Episode 176: The Desert Island Big Band

[00:00:01] So you want to check out some live music tonight in Ottawa, but you're not sure of where to start looking? Maybe you're not even sure what you're in the mood for? I've got a website for you. Go to ottawagigs.ca. They have everything you need. Bands, artists, styles, venues, times, even the cost to get in. It's all at your fingertips on an easy to use website. ottawagigs.ca.

[00:00:25] Go discover the incredible talent, the amazing venues, and the exciting nightlife that Ottawa has to offer. Start your night with ottawagigs.ca. Your guide to the gig. This is Ren from Candy Says and you're listening to the Ego & Vice Podcast. You've got a real attitude problem, McFly. You're a slacker.

[00:01:46] Hey, this is Mike. Welcome back to Ego & Vice, Ottawa's original and longest running independent music podcast. About the Ottawa music community. For the Ottawa music community. How about that? There's all my taglines right off the hop. Uh, it's great to be here. I took some time off. I didn't mean to. But, as you know, with Ego & Vice, there's no schedule. There's no deadlines. There's no guarantees of anything.

[00:02:14] I'm flying by the seat of my pant, as they say. Not my pants. My pant. Uh. I don't know. Um, it's spring, uh, into summer now. I guess it's actually summer. And it's just been lovely. It's been a lovely, uh, lovely transition. Uh, so I've been out on my bike a lot. And, um, sometimes you've got to step away from the screens. You've got to step away from the microphones.

[00:02:40] And you just have to go outside. And I say this every year. Go outside and enjoy summer. Get your head out of your phone. Yeah, fuck it. You can do it whatever the hell you want. This is just my two cents. I get my head out of my phone and out of the microphones. And I go outside and I enjoy myself. Just like in the winter when I go to the hill. It's great. Transitional periods, like spring and fall. Don't know what the hell to do with myself. What have I been doing with myself, you ask?

[00:03:10] Well, I have been, uh, pretty busy. Uh, went on tour with, uh, Riptides and Huntingtons. That was awesome. Uh, Goat has been playing a lot of shows. And also, I've been writing the new Goat record. And on June 6th, this coming Saturday, it could be a Saturday pass depending on when this podcast comes out. But June 6th, Goat is going up to the studio Skylark Park in Pembroke with my good buddy Jordan Zatarosny

[00:03:40] to record, to start recording the 8th Goat record. That's right, 8th Goat record. Because you know, maybe you don't, Goat has been around 15 years as of August, uh, this coming August. Actually, it'll be 15 years. And to celebrate that grand achievement, we are throwing a huge party. And that will be announced shortly. So, I'll just, uh, let you know. It's the Goat 15-year birthday bash.

[00:04:10] Oh yeah. Stay tuned. There will be cake. Uh, on the, uh, show today, I have, um, very, very talented person. Uh, his name is Steph. He is from, perhaps you know him from, the Desert Island Big Band. Perhaps you know him from his large plaster head mask thing he wears. Maybe you don't even know what he looks like. But, you're gonna know what he sounds like, you're gonna know his story,

[00:04:39] and you're gonna know all about the things that make him tick. Steph, Desert Island Big Band. Let's play a song from Desert Island Big Band, and then we'll come back with the conversation. Uh, Steph was kind enough to come by the illustrious walls of Southwood Studio. Let's sit down with yours truly. Without further ado, this is the Desert Island Big Band. This song is called Laughing Plastic Atom Bombs.

[00:05:07] This is episode 176. This is Ego and Vice.

[00:05:17] Hey, we're back.

[00:07:58] This is Mike. This is Ego and Vice. This is episode 176. As promised in the intro, sitting in Southwood Studio, right next to a milk crate with the craziest mask I've ever seen, it's Steph from Desert Island Big Band. Hello, hello. Thanks for having me. What's going on? Traffic. Let's talk about traffic. Oh, we had to talk about traffic, eh? Well, I think it's a pressing topic in this city. I feel like what it really is is it's the, uh, uh, it's not the, the,

[00:08:28] it's the use of, what is the word? It's semantics is what you, I think we're dancing around here. Semantics. Very good. It's the, I, I said that I had, I was dealing with the traffic on the way down, but indeed it was the, uh, not, not bumper to bumper traffic so much as just, I was talking about my GPS and, ah, yes. I, I go the opposite way with, uh, with efficiency. If I can spell it with three letters, why not use six? Hey man, that makes a lot of sense. Um, traffic in this city has gone crazy.

[00:08:58] They built an LRT to try and reduce the traffic, but because of the construction and the years and years, it's created more traffic and, uh, there's no, there's no way around it. There's no more shortcuts. There's just salty frustration on my end. That's all there is. I don't know what to do about it. I can't solve the problem. I just have to kind of deal with it and welcome to auto everybody. So, how are things going? What is, what is, uh, let's, let's take a, a dive into the day

[00:09:28] in the life. All right. From Underneath the Rock, uh, at the crack of dawn. Usually, I just shower myself in the, the saltiest brine that I can find. Um, I like it. Yeah, rubbed by pits with some, uh, coffee grinds from yesterday. Brew some fresh coffee. Sprinkle, uh, the stuff on the pits and get all the stinky bits and, uh, and then off we go. Right on, right on. Um, what was on the, uh, I guess we can call it

[00:09:57] the car stereo on your way to South Hood studio today. Mm-hmm. I'm one of those weirdos that doesn't listen to music in the car most of the time. Oh, okay. Uh, I work as an audio engineer, so most of my days are filled with listening to music all the time anyway. Yeah. Uh, so I find a lot, like, it's, it's one of those things that it's confusing. Like, and I know a lot of people hear that and think it's a very strange thing and like, but it, it just, it makes, I think as soon as they understand that, like, if I've had the kind of thought before when I first started getting into audio where I'm like doing edits

[00:10:27] and going, oh, it'd be great if I put some music on in the background and kind of having that duh moment of this is literally what I'm doing right now is I need to listen to things. So, yeah. Listening actively all the time whenever you're like not, whether it's work or for enjoyment, but sometimes it's just nicer to sit in silence and just truly enjoy that whenever you don't get it as often. I completely get that though because music is a huge part of my life and I'm just compulsively always listening to music. You know, people pick up their phones and doom scroll. Mm-hmm.

