There are so many brilliant shows in Ottawa, but finding them isn't always easy.
That’s why Will Stockdale started Ottawagigs.ca
Will built this site for anyone who wants to discover something new in our city. Ottawagigs.ca makes it easier for fans to find gigs, bands to find an audience, and venues to attract a crowd.
Ottawagig.ca is updated with new shows every weekend. If you have a gig you'd like to promote that isn't yet on the website, please go to Submit a Show.
If you appreciate what Ottawagigs.ca is doing and want to support our music scene, consider making a small donation to help keep the site sustainable for the long-term.
Sign up now and join the thousands who already use the site.
Ottawagigs.ca
Egoandvicepodcast.com
E&V
[00:00:01] Not sure what to do in Ottawa tonight? Not even sure where to start looking? I got a website for you.
[00:00:08] Go to ottawagigs.ca whether you're looking for a band, whether you're looking for an artist, whether you don't know what you're looking for.
[00:00:15] Maybe some live music or just a fun night out on the town. Start with ottawagigs.ca and find everything you need.
[00:00:22] Bands, artists, venues, dates, times, even door covers. It's really all at your fingertips on an easy to use website.
[00:00:31] ottawagigs.ca. Go discover the amazing talent, the amazing venues, the amazing nightlife that Ottawa has to offer.
[00:00:41] Start your evening on ottawagigs.ca. It's your guide to the gig.
[00:00:47] You've got a real attitude problem, McFly. You're a slacker.
[00:00:50] Hey, we're back. This is Mike. This is Ego and Vice, Episode 144.
[00:01:58] As promised in the intro, sitting in Southwood Studio, I have Will Stockdale, the proprietor, the creator, the overlord of ottawagigs.ca.
[00:02:11] How are you, Will?
[00:02:12] I'm good, Mike. Thanks for having me. Thanks for having me down to the studio.
[00:02:15] Yeah, thank you for coming. We touched base. I think you actually reached out to me.
[00:02:20] Yeah, I think I did.
[00:02:22] Well, Ego and Vice has always been local music.
[00:02:27] So when you reached out to me, you complimented me.
[00:02:30] It was nice words. I would like to hear them.
[00:02:32] But you said, I'd like to know more about the podcast.
[00:02:34] Because with Ottawa gigs, which we're going to talk about in full, it's kind of also helping the Ottawa music scene.
[00:02:48] What is Ottawa gigs? Where did this come from? Like, who are you? What's going on?
[00:02:52] Yeah, I'll tell a bit of the story. Yeah, I'm glad you replied to my message.
[00:02:56] Like, flattery will get you everywhere, I find usually.
[00:02:58] So, Ottawa gigs, as people listening to this can probably tell, I'm not from around here.
[00:03:05] So that's really, the story of Ottawa gigs kind of starts in the UK.
[00:03:08] Okay.
[00:03:09] Maybe slightly counter-intuitively.
[00:03:11] So, I moved to Ottawa five years ago now.
[00:03:16] Huge music fan, like back in the UK.
[00:03:18] I was a teenager during that kind of golden era of indie rock.
[00:03:22] So, you know, Arctic Monkeys, Strokes, Franz Ferdinand, all that kind of good stuff.
[00:03:28] And have been, you know, enthralled with that and playing guitar pretty badly ever since that moment.
[00:03:36] But when I moved to Ottawa, didn't immediately kind of get into the scene.
[00:03:42] You know, lots of things to do when you move to a new country.
[00:03:45] For sure.
[00:03:45] Then we had the pandemic.
[00:03:47] And so, coming out of that in early 2023 was kind of the moment where kind of that new year I was like, right.
[00:03:55] I have not been seeing enough live music in this country.
[00:03:57] Like, this is something I'm going to try and do this year.
[00:03:59] And so, that was the moment where kind of for the first time really I stepped up to Google and was like, what's on in Ottawa in terms of live music?
[00:04:06] And that is the point where I found, as I think thousands of Ottawa also have, that when you try and do that, or when you did try and do that at that moment in time, it wasn't really that easy to answer that question.
[00:04:18] No.
[00:04:19] You know, you had to, it was pretty clear obviously there wasn't any kind of centralized service that would help me answer that question.
[00:04:26] And you were having to go and like look at every venues, website, Instagram, Facebook, whatever it was to find that information.
[00:04:34] Right.
[00:04:35] But I was still like, this is all good.
[00:04:38] I'm still going to do this.
[00:04:39] I'm going to, every, kind of every week, every fortnight, I'll check all the listings.
[00:04:43] I'll see if there's something I want to go see because I really want to do this.
[00:04:45] Cool.
[00:04:45] And then the coincidence was just that that was a moment in my work life where I was between two companies.
[00:04:53] So I was just moving on from the previous company that I started and thinking about starting my next one.
[00:04:57] And I knew how to build websites.
[00:04:59] And so I was like, actually, you know, if I'm doing all this research anyway and gathering all this information, why not just publish it somewhere?
[00:05:06] Because I'm sure there's other Ottowans who are having the same, having the same problems.
[00:05:10] Of course.
[00:05:10] So that's where it started.
[00:05:11] Of course.
[00:05:12] Like I've been in the Ottawa, I've been in Ottawa for 25 years.
[00:05:16] And when I first came here, we used to have a paper.
[00:05:21] It was like a, like a, like a fancy, not a fancy, but just almost like a, a local DIY kind of free paper.
[00:05:28] It was called the exclaim.
[00:05:29] I think it was.
[00:05:30] Yeah.
[00:05:30] And you opened it up.
[00:05:31] And in the very back of the, the, the, the, the paper, it had, this is like 1998, nine type of thing.
[00:05:39] So the phones, like cell phones weren't on your hip back then.
[00:05:42] They were, but they were very big and they didn't have like what they do today, but you'd go to the back of the paper and they'd have the show listings for Ottawa, but it would only be for the weekend, maybe four days or something like that.
[00:05:54] There might have some advanced booking in that, but that's what I used to like go to all the time.
[00:05:59] And over the course of being in Ottawa, venues come and venues go.
[00:06:03] And then the internet came.
[00:06:04] And like you said, and it really is hard to know exactly what is, what is going on.
[00:06:09] So when I was going through Ottawa gigs.
[00:06:13] Dot, uh, CA, the actual website, it's super like intuitive and it's super helpful and it's broken down into all categories.
[00:06:21] What kind of background do you have in like, uh, like, uh, like it or something?
[00:06:25] Like, are you, uh, you said, you know how to build websites.
[00:06:28] Yeah. Um, but then that's the kind of dirty secret of Ottawa gigs.
[00:06:32] And was the interesting thing in building it is that I, I don't know how to code.
[00:06:35] Like I know how to, for the previous business that I ran, I ran also ran our marketing side of the business and had to learn how to build websites for that.
[00:06:43] Um, but all the technology that sits underneath Ottawa gigs, um, requires like some knowledge and some familiarity with different tools to stitch them into.
[00:06:51] Um, to stitch them together.
[00:06:52] Yeah. Um, uh, and that part of working out that architecture was slightly complex, but generally speaking, it's, uh, yeah, it's something that, uh, others who, you know, are that way inclined could have, could also, could also been working.
[00:07:06] And how many versions have there been? Is it always been just this one that I'm looking at here?
[00:07:09] No, there's been two versions. So what you're looking at now is the kind of new, exciting, like full fat version, which, uh, which I was happy to relaunch.
[00:07:18] I think in May, no, like no, made you in July early this year.
[00:07:23] Um, cause when I first started out with it again, the hypothesis was there's probably a few other other ones out there who would appreciate something like this, but I didn't know that.
[00:07:32] Yeah. You kind of, so you don't want to build something too, too complicated. Um, and back then I had to collect all the data myself.
