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Issue 7 - Jan. 2019
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Doc Walker Heading Across Canada For 2019 Winter Tour
By Dan and April Savoie Doc Walker is one of the most recognized Canadian country acts of the past two decades. With more than 20 Top 10 hit singles under their belts, founding members Chris Thorsteinson (Vocals, Electric Guitar) and Dave Wasyliw (Acoustic Guitar, Back Vocals) are heading across Canada in the dead of winter for an acoustic kitchen-party styled show with one stop in Southwestern Ontario at London Music Hall on February 4. We spoke with Chris from his Manitoba home as the duo were preparing the show.
Your upcoming winter tour takes you from BC to Ontario. I always find it odd that bands hit the road during the worst months of the winter. One of the first big tours we did was with Dirks Bentley and it was in January and I’ll never forget his bus drivers and a lot of his crew. They came to Winnipeg and they stepped out and it was -30 degrees. They have their cowboy boots on them and they’re like how do you guys live like this, let alone tour? (laughs) I don’t know why everybody seems to tour in the winter. I think a lot of the reason is there are so many fairs
and Canada. He still emails us once in and festivals in the summer that your a while saying he heard the song on the schedule is pretty full, so there’s not radio and still loves it. a lot going on in the winter. With this For us to be able to write songs with tour, we’re doing it a little different somebody with that kind of pedigree because we’ve toured the Doc Walker and you know Dirty Dancing is such full band for years - but not this one. It’s really kind of cool that Dave a monster - is still a great feeling. There’s always a little story entwined and I are getting a lot of these acoustic in a lot of our songs, so it’s nice to be shows where we get to tell the stories able to get into a more intimate setting behind a lot of the songs. We’ve had 20 and talk about these things. singles that have made the top 10 and You’ve been performing with it’s just nice to tell the stories behind Dave for more than 20 years. You the songs because a lot of the times guys must feel like brothers people get to hear them on the and best friends? radio or they stream the It’s funny, we’ll fight songs, but they never get about certain things and to really know the meat get mad at each other, and potatoes behind it. Doc Walker beat each other up and So is that why you London Muisic Hall Feb. 4, 2019 our wives are like ‘you guys decided to do the guys are idiots, you’re acoustic show? just like brothers’. Just for a quick It’s actually hard for example, let’s look at one people to understand that we’re of the songs we play called not brothers. I mean we started playing That Train. We try to have songs that together when we were 13 years old connect with people, so usually there’s just like brothers from another mother. really good stories that come from the So it’s tough sometimes because you do songs, but with the song That Train have that kind of brother relationship it’s a bit more complex. We wrote that where you know you fight and you get with Stacy Wideltz, who’s a friend of mad at each other, but seconds later ours in Nashville. We didn’t know that you don’t care because it’s over and he actually wrote She’s Like The Wind done. I think we’re lucky to have that for the Dirty Dancing soundtrack and relationship and there’s not a lot of he wrote it with Patrick Swayze. resentment. It’s a great relationship to So we ended up writing That Train have. We’re all fathers and husbands and it became a hit for us in the US
now and we’ve kind of learned. After 20 years you’re doing this acoustic tour – does it freshen things up a bit to play like that? With this one it’s just like going into somebody’s kitchen and sitting down and talking to them about a bunch of songs. So that’s what I really enjoy about it. This is just off the cuff humor and we’re laughing our ass off most of the show. It’s hilarious and it’s a party. We do two sets with this one. We encourage everybody to get up halfway through the set and go get a beverage, stretch their legs and have some fun. It’s more like a kitchen party rather than a stuffy theater show. The Juno Awards are coming to London this year. Having won in 2009, the Juno Awards must have a special place in your heart? Oh they are, I love going to the Junos because we meet people from other genres of music. The Junos are where you go for networking - it’s great for people and mostly in this day and age with social media, it’s nice to go there and hang out with people that you don’t normally hang out with - same as the Country Music Awards, it’s a lot of fun. Doc Walker bring their Acoustic Songs and Stories From the Heartland Tour to the London Music Hall on Feb. 4. For more about the band visit them at www.docwalker.ca.
Leamington Musician Behind the Sounds of Cirque’s Corteo By April Savoie
For Leamington musician Roger Hewett, life has been a bit of a circus for the last decade. But when that circus is Quebec’s famed Cirque du Soleil, life couldn’t be better. Roger finally gets to bring his work home this month when the Cirque extravaganza Corteo heads to Detroit’s Little Caesars Arena from Jan. 10-13. We recently connected with Roger to chat about Corteo and how he got involved with Cirque. How does a show like Corteo get developed and when does the music come into play? The concept of the show sort of started out a while ago. The show opened originally in 2005, but the concept was probably two or three years before that. The music starts being composed probably about seven or eight months in advance of the show opening. It depends from show to show, actually - it depends on the director and who’s producing the whole thing, but in this case there were some last minute changes, so the composer actually came on quite late back in 2005 and then I became part of it as a musician and bandleader. I took over the arranging and it was pretty much an ongoing process about two or three months
before the show actually came into place. We were working along with the artists as I read to make sure that everything jelled together. What’s a typical day like on a Corteo show day? Once the show is running, things fall into pretty much a routine. I always show up on site a couple of hours before the show to find out what the show is going to be because there are 52 artists and the musicians in the cast and some people could be sick, late or have physical troubles. We never quite know what the show is going to be for that day until a couple of hours before. Most of the time - maybe 95 percent of the time - you’re in pretty good shape for the show. I will know well in advance if something is off because we always have a sound check to make sure everything is operating as it should be about an hour and a half before the show. We just set all the instruments and prepare any changes that could take place on that particular day. That’s the easy part actually. Back in the days when we were creating or redeveloping the show for an arena, there was a lot more work involved. We were actually rehearsing in a separate studios in Montreal and
sort of making sure that the music just works as it should. There’s several months working in Montreal before the show comes to fruition and then we take off. There’s something magical about Cirque du Soleil shows and productions. How did you get involved with Cirque? Well originally as you can probably tell I was from the UK. I came from England and I moved to Montreal many, many years ago,
but I’m not going to say exactly when. musical stamp on the production. So When I was in Montreal, I met up that was a great opportunity. with the composer of the show, who I moved to Leamington only a I worked with on several film couple of years back so I projects in the past, and he was already well into the asked me whether I would show before I became a be interested in coming Leamington resident. Cirque du Solieil Little Caesars Arena along for Corteo and Along with Cirque, Detroit, MI form the orchestra for Roger’s credits include Jan 10-13, 2019 this particular show. That award-winning projects was great for me because for Paramount Pictures, when you start a show like Warner Bros., Disney, this from the beginning, you Alliance Atlantis, Lions Gate do inevitably get to leave your own Films, CBS, NBC, CBC and the BBC.
