Episode 141: Halfway There

[00:00:00] No time to waste. It's Ego and Vice.

[00:00:03] You got a real attitude problem, McFly. You're a slacker.

[00:00:29] Yo, this is Mike. This is Episode 141.

[00:01:12] This is Ego and Vice. Thanks for coming back. Right on.

[00:01:15] So yeah, second episode of the second half of the seventh season.

[00:01:20] That's a lot of S's. Hope my microphone's not popping and sissing.

[00:01:24] But if it is, I'm a little under the weather, but I'm bouncing back.

[00:01:30] I guess it's a seasonal kind of head cold, chest cold piece of business.

[00:01:35] Getting sick kind of sucks. More S's.

[00:01:38] I gotta stop saying S's. Maybe I'll talk sideways.

[00:01:42] Not much going on in my life. I've just been sitting on the couch trying to get stuff done.

[00:01:46] Check out my new EP, Mikey No One, available exclusively on Bandcamp.

[00:01:51] I'll probably release it on Spotify because you know, it's what we do, I guess nowadays.

[00:01:56] But it's out there and no update on the Riptides other than we're...

[00:02:01] I can kick an ass. Well, getting ready to kick some ass.

[00:02:05] Anyway, on the podcast today, I have two members from the local band.

[00:02:09] Halfway there, I have Austin and I have Sam.

[00:02:12] They swung by Sotho'd Studio and we sat down and had a great conversation.

[00:02:19] It's just great to be back. I'm so happy to be doing the podcast again.

[00:02:23] I know I took quite a bit of time off, but it's like...

[00:02:26] It's so kind of part of my life now after eight years.

[00:02:30] Well, it will be eight years. I can't believe it.

[00:02:34] Without it, I feel kind of lost.

[00:02:37] You know what I'm saying?

[00:02:38] It's pretty nice, the first part of the vacation.

[00:02:40] It's just the end you get kind of bored.

[00:02:42] So it's like, well, guess I better get back to that.

[00:02:47] Anyway, I think my cold medication is diluting my common sense.

[00:02:52] I'm going to play a song from Halfway there

[00:02:55] and then we're going to come back with a conversation with Austin and Sam.

[00:03:00] So sit back, relax. Papa Advil Flu.

[00:03:06] This is Halfway There on Ego and Vice.

[00:06:47] Hey, we're back. All right.

[00:06:49] This is Ego and Vice.

[00:06:51] As I said in the intro, this is episode 141.

[00:06:55] Also, as I said in the intro, I have two members from the local band.

[00:07:00] Halfway there on Ego and Vice.

[00:07:00] there. I have Austin and I have Sam. What's going on? Hey, how's it going? It's going good.

[00:07:06] It's going good. Good to be back. Thank you for coming out to Sotheid Studio, the lavish

[00:07:11] Sotheid Studio. Thanks for having us. No problem. So halfway there, do you guys have some history

[00:07:18] in Ottawa before halfway there? Where did you come from? Did the alien spaceship land

[00:07:25] you out or what happened? I started playing in bands in Ottawa around 2010. I played in a band

[00:07:32] that started as it was called the record set and it became Caraway and Landslider. And we put out

[00:07:37] some EPs, kind of 2010 to 2014 when I was in university and that was super fun. And then I

[00:07:44] moved away for a couple years and came back and just have been trying to sort of get it back

[00:07:50] into a band since then. And how halfway there sort of started it, it came out of another band we

[00:07:59] were doing covers and I put out an ad on Kijiji in 2021. I put a picture of Doug Ford with the

[00:08:05] thumbs up and it said Douglas says it's okay. And it was like when we were allowed to like

[00:08:09] start playing music again. And we just played covers in that band and kind of members came

[00:08:15] members went and gradually we started doing the thing where we were doing just pop punk covers.

[00:08:20] We played a lot of shows like Moose McGuire's and then we started working on the originals

[00:08:24] and we've been doing originals for maybe a year and a bit. Cool. That's where we are now.

[00:08:32] Sam, what's your origin story in this crazy world? I just joined the band about

[00:08:39] three or four months ago. Yeah. And I'm not originally from Ottawa. I'm from Kirkland Lake

[00:08:46] Ontario. Yeah. So small town came here for university. I'm from Thunder Bay originally.

[00:08:53] Oh really? Okay, that's awesome. So I understand the small Ontario towns in the middle of nowhere.

[00:09:00] Oh yeah. That's good. Right. You wake up and there's a moose in your backyard. Yeah. Yeah.

[00:09:04] Basically. Anyway, sorry. I've interrupted. Oh no, it's okay. Yeah, we're always like

[00:09:09] you have been playing in bands like here and there since I've moved here.

[00:09:16] Here and there, now halfway there. And now halfway there. There you go.

[00:09:20] See how this is all coming together? Yeah.

[00:09:24] Sam joined the band and we needed a bass player and we had two shows lined up and

[00:09:29] recording booked and we were kind of like, hey can you jump in the deep end and learn

[00:09:34] the song super quick? We have two shows at Targ and recording booked and you did a good job.

[00:09:39] Baptized by fire. Yeah, basically. Is there any other way though? It's like, okay, it's now or

[00:09:44] never. So I was looking back at some history from you guys and the farthest I could go back

[00:09:49] was November 22nd. Does that ring a bell around there where the band was kind of

[00:09:54] getting started? I saw that you did like an open mic showcase at the Brass Monkey. Oh yeah,

[00:10:01] yeah, that was sort of around the time that we were deciding we were going to do just

[00:10:06] pop punk cover. So the band that halfway there kind of evolved out of we did like a real,

[00:10:11] I learned a lesson with that band which is that when you're a cover band, you kind of have to pick

[00:10:15] like a theme of songs that you're going to do because if you play a song that people aren't

[00:10:19] into as like a cover band, people at the bar will just sort of tune you out and politely

[00:10:24] tune you out. But if you play like one song that people like, one song they don't,

[00:10:27] it kind of gets confusing for people. So we said we're going to do the pop punk thing and

[00:10:31] then yeah, the first show that we did was the open mic at the Brass Monkey. They have a band,

[00:10:37] like a showcase band Wednesday night to the open mic. Yeah, that was where we started I guess.