[00:07:39] So that's the, that was my next question is how do you do it? Like, how do you, like, as we were just talking in our previous, um, uh, conversation, there's like trying to find how, who's playing and where they're playing and what's going on. Like, where do you start?
[00:07:53] Yeah. Uh, and that was the, uh, that's, I think that's the key problem, which has stopped others from creating something like this before. And, you know, part of the interesting thing about working on this project is I'm coming to it, you know, pretty humble that I'm reasonably new to this scene.
[00:08:08] Right. It's actually why I reached out to you and why I reached out, reached out to others who've, you know, been living here much longer, know the scene much better. Kind of asking, you know, what people must, I know this is not an original idea. People have tried this before. Like, what have people tried before? Like, why didn't it work? Like, what were some of the issues? Because actually I'd love not only to build something, but something that is sustainable and, you know, and sticks, and sticks around.
[00:08:30] Becomes the staple or that's something you lean on, right? Where's like, oh, just check.
[00:08:33] Yeah. Cause there's clearly demand for it, both from like music fans, but also venues. When you speak to venues, you know, it's, it's a, you know, key thing. As you said, we used to have the papers and those things which hosted those kinds of listings. Now we don't, and now we don't have that. There is a gap here.
[00:08:47] Um, and, uh, interestingly, I had a couple of conversations with folks who basically said, when I introduced myself, said, Hey, I'm thinking of building this. And, you know, you've been in the scene for a while and kind of looked to me. We're like, we've seen you before. Like, you know, like, you know, like, you know, um, so, so I'm, again, I'm aware it's not, it's not a new idea. It's been tried before. And the main thing that the main hurdle that it seems is hard to get over is, as you said, is the data and is aggregating all that information. It's just so time consuming to do.
[00:09:15] Yeah, that's for sure. But it's okay. It may have been done before, but I find as technology gets better, everything gets more simplified, everything gets easier, more information. It's easier to find something. Um, even like on a computer nowadays or on your phone, you have an app. Do you have an app for this? Uh, no, not yet. Oh, that'd be a good one. No. Anyway, um, you know, so people can find it and, uh, being recognized, like, do you go see a lot of, did you go see a lot of shows? Do you go see a lot of shows?
[00:09:45] Is like, why this in particular, I know you're a music fan and you're, like you said, you're not, you're only been in Ottawa, like five years. Like, is it a lot of work? Like, what is the payoff? Is it just a hobby or you just love doing it? Or like, how does it, how does it work for you?
[00:09:59] Yeah. Good question. I'll kind of fold that into just kind of continuing the story from like the first version of the second version and how, how things change over that period. So, um, in the, in the first instance, the payoff was, was re was really kind of personal. It was, I'm doing this research anyway, cause I want to go see more shows. Like this is something which I know I will use and will help me find stuff which I otherwise wouldn't be finding.
[00:10:21] And if, you know, 10, 20, a hundred other people on, you know, r slash Ottawa music or whatever, we're also dig it and start using it. That'd be, you know, that'd be fantastic. Like that was kind of the limit of the ambition at the start.
[00:10:34] And so the first version of the site had pretty, you know, it was a pretty basic website and involved me going and doing probably four hours of kind of copying and pasting essentially every week.
[00:10:46] And all that got me to was the next two weeks of shows on the site. That's, that's all.
[00:10:51] Cause they just keep coming. Cause they just keep, cause they just keep coming. Um, it's something that I think will surprise not necessarily folks who are familiar with the scene, but anyone who's, who's not just the number of like the number of shows that are on.
[00:11:04] And the number of great shows that are on, or I'm sure we're going to do some, some cheerleading later.
[00:11:08] And I guess you have to stay with them real time. Cause what if something gets canceled?
[00:11:11] Yeah. Like you have to go in. Okay. Yeah. It's not like once you put it in, it's not etched in stone.
[00:11:15] Like you still have to kind of in that small chunk of time, you still have to keep a bit of an eye on it. Yeah.
[00:11:21] So that was the first version four hours a week, copying and pasting two hours of the next, sorry, the next two weeks of shows.
[00:11:27] And that did me for kind of a year. Um, but what that year showed was that this is something that people really,
[00:11:34] really wanted, you know, even just providing people with the next two weeks was significantly better than,
[00:11:40] you know, the existing options they had for answering that question of like, you know,
[00:11:44] what am I going to do? Particularly because as you mentioned, the things I think that people
[00:11:47] appreciated were the kind of the neighborhood and genre categorization. Like I think a lot of listings
[00:11:52] that people have also seen, it's like, well, I can tell there's lots on, but these are just names
[00:11:56] on a page. Like I don't have any way, unless I know these acts already, like I don't have any way of
[00:12:00] wondering whether this is something I actually want to go see. So that was the first, that was the first
[00:12:05] year. I saw more shows. Other people enjoyed the site. It was good. Kind of traffic is, you know,
[00:12:11] going along slowly increasing. Um, but the, the game change has been, um, as I said, two or three
[00:12:17] months ago, I had a decision to make. It's like, actually this is good, but this is actually not the
[00:12:23] product that people really want. Like, actually I did a big feedback survey with all my users and email
[00:12:27] subscribers. And unsurprisingly, when you ask people like, well, you know, what else would you
[00:12:31] want on for this site? And people said, uh, actually I'd like all the shows, please. Unsurprisingly,
[00:12:37] you know, unsurprisingly, uh, could you, uh, you know, not the next two weeks. Could you do all the
[00:12:42] shows? I'm like, I know it's what I would want as well. Uh, could you do all the shows? And actually
[00:12:46] the other thing we'd really appreciate is in your email newsletter, rather than just being, Hey,
[00:12:50] this is what's coming this week. Actually, I'd love to know what's new, like what's been announced
[00:12:54] in the past week. So I can plan ahead, get tickets or, you know, that kind of thing. Um,
[00:12:58] so I knew that if I wanted to do it to carry on the site, that's what it kind of needed to be.
[00:13:03] And the only way it could be, that was not me manually collecting that, you know, it has to
[00:13:08] be automated at that point. So that was the big shift this year, which has been really exciting
[00:13:13] and is actually kind of a rare instance. I think of AI actually helping the arts scene,
[00:13:19] which I don't think is AI, our friend AI, which is not necessarily something that happens,
[00:13:24] but to your point, actually technology has really helped this come into being in a way
[00:13:30] that I think, you know, we couldn't have done kind of a year or two ago. Um, so, um, so yeah,
[00:13:35] that's what's going on at the moment. You know, it's a fully, it's mostly fully automated. There's
[00:13:39] lots of robots helping me out. They need, uh, they need some supervision. They kind of act as
[00:13:43] kind of unruly interns and return some pretty, uh, uh, some pretty poor results a lot of the time,
[00:13:48] but, uh, most of the time they do a pretty good job of, uh, that's crazy. That's crazy. It's like,
[00:13:56] you said you, you said you had to research it yourself. You had to go out and find it. You
[00:13:59] have to look in that now that you have AI doing it. Like, do they just gather the information when
[00:14:02] you say what's playing this and that blah, blah, blah, and you put in like the things or they,
[00:14:05] do you have to like manually like enter all the data in here or does it all just does it for,
[00:14:10] for you? No, there's still quite a lot of work setting it all up. Um, so I think the re one of
[00:14:16] the other reasons I think Ottawa gigs has worked, um, is that from the start, I always knew that the
[00:14:22] bulk of the, I was going to have to get the bulk of the information. I think previous services like
[00:14:26] this have relied or tried to rely on submissions from artists or venues, you know, Hey, I've got a
[00:14:30] show and rely on them to let the listing know that something's happening for sure. Actually,
[00:14:36] you know, artists and venue owners have enough to be doing, um, without, without, without having to
[00:14:43] like figure out, you know, which of the 12 event calendars in town, like actually the ones that they
[00:14:47] should submit their shows to and is going to mean people, you know, are aware of it and buy tickets
[00:14:51] and so on. Um, so from the start, the idea was always, okay, well, I'm gonna have to go get this
[00:14:54] data. Like I'm going to go to venue websites, go to venue resources and retrieve it and centralize it.