[00:10:57] I'm constantly just trying to find something to listen to. I went on a bike ride today and I always have like one butt in so I, you know, I get lost in down the paths on my bicycle, not a motorcycle. Mm-hmm. All right. And I'm out there. I just go all day and I was out there for about three hours on the way home. My ear was still, had the music, I had to take the earbud out because I just needed peace. I needed peace and quiet. Mm-hmm. So I completely understand what you mean. Like as much as it

[00:11:26] is part of the experience, I needed to hear like my heartbeat and my breathing and the road, the rocks under my tires if you will. Yeah, absolutely. Sometimes like you, you get so like, me especially, like I'll get, I get very inside my own head as far as like processing things, like whether it's like while I'm working on audio or like just, it's very brain heavy sort of activity. Mm-hmm. So just like truly stopping and like doing, it's like figuratively lifting your head out of the water for a minute and taking that deep breath and sort of enjoying that. Well, you need a,

[00:11:55] you need a break. You need a break. You need like a moment to think. Audio engineer, is that what you are? Is that your dream job? It wasn't initially. Are you living the dream? But I am now. Yeah. Wow. I sort of slipped into my dream job. Amazing. And how many people can say that? Because you're in a band, Desert Island Big Band, which we will talk about amongst all your other ventures and projects and whatever's going on out there in the world,

[00:12:25] but you also make a living doing something you love. Mm-hmm. That's amazing. Congratulations. Very, very lucky to be able to do that. Took a while to build it up, but it's one of those things that like once it finally gets to that stage where it starts paying off, it just like it's, there's no better feeling than feeling like you've like, I truly hit that. Like it's, it's the living the dream without the air quotes around it. That's right. Well, you can air quote because you earned it. Even when you have your dream job,

[00:12:55] you still sit in traffic. That's it. We've come full circle. Desert Island Big Band. Let's get to the matter at hand. Let's do it. Let's do a bit of an origin. Can we give, can we get a bit of an origin story of your, your time as a musician, where music came from? As a musician. Yeah. It was honestly a lot, like most giant decisions in my life that kind of came out on a whim. It was truly just, my parents came up to me one day. I think my uncle was cleaning out his basement

[00:13:25] and found a guitar that my grandparents had bought him when he was a kid. And it was truly just like a, hey, do you think Steph wants this? And like hearts in my eyes kind of thing right away. And I was like obsessed with the thing and it just like, I did not put it down for the rest of my life essentially. Do you still have it? Oh yeah. I love it. Yeah. I played a, played it on CKCU I think last weekend or the week before and I used that guitar. And what is it? It's a, it's funny because I don't know if I know the model. It's an old Yamaha acoustic.

[00:13:55] Acoustic. It's a, I want to say like an FG500 or something. It's something cheap. It's not anything nice. It's just like a, but it's, it's, no, it's just, it's the one I learned on. It's just the, it's the most comfortable guitar I own. Yeah. I have a, I still have my very first guitar too. It's like a knockoff Strat and it's been through a dozen paint jobs and it's got a new neck on it but the body is deep underneath those layers of paint. My first guitar, you can't get rid of your first guitar. Guitar, is that your main instrument? I don't think. It is. That's,

[00:14:25] that's your go-to? Okay. Are you a multi-instrumentalist? Can you play a lot of things? Yeah. So I've sort of like expanded a little bit over the years. Like I've obviously bass is the first and easiest one for a guitar player to go to. But then like I played drums in a few bands over the years. Oh right. You got to. I, you know, I picked up a little bit of the keys. The keys have been a weird one for me where I feel like I've learned it like 50 times over my lifetime and then forgot it 51 times, you know? Yeah. Where like I'll sit down and you give me like 45 minutes I can figure something out.

[00:14:54] Like a lot of this record that I am like currently putting out was written on a keyboard. Nice. So like it's something I, like I go to every once in a while but it's like, I always go back to guitar. It's just like, it's the, I've been playing it longer than I haven't. So it's a very comfortable interesting. And when you break that down, right? Yeah. Yeah. For sure. Yeah. I guess so. That makes sense. That makes sense for me too. Yeah. Guitar is my only thing. I can, I can play, I've been playing the drums as long as I've been playing the guitar because there's always

[00:15:23] a drum kit wherever I go. Right. But I am not a consistent player. So I only have an endurance of about a minute and 10 seconds. Then I'm like, I'm not. You also play more punk stuff too. It's kind of a different, a different ball game. Well, that's always been kind of my go-to because that's the music. That's my music. That's the stuff that I've always been drawn to. I listen to it. All kinds of punk, but I listen to a lot of things, but punk is what I do the best. It's what I'm most comfortable writing. It's what I'm most comfortable playing. I've tried to do other things.

[00:15:52] It just doesn't give me the same payoff, I think. Do you know what I mean? Absolutely. Yeah. Like I'd love to be in like a rock band or like an acoustic kind of get together or something or it just, meh. It doesn't have any legs for me. Like it won't last. No, I feel like that. It'll just be like, oh, scratch that itch. Back to the punk band. Yep. Yeah. Anyway, do you, when did you start writing songs? Before, before my first guitar lesson, if you can call them that. I, I immediately, like I had a friend of mine

[00:16:21] because I would have been in sixth grade, I think, had a friend of mine who had also just started learning at the same time. So we were truly like calling each other on the phone and just like holding the phone up to the guitar and be like, I found a melody in the, in the song. And it's just like us plucking open strings in different combinations and calling it a song. So it's been like, since the beginning of having this instrument, I've been trying to figure out how to get sounds out of it and things and like write something. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Well,

[00:16:51] I think, I think if it's funny, you get people who have been writing songs forever. As soon as they pick up an instrument, the first thing, they don't want to play smoke on the water. They'll probably learn it, but they want to write their own stuff. And then you have people that play guitar or piano or whatever for decades and have never composed anything. I find that so odd, but you know, I guess it's just the way brains work, right? That's it. Everyone's, everyone's got different draws to it, right? Which is part of what makes it so much fun. Yeah. I, I, I write songs.

