Have you ever been whisked back in time by a single guitar riff? Singer-songwriter Matthew Holtby joins us on Music Junkies to share his symphony of life—an auditory tale that dances through his vibrant solo career and the tracks that define it. Our conversation is a mixtape of moments, from the Anne Murray show that started it all, to the punk rock bowling alleys where the pins of rebellion and resilience stand side by side.
Strap on your high-top chucks and skate into the 80s with us, as we revisit the arena-shaking antics of Kiss and the soul-stirring anthems of Bruce Springsteen. Matthew opens up about the unique rite of passage introduced by his father—immersing in the full "Dark Side of the Moon" experience—that forged his deep connection with music. We also explore the shift from band camaraderie to the spotlight of a solo act, sharing laughs about aging punk icons and admiring the timeless Lemonheads before diving into Matthew's journey of releasing singles and touring Ontario.
As the final notes fade, Matthew reminds us of the importance of slowing down, savoring love, and being present. His stories about forging friendships over Elliott Smith's melodies and the profound impact of meeting Chris Cornell underscore the personal touch artists leave on their fans. So pour yourself a drink, lower the needle onto your favorite vinyl, and join us for an episode that celebrates the music that not only soundtracks our lives but beats in rhythm with our hearts.
Check out Matthew Holtby here
Watch the full episode on YouTube
Check out the Playlist on Spotify
Follow us Everywhere
Make sure to HIT that LIKE BUTTON and SUBSCRIBE to our Channel to be notified of new episodes!
Please share our page with your friends!
We always have a new episode every Monday at 1 pm
Rock on
Have you ever been whisked back in time by a single guitar riff? Singer-songwriter Matthew Holtby joins us on Music Junkies to share his symphony of life—an auditory tale that dances through his vibrant solo career and the tracks that define it. Our conversation is a mixtape of moments, from the Anne Murray show that started it all, to the punk rock bowling alleys where the pins of rebellion and resilience stand side by side.
Strap on your high-top chucks and skate into the 80s with us, as we revisit the arena-shaking antics of Kiss and the soul-stirring anthems of Bruce Springsteen. Matthew opens up about the unique rite of passage introduced by his father—immersing in the full "Dark Side of the Moon" experience—that forged his deep connection with music. We also explore the shift from band camaraderie to the spotlight of a solo act, sharing laughs about aging punk icons and admiring the timeless Lemonheads before diving into Matthew's journey of releasing singles and touring Ontario.
As the final notes fade, Matthew reminds us of the importance of slowing down, savoring love, and being present. His stories about forging friendships over Elliott Smith's melodies and the profound impact of meeting Chris Cornell underscore the personal touch artists leave on their fans. So pour yourself a drink, lower the needle onto your favorite vinyl, and join us for an episode that celebrates the music that not only soundtracks our lives but beats in rhythm with our hearts.
Check out Matthew Holtby here
Watch the full episode on YouTube
Check out the Playlist on Spotify
Follow us Everywhere
Make sure to HIT that LIKE BUTTON and SUBSCRIBE to our Channel to be notified of new episodes!
Please share our page with your friends!
We always have a new episode every Monday at 1 pm
Rock on
Welcome everyone to Music Junkies a podcast about people sharing extraordinary stories about how music has impacted their lives. Welcome everyone to Music Junkies. I'm your host, annette Smith, and our guest today is a singer-songwriter. He has performed for nearly two decades. That is so impressive. Recently embarking on a new adventure as a solo artist, he has channeled his influences from the music he grew up with into his latest collection, featuring songs and stories that touch the theme of love, loss and redemption. Matthew, I'm so excited to have you a part of the podcast. I love that you just dropped your new EP, which we're going to talk about. I love your playlist. I think it's going to be so much fun going through your songs that inspire you. So welcome. So much to Music Junkies.
Speaker 1:I'm a huge fan of the show, so even just being able to hang you're kind of a celebrity to me, so I'm really happy to be a part of it. I'm honored. Thank you so much.
Speaker 2:Yeah, so before we get started and dive into all your stories, what was your experience putting your playlist together for me today?
Speaker 1:I went straight for the heart. You know, at one point I kind of thought maybe I've got to try to seem a little cooler than I actually am Not going to happen. Anyone that knows me is just it's all cheesy straight from the heart. I tell people way too many times how much I love them and when I put this playlist together I was kind of going down memory lane and thinking about seminal points in my life that I think, kind of connected me and made me who I am, Not only as an artist but as the empathetic tool that I am right now. So I think that dictates my playlist perfectly really.
Speaker 2:I like that. You said it. So you are really putting this playlist together with a certain outcome, which that is really the first I've ever really heard. Most people are like, okay, I started with, like you know, kenny Rogers gambler. For some reason that inspired me, for whatever, and then now I'm on kiss because I can't get out of being 14 years old, because the rabbit hole I'm going down is so deep. So I'm seeing that you spent like one. You know your. Your playlist is about one certain kind of aspect, so that's really cool.
Speaker 1:Yeah, I'd also say that it's chronological. I think that's important, and I started basically from my first concert experience right up until probably my last. So, memory wise, I was just thinking of seminal moments in my life and that was how I wanted to dictate the map that we're going to go, you know, the treasure map of fun tonight.
Speaker 2:I love. It All right, let's get started on your first song. You're ready.
Speaker 1:I'm ready.
Speaker 2:Like Anne Marie, you're the first I'm gonna. You know I've probably did, I don't know. 400 shows and Murray, it's weird I would have not thought that at all, but looking, looking back I was like wow, cool.
Speaker 1:So well, and you're Canadian, right, you're in Calgary, is that you're Canadian, right? So so I think it's funny. Even just last night, at a show I was playing last night, someone was talking about Gordon Lightfoot and I kind of think like, oh no, is that the picture that people paint about us? You know what I mean? It's all just you know. And then I'm like, oh, the very first picture was Anne Marie, so now I am that guy. But so, listen, this is such you know a tribute. She's still with me I don't want to sound like she's not, but to my mother, my mother, when my, when my parents were together, he put up with a lot of musical bullshit, really, but Anne Marie was the very first concert experience that I ever had.
Speaker 1:So there there's this magical venue called the O'Keeffe Center in Toronto, and I just remember that night being I was probably six or seven years old, maybe six, and I remember the night was like we went out to this, this magical restaurant that was you know fine dining and people wearing you know shirt and tie to serve us, and then to see someone on stage just provoking such emotion, and I remember looking at my dad and him like rolling his eyes, like God, here we go. But I and I loved it. I loved every moment. I love seeing the effect that it had on my mom. I remember my sister and I going to the concession stand at like the break between sets and it was just my very first concert experience, but it was really, really magical. So I had to. I had to start off the list with, with Anne Marie for sure.
Speaker 2:So how different were your parents music taste.
Speaker 1:Well, as we get down the line, you'll see that there was a few things that connected them and us and my and my musical palette. I will say that my mom still loves rock and roll. My mom is the, the world's biggest blue rodeo fan. She has cutty fan as her license plate. I've I've been there when she's talked to him. There may be a restraining order now I'm not, you know, at Liberty to say, but you know. So she still loves rock and roll, she loves Huey. My dad is more of a a little bit more of a Pink Floyd kind of guy. I think we've got some of that on the list to. Yeah, but there was certainly that connection where my parents were both let's take kids to concerts kind of parents, and that's I'm proud to say. That's who I am as well. So yeah, they, they still met somewhere in the middle for sure.
Speaker 2:Did you guys sit at that concert or did you stand at that concert?
Speaker 1:At the Ann Murray one we sat. It was like more of a theater kind of it, like almost if you were going to see a play type of thing, but down the playlist and down the line. We were front row and center for some of the best concert experiences of my life. So we'll get there too.
