretty tolerant of my needing to make time for practices
[00:47:58] and shows.
[00:47:59] So that's great.
[00:48:01] And my kid Dee, now that they're 16, it used to be my parenting
[00:48:08] weeks I was pretty much kind of confined to quarters but now
[00:48:11] Dee's like, you know, hey, you know dad, I know you're going
[00:48:14] off to your interview so go have fun.
[00:48:17] I may still be up when you get home.
[00:48:19] Freedom!
[00:48:20] Yeah, you got that to look forward to in like what, 14 years?
[00:48:24] Oh man.
[00:48:25] Awesome.
[00:48:27] All right, that was great.
[00:48:29] I have a game.
[00:48:32] I believe you both played it before but again I've refined the
[00:48:35] podcast a little so it's a little different but it's new.
[00:48:38] Everyone's lives changed, things changed so maybe the answers
[00:48:42] will be a little different but the questions are a little
[00:48:44] different too.
[00:48:45] It's called 13 Questions with the Band.
[00:48:47] Are you up for playing?
[00:48:49] I mean if we said no would it make any difference?
[00:48:52] No.
[00:48:54] You have to play.
[00:48:57] Time for 13 Questions with the Band.
[00:49:00] Yes this segment's back again, it's called 13 Questions
[00:49:03] but I only asked six, maybe five.
[00:49:06] Okay we're back.
[00:49:07] This is called 13 Questions with the Band.
[00:49:09] I don't actually, I have 13 questions, I don't actually
[00:49:12] ask 13 questions, I ask questions out of the 13 questions.
[00:49:15] Oh come on.
[00:49:16] I just called it 13 Questions with the Band because I
[00:49:18] wrote a jingle and I'm too lazy to redo the jingle.
[00:49:21] Which we just listened to and it had a real catchy ring
[00:49:24] to it, I especially like that one part.
[00:49:27] Oh yeah it's so good.
[00:49:29] Yeah it's pretty good.
[00:49:30] Okay so this is 13 Questions with the Band with Deirdre
[00:49:33] and Ken from Cultural Treason.
[00:49:36] First question, oh here we go, let's do this one.
[00:49:41] Let's start off.
[00:49:42] What is the first record CD or tape you've ever bought
[00:49:44] with your own money?
[00:49:46] I think that it was for those about to rock by ACDC.
[00:49:52] I don't remember buying it myself but I remember
[00:49:59] listening to Nirvana on cassette tape when I was
[00:50:05] super young, I don't know if that counts.
[00:50:07] Never mind like the Nirvana album or like the before
[00:50:11] Never mind.
[00:50:13] Is that what it was called?
[00:50:15] Yeah never mind.
[00:50:16] I believe that, I believe that CD or cassette was in a
[00:50:20] lot of places that was playing.
[00:50:22] In the 90s.
[00:50:23] Okay what is the first concert that you ever saw?
[00:50:27] Like first live show you ever saw.
[00:50:29] Oh man that I don't remember.
[00:50:31] Big country so I don't know if the name rings a bell
[00:50:36] they actually I learned years later that most of the
[00:50:41] band had been the core of a Scottish punk band called
[00:50:44] The Skids but they had this great sound in the mid 80s
[00:50:49] where they sort of tweaked their guitars to sound
[00:50:54] like bagpipes.
[00:50:56] Oh god it's awful.
[00:50:59] It was really good.
[00:51:01] Google in a big country by big country and
[00:51:05] you know great sound.
[00:51:07] In a big country by big country I like it.
[00:51:10] That's good.
[00:51:11] First concert.
[00:51:13] First concert well in terms of the music that I'm playing
[00:51:18] in this band man I have no idea.
[00:51:21] I don't want to say it was like drop cake
[00:51:24] Murphy's or something but that's just like one of
[00:51:26] the ones I remember because it was like a big band.
[00:51:29] But I mean I've been around music since I was a
[00:51:32] kid because of the Irish music so I went to like
[00:51:36] concerts and I was always listening to music and
[00:51:39] pubs and stuff like that.