[00:17:21] That's, that's my enjoyment when with an instrument in my lab, watching TV or something, I'm always doing something. I'm not trying to learn anything. I'm just trying to find the next little thing that sounds good to me. You know what I mean? I, I love that approach. I've known so many people like that that just like are constantly shitting songs out. Like every single day they'll write something. Well, I should, I should a lot of half and quarter songs out. Still, it's like the fact that something, like I'm, I'm much, I'm very much the opposite and I will write like, uh,

[00:17:51] it's like one song that like that I want to keep like in, like say one or two a year kind of thing. Like I, I'm very, very, uh, like I'll write a million things, but there might just be like riffs that I record and never listen to again. That's right. Um, but like, as far as like actually finishing things, like the people that can just like whip those things out and just like pump out song after song, I've got so much respect for because it's such a, like I did have one small period in my life where I like did the write one song every single day, even if it's bad. Yeah. And I saw the,

[00:18:21] like that, the merit that comes from it. Yeah. Uh, I've since fallen off. Well, but I see, I have a bad habit. Bad, good habit of going way too far with any idea that I have. So in this case, like I started doing that, started writing songs, started recording, started working on an album. Oh, here's an album that I'm putting out. Um, but then the people that just continually do that, like I totally understand the, uh, cause I saw within like the, the month or so that I did it, like the, the growth and the, the, like I look back at some of the

[00:18:51] stuff I wrote and go, how, how did this happen? Yeah. And it's truly just comes from doing it again and again and again like that. Well, they say, you know, uh, and I've said this before, the more you do something, the better you get at it. Who, who knew? Yeah. Do you know what I mean? But who has the time, right? One of my favorite things though, cause I, like I come from more of like a punk and like blues background as well. So like a lot of the, like the early, like classic rock and punk and stuff. I like, I grew up with a lot of that as well. And the, uh, so, but because I,

[00:19:20] I got so into the songwriting stuff first and that was always been my focus. Uh, it was only just recently when I've started being like feeling like my songwriting is sort of plateaued that I've been looking in like learning other people's songs. Okay. Uh, cause I like covers have been things that I'm like, I'm not very good at saying, I hate doing covers cause I, I screw them up. I make, I think I butcher them anyway. Sorry. But through, through learning all these like covers and people's songs, I'm learning that all these songs that I loved and I like had so much reverence for over the years are just three chord songs. Yeah. They're just dressed up in a different

[00:19:50] kind of way. I, and like, it might just be that like you, you listen to these phenomenal guitar players and go, okay, what are they playing? And you like break it down and you go, Oh, it's actually just like C, F and G the entire time. They've just like, they've got so much style or whatever else is going on. You find, you find that really, you find that just that vocal melody that fits over top of those three chords. You know what I mean? And it probably has been done before and it probably sounds like something else, but it's just like, but I just did it. And it's just like,

[00:20:19] there's that saying too, where it's like, it's harder to write like a two minute song than it is to write a five minute song. Cause you only have so much time, right. To say it all. Right. Or in five minutes, if you have no limits or no boundaries, you can just put this there and this there. And it's just like, I could, I could say what I'm trying to say, but I also could tell you why I'm trying to say that right before I say it. I ain't got time for that in two minutes. You know what I mean? Or you go entirely left of that and you do what I did, which is write an entire record that means absolutely nothing. Well, Hey man, it's,

[00:20:49] it's all subjective, right? It means something to somebody. Hopefully. It could. Well, maybe not me. Oh, okay. Well, there you go. I guess so. But I've always said to you, I, I'm not, I suck at cover songs. I, I'm not like drawn towards playing them because I've just, I've never have been. And, and I just want to write goat songs because I am the best in the world at writing goat songs. Do you know what I mean? So why would I not do those? They might not be good,

[00:21:17] but who's to say anyway. So have you been in Ottawa this whole time? Are you from Ottawa? Yep. Okay. I've, I've lived here my entire life. I grew up in, in Canada and like moved downtown whenever I moved out and it's just pretty much been back and forth. Very cool. Very cool. And when you started actually, uh, playing around town, like gigging and stuff, when was that? That would have been, it's hard to say. I think it was probably, stop thinking like,

[00:21:46] playing in actual bars. Cause I, maybe 2014 ish, somewhere around then. Cause I would have been, uh, I think I might've played like the occasional show here, there when I was still in high school, but it was really when I got out of high school and got into, uh, I'm probably way overshooting it with 2014. It was probably way before then, but it's been a trickle. I started like getting into the going to shows and then, uh, like started my own solo project

[00:22:14] that turned into a band called Onion Face. That was, uh, that was like sort of took up my event, like the five, six years after that. But generally like I've, I've, you know, flitted in, like did a couple of like fill in gigs and things like that. But that's cool. I don't know if there was ever really like, I can't think of like a definitive start. So let's get to Desert Island Big Band. Um, as far back as I could kind of see, um, works out around, you released a single called One.

[00:22:44] Oh, isn't that what you want? You went pretty far back. Around 2019? Yep. Was that around the, uh, the birth of Desert Island Big Band? It, on a technical level, I suppose it was like a truly, that is like the, the weird anomaly track for me where like I, it's like a, solo acoustic track with just a bunch of harmonies, very folky, um, like finger style kind of thing. That was like, it was just what I was really into at the time. It is in your discography. It is. Yeah. It is there.

[00:23:14] I don't plan. There's no reason to get rid of it. It's an official song. It's, uh, it was just the, kind of what I thought I wanted to do at the time because I was coming out of, uh, playing with Onion Face, which is just this like balls to the wall, like garage rock, like bluesy kind of thing that like, I kind of wanted something that was like a, a companion to that, I guess, uh, to have like an outlet for the, like this stuff that didn't fit in the Onion Face world. Right.

[00:23:43] but through working on it, I realized that there was a, like, it just sort of continued evolving over time. And it was like, it's 2019. It was like right before the pandemic hit too. So yes, through that, I had a lot more time to then like really dive in and dissect and like, taking more from, this is just like a fun thing I'm going to do for myself on the side to like very quickly becoming the main thing that I'm doing. So you're here by yourself, but you do have a band. I do. Which will give a shout out to the guys at some point,

[00:24:11] but Desert Island Big Band is you. Yes. Okay. So 2019 was you stepping away from Onion Face, trying something different right before the pandemic. But it's not like the pandemic really slowed you down because between, uh, 2019 and 2022, you had singles, uh, Downer, Yellow. We all fall in love sometimes. Yeah. In 2021, you had Here, then Gone, uh, Playboy and Dishes. Yep. Playboy and Dishes.