Speaker 2:I love that your parents took you to concerts. I was, you know. I grew up with music and that was the biggest thing for me was to be able to take our kids to anything and everything, no matter whatever they wanted. We make it kind of an annual thing to go to like raves and all of this stuff and crazy, and we have so much I feel like I have more fun, like because I grew up in that area. Like yeah, I'm like, are we going to get some ecstasy and do this?
Speaker 2:and they're like yeah it's going to like sit back and I'm like I never sat back and watch the concert, like I was bleeding front row, you know, with all the t shirts on, and if you don't do it that way, yeah, if you don't do it that way, you're doing it wrong.
Speaker 1:you know, and that's just it. You know it's bumps and bruises as part of not only the live music experience, but from a performer standpoint. At any time that I can bring my family, let's go. I want them, you know, right up front and center, at any time that they possibly can. No, I was definitely like in the family, that was like we're going to a concert, here we go, yeah.
Speaker 2:Yes, I love it so much I actually just booked. Sounds so crazy, but Quiet Riot is coming to one of the casinos here.
Speaker 1:Yeah. So going to Quiet Riot and come on, feel the noise, yeah for sure. Yeah, I'm excited, I'm excited for you, your husband's dreading it.
Speaker 2:He's dreading. I drank during COVID when COVID kind of maybe, yeah, maybe it just hit, but I used to love Platinum Blonde.
Speaker 1:Oh yeah.
Speaker 2:I was like that. I was like that bullshiting. It was when me going to T Newton, everybody's討 go, and then it was nårive home that the variant of change was actually saying that it wasWouldn't do that. But then it was theoof the Selena and replacement was temps over at the Bell decided to tune into and my whole plan was to make. The show still happened, though it still went on the show still happened and there was, like I don't know, 2045, 55 bloated men with blonde hair and tight blonde t-shirts.
Speaker 2:Good, I got it, if I were in third row and I was like having so much fun and my husband's like this is a lot. You've dragged me to a lot of shows but this one is a lot for me to handle.
Speaker 1:I love it. In fact, I remember seeing the cure and it was the same crowd, only everyone was wearing like lipstick and mascara, a sea of black t-shirts and a bunch of dudes that were like 50, looking like Robert Smith, and it was like the best night ever. So I sympathize and I love it at the same time.
Speaker 2:I love it yeah. All right this guy has played in Nanaimo, where I'm originally from, a million times, so I love that you have-.
Speaker 1:Oh yeah.
Speaker 2:I got my first real six. Hey, Brian Adams, I don't even know where he's from.
Speaker 1:Is he from Ontario or you know, I feel like he is Like, I feel like I should know that right off the hop. But I've never been. You know, I've never been a diehard Brian Adams fan. But again, this just falls into the chronological thing that I was talking about, because I remember my dad went away to Chicago of all places. I remember this so vividly and I think when he was at the airport like this is way back in the 80s, when he was like rocking the Walkman or whatever right. So I think I just remember he came back and he gave my sister reckless by Brian Adams and we just played the living shit out of that tape Like it was warped and sounded awful by the time we were done with it.
Speaker 1:And I remember when I was in grade one we had to do a talent contest and I played this tennis racket, guitar and lip sank to summer of 69. So I knew right then and there this was my bag. You know, one day I will be in front of people and this will be a real guitar and I'll know what I'm doing. I don't know if that's the case yet, but yeah that you know he's still. Obviously there's like there's not a bad song on that record, in my opinion. I even remember getting into the fire, which was the next one, for Christmas too. But yeah, here we go, and I'm like the Canadian guy here talking about Ann Mary and Brian Adams. This gets better, everyone, I promise. But I'm not embarrassed Cause yeah, that was like. That was super important to me. I remember that tape got played to death in my house and I just I fucking love it, I love it.
Speaker 2:We had Brian Adams and Kim Mitchell at the Civic Arena. Literally, I felt like every three months.
Speaker 1:Yeah, yeah.
Speaker 2:So I'm originally from Nanaimo on the island, so I was like the Civic Arena was like right, kind of like this big park where we'd have fairs and stuff like that, but it was like right by the water, so, which is kind of crazy because you know, everybody's getting drunk and high and they could just fall right off the edge and fall into the water. But that never happened, which is cool. But I don't know how many times I've seen Brian Adams. I feel like I've seen him forever and I love that people have them on their playlist, because I feel like I don't even know what he's doing now.
Speaker 1:He's doing so. He's a photographer right now as well, but he's doing like the casino circuit right now, and my friends they're like just yeah, they just saw him like a year ago I think or something like that, but he's still doing it.
Speaker 2:You guys have really good concerts in those small venues too in Toronto.
Speaker 1:Yeah, we're pretty blessed. I mean I'm lucky because I'm not a huge fan of a lot of like. Well, don't get me wrong, I mean I am, but when I want to go to a show, it's normally a band that I haven't seen live yet, unless it's guided by voices, which is my favorite band of all time. I've seen them 30 to 40 times. But yeah, I'm like normally the guy that's like small club, like small, intimate, sweaty. You know Lee's Palace, the horseshoe type of thing is kind of more my vibe. Last year we'll get to it on the playlist as well, but I saw like one summer concert at the big amphitheater in Toronto which is called the Budweiser stage. You know corporate rock and roll. Yeah, I'm pretty lucky. I mean my wife and I have seen Coldplay once before, like in the big. You know the big fucking ordeal, but we don't really do a lot of that. It's normally like yeah, I normally go on rock out with the kids in the club. You know the little guys.
Speaker 2:No, I think I talked to my girlfriend and I just went and seen Kiss in November.
Speaker 1:You're lucky. That's it.
Speaker 2:I'm telling you I didn't even know this, but I got an email and it's like, because she lives in Red Deer, so I'm like, okay, you got to be here before three o'clock because the show starts. You know, we got to get down there early, have some drinks. We're going to like we'll sell it or face and do all this crazy stuff. And then I had a phone or like an hour later I go, apparently I got VIP tickets and I had no idea that I bought VIP tickets, but it was like an intimate concert.
Speaker 2:So that's awesome, there's only a hundred of us.
Speaker 1:Oh, my God.
Speaker 2:We got to like ask questions back and forth and talk to them and they give us their picks and they had no makeup on, so it was like once a minute.
Speaker 2:It was like really cool, and then we got to go and obviously perform with all their, but it was like the create like the 80s 80s rock show ever. But it was. It was funny, it was awesome. But it was funny because I'd look at autumn and I'd be like that's super cheesy 80s. But it's so fucking cool, like you've claimed out of your guitar like yeah, let's go, that's so fun.
Speaker 1:Dude, I saw like footage of them. I think it was in LA and like Jean like did a zip line from one platform to another, I mean like over a sea of people like isn't like, isn't Paul like, aren't they like fucking in their 70s or something.
Speaker 2:They don't even look at.
Speaker 1:That's crazy, it's amazing. And now they're, they're holograms now or something, right, so they're like, yeah, they're, they're no longer doing it as far. So you, you got in, listen, you got to see them.
Speaker 2:Yeah.
Speaker 2:You're very lucky because I felt like really it felt like just the most bizarre show either. Like we, like people were like I can't believe you guys are sitting so close because they have, like I don't know, maybe 200 heaters facing you this way and they just flames. So we were dying. Like we had like T-shirt, like dying, like I was afraid that was going to go my eyebrows off, and everybody had earplugs in before the show started. I'm like, is it like are we in for a hell of a ride here, or what? I'm like I don't have earplugs.
Speaker 1:They knew. They knew something you didn't know.
Speaker 2:They were burning. Our ears are dead.
Speaker 1:The Kiss Army knew something that you didn't know. Clearly, I'm really glad that you got to see that. That's amazing, that's, that's fucking great Wow.
Speaker 2:You are going to be the first two, and I love Huey Lewis. This reminds me, for me, like just this summer, when I was, you know, 11 years old, always listening to this yeah, my parents took us to.