[00:10:40] Do you think it'd be hard? Like for, I guess there would be kind of genres like you said of

[00:10:46] like cover bands. Like if you're like, you ever see the guy sitting alone at like a heart and

[00:10:51] crown playing acoustic guitar but he's playing like all the hits and stuff so he's basically

[00:10:55] catering to everybody. So you guys actually chose we're going to be a pop punk cover band.

[00:10:59] Yeah. As a cover band, did you actually book shows as a cover band? Was it hard to get gigs being

[00:11:04] like a specific? Sort of. We were able to get gigs that there's three moves, Maguire's,

[00:11:11] there was at the time in Ottawa and we were able to get booked at them pretty easily and

[00:11:17] we played a show in Orleans. Like I live and work in Orleans and have a lot of connections

[00:11:21] there and it was amazing. Like it was like wall-to-wall packed. It was incredible.

[00:11:27] It was a dream come true. But then we found that like as the cover shows went on, I don't think

[00:11:32] there's enough like novelty. I don't think people buy into the story of a cover band as

[00:11:36] much as they do in Originals Band. That's fair. So we've been finding that with the Originals

[00:11:40] Band we're not having at least not yet like that show where there's 200 people and they

[00:11:45] can't seat anyone you know at the venue yet. Yeah. But it's definitely like people are

[00:11:51] more fired up when they come to the shows. They feel like they're part of the story.

[00:11:54] For a cover band, you can't you charge to play? Like you say like we'll play because we'll be your

[00:12:00] house entertainment. That was always my idea of like a cover band. It was like you don't book a gig

[00:12:04] just like you're playing a band like a regular gig and you're playing cover songs. You actually

[00:12:08] like we're going to play like three sets for the night and we're going to be like your house

[00:12:12] band. See there's like I have a friend who plays in like other bands and he writes his own

[00:12:17] stuff but he doesn't make a dime doing that. I can completely relate to that but he has

[00:12:23] cover band and they do weddings and they do fucking bar mitzvahs and they make a killing.

[00:12:28] A killing. Yeah. There's good money. Sometimes it's more lucrative that way I think.

[00:12:31] For sure man because there's no money in like well you sell some t-shirts you might make a

[00:12:37] couple of bucks as an independent band for a while there. But like doing the original band project

[00:12:42] is tremendously creatively fulfilling? Of course. In a way that like cover bands are fine. You

[00:12:47] learn your covers and there's a lot of advantages. Like I found when I was learning all these

[00:12:51] pop on covers I was getting really good at guitar because I was learning these solos and I was

[00:12:56] learning these parts and it really pushed me to sort of learn the ways that song, good songs are

[00:13:01] put together you know. And that helped with the songwriting that came later. That was my

[00:13:06] next question actually like did you always write songs? Like when did it evolve from

[00:13:11] the cover band into like hey maybe we should just start playing these songs like let's write

[00:13:16] our own. And was it a mix thing for a while half and half or did you go straight into original?

[00:13:21] You know what honestly we used to just like chitchat at the end of band practice and I think we

[00:13:25] kicked the idea of writing originals around but it was sort of like who's gonna write them.

[00:13:29] Look at each other and no one was stepping forward you know. And then I sort of had

[00:13:35] a couple ideas. I tentatively sent them out to you know some of the other guys in the

[00:13:40] band and I think Max my biggest fan the drummer he's always saying like this is every song

[00:13:44] I write he's like this is the best one. This is the best one. So that makes it like

[00:13:50] me want to keep doing it you know. Yeah yeah. So we wrote the first one and then

[00:13:54] Zach LaChance records out in Rockland. Zach LaChance studios or music I'm not sure what

[00:14:00] is like official. I think yeah Zach LaChance studio I guess. But he's been amazing and he

[00:14:05] reached out to us and he said do you guys want to record a song and he gave us a good deal

[00:14:09] on recording it. And then that was sort of made it like a deadline to be like okay well let's write

[00:14:15] a song for like you know June 15th or whenever we had it and that was fun and then I was able to

[00:14:20] put together enough ideas I had floating around like voice memos on my phone to write the other

[00:14:24] songs. Was that first one without you again released in June of 2023. Yeah that was the

[00:14:29] first song. Cool cool and you guys wrote that kind of as a collaborative effort or

[00:14:33] someone came with an idea. The songs are getting more collaborative but yeah for the most part I'm

[00:14:41] kind of writing the songs. I'll have like an idea like acoustic I usually start acoustic

[00:14:47] and I'll hum out like a melody and then sort of put lyrics on top of that after a while.

[00:14:52] I find that in any band there has to be some sort of structure for songwriting. I don't think

[00:14:57] I've ever been in a successful situation where it's like you get four complete like

[00:15:01] unfamiliar people who had to play together put them in a room and learn how to immediately

[00:15:05] play songs together. It is an evolution. Yeah and there's always that kind of key songwriter

[00:15:10] who says I got a couple of ideas or I got a couple of songs and those are the songs for a

[00:15:14] while right? Yeah and then you eventually find your groove and you find your chemistry and then

[00:15:18] people start knowing where they can add that and that's when you hone your style or your

[00:15:23] sound and that's when you become but yeah man I can totally relate. And the songs

[00:15:28] you kept coming you had Without You Again King of the Break Room which is pretty cool.

[00:15:35] I think that's the best song. Oh really? I really like So Farewell. Oh really? I appreciate that.

[00:15:41] I thought that was a really good song. Yeah okay. I was listening to them the last couple

[00:15:44] of days just to kind of familiarize. Yeah okay. So it was June, September, November,

[00:15:48] you had Lost Forever More and then into 2024 you had The Best Is Yet To Come

[00:15:52] Yeah. Which is true because the next song was So Farewell

[00:15:56] and then just recently in August you released a new single called Good Times. Yeah.

[00:16:00] Yeah I have a question for you. Who wrote their lyrics for Good Times? Me. What Foo Fighters song

[00:16:07] was playing on the radio when you wrote that line in your mind? You know what honestly I took

[00:16:13] a trip last summer to Asia and I find whenever I don't know if other people are like this

[00:16:19] whenever I go on a trip there's like a day of panic where I'm trying to get everything ready

[00:16:23] and one of the things on kind of my to-do list was like I got to finish this song

[00:16:27] so you know my wife was like packing clothes or whatever in the other room and I'm sitting

[00:16:32] with my guitar like I gotta finish this song. Gotta finish this song. And no I just had this idea

[00:16:36] of like I just think that the 90s songs have stuck around a little bit too long.