[00:24:40] And M. Yep. All right. 2022, um, you had Six Shooter and Monuments, but you also had two EPs, Don't Try and Mad Honey. Yep. That's pretty busy. Yeah. So you must record your own stuff. I do. So I work as an audio engineer, right? So it's, and there it is. It's a lot, a lot easier, whatever the, the cost of hiring an engineer is. It's just me. Um, but at the time,

[00:25:11] like when the pandemic hit, I was also living in a home studio. So like, I, yeah, like the drummer and I, like the drummer and onion face and I with our partners, uh, we're renting a house. So we had the whole basement retrofitted with like a literal wall of amps. Like our, the bassist Calvin McCormick is now the, uh, head tech at High Watt in Toronto. Okay. So like, he has always had this massive collection of stuff. So we had like all these amps. John had a few drum kits. Um, you know, we had a proper studio that I was running out of the basement.

[00:25:41] So whenever the, uh, the pandemic hit, it was just me. I had full run of everything that I was offering for everybody else. Right. Right. Right. So I truly just got to mess around and like explore. And that's why so much of that stuff goes through these different arcs of sounds and things is because I'm just playing around for sure. For sure. And here's a question. We, I try not to talk about the pandemic too much because it's just, it's, it's all kind of the same. People said when the pandemic hit, it's like, Oh, I have all this time to write music. And you know what I mean? I'm finally going to get so much done.

[00:26:11] Did you get a lot done? I didn't get much done during that time. I, I did. Uh, I'd say so. Yeah. I think I like, I've always been very, uh, like self-sufficient as far as like work and like keeping myself busy. And like, I, like, I like to do it. Um, I always pack my schedule. I've always been like that with trying to like, if I'm not on the, especially like before the pandemic, I was like touring every week, uh, with a couple of bands I was playing with, uh,

[00:26:40] just trying to like do as many things. As I possibly can. So whenever the time came time for the pandemic, like that's just how my brain is used to operating. So whenever I couldn't have people over to record all the time and to keep myself busy, I, I had to do something to keep myself busy. And like for that, it was, it was less of like a, Oh, now I have time to write. Uh, and just like a, like, I'm just going to keep recording. And, but the only thing I can record is me. Right. So I need to write to keep recording and keep being busy. That's fair.

[00:27:10] Um, I tried to write and I don't, don't get me wrong. Like I, I, I wrote, but I just, I, I didn't have the same, it didn't feel like I was, I don't know. It didn't have that same kind of like, um, initiative or whatever. Cause I was all bummed out and everything I wrote about was bummed, was like bummed me out. Yeah. So I just kind of stopped. It was like, I don't want to do this anymore. I have, I've always, uh, up until this record, honestly, I've had a bit of a, a bummer streak. Uh, like downer is kind of like a personal joke in that the chorus is, I don't want to be a downer,

[00:27:40] but I'm not having a good time. Like it's, it's a very like, it's the most on the nose kind of like, you know, that was, that was the kind of stuff that I was writing. So like it, that definitely didn't change during the pandemic. Fair enough. but I, I don't think it really, uh, like anything got like better or there was any sort of improvement or like, uh, any sort of change until that sort of started trickling. And I was able to sort of process that. And like, it was like, don't try past that record. I think is when things started changing.

[00:28:09] Like Mad Honey for me is more of the, uh, like, I don't consider that a pandemic record. Right. Uh, but everything in my discography pretty much up to don't try is within that, that timeframe. Very cool. Very cool. Um, on that note, why don't we give the, the good listener, um, an idea of what we're talking about? Can we play a song? Absolutely. Can you pick one out of the, that, that era? Oh, from that era. Yeah. Uh,

[00:28:39] yeah, I think just, uh, well, we were just talking about it. Why not do Downer? Downer. Yeah. So this is, uh, Desert Island Big Band. This is Downer right here on Ego and Vice. Hey,

[00:32:55] we're back. Uh, Ego and Vice. Steph, Desert Island Big Band. So, 2026, I guess we're jumping ahead a little bit. I don't think so though. Um, Elaborate Dogs and Laughing, Laughing Plastic Atomic Bombs was released. Uh, Elaborate Dogs is what we played on the, um, Southwood Stereo, myself and Max on the other Ego and Vice podcast. Da-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na.

[00:33:24] You know what I love about, uh, about the band is that, have you ever noticed, and you'll see like stuff on Instagram too, where it's like, the 80s, and then it's now, or it's like, yeah, everything's gray and white and black and cars are all that and people just wear like black clothes and whatever. Desert Island Big Ben is a big, colorful, wonderful bouquet of like joy. Oh, well, maybe sometimes it's a downer, but, you know what I mean? And I watched the video

[00:33:54] and it's just, I don't know. Let's, let's talk about, um, where Desert Island Big Ben is today. Is it the same as it, is it, is it an evolution of progression? I'd imagine it is, but how are you guys doing today? It's very different than it was when it first started because like, like I've said and we'll probably say a few more times, it's all been an experiment and it generally always is with me, uh, where like it started out just like messing around trying to figure out

[00:34:24] what kind of music I wanted to make. But then as soon as like things started opening up and like shows were happening again, I got out there almost as fast as I could with, uh, backing tracks and it just started like taking the guitars and vocals out and just playing live to that. But when I was playing live immediately, I knew I didn't want to just go out and play like a show in my, like regular clothes. I wanted to, especially if I was going up just alone, I needed, there needed to be something else because me just with backing tracks on paper sounds like

[00:34:53] a horrendous show I don't want to spend money on. So, well, I wanted to like to do something else. So I thought what's the, the most I could do is I could start getting and I could wear my bigger outfits or, uh, start doing more set design because my, my partner, Jess, uh, works really closely with me for a lot of the art direction stuff. Always has, but, uh, sort of increasingly over time where, um, we, uh, I think the original iteration of it was this, like, it was made out of this like dense, uh, like foam.

