The Pandemic Interviews - Conversations in a Changing Time

Jeff Jones -- Ocean, Rush, Lawrence Gowan, Infidels, Red Rider, Tom Cochrane, Burton Cummings, The Carpet Frogs and so much more. Jeff is a Juno award winner with a distinguished 50-plus year career that has focused on lead and background vocals, as well as writing, recording and producing numerous albums and videos. As a member of Red Rider and The Carpet Frogs, Jeff continues to hit the road, year after year, touring throughout North America. A St. John’s Newfoundland native, Gerry Finn's very first instrument was the ukulele. He quickly focused on guitar, and went on to study both classical and jazz guitar. Well-known for his work with Canadian metal bands Killer Dwarfs and Helix, Gerry's musical career has seen him either tour, or share the stage, with David Usher, INXS, JD Fortune, Holly McNarland, Iron Maiden, Pantera, Bruce Cockburn and so many more. As a member of The Carpet Frogs, Gerry has been joining Jeff on stage for several years and recently, the two close friends have been performing as a duo.

I had the pleasure of chatting with Sascha Tukatsch and Brian Hogue of C0ndu1t. A drummer for Platinum Blonde and The Blushing Brides, I met Sascha when he was drumming for The Dave Barrett Trio. Now working with singer/songwriter Brian Hogue, they are currently working on a new album to be released this year.

Born in Beirut and raised in Toronto, Suzi Kory burst on to the music scene in 2017 with a rock EP, entitled 'Spellcasting'. Mixing her passion for all thing Guns 'n Roses and Axel Rose with her love for country music, Suzi has released seven singles in three years (now eight as of this podcast), carved out a career for herself in the country music scene in Canada. Her most recent, A Better Man, follows her wild success with the video for her song I've Got a Feeling featuring her blow-up doll “husband”, Johnny Toronto. Creative, energetic, full of optimism with a HUGE can do/will do attitude, there seems to be nothing holding this country artist back, and only sunshine and opportunities ahead!

Doug Varty left home in 1970, at young age of 17, to join a band, and has never looked back. From my home town of London, Ontario, Doug's career path has seen him perform both as a solo act and in many bands, including the one he left home to join.....Sea Dog. A multi-instrumentalist, certified yoga instructor, singer/songwriter and teacher, Doug still lives in London with his family and continues to perform on both sides of the border. He was inducted into Forest City London Music Hall of Fame in 2018, has won four Jack Richardson Music Awards, and he recently collaborated with Gerry Mosby, last week's podcast interviewee.

Gerry Mosby and Sil Simone, friends and collaborators. I was initially introduced to Gerry in 1979 when he was the bassist for the band Rhineghold. I met Sil in 2015 when he was performing in the theatre productions of Oh Canada What A Feeling. Gerry eventually turned his focus to producing, session work and jingle writing over the years. Sil currently performs with the Chicago tribute band Brass Transit and has contributed his guitar skills to Pretzel Logic, Tom Cochrane, Liberty Silver and so many more. Both are highly respected musicians and have an extensive list of credits i both performance and writing.

Ember Swift is a Canadian singer/songwriter who has been residing in Beijing, China for 13 years. I met Ember a few years ago when she was back in Canada performing at Hugh’s Room. Ember wrote her first song at the age of nine and has never stopped. She has toured Europe, North America, Australia and of course Asia. She has just released her 13th album, Mid-March Meltdown, which, by the way, has nothing to do with the pandemic but refers to another March years past. Welcome back!

Taking a step back to July 14, 2020, I had the opportunity to chat with Toronto artist David Celia and his partner Marla. A highly respected independent guitarist, singer and songwriter. Crisscrossing Canada and Europe since 2005, Celia has built a large fan base across both continents. He was a member of a number of bands before deciding to forge ahead with a solo career.....that is until he met Marla. Celia has performed with many top name acts and has release a total of eight albums. His most recent album, Indistinct Chatter, is a collaboration with Marla and was released just under three weeks ago.

Part two with Lighthouse lead vocalist Dan Clancy as we delve deeper into the challenges and issues within the music business.....tip jars, the union and paying musicians a fair wage. Producer/engineer John Jamieson joins us for this discussion. Some great new tunes, advice for young musicians and a few fun questions to wrap things up.