[00:14:59] And so that's what essentially the, that's what essentially the robots are doing is I'm setting up
[00:15:06] particular, uh, scrapers for each venue, um, which all has to be customized in the first instance,
[00:15:11] but then afterwards works pretty well and saying, Hey, okay. Uh, we want to set up, you know, live on
[00:15:17] Algon, uh, on the site. This is where they hold their, this is where they hold all their, uh, their
[00:15:21] information. This is how we're going to work to bring it in, uh, and format it in a way, which,
[00:15:25] uh, brings it into what you see on the site there. Yeah. Yeah. It's very, it's very, very, very cool
[00:15:30] with the podcast. Um, one of the things that I really like doing is talking to people and that's kind
[00:15:39] of my, that's the saddest, that's the satisfying part for me. Like once you have this all, has anyone
[00:15:46] ever, like I said, you said that you'd been noticed like you're out, Hey, you're the Ottawa gigs guy.
[00:15:51] Does anyone ever like call you up or send you an email and say, Hey, you're doing a great job,
[00:15:55] all that kind of thing. Are you, are you visible that way? Like you, you're reachable.
[00:15:59] Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. So, uh, I'm very happy to say like will at Ottawa gigs.ca. If anyone wants to
[00:16:04] reach out to talk about the site, like, uh, give any, give any feedback or share any ideas. Um, it
[00:16:10] is, I think as it says on the homepage, you know, I see it very much as a, like as a community project.
[00:16:14] Like it's something which, as I understand it, like really is starting to benefit the local
[00:16:19] loads of music scene. And I want to, and I want to build it out like with, you know, with the input
[00:16:24] of, uh, of others who want to get involved. Um, so, I mean, considering where we are now, you talked
[00:16:29] about where you get satisfaction from, I think there's been kind of a couple of things. So
[00:16:34] firstly, like you see the traffic going up. I mean, we have like 3000 people a month use the
[00:16:40] site now. Um, and what's really cool is you see, like, I can't track obviously kind of end ticket
[00:16:46] purchases, but what I can track is when someone on an individual show page says, Hey, like I'm
[00:16:52] interested in tickets, you know, and then I take them to wherever, like the, you know, the individual
[00:16:58] number alone, uh, that happened 350 times on the site. So that's 350 folks who potentially
[00:17:03] went and bought a ticket to a show in Ottawa, which showed very high intent to do so who
[00:17:07] otherwise like probably wouldn't have, probably couldn't find it. Um, wouldn't even know it
[00:17:11] would have came in. Yeah. Yeah. And that's, that's really satisfying to see that that money
[00:17:16] is likely, you know, going back. You're making a difference. Absolutely. And you're making
[00:17:20] things easier for people because people are, you know, uh, genuinely pretty lazy and they
[00:17:26] don't want to, should I look for this band? Whatever. It's fine. Um, yeah, I think it's
[00:17:31] great. I think it's an, uh, an amazing idea. Um, I, I know music. I don't know much about
[00:17:38] websites. Everything I've done with ego and vice, everything I've done is just kind of
[00:17:42] pieced together. I'm not a professional, uh, journalist. So if, if I'm not asking you like
[00:17:47] the hard hitting, um, website questions that you're expecting, like if you want to talk about
[00:17:52] songwriting, let's, let's go this I'm learning. So yeah, it's great. No, whatever, whatever
[00:17:57] you want to know.
[00:17:58] I love that.
[00:18:15] And I said, I'm the crowd trying to see your face. Do we see a spilled drinks, cigarettes
[00:18:27] and lack of grace? Cause it's true. I do anything just to feel you're in race. But you know
[00:18:39] this life's a race. Running circles around my mind cause you love the chase. Struggle to catch
[00:19:01] Why did you come to Ottawa?
[00:21:06] For love.
[00:21:08] Yeah.
[00:21:08] Ah, the age-old reasons.
[00:21:11] Feels like a typical Ottawa immigrant story
[00:21:14] from lots of people who I seem to meet around town.
[00:21:18] That happens.
[00:21:19] Yeah.
[00:21:21] Where were you from?
[00:21:23] I am from a pretty small town
[00:21:26] just south of Manchester in the UK.
[00:21:28] So it's a small little town called Macclesfield,
[00:21:30] although has a very particular musical heritage.
[00:21:34] Basically the only thing it is famous for,
[00:21:37] but it's a good one,
[00:21:38] is the lead singer of Joy Division is from there.
[00:21:42] There is a really excellent mural there.
[00:21:45] We then disgraced ourselves as a town
[00:21:48] by someone and stole his gravestone a few years ago.
[00:21:52] But in general, it's a good place.
[00:21:54] How do you feel about New Order?
[00:21:57] I don't have that strong opinions about New Order.
[00:21:59] I kind of...
[00:22:00] I know a lot of Joy Division fans shit on New Order
[00:22:04] because...
[00:22:04] Isn't that how that works?
[00:22:06] Yeah, yeah, yeah.
[00:22:06] Yeah, that's unfortunate.
[00:22:08] I grew up with New Order.
[00:22:09] I love New Order.
[00:22:10] I found Joy Division after New Order.
[00:22:13] I mean, I can see, you know,
[00:22:16] why it's, you know,
[00:22:17] you might want to hold some of those positions
[00:22:18] and the Joy Division records are, you know,
[00:22:21] incredibly meaningful to lots of people,
[00:22:22] but then it's quite hard to share
[00:22:24] on anyone who wrote Blue Monday.
[00:22:25] So, you know, you've got to make...
[00:22:28] Yeah.
[00:22:29] For Love, I didn't come...
[00:22:31] I'm not from Ottawa either.
[00:22:32] I'm actually from...
[00:22:33] Oh, okay.
[00:22:33] I'm from Thunder Bay.
[00:22:35] Okay.
[00:22:35] Still in Canada.
[00:22:36] Yeah, yeah.
[00:22:36] I didn't come for Love though.
[00:22:37] I came because my drummer was here.
[00:22:39] My drummer came here for school.
[00:22:41] Love of a kind.
[00:22:41] So I kind of came...
[00:22:42] Yeah, that's right.
[00:22:44] I guess so.
[00:22:44] I love...
[00:22:46] Described in many ways.
[00:22:48] Yeah.
[00:22:48] Yeah.
[00:22:48] I don't love him anymore though.
[00:22:50] I'm very upset with him now,
[00:22:51] but that's a whole other podcast.
[00:22:53] Sorry to hear that.
[00:22:54] Oh, it's bandmates.
[00:22:55] It's relationships.
[00:22:56] It's the way it goes.
[00:22:57] It was 25 years ago, right?
[00:22:59] Anyway.
[00:23:00] So, history of music.
[00:23:05] Where did you...
[00:23:07] Where did you discover music?
[00:23:09] Like, there must be a rich in Manchester.
[00:23:13] Yeah.
[00:23:13] Must be a rich history of music in that area.
[00:23:17] Oh.
[00:23:18] We...
[00:23:18] Can you recall like your early memories of music
[00:23:22] and when it first started kind of changing or moving you?
[00:23:27] Yeah.
[00:23:28] Yeah, actually.
[00:23:29] It's...
[00:23:31] So, my dad was, you know, a big 60s, 70s rock guy.
[00:23:38] So, there was always a lot of Beatles, Zeppelin, kind of Floyd hanging around.
[00:23:42] Um...