Speaker 1:So I've always told the story that it was the sports tour. But I was I think I was four when sports came out, so it was for a record called Small World. But so where our baseball team used to play the Jays, like the Blue Jays, they used to play in exhibition stadium and Huey came and my parents got front row so like it was a four of us front row and like jaw drop the entire time, Like, and I've seen him twice. I took my mom to see him at a casino. You know, probably it's probably 10 years ago now he's actually not performing anymore because he's death and I think he's got tinnitus and he's lost it in another year. But yeah, you want to talk about like a moment where you turn around and see a sea of people losing it.
Speaker 1:That was the show for me and I still to this day, I still listen to all of it. You know I love the album, for my kids love it. Now my kids love Huey. You know my, my daughter's man, my daughter's six or seven Now I can't my daughter's seven years old, I can't believe that, but my son is nine. They both know Huey like, yeah, they rock out to Huey with me, and so I used to call it a guilty pleasure. Now I'm like no loud and proud Huey Lewis for sure. Yeah.
Speaker 2:Yeah, I used to listen to them on my Walkman. My grandparents owner of Fisher Resort when I was growing up and I would put my Walkman in to go clean the rooms and do all of that stuff and I would listen to Huey Lewis. It was like the summer thing that and nitty gritty, dirtbound.
Speaker 1:Nice yeah, Like I mean there's and just to see like Huey never played guitar rights and like he would like manhandle the mic, and like it's so funny because I've seen photos of him back in the day, Like even when he was 20, he looked like he was 50. You ever, you ever noticed that? But like people, back like why were people like when they were 20, they looked like they were 40 or whatever you know.
Speaker 2:But like right.
Speaker 1:You know that was bad, bad coke. I don't know what it was, but but for some reason he was just cool as ice all the time. You know we had like the tour video. I remember like we bought the program like Huey Lewis, all day for sure, without question.
Speaker 2:What was your favorite MTV music video growing up?
Speaker 1:I mean, Hard Rock and Roll is pretty great. Sledgehammer, Peter Gabriel was always like just the. There's like a claymation aspect to it that we always love. You might think by the cars. Yeah, Like, it's okay. Sick like appears out of the tube ellipstick, it turns into a fly.
Speaker 2:Yeah.
Speaker 1:I have vivid memories and that again, that was the thing in our house. My dad would like have the VHS tape like full of videos, so it'd be like it's Friday night, we're watching some videos, you know, or video it's what's coming on, yeah.
Speaker 2:I miss that, I miss MTV.
Speaker 1:You know, remember when you could actually like watch music stuff on TV.
Speaker 2:Thank you how much music we like were exposed to.
Speaker 1:Oh yeah, it was the best I remember, like they would have intimate and interactive, where the artists would come in, like to the studio, and there'd be a sea of people you know that, an audience. Yeah, like I remember the Pepsi power hour when I was a kid. That was like Lee Aaron and like and like anthrax and shit and I was like I come home and watch poison videos when I was in grade you know, two and three or whatever you know it's like yeah, that's a magical thing too. That is just kind of gone the way of the dodo as far as you know the how we consume now, you know it's too bad.
Speaker 1:I'm gonna get bummed out. I don't want to. Let's stay nostalgic Instead of depressed. Let's stay nostalgic.
Speaker 2:Okay, are you a boo or a butt guy?
Speaker 1:I mean I'm she'll tell me to say this, but I'm blessed because I got a bit of both. You know, I've been with my wife for 20 years, so I would probably have to say I'm a butt guy, I think, probably.
Speaker 2:I love it. I love it 20 years Wow.
Speaker 1:Yeah, yeah.
Speaker 2:What was the first thing that attracted you to her?
Speaker 1:Well, she is a knockout beautiful blonde. We worked at a restaurant together first and she's a little bit younger than me, but my little brother knew her and I remember coming into work and I was petrified because this gorgeous young blonde was going to train me. I was getting me on many, many aspects of my life, but her personality and we were friends before it all, kind of you know, went down the way it did. But she's just really funny and I loved it because her dad was an OHL player, so he's a hockey player, and I remember she was like spitballing back and forth with all the you know the other guys about talking about the hockey game last night.
Speaker 1:I know nothing about hockey even to this day I'm like the anti, that right but I just remember like sitting in the corner and like how does this hot girl know all this cool shit you know? And even to this day she's like that too. So but yeah, 20 years we've been married for almost 14. And, yeah, like just the love of my life I'm. Yeah, I had to head over heels more now than ever, so it works.
Speaker 2:I love that and you guys have a couple kids.
Speaker 1:We have a couple kids We've got. We've got three cats and 10 chickens as well. I'm on five acres. Yeah, yeah, my other girls that are outside right now.
Speaker 2:Now, did you always have 10 chickens, or did you have 15 and then the cat got a couple, or?
Speaker 1:I think it was like 12 at that time. Yeah, we've had some come and go, but like we now, especially in the winter time, we keep them in, you know, in their house. Basically they've got a really they got like chicken condo at the side. But yeah, we I remember one day in the summertime my wife screaming I'm like what's going on, like Fox, you know. So yeah, it happens out here and I and I wouldn't say this isn't. I mean, we're in the country compared to where we've lived before, but we're on five acres and it's, it's free where you know, it feels free and beautiful out here.
Speaker 2:So yeah, yeah, get away from Toronto for sure.
Speaker 1:I love going in, but I love getting out.
Speaker 2:Yeah.
Speaker 1:Yeah.
Speaker 2:All right, next song. I'm always curious about that album cover. Who convinced him to do this? You know? Because, you gotta be pretty secure. You gotta be like you know, back in the days, like, okay, let's just put your ass on a cup, and to see what happens now it wouldn't even do that. It'd be like, oh, we can't do that.
Speaker 1:Well, it'd be. You know, it's either that or on the stones. When, what? What is a sticky? What is the record where it's got the zipper? It's like the crotch right.
Speaker 2:So put that out on music junkies the other day.
Speaker 1:Yeah, right, I mean, and which is so great. But you're right, I mean now it's, yeah, it's what it and I mean. So, yeah, listen, I don't again. I'm not going to get bummed out about the industry the way it is now, but that record, you know, I put that one right up next to reckless as well as in terms of how much it got played and everywhere that you went in the 80s was you know the boss or whatever.
Speaker 1:But even to this day I just finished this really great book about Nebraska and the making of Nebraska and the folklore and the fact that he is not only still doing it, but the way that that record was shaped and how it became just this huge soundtrack and the production on it to this day I mean, like that's Max Weinberg on the drums, you know it, the band, you know little Stevie, just the whole thing. And just to me is just such this fairy tale of such a great record about people working their asses off and the economy tanking, and I mean it still rings true today to me. But that particular song, downbound train to me is just the most haunting that there's this little break in the song that still just makes the hair stand up on the back of my neck and that was the one a lot of people would go to and I mean I cover, I'm on fire, I mean everybody and open.
Speaker 1:Mike, everybody plays that at the open mic and it's the only you know. But yeah, that record to me is just. I still listen to it all the time and I've got like it's like the breakfast in America for record collectors. Everybody has like four copies of board in the USA because they printed you know three billion copies. But yeah, I still love it. I listen to it all the time and that song in particular, absolutely.
Speaker 2:So I want to take you back, obviously, growing up in the 80s. What is one fashion sense that you would love to this kind of see come back?
Speaker 1:I'm like. I don't know if it ever left me, Because there's photos of me when I was eight years old and I kind of look and dress the exact same now. I was still wearing chucks, you know high top chucks, and but I do remember, like Club Monaco back in the day. I remember all the old, you know the older kids were rocking Varney and Club Monaco. Or I remember my older brother had a, you remember, Body Glove.
Speaker 2:Yeah, and Chippin Pepper.
Speaker 1:Chippin Pepper, exactly, yeah, yeah, surf, surf, wax t-shirts. Yeah, you know, I used to skateboard as well. Like I used to think I could skateboard. I still tell my kids I was a skater but like, no, I sat on the curb.