A synopsis from the Lighthouse website -- Dan Clancy has been the dynamic lead vocalist for the Canadian rock band Lighthouse since 1992. He began singing with the Holy Cross church choir at six years of age and by eleven was fronting his first band. Dan's voice, with its enormous range, is the ideal vehicle to perform the classic Lighthouse hits as well as the new material that has been written specifically with his voice in mind. Lighthouse is a Canadian rock band formed in 1968 by drummer Skip Prokop and keyboardist Paul Hoffert in Toronto, Canada. The band's repertoire included elements of rock, jazz, classical and swing, featuring horns, string instruments and vibraphone. They won Juno Awards for Best Canadian Group of the year in 1972, 1973 and 1974.

A familiar and well-known name in Canadian music, Alfie Zappacosta has been singing, songwriting and playing his guitar across Canada for close to 50 years. His first band Surrender was formed in 1978 and went on to sign with Capital records . Zappacosta is a two-time Juno Award winner....his first in 1985 as Most Promising Male Vocalist. He won his second Juno and American Music Award for Overload, used in the 1987 movie Dirty Dancing. The song was co-written with keyboardist Marco Luciani with Zappacosta also providing the vocals. Dirty Dancing happened to end up as one of the biggest selling soundtracks of the 80s. Zappacosta has recorded twelve studio albums, including one with Surrender, two live compilations and a slew of singles. His lates album, Saved, was released ion March of 2021.

Mitchell Field began his music career as the drummer for John Lee Hooker. He formed Canadian rock band Hellfield in 1978 after recruiting Dave Hovey on guitar, Jamie Larsen on bass, Steve Coombs on drums and Rick Lamb on keyboards. Locking themselves in a studio, they emerged two month later with new material and a new demo. Hellfield went through a number of changes but stayed together long enough to make an impact on the North American rock scene. The band broke up in 1982. Field released his first solo project in 2000 and is currently working on a new Hellfield album with original bassist James Larsen and guitarist Paul Royes.

Mitchell Field began his music career as the drummer for John Lee Hooker. After approaching CBS as a solo artist, Field was advised to put together a band and try again. That’s exactly what he did. With Dave Hovey on guitar, Jamie Larsen on bass, Steve Coombs on drums and Rick Lamb on keyboards…..Hellfield was born. Locking themselves in a studio, they emerged two month later with new material and a new demo. Residing in Montreal, Field is now working on a new Hellfield album along with the band's original bassist Jamie Larsen and guitarist Paul Royes.

Let me see if I can sum up Paul’s extensive career in music in one paragraph. Paul is a Juno award winning performer and has spent almost 55 years as a working musician, touring and recording with artists Domenic Troiano, Kim Mitchell, Lawrence Gowan, David Clayton Thomas, Rik Emmett, Rodger Hodgson and a host of others. He is an author of two books on drumming and was an educator at Humber College for 33 years. Paul is a member of two tribute bands Brass Transit (the music of Chicago) and Pretzel Logic (the music of Steely Dan). He is also part of two collaborative tribute shows; Jeans ‘n Classics performing the music of Queen, Supertramp, The Who, Rocky Horror, and many more and the theatrical production of the ONES Show, a tribute to The Beatles. Paul is also the leader of his own fusion band Paul DeLong’s One Word.

Author and podcaster of the Pandemic Interviews, this is my 30th podcast and I'm celebrating! May not seem like many to those who have published hundreds or more, but to this neophyte, it's an amazing feat. From going into this blindly and recording conversations with my cell phone, to now interviewing in a professional recording studio, this journey has been, if nothing else, mind blowing and a bit surreal. The past six years have been a whirlwind with massive changes in my life. This podcast is the culmination of all that's gone on.....but yet, it's only the beginning. Thank you to all who have patiently helped and supported me through all this. Cheers!

She has been called a Yorkville Legend and a Canadian music icon and is a key part of the story of Toronto’s music history. Multi-talented and multi-faceted, Cathy is a vocalist, songwriter, producer, guitarist, harmonica and kazoo player. She won the Juno in 1974 for Most Promising Female Vocalist of the Year and was nominated 1975 for Best Female Artist for her second album. She is a founding member of the Spirit of Yorkville Alumni in Toronto. A 70 foot mural on 22-foot building in downtown Toronto, features many of the iconic artists who have performed in the heyday of the famous (and infamous) Yonge St. strip. The mural includes a depiction of Cathy’s first album, honouring her music, the artist and her role in Toronto’s music scene.