[00:23:43] Uh...
[00:23:44] And that led to me...
[00:23:45] One of my actually earliest school memories is trying to get the rest of my school bus
[00:23:51] to sing, baby, you can drive my car.
[00:23:53] Which I think I didn't know at the time was like a very odd thing for like a six-year-old
[00:23:58] probably to try and do with their classmates.
[00:24:02] But I think showed probably that at least some of that had been, you know, internalized.
[00:24:07] Yeah.
[00:24:07] Well, it could have been worse.
[00:24:08] You couldn't begin to sing something that wasn't a classic.
[00:24:10] That's true.
[00:24:11] Exactly.
[00:24:12] Internalized at that point.
[00:24:13] But then I think...
[00:24:14] But also there was kind of...
[00:24:15] Also my parents and mom as well.
[00:24:17] It's a lot of classical music.
[00:24:18] There's a lot of that going on.
[00:24:19] So, actually, the first album that I ever bought, I think, was, you know, classic.
[00:24:27] As soon as you get a bit of money and you're rebelling a little against where your parents
[00:24:30] came from, was Americana by The Offspring.
[00:24:34] Oh, boy.
[00:24:34] It was like was the first record that I bought.
[00:24:37] I just thought that was like my hover...
[00:24:41] I'm not even going to think how old I was at the time.
[00:24:43] But just thought, yeah, thought that was incredible.
[00:24:45] And just the complete antithesis, I think, of everything that I was listening to at home.
[00:24:51] As a younger person discovering music, how much influence did the like North American
[00:24:58] marketing of the bands and rock and roll affect you there as it did where you were affected
[00:25:05] us, like the Beatles and the Rolling Stones and stuff.
[00:25:07] Like, what do you remember that came from America?
[00:25:10] Yeah, it's a good point.
[00:25:11] So, I ended up talking about this a lot with a friend of mine in high school who was American.
[00:25:19] And he came over with a bunch of stuff which just like didn't resonate as much.
[00:25:24] In particular, the kind of post-grunge, like new metal stuff.
[00:25:31] Like, we got Limp Bizkit as kids, but none of the like seethers and all that kind of stuff
[00:25:36] which was stained and all those things which were kind of going on.
[00:25:38] Like, that never felt like it kind of came over in the same way that things were happening
[00:25:44] over on this side of the pond.
[00:25:46] Funnily enough, probably, I don't know their name, but a key influence on my musical development
[00:25:52] as a kind of as a kid and when I was growing up was back when my parents, we actually lived
[00:25:59] like on the like outskirts of this town.
[00:26:01] Like, they never really show much interest in technology.
[00:26:04] So, our internet at home was absolutely terrible.
[00:26:06] So, actually, the way, easiest way to get music was actually the local library had a CD collection.
[00:26:12] And you kind of go down and somehow in this like library in the small town in North
[00:26:18] of England, whoever was the purchaser for those, for that CD section, they don't know the debt
[00:26:23] that I owe them.
[00:26:25] Like, anytime anything new would come out, like, it was in there.
[00:26:29] Like, and I could go get it.
[00:26:30] And not just that, like, the back catalog was amazing.
[00:26:32] Wow.
[00:26:32] And it felt very odd as whatever age I was, like, renting Nevermind the Bollocks from
[00:26:37] like the local library.
[00:26:39] But that's like, that was what enabled me to actually listen to a lot of the stuff which
[00:26:44] I otherwise would probably have struggled to, probably struggled to get hold of.
[00:26:46] I'm sure that record's in a museum now somewhere.
[00:26:49] Yeah.
[00:26:50] Or at least a Hall of Fame.
[00:26:52] Library's not a huge stretch, but back then, sure.
[00:26:55] Yeah.
[00:26:55] But you're right.
[00:26:56] And then from then on, like, as you become more aware, you realize, like, particularly
[00:27:00] the great Manchester heritage.
[00:27:01] And there's bands which you just, I think, you just listen to in the genes if you're from
[00:27:06] Manchester, if you notice the Smiths and the Stone Roses, even before you get to Oasis
[00:27:10] and everything else.
[00:27:11] Poor, poor sad Morrissey.
[00:27:13] Very.
[00:27:14] What was the very first Canadian band you remember knowing of?
[00:27:19] The very first Canadian band.
[00:27:20] Canadian artist.
[00:27:21] Canadian artist.
[00:27:23] It's like, so something I became aware of later on is, is the, you know, is the amount
[00:27:29] of Canadian music.
[00:27:30] But at the time when you were listening to in the UK, you had no, no awareness that these
[00:27:33] folks were Canadian.
[00:27:34] It was only actually later when I started dating a Canadian and we started throwing Canadian
[00:27:38] Thanksgiving parties and putting together Canadian soundtracks.
[00:27:41] Yeah, because it's different dates.
[00:27:43] Then you're like, huh, you know, that's so I think probably the earliest thinking of
[00:27:50] can.
[00:27:50] So I missed all like none of the, I had to be educated later on about all the kind of Canadian
[00:27:55] rock stuff.
[00:27:56] Like a lot of that didn't like, didn't come through at all.
[00:27:59] I had no idea what the tragically hip were like at all, basically until I moved to Canada.
[00:28:04] I was actually going to ask a question and I don't want it to make it seem like I'm ignorant
[00:28:08] to the point where I feel like you've lived on the moon or it's like you wouldn't have
[00:28:11] known all this stuff.
[00:28:11] I'm more interested about like how much gets over there.
[00:28:14] You know what I mean?
[00:28:15] That we think that is just everyday life to us, like the hip.
[00:28:18] I was going to ask.
[00:28:19] Yeah.
[00:28:19] Like the hip to us is part of our culture.
[00:28:21] You know what I mean?
[00:28:22] Like everyone, whether you're a fan or whether you're not a fan, if you're a Canadian, you
[00:28:26] know who the hip is.
[00:28:27] Yeah.
[00:28:28] And you respect the hip for what it is.
[00:28:29] Even if you don't like the music.
[00:28:31] You know what I mean?
[00:28:32] No.
[00:28:32] But that's us.
[00:28:33] And I was just wondering stuff like that.
[00:28:34] It's like huge here.
[00:28:35] Lifestyle.
[00:28:36] And over there, you're just like, I don't even know that.
[00:28:37] I think we get the hits.
[00:28:40] But then there's less a, you know, oh, wow, like this person's massive and they're Canadian.
[00:28:46] I mean, the really obvious one growing up was Shania Twain.
[00:28:51] But I think I'm going to speak on behalf of my whole country.
[00:28:55] But kind of prevents, oh, it's, you know, it's a North American artist.
[00:28:58] Like actually not necessarily the awareness that, oh, this person's Canadian.
[00:29:02] Not from, you didn't know she was from Timmons.
[00:29:04] Timmons was not on the map in the UK.
[00:29:08] Well, shit.
[00:29:08] Yeah.
[00:29:09] No.
[00:29:10] It's not really on the map.
[00:29:11] It's not really on the map here either.
[00:29:13] You drive, you blink, you miss it, right?
[00:29:14] Yeah.
[00:29:15] But yeah, that's very cool.
[00:29:16] That's very cool.
[00:29:17] That's very interesting too because, I don't know.
[00:29:21] Even in Canada though, there's certain bands in America.
[00:29:24] Like now that the internet's there and everything is so unbelievably accessible.
[00:29:28] Like you, I could, if you sat at home with your Spotify on or YouTube or something like
[00:29:32] that, you could just probably scroll, scroll, scroll all day, all day and never go through
[00:29:37] like the same band twice.
[00:29:38] Like there's so much out there.
[00:29:41] And I think we're really lucky.
[00:29:42] When I was younger, I used to have to, you said you'd go to the library.