[00:35:23] Uh, it made it like a four foot tall cactus, uh, that I like assembled and would like disassemble. But because it was made out of that, like, uh, insulation foam, it kept, uh, like shredding every time I'd take it apart. Uh, and eventually just fell apart. So it's like Ikea furniture. Yeah. Uh, but then, you know, that turned into, uh, like the, like multicolored different cactuses and I started like, when like there was one show I played where I tied my hair up with probably like 20 helium balloons, uh, just,

[00:35:53] just up, just up above my head. Yeah. So it's always, it's always been very colorful. It's always been very fun. I just think in the last like couple of years, it's refined, uh, and it's gone from me just experimenting and trying these different things to like, I'm starting to see a bit more of a semblance of like identity and like, I do love artists that have eras and I love to move through different identities and completely like sever a tie with an old sound or an identity and start something fresh. Like I, I think that's a really cool thing when artists do that. That is cool. Yeah. Yeah.

[00:36:23] Uh, but I do think that I've crept closer to being able to like identify what, like what is and what is not me as an artist. Right, right, right. That's very, very cool. And, um, instead of playing by yourself, you do have guys that you play with or members that you play with? I do now. Yeah. Would you like to give a, uh, a nod to, to said members? Absolutely. So my live band is called The Mirage. Uh, and it was initially, there were,

[00:36:53] we were a four piece. So it was myself, Calvin McCormick, who was formerly in Onion Face, uh, Spencer Cuttington and Matteo Petty, who are both still on my guitar and drums respectively, who are still playing with me. Uh, Cal lives in, uh, St. Catharines now. Uh, and then, uh, I would have, I played with Mike Hollidge for a little bit because I used to play in bands with him, uh, on bass with, as a four piece. And then there was, we played a bunch of shows and we were offered

[00:37:22] an opening slot with, uh, with Crownlands at the neat cafe. Um, and we had already sort of signed off for the year and we're like, we're not doing any more shows. I'd said, okay, let's, let's relax. All right. I'm writing another record. Um, and then we got this offer and I'm like, okay, let's, let's do this show because this is really cool. It's already sold out. I love these guys. Right. so I hired a couple other, uh, guys. I had, well, Cal came down because he knows Crownlands as well because we, we've known them for years. But, uh, we had Ian,

[00:37:52] uh, from JJ Parks and, oh, uh, Asher from, well, he plays in like a million cover bands, but from Blank Notion was his, uh, the band he played in before but now is Asher Darling is playing his own stuff. Yeah, yeah. Uh, on bass and keys, uh, just as fill-in. But then after that show, we all sort of vibed so well that we started like jamming again and kind of offered them the official position and now we're playing as a six-piece band. Wow. So it,

[00:38:21] it was initially supposed to be a, like, I would have people intentionally rotating, changing through. just for fun, yeah. But now I think we've locked into a core group where we all just get along and we've arranged things in such a way that like, despite being six people, we feel it if one person doesn't make it to practice. Yeah. Um, chemistry, it's huge. Um, if it all, if it all, if it all works and everybody is on the same page and wants to do it, probably be a lot easier than rotating. Like, rotating a few people here and there

[00:38:51] but always having a different band, that seems like a lot of work. It's hard because you're always playing catch-up. Yeah, right, because you're always teaching too, right? Yeah, that's tough. Like, Downer, we've, like, is the one that's changed the most over the years where we play, we, it's like, we play it like, almost 10 minutes long when we play it live because it's got this, like, a coda thing that we tacked on at the end. Yeah. Um, this big jam that whenever that initial lineup switch happened, uh, we had the two guys that sort of primarily

[00:39:21] started that, that jam, uh, were Spencer and Mike and Spencer was like gone for the weekend or something and Mike had left the band. So I remember trying to teach this to the new guys and like, I'm like, oh, we switch, something switches now. And they're like, what, what switches? I'm like, I, I, the vibe, I don't know. Like it just, something happens here and it feels really cool, but I never thought to ask them what they did. Right. So you're always like playing this sort of catch up game with, uh, with people coming in and no, I hear you. Cause my band goat, we're on our, we've,

[00:39:51] we've had three, three guitar players, second guitar players. We've had two bass players. Me and the drummer have always been the constant right since the beginning, but it is, it's like, you just want to get to band, get to jam and just play, but it's like, okay, we can't play that one. Can't play this one. We've got to play it. And then you got to kind of take the, to break it down and all that stuff. It takes time, but then it falls into the pocket and then you're there. And if you found the right members to do that, eh, don't break it. If it ain't broke, don't fix it. You know what I mean? That's it. Yeah. Ride the wave as long as it's still there, you know,

[00:40:20] it's not going to last forever, but as long as it's operating now, I'll take it. Hey, if everyone's having a good time and it sounds good and, Hey, that's all you can really ask for in music. Um, I like that idea too, of like always changing the, the identity too. It's the same band, but it's like a different, what was the, what was the term you used? Era. Yeah. The mask. I got to ask. And if you check out any of, uh, desert island,

[00:40:49] big man's social media right now, you'll see, you'll see this, this face, uh, all over the place. It's, it's, I have to ask like, what, what's the deal and where did it come from? How did it get made? And if you want to see it, it will be in the picture of this, this very podcast. Yeah. It's, uh, it's funny because the mask was probably the one thing that is such a centerpiece now of our live show and the branding for this record that was not supposed to be there. No, it was, uh,

[00:41:19] like the, cause we've got Cosmo, the puppet. I was going to ask the little, uh, blue, uh, the dog. Yeah. Yeah. Uh, so he was supposed to be there from the beginning. You know, we had the, the, obviously the, the painted dog backgrounds. There's this whole dog theme. Uh, the head came because, uh, like Jess, my, my partner, I think, I think just for fun, wanted to make a mask. Uh, she just wanted to try it and had this idea of how to make one. And she wanted to make one that was my head. Uh,

[00:41:46] so she made this like giant sort of caricaturized version of my head. And I remember coming home from band practice one day and turning the corner and there she is with this cardboard giant head standing in the hallway. Uh, of you, of, of your own, of your own head. But that's awesome. Eventually, like it, we went through a couple iterations. It was supposed to have hair initially. Uh, but then like, it was one of those things where the longer we looked at it and the more it sort of became its own thing. Like the, the eye where the eyes are now were initially supposed to be my cheeks. Oh, I see. But before she painted it,

[00:42:16] I saw them as eyes and we're like, it looked hilarious as eyes. So, so technically it's not you anymore. It's, it's not, I wouldn't, she argues it still is, but it's, uh, it definitely doesn't look as much less, uh, besides the nose. I think she nailed the nose, but yeah, that's like when you run, like when you, when you ever see those AI things where you start with like a picture of, like Brad Pitt. Oh, and they run it over and over. And in the end it turns into like a pineapple or something. Yeah. You know what I mean? That's so there, yeah, there it is. Version like 376. Right.

