MUSIC Episodes

Skinnamarinky dinky dink, Skinnamarinky do...I love you! Sharon Lois & Bram’s Sharon Hampson talks about their multi-generational appeal [now entertaining 5 generations!], coming up in the 1970s Toronto coffee-house scene, becoming a trio via the 'Mariposa in the Schools' program, their breakthrough 1978 debut album One Elephant-Deux Elephants, the origins of Elephant and Skinnamarink, why she so loves Steve Paikin and Bob Rae, memorable interactions with the Clintons/Colin Mochrie/Pete Seeger/A...

Images in Vogue’s Joe Vizvary talks about coming out of Vancouver in 1981, Much Music VJ Kim Clarke Champniss serving as their Manager before KCC joined MM, opening up for Duran Duran/Depeche Mode/Roxy Music/Bryan Adams, Geddy Lee’s superfan wife hooking them up with Rush’s manager Ray Danniels, his ‘pinch me moments’ meeting Tina Turner & Kim Mitchell, how modern touring equipment is much lighter than it was back in the 80s, and why his high school music students have such a hard time believing...

Spoons’ Gord Deppe talks about doing double duty as guitarist for A Flock of Seagulls, their 1982 breakthrough at the Police Picnic at Exhibition Stadium [Police, English Beat, Joan Jett, Oingo Boingo, Talking Heads], Nile Rodgers taking a liking to them while opening for Boy George & Culture Club, catching grief for that Thrifty’s ad campaign [‘Tarnished Spoons’], working with Daniel Lanois before he was Daniel Lanois, and wondering aloud why they can’t get a major auto manufacturer to use Roma...

Glass Tiger founder/original drummer Michael Hanson talks about how two bands merged into Glass Tiger, opening up for Culture Club/Journey/Tina Turner/Moody Blues, why Tiger Beat magazine compared him to pinup pretty boy David Cassidy, the ‘Boy George Incident,’ his celebrity interactions at the Juno and Grammy Awards [Roger Daltry! Paul Simon! Celine Dion! Peter Cetera! Don Johnson! Peter Gabriel! Stevie Wonder!], being too busy to play Wayne Gretzky’s Royal Wedding, how he got Bobby Orr to aut...

Love bowling? Love the music of the 80s? Ed Sousa talks about his love for BOTH, his signature trilby hat, turning a one-night charity concert with Honeymoon Suite & the Spoons into the largest indoor music festival in North America, growing up 5 minutes away from radio station CFNY, Curtis Joseph’s wife’s adoration of When In Rome, learning the value of intimate artist/fan interaction from Randy Bachman, why his dream show would be booking Simple Minds, spending time with Midge Ure/Martin Fry/G...

Wang Chung’s Jack Hues implores everybody to have fun tonight...everybody Wang Chung tonight!!


Jack talks about his 40+ year partnership with Nick Feldman, why he chose to use a pseudonym [J'accuse, get it?], changing the band name from its original Huang Chung, huge tours with The Cars and Tina Turner, scoring the 1985 film To Live and Die in L.A., meeting his idols Tony Banks and Paul McCartney, hanging out with Willem Dafoe, and their imminent return to North America with the Abducted by t...

Glass Tiger’s Sam Reid talks about how Tokyo became Glass Tiger after opening for Boy George & Culture Club at Maple Leaf Gardens, teaming up with Bryan Adams’ songwriting partner Jim Vallance, shooting TWO videos for Don’t Forget Me, opening on monster tours for Journey and Tina Turner, interesting Juno and Grammy ceremony experiences, giving Sir Rod Stewart vocal suggestions, getting dissed by Roger Hornsby and mistaken for David Hasselhoff, collaborating with Rik Emmett, and why almost 40 yea...

Thompson Twins' Tom Bailey talks about the 40th anniversary of Into The Gap, keeping in touch with his former bandmates Alannah Currie and Joe Leeway, the exposure that came with Top Of The Pops and MTV, opening for The Police while at the height of their fame [and dysfunction], playing 1985's Live Aid backed by Madonna, Howard Jones and Thomas Dolby encouraging him to resume touring Thompson Twins' music after a 27 year break, and seeing first-hand David Bowie's shockingly smooth stage entrance...