The Pursuit of Happiness Still Adulting 30 Years Later By Dan and April Savoie
Music fans growing up in the 80s couldn’t have missed the huge success of I’m An Adult Now, the massive hit from Toronto band The Pursuit of Happiness (TPOH). The success of the song was sparked by a low-budget video which made it onto heavy rotation at MuchMusic, in the days when Much was actually all about music. TPOH celebrates the 30th anniversary of its debut album Love Junk with a tour stop in the 519 at London Music Hall on Jan. 11. We spoke with frontman Moe Berg about the anniversary of that album. It all started as an indie project. Do you think you would have wanted to stay indie when you look back? No. I think there are good things about being on a label. It definitely was back then. I mean our label Chrysalis Records put a lot of money into us, as did our publishing company EMI, and so that gave us the opportunity to tour all over the world for years. That money wouldn’t have been available to us if we just been an indie band. We were an indie band because I came from the sort of punk rock world where you made your own records and you did your own shows. So when we started, the band was like that. I had an attitude about not waiting for the record company to put out a
record - I’ll just put out my own record! total and there’s been two greatest hits We weren’t even planning on putting records and then just very recently, out a record and the original “I’m An about a year ago, Universal Records Adult Now” was just recorded as a suggested we do something to demo that we were using to get gigs. commemorate the 30th anniversary of But because we had made a video of Love Junk coming out. it, I would walk into a record store and We kind of stopped touring around they’d say “Hey where’s your record”, 1996 and we just play a show here and I’d say “we don’t have a record”. and there, so we thought if we put this “So everyone’s been coming record out we should do some in here all day asking for shows to celebrate. So we’ve your record. You should done a handful of shows The Pursuit of probably make one.” And which has been a blast. Happiness so we just pressed up a It’s been really fun doing thousand copies of this them. with ODDS London Music Hall demo we had. What was it like Jan 11, 2019 It was sold out in a week going into a studio with or two and then we had this Todd Rundgren for Love label in Toronto called Record Junk? Peddler who took it over and then finally Warner Brothers came in and we got a deal with Chrysalis Records in New York. It just snowballed after that. It’s been about 30 years since the big label release of Love Junk. Well yeah, 30 years ago or so our debut came out and it was very successful and we were able to travel all over the world and spent about a year traveling touring on it. We had an opportunity to see every single city in America and Canada, as well as many cities in Europe and Australia. It was great and that brought us a lot of success. We put out five records in
Oh it was fantastic. He was my hero. It was a huge thrill to even just even meet him, and when we were in the New York office talking about who should produce the record, I just threw out the name Todd Rundgren thinking that would never happen in a million years, and then a few weeks later I’m at a show and someone says there’s a call for me - and this is at sound check. I pick up the phone and he says “Hi, this is Todd Rundgren”. What kind of moment is that? The person that you admire most in the world is calling you and it just kind of went from there. I had an opportunity to talk to him and get a lot of my fan boy stuff out of the way before we went into the studio. It was pretty surreal to look across
the studio and there’s your favorite artist, your favorite producer, making a record with you. You’ll be in London in January. We’re promoting the deluxe version of the record so we’ll definitely be playing Love Junk from start to finish and that’s one thing we do which is something that we never really did before where we play the songs sort of in order all the way from beginning to end. There are a couple of songs off that record that we never played before. It’s that part of it has been very interesting, so we will do the whole record and then we might do a couple of things off the second disc and then we’ll just play a lot of people’s favorites from our other records as well.
Larry McCray - Blues, Cars and Gibson Guitars By April Savoie
The Canada South Blues Society is continuing its mission to promote blues music with an early 2019 concert featuring a Michigan hard worker with a love for the music and the hard working people that love that music. Longtime Michigan musician Larry McCray grew up in Arkansas and spent much of his early life working the lines at General Motors in Detroit. His passion for those blue collar workers still rings through in the music he plays. He believes success comes from hard work, whether on an assembly line or in music. Larry performs at the KBDC Club in Chatham on Jan. 25 and Rockstar Music Hall in Windsor on Jan. 26. We spoke with Larry about blues, cars and Gibson guitars. How has Michigan shaped the man you’ve become? Well Michigan is a blue collar state for the most part. You have some people here that have a different life, but the majority of the people here are a working class of people. It teaches you responsibility and work ethics. If you’re going to get in here, if you’re going to get any place in the world today whatever you do,
if you’re not born with a silver spoon in your mouth that means that you’re going to have to work at something. And my advice to anyone is to work at whatever it is that you love and try to make that a potential moneymaker. If there’s a way, you’ll work at something and hopefully it’s something you love to do. Michigan is a great place to live. It has four seasons and it’s a diverse melting pot of people, so there are different types of people here, and that’s one thing that keeps me going - I love the people. You worked at GM, so it makes you a motor city vet. Yes ma’am I certainly did. I did it a little over 12 years. Did it hit a nerve when you heard that GM is shutting down? Back in my day General Motors used to be like the gospel; the word of God. You know you could count on GM and they seemed to have a little bit more class back in those days. The world has changed. I’m old school. I’m sitting here, I feel like an old man. I don’t feel my age. I don’t feel like I’m 59 years old. So many things have changed. We were born on the theory of work hard and you’ll be successful. The kids here
today, work smarter, not harder. You the Gibson company and the Gibson what their quality level is. know General Motors had a bailout name. Look at all the hit makers who This album is a way to do these from the country. We bailed them out have used them from B.B. King, songs I love and maybe get them heard and then six or eight years down the Freddie King, Ella Smith, and even by people who like that music already, road, it’s kind of like they’re Led Zeppelin. Anybody that but do it in my own way so I can have sticking it to everybody. made it big had a Gibson some of my personality and selfPeople never get over guitar in their arsenal. So identity within the music. that. But when they hurt I don’t think that they Check out Larry in concert in Larry McCray they expect everyone have to prove anything in Chatham on Jan. 25 and Windsor on Chatham - Jan. 25 to be right there to pick terms of who they are or Jan. 26. Windsor - Jan. 26 them up and bail them out. We’re brothers in solidarity. I’ve seen you playing different types of Gibson guitars and you also released the Gibson Sessions album. Is the Gibson your choice of weapon. Yes ma’am it definitely is. A guitar is such a personal thing. Everybody has such a personal taste in what is and what isn’t, so it basically comes down to what works best for you as an individual. But when you speak Gibson guitar, I mean they’ve been around forever and they maintain a high standard of quality and everybody mostly compares themselves to a Gibson, so when you set the standard and everybody wants to be compared to you, that’s tells you something. My theory is to play what you believe Larry McCray live on PBS’ Backstage Pass 5 in, and so I believe 100 percent in
What Are The Odds Craig Northey Would Still Be Playing Music After 30 Years?