[00:42:46] It's just like pineapple. Um, does it have a, does this era have a name? Is it, or is it just, no, it's, it's, it all came on so fast. It's like, I, we've sort of like tossed around a couple of names and things, but it's nothing, nothing stuck. It's, uh, it's, it's almost more fitting to the sort of general vibe of the record to not have it. Okay. So it's, it's essentially you with a mask on. It's not like a character. Exactly. Yeah. Okay. That's cool. I do become a weird maniac when I put it on,

[00:43:15] but I don't know if that's just like an excuse at that point. Oh, well, you know, I think I, why not? You gotta, can I see it? Yeah. Yeah. And what is it? Paper mache or? Everyone calls it paper mache, but it's plaster. Plaster. Is it heavy? Nope. So it's pretty light actually. It's just cardboard, plaster, and, uh, just a bunch of tape. It's very, very good. Uh, it's painted. The eyeballs are awesome. I know this is audio and all, and, but anyway, this is a very, very, very cool,

[00:43:44] cool mask. Uh, yeah, I was, uh, on my bike ride today and it just popped into my brain and I was just like, oh man, I hope he brings the mask tonight. And then I got kind of like, I was like racing to get to like a stop across this bridge. And then I, that's when I texted you, can you bring the mask? You're like, yeah. I was like, nice. So I was very excited that you brought it over and you brought it over in that nice Clark dairy limited milk crate. And the milk crate, as you think about it, and it fits perfectly in the kitty corner. It's perfect. I couldn't have thought of like,

[00:44:14] I couldn't have custom built a better case for it. Yeah. Yeah. So cool. Cool. Um, so chasm club, what's that? It is. So chasm club is going to be the third single off the record. Uh, so, so far elaborate dogs is sort of setting up the world that we're in this like, uh, dream world where there's, there's no time, but the past, the present and the future all exist simultaneously at the same moment in time. Anyone you've ever met, everyone you're going to meet, all these things happen. Uh, it's essentially,

[00:44:43] it's where your consciousness goes in your dream, um, is the, the world that this record happens in. So elaborate dog sets that up. Laughing plastic atom bombs is a little bit more of just the, uh, very silly weirdness of that world. Uh, chasm club is this more, I guess the darker side of dreaming where it's all of the, the shame and fear that people stuff down within themselves and they don't want to deal with. Uh, it just all gets shoved to the bottom of this like metaphorical pit. Cool.

[00:45:11] And at the bottom of this pit is this like really debaucherous little jazz club called the chasm club. And it's, uh, with all of the, the, these creepy, sexy creatures that you, like anything you can and will ever dream up. Awesome. Um, imagination. I love it. Well, Hey, you know, a lot of people don't use that these days. It's just like, here's, here's a song about love. You know what I mean? Yeah. Fair enough. So I appreciate, I appreciate that,

[00:45:40] that the story and storytelling has been a big thing that's popped into desert island big band or last like couple records. Yeah. Like with mad honey was the first one where I went into a little bit more of the lore and everything behind that record that with this one, I figured I'd just keep going with it. There's something so like, I really liked that kind of stuff when it's like, it's more than just the music. There's a little bit like most, more of a multimedia kind of thing in that regard. Yeah. I, I've always enjoyed this more storytelling sort of depth behind things. Well, I appreciate that. And you know what I mean?

[00:46:10] I don't have the guts to do what you do as far as the presentation and stuff like that. I'm very, like I was talking about earlier, or all the cars are black and white and gray. I'm skate shoes, jeans, and a black t-shirt. You know what I mean? Like that's how I feel comfortable. So I, I need stuff like, I need to visit the chasm club at some point. I got to go there and try and blend in. I'll be the guy in the back, back of the club, just looking around. Anyway, um, release show big desert island, big man release show. June 19th. Yeah. Awesome. So live on Elgin.

[00:46:39] It'll be a kick me records event. So we're, we're putting, uh, we put on one end like event annually. This is our third, I think. Uh, and it's going to be like the Asher Darling EP release. Uh, and then desert island, big band chasm club release. And then unsociably high is going to be playing with us as well. Sounds like a good gig. Mm hmm. kick me records. Yep. Do you want to talk about that a bit? Sure. That's so kick me records is like the, it's like the unofficial label, I guess that is essentially just a,

[00:47:08] the umbrella term for, uh, the artists and like art, like artist service companies, I guess you could say that I work with, uh, long story short, what we're trying to do now is that we're a, just like a one-stop shop for your record. I've always been an audio engineer, uh, working under this name of like kick me recordings. And like kick me has always kind of been within the, the world of the like on your face and the things that I do. Yeah. so I kept that, but then kick me records is now this like mashup of,

[00:47:38] uh, myself doing audio. We've got like Jess doing all, a lot of art direction and set design and props and directing, uh, we've Aaron Morrison from late night creations. Who's doing a lot of the styling and the custom work. So like all the jackets and, uh, like a lot of the costuming stuff that desert island, big band is doing as well as a couple of the artists that we've been, uh, like working with, um, Aaron's been doing all the custom work for them. We're like Dante Lupicini in Toronto who does a graphic design. Uh, Dominic Lano is also in Toronto who does, uh, videography.

[00:48:08] Uh, we've, we just got like a, it's a small team of like just the five of us. Um, but essentially trying to make it so that if anybody wants to come to us, if they want to, they can just pick and choose the services that we have. Yeah. Uh, or they can work with us in depth and essentially be like, we're going to work on your record. We're going to record the record and we're going to like take you by the hand and we'll help you through the rest of it. We're going to like, we'll work with you to make sure that you got a music video, all your graphic design, your branding's on point, you know, where you're going with the marketing. Cause I know like,

[00:48:38] uh, the, it is a bit more of like, uh, uh, like when anyone has their phone and can make videos and things all the time, it's a little bit more of a luxury to, to go and hire a videographer and there's a bit more of a budget behind it, but yeah, things like marketing and promotion, uh, there are a lot of skills and things that like all, a lot of us have learned over the years through like just releasing so much music for ourselves and for other people that it's really useful to be able to then like take that and apply that to somebody else who you've just worked with for more reasons than just helping them out.