[00:51:41] So the Irish Rovers is your answer?
[00:51:43] I don't know.
[00:51:45] Alright let's say it's the Irish Rovers.
[00:51:49] I don't know if it's the Irish Rovers.
[00:51:51] Maybe it is though maybe it was.
[00:51:53] Members of.
[00:51:54] Members of.
[00:51:55] 6 degrees separation of the Irish Rovers.
[00:51:59] I like it.
[00:52:00] Okay next question if you had a time machine and
[00:52:04] you could go back and witness any musical event
[00:52:08] what would it be?
[00:52:15] I would be really sort of struggling with myself
[00:52:20] I think probably it would be going back and
[00:52:23] catching like the early Toronto punk scene in
[00:52:26] like sort of 1977 bands like you know the
[00:52:30] The Violet Tones, The Ugly, you know stuff like
[00:52:35] that especially like the Diodes, the Demics,
[00:52:41] some of the bands that never even like got
[00:52:44] recorded even in that era.
[00:52:46] I'd love to go to the UK like to the original
[00:52:50] like punks.
[00:52:52] Actually you know what I want to change my
[00:52:55] answer I want to go back to the 60s and
[00:52:58] catch the MC5 when they were at their height.
[00:53:01] Nice.
[00:53:02] Very good.
[00:53:03] And the Stooges.
[00:53:04] Keeping it punk I appreciate this.
[00:53:07] I get a lot of which would also be cool
[00:53:10] but I get a lot of like Freddie Mercury at
[00:53:12] Live Aid.
[00:53:13] I get a lot of Hendrix Burnin' His Guitar so.
[00:53:16] Oh yeah yeah.
[00:53:17] MC5 in the 60s and UK in the 70s.
[00:53:21] The B70s I think.
[00:53:22] Very good that's good stuff.
[00:53:24] Yeah yeah.
[00:53:25] Represent the punks.
[00:53:26] Okay.
[00:53:31] Next question.
[00:53:34] Let's go kind of weird.
[00:53:35] In your opinion what is the world's worst invention?
[00:53:38] Oh man.
[00:53:45] I was just thinking something sexual.
[00:53:49] I mean carry on.
[00:53:50] I don't know.
[00:53:51] You lead with that.
[00:53:53] The medical device that women have to.
[00:54:00] The duck?
[00:54:01] Remember it is?
[00:54:02] The duck.
[00:54:03] Okay very good.
[00:54:04] Yeah that's a horrible thing for any of you who
[00:54:07] know what I'm talking about and for you guys
[00:54:09] who don't learn about it.
[00:54:11] I mean I'm just imagining and.
[00:54:13] Swarm it up.
[00:54:14] I mean just warm it up a little bit like
[00:54:16] it just doesn't work.
[00:54:17] I mean I'm just imagining it.
[00:54:19] Swarm it up.
[00:54:20] I mean just warm it up a little bit like it just doesn't
[00:54:22] take much.
[00:54:23] I mean I'm sure I could come up with something better
[00:54:27] for worse if I cudgel my brain but right now all I'm
[00:54:30] coming up with is like leaf blowers.
[00:54:33] Leaf blowers.
[00:54:34] Okay very good.
[00:54:36] I like leaf blowers.
[00:54:38] How do you feel about the internet?
[00:54:42] What kind of question is that?
[00:54:44] No no for the worst invention ever.
[00:54:46] Oh okay.
[00:54:47] Oh no no you thought that was that question?
[00:54:49] How do you feel about the internet?
[00:54:51] I never really thought much about it.
[00:54:53] How am I supposed to answer that?
[00:54:55] Oh my goodness it's horrible but amazing and you
[00:54:58] can learn so many things but like my god it
[00:55:00] will scar you for life.
[00:55:01] Yeah I think that would be my...
[00:55:03] Maybe I should change the question then
[00:55:05] maybe I'd say what is the best and worst?
[00:55:08] Best and worst.
[00:55:09] Anyway let's move on.
[00:55:10] We're getting hung up here.