By Dan and April Savoie What are the odds Craig Northey would still be in the same band he formed 30 years ago? If that band is ODDS, the chances are pretty good. The Canadian band known for the hits King of The Heap, Wendy Under The Stars, Heterosexual Man, It Falls Apart and Eat My Brain are still alive and well in 2019. The band has a short
run of shows in January, with a stop at London Music Hall on Jan. 11 with The Pursuit of Happiness. We spoke with Chris to see what’s been going on in the ODDS world. Even though there was a hiatus, you guys have been around for more than 30 years. Most people don’t keep a job that long. What has kept this going so long? Because we can’t keep a job that
long, so we have to have a band. What keeps us going? I think it’s a love of music. I know it is, because there’s no other reason, we really love each other too, not to be too mushy about it and look forward to every chance we get to play together or write together. So we took a little bit of time off about 12 years ago from being ODDs, but we did stuff together the whole time you know - movies and stuff like that and realized how much we value that experience of putting ourselves out there with our own stuff. So we’ve had lots of time to reflect and we know that it’s something we’ll just keep doing. There’s always been a sense of humour overall. Some of the songs are fun and funny, but still really cool rock songs. Was humour always something you wanted to have in the band? Yeah it is unavoidable. If you hang around with us for 15 minutes, you’ll realize that rather quickly. We communicate through humor and I think it’s a more sophisticated method of communication than people give credit. We work hard to make sure that we don’t take ourselves too seriously and at the same time you could deal with serious things and interpersonal things using humor because things are funny - even though they’re sad, they’re still funny. There’s a lot of
I think that there’s a sort of unified darkness in our music so without the sense of what we like together and sense of humor it just wouldn’t work also we’ve brought Murray Atkinson for us, it would be too dreary. A lot into the fold a dozen years ago, so he of our heroes, Warren Vivyan for one, adds a whole other dimension. It’s one we actually worked with, and sort of one quarter influence and Randy Newman and people like I think that makes us more that, they all have that humor straight up with some in their music and a great ideas. We’re not afraid sense of gallows humor. to say things in a simple Since coming back ODDS / TPOH way and we’re also not in 2008, you guys London Muisic Hall afraid to diverge and have released almost Jan. 11, 2019 make strange sounds. as much music as you did during the 90s. But I think in the early days we were still arguing Is creating new music about who we were half the important to you? time. We don’t really do that now. We’ve always got something on We don’t even talk about it at all the go. We’ve got another one almost anymore, we just play. finished, but the problem with us What else is up for you guys in is back in the early 2000s we really 2019. diversified and took on other musical We will be doing more shows with gigs and outside things to do, so it’s Stephen Page. We’ve been doing quite hard to get us all together and get all a few shows with him as his band and the cats in a box. also with him in our band. So we kind We love making music and like I of mash it up and we’ve been doing said when you said ‘Why do you still that for a couple of years on and off. do it?’, we’re driven by that internal His new album Discipline is really force - otherwise there’s no pressure great. We’re on that record so we’ve on us to make music of a certain been backing him up and including kind or to fit in a certain commercial him in our band. It’s a fun show. So category or to do anything that isn’t we’ll be doing that. We’ll be doing something that we want to do. So we our own shows and we’ll be trying to love to get together to make music and finish up this damn album so that we we love to play that music for people. can put something out for people. How would you compare the new Visit the band at oddsmusic.com. music to something like Neopolitan?
Killer Dwarfs Heading To London to Support Helix Drummer By Dan and April Savoie In November 2018, Greg “Fritz” Hinz, longtime drummer for Canadian hard rockers Helix, was placed in a medically induced coma after fracturing his skull in a fall from the roof of his house. As a result of his condition, Hinz who joined Helix in 1982 and stayed in the band until 1996, before returning to the group 13 years later - has been sidelined from the last leg of the latest Helix tour. Fritz’s friends in Helix, Killer Dwarfs and Syre are staging a fundraising show at Eastside Bar and Grill in London on Jan. 18 to assist with medical costs for Frtiz’s rehab. The show sold out in a couple days. The worst of things seems to be over and now Fritz needs to recover. We spoke with Russ Dwarf from the Killer Dwarfs this past week about this mishap and how Helix and Killer Dwarfs continue to go on after more than 35 years in the business. You’re heading to London to help raise some funds for your friend Frtiz from Helix. How is he doing? He happened to have a mishap at home and fell off his roof and he really banged himself up good. So he’s apparently doing a lot better than he
was. Definitely a life changing event. the album? It’s a no brainer for us to go ahead and We were so new and you think help him. We’ve known those guys our you know everything, but you know whole lives, so we’re all good friends. nothing basically. Whether we want to admit it or You’ve got to start somewhere when not, as we age, things like that can you start out and back in those days and sometimes will happen. the Canadian rock scene was You had your own accident really happening. There Helix, a couple years ago. That were a lot of bands and must have been a scary a lot of venues to play, Killer Dwarfs Syre scene. What do you but there was also a lot Eastside Bar & Grill remember about it? London Some things happen Jan 18, 2019 that’s one thing in a million and you know all the traveling we’ve done for all the years something is bound to happen. I pretty much got my noodle rattled pretty good - and I lived - which was great. And I lived to rock another day. I don’t know if you know the story about Paul Hackman from Helix. He was their original guitar player. He was killed on the road. It’s a dangerous business we’re in. If you don’t die from drugs and booze, you can die from an accident. We’re all alive and well. I’m 58 years old. It’s a great life and if I die tomorrow, I’ll be fine. I can go out happy. I just realized the debut album celebrated 35 years this year. What do you remember about recording
of competition and it’s not like today where you go into your basement and make a record and have it out the next day. You actually had to get a record deal and everything else. So all good things come in time. Anyone growing up in Toronto would remember watching your early music videos. They were a lot of fun and those early ones were all pretty much independent.