Martha and the Muffins co-founder Mark Gane [currently the sole Muffin] talks about being in their 47th year as a band, how they chose that name [and why it temporarily changed to ‘M Plus M’], interactions with a flirty Prime Minister Trudeau [Dad of our current PM] at the 1980 Juno Awards, ‘Echo Beach’ co-winning the Juno for Song of the Year, the boost they got from CHUM-FM/CFNY/The New Music/The Garys, hanging out with Virgin’s Sir Richard Branson, touring with Roxy Music/Eurythmics, and work...

Honeymoon Suite’s Derry Grehan talks about their first new full length studio album in 16 years, playing live on American Idol with his daughter Leah Marlene and Katy Perry, how winning the Q107 Homegrown Contest launched their career, meeting Bob Dylan/Steven Tyler/Sir Rod Stewart at the 1986 Juno Awards [where they won Group of the Year], meeting Eddie Van Halen at Pearson airport, ‘acting’ as a guitarist in a Pepsi commerical, having their songs used in Miami Vice and Lethal Weapon, how he us...

Singer/Songwriter/Poet/Guitarist Rik Emmett talks about his days in Toronto power trio Triumph, explains why he was pictured on the back of the Allied Forces album in a Habs jersey [blasphemous!], why even today he suffers from bad GAS [Guitar Acquisition Syndrome], how Mike Levine’s bad spelling led to Richard becoming Rik, pulling up to YOUR high school in the 70s with a tractor trailer full of pyro/flash pots/propane torches, helicoptering to the 1983 US Festival to play in front of 375,000 o...

Big Sugar’s Gordie Johnson talks about hanging around with ‘Uncle Charlie’ during the Rolling Stones’ Toronto rehearsals, Keith Richards stealing CDs from his duffle bag, enjoying relaxed table-talk with Eric Clapton, sharing enchiladas & Modelo Especials with ZZ Top’s Billy Gibbons, getting a superlative comparison to Eddie Van Halen courtesy of Joe Satriani, Rush’s Alex Lifeson gifting his double-neck guitar because it was affecting his golf swing, Mrs. Johnson’s need for an ice cream bar lead...

Director Simon Head talks about his documentary ‘Subversives–The History of Lowest Of The Low,’ the vital importance of having both ‘Low Karma’ and ‘Errors & Omissions insurance,’ the bravery needed to take on this project with NO prior film-making experience nor qualifications, the thick-skin needed during the editing process, his Mom’s stellar contributions to transcribing 35 hours of interviews, the surprising difficulties in procuring archival footage from CTV/Bell/MuchMusic/CBC, his interes...

Glass Tiger’s Alan Frew returns to talk about his upcoming 80s/90s REWIND live concert, why Glass Tiger is the world’s most industrious most lazy band, his fear that a fan will tell him that their Granny finds him ‘hot,’ how an unsigned bar band from Newmarket opened for Boy George & Culture Club at Maple Leaf Gardens [and how he had to high-tail it back right afterwards to do his midnight shift as an orderly at Newmarket Hospital], how his ‘funny accent’ led him directly to both fights & romanc...

Singer/Songwriter/Guitarist Stephen Stanley talks about his new album with The Stephen Stanley Band, his 23 years with The Lowest of the Low [with a few breaks & a few break-ups mixed in], why ‘Shakespeare My Butt’ was [at the time] both an albatross and a gold medal, his memories of enjoying 4am nachos at Sneaky Dee’s with Dave Bookman, presenting a bouquet of roses better suited for Secretariat to Luciano Pavarotti at Massey Hall [and later playing there himself], turning DOWN opening tour slo...

Violinist Grenville ‘G’ Pinto talks about performing for the Biebs & Selena [on the outs at the time]/Bill Clinton/Honest Ed Mirvish/The Killer Dougie Gilmour, how the violin is the closest instrument to the human voice, collaborating with the ‘Lord of the Strings’ Mediterranean guitarist Pavlo, the extraordinary talent of the late John Ritter as Jack Tripper, his exceptional version of Dr Dre’s ‘Still D.R.E.,’ why he does NOT feel the need to purchase hand insurance, and why he is considered to...