Speaker 1:But yeah, I always kind of loved the you know that the t-shirt culture of everything back in the day, because now, being in my 40s, I wear a lot of hooded sweatshirts, even in the summertime now. But yeah, I think the 80s was kind of a magical time going to parties and seeing how much hairspray and how many people really like paid attention to, especially, you know, like the big gaudy earrings on the women and stuff or on the girls. You know, back in the day it's still a mesmerizing time for me to think about. Everybody used to talk about growing up in the 60s and the 70s and it's like, no, the 80s were kind of the best time to be a kid in my opinion, and I still love music, even as, like I'm going through this list, I love music right from the time that I even knew what it was, so I still connect with all of it.
Speaker 2:It's interesting because I really connect with all of that too, but where kind of my disconnect kind of comes in a little bit, is now Not a lot, really kind of speaks out to me where I'm like, oh my God, this artist is absolutely amazing. They just came, you know, they're brand new to 2021, to today. I still venture away in the past, even though I listen to nowadays music, but I just sometimes feel like there's just something missing. I don't know what it is, but sometimes I feel like there is something missing. I feel like authenticness sometimes.
Speaker 1:Yeah, yeah, yeah, there's a lack of authenticity, I think. But at the same time I'm going back. I'm listening to music from the 40s. Now I'm in my, you know, the older I get I go a little deep, you know, do a deep dive in the jazz section at the record store now too, and I love piano jazz.
Speaker 1:I don't listen to rock music unless I can listen to it loud, whether it's through cans, you know your phones. I can't just have it on in the background. Normally, even to get the kids out of school or whatever, I'll put on. You know Bill Evans. Or when it's Christmas, you know the Vince Giraldi Christmas record or whatever. But yeah, I'm going way back now. You know not even classic rock, and it's funny I just had this conversation with someone the other day like Nirvana is classic rock right To our kids. When I was their age that was the Zeppelin, you know that was the Floyd, that was the Stones or whatever you know going way back. But now it's like Pearl Jam and Nirvana is classic rock and that to me is mind blowing.
Speaker 2:So you were a skater growing up in elementary high school.
Speaker 1:Yeah, especially once I got into high school. I started to. There was, you know, there was always like I take pride in the fact of thinking that I was kind of friends with everybody, although it was also, you know, also very clicky or whatever clicky. And high school, but I was always the one where I'd be at a party. Someone would be like, go get Hopi, because I would, you know, I was the guy that would get someone into the party and I love the skateboard culture because it wasn't tough guy culture. Yeah, I also I loved hip hop music as well and I still really love hip hop music, especially 90s hip hop music. But there was kind of a connection to a tough guy thing that I've never been. I've always been a lover, not a fighter.
Speaker 1:But the skateboard thing kind of lent itself to music.
Speaker 1:A lot of the people that I used to skate with ended up being in bands, you know, or songwriters, or there was always someone that had like, now it's Bluetooth, everything you can bring a, you know, a Bluetooth speaker I've got one in my bathroom right now, you know, and but back in the day, like people would like bring speakers hooked up to like a disc man or whatever, or like a great big boombox, and we would just, you know, take over a parking lot and I just that.
Speaker 1:That's a really great little memory. For me, too, it wasn't as much as a knee trying to be a good technical skateboarder, as much as it was the culture and watching other people that actually really knew what they were doing. And there was always great music, you know, that went on, that went along with it, and skate videos too. We used to go to people's houses to watch skate videos and you would hear bands and be like, what is that, who's that? And even still it might be everything from black flag to, you know, bands like granddaddy that I love even to this day. But yeah, it was more of it the culture than, like, I was an awful skateboarder.
Speaker 2:What kind of music like? What hip hop music did you listen to? Or punk music did you listen to back then?
Speaker 1:Well, hip hop, certainly Wu Tang mob, deep. I mean I'll hate myself when I get off this because there was just so many, many, many hip hop artists that I used to love. But yeah, as far as the Wu Tang camp went, like I know the liquid swords record front to back by the Jizzah ODB and yeah, like I mean the 90s was just every one of my friends, that's all they listen. It was I listen. There was like one camp of us that was like the, you know the pumpkins camp and then another one that was like the big time into the Brit pop or the Brit rock, you know, camp or whatever. Still, some of those friends that I love to this day that's all they listen to is Oasis and Stone Roses and all that kind of stuff.
Speaker 1:But then this massive part of my high school was just nothing but hip hop. And it's changed a little bit now, obviously, as far as the production goes and the way that hip hop is presented today. But I still go back to some of those records and they absolutely give me chills. You know like, yeah, that to me is just as important of a memory as you know, listening to Dark Side of the Moon, the first time that I heard. Yeah, I don't know. I tried called Quest Midnight Marauders and stuff like that. It was just as important to me, for sure.
Speaker 2:Yeah, I love different, like growing up and just you know when you're talking to people and they just have like these different experiences of obviously teeny and I feel like their experiences with who they are in the crowds that they kind of grew up with slowly starts to kind of make who they become as well. So I'm always interested to hear like oh, how are you in high school? What kind of person in high school Right?
Speaker 1:What do you think your?
Speaker 2:biggest challenge was in high school.
Speaker 1:I think in my early years. So here's the thing I don't think it was necessary, I would say not challenging, but more of a regret that I didn't start playing music until really late in life. You know, like I always loved it and I remember having a four track recorder with a friend and stuff when I was maybe in grade 10. But you know there was a huge group of these people that I still know today that were in the, you know, in the jazz band and in band that you would like flip your nose up to back in the day and I was like I should have stuck with those people. You know I was really lucky in grade nine. Actually I was the drummer in the jazz band and we got to come out your way. We played at the Rocky Mountain Music Festival in Vance, which was an amazing memory anyway. But like then I suddenly turned into girls and, you know, hanging out and being a stupid teenager instead of like I should have stuck with.
Speaker 1:You know the people that are today and I'm more technical players than I know. Like my friend Derek, I remember being in, you know, in band with him in grade nine and he's in this. He's the best piano slash keyboard player that I know he's just this Mewzo and I kicked myself. You know, I should have just been like, you know, fuck these other people. I should be hanging out with the band geeks, you know, and I still feel that way. I'm gonna be like I don't have a good experience right now if I possibly could, but I don't think I have the mental capacity for it and I know they wouldn't. They wouldn't have the mental capacity for me either, so that's for sure.
Speaker 2:Yeah, All right. Next song Pink Floyd.
Speaker 1:That song in particular, I still like no one can talk when it's on, and everyone that knows me has heard this story a million times. But so we were never a movie family. I mean, sure, back to the future, you know the, you know the big ones or whatever. But back in the day my dad's thing and I remember because my mother worked nights my dad's thing was we're going to turn it the lights and put on the strobe light and listen to dark side of the moon, front to back, right so, and it scared us, and in the best way possible, because you know the segues with the clock ticking and the laughter and just this. You know this swirling of sounds in the sense in the you know Gilmore and to this day it's my, I would say it's the my favorite record, front to back. I don't know that it's the best, but it nothing takes me on the journey like dark side of the moon. Again, my family loves it, we listen to it, you know, once in a while.
Speaker 1:But another really cool memory is later on, when I was a teenager. I remember you know how everyone has talked about laser Floyd. You know, like going to see laser flight, so at the planet, the planetarium in Toronto, like my dad and my stepmom took me to laser Floyd and I just remember sitting up and looking at this light show and us and them came on and I just was on another planet Like it was so amazing. And to this day I would say, like you know, the desert island desk, you know, or whatever that would. If I could take one, that would probably be it, you know, yeah.
Speaker 2:I love that, me too.
Speaker 1:One thing that your dad taught you about music To kind of be paid to be patient with it. I don't know if you know, like my dad's my piano player in my band now.
Speaker 1:Yeah, so that was one thing that I was really, really excited to be able to invite him to do, because we always had an upright piano in our house.