Frank Cosentino bleeds the blues. Music, particularly the guitar, has been a central part of his life since the age of five. Frank was taken to a Jimi Hendrix concert at Maple Leaf Gardens in 1969 at the extremely young age of seven. Without realizing it at the time, it was a pivotal moment in Frank’s life, influencing and transforming his approach to the guitar and his own future music career. Fifty-two years later and with a collection of over 60 guitars, one is never far from his reach. Frank is a recent inductee into the Canadian Blues Hall of Fame and is also a teacher and educator. He has toured extensively, performing or sharing stages with James Cotton, Johnny Winter, Fathead, Downchild and Sue Foley to name a few. In 1989 he formed The Frank Cosentino Band and the band still going strong 32 years later.

The Peptides are an Ottawa-based, nine-member band…..five vocalists and four instrumentalists, producing a distinctive larger-than-life pop sound. The Peptides are known for their high energy, extravagant and colourful, live performances…..their music an eclectic mix of funk, soul, folk, gospel, Latin and new wave sound. A snapshot of Canadian diversity, The PepTides is a community of girls and guys, LGBTQ and straight, English and French; black, white and in between, Ukrainian, Mexican, Guyanese, Cree, Acadian, Armenian and Scottish. I had the opportunity to see them during Indie Week in Toronto a few years back. If I had the chance, I’d go back to see them again in a heartbeat.

The Trews, formed in Antigonish, Nova Scotia by brothers Colin and John-Angus with good friend, bassist Jack Syperek, are now based in Hamilton, Ontario and are the cusp of celebrating 25 years together. I was joined in the studio by John-Angus, who drove into Toronto from Hamilton to chat about the pandemic and future of music, how he and the band have coped, lessons learned and looking forward to their new album to be released in the fall of 2022. The band perform their own distinctive, hard driving rock with a whisper here and there of their Celtic roots and on occasion, the hint of reggae or the plaintive cry of the bagpipes, all reflecting their time growing up in Nova Scotia, Newfoundland, Jamaica and Barbados. The Trews have released six full length albums, one compilation, five EPs, three live albums and one video album. Also during that time they’ve have been nominated for six Juno awards, and seventeen nominations with seven wins at the East Coast Music Awards. They’ve also won twice at the U.S. Independent Music awards. It’s been a busy and very fruitful almost 25 years. Happy (almost) 25th Birthday!

TOM WILSON is the bestselling author of Beautiful Scars as well as a five-time Juno winning Canadian musician. His band Junkhouse scored eleven top-ten hits in the 90's, and his iconic, Americana-fuelled Blackie and the Rodeo Kings has performed on stages from The Grand Ol Opry to Massey Hall. Tom’s most recent incarnation, Lee Harvey Osmond, has received extensive praise and airplay throughout the United States and Europe. His art has shown in galleries from New York City to Vancouver. He still lives in Hamilton, Ontario and is currently working on his second book BLOOD MEMORY for Penguin Random House books. “I have unchained all the prisoners from my basement and freed the ghosts from my attic. I was the guy who ended up holding the keys to their freedom. It was me who let them out. It’s a job that no one else could do and one that comes with great consequence because these ghosts and prisoners are standing around me now all day, all night long.” I told my truth the way I heard it and the way I remembered it and that’s all I have. Everything else is bullshit.” Tom Wilson

Tom Wilson is a singer/songwriter/bestselling author/story teller/visual artist and 5x Juno award winner, the most recent Juno win was in 2020 for his latest release Mohawk. His bands Junkhouse, Lee Harvey Osmond and Blackie and The Rodeo Kings; the discovery of his Mohawk heritage; writing his autobiography Beautiful Scars; his recognition as an artist, and the many projects in between, Tom has been on a voyage of discovery his entire life. An extremely busy man, it took us seven months of calendar co-ordination to get to this conversation. Tom is one of the greatest storytellers out there today, so rather than leave too much on the cutting room floor, I’ve decided to make this a two-part conversation. Today you’ll hear Part One.