[00:29:46] We had like fanzines that would come in like maximum rock and roll and stuff like that.
[00:29:50] And we had a record store called St.
[00:29:53] James Stereo and it was in the far end of the town, end of town in Thunder Bay.
[00:29:57] And it was just a seedy little, it was awesome.
[00:29:59] What I remember at CD little record store and they had like stacks of maximum rock and
[00:30:03] rolls, this big thick fanzine.
[00:30:05] And it was all black and white, like newspaper.
[00:30:06] And they had a section of like reviews, like record reviews.
[00:30:11] And I was like a huge punk kid.
[00:30:12] I love punk rock music and skate punk and stuff.
[00:30:15] And you couldn't get anything at like, I don't know, whatever, whatever record stores
[00:30:20] they had, all they sold, it was like Guns N' Roses and you know, like the big, the
[00:30:24] big bands and that.
[00:30:24] So we used to look through that and order it and then you'd ask the guy like, can we
[00:30:29] order this?
[00:30:29] And he'd have like an ordering for me.
[00:30:30] Like, yeah.
[00:30:31] And then we'd have to wait.
[00:30:32] Like there was never a time.
[00:30:34] It was like, yeah, that'll be here in like maybe three weeks.
[00:30:37] And you go back in three weeks and you'd call or something like that and be like, eh, nothing
[00:30:40] yet.
[00:30:40] He'd look in his inbox or something.
[00:30:42] It wasn't like, it wasn't like Amazon today where it's on your step the next day.
[00:30:45] Right.
[00:30:45] It was like ordered from God knows where.
[00:30:47] Yeah.
[00:30:48] So it was super hard to get stuff, but I don't know.
[00:30:52] It's amazing.
[00:30:52] If you want to find music, you will, you will take the time and you will go down those rabbit
[00:30:58] holes and you will find it one way or another.
[00:31:00] Kids, ah, kids today, they don't know how, you know, they don't know how good they have
[00:31:04] it, you know?
[00:31:05] And it's a shame.
[00:31:06] Back in the day, we used to scrape, scratch and kick and claw just to get like a cassette
[00:31:13] just so we could have it.
[00:31:14] Nowadays people put on a song, they listen to the first 30 seconds and because there's
[00:31:18] just so many, they go, eh, they don't even let, they don't even listen to the song.
[00:31:22] They don't even listen to the full song.
[00:31:23] I think that's sad.
[00:31:24] Yeah.
[00:31:25] It's, um, again, the people recognize the good stuff and like, it's just about, um, getting
[00:31:32] people in front of it.
[00:31:33] Actually, I, I talk about this a lot in the context of Ottawa gigs, uh, is that I don't
[00:31:38] like the Ottawa music scene doesn't have a product problem.
[00:31:42] Like the product is good.
[00:31:43] Like people are playing great shows.
[00:31:44] They're making great art.
[00:31:45] It has a marketing problem.
[00:31:46] Like a lot of the time in terms of people being aware of these things and knowing that
[00:31:50] they're so they can, so they can, so they can go to them and enjoy them.
[00:31:54] That's fair.
[00:31:55] Like I said, I've been involved in the, in the music scene for a long time and it's,
[00:32:00] it's, it's in a very much of a peak right now for the Ottawa music scene.
[00:32:04] So people are going to shows and it's, it's live music is, is very, very hot right now,
[00:32:09] but there's times when it isn't.
[00:32:12] Yeah.
[00:32:12] And I always tell artists that come on the bands that are sitting in that beautiful pocket
[00:32:17] of just like every show they play, they're playing like it's unheard of really in local
[00:32:22] music to play your own town, maybe like three times a month and just always sell it out.
[00:32:27] It's not, I, from my experience and you can believe me if I, if you want or not, it, it's
[00:32:34] not overly sustainable.
[00:32:35] Like eventually it's going to dwindle people's lives change, people's interest, interest, interests
[00:32:40] change.
[00:32:41] And eventually it's going to be like pulling teeth.
[00:32:45] And, uh, and that's the way I've seen it.
[00:32:47] I've seen it both ways.
[00:32:48] So it's lucky.
[00:32:50] It's lucky that everybody really wants to see live music right now.
[00:32:53] And maybe this will help.
[00:32:54] Um, my point going back full circle, I kind of went around there was, um, marketing.
[00:33:00] Yes, this is here now, which is super helpful, but sometimes it's hard just to get people out
[00:33:04] even when they know the shows are there.
[00:33:07] Yeah.
[00:33:08] That's what I mean by pulling teeth.
[00:33:09] Like sometimes I've been in gigs where the place is just a good night, you know, and some
[00:33:14] nights there's everything's in place.
[00:33:16] Like it was before 10 people show up.
[00:33:19] Yeah.
[00:33:19] Like what's going on?
[00:33:20] Is it like that in Toronto?
[00:33:22] I don't know.
[00:33:23] Yeah.
[00:33:23] I mean, you know, is it like that in New York city?
[00:33:26] I don't know.
[00:33:27] So I can't say Ottawa has like a attendance problem because I can't compare.
[00:33:31] I have nothing really to compare it to on an everyday basis.
[00:33:33] Yeah.
[00:33:34] What do you think seeing being more attached more to gigs, more to like the actual shows?
[00:33:38] How many shows do you actually attend say in a month?
[00:33:41] I'd say, I mean, not as many as I want.
[00:33:43] I mean, totally honest.
[00:33:44] I probably go to like a couple.
[00:33:46] Yeah.
[00:33:46] Yeah.
[00:33:47] Um, yeah.
[00:33:48] And that's, again, that's not because, you know, you don't want to.
[00:33:51] It's just the rest of, you know, Hey, life gets in the way.
[00:33:54] I'm lucky to do that sometimes.
[00:33:56] And a lot of the reasons, like I was saying, touching on earlier with ego and vice, one
[00:34:01] of the reasons I do do the podcast is that I can still kind of stay my ear to the ground,
[00:34:07] stay kind of, uh, within the conversation.
[00:34:11] You know, I, I feel like if I have a band down here and I talk to them for an hour, I'll
[00:34:15] go see their show.
[00:34:16] But if I don't, at least I supported them somehow.
[00:34:19] You know what I mean?
[00:34:20] And I think there's more to supporting a band than just catching an average show.
[00:34:25] It's awesome to see them live.
[00:34:26] You'll have a great time, but there's other ways to help out and support as well.
[00:34:30] Yeah.
[00:34:31] Uh, i.e.
[00:34:32] Ottawa gigs, which is amazing, um, for the bands themselves because more people, um,
[00:34:39] it's more visible to more people.
[00:34:40] It's easy to find.
[00:34:41] And that may bring more people out or even just seeing the name or an advertisement or
[00:34:46] a poster.
[00:34:46] I love show posters.
[00:34:47] I always make show posters.
[00:34:48] You see that.
[00:34:49] And it's just like, Oh, it's that band.
[00:34:50] It makes you curious.
[00:34:51] Right.
[00:34:51] So, yeah, I think that's the kind of ethos behind the site is that I think, you know,
[00:34:56] while big music nerds will use the site and it's great that it's there for them.
[00:35:01] And, and I, see, I built it for me and I would put myself in that category.
[00:35:05] Actually, I think the folks that really, really helps are those who in that moment think actually
[00:35:11] like I've got a free night on Thursday.
[00:35:13] Like I wonder what's on.
[00:35:14] Yeah.
[00:35:14] And if at that point in time they don't get an answer to that question, there's so many
[00:35:19] other things they could be doing.
[00:35:20] Like, as you said, like they might just stay in, like might just stay in, watch Netflix,
[00:35:23] have an early night, whatever it might be.
[00:35:25] Might go to the movies, whatever it is.