We made them ourselves so they took a lot longer. We’ve always had a great sense of humor and everything at the time just poked fun. You know we take the music and everything seriously, but it is show business and entertainment. At the time it was perfect for us and they did really well for us with Much Music and MTV. The 80s were a great for that, and now they’re on YouTube until the end of time.
Remembering Platinum Blonde’s Beatles Moment at Nathan Phillips Square By Dan and April Savoie It was an exciting time for Canadian music in the 80s, but none more exciting than Platinum Blonde. The flashy pop-rock band gained a large North American audience with its bombastic music and glitzy look - a musical heatwave that literally hit like an overnight storm in 1983. The band went from a dead record signing in London to a Beatles-like furry in less than a week. It all peaked with a show at Toronto’s Nathan Phillips Square where upwards of 30,000 came to a free show to see the band, causing hospitalizations and injuries. We sat down with frontman Mark Holmes to chat about that crazy time in his career. Things were crazy for you guys in the 80s. Here’s an example of how fast and hard it was for Platinum Blonde in the 80s. We were in London and they decide that they wanted us to do an in-store signing. We didn’t really want to do that because we were afraid no one was going to show up. We do this in-store signing and it goes completely south. There must have been about 20 people there maybe. It did not work out at all. So then we fly into Toronto to do a show in Hamilton and then one at Toronto City Hall a couple days later -
Platinum Blonde
Imperial Theatre Sarnia Jan. 26, 2019
we didn’t want to do either because we were worried nobody was going to come - we had this feeling it was going to turn out terrible. We get to Hamilton and the traffic was mental and there’s this helicopter flying above. We were like “oh, there’s some shit happening downtown”. Our record store signing was downtown and this big crazy political looking rally was going on in that area. It could have been steel workers protesting or it could have been anything. I think we were to show up at 1:00 and it was already 2:30 by that point, that’s how late we were. When we finally get there, they said the police moved over the crowd. The back alley was also full of these people. It was just jammed. It was mental down there. When we got out of the van, the door opened straight to the back door of the record shop. So we’re in the back room just chatting away and the owner asked if we get excited about these events. We said “not really, we don’t do very well at these things. The last one was quite hard and it wasn’t very well attended.” He said “I don’t think that the case here”. It turned out all those people were there to see us - there was no protest at all. There was probably upwards of about 10,000 people trying to get in to see us.
We could only sign so many. We had an hour and you only sign so many, besides the police were getting upset because they wanted to disperse the crowd. All the businesses in the area were having a hard time and then the crush of the crowd broke the front window. That’s when they had to call it off because of the danger that was now involved. We played that night at Hamilton Place and it was just insane. I remember it really well. We were opening for The Romantics and we must have been so much bigger than them at the time, but it was OK because The Romantics put on a great show. It didn’t stop there though did it? That Toronto show a couple days later was also a bit crazy too. We get to Nathan Phillips Square and we think no one is going to be around figuring it was just going to be a disaster. We’re in the dressing room and we see about 500 people out there. That’s not very much for such a big area. Then all of a sudden there were lots of people - there must have been about 2,000 or 3,000 people out there. At that point I had to ask if someone thought maybe there was another band that would be coming out. Why are there that many people here? About an hour before we go on, there were about 30,000 people out there. They were in every orifice of the building and in every streetcar. The trams that
were going around were completely stopped. The streets were packed onto Queen Street right up to the hotels - to every hotel! There was also police on horseback just patrolling the front. When we went on and the intro tape came on - just the intro tape alone - it erupted. I had never seen anything like it. I will most likely never see anything like it again probably. It was massive. Just coming out of the elevator to get to the stage, there were people there who would never see the show because there’s no way of getting out there. It was packed everywhere. No one was ready for it. Over half the GTA police force had to be assigned to the area. They didn’t expect it at all. From that point forward, it was a different world for us. The news of that got everywhere and it just was like that ever where we went. We only had six songs at the time from an EP we were touring - we didn’t even have full album out yet. There were songs we actually played that had never even made it to an album because I wrote better ones after that. So every night, I didn’t even have solid words to some of the songs. I’d make up different words every night, I would just sort of wing it. Could you imagine doing that in front of thousands of people? That takes some brass right there. You know I’ve recorded at Abbey Road Studios a few years ago and it was
a big deal to me to be in there with all the magnificent artists who played there and things going on there, but mostly I thought of The Beatles. I’m one of the few people in the world who made that same kind of music - music that reached that crazy level of adoration. To actually know what it feels like to be The Beatles at a concert where everyone’s screaming and going mental in large arenas and stadiums is something I’m very fortunate to have had. It’s been a couple years since Now and Never. Is there some new music on the way? There’s a place called Phase One Studios in Toronto that is closing down. Queen, Bowie, The Stones and so many people recorded there. The owner asked us if we’d like to record something because he saw our records on the wall - our Platinum records. He asked us to come and be the last people to ever record something there, so we made our new single there. Platinum Blonde went down there and we recorded it. We did a bit of a show at the studio for some people and recorded our latest single there - that was last year. We’re in negotiations right now for a music video for it. There are a few hold ups, but we should be ready to go with it by the spring. Check out Platinum Blonde live in the 519 at Sarnia’s Imperial Theatre on Jan. 26.
With over 50 million albums sold, Stone Temple Pilots roared on to the scene in 1992 with their raucous debut, Core. A breakout success, the album peaked #3 on the Billboard 200 chart, and dominated radio waves with hits like “Sex Type Thing,” “Wicked Garden,” and the GrammyAward winning, “Plush.” STP founding members Dean DeLeo, Robert DeLeo, Eric Kretz, along with new lead vocalist, Detroit singer Jeff Gutt, released their seventh studio
album, Stone Temple Pilots this year. After about a year of silence, Jeff officially joined the band in November 2017 and played his first concert with the band at the infamous Troudabour in Los Angeles. During the year prior to his debut, Jeff was spending time getting to know his new role in the band and to write and record songs for the new album. Jeff is no stranger to the 519, having spent some time on the other side of
Detroit in Windsor and around the area. He loves his hometown and is a big fan of the Detroit Tigers. The band is currently on the road across Canada with Seether and Default and will make an appearance twice in the 519 - Nov. 7 at Budweiser gardens in London and Nov. 10 in Kitchener at Centre in the Square. We spent a little time with Jeff to chat about his new gig and the mighty D.