[00:49:08] Like it's also that gives me the benefit of knowing that my work is potentially going to be heard by somebody else will get me more work that way. And it just sort of keeps that ecosystem of music going where obviously I want my work to do well so I can get more work, but then that artist is just doing well and can continue on with whatever they're doing. Hopefully that cycle continues and we can just keep, keep growing and, uh, bringing more people into that circle. Amazing. There's still, there's so much shitty content on the internet, right? You know what I mean?

[00:49:38] And you can do it yourself and I'm guilty of it too, but you have to be almost a, like a content creator. If you're in a band, if you have, like you see them, like you have a show at live on Elgin. So you got to, Hey guys, we're alive on Elgin and stuff. And that's kind of like less, it's less about expertise in my mind where like, yes, I've done it a lot, but also things change so frequently that just cause you've been doing it for 15 years, if you're not like at the, like if you're not keeping up with what's going on, like that's, that's old information now, especially with marketing. Yeah. it's for me, it's more like with what we're doing.

[00:50:08] I like the approach of just trying to change people's mindsets with, uh, what it feels like to market because something like, I'm sure you hear it all the time with the people, like they just hate the fact that they have to do this. Yeah. Like they don't like that. They have to promote their music or they have to promote their show. They have to talk to their phone, this whole thing. And like, I get it. I like, I don't like it either, but there's a way to frame it where all of a sudden that changes. And it's not like,

[00:50:35] I have to do this because I want to make music. And it turns into, well, what if the, that part was also fun and trying to figure out for each individual person that we're working with, how, how to make that fun. Like, what is the, for sure. What is the angle for, for that specific person that this isn't going to be like pulling teeth? Yeah. Yeah. So that you can, you can keep doing the thing that you like, you know that you need to do, but it's not, it's not this awful like extra load on your back that makes it that you don't enjoy playing music anymore. That's right. That's right. And, uh,

[00:51:05] some, some, it could seem overwhelming to people where they don't know what to do too. And just like to give you a call and, and I will put, uh, any contact information, um, for kick me records, uh, on the podcast. So, um, look it up if you want some help and, stuff will be there and he'll make you a big plaster head. Absolutely. I won't just, somebody will, I can make you a puppet. Yeah. So, um, we're kind of wrapping up here. Uh,

[00:51:33] did we miss anything that you wanted to talk about? Uh, I know June 19th is the big release show. Yep. Um, which is going to be super cool at live on Elgin. Great local venue, which I'm going to come out to for that one. Lovely. Yeah. I, uh, I've said it here. We, we haven't said anything yet, but we always have like extra things that we tend to do in our events, whether like last one we did, we had like, like we did a couple of like a custom cocktail and a photo booth. And, uh,

[00:52:02] we had dancers come up and they were sort of like dressed up in that, like as ghouls. So the whole night and, uh, well, like probably gonna be doing some fun things like that as well, but awesome. But beyond that, I, uh, like I will have one more single after that that I'm going to be putting out in August. Okay. Uh, and then the record comes out in September. Very, very exciting. Full length, long playing album. Yeah. That's exciting. Uh, nine tunes. That's, that's huge. There's not enough full record,

[00:52:32] full records, uh, put out anymore. I'm happy that they're coming back. Well, are they coming back? I would love that too. I doubt it. Uh, well, yours is coming out. I'm excited for that. I don't know. It's just the way I grew up with music, right? So, yeah. Anyway, uh, any last minute, uh, shout outs, thank yous, anything like that before we play 15 or 13 questions with the band? Oh, hell yeah. Uh, no, my mind just wiped him. I just want to get to the game. I, uh, as a fan of the podcast,

[00:53:01] I have often dreamed about what it would feel like to answer your 13 questions. Well, I'll tell you what you're going to find out right now. Time for 13 questions with the band. Yes, this segment's back again. It's called 13 questions, but I only asked six, maybe five. Okay. We're back. Uh, as I always try to explain, I have 13 questions, I don't ask all 13. I ask from the 13. Mm-hmm. Maybe six, maybe five,

[00:53:31] maybe five. Never in the history of ego and vice, 13 questions with the band. Have I ever asked all 13, but we don't have all day. There's only so many hours in the day. Anyway, that's right. Okay, let's get into it. This is 13 questions with Steph from Desert Island Big Band. And this is, how fitting is this? The very first question, what is your Desert Island record? Oh, hell yeah. Uh, whoo, that's a, a question I feel like I would have been more ready for.

[00:54:00] One record, if you were going to get stranded on a Desert Island for, let's say, five years, and as you were falling out of the boat, you saw your like collection. You had to grab one. Right now I'm going back and forth between, you know, I think I got to go with Ray Charles. Hallelujah. Ooh. I think that one is, it's just, there's something about it. I always go back to it. The, the playing, the songwriting, everything is just like top notch. Yeah. That will, uh,

[00:54:28] that will keep you company on those long, lonely desert nights. Yeah. Yeah. Ray Charles. Very good. A little sinner's prayer on the Desert Island. All right. Uh, what was the first concert you ever, uh, attended in person? I think it was Avril Lavigne. Oh, Avril. Yeah. It was, uh, the Scotiabank place in Canada. Okay. So just, uh, it was like, I think it was the, I don't know if the record was like new, if she was touring it, but it was around like the, whatever record it was, Skater Boy and Complicated was on. Yeah. That was like the,

[00:54:58] wasn't that the record? Like the, the big debut? The debut? Yeah. The debut? I think that was. I think it was touring that record that, uh, she was coming through and I, I loved that record when I was younger. So I, did you still have like the ties on and stuff? Do you remember? The backwards. I think so. I think so. But mind you, I was like 11 or 12, so I don't totally remember. That's fair. Avril Lavigne and Ray Charles. Yeah. That's cool. Um, um,

[00:55:25] what was the first record CD tape you purchased with your own money? Oh, physical music. I guess. It'd definitely be a CD. Cause I, I used to go down to like the CD warehouse and can add it all the time and just pick up a bunch of random stuff. But the first one I ever got, it's funny. Cause I don't have like a definitive memory, but I feel like it would likely be like Aerosmith or something just cause that's always been a very like important band for me growing up. Like it's a,

[00:55:55] since I was a toddler, uh, my mom taught me how to air guitar to sweet emotion in the backseat of the car. So it's, it's always been a bit of like a, like a sweet spot sort of thing. And so I wouldn't, I wouldn't be surprised if there was one that I had to like go out and get on my own. It might be something like Aerosmith. That's fair. Um, flip side, I might've been a teenager at the time and it would have just been, what I was really into. So it could have been Metallica. Well, there you go. The other one. Yeah. Metallica was the one. I believe there is no guilty pleasure music.