Order of Canada recipient Denise Donlon talks about moving from Whitesnake’s ‘Slide It In’ tour to The New Music, becoming an on-air personality/VJ at MuchMusic, launching MuchMoreMusic, her thoughts on Moses Znaimer/Christopher Ward/Rick Campanelli/Bill Welychka/George Stroumboulopoulos, going into labour while hosting a live television event with the Cowboy Junkies, taking over at Sony Music Canada precisely at the same moment the global recording industry began imploding, moving to our nation...

"We can dance if we want to/ We can leave your friends behind/ ’Cause your friends don’t dance/ And if they don’t dance/ Well, they’re no friends of mine!” --- Men Without Hats’ Ivan Doroschuk talks about The Safety Dance, Pop Goes The World, touring in 2023 [GPS] vs in 1983 [Rand McNally road maps], how Howard Jones taught him to enjoy the rigours of the road, the power of their videos on MTV and MuchMusic, jetting on the Concorde back & forth from NYC to the UK to film a video, the pride of be...

Opa!! Guitar virtuoso & 'Lord of the Strings' Pavlo Simtikidis talks about going from Pape & Danforth to selling CDs at the One of a Kind Craft Show to his PBS Special 'Live from Santorini,' swimming upstream against record label executives who told him he was ‘too ethnic’ and to ‘get rid of the bouzouki,’ successfully suing Jay-Z & R Kelly for copyright infringement [he is now a co-writer of FIESTA!], touring around the world consistently for over 25 years, his collaborations with Jose Felician...

The Box’s Jean-Marc Pisapia returns to the podcast ahead of an exciting 3 stop Ontario visit to talk about touring in 1983 versus in 2023 [these days he hits the stage when he would normally be going to bed, LOL], why L’Affaire Dumoutier is still his absolute favourite song [and he explains that iconic video!], his first professional job with Ivan Doroschuk and [a pre-The Safety Dance] Men Without Hats, his favourite tour memories with The Spoons/Chris de Burgh/The Pretenders/Jethro Tull, playin...

Global News Morning Kingston’s Bill Welychka talks about starting at MuchMusic the same week he graduated from Seneca College’s Radio and TV Arts program, the surreal experience of moving from WATCHING [on tv] to WORKING alongside Christopher Ward/Steve Anthony/Michael Williams/Laurie Brown/Denise Donlon, sliding from MuchMusic over to MuchMoreMusic, his anticipation for and involvement in the upcoming MuchMusic documentary '299 Queen Street West,' why the visionary Moses Znaimer’s Speakers Corn...

Freed Developments’ Glen Baxter talks about making the move from Montreal to Toronto, doing CBC French language traffic reports without ever owning a car, getting ‘the call’ in 1991 from Moses Znaimer, his 20 years at 299 Queen Street West for MuchMusic/CityTV/CTV's In Fashion, his excellent interactions with David Bowie/Drake/Rihanna/Deadmau5/Jeanne Beker/Tim Blanks/Jay Levine/Rick Campanelli/Dave Foley/Alex Lifeson/Joe Mimran/Michael Budman/Don Green, his NOT so excellent interactions with Bar...

Strange Advance founder Drew Arnott talks about touring for the 40th anniversary of their debut album Worlds Away, why Steven Tyler did NOT like the band name, bigtime encouragement & friendship from Bryan Adams, having the late Bruce Fairbairn [Loverboy, Aerosmith, Bon Jovi, Van Halen, AC/DC] produce their first album, Scott Litt mixing their 2nd album before moving on to work with a small band called REM, memories from the Juno Awards, shooting their first video for MTV before MuchMusic even l...

Professional Guitarist/TCDSB Teacher/Author Sean Kelly shares a lifetime of surreal moments:

Inspired by Twisted Sister’s Dee Snider...eventually collaborates with Dee Snider!

First concert ever attended growing up in North Bay was Helix + Honeymoon Suite...eventually plays in both bands!

Loved Corey Hart...eventually plays Corey Hart’s songs [note for note] live in front of him at his Canadian Walk of Fame induction!

Named his band Crash Kelly after his hockey playing maverick Uncle Orville...