[00:35:26] So it's those folks that in that moment, it hopefully gives them like the resource they're
[00:35:31] looking for, not just to be like, Oh, there's like all the shows that I can find them.
[00:35:35] But when they get there, like, actually, I just like jazz and that they can quickly
[00:35:38] and easily like find the thing they actually want to go to.
[00:35:41] I think it's, it's those folks that I think they, uh, that the site will potentially
[00:35:45] be kind of most useful for in getting them out to things that they, they otherwise
[00:35:49] might not have, might not have seen.
[00:35:50] Agree.
[00:35:50] Yeah.
[00:35:51] Completely agree.
[00:35:52] Yeah.
[00:35:52] Um, can I just, uh, cause you'll like this, like there's not, uh, talking about people
[00:35:57] kind of liking the good stuff.
[00:35:58] I went to see a, um, this was a little while ago now, but Lyle Ojek, the blues, the bluesman,
[00:36:04] uh, played a, played a show and, uh, it looked like, um, I think some school kids have been
[00:36:12] brought along like as a, you know, see, as a, like, let's see what, let's see what's
[00:36:16] going on the local, in the local scene.
[00:36:18] Was it like an all ages gig or?
[00:36:19] Yeah, it was, it was one of the things at the NAC and, um, and, uh, and you could
[00:36:24] see like, these are people, these were kids who maybe didn't go see a lot of live music,
[00:36:29] but we also didn't see a lot of blues, like given, like, you know, given the genre.
[00:36:33] Um, not a lot of heartbreak in children.
[00:36:35] Yeah, exactly.
[00:36:35] Which is probably, yeah, probably for good, but actually lost love.
[00:36:38] I should, there were like two or three of them just like, couldn't take their eyes off
[00:36:44] him.
[00:36:44] Like they would just, I'm like one turn.
[00:36:46] The other was like, it's kind of whispered like to the other one, like, cause they've
[00:36:48] been kind of way, like, maybe I shouldn't feel this, but like, it's like, this is so
[00:36:52] cool.
[00:36:53] Yeah.
[00:36:53] Like, and it's just, yeah.
[00:36:55] That may have, that may have, that might be it for those kids.
[00:36:58] Like that got them.
[00:36:58] Like they may never, they may chase that their entire lives.
[00:37:01] Follow music.
[00:37:03] Yep.
[00:37:03] Love music.
[00:37:04] You know what I mean?
[00:37:04] You never know until you know.
[00:37:05] Yeah.
[00:37:06] And sometimes it just kind of, yeah.
[00:37:11] That's cool, man.
[00:37:12] Uh, very interesting story.
[00:37:14] Um, so when you're not, when you're not working on Ottawa gigs back in Manchester, all that music,
[00:37:24] uh, all that history, all that music around you, did you ever pick up an instrument?
[00:37:28] Did you ever play in bands?
[00:37:30] Did you ever write songs?
[00:37:30] Like, whoa, do you want to do that?
[00:37:33] I don't even know.
[00:37:34] Yeah, there was, that definitely happened.
[00:37:36] I, uh, I took the, uh, wrong path a little bit.
[00:37:39] It was kind of interesting.
[00:37:39] My, uh, uh, I had piano lessons from like a very, like a pretty early age.
[00:37:44] Um, my mom played and I've got three sisters as well.
[00:37:47] And she was like, oh, like I, you know, thought it'd be interesting to give us all a shot at trying that.
[00:37:53] And I just struggled with it.
[00:37:55] Like every, like pretty much every lesson felt like a chore practice, like was fine.
[00:38:00] But like, it was a real, like it was a real grind.
[00:38:03] Um, and then, but, uh, sat in the house for ages had been like an old Yamaha acoustic guitar, which, um, which was my, my dad's, but he rarely, like rarely played.
[00:38:14] Um, and, uh, one day I was like, pick this up and had it, you know, again, coming from listening to listening to this guitar music, because it actually would be fun to like try and play this stuff.
[00:38:24] Um, and then it sounds really obvious, but like the world of guitar tabs versus like wrote, wrote versus sheet music.
[00:38:33] And, uh, and from going from like an instrument, which always felt like a struggle to then picking up a guitar.
[00:38:40] Uh, and I would play for four or five hours a day.
[00:38:43] Right.
[00:38:43] Kind of.
[00:38:43] It was, yeah.
[00:38:44] I have, I have, I actually have kind of a similar story when I was a kid before I did anything.
[00:38:48] Like I loved music, but, um, my mom put me in piano lessons and I, again, I was just, I didn't like it.
[00:38:55] I was just like, I don't want to do this.
[00:38:56] Cause it wasn't outside playing in the dirt.
[00:38:58] You know what I mean?
[00:38:58] It was like, and I remember I had recitals and it was like being in school because I was told do this, do this, you gotta do this.
[00:39:04] Oh, you're doing that wrong, whatever.
[00:39:05] Whatever.
[00:39:06] So I whined and cried and I think I took piano for maybe a year or two.
[00:39:11] And then my mom finally let me quit.
[00:39:15] I always say now, if I, if I, I would give up everything I know on guitar right now, just to, just to make, go back in time and tell my mom, don't make me quit.
[00:39:26] Cause if I would have kept up with piano till now, I think piano was the most beautiful instrument.
[00:39:30] Oh, it's amazing.
[00:39:31] Yeah.
[00:39:31] And I've always wanted to just sit there and like write a song on piano.
[00:39:35] You know what I mean?
[00:39:36] But I can, I can, but it's like, but it's just, but anyway, it's the things, but I guess it just was meant to, wasn't meant to be.
[00:39:43] Do you know what I mean?
[00:39:44] So you can't like push in.
[00:39:46] And as you said, like so many of the songs which you listen to now and which I love all have like a lot of them are arranged on piano.
[00:39:53] Like have gorgeous piano parts.
[00:39:55] Yeah.
[00:39:55] Like you could still play guitar and stuff, but then one day you could just be like, eh, hang on.
[00:40:00] Just, it's so beautiful.
[00:40:02] It's so hauntingly beautiful.
[00:40:03] Like pianos.
[00:40:05] I guess I've, I've actually looked into lessons.
[00:40:07] I have a friend who teaches music and I just, like I say, like we started with, there's only so many hours in the day.
[00:40:15] Right.
[00:40:15] It's just like, where am I going to find time?
[00:40:17] And yeah.
[00:40:18] So, so no, it was guitar and then it was saving up to, you know, saving up to buy your first guitar and yeah.
[00:40:24] Endless hours inflicting, you know, my bad muse cover and Arctic Monkeys covers on people.
[00:40:30] And then went to, went off to university, started a band there, but.
[00:40:36] What were they called?
[00:40:37] That we never even got around to having a name.
[00:40:39] The band with no name.
[00:40:40] Yeah.
[00:40:40] We just practiced for a few months.
[00:40:42] Um, but, um, but then other demands of kind of life and work and stuff kind of took over and it's, it's sat, it's sat there ever since.
[00:40:50] But I, but I still adore it.
[00:40:53] Like every time I pick it up, like I, I love it.
[00:40:55] And there's still, uh, still very much the aspiration to, to get back there.
[00:40:59] Just like those kids at the blues show, you know what I mean?
[00:41:01] Once it gets in you, it's got to, it stays in you and it's got to come out in one way or another.
[00:41:06] You know, whether you listen to music, whether you write music, whether you just dream about it, whether you make websites or podcasts or play in a band, you know what I mean?
[00:41:15] Music is a wonderful thing.
[00:41:17] And if it's in your life, I think you're genuinely, if you're a music lover and you participate somehow, you're a creative person.
[00:41:23] I think genuinely you're more, you're like happier person.
[00:41:28] Oh, the future of Ottawa gigs.ca.
[00:44:59] Where do you see it going?
[00:45:01] What, what would you love to see it?