[00:56:24] You like what you like. You like what you like. And nobody can tell you different. absolutely. I loved NSYNC at one point. I had one of those little Justin Timberlake marionettes. Was he blue and named Cosmo? Yep. That's where it came from. Yeah. Cosmo's a reworked Justin Timberlake marionette. That's what everybody always says. Yeah. He's got that, he's got that energy. I liked that era. I liked the, the trilogy of Aerosmith songs. The amazing. Amazing. Anyway. See,

[00:56:53] I'm not as into the, like for me, Aerosmith is like, it's gotta be pre eighties. I was crying. It's amazing. Like there was three of them. They were all basically the same. They all feel the same. Yeah. Yeah. And the, the one that's at, in every high school prom, is that the other one? The Armageddon? Oh, don't want to miss the thing. Don't want to miss the thing. Those are great songs though. I don't know. They're like, they're like dirgy rock ballads, but they, they just became the kind of band that spawned the grunge era in the nineties.

[00:57:23] I think is the thing where like the, in the seventies, early Aerosmith had like this cool bluesy edge. Yeah. They were like, you know, these young shitty kids didn't quite know how to play their instruments that well. Right. And then like, you know, then they honed it in and like the songwriting is like, sure. Like loving an elevator and all those like later records are like, it's good. Well-produced stuff. I just don't think it hits the same way for me. Right. Well, that's fine.

[00:57:53] What is your favorite song today? Today. Today. Ooh. Hmm. You know, the first thing that came to mind was a D'Angelo. Actually, I've been really getting into, I can't remember the name of the record. Uh, someone recommended it to me and I've just been playing the whole thing through, but I think it's like the second track, second or third track on the record. I want to say like 10,000 days or 10,000 hours, 10,000 something. I'm like,

[00:58:21] you're the same as you album guy put on the record. I don't look at anything. I'm just listening to it. So I don't know these titles, but it's, it's somewhere, somewhere on some D'Angelo record. There's my favorite song today. Yeah. It's like four. Trying to get to, to connect your, okay, there we go. 10,000 deaths. Ah, there you go. And the album is Black Messiah. Black Messiah. Okay. If a desert island, big band could open for any band of your choosing, who would it be?

[00:58:51] Hmm. I think right now I'd probably want to go with, uh, unknown more orchestra. They're, they're doing some pretty cool stuff right now. Like they're just have been a pretty formative band for me in the last few years. I had, uh, like someone tell me that my stuff sounded like them and I'd never heard of them before. And like fell in love with the, the sound of that band. Uh, and I think more recently they've started doing the, what Jack White has been doing where they like, they don't have set lists and they just go and they play and they jam.

[00:59:21] And I've been seeing some of the footage from their, the tour that they're on right now. And it just looks like they're, they're like inching towards grateful dead territory. And that like these shows are just like mostly improvised and the sounds and everything from that band, like just sonically, or like, I think they're one of my favorite bands. So I think I would, I would just love to, to share a bill with them. Very good. Uh, a couple more questions. Uh, if you had a time machine and you could go to any musical event of any era, any year, what would it be?

[00:59:51] Hmm. Oh, I want to go, I don't know if, I can't think of any like specific time, but to be in like CBGBs, I think in that like peak seventies, sort of like, fuck yeah, that, yeah, the, the like talking heads or, um, Marquee Moon would ban television, like going to see like television or like a band like that at CBGBs.

[01:00:18] I think that that would probably be the cockroaches and the rats. Yeah. Oh yeah. Like an overflowing toilet. Or to go see the, that would be awesome. Or the, the cramps to go see the cramps live somewhere. Yeah. That, that one show they did at the asylum, just find a quiet corner and try and enjoy it. I appreciate that answer. I like that answer. Okay. Uh, final question. Uh, first step. Desmond Island, big band. Oh, two, two more questions. Um,

[01:00:48] if you could have a drink or a meal with anyone live or dead, who would it be? Oh, I'm not picky. I, uh, I don't think it would have to be that big a decision. I think I'd probably just go with my partner. Schmaltzy is that of an answer. That is, I am, I'm not, I don't find any, like there's nobody out there that I like, I lies to the degree that I like, I need to hang out with them or see them. Like, I like who I like and I like hanging out with those people.

[01:01:18] Simple as that. Who would you have a drink or a meal with if you and your partner could have a drink or meal with anybody? Oh shit. Well then it'd have to be a double date and it would have to be probably, uh, Lux interior and poison Ivy from the cramps. There you go. Bring them back. Very good. Very good. And the final question for Steph from Desert Island Big Band. Who is Desert Island Big Band?

[01:01:49] I don't know. If I find them, I'll let you know. Good enough. Thank you so much for being on the, uh, podcast. Uh, it's been a pleasure meeting you and a pleasure, uh, just shooting the shit. Yeah. Thanks for having me. Thank you for bringing the giant, uh, plaster head. Of course. Which is staring at me. We're going to get some pictures of it. Desert Island Big Band, June 19th. Live on Elgin. Be there or Cosmo the dog will eat you. Yeah.

[01:02:15] I'd like to thank Steph from Desert Island Big Band for coming down to Southend Studio and sitting in on this episode.

[01:05:29] Catch Desert Island Big Band live on Elgin, June 19th. Going to be a great show. I'll be there. Uh, if you want to get a hold of myself, Max, or the Vickler, uh, please reach out to EgoAndVice at gmail.com. If you want to check out the podcast and everything that is linked to it, go to the Fortress of Solitude, the HQ, EgoAndVicePodcast.com. Um, until then, put down your phone, go outside. It's beautiful out. Have fun. See you next time.

[01:05:59] You've got a real attitude problem, McFly. You're a slacker.