[00:16:44] Too long. Okay. Yeah I think you know we've been joking about it for like 24 years that like 10

[00:16:50] years ago was 1990. Yeah. But like for you know 1990 was 34 years ago right. So

[00:16:56] Christ that's crazy right. So I just think like bands are the Foo Fighters they

[00:17:00] wrote some tremendous songs and I really respect the Foo Fighters and I really

[00:17:03] like the Foo Fighters and there's seven references to the Foo Fighters songs in

[00:17:06] the bridge there so I do really like the Foo Fighters but it was just supposed to be

[00:17:10] this guy who's like stuck in the past. The nostalgia the captain of the football team.

[00:17:16] In my mind it's basketball because it's like the song starts off as a black and white photo of

[00:17:21] how you look to your glory days you're setting up for the game winning point.

[00:17:25] Okay. So I it could be football I think basketball. Hey whatever someone wants to

[00:17:28] associate it with. I was listening to that song driving down the road and I thought I was like

[00:17:34] did he just say Foo Fighters? And then I brought it up because the lyrics are on Spotify

[00:17:38] and I said Foo Fighters. I wonder what song he was thinking of like I put myself in the actual

[00:17:44] the guy's shoes. I was like I wonder what song he was listening to so I just I was curious.

[00:17:48] Yeah. So I just wanted to know. I don't know not a specific one it could have been like some of

[00:17:52] the references in the in the there's best of you one by one. Anyway there's five others

[00:17:59] go check them. Yeah you can't go wrong if you take some influence from from the Foo Fighters

[00:18:05] because legendary huge huge rock band. Do they get does rock bands get huge nowadays? I don't know.

[00:18:11] I would say they're definitely the biggest like rock band out right now. They have to be well

[00:18:15] earned too you know what I mean. So Moose McGuire is on to House of Targ he played with Kingfisher.

[00:18:20] Yeah Kingfisher great I know Brent he was Kingfisher has been on the band on the band

[00:18:26] on the podcast great guys. Deadwell do you know Deadwell? No they're part they're one

[00:18:33] of the players from Deadwell is in Kingfisher and stuff like that. And I saw that Cafe de

[00:18:38] Cuff you guys played. How are the shows going? Like I know like when I look on Spotify you have

[00:18:44] about five singles at six singles that you guys must have a lots of song like a lot more than that.

[00:18:51] Yeah it's mostly originals I guess that we do and yeah I mean the crowds have been

[00:18:55] you know receptive to them. So yeah really good show so far like yeah.

[00:19:04] Do you do do you plan on doing any touring? Do you have any like aspirations to play out of town?

[00:19:10] We want to we met some bands from Montreal recently we played with.

[00:19:16] No we're just trying to be like mindful of what the next step is and I think the next step for

[00:19:20] that just that we're not playing Ottawa so often that people stop coming you know

[00:19:24] is to get like a gig in Montreal, Kingston, Toronto, Hamilton, KW. Yeah I think exhausting a draw is a

[00:19:34] very real thing and that's something that we've always that's always been in the back of my mind

[00:19:40] through all the years that I've ever played in Ottawa which is really odd because nowadays

[00:19:44] there's a certain corner of the music scene now where bands are playing like three times

[00:19:51] a month at the same venue and they sell them out with all their friends very very tight following there.

[00:19:57] I've been going I've been to those shows and it's amazing the support and I've also been to

[00:20:01] other shows where it feels like good old Ottawa where it's like pulling teeth sometimes so there's

[00:20:07] different levels so I understand yeah. I think Ottawa is an awesome place to be as a musician

[00:20:13] or in a band because we are so close to so many little things we don't have to drive

[00:20:17] nine hours out of Ottawa to get somewhere. Yeah it could be worse for sure. Yeah like there's Montreal,

[00:20:23] Kingston, Peterborough, Cornwall even you know what I mean? Van Cleyke Hill has a venue that type

[00:20:28] of stuff I think it's awesome they like but major cities Montreal Toronto right next door

[00:20:33] Toronto's a little further you know London on on the winds or whatever you want to do

[00:20:37] I think it's I think it's awesome and I think there's nothing wrong people say oh we're

[00:20:41] gonna go on a tour and then they say oh we're touring to Europe or we're touring to

[00:20:44] through Texas or something like that there's nothing fucking wrong with like with an Ontario tour

[00:20:48] man you can hit a lot of awesome spots meet a ton of people and play a ton of good rooms

[00:20:52] you know so tour Canada keep it in Canada can't afford to play in the States anymore just

[00:20:58] crossing the border nowadays get the visa to cross the border actually make money in the States

[00:21:02] it's like 1400 bucks each yeah a memory. They need to change that. Yeah stay in Canada

[00:21:07] support Canada tour in Canada go see um halfway there what is halfway there

[00:21:14] did you already explain that? No what do you mean? No the name that's a unique name.

[00:21:20] Well yeah it's not the Bon Jovi song that's what everyone... Hold on hold on to what you got

[00:21:28] no um and that's something that that's a hurdle we have to deal with for like SEO is if you

[00:21:32] if you google halfway there it comes up with the Bon Jovi lyrics but no it's um we were just

[00:21:37] having a super hard time naming the band and um I just one day I was looking through I was like

[00:21:43] listen to music and there's a song on uh revolutions per minute the rise against album called Huffway

[00:21:48] There and I just thought that was a cool name and we just said it and everyone like gave a thumbs

[00:21:53] up emoji you know in the group chat and he was like oh shit we solved the band name problem yeah

[00:21:58] I like it band names are it's like a science say like if you if you read in certain certain

[00:22:03] places they'd say the it's like band nameology or something like it's the one of the hardest

[00:22:08] things as a group to decide on and I guess there's a whole bunch of different uh um tricks and tips

[00:22:14] and uh advantage or leverages or some way to do it I don't know I don't know I think it's really

[00:22:19] hard so if you decide on one and y'all like it it's gotta be a good one yeah and it's sort of

[00:22:23] hints right at like what your band's about to um it's open-ended it is like it's a cool it's