Riding up the charts with
Photo byJohn Liviero
THE
BLUE
STONES Story by Dan and April Savoie
88
Windsor, Ontario’s The Blue Stones consists of Tarek Jafar (lead vocals, guitar) and Justin Tessier (drums, backing vocals) – a tandem that have been syncing their sounds since early high school in 2008. By producing such a massive and dynamic sound, these guys have set themselves apart and constantly leave people wondering how there are only two of them. The Blue Stones first released a self-titled EP in 2011, which quickly became a hit throughout Ontario and surrounding parts of Canada as they toured the club scene in support of the record. Even though the band’s debut major label single Black Holes (Solid Ground) rose to the Top 5 on the rock charts across North America, the band keeps its roots firmly based in Windsor. We spoke with Tarek about Windsor and rising up the Billboard charts.
You recently released Black Holes. What was the first thing you did when the album was released? Well we were actually up, we were awake when it was released because it was released at midnight on October 26th, so we were in Toronto doing a Sirius XM live sessions recording and we just got back the hotel an hour before it and we’re just kind of hanging out in the hotel room. We went on Instagram live and we were just kind of spending time answering questions from fans, having a couple of drinks, and then once the album droped we were there for the release with everybody else on Instagram, so it was kind of fun. Many people from Windsor know about the Blue Stones and it’s got a lot of people buzzing that you’re ripping up the charts. Yeah, I hope so. Yeah we’re both Windsor guys. We played the scene for years. It took a long time to get to this point, but that’s sort of the whole grind of it all and it’s just nice to be able to be on this large platform now. To be charting and playing parts of the US and Canada, across the world, and be like ‘yeah, we’re from Windsor’. It’s kind of nice to be able to rep this city well while doing these things. So what point did eOne come into the picture? We signed with eOne in July of 2018, so really not to long ago. The nice thing about them is they sort of hit the ground running with us, which we really enjoyed. They had a plan for our album and the same thing for the single and how they wanted to portray us through press and media. So were you still in Windsor when you signed? Umm Yup, Yup. Most of the songs on the album were written then, when you were in Windsor, right? Yeah, I want to say every song
actually that’s on that album was written while we were in Windsor. We were living together at the time, near Ottawa Street. There’s a street called Gladstone and we were living together and we had this small apartment where we would write every day pretty much, especially for this specific album. We would write the songs every day in the basement and work them out so we did everything from our little apartment in Windsor. Are there any subtle Windsor references in any of the lyrics? That’s a good question actually. Ummmm, I’m trying to think back to all of them and there might not be references to Windsor specifically, but there’s definitely references things we’ve done while being in Windsor. So I guess that what people who are listening to sort of find out and figure out for themselves. Which is the oldest song on the album? Oldest song on the album? I think it’s probably Rolling With The Punches. That was released independently when we weren’t working with the label actually, it was released on an earlier EP of ours. But as we started to move into the whole record label world then, they wanted to continue to keep that song for this release as well, because they thought the song was so good. So that was written a long time ago. I would say around 2011 or 2012 is when we wrote Rolling With The Punches. It is definitely the oldest song I think by far. Do you think Windsor shaped you as a person and as a musician? Just as a community or as a whole? I think so, I mean I’ve lived in Windsor my whole life, so I have connections to people through music there and also through my personal life. And I think now people probably know a lot more about us. The people that I interact with
probably know me as The Blue Stones thing, and there are some that know me as individual aside from that. I don’t think I get treated any differently, but I wouldn’t want it to be like that. I just kind of want the people who know me to know who I am, but if you’re also a fan then that’s cool too. One of the cool things for your Windsor fans is that they got to see you evolve and the rest of North America is just catching on. There’s some vindication in that. Yeah, yeah of course. Windsor has been supportive from the start. We have such a great community that really promotes their artists and we used that as a launching pad. So I mean we’re kind of proud to be able to be like, this is the city that built us, made us who we are and it’s nice to know that there’s such a strong support. Is Windsor still going to be considered your home or is L.A., Toronto or New York calling you? Actually the nice thing about doing this is we don’t feel like we need to move anywhere specific to do it. In this age of music, and the way the industry is now, you can really do it from anywhere. So I don’t really see a need for me to move. I like living in Windsor and I like going to my old Windsor regular spots when I want to, so I think I’m going to stay for a little while. Black Holes is a much bigger sounding album than the indie EPs. Is that more of where you’re going from this point on? I think so. The interesting part about Black Holes is that we recorded the bass track for every single one of the songs live in the studio. So really at the foundation of every song is Justin and I playing the songs in a room the way we would normally play them live and that goes down as the first track. And I think that might add to
the whole sound and how raw some of the songs might sound as well. I think that process worked so well for us that moving forward will likely stick to that because it’s nice to have a true representation of who you are on the album so that when people see you live they’re not seeing something that they haven’t already heard before - at least in a little way. But they’re also not being conned into seeing and hearing something that might not be what we actually sound like. So it’s nice to keep that continuity. The song Black Holes (Solid Ground) almost seems like a perfect description of the band, the album, and the path you need to choose a path to move forward. Is that a reasonable assumption? Yeah that’s actually pretty spot on. At the end of the day it’s about making big decisions in your life. So that song was written actually when we both graduated from our university programs and we were cast out into the real world for the first time. We had to start making big decisions for ourselves and one of those decisions was a career path. So Black Holes is an ode to that - that decision making time. Really, anybody who’s had trouble choosing between something that might be the safe route and something that’s a little riskier could feel that vibe in the song. So what’s ahead for you guys in 2019? There’s going to be a lot of festivals and we’ve announced a tour with Grandson that’s going to be through Ontario and a little bit of Quebec starting in February. We have some other tour announcements that we’re waiting to make, but there will be more tours coming through Canada and the United States in 2019. The band plays the London Concert Theatre on Feb. 26 and Wax in Kitchener on Feb. 27.
OUR BEST IMAGES OF
2018
Previous page (l to r): Reba McEntire at Caesars Windsor Aug 2 (DS), Michael Bolton at Caesars Windsor Dec. 17 (DS), Matt Walst of Three Days Grace at Caesars Windsor Nov. 29 (KH), Jim Kerr of Simple Minds at Budweiser Gardens Sep. 29 (DS), Michael Firestone of I Am King at Chrysler Theatre Sep. 29 (MS), Washboard Union at Boot Hill Country Jamboree in Bothwell on Aug. 4 (DS), Jonny Hawkins of Nothing More at Caesars Windsor Nov. 29 (KH) and Danielle McTaggart of Dear Rouge at Bluewater Borderfesst Jul. 28 (DS).