[00:45:03] Where would you like it to go?
[00:45:04] Where would you like to see it in 10 years?
[00:45:07] Yeah.
[00:45:07] I mean, right now it's, it's really like awareness and raising the profile of it is, is the name of the game.
[00:45:14] You know, I still meet so many music fans in town who are like, I've, where has this thing been my whole life?
[00:45:20] Like I've, like, I'm exactly the kind of person who should be using this and I don't know about it.
[00:45:24] Um, and that's, you know, that's on me.
[00:45:27] You know, I could spend more time marketing it.
[00:45:29] Um, but I have, you know, I have the day job and, um, but, um, but now I know, like,
[00:45:34] I know the product is good.
[00:45:35] Like it's really working.
[00:45:36] You see it in both like the feedback that I get from people about the site.
[00:45:39] You see it in the stats in terms of, in terms of the traffic and the people and the way people are using it.
[00:45:44] So at the moment, uh, it's me thinking about ways to, to increase the audience for it.
[00:45:49] Um, which the main one I don't do a ton of at the moment on that front is social media.
[00:45:54] So I experimented a little bit with Instagram, uh, early last year.
[00:45:58] Um, I think now's the time to, to go back to that and really put a bit more effort into,
[00:46:03] into that side of things.
[00:46:04] Prior to having anyone on the podcast, I always say, like I said earlier, I'm not a professional journalist,
[00:46:09] but I always try and do a little bit of like of a deep dive into the internet to try and have something
[00:46:14] to talk about.
[00:46:15] Yeah.
[00:46:16] You're like a ghost.
[00:46:17] Yeah.
[00:46:18] Other than the site itself, it's, it was really hard to find anything.
[00:46:21] Yeah.
[00:46:22] It's, uh, I think it's, um, it's cause I'm still, to be honest, working out a little bit,
[00:46:27] how I combine the Ottawa gigs, like music profile with actually with my kind of professional profile.
[00:46:34] Um, so, um, I mean, you know, I, I'm a startup founder.
[00:46:38] I used to work in the cybersecurity.
[00:46:40] I moved to Canada and I started an HR tech company and I'm trying to start a climate tech company,
[00:46:44] you know, which is all really exciting.
[00:46:46] And it's something I would also talk for hours about, but it's not, you know, doesn't sit alongside
[00:46:51] the live music stuff.
[00:46:52] I totally have the same problem because all my, all my social media is the podcast.
[00:46:56] Like everything's the podcast.
[00:46:57] Like I, I don't know how to like, I have like an actual Instagram page of just me, but
[00:47:04] I never put anything on it because I, it's like, I don't want, it's almost like I don't
[00:47:08] want people like, how do I tell people what I do?
[00:47:10] And like, do you want to see me riding my bike?
[00:47:12] No, you just want to kind of focus on, I don't know.
[00:47:15] Anyway.
[00:47:16] Yeah.
[00:47:16] I don't know how to do it either.
[00:47:17] Really?
[00:47:17] To be honest.
[00:47:18] So, so it's trying to work on that improve.
[00:47:20] And also because I think, you know, I have, you know, we have the website, which gets a,
[00:47:24] gets a bunch of traffic, you have the newsletter, but then Instagram is a whole other audience,
[00:47:27] which, you know, you want to, we want to bring onto the platform and make them aware of it.
[00:47:30] Um, and then the second thing is also just some, some word of mouth and starting to work
[00:47:35] much more closely with venues and making sure that the, the site works for them.
[00:47:40] You know, um, there are some, some folks who I've, I've met already and, you know, I'm
[00:47:45] working with, uh, but others, you really notice it in the last couple of months as the sites
[00:47:48] got more popular, you know, you start to get those emails from folks saying, Hey, like,
[00:47:52] you know, I'd love to get, you know, make sure my shows are on here.
[00:47:55] And then my response to that is, is always like, great.
[00:47:58] Let's meet, let's talk about how you currently like, where you upload your shows, like how
[00:48:02] you're doing it.
[00:48:03] And let's try and get that, make that most effective and make it work most for you.
[00:48:08] So, so yeah, I've got a bit of a project on the moment to try and kind of meet every
[00:48:12] venue in town that we cover in the next couple of months.
[00:48:14] Cause, um, there's still, there's still a few who we are, who I haven't managed to meet.
[00:48:18] So, so yeah, I think, and through a, through a combination of that, hopefully that'll
[00:48:22] drive the numbers kind of ever upwards and we'll get a few more folks to, to shows in
[00:48:26] Ottawa.
[00:48:27] That's the plan.
[00:48:27] Well, I think it's an amazing, um, an amazing tool.
[00:48:32] I think it's an amazing website.
[00:48:34] Uh, I've seen, like you said, I've seen them come and go kind of, but nothing as I don't
[00:48:42] use their simple, but easy to use just straightforward.
[00:48:45] It's like, you can't screw it up.
[00:48:46] It's like, you go on there, you'll find what you're looking for.
[00:48:48] No problem.
[00:48:49] Thanks.
[00:48:50] So congratulations on, on, on your success so far with it.
[00:48:54] And it sounds like people are really, really using it and liking it.
[00:48:56] And I hope that grows.
[00:48:58] And with the podcast, whatever reach I have, I will do my best to always remind people.
[00:49:04] Do you want to see that gig?
[00:49:06] Ottawa gigs.ca.
[00:49:07] Awesome.
[00:49:07] Awesome.
[00:49:08] And all this, that helps an enormous amount.
[00:49:10] There are, you know, again, as I meet people in the community, what's been awesome is just
[00:49:14] like the amount of support and goodwill from folks like you, the folks at Oh Mike have
[00:49:20] been awesome.
[00:49:20] Like, um, in terms of, uh, you know, providing feedback on the site and, uh, and promoting
[00:49:26] it to, uh, uh, to others.
[00:49:28] Um, yeah.
[00:49:29] So, uh, so the more the merrier.
[00:49:30] I think we all got to help each other out.
[00:49:32] Cause I think we're all in it for the same cause.
[00:49:34] Right.
[00:49:35] So yeah, let's do it.
[00:49:36] That sounds great.
[00:49:37] Uh, is there any shout outs to any other than the bots?
[00:49:44] No, uh, to be honest, it's, uh, it's the really, uh, the really basic one is just
[00:49:49] to say thanks to, you know, all the, all the venues and artists.
[00:49:52] Like I, you know, I'm just provide this like little layer on top, which hopefully, hopefully
[00:49:58] helps, but really all, you know, all the work is being done by those people putting, putting
[00:50:02] the art out into the world and putting the shows on.
[00:50:04] I know it's, uh, it's, uh, not, it's not the easiest, uh, gig to be in.
[00:50:09] And, uh, yeah, but it's what makes us all incredibly happy.
[00:50:12] So.
[00:50:12] Well said.
[00:50:13] Well said.
[00:50:14] Okay.
[00:50:14] Um, I have a game.
[00:50:16] It's called, uh, 13 questions with the band.
[00:50:19] Okay.
[00:50:20] Or artists.
[00:50:21] 13 questions.
[00:50:22] Would you like to play?
[00:50:23] 13 of them.
[00:50:24] Well.
[00:50:26] Yeah.
[00:50:26] I mean, I'm for it.
[00:50:27] It's actually, I have 13 questions.
[00:50:29] I don't actually ask 13 questions.
[00:50:30] I ask from the 13.
[00:50:32] Okay.
[00:50:32] It's in the jingle.
[00:50:33] Time for 13 questions with the band.
[00:50:36] Yes.
[00:50:36] This segment's back again.
[00:50:38] It's called 13 questions, but I only asked six, maybe five.
[00:50:42] Okay.
[00:50:42] We're back.