[00:22:29] a really cool name I thought it was really it's a it's a cool name it's like the you could call

[00:22:35] yourself the cigars it's like all right yes that's what that is right yeah like any British

[00:22:41] rock band I guess yeah I had a band I was in a band called um it was called heroes offer her

[00:22:47] like just like like heroes and offer her because I'm bringing up bad religion for the second time but

[00:22:53] um bad religion has a line off their 1991 generator record on a song called I think

[00:22:59] it's too much to ask and it says she she lives for the advice her heroes offer her oh okay and it was

[00:23:07] just like that those last three words just kind of stuck with me and they don't really mean anything

[00:23:10] as their own heroes offer her but it sounded like a really cool band name like an earworm I guess

[00:23:16] yeah heroes offer her it's like what does that mean who cares yeah yeah which genre was that band

[00:23:21] you know bad religion bad religion sorry heroes offer her what genre yeah everything metal core

[00:23:26] no everything I've ever played throughout my life has been punk pop punk or rock punk okay okay I

[00:23:35] my favorite bands in the world are like obviously like bad religion like the old 90s skate punk

[00:23:42] the bands that are amazingly still together like epitaph bands stuff like that I like um pop punk like

[00:23:50] I'll just vaguely like um bluntly say like the Ramones and and the Beach Boys um I love uh bands

[00:23:58] like the queers they're just simple four three three four chord downstroke and kind of easy

[00:24:04] punk songs d cracks amazing band um but yeah my my songwriting I am a meat and potatoes guitar

[00:24:11] player I like simple kind of guitar with super catchy melodies and something that you can dance

[00:24:18] to yeah I don't think that's too far off from what we're trying to do with the songs um

[00:24:24] like we're trying to write songs with you know lyrics that with characters that people relate

[00:24:29] to that they see in their lives you know um chorus is that they'll sing along to um cool

[00:24:36] that's an amazing segue why don't we play a song from halfway there what would you like to

[00:24:42] well we just put out a new single Good Times uh last week so if we could rip Good Times right

[00:24:48] now that'd be amazing all right you heard him this is halfway there this is Good Times right here

[00:24:53] on ego and vice

[00:28:07] in front of you so stop wishing to hear so

[00:28:11] okay we're back um random question who's the bass player I am Sam yep

[00:28:45] give give give me your honest opinion about a finger picker or a pick picker would you just

[00:28:53] call me um you finger picker yeah um I do both I don't know what's the difference in what do you

[00:29:01] prefer and why I mean in pop punk specifically like I prefer probably uh like not finger picking but

[00:29:09] pick picking pick picking sharp in your pick picking anyway yeah um but yeah like there's

[00:29:17] definitely like a lot of examples where like like pop punk bands do finger picking like um

[00:29:24] like for example like saves the day uh I know like the bassist for like some of their old stuff I think

[00:29:31] they had finger picking or he did finger picking a lot and the bass player in the flatliners his

[00:29:35] finger as well is it really I think so how did you get that tone let's like I don't know how

[00:29:41] you get a sam zampe and a big amp I guess the distortion is hard to get I find I could be

[00:29:46] doing finger picking yeah I've always been I've always been on the side of a pick picker like

[00:29:51] pick picking for for bass I don't know I like maybe just the music I like or just sonically

[00:29:56] like to hear in the music I like my bass to clackety-clack yeah I don't like that warm

[00:30:03] yeah something about it I don't like it yeah there's different like situations where it's

[00:30:06] definitely like better to finger pick I think but like yeah something else for us to write like

[00:30:12] we're instrumentally a three piece right like it's like Nick sings and doesn't play an instrument so

[00:30:16] it's me on guitar sam on bass and then drums so I think the picking allows Sam to have like

[00:30:23] to fill some space that a second guitar might might fill you know like you put an overdrive pedal

[00:30:28] on and end a pick and if he if like Sam could do some creative bass lines like I almost said

[00:30:34] I don't know if I've said this since you've been in the band but like that like the bass

[00:30:38] lines in this band it's like you're like lead bass oh it's like every band I can't have a friend

[00:30:43] who plays in a band in Halifax Connor and June body he's the one who came up with that so I can't

[00:30:48] philosophically take credit for that comment but like lead bass I think in an instrumental

[00:30:52] three-piece band fits really well well if you're three piece your guitar drums and bass bass is

[00:30:57] the one corner of the triangle right exactly it's not just there to be there it's like

[00:31:02] it's got to be there right um that was one thing I forgot to bring up in the very first

[00:31:06] segment is that can we give a shout out to the other members of the band maybe explain who they are

[00:31:12] and why the hell they didn't come to the podcast. Mack plays drums what do you want to know about

[00:31:20] these guys? That's good okay how's it going Mack maybe next time we'll see you next time I know

[00:31:26] you got very important things to do. Yeah Mack got held up at work today so Mack started a new job

[00:31:31] and I think it was hard for him there there was a rush or something I think it was hard for

[00:31:35] to dip out and Nick also started a new job Nick sings so if you look at our Instagram page like most

[00:31:42] of the visuals that's Nick what you're seeing there singing and Nick's a really good frontman

[00:31:46] like I really like playing with Nick he just like has a presence that I think makes the show a

[00:31:53] lot more fun it's fun to play with him it's fun to like make videos that he's in because it's

[00:31:57] like oh we're not just standing there staring at our fretboards you know and Mack's like one of

[00:32:05] him in charge of the shows of like talking to other bands and being like hey I'm Mack from

[00:32:09] halfway there just because he's so like gregarious and likable and um Mack is a drummer how many

[00:32:16] other bands is he in? Only one and I'm in that other band with him yeah yeah I find that's the

[00:32:23] that's the ongoing theme in Ottawa is that if you're a good drummer in Ottawa you're probably

[00:32:27] in about three or four bands yeah yeah definitely and you're stretched super thin you know

[00:32:32] Mack's busy like he does like a lot of like weightlifting and is it weightlifting or is it

[00:32:37] it's bodybuilding um I mean both I guess I don't know but I think they're quite different that their

[00:32:41] goals so he's like a competitive bodybuilder cool and uh so he's pretty busy and he's always working

[00:32:46] and Mack the musical meathead yeah I wish he was here he's always on like c4 and like pre-workout

[00:32:54] and he'll say something in the group chat once in a while and it's just like erratic and