This page (l to r): Windsor Express season opener at WFCU Centre Nov. 17 (MS), Beth Hart at Bluesfest Windsor July 15 (DS), Ones - The Beatles tribute at Chrsyler Theatre Oct. 19 (DB), Windsor Pride Parade Aug. 12 (MS), Aaron Pritchett at Chrysler Theatre Jan. 27 (DS), Serena Ryder at Chrysler Theatre Jul. 22 (DS) and Stone Temple Pilots at Budweiser Gardens Nov. 7 (DS). Photographers: DB - Dan Boshart, DS - Dan Savoie, KH Kirk Harris and MS - Maureen Stewart.
Heathers: The Musical is Back for a Return Trip to the Candy Store By Dan Savoie
Cardinal Music Productions brought the house down in 2018 with a powerful production of Heathers:The Musical - a musical adoption of the film starring Winona Ryder and Christian Slater. The local production company is bringing the show back for another round from Jan 18 to 27. It’s an unusual situation for a theatre group to bring back a successful production less than a year later. “We were going to do Avenue Q in this time slot but rehearsal scheduling was proving to be a nightmare so we put that on hold,” director Joseph Cardinal told 519. “Since the theatre was already booked I wanted to use the dates and I thought Heathers would be a perfect fit.” This show gives a new group of actors a chance to visit “The Candy Store”. “Well for a start 75% of the cast is new so that keeps it fresh for all
of us.,” Cardinal added. “As far as presentation goes regarding set, it will be very similar because that is how the author intended it to be. I was also able to spend more time developing characters this time around.” Heathers The Musical is the darkly delicious story of Veronica Sawyer, a brainy, beautiful teenage misfit who hustles her way into the most powerful and ruthless clique at Westerberg High: the Heathers. But before she can get comfortable atop the high school food chain, Veronica falls in love with the dangerously sexy new kid J.D. When Heather Chandler, the Almighty, kicks her out of the group, Veronica decides to bite the bullet and kiss Heather’s aerobicized ass...but J.D. has another plan for that bullet. “For me it’s still the reality of this occurring daily in schools all over the world,” Cardinal noted. “In one form or another we have all had similar experiences. The grass is not always greener elsewhere and you should
be really careful what you wish for. It clearly teaches you there is good and bad everywhere in the world and it’s up to us as individuals to make the proper choices because there are
always consequences for our choices.” Heathers: The Musical makes its Windsor return at The Green Room Theatre at E.J. Lajeunesse on Jan. 18 to 20 and 25 to 27.
Cardinal will be providing 200 free tickets for opening night to local charities, a gift he plans to continue to offer for all the company’s productions held at the school theatre.
Heathers: The Musical The Green Room Windsor Jan 18 - 27
Photo by Breannah Deschaine
How Local Musicians Deal With Stress By Travis Conant
At only the young age of 13, one Windsor man who was full of passion realized music was something he wanted to pursue as a full-time career. Imagine waiting to start your performance and there’s a crowd waiting to hear what you have in store for the night. Than all of the sudden, you start to get nervous, you think “well what if I mess up.” What do you do to prepare for a show? Bobby Sproat said he listens to music, paces and gets himself worked up to create a great show. . “Before a show I’m actually fairly nervous so I tend to pace around a lot. I get nervous but I don’t look at it as a negative thing,” said Sproat. “I always felt that if I was nervous to do something that it meant at least something to me. So, I tend to listen to music and pace around. I’ll psych myself up with the music and get in a zone where I let loose and as soon as I start playing all the nerves go away.” Sproat, a 24-year-old singer and songwriter broke out into the local music scene in 2010 and ever since then he has garnered success. Some of his local accolades include being voted “Best Solo Male Musician” by readers of Windsor independent Magazine in 2014. In 2016, Sproat sold out his first CD release show for his album New Romantics. At six, Sproat knew his interest for music was huge. One of his fondest memories is when one of his grade school teachers asked him what he aspired to be when he was older and he wrote down, an opera singer. “I’m pretty sure at the time I just thought it was cool because they sang in a different way than what you would hear on the radio,” said Sproat. At eight, Sproat began learning to sing and picked up his first guitar at 13. He owned a red GK acoustic guitar that he still occasionally uses. The music industry can be tough and luckily, Sproat said. He never had an issue when it came to playing an instrument. But he also said he has never had anything happen in his life that made him want to quit playing guitar or singing. Just like other musicians out there, Sproat had a goal when he started out as a young musician and some of his biggest influencers were Green Day, Creed, Switchfoot and Hoobastank. Sproat said he would come home after school and listen to their music. “Creed was the band that taught me how to sing, in the first five years I sang before officially taking my first lesson. I remember taking the lyric insert of their greatest hits album to school with me
just so I could read it,” said Sproat. The biggest thing for him was the connection he found with the artists and their songs. In his younger years, Sproat described himself as very introverted and he found himself devoted to music a lot. “Listening to those bands early on, I felt a connection between myself in that moment and the artist when they wrote those songs or sang those songs, and that connection I felt could help me not only break out of my introverted shell as a person, but also provide me with
a platform to open up about things I then wouldn’t have talked about,” said Sproat. Throughout his ongoing career, Sproat has collaborated with many Windsor bands and said he wants to collaborate with someone in particular. Chelsey Danfield is a close friend of Sproat’s and has had the opportunity to cover songs with Sproat at shows. However, he thinks doing a duet with her would be great. Some other Windsor artists Sproat aspires to collab with are Flower Face and Crissi Cochrane.