Speaker 1:And I remember like I do this now as I think about this I am my father, I'm like, but like I always used to come in and see like it'd be like a Friday night or whatever, and I come in and my dad would have something cranked on the stereo and he'd be playing bass to it or he'd be sitting, you know, with a, you know a crown royal at his keyboard and playing along with it and I still do that stuff too, you know. So, yeah, he was just always the one to kind of tell me to experience it and like, be patient with it or like his thing would be stop listening to this part. So I remember playing back my records for him, the first full length you know CD that I put out. I remember my dad looking at my dad and he was on you know, cloud nine with his eyes closed listening to it, and that's one thing that I will always take with me is to breathe it in, close your eyes and be the cheeseball that I am when it comes to listening to a record.
Speaker 2:And I love that you do that, because I feel like I don't know a lot of people in my life where I can play a song and there's certain aspects of that song that I really, really like, that have a moving part for me or whatever it is or I'm like, oh wait, just wait.
Speaker 2:And people like, and I don't feel like I have a lot of connection with people like I don't, oh okay, what am I waiting for? Like what, you don't get that part. I feel like I'm so absorbed with music like that, you know, somebody could play a song. I can know it in. Like I always play that stupid thing on tiktok words. I guess this guess a song in a note and my husband just sits there and goes K go, and I'm like I'm like, oh, we do that on a road trip.
Speaker 1:I'll be like, give me any rock and roll trivia, let's go. It would be like three hours later like, oh my god, really I can't get enough of it. Remember rock and roll jeopardy.
Speaker 2:I should have like would have crushed rock and roll jeopardy, but now I feel like I'd like I'd kill me and just be like let's go, let's challenge. But yet I struggle sometime, like I don't get fixated on. You know, Prince was born in 19, whatever.
Speaker 1:I mean either.
Speaker 2:Like I don't know any of that stuff. I don't know what's the weather. So when I, even when I started doing this podcast, some of my guests would be like well, you know, I'm like I don't fucking know, like I have like, if they start going down that rabbit hole, I'm like that's really cool that you know that. I don't know that and I don't like my brain is contaminated with every song that I can guess in a note. That's where my brain capacity with music.
Speaker 1:That's still a gift, though you know a lot of you. I'd be the same way like give me that first. You know the first little part of that tune. Yeah, I done. I'll go ahead to head with you sometime. Let's start a league, I mean.
Speaker 2:I mean what, what, what was your first instrument you ever played?
Speaker 1:The first one that I seriously played was drums, because everyone else was auditioning to do like you know. In public school. Everybody else was auditioning to play brass stuff and I remember I got trombone because my dad played that. I always remember him telling me that he was a trombone player. It's like I don't want to be a. You know I'm going to rock. You know it's a, even though it was just, like you know, doing a flam or whatever on the on the drums. I picked it up pretty easily and I remember the music teacher saying you have the coordination Sorry as I kick my camera, but with my my foot on the kick pedal and a high hat and playing a beat on the drums. So that was the one that I first took pretty seriously. And then they introduced the option to play bass guitar. So I picked up a you know, bass guitar and grade seven and eight as well. So I was kind of like doing double duties between playing drum, drums and bass. And then I remember my dad bringing, like when, bought me a Yorkville bass amp and brought it to school and everyone was like, oh you know, gathered around to look at this thing. And then it led me into grade nine I was still playing drums and bass in the band and I have a drum kit here.
Speaker 1:I I'm not my first single that I've released under my own name. That's me on the drum kit on that. But I'm not, I'm master of none. I can play. I can play a little bit of. I don't know if I could play saxophone, but I'm sure I could. Yeah, if I was left to my own devices, I'm sure I could get something out of it. But my very first one that I ever really took seriously was sitting behind the drum kit. I would say I love that.
Speaker 2:My first was a saxophone, which is funny, oh, wow. And then I loved the drums. I wanted to play the drums. I wanted to learn how to play the drums and I remember I came into it like a little bit of money. I went through our kids in the backseat of a car, I went along and equate and I bought a pearl kit. I shoved the kit inside the car with the kids and I took lessons and I still have that kit downstairs.
Speaker 1:Nice, do you ever go down and rock out on that?
Speaker 2:Every now and then, but it's been like a long time. But I love it and I'm never selling it. I'll just keep adding to it. My husband plays guitar, so like we jam every now and then I'm going to play the guitar, but I will never get rid of it. I can't and I just feel like timing right now is just not right with everything that I have going on and I'm just, I just can't. My very first song that I ever learned was lake of fire. Yeah, so like I know all, like lots of ACDC and like basic, basic stuff. But I'm always have this vision of just you know, just you know. Add a concert and the drummer's sick and I get to go and I said you know, listen, I still do that.
Speaker 1:I'll still go to a concert now and I still say that to myself sometime, like I wonder if that guy's going to break his hand because anyone know this song. I still do that now. Oh yeah, oh yeah.
Speaker 2:Great Thanks, Super Tramp. I think these guys just played for New Year's in the in the Casino this year.
Speaker 1:Yeah, he's, he's still doing it. I don't know of as far as all the other members of the band, but that that harmonica beginning, you know the intro to that song falls right in line with the whole thing that I was talking about with the Pink Floyd stuff. My dad had this live in Paris Super Tramp record and it was the same thing, just that haunting intro and then when the breakdown happens in the piano part, and I still, I still listen to that quite often. Actually, that's probably one of my top 10 favorite songs, let alone from Super Tramp, for sure, and that is on Crime of the Century. Everybody else jumps back to Breakfast in America, but that final answer, school Super Tramp.
Speaker 2:What about your wife? What kind of music does your wife listen to?
Speaker 1:Certainly not mine.
Speaker 2:So when you guys met you talked to each other's music a little bit.
Speaker 1:Yeah, I met my own personal music, meaning I don't ever walk into a room and have her playing a Matthew Olby song, that's for sure. She's a little you know what she is. She's more of like a. She loves the lyrics, so she's more of a songwriter type of listener. She introduces me to stuff all the time. At one point she was kind of going down the countryside of the tracks and then wasn't subscribing to the new country thing. She likes stuff like George Strait, you know actual outlaw, kind of real, you know real country music I think. But she likes stuff that I couldn't even you know I she's got playlists and I'm like who's this? And she's got a school me on it. I couldn't tell you what one of the artists right now. But yeah, we kind of play well off each other in that. You know, in that department for sure.
Speaker 2:I love that my husband and I, when he was younger than me, when I met him and I really felt like I knew every type of music but I didn't really. I listened to old school punk like it was more like back in the day, when, like elementary is more like butthole surfers and dead Kennedys and stuff like that.
Speaker 2:Yeah, I was just going to say that yellow yeah his punk was more like rancid bouncing souls and I never really heard them. So when we met and he kind of introduced me to that, like I loved it.
Speaker 1:I loved it.
Speaker 2:I was like, oh, this is so much fun. And I was like huge 80s kind of hair band, you know what I mean. And he was okay with it. But I like still to this day I'll put something on. And he's like who the fuck is that?
Speaker 1:I'm like oh, it's like.
Speaker 2:Master Pussycat, and he's like what? I love that I love to be able to do that because it you know I like to hear some of his music and we did like so long. We just went to in May we went to punk rock bowling. Have you ever heard of punk rock bowling before?
Speaker 1:No, but I love it already. That's like oh my God you gotta go.
Speaker 2:It's like in Vegas. It's three and a half days or four days and it's all like rancid and like oh my God, like wow. There was like the Dropkick Murphy's Fishbone. There's like three days of punk, old school punk bands and it's like crazy.
Speaker 2:I took a video because I was going to do this kind of monologue in a mean way, but not really in a mean way, more comedy way, where, because all these punk guys are like in wheelchairs and walkers, I was like I was just randomly starting to take pictures and I'm like what if I just did like this massive video of like here's punk rock bowling and it's like all these spike hair dudes with like crutches and like totally out of control, but still making sure their hair is good and their makeup and they, you know, they got their boots on and their kilts on and I was just like this is fucking insane.