[00:32:58] we're like hey how much c4 have you had today you know put the phone down right a couple minutes

[00:33:03] fired up I wouldn't want him to squeeze my microphone too hard yeah anyway Mack and uh next

[00:33:09] maybe next time we uh have you guys on uh maybe you should come but awesome um yeah I really like

[00:33:16] the vocals in uh in uh halfway there I think they're great they're very um I don't want to throw

[00:33:23] this out there or have it any be offensive for anyway but you don't know where it's slightly

[00:33:27] emo-ish yeah definitely and it's very pop punky emo kind of kind of uh vocal we were having like a

[00:33:33] big debate in the band like it was like close to like a band fight at the end of last practice

[00:33:37] about like what genre we fit into and I think it's definitely pop punk yeah so do I Mack and

[00:33:43] I forget who was on what side you know it was like ding ding ding in one corner you know

[00:33:47] but uh no I think I that definitely I think you're on the money yeah I I I think every band

[00:33:54] struggles with that question is like what what kind of music do you play and it's just like

[00:33:58] whoa and you try and define yourself a little this and stuff I would just say it like I always just

[00:34:03] say I play rock I play rock and roll that's it because it's all kind of rock and roll and

[00:34:07] the all when it all comes out in the wash right yeah so that's what I always put down I'm in a

[00:34:11] rock band I play rock music whatever what I'll usually say is like rock's a good place to

[00:34:15] start and then you sort of feel out the other person like how specific can I get this

[00:34:19] and often that's like a dance with two people right they'll be like okay what kind of rock

[00:34:23] and then you're like oh punk and then like oh what kind of punk okay pop on you know get into

[00:34:27] the sub-divisional genres you know I agree with that too rock should always be the first one and

[00:34:31] then you can kind of do you can whittle it down from there yeah like lots of people talk to you

[00:34:36] like I'm in a rock band and that's enough for them they're like okay great yeah bass

[00:34:39] actual playing yeah but some people you say rock and like come on man I know my sub-genres

[00:34:44] here like let's keep going you get it you get one of those guys hey a little purist

[00:34:49] roll your one of those guys they're right what is the fight for funds flight for funds oh yeah

[00:34:56] that was something that we were invited to do at broadhead it was a fundraiser for a pet rescue

[00:35:04] I can't remember the name of the rescue it was like the pot cake rescue I think in Ottawa

[00:35:09] yeah it was a fundraiser for them and we got invited my my friend Shannon she was

[00:35:14] she was a teacher in high school and I've worked with her as in a capacity as like a teacher as well

[00:35:19] and she invited us out we played some acoustic songs and mix of covers mix of originals it was really

[00:35:27] fun cool I respect that too because I put on ego and vice my podcast I always put on like

[00:35:33] acoustic showcases we just did one in December oh nice okay and I always raise money for

[00:35:39] the Ottawa Humane Society because I like animals more than I like people most of the time

[00:35:44] and they need help you know what I mean and the send and and if you can raise money and you

[00:35:48] don't know what to raise money for animals always will be your friend so and I say bite you but

[00:35:54] they don't mean to they're just misunderstood yeah I mean so yeah support so I respect that

[00:35:58] that's cool thank you very much yeah that's really cool um cool uh so what does the rest

[00:36:03] of 2024 hold for halfway there what do you guys got on the go we'd like to get uh maybe another show in

[00:36:12] but um no you mentioned earlier like like we must have like a bunch of more songs we're kind of

[00:36:17] tapped out right now so I think we've gotta find some time to like write the songs and maybe

[00:36:23] now will be a good time to start like you were mentioning before the process of things getting

[00:36:27] more and more collaborative like maybe we can start using our rehearsal time to write together you know

[00:36:35] and because because we there isn't a show imminent on the horizon that we need to prepare for and we'd

[00:36:40] like to maybe get something before the end of the year I think I think maybe if something hasn't

[00:36:44] come to us by the end of September well we'll put something together ourselves yeah that's fair

[00:36:47] and winter's a good time to kind of hunker down too because nobody wants to go out yeah

[00:36:51] winter time yeah it's been right or you use your creativity and use the time where you wouldn't

[00:36:57] be playing as much as summertime to just kind of like fool around and write something but that's

[00:37:01] cool man we do we do actually have two other songs recorded in july though I don't know I didn't think

[00:37:05] of saying yeah I was gonna say yeah sorry so we we have uh we have a song like depending on when

[00:37:09] you're listening to this podcast um we have a song a wonderful life that'll that'll be out probably

[00:37:15] before the end of the year is that the next one uh we haven't talked about it we haven't had

[00:37:18] a bad fight about it yet but but and then we have another song Toronto via Kingston depending

[00:37:23] on when you're listening that that might be uh out or coming out shortly so would you like to

[00:37:28] debut it on ego and vice no okay future I don't know maybe I tried yeah that's cool man and you

[00:37:37] know what just write them as they come and that's it or just I don't know I I have problems

[00:37:43] writing songs too sometimes I'll go through like a just a flood of everything sounds good

[00:37:48] and then I have a longer stretch of I I'm the I am the biggest piece of shit

[00:37:52] fucking songwriter there is I am a fraud everyone will figure it out I'm ruined right but anyway

[00:37:59] and then it comes again so yeah I don't know shit and before you know it you guys are a

[00:38:04] fairly young band so to have the songs you have and their quality it's quality stuff like it's

[00:38:10] good they're good songs and they sound good and they sound pro I don't know you said you

[00:38:14] whoever recorded you exactly Sean did a good job yeah it sounds good sounds really really good

[00:38:19] so he fills in a lot of like blind spots I think that we have like really well

[00:38:25] so like I don't know what percentage you'd say like half of our prep band practices like me and

[00:38:29] Mac arguing but with the drum beats uh and he like does a really good job of like communicating

[00:38:35] between us two at the rehearsals is a producer he's amazing yeah yeah I think so um and uh

[00:38:41] you know like just little things like we didn't record any tambourine but there's like

[00:38:45] tons of tambourine on this song so he definitely went like above and beyond for us in those songs

[00:38:50] so I really like working with him yeah yeah I think uh it's a hard thing for song writers to

[00:38:55] sometimes let go of the wheel and let someone else cut especially something that's finished