[00:55:12] Okay have you ever had a music I was
[00:55:15] there moment like say you were at Live Aid
[00:55:19] where Freddie Mercury was doing the
[00:55:21] like that kind of stuff let's just say.
[00:55:24] So for I probably have a few the first
[00:55:27] one that pops to mind was in like the
[00:55:33] early 90s I went I was sort of you
[00:55:38] know who Nardware the Human Survey at
[00:55:40] is.
[00:55:41] Sure.
[00:55:42] He was putting on like a garage rock
[00:55:44] festival in in Vancouver and at the
[00:55:48] time I was dating this woman who was
[00:55:51] playing keyboards in a garage rock band.
[00:55:53] I wasn't really into garage rock like I
[00:55:55] appreciated a lot more now at the
[00:55:58] time it wasn't really my thing but I
[00:56:00] went to this one show and I'm just
[00:56:04] sort of sitting there and I'm like okay
[00:56:06] who are these guys going on stage
[00:56:08] and it's like okay there's seven
[00:56:10] people in this band that's a bad
[00:56:13] sign.
[00:56:14] And then I see there's brass instruments
[00:56:16] on stage and I was just like I know
[00:56:18] I'm going to hate this band.
[00:56:21] And then they counted in and it was
[00:56:23] Nation of Ulysses and I was scraping my
[00:56:25] fucking brains off the ceiling the
[00:56:26] rest of the night if you've never
[00:56:27] listened to Nation of Ulysses just
[00:56:29] incredible insane just chaotic sort of
[00:56:37] ranging from hardcore to jazz to
[00:56:45] just all over the place so that was
[00:56:48] that was just like one moment that
[00:56:51] just completely blew my mind musically.
[00:56:53] He was there.
[00:56:55] I don't know.
[00:56:57] I feel like I don't know how to answer
[00:57:00] that.
[00:57:01] It could be a personal thing too it
[00:57:03] doesn't have to be like I saw the
[00:57:05] Beatles it could be like I opened
[00:57:07] up for I don't know.
[00:57:10] Just do you want to pass? Do you
[00:57:12] want to take Ken's answer? It was
[00:57:14] like I like to.
[00:57:16] Same. Just say same.
[00:57:18] I wasn't there.
[00:57:20] I mean she was in Vancouver at the
[00:57:22] time. I mean that's actually a funny
[00:57:24] thing about our band is that like at
[00:57:26] one time you me and Ian were all
[00:57:28] living in Vancouver.
[00:57:30] Didn't meet until we all lived in
[00:57:32] Nautila.
[00:57:33] That was accurate.
[00:57:34] Next question?
[00:57:35] Yes, go for it.
[00:57:36] Okay, alright.
[00:57:37] This is a new one that I was
[00:57:39] thinking about and I don't know if
[00:57:41] it's going to work so I'm going
[00:57:43] to go with this one.
[00:57:44] Okay, if you could have one person in
[00:57:46] your band that isn't in your band
[00:57:48] who would you like to have in your
[00:57:50] band?
[00:57:51] John Card.
[00:57:52] On drums he was in personality
[00:57:54] crisis, DOA,
[00:57:56] SNFU.
[00:57:57] He was early
[00:57:59] SNFU too.
[00:58:01] Like back in the yeah.
[00:58:03] Not original but sort of I think
[00:58:05] second album or something like
[00:58:07] that.
[00:58:08] So I have a dream
[00:58:10] of having a hype person
[00:58:12] on stage
[00:58:14] like the guy from
[00:58:16] Slipknot who's just like insane
[00:58:18] and occasionally will climb on like a
[00:58:20] drum and like I think jump on that.
[00:58:22] Did I just start a Civil War?
[00:58:24] No, I kind of want this idea.
[00:58:26] Yeah, like a hype.
[00:58:28] Do you have a hype person in mind?
[00:58:30] That person from Slipknot.
[00:58:32] Corey Taylor?
[00:58:33] No he's the singer.
[00:58:35] The hype person is just like one of
[00:58:37] the seven people on stage that don't
[00:58:38] actually know their name.