Speaker 1:It's like something from the Simpsons I'm picturing like yeah, you know, like Barney when Barney's supposed to be. Presti, you know, or whatever, like a butt hanging out of their mouth and like some dude with like his cheek pierced and he's all you know they live hard.
Speaker 2:It's super long now no more hoops in them and there's just like straggly earlobes.
Speaker 1:Ears love you know, down to here and shit. Yeah, I love it.
Speaker 2:That sounds amazing. You know, there's like a spoke sitting in there and you're just like yeah, but it was so good, me first in the Gimmie Gimmies and like, oh, it was so amazing, like it was so much, wow, they have it every year and then they have like cool parties and stuff like that. So it's like an all day event and it's just all old school crazy punk and it's like you like to party?
Speaker 2:Yeah, it was fun. I love going to things that I feel like might not be around for a long time, but it's like a really cool event, or totally. Yeah, I love experiences. I'd rather like buy my husband experiences and go and buy him a shirt, or even though I buy him a shirt, or even though he can surround himself with, but you know well, I mean he's you know he's only human.
Speaker 1:He's got to put up with people like us.
Speaker 2:I love it. All right, I love these guys. I mean, I mean, I think a lot of people know of the lemonheads. I really don't.
Speaker 1:I mean he's doing it Still. He's not quite all there these days, evan dando. But that record in particular it's funny the clip of that song that you just played. Most people would never know that. People, sadly, only know the lemonheads because they redid Mrs the lemonhead itself. Yeah, I still listen to it to this day. That song right there is called Hannah and Gabby. I played it yesterday.
Speaker 1:I cover that song in particular. People don't ask me who it is. I don't tell them to cover.
Speaker 1:I would love to think that I wrote that song but I didn't. I think it is a connection to what I do which I would think is probably subconscious. But there's an acoustic element to that record, even on the title track, like it's a shame about Ray and just so many beautiful pop songs on that record that they just you know the record is just over 40 minutes and is probably short of that, but there's something about the lemonheads that the record after that come on, feel that. Yeah, that stuff is still probably within my top 10 and I have a friend, liz, that I went to high school with and she was kind of my lemonheads and I remember it's a shame about Ray was being played in its entirety in Toronto, that he's done it a couple times because they're keep you know, they're continues to be the 10 year anniversary of this and that. And I remember saying I'm going and or I remember her hitting me up this is 10 years ago the first time he did it and she was like, did you see that this is happening? I'm like I got tickets. I already got tickets. What are you talking about?
Speaker 1:Of course, the last time that they played he, he came and he's got a band and they still called it the lemonheads. He's the only original member doing it. In fact, they're putting out new music right now. He's got a brand new single that's already out. The new one comes out on Tuesday Next week. But I didn't go and I had friends that were kind of live texting me from the show and it wasn't as great as I'll say this. They weren't having as great of a time as I had hoped. So I have seen them a few times and that record, that song in particular Hannah and Gabby that's one of my favorite songs of all time. It's just a beautiful song, a great little story and it's like it comes and goes in three minutes and I know how to play it.
Speaker 2:So walk me through. Your in a band and then you make a decision. Did you make the decision to go solo?
Speaker 1:So it's so, COVID, you know I hate the C word. You know I'd rather use the other C word that that, because I know I don't want to be that guy. But that moment in time was different for my family and I. Then it was for a lot of people. And I think that while everyone was waiting and you know I'm not faulting anybody but while everyone was just trying to wait to see what we should be doing, I was writing songs. So I had a band I was going to call Brian Adams there but I'm not going to be that guy but which I really love. It was a band called say ritual and I, in fact, I've just kind of rekindled with one of the guys from that band within the last little while. He sent me a message today to say that he really liked one of my new songs.
Speaker 1:But COVID killed my band and what happened was everyone was waiting. Well, I was like Listen, I've got my home studio and a loft, like I'm not worried about any of it. You know I'm not going to ask anyone to mask up and to do the whole shebang. You know, if you're healthy and you feel good, come on over, let's go. You know I'm ready to go. So one month, month turned into two to turned into, you know, three, I think, and all was said and done that you know there was just basically some, some other. I'm trying to be, you know, kind of diplomatic and polite about it because for all I know, maybe one of the guys might listen to this, but there was kind of a decision that they were going to continue to play while I was waiting for them and they were making different music while I was waiting to get back at this project. So I thought I'm not going to fight about it. But something was telling me it's time to go and do this thing on my own. That way I don't have to really depend on other people as well. And I'm really really lucky and blessed because, as I told you, my father's my piano player, my drummer that's with me, has been with me for 20 plus years and we've been in two or three or four bands together. He's my best friend and he's one of my favorite drummers that I that I've ever played with, let alone that I know like he's really that great. And you know the guys that I play with right now. I will play with them until I can't. They're the, they're the nicest guys in the business and they're just professionals. But when it's your own name, you know if one guy can't be there, you don't have to put the brakes on. You know, if someone else can learn the songs, then I'll keep going and this capacity.
Speaker 1:I can play solo. You know solo shows or do solo things from time to time, or you know, as a duo, the decision to go it on my own and use my name for the first time. I've never done that before. I always felt the need to hide behind a project name. You know, even when I was on the radio, they didn't use my real last name. So this time I just thought I'm. You know what do I have to lose? That's who I am. That's my real name.
Speaker 1:Most people call me Matt. My birth name is Matthew. I thought I'm going to use my real name and see what happens and, lo and behold, without being that guy. This is the most fun that I've ever had playing music and it's kind of been the most fruitful. You know, I played festivals this past year, some airplay on the CBC and I'm just the busiest that I've been with music. So a long, long-winded answer to your question. It definitely wasn't what I had planned to do, but I think that the universe brings things to you for a reason, and I'm just gonna keep going. I'm just gonna keep doing it and I'm gonna use my name. That's my name.
Speaker 2:Yeah, it's pretty cool that you have accepted yourself and now the universe is accepting that you accepted yourself and now it's gonna bring you the things that you want.
Speaker 1:I'm just gonna bank on that, just gonna keep going yeah.
Speaker 2:So tell me about. So how many songs have you released this last year?
Speaker 1:So last year? Yeah, I see, here's the thing right, it's the singles thing that we have to do.
Speaker 2:I know, isn't that weird though.
Speaker 1:It's so crazy. It's crazy, I mean and this is coming from the standpoint of someone who's kind of trying to play the game as far as how people consume music. Now and it's funny because you just had Eric on Eric is working the CP for me, eric Alper, who I've known forever. I've known him for a long time since I worked in radio. But a lot of people will tell you to continue to drop one song at a time and you and I are used to putting on a record. Or even in the first couple of bands that I was in, it was like we're making an album and then you would release a member of CD, so you'd put out a CD. So I've been doing the single thing, and last year I put out three singles.
Speaker 1:The year before that I put out two, and then, coming out of the gate, I kind of didn't really heed the same advice and thought these three songs work well together. And the last thing that I put out was I wouldn't say it was somber, but it was certainly a little bit more stripped back and kind of more of a ballad. And this collection of songs that I put out were kind of like rockers, and I've even written in the press release. That first song has got David Gilmore all over it. My lead guitar guy is a guy that I've known for 20 years and he's with us now, my friend Ken, and like he's just nailing it. There's guitar solos all over every song and I'm not that guy. I've never been one to be like, you know, the noodler or whatever, but they, yeah, exactly right. But the parts and the tones and like turning it up, it just lends itself to this collection of songs.
Speaker 1:So I drop three songs at one time in the form of a digital EP to start off the year and I've got. I have some like here's the other thing too. To be able to afford to record properly is another thing too. So I'm just trying to be smart about the budget and my producer, mike Phillips he's another guy I've known for 20 years. He lives in Peterborough, ontario, not an hour from here. He and I are partners in crime and we're just gonna keep plugging away. I've got something that's ready to come in March again already. So I'm just like I keep saying I just can't stop.