[00:38:59] and you've been lit you've been playing the same way then you bring it into a studio and you

[00:39:03] think you're just getting an engineer who just wants to record it and he says you might

[00:39:06] if I just make gonna make a thing switch just something simple like switch that e to an a and

[00:39:11] you're like mmm and then you do it it's like oh my god yeah that was great yeah it's nice to have

[00:39:17] so yeah it's cool and if you're open to it always like always have a limit but be open to stuff like

[00:39:22] that because you never know I think collaborative songwriting it's awesome to sit in your basement

[00:39:26] and write your own song and say I've created this thing it's mine and stuff like that but

[00:39:30] then you take that advice from other people and it really does make it better and it's

[00:39:34] really fun to collaborate that's what I've learned yeah the song that we have that'll I don't know

[00:39:38] when if it'll be the next song the one after that but Toronto via Kingston that one was

[00:39:43] the most collaborative that we had done and it was like you said it wasn't it wasn't so much like

[00:39:48] like it wasn't like watching the Beatles jam you know where they're all in a room and they

[00:39:51] spent eight hours or whatever like working on it was like I would send little audio clips

[00:39:55] what do you think about this I can't figure out where to go after this and someone would say

[00:39:59] what about a double time you know verse and someone say about that chorus like cut that chorus

[00:40:03] and half save the other half for the second chorus and stuff like that like those sort of little tips

[00:40:08] and so it was like any pieces of the songs together and and yeah with Zach you know said

[00:40:14] that was our best song so cool that's is yet to come uh Toronto via Kingston yeah that's the one

[00:40:20] yeah cool man yeah I look forward to hearing it uh lastly on songwriting uh I think you have

[00:40:26] to have like a someone who kind of has a not a final say but it could go on forever if you don't

[00:40:34] decide on something and it's good to have someone say let's just do this you know what I mean just

[00:40:38] have a bit of a general in that sense but have all the soldiers in line and make them all work

[00:40:43] together and stuff anyway maybe that's not right but uh not right but that's just what I say

[00:40:47] if it's always just up in the air always making decisions you'll never decide someone has to

[00:40:51] go nope this is the way it is okay yeah that's tough sometimes sometimes you end

[00:40:54] band practice and you're kind of you know like gripping your steering wheel a little bit more

[00:40:58] hard than you otherwise might have you know yeah well it's a relationship right and you're gonna

[00:41:02] you're gonna squabble in fights absolutely and uh but in the end you know hopefully you'll always

[00:41:08] you know make up and play good music yeah okay um one last thing before we get into

[00:41:16] 13 questions 13 questions with the band is do you have any uh show notes or any thank yous

[00:41:20] you want to just send out into the world for whoever listens to this yeah I could say a couple

[00:41:27] I mean like I've been mentioning Zach a lot uh Zach was amazing um with recording we had a bass

[00:41:33] player for about nine months Kirin O'Day and he uh helped out a lot with the three songs that we

[00:41:37] just released so he should get some credit for like contributing creatively to those songs cool

[00:41:42] um Sam um yeah I don't really have uh anyone to really shout out I don't know I was gonna say Zach too

[00:41:53] but uh yeah I don't know some of the bands too that we've played with recently I think kind of took

[00:41:57] a chance on us because we weren't playing local shows yet like that's fair yeah we're kind of

[00:42:01] stumbling around in the dark like in terms of like how do we get these shows what do we do

[00:42:05] next um so I know heavy lies they uh they were headlining the first show that we did at Cafe to

[00:42:12] Cuff and I think took us on and same with Kingfisher the next show after that so just like the local

[00:42:18] bands we've been playing with like Speed Bump Sally and uh they were just done yeah yeah I know

[00:42:24] I really like listening to them yeah they're a great punk band yeah yeah um that's good man and

[00:42:30] like I said networking is probably the biggest thing you can do in a band you guys have been

[00:42:34] around long enough to know all that not telling the any not telling these guys already something

[00:42:39] they don't know but for anyone who is listening network try and meet as many people as you can if

[00:42:44] you want people to come to your shows you got to go to their shows you just it's give and take

[00:42:48] right and bottom line is be nice to everybody be cool to everybody because the bridges you burn

[00:42:55] are the ones you may need to cross later in life so it's my little bit of advice okay

[00:43:01] are you ready to play 13 questions with the band I think so that's not always 13 questions but it's

[00:43:05] not always 13 questions all right time for 13 questions with the band yes this segment's back

[00:43:12] again it's called 13 questions but I only asked six maybe five okay this is 13 questions with

[00:43:19] Austin and Sam of halfway there my very first question in 13 questions with the band is uh

[00:43:27] what was the very first concert you ever went to see as a fan oh jeez Sam um yeah I guess I'll go

[00:43:34] first um I think I want to say Billy talent and some 41 in Sudbury good Canadian uh good Canadian

[00:43:43] act yeah for sure yeah or it was Silverstein oh that's completely Sudbury I don't know

[00:43:49] either or I don't know cool what about you Austin oh it was Billy talent at

[00:43:55] the the Tula festival used to have like live music it was really cool um and there were yeah there was

[00:44:02] just I can't remember the name of the local bands but there were there were a couple local bands

[00:44:05] that that opened and that was a cool thing for us to see like as like I think I was 12 or 13 then

[00:44:09] yeah that like the local band like I think sold their CD at the end you have to like

[00:44:13] meet them and stuff like that was really cool you know yeah it's a cool introduction to that

[00:44:17] yeah it's like the VIP section it's like meet the band backstage pass right and I like I

[00:44:21] adored Billy talent for the first two albums when they came on me too yeah and Ian DeSa is

[00:44:28] I think hands down the most underrated guitar player of all time like if you play guitar

[00:44:33] and you listen to Billy talent you might not pick up on how challenging it is but you pick up

[00:44:39] the guitar and you try to learn some of these things he does and you're like is he doing this

[00:44:42] on his own yeah he's uh he's definitely a unique he's kind of in his own category with stuff he

[00:44:49] does I saw Billy talent at the what's it what's the what's the thing called now TD TD Canadian

[00:44:57] Tire Center oh yeah whatever but it was like the Carel Center or something back in the day and

[00:45:02] they opened for uh Alexis on fire yeah oh no it was the other way around