[00:58:40] I should probably look it up.
[00:58:42] They've seen those.
[00:58:43] Have you seen them?
[00:58:44] It's like the guy in the mighty body of
[00:58:46] Boston who just danced.
[00:58:48] He just danced on stage.
[00:58:50] I love that.
[00:58:51] I think that is such a wonderful
[00:58:53] thing because sometimes you know you're
[00:58:55] just stuck on your mic.
[00:58:57] I'm behind the drums.
[00:58:59] I can't really get up and do that
[00:59:01] and I think it's a really fun
[00:59:03] element to have on stage.
[00:59:05] Specifically that person though.
[00:59:07] They had a big goat and they had
[00:59:09] this person that would dance around
[00:59:11] and had signs and all kinds of weird stuff.
[00:59:13] The wacky arm flailing and flailing band?
[00:59:15] The only reason I remember the band
[00:59:17] was because of that.
[00:59:19] Right?
[00:59:20] It's a very cool element.
[00:59:22] We played with Masked and Trudder and
[00:59:24] they had the cop that didn't
[00:59:26] play or perform.
[00:59:28] Didn't play or sing but it was just
[00:59:30] there to be sort of like
[00:59:32] the hype person.
[00:59:34] Oh yeah, they have to be like wearing
[00:59:36] mask or very provocatively
[00:59:38] dressed.
[00:59:39] You're just like I don't get it but it's working.
[00:59:41] Meanwhile we're having this conversation
[00:59:43] and I was thinking of going
[00:59:45] and I didn't but of course
[00:59:47] Guar was in town three nights ago
[00:59:49] and there's some hype for you right there.
[00:59:52] Cool.
[00:59:53] Alright, a few more questions
[00:59:55] and then we're done.
[00:59:57] If you could open for any
[00:59:59] band, cultural trees,
[01:00:01] who would you want to
[01:00:03] open for?
[01:00:05] I don't know.
[01:00:07] I'm sorry if I'm wrong.
[01:00:09] I'll leave it that way.
[01:00:11] Again.
[01:00:13] I'm actually,
[01:00:15] I whispered a couple
[01:00:17] words into the ear of a local promoter.
[01:00:19] I don't know if you've heard of Dead Bob.
[01:00:21] It's a band
[01:00:23] that one of the members
[01:00:25] of No Means No
[01:00:27] has going but they've been
[01:00:29] touring around western Canada and
[01:00:31] apparently they're coming this way
[01:00:33] and it'd be awesome to get on a
[01:00:35] bill like that.
[01:00:37] I'm always down
[01:00:39] with the legacy
[01:00:41] Canadian punk bands
[01:00:43] or the bands that spin off.
[01:00:45] Did you open for DOA last time they played at the Dom?
[01:00:47] No.
[01:00:49] I don't know if it was last time.
[01:00:51] The last time we played with DOA
[01:00:53] was sort of a year and a half ago.
[01:00:55] Oh no, because the last time they played at the Dom,
[01:00:57] I got COVID at that show.
[01:00:59] You probably weren't the only one.
[01:01:01] I think that was the show.
[01:01:03] We played with
[01:01:05] QQQQ.
[01:01:07] So it was DOA,
[01:01:09] QQQQ and us
[01:01:11] and that was just a super spreader event.
[01:01:13] I know so many people
[01:01:15] including I think pretty much all of us
[01:01:17] that walked into that show
[01:01:19] helped me in walking out with COVID.
[01:01:21] We just left with the vid.
[01:01:23] I went there with Bob from the Riptides
[01:01:25] and he didn't get it. I got it.
[01:01:27] About four days later I was like
[01:01:29] I'm gonna get it and then I tested it.
[01:01:31] Anyway, let's keep going.
[01:01:33] So what band would you want to open for?
[01:01:35] Dead Bob.
[01:01:37] And next question is
[01:01:39] what band would you want to open for you?
[01:01:41] Oh cool.
[01:01:47] See it's tricky here
[01:01:49] because
[01:01:51] it's always hard
[01:01:53] to sort of...