When it comes to stress, Sproat said he hasn’t really faced a lot. The only stress he really finds himself facing are the ones he puts on himself and says he is very particular in how he makes music. “In terms of how I deal with it, I just take a step back and do something else,” said Sproat. As a musician there are things that artists could potentially find stressful. The crowds, late nights, criticism, money, drugs and even alcohol abuse problems. When it comes to late nights
and crowds Sproat said he’s always been a night owl. “I’ve always been a night owl growing up, and while I’ve learned to value getting a full night’s sleep now more than I may have when I was younger, the staying up was never much of an issue for me.” Sproat said he still has late nights due to his line of work and it has become apart of a regular routine. When it comes to the crowd Sproat said it is always an interesting topic. “I’ve had shows with crowds of
Live Photos by Jess Lynne Photography
Windsor’s Bobby Sproat Talks Business and Stress
upwards of 100+ people, and I’ve had shows where there wasn’t a crowd at all. It’s an ever-changing thing and there is a large business aspect when it comes to playing shows that people sometimes lose sight of that,” said Sproat. Sproat said when he was younger, he might have been discouraged by a lack of crowd but it’s an effort-based system when you really break it down. “If you put the work in to market your music or market your shows, people will catch on in time. It’s all a learning experience, even after 9 years in the local music scene.” Joe Liddle has known Sproat since he was 13 years-old and has always known Sproat as someone who is seriously invested in music. “Bobby is the kind of musician that doesn’t just care about himself but will also work his butt off for others in need,” said Liddle. Liddle also said he wants to see Sproat write music for larger and more famous musicians one day. “His talents really should not go unnoticed,” said Liddle. Liddle said he’s never really seen Sproat stressed out when it comes to music, but said if Sproat was to ever become stressed he should take a step back and take a break. “I’d tell him to just remember all the people who love the work he has created so far in his awesome music career,” said Liddle. Sproat is a musician who does not like to see other musicians struggle and he will do what he can to help them. He said the hardest thing for him to see is watching or hearing about so many
talented musicians falling down the path of drugs and alcohol. “It’s upsetting to be honest. Not just that you see so many talented individuals or groups fall into that path where they either become addicted to drugs or alcohol,” said Sproat. “I may not be the best example because I try to take everything as it happens one day at a time but when you think big picture all the time and you have big dreams and aspirations, even outside of music, it’s very taxing. Physically, emotionally, and mentally taxing and I feel people can take advantage of that in a negative way.” Sproat also said he finds mental health has become a subject talked about by individuals and musicians alike, himself included. “It’s tough, and you need to be as tough as you can but it’s hard to be tough when you face those kinds of adversities. I’ve seen so many of my idols and inspirations have trouble with those things and I’ve learned that the best thing I can do is spread a positive message that you can speak up and you aren’t alone in whatever you’re facing,” said Sproat. “I want to erase that stigma musicians have faced. We’re all human beings and we’re not perfect, but nobody should have to be alone, and if someone goes down that path, we shouldn’t stigmatize them because imagine yourself in their shoes. We’re all human, we need to stand by each other.” Jenny-Lee Almeida is a Bilingual Mental Health Educator and has been working at the Windsor Community Health for 12 years. Almeida has dealt
with anxiety and panic attacks for the past 20 years. “I believe the key to mental wellness is in trying to find a balance every day and knowing what your mind, body and spirit need in order to feel well and doing those strategies, coping skills and activities,” said Almeida. Almeida said one of the most important things to do when dealing with stress is to breathe. She also said hanging out with friends, connecting with nature and exercise is a good way to help relieve stress. Almeida said she believes mental health is an extremely individualized thing and can be dealt with in many
DECEMBER EVENTS IN THE 519 Brantford Jan-04 Spidey: Make Believe, Sanderson Centre (6:30pm) Jan-12 ABBAMania, Sanderson Centre (7:30pm) Jan-16 Upright Citizens Brigade TourCo, Sanderson Centre (8pm) Jan-17 Murray McLauchlan, Sanderson Centre(8pm) Jan-23 I Mother Earth & Finger Eleven, Sanderson Centre (8pm)
Chatham
Jan-04 Continuum, Fortresss Tavern (9pm) Jan-05 Rock the Fort!, Fortresss Tavern (9pm) Jan-10 I Mother Earth & Finger Eleven, Chatham Capitol Theatre (8pm) Jan-19 Rendition, Fortresss Tavern (9pm) Jan-25 Larry McCray, KBDC Club (8pm) Jan-26 Hair Force One, Fortresss Tavern (10pm) Feb-02 Spidey: Make Believe- Magic Of Your Mind, Chatham Capitol Theatre (8pm) Feb-03 Ben Heppner & The Toronto Mass Choir, Chatham Capitol Theatre(4pm)
Kitchener – Waterloo
Jan-05 Big Nate: The Musical, Centre In The Square(11am, 2pm) Jan-06 Dancing With The Stars Live!, Centre In The Square (8pm) Jan-11,12 Carmen: Opera In Concert, Centre In The Square (8pm) Jan-16 National Geographic Live:Coral Kingdoms And Empires Of Ice, Centre In The Square (7:30pm)
Jan-18 Iron Maiden Tribute, Maxwell’s Concerts & Events (7:30pm) Jan-19 CounterWait, Maxwell’s Concerts & Events (7:30pm) Jan-22, 23 KW Glee, Centre In The Square (7:30pm) Jan-23 Honors, Maxwell’s Concerts & Events (7:30pm) Jan- 25, 26 The Music of ABBA, Centre In The Square (8pm) Jan-30 Bryan Adams, The Aud (8pm) Jan-31, Feb-01, 02, 07, 08, 09 Sister Cities, Little Theatre (8pm) Feb-01 KW Counsellin’s 80’s Dance Party with Smile & Wave, Maxwell’s Concerts & Events (8pm) Feb-02 Dan Mangan, Maxwell’s Concerts & Events (7:30pm) Feb-05 The Longest Road Show, Centre In The Square (7pm) Feb-07 Classic Albums Live: Queen, Night at the Opera, Centre In The Square (8pm)
London
Jan-04 Wine Lips / Cakeface / Wrong Brothers / Moore Ave Underground, Call The Office (9pm) Jan-04 Good Enough Live Karaoke, The Rec Room (10pm) Jan-05 Jack de Keyzer, London Music Club (8:30pm) , Jan-11 The Pursuit of Happiness w/ Odds, London Music Hall (7pm) Jan-11 The Slocan Ramblers, The Aeolian (7pm) Jan-12 Dada Life, London Music Hall (10pm) Jan-16 Martha Wainwright, The Aeolian (7pm)
different ways. “Whether it’s an actor, musician or student dealing with stress it is important to build coping strategies, resilience and stress management tools that fit the person’s needs,” said Almeida. Sproat said one of the biggest roadblocks for musicians is trying to make money at performances. “At the same time while money is an important necessity in life to make ends meet and live to an extent; the moment it becomes all about the money is when you lose sight of why you make music,” said Sproat. “Im lucky enough where I am able to make some money and stay involved
in music doing it, but I don’t set my expectations so high that if I don’t make x amount of dollars then I’m not doing things right or I’m not a true musician.” Sproat also said money stresses him out as a human, not a musician. “I take what I can get and I work harder and leave everything I have each time regardless of what I may get paid for it,” said Sproat. Almeida said musicians and actors everywhere need to be aware of themselves, they need to know who they are and how they can deal with with their stress that is actually effective for themselves and their health.