[00:45:09] Alexis on fire open for Billy talent and the big curtain there and he started the devil with

[00:45:14] mask riff and I was like okay and the fucking thing fell and it was like

[00:45:20] and I was like the fuck is this so when I saw them it was the same like it sounds like it was the

[00:45:26] same uh like show setup but it was uh this is how it goes yeah that riff at the beginning this is

[00:45:30] how it goes and like the stroke i think the whole back was uh strobing and i don't know if he

[00:45:34] still has the eraser hair but he did then yeah he says it was cool i'd never seen them before

[00:45:41] so that was my introduction to like live Billy talent and I was like yeah fucking right I think I

[00:45:46] left after halfway through though because I was just burnt from Alexis on fire but I got to see

[00:45:50] half of Billy talent anyway we went too long on the first question okay uh what is your desert

[00:45:58] island record if you got stranded on a desert island and you only could listen to one album

[00:46:03] for the next I don't know till you got rescued 10 years let's say you go first I really like

[00:46:12] and it hasn't come up yet in any of our questions I know Sam likes to span but the hotelier

[00:46:18] so yeah home like no places there I listened to that like I think it was the only thing I listened

[00:46:24] to when it came out and I had moved to a different country at that time and I almost

[00:46:30] have a hard time listening to that record now because it's like so powerful how much it

[00:46:33] brings me back to like the walk I had to work when I would listen to that sure so I think

[00:46:37] I think that one yeah that's the one yeah seems to be the record of powerful things so why not

[00:46:42] stranded on an island am I like what I try to do like if you're like a punk or emo purist like you

[00:46:48] might be offended that I'm saying this but like the thing that I want halfway there to sound like

[00:46:52] is blink-money too and the hotelier that's what I want like I want like that mash up yeah well

[00:46:58] you can do that but you know someone's at home in there like oh I don't know like well

[00:47:01] I'm trying you know what I say to those people uh fuck them yeah do what you want to do yeah

[00:47:07] oh yeah so mine um maybe uh is a real boy by say anything oh yeah

[00:47:17] but it's it's hard hard to pick you put some say anything songs on the playlist

[00:47:21] that I did yeah I'm trying to promote on Spotify max be miss Dan yeah yeah cool

[00:47:28] what was the first record CD tape or any physical copy you ever bought okay I'll start this one

[00:47:34] I think you're gonna have a lot of people on this podcast I don't answer this question I don't know

[00:47:39] if they're answering honestly because I heard a lot of cool answers I don't have a cool answer

[00:47:43] is this the first one I bought with my own money or the ones that my parents bought me

[00:47:47] like the first time the first time in your into the best of your recollection you walked

[00:47:51] into the right my money yeah yeah it was prozac prozac yeah well that's a good 90s kind of uh

[00:47:56] yeah I appreciate that yeah that has its place in the annals of history not a cool album

[00:48:06] people with cool albums the first album I wonder if they're being honest yeah right

[00:48:10] it's just like of course like what you were 11 and you were listening to like a bench seven

[00:48:13] maybe I don't know never so my answer might be okay maybe I don't know um I kind of want to

[00:48:20] like I think it's American idiot like um that's fair yeah green day that's good that's pretty young

[00:48:26] at the time that is a record you would buy though when you're younger right it'd be like punk rock edgy

[00:48:30] american idiot it's all kind of there but you know it's great yeah I think that's a great answer

[00:48:35] and I believe you there you go the first album that was bought for me was the spice girls

[00:48:39] oh nice right my sister used to have that one too yeah cool yeah well I brought a lot of people's

[00:48:45] sisters had that all definitely I brought this up before where it's just like you you I don't know

[00:48:50] if anyone has older siblings but you kind of when you're younger you're influenced by what your older

[00:48:55] sibling kind of likes and before you can kind of choose your own stuff because I remember when I

[00:48:59] was a kid I liked what my sister liked she liked like Canadian uh like Brian Adams and like

[00:49:06] glass tiger and stuff like that and I just thought that was the greatest shit right my mom taught

[00:49:10] aerobics in the 90s yeah so I'm sure that's part of where that came from yeah yeah I guess so

[00:49:15] and uh like I loved when I was a kid I my one of my favorite anything was Billy Idol I thought he was

[00:49:23] the coolest fucking guy in the world I thought he was the rockstar that is a rockstar like you know

[00:49:28] you look ridiculous but I oops I still love him he just played not oh I didn't go fuck I didn't

[00:49:34] I'm so out of touch with shit anyway next question or did no we're good oh yeah okay sorry my bad

[00:49:41] getting ahead of myself uh if you had a time machine and you could go back to any historical

[00:49:48] music moment what would it be um I I'd love to have been um like an adult I suppose like during

[00:50:01] like the big pop punk and like fun alt rock music and like the the 2000s and like have got to play

[00:50:09] with or open with like you know Billy talent or sorry um Billy time would be cool too but I meant

[00:50:14] to say blink ratio or some 41 and and then like there were a lot of tremendous just like fun alt

[00:50:19] rock bands like I mentioned the killers before um the strokes stuff like that I think like I was

[00:50:25] alive when that was all happening but like do you have a particular event that you wish you could

[00:50:29] have witnessed in person um man you know what I'm gonna think about this like tonight

[00:50:36] and like oh wow I should have said I get a lot of woodstock 99 I was just gonna say

[00:50:41] limb biscuit yeah I'm sure I I'd probably have to like look through the calendar of um

[00:50:46] of like warp tour years but like I'm sure there would have been a warp tour year yeah I went to

[00:50:51] warp tour in 2011 though and it was awesome there was there was polar bear club title fight

[00:50:56] transit um and then like classic bands like newfound glory and uh but it wasn't that was it so

[00:51:03] I did I do feel like I got a good warp tour experience going to have seen that in much

[00:51:07] real but I but I bet there would have been like a classic year then the only problem with warp

[00:51:11] tour is that because there was so many bands each each band set was only like 25 minutes

[00:51:15] yeah it was like oh this is my favorite band I've been waiting in the mud for three days to see them

[00:51:20] and they played four songs and then they're gone yeah what yeah did you ever go to rock fest

[00:51:25] monabella uh no no uh it was similar thing but like monabella was just not really big enough

[00:51:31] to handle like the amount of people that they had there like one year there like wasn't toilet paper