Speaker 2:I love it. Is your inspiration, your songs. Like you know, a lot of people write about their past, their history, their lives. Do you find that you that's how you write, or is it? Are they stories about? People in situations.
Speaker 1:Yeah, a little. I mean some. It's kind of a little bit of both columns. To be honest, I'm a big observer and especially when I have other friends that might be going through something. I won't ever reveal any of that per se, but I've written some stories about people that I know and love and sorry and lost. But you know, I try not to really write from a biographical standpoint. In fact, my wife makes me say, like tell people things are okay, cause a couple of the songs are like one of the songs you know. The song is called Big Mouth. It's like it starts up. The line is like you know, I fucked up and she found out. You know, she always tells people like everything's fine, I didn't fuck up, I never found out anything, but you know. So yeah, I would like to think I'm more of an observer and I'm trying to write happy songs, which is kind of the toughest thing to do. From time to time it's like write happy things. So everything's good, everything's okay, right there.
Speaker 2:Everything's good. Everything's good, Everything's good. Right next song.
Speaker 1:When I was little, my father was famous. He was the greatest samurai in the empire and he was the show's decapitator Liquid swords, yeah, yeah. I've already said everything I got to say about this one, but I'll tell you I know every word on this record. I just bought it on vinyl like a month ago. I got like the reissue on vinyl. I yeah, I love it. So what?
Speaker 2:shows. Do you have coming up? Call it in the next six months that we can come in. Are you just touring in Ontario right now? Are you going to go across Like what is your? Obviously?
Speaker 1:we all have game plans but.
Speaker 1:Yeah, that would be the dream to get out of Ontario. For sure I think I'll try to do that for festival season Applications are already kind of popping out for things to do. It's out of the province but, and my brother lives in in Vic as well, my brother's in Victoria, so he's always trying to get us to come out there. But yeah, right now, just in, you know, in support of this EP, I've got another six dates in and around Ontario. A couple of things that are solo things as well A date in Peterborough, where we live.
Speaker 1:For a little while I'm playing in a record shop in my hometown of Oshawa, ontario, at my friend Will's record shop called cops records, and yeah, there's a few other things that people can kind of look at at the website. My other friend, christopher Jackson, who's just this amazing songwriter, he is having us come and open for him in Napa, new Ontario. So there's a few little things here and there. I wanted to have a handful of dates while we release this thing, just so we can get out and play them. You know, play the songs that are on the EP and then you know it does another songs too. But we just played Toronto on Friday and there's a bunch of other stuff that I'll probably get into Trouble, like why didn't you plug this? Why didn't you say this? You can plug it, just send it to me and I'll plug it all the time, so don't worry about that.
Speaker 2:Awesome, I'll send you everything that I got, and then.
Speaker 1:so obviously we can stalk you on Instagram, do you want to?
Speaker 2:share kind of your social media. Yeah, matthew Holpe, music on everything.
Speaker 1:That's the website as well. And, yeah, Insta. I'm not a TikToker. I try not to be on Facebook too much, Just because I get a little bit of not only the scrolling thing, but it's like I see other people and what they're up to and stuff and I'm like, oh man, I'm either not busy enough or I just don't relate to a lot of people anymore.
Speaker 2:I take pictures of my food and yeah, you know, sometimes my husband wants to stab me in the eye for doing that. Right, yeah, I forget that you can. You can be on social media without putting anything on your face.
Speaker 1:I forget that you can. You can be on social media without putting up with everybody else. You can leave something and walk away. I know Like I can promote stuff without having to be around to see what people think about it, you know.
Speaker 2:But I hate about social media as that whole. Hey, something's going on in my life, I'm going to post it. And then I, even though I do a podcast, I'm not, I just go in post. I'm not like scrolling for hours down the rabbit hole. I'm like I'm not going to be on Facebook. I'm not going to be on Facebook. I'm not going to be on Facebook. I'm not going to be on Facebook.
Speaker 2:And if you have something, that's like really serious going on in your life. You need to fucking call me, like, don't put it on Facebook. And then like, when I see you and you're like oh, remember, like I just got back from Wherever, or my grandma or my dog died Like I don't fucking know.
Speaker 1:You didn't tell me. Well, I put it on Facebook. I don't give a. I just said to my son. I said to my son yesterday you know that before you would have to call somebody to act like there was no texting, he was like how long ago, like you would have to call. I just said to my wife remember when you would have to call and say like is it okay if it Ben comes over to play instead? You know it's like just the disconnect is the thing that I know it's the way of the world and I know especially the way that the music industry is working right now. I have there's a certain game that you just have to play, and I understand it well, but I don't understand it. I know what I have to do, but I miss. I miss it. I miss it too.
Speaker 2:I really miss it too and I kind of fall down some of the rabbit hole sometimes where I'm like, it kind of like pisses me off in a sense. It's like, yeah, I'm like, are we like really close? And I don't know that this is going on. But all these losers on Facebook know what's going on in your life that you don't even know.
Speaker 1:They know, I'm glad they know I know nothing, I just play the game. I just keep going.
Speaker 2:All right. So if you were to pick any eighties frontman, who would you like to be for one day? Eighties frontman, yeah.
Speaker 1:Oh man.
Speaker 2:You can throw in the nineties there too, because I know you liked a lot of hip hop in the nineties.
Speaker 1:Yeah, yeah, I'm thinking. I'm just thinking of something. Listen, I know what I would say right off the bat. I would say probably one of the Gallagher brothers in the highlight or, pardon me, in the heights of when definitely maybe came out and that entire culture shifted right. So I'm a big Brit rock fan. I'm still a Noel Gallagher fan to this day. I use one of my favorite songwriters. But to see how they lived in excess and everything was just party, crazy living like legends for that moment I would never want it now, but for a day, yeah.
Speaker 2:It would be really cool. I think artists are going to miss that.
Speaker 1:Yeah. There's no rock stars anymore.
Speaker 2:No, that's why we keep going to rock concerts. So they're going to be like I'm just 90 years old still, because there's nobody coming into the realm to go and even so much as even really do a stage show anymore.
Speaker 1:Right, yeah, it's true, I mean, and I'm a performer, right, but it's like no, I'm not, I'm not that guy I need. I need to go see that guy, right, it's like everybody that what you know one younger artist I was going to mention this earlier too, but Sam Fender is a British kid who put out one of my favorite records of last year Well, I guess two years ago now. Oh my God. But we went and saw him and it was like a proper rock and roll show, like he's. It's just rock and roll. In fact, his biggest influences Bruce Springsteen and we went on our anniversary and we were both like wow, it felt like rock and roll came back for the night. I don't know where I went now, but Idols was another band too. I'm not sure if you're familiar with them, but I wouldn't saw Idols alone and it was like, oh, I can feel it again, you know, like just angry spit in your face. Rock and roll again, right. But then again I'll listen to some piano jazz in the morning too.
Speaker 2:It's good your kids get all sorts. I love it All right.
Speaker 1:Oh, they get it.
Speaker 2:Needle in the hay, Elliott Smith.
Speaker 1:I was lucky to see Elliott three times. Wow, I have his tattoo, meaning not his face, but the tattoo that he had on his arm. He was, and even still to this day, is everything to me. Elliott Smith was not only one of the reasons that I wanted to take playing and performing a little bit more seriously. For some reason I'm attracted to the darker, tragic tale of his. Nothing makes me more emotional and the funny thing is to a lot of people don't realize it how many jovial, happy, awesome rock songs that he had as well. He's always painted with this sad song troubadour kind of label. And, like I said, I got to see him live. I drove to DC to see him, just in his and his acoustic guitar. I saw the full blend band play in London, ontario. I saw them play in Toronto, ontario.