SUBMIT YOUR EVENTS AT MAGAZINE.COM Jan-17, 18, 19, 20 Carlisle Floyd’s Susannah, Palace Theatre (8pm) Jan-18 Helix, Killer Dwarfs, Syre, Eastside Bar & Gril (6pm) Jan-18 Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets, Budweiser Gardens (7:30pm) Jan-19 Rising PhoeniX, Old East 765 (7pm) Jan-19 PHISO at System Saturdays, Rum Runners (10pm) Jan-21, 22 Rent - 20th Anniversary Tour, Budweiser Gardens (7:30pm) Jan-24 88Glam, London Music Hall (7pm) Jan-24 Romancer & Bogues w/ Sweet Toothe, Milhouse, Heavy Gloom, Rum Runners (7pm) Jan-25 Vultures Playing Ruckus & Jailbirds w/ Lost Arts, Mirage, Rum Runners (9pm) Jan-25 The O’Pears live, The Aeolian (7pm) Jan-26, 27 True Confessions from the Ninth Concession, The Aeolian (2pm, 7pm) Jan-31 Bryan Adams, Budweiser Gardens (8pm) Jan-31 Sarina Haggarty & Friends, The Aeolian (7pm) Jan-31 Songbird North: Celebrating Canada’s Music Creators, Wolf Performance Hall (7:30pm) Jan-31, Feb-01, 02, 03, 06, 07, 08, 09, 10 The Nerd by Larry Shue, Palace Theatre (2pm, 8pm) Feb-01 Mosh To Break The Silence, Rum Runners (7pm) Feb-02 After Funk album release party w/ The Classy Wrecks & The B-Club, Call The Office (9pm) Feb-02 Dashboard Rattle - Album Release Show, London Music Club (7pm)
Feb-04 Doc Walker, London Music Hall (7pm)
Sarnia
Jan-04 Me & Mr. Smith January, Cheeky Monkey (7pm) Jan-18 International Symphony Orchestra: More Fiddles and Kilts, Imperial Theatre (7:30pm) Jan-18 The Sadies, Paddy Flaherty’s (9pm) Jan-19 Black Gold / Black Donnellys & Double Feature with Q&A, Imperial Theatre (7pm) Jan-24 I Mother Earth and Finger Eleven, Imperial Theatre (8pm) Jan-26 Platinum Blonde, Imperial Theatre (8pm) Feb-08 Morgan James, Imperial Theatre(8pm) Feb-09 Holy Cole, Imperial Theatre(8pm) Feb-08,09 Cabaret 42: MisCast, Theatre Forty Two(6:30pm)
Windsor - Essex
Jan-02 Phifteen Years of Phog, Phog Lounge (5pm) Jan-03 Midlife Jazz, The Thirsty Butler (8:30pm) Jan-04, 06 Through The Ages (A Variety Show), The Shadowbox Theatre (4pm, 7pm) Jan-05 Dancing with the Stars Live!, Caesars Windsor (9pm) Jan-05 South River Slim, Rockstar Music Hall (8pm) Jan-05 Rendition, The Back Stage (10pm) Jan-10 Mark Calcott, The Thirsty Butler (8:30pm) Jan-12 Dave Fazekas Band, The Thirsty Butler (9pm)
Saving Abel to perform at Rockstar Music Hall in Windsor on Jan. 16
Jan-16 Saving Abel, Rockstar Music Hall (8pm) Jan-17 Cheap Trick, Caesars Windsor (8pm) Jan-17 Joan Charette & Chris Borshuk, The Thirsty Butler (8:30pm) Jan-18, 19, 20 The Thousand Colors of the Morning, Sho Art, Spirit & Performance (2pm, 8pm) Jan-18, 19, 20, 25, 26, 27 Heathers The Musical, Cardinal Music Productions (2pm, 8pm) Jan-19 Walkin’ 47, The Thirsty Butler (9pm) Jan-20 Curious George:The Golden Meatball, The Chrysler Theatre (2pm) Jan-24 Whitney Cummings, Caesars Windsor (8pm) Jan-24 The Dean Haddad Trio, The Thirsty Butler (8:30pm) Jan-26 Larry McCray, Rockstar Music Hall (8pm) Jan-31 Danielle and Chris Borshuk, The Thirsty Butler (8:30pm) Feb-01 Ned Flangers, Terrible as the Dawn , Phog Lounge (9pm) Feb-02 Masters Of Illusion, Caesars Windsor (8pm)
10 FUN QUESTIONS WITH DARYL OF LETTERKENNY Without using the word fun, what is your definition of fun? Beers and the produce stand. What was the most fun you’ve had in the last 24 hours? Beers in the produce stand. What is more fun, chocolate or whipped cream? Oh chocolate for sure. What was the most fun you’ve had watching a movie? Ummmmm.....The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford, because it’s a Western and I like Westerns.
When is the last time you were made fun of? Today by Wayne. Have you ever had fun in church? No. These are for Nathan: What is more fun than a mother in law or going to the dentist? Mother-In-Law for sure. What is the most fun you’ve had with your clothes on? Skydiving
OUR 519 THEATRE COMPANIES
Original Kids Great Big Theatre Palace theatre Enchanted Elgin Theatre Fridge Door Live Rail City Theatre Theatre Fortytwo Imperial Theatre
Theatre Sarnia Thames theatre Kiwanis theatre Glasstown Players Theatre Kent Post Production Kordazone Edge Production Play On Words
Port Stanley Fest Riverfront Windsor Feminist Revolution Youth Calithumpian DuffleBag Grand Theatre Migration Hall
Not including anything too racy what is the most fun you’ve ever had with your clothes off? Swimming with whale sharks. Yeah I mean, I had a bathing suit on, but still that’s technically with the clothes off. Who is more fun person Daryl or Nathan? Umm I am or is he? I think I’m a bit of a curmudgeon, but I think Daryl is more fun for sure. For more on Letterkenny, visit their website at www.letterkenny.tv. or watch their television show on Crave TV.