[00:50:42] This is 13 questions with Will Stockdale from Ottawa gigs.ca.
[00:50:51] First question.
[00:50:52] Um, I think you may have answered this question already.
[00:50:55] What was, uh, what was your first record CD tape that you purchased with your own money?
[00:51:00] Yeah.
[00:51:01] That is, is Americana by the offspring.
[00:51:03] Ah, shit.
[00:51:04] See now you have to, you know, if you listened to the first part of the episode and you got
[00:51:08] this far, you already knew that.
[00:51:09] Not bad.
[00:51:10] Okay.
[00:51:11] Uh, what was the first concert you ever saw live?
[00:51:15] Oh, that is a really good question.
[00:51:16] Cause I think it speaks to, cause I'm still like a real sucker for a melody and a hook.
[00:51:23] Like still listen to a lot of pop.
[00:51:25] Uh, the first concert I ever saw live was Britney Spears.
[00:51:28] I love watching her Instagram where she just dances.
[00:51:31] Have you seen it?
[00:51:32] No.
[00:51:32] No?
[00:51:33] Oh man.
[00:51:34] I think she might be on drugs, but it doesn't matter cause it's still Britney and I watch
[00:51:38] it and I'm like, oh, Britney.
[00:51:39] Yeah.
[00:51:40] No, she's incredible.
[00:51:41] Yeah.
[00:51:41] Good for her.
[00:51:42] She can't sing very good, but did it matter?
[00:51:45] I don't think so.
[00:51:47] She can't sing no good.
[00:51:48] No, she did fine.
[00:51:51] Okay.
[00:51:51] Uh, next concert.
[00:51:54] Um, next concert.
[00:51:55] Next question.
[00:51:57] What did you listen to on your way here to Southwood studio?
[00:52:01] Can I listen to my way here?
[00:52:02] I, Ooh, I listened to the new Julie album.
[00:52:09] Julie.
[00:52:10] Yeah.
[00:52:10] You listened to Julie at all?
[00:52:12] Hmm.
[00:52:12] Very cool.
[00:52:14] Like kind of getting a lot of buzz around them at the moment.
[00:52:17] I think they've got a show in Toronto coming up later in October.
[00:52:22] Um, kind of Sonic Youthy, post-punky type stuff, but a great band.
[00:52:27] There's a good question.
[00:52:28] You brought up, um, I know this is not in the, uh, the 13 questions, but your, your first
[00:52:34] record was the offspring.
[00:52:36] You like kind of Sonic Youthy stuff.
[00:52:39] What, what are you, uh, like the full palette of music?
[00:52:43] You like everything or do you have a certain style of music that you kind of gravitate
[00:52:47] to always?
[00:52:48] Yeah.
[00:52:48] I think I'm a mixture of the two.
[00:52:51] I definitely like, if I was looking like at all the records that I love the most, like
[00:52:56] in any given year, probably most of them will be guitar rock kind of based at the same time.
[00:53:02] Like I listened to everything.
[00:53:04] So like, uh, if you had a time machine and you could go back to any musical event in
[00:53:09] history that you weren't at, what would it be?
[00:53:15] It's, it's a cliche, but it probably would be Hendrix at Woodstock.
[00:53:21] Like it's that kind of, yeah.
[00:53:23] I think that kind of air is something that we don't really have at all now.
[00:53:27] You know, you could pick some of those kinds, some of the gigs, which are more recent.
[00:53:31] I, you know, feel I might have a feel for, I think that would be pretty otherworldly.
[00:53:34] There's actually a top three to that question after eight years.
[00:53:37] Okay.
[00:53:38] There, that is in the top three, the Hendrix at Woodstock.
[00:53:41] Yeah.
[00:53:42] Um, the other one is, um, the first Lollapalooza.
[00:53:46] Okay.
[00:53:47] From like the nineties with like Jane's Addiction, Henry Rollins, um, that kind of shit.
[00:53:51] And you know what the number one answer is?
[00:53:55] Uh, Woodstock 99.
[00:53:57] Yeah.
[00:53:58] Limp Bizkit at Woodstock 99.
[00:53:59] The fucking crazy break stuff.
[00:54:01] Give me something to break.
[00:54:03] Everybody wants to go do that, I guess.
[00:54:05] Yeah.
[00:54:06] Swim in the poo mud.
[00:54:07] They're having a real moment again.
[00:54:09] Um, yeah.
[00:54:10] That's pretty crazy.
[00:54:11] Yeah.
[00:54:12] Are you going to go see Oasis in Toronto?
[00:54:16] A little inside joke from off mic when we first sit down, but are you?
[00:54:20] Um, yeah.
[00:54:21] I mean, if someone gave a ticket to me, would I say, would I, would I turn it away?
[00:54:26] Probably not, but that's not what's going to happen.
[00:54:27] Someone's going to offer me a ticket for $500.
[00:54:29] Um, is what's going to, is what, is what's going to happen.
[00:54:32] You think they'll go that low?
[00:54:33] You'll go that low.
[00:54:34] Yeah, I know.
[00:54:35] It's a charity.
[00:54:35] They're a charity.
[00:54:36] I don't know, man.
[00:54:36] Um, we'll see.
[00:54:37] I like, I will see how they get on.
[00:54:39] Like I, uh, I wish them all the best with it.
[00:54:41] I'm kind of interested.
[00:54:41] I saw them on the tour.
[00:54:44] They called it a day, like in 2009.
[00:54:47] And, uh, and it was not good.
[00:54:48] Uh, they were very much kind of phoning it in and were upstaged by kind of support acts
[00:54:54] on the bill, uh, to my, to my mind.
[00:54:57] So, but I think they'll, they'll be, uh, coming out swinging.
[00:55:01] I think I actually think, I think they'll be pretty good actually.
[00:55:04] Um, yeah.
[00:55:05] In the music community, you'll meet a lot of people with the common interests and most
[00:55:09] people are pretty cool.
[00:55:10] So it's been a pleasure meeting you.
[00:55:14] And I will do what I can to help out the site because I think it's an amazing idea.
[00:55:19] I think you're doing an awesome job and, uh, keep in touch and maybe we can do this again
[00:55:24] down the road.
[00:55:25] Sounds good.
[00:55:25] Thanks very much, Mike.
[00:55:26] Thanks again.
[00:55:27] All right.
[00:58:17] That is the end of episode 144.
[00:58:19] I'd like to thank Will Stockdale for being on Ego and Vice coming down to Southwood studio
[00:58:24] and having a chat, check out that site.
[00:58:27] Use that site as a tool in your every day because it is super helpful and he puts a ton
[00:58:32] of work and heart into it.
[00:58:34] It is Ottawa gigs.ca.
[00:58:36] If you're looking for something to do, if you're looking for something to see, if you're
[00:58:39] searching for a band, you're just searching for a night out, Ottawa gigs.ca is the place
[00:58:45] to go.
[00:58:46] So if you want to get ahold of me, you can always reach me at ego and vice at gmail.com.
[00:58:51] If you want to listen to the podcast, just search ego and vice podcast.com.
[00:58:55] I'm everywhere.
[00:58:56] Or you can go to ego and vice podcast.com.
[00:59:01] Did I just say that?
[00:59:03] Anyway, it's the end of an episode.
[00:59:04] I don't know what the hell I'm talking about.
[00:59:06] Ego and vice podcast.com.
[00:59:08] It is my home base.
[00:59:09] It is my fortress of solitude.
[00:59:12] My HQ.
[00:59:13] Everything you need is there.
[00:59:14] Every link you need is there.
[00:59:15] Leave a review.
[00:59:18] That's nice.
[00:59:19] Anyway, yeah.
[00:59:23] See you next week.
[00:59:24] You've got a real attitude problem, McFly.
[00:59:26] You're a slacker.