[01:01:55] Like a dream open or like a realistic
[01:01:57] cut open
[01:01:59] for us right now?
[01:02:01] Have fun with it.
[01:02:03] Dead Bob.
[01:02:05] DOA.
[01:02:07] Passanger Princess.
[01:02:11] They're good eh? That band?
[01:02:13] Yeah, I've been hearing a lot about that band.
[01:02:15] I've listened to some of it.
[01:02:17] I love the idea of
[01:02:19] people playing
[01:02:21] in shows with us and thinking
[01:02:23] of myself and that
[01:02:25] point in my life and how excited
[01:02:27] I was to play shows
[01:02:29] and be supported
[01:02:31] and be
[01:02:33] starting a new band
[01:02:35] and being younger
[01:02:37] and just feeling supported
[01:02:39] and not feeling like you gotta
[01:02:41] scrounge up a show. Being asked to play
[01:02:43] at that point
[01:02:45] in your band is such a great
[01:02:47] feeling. Being like oh my goodness we didn't have to
[01:02:49] ask a bunch of people, someone
[01:02:51] asked us to do this.
[01:02:53] That's super cool.
[01:02:55] Yeah I've heard good things about a passenger princess.
[01:02:57] I've heard good things about a passenger
[01:02:59] and I've heard good things about
[01:03:01] a passenger.
[01:03:03] Anyway,
[01:03:05] two more questions.
[01:03:07] One for each, or you can both answer.
[01:03:09] If you could have a drink
[01:03:12] with a anybody,
[01:03:14] musician, live or dead, who would it be?
[01:03:16] I just say
[01:03:18] Brian Goble,
[01:03:20] singer of the Subhumans.
[01:03:22] He died about 10 years ago.
[01:03:24] We
[01:03:26] had friends in common
[01:03:28] when I lived in Vancouver.
[01:03:30] I love an opportunity
[01:03:32] to have a drink with him
[01:03:34] and just chat.
[01:03:42] Blind boy from
[01:03:44] the rubber bandits.
[01:03:47] He actually has his own podcast
[01:03:49] and is
[01:03:51] just a very
[01:03:53] interesting human.
[01:03:55] Absolutely eclectic
[01:03:57] like music
[01:03:59] nerd genius.
[01:04:01] Should try to get on his podcast.
[01:04:03] Tell him you're in a band called Wet for Days.
[01:04:05] I'm sure he'll let you know.
[01:04:07] He'd be into it. He'd be interesting.
[01:04:09] And cultural treason, he would just dive
[01:04:11] and investigate why.
[01:04:13] There you go.
[01:04:15] The last question,
[01:04:17] it's a deep one for cultural treason.
[01:04:19] Who is cultural treason?
[01:04:21] Oh man,
[01:04:27] I think it's like
[01:04:29] wah wah.
[01:04:31] Cultural treason has been voted
[01:04:33] the most likely to
[01:04:35] be nominated for an award
[01:04:37] that they made up themselves and does not actually exist.
[01:04:41] First ever winners.
[01:04:45] Excellent. Thank you so much for being on.
[01:04:47] Deirdre, Ken,
[01:04:49] it's been a pleasure to see you guys again.
[01:04:51] And I wish you nothing but the
[01:04:53] best in the future.
[01:04:55] Thank you.
[01:04:57] No problem.
[01:04:59] Thanks for inviting us back again.
[01:05:01] Yeah, no problem.
[01:05:03] Any last words?
[01:05:05] You are too modest.
[01:05:07] Don't cut it out.
[01:05:09] Thanks for supporting local music
[01:05:11] and listening to this guy
[01:05:13] and listening to us talk for a little while.
[01:05:15] Hey, you know what? I think that's some super good advice.
[01:05:17] I think everyone else should take that advice.
[01:05:19] Anyway, thanks again.
[01:07:03] My craze did not for war
[01:07:05] the body of sore.
[01:08:28] I'm Mike.
[01:08:30] Thanks again.
[01:08:32] See you next week.
[01:08:34] Bye.
[01:09:02] Thanks for watching.