Speaker 1:I still listen to Elliott Smith all the time. I own everything that he's ever done, not only on vinyl, but I go deeper with with. Besides, it was just the anniversary of the 20 was 25. 20 years since his passing, 20 years Since he passed away last year, and I did a radio tribute thing that I produced from my home and got to send it to one of the local college radio stations or university stations here and I think he's written some of my very favorite music and I have a lot of friends that I've been connected to through his music. My friend Kyle and I met on a Elliott Smith message board when he was still alive.
Speaker 1:I remember the day that he died and just I. That was the first year that I started dating my wife and she was really concerned because it messed me up so much, and every year that the anniversary comes up I make a night of it, I surround myself with his records. I used to drink Johnny Walker red on that night and I think that is my favorite solo artist of all time. Not necessarily my favorite band, but I can't say enough. I'm sure I have already, but in that that song there, what isn't? I mean that's that's the first song of his that I learned to play on guitar. I know many, many of his songs on guitar now, but my version of them, but that that song in particular ended up on the Royal Tenen bombs in a very, you know, pivotal scene in the movie and I just thought that was kind of a good. I think people would know that song and, yeah, I'll stop talking about it because it makes me a little emotional. But I can't say enough about Elliott Smith, absolutely.
Speaker 2:And I think that's one thing that you share, something like that. What I hope that every artist realizes is just exactly how you just spoke about that artist. I know that it's like you get to see it right when they're touring or they become so famous or you read autobiographies and it's just like the fans are crazy and all of this kind of stuff. It's just because I just like I'm reading this Madonna book and it's like psychotically out of control and I just watched, you know, I mean, my husband watched the Elvis movie, even though it's not 100% portrays him, but more or less.
Speaker 2:Yeah still awesome All of this kind of stuff where sometimes I think that they can lose sight of how much people really adore them, and I so appreciate you the way you just spoke about an artist, because that is, they just get lost sometimes and the reason why that if they knew exactly how everybody felt, I feel like maybe they wouldn't get so lost.
Speaker 1:I agree, yeah, I agree. I remember thinking I've met a lot of the people that I would put on the top of the list for me. You know, I've met some of my very favorite artists and I'm sure if I, if I tried, I could have when he was around, and that's kind of a pill that I have to swallow. I remember seeing his tour bus in front and I wasn't in radio at that, I think. Actually, when he put out his last record, I was just no, I wasn't actually, I was getting into radio.
Speaker 1:But regardless the connections that I've had in the past through being a music director and being on the radio, I've got some clout to be able to meet some of my very favorite artists and had that been the case, I would have loved to have been able to have I'm at Chris Cornell, not to be the name dropper guy, you know what I mean but people that we've all loved and lost. I've had that opportunity before and I didn't do that with Elias Smith and that's why it's so important to me that his music lives on and that I do promote shamelessly promote his music and tell people how much I adore him and continue to do everything that I can to tell people oh, you don't know this record, you haven't listened to XO before you know? Everybody knows the Goodwill Hunting story because he's all over that soundtrack and stuff. But yeah, I'm gushing again so I'll stop. I'm not, I'm just kidding.
Speaker 2:So obviously, working in radio you did meet a lot of people. Who was somebody that you were like I don't want to say a mire, because then might put a negative spin on it, but maybe somebody you admire, that you met, that you're like meh. Or maybe somebody you did not admire but you were like wow, that guy's really, or that gal is really cool.
Speaker 1:I mean the fact the Chris Cornell story is actually really funny, just because, so I'll tell it really quickly, and in that I feel like I need to be honest with you. I'm really, really embarrassed, but my phone just told me I have 20% left, so I'm not quite sure what that means as far as our list goes.
Speaker 2:So I'm really sorry, yeah, whatever song, hey, that's all I can.
Speaker 1:Okay, I'm just letting. If anything I'm honest to a fault, so I would hate for this to go.
Speaker 1:I don't want to rush anything. So when I was working at this one station, my program director had called me and said listen, I needed to be in Toronto tomorrow. Soundgarden is doing a very private press tour and this is when they were just putting out their final record called King Animal. And the funny thing is is that my friend Brendan, who has been in bands with me before as well, who I love to this day I still talk to him all the time, but he was the biggest Chris Cornell slash Soundgarden fan of all time. So when I was speaking to his record label, I asked if I could bring somebody and they said well, if you want to film it, you should bring somebody to film for your website stuff. So I brought my friend Brendan, under the guise that he was our cameraman, to film the interview.
Speaker 1:Now, that being said, I didn't know if I was going to meet Chris Cornell. In theater A was Kim and Matt from Soundgarden, in theater B was Ben and Chris. So when we got there, there was literally some woman with a clipboard OK, you're, ok, da, da, da. So, matt, you're in theater A. So I'm like, oh shit, that's going to be Chris Cornell. I'm going to meet Chris Cornell and it was in a private movie theater in this really swanky hotel. So we go in and we end up sitting and I do my interview and it's very can.
Speaker 2:Uh-oh, I lost you.
Speaker 1:And it is digital camera that I gave him or whatever, because he's the press camera guy. So, after all said and done, this is so funny. So, after all said and done, him and Chris, I got photos because he brought vinyl to be signed. And Chris is looking at the vinyl and going like, oh my god, where did you get this? I don't think I've even seen this since we did it. And they're shooting the ship, blah, blah, blah.
Speaker 1:So, after all said and done, we get autographs and photos with everybody and Chris Cornell is just the most humble, sweet, loving person. He was just really really gracious to be there. Ben shepherd, the bass player, same thing. And so afterwards the label wanted to see the video that we shot and he's shaking so much during the entire interview that the label's like, who the fuck did you bring to do this video? And I would have been better if I said like, oh, the camera didn't work, but we tried to watch the footage and it was just the most hilarious thing of all time.
Speaker 1:But all in all of that, he not only got to meet his idol as far as that goes, we both got autograph copies of the record by everybody in the band and it was just a really special moment because I didn't know what to expect. I was a bad motor finger fan, a big, super unknown fan as well Stylen Black Day is one of my favorite rock song, radio rock songs of all time. But to be able to be there up close and personal, I never, ever, would have expected to have things go the way they did with him because he and again, here's the rock star cliche thing but he had it together. It wasn't like one of those things where it's like man, there's a dark shadow over this guy, nothing like that. And not to be a conspiracy theorist, I still don't think that we really know what happened there. In my heart of hearts, but that was a great loss. And I was very, very lucky that I got to meet Chris Cornell. That was really important to me.
Speaker 2:That's awesome. I love it. Well, matthew, I so appreciate your time today. Thank you for joining us today on Music Junkies. We will like subscribe, follow you, stalk you. Hopefully we'll get an address in Toronto and come visit. Yeah, have some drinks, that'd be awesome.
Speaker 1:You got it, let's do it.
Speaker 2:That'd be awesome, but before I let you go, I'd love for you to leave us with some words of wisdom.
Speaker 1:Wow. Words of wisdom Other people that know me be like does he have any of those? For the longest time? I've just taken life way too seriously and I don't do New Year's resolutions, but I feel like everybody needs to relax and love each other a little bit more. The past few years have been crazy for everybody. Everybody dealt with it differently. I think the future is going to be even kind of stranger. My words of wisdom take it easy on yourself, breathe a little bit. Everybody's human and just fucking love each other. Man, that's all I love that. Put down your phone. Yeah, put down your phone. And turn off the TV, if anything like we've been talking about earlier. Go put a record on and hang out with your family and be in the moment and quit scrolling. I love it.
Speaker 2:Quit scrolling. Well again, thank you so much. I hope you enjoyed yourself today as well and loved it. Yeah, I'm so looking forward to having you again on the show. Please send me your stuff or we can promote the shit out of you constantly.
Speaker 1:I would be honored and I am honored and I love the show and I will always listen to it and get the updates and you and I will keep in touch. Whether you want to or not, I'm now your friend.
Speaker 2:I love it.