[00:51:34] like I don't know if you guys remember that I got a problem with festivals like like day after day

[00:51:40] festivals I can't do them it's just I I must I'm a I'm a city boy I'm a good for my own bed and my

[00:51:46] com creature comforts part of just the infrastructure challenges they had there though was like

[00:51:49] people couldn't get in quick enough so I remember like I think I wanted to see counterparts and

[00:51:54] they like I saw like I don't even know if I saw a minute of it because it just like I couldn't

[00:51:58] get in like they weren't able to get enough people in before they had the band started

[00:52:01] the lineup was usually pretty bad I mean to get into the oh not like the band line up like the

[00:52:07] yeah the actual lineups um sam time machine um yeah so I was gonna say warp tour because I've

[00:52:14] I never got to go to one uh because I lived in northern Ontario and it was too hard to

[00:52:20] you know get down to the choir yeah so yeah like I was like pretty emo back in high school so

[00:52:27] um maybe like a 2006 2007 kind of warp tour I would have wanted to go to cool um

[00:52:34] that's cool man Pierce the veil and you know I like that prime silverstein okay um

[00:52:42] emo what what's your favorite rainy day music uh I mean that's all I listened to you just

[00:52:53] like depressing stuff he's like that's my everyday yeah um what's okay I can answer

[00:53:01] the war on drugs I like listening to them okay yeah all right and what's your favorite sunny day music

[00:53:08] meaning the stuff that brings you down then the stuff that brings you back up uh I listened to a lot

[00:53:14] of motion city soundtrack um and I feel like that kind of like they have songs that are very

[00:53:19] sad and like also very happy so um yeah it works both ways if I answer with motion city soundtrack

[00:53:27] cool I think maybe like any any blink like maybe take off your pants and jacket something like that

[00:53:33] nice I received that as a gift when I was in grade five but tragically after the spice girls

[00:53:39] CD gift right tragically you know that would have been a cool answer poor poor ginger and posh

[00:53:45] scary and spooky and whatever the spooky for you I wouldn't have remembered wherever they were

[00:53:51] okay who would uh halfway there love to open for I mean I mentioned the hotel

[00:53:59] year before I don't think they're doing shows much anymore I don't think they're not like

[00:54:02] broken out but yeah I know they played in Toronto last year um blink that's a tall order but yeah

[00:54:12] I don't know it's like but it's all like just fantastical questions right yeah anything you

[00:54:15] want throw in the killers in there again I'm gonna see the front bottoms because why not really

[00:54:21] like the front bottom there you go yeah there's a band from Thunder Bay do you know the honest

[00:54:24] heart collective anyway they're amazing they're from Thunder Bay they're a tremendous band

[00:54:27] that's maybe a more realistic one uh so uh if the honest heart collective is listening

[00:54:32] we'll drive to Thunder Bay for you there you go you play the black pirates pub

[00:54:38] um a couple more uh with 13 questions with the band halfway there is uh if each of you

[00:54:45] individually could have a drink with any let's say musician live or dead who would it be uh for me

[00:54:54] it'd be Hendrix Jimi Hendrix yeah like hands down probably Gord Downey I want to say yeah that's a

[00:55:00] good one too yeah they're both good ones Hendrix man Hendrix and fucking Gord Downey I should

[00:55:05] have been like a dinner party with those two guys crazy what a crazy conversation that would be

[00:55:12] Hendrix is like was like known for being like humble and like I think it'd be cool to talk to

[00:55:15] him about guitar and and like I guess if you asked him like people would ask him like how do you feel

[00:55:20] about your own guitar playing he'd be like oh I wish I could do this like Clapton or this like

[00:55:23] Harrison or something like that yeah all I can do is this amazing legendary shit that he's invented

[00:55:28] his own style and his own chord voicings but then he's like oh but my vibrato is not as good as

[00:55:33] Clapton or something like that I think it'd be cool to talk to him with stuff like that I think

[00:55:35] we're all our worst critic one in one way or another and we're all I think we all have

[00:55:40] imposter syndrome to a certain degree yeah I agree and uh we won't know till we're dead I guess

[00:55:46] so right on can't wait for that uh last question for halfway there is kind of a

[00:55:55] cosmic question who is halfway there um we can take this sort of any way that we want

[00:56:02] okay I'll try uh it's four guys or friends uh we write songs that are fun um we try to have fun

[00:56:12] all the time not too hung up on trying to be cool um catchy melodies lyrics that'll resonate with your

[00:56:20] life um you're like having fun nix made a rule that we weren't allowed to chirp each other on

[00:56:26] podcast uh I think that if the two of them had been here there would have been nonstop yeah like

[00:56:33] everyone's licking their wounds on the drive home like we practice in limo's and uh everyone's

[00:56:38] down bold every practice like a hockey locker room you know like yeah so a lot of fun try to have fun

[00:56:43] not not worrying too much about like being cool or whatever that's halfway there yeah I think that

[00:56:47] works all right I think uh if you could be in a band with your friends and you all get along

[00:56:53] and you love what you're doing it's a win you can't ask for much more than that

[00:56:56] and now you have a podcast to play for all your parents I don't know thank you so much for being

[00:57:04] on I wish you nothing but the best uh to top it all off you guys are really cool dudes yeah

[00:57:09] thanks for having us so good luck with everything and we'll talk real soon thanks Mike

[00:58:35] you can't say no to the king here's a girl she wants it all but going now stop paying that time

[00:58:55] king of luncheon nights off he hates the weekend he's the man who wears everything but only from nine

[01:00:05] to five everything but he hates the weekend you're the king of the break room now you're the king

[01:00:19] of luncheon man he sheds white you both all right that's it for episode 141

[01:01:01] just rolling along back in the groove I guess season seven second part y'all I'd like to thank

[01:01:09] Austin and Sam again from halfway there for being on great guys great band check them out

[01:01:16] if you want to get a hold of me you can always reach me at egoinvice at gmail.com

[01:01:20] if you want to listen to the podcast go to egoinvicepodcast.com it has links to every

[01:01:28] place you can hear the podcast so there you go as I always say it's my fortress of solitude

[01:01:33] my HQ my home base um that's it

[01:01:38] uh okay bye you've got a real attitude problem apply you're a slacker

[01:02:06] great