Brendan Canning

Part 1

0:00Brendan Canning, thank you. Oh, you're welcome. Thank you so much for coming in, man. How are you? I'm good. I'm good. How's the tour going? Or is it even a tour? It's not a tour. Just the one off kind of thing. It's a flight to Calgary. It's sitting by the pool side. Very nice. It's waiting for the 1 AM set of the offshoot band Human Milk. Yeah. And yeah. So what is this all about? Human Milk. It's you? Yeah. Some of the broken socials and spiral stairs of pavement fame and president's school of industry and his drummer Darius, who also plays with the posies. So a whole bunch of people. Yeah. Yeah. Like a normal social scene show, actually. Like a normal social scene show. So we as spiral came into town with Darius. And we rehearsed for three days, wrote sort of seven and a half

0:49songs. Oh, really? So some brand new stuff coming up tonight. Yeah. Are we cool? Yeah. Well, now what about these social scene shows? I know you played one yesterday. And there's a bunch of festivals coming up throughout the summer. Yeah. Is it for the solo record or is it just why not? I think it's like, yeah, it's a slow incorporation of some of my songs coming in the set. And some of Kev's from his record. From his record, yeah. And then some new social scene tunes, some of the old hits. And come the fall. Probably do a greater chunk of my tunes. And then come back and start writing a new social scene record. And then maybe next year, depending on how the record goes. Yeah, I've got another record, like sort of almost finished

1:39this project or band or whatever you want to call it. Called Cookie Duster that I've been doing for years. And we've never actually released anything. But you played shows? You were there? I played a couple shows back in 2000. And then when social scenes started getting going, I was like, OK, well, we've got to put this on hold. But I've always got a full record with that group, which I really like. Now how come those songs wouldn't show up for years? Different people involved. Yeah. Yeah. That's just how they were written with different peeps. Yeah. I guess if this were the more traditional sense, like if I were a solo artist, I'd be working. If you look on the back of an Erica Badu record or whoever, it was like certain songs are produced by this person. Yeah, there's that.

2:24But social scene has always been more of a collaborative. I mean, it's. Whoever's around. Whoever's around. Yeah. Yeah. Which must be interesting for set lists for live shows, because you don't always have the same band. No, it's interesting slash frustrating, because sometimes certain members aren't up to speed on other songs you've been playing in the last set. So you've got to sort of like, OK, well, OK, we'll shift. And we'll play a couple of the older ones, because we haven't sort of polished these enough with his new lineups. Yeah. Let's play a song off the record. I want people to hear what this new record sounds like, because it's something for all of us. It's something for all of us. Something for everyone. Yeah. First single, hit the wall. You want to tell people at the song before we play it? The song? Who plays on it for one? Which members from the band are on it?

3:10Which people from different projects are on it? Well, from Broken Social Scene. It's Justin Perroft, Kevin Drew, Andrew Whiteman, Jimmy Shaw, Evan Cranley, Chris Seligman. So basically the entire band. Yeah, Amy Milan, probably, Liz Powell from Land of Talk, Lisa Lob Singer. From Calgary. We'll talk about her in a bit, though. And then the song was sort of started by the producers. I was working with Ryan Condrat, also a Calgarian, and John LaMenga. Look at that. Here it is.

8:26This is 16th Ave. I'm Matt Brendan Canning. Brand new music hit the wall from the Broken Social Scene. Remember, we got him live in studio. And your new record, something for all of us, comes out July 22nd. Been thinking about it. And I'm thinking maybe Kevin brings that more grandiose orchestration to the projects. Yeah. Because your record seems a lot more than I was trying to think of a word compact than even his record that he put out not too long ago. Did you want to, was that a conscious effort to try and not strip it down? Because it's still tape loops and effects and all this crazy stuff everywhere. And you'll strip stuff down even more for us in a bit. But was it conscious effort to try and make it more compact? See, I feel it's not that compact. An argument. I'll fight for it. You know, you've got your big horn outros at certain times.

9:12But there's a couple moments where it's a little quieter and a little more stripped back. This is how the songs came together. And I'm not one to argue with how. I mean, I am one to argue with how they're going to be finished and completed, but by the end of it all. I mean, this is the record I ended up with. And probably working with new people who weren't in the social scene circle gave it just a different sort of slant. But we're sort of watching the social scene thing go on. Maybe that was John and Ryan's interpretation of it. And plus working with a mixing engineer, Crisco Behann, who was very much after we'd finished a session,

10:00he'd throw in a Neil Young record. Oh, yeah. Yeah, he's not so much into the big way. It was a bit of a struggle working all together, because he's like, OK, you've got six feedback guitar tracks. And me in the background say, well, we've got to fit them all in. I mean, this part right here, I know you don't think that. But that's all sort of when you get a certain feedback crunch happening at a certain time, it really moves the music along for me. Did Newfeld work on it all? No, he came in for an afternoon. Just my producers, they were big fans of Dave Newfeld. Who wouldn't be? And yeah, he's an interesting show for sure, but very talented. And he came in for a day and just sort of helped

10:45work on a vocal effect for one tune, and the two never made the record. But that was still, you know? Yeah. He was still there for an hour. Yeah, so still a part of it in a way. Cool. You mentioned earlier how it's your say, how the finished product comes out, obviously, because it's your name on the record. But the record got out early. And you counteracted that. And I'm wondering the shift this music industry is going, how come you didn't just put it out right away as soon as it was done? Because you can nowadays. You can. I suppose we're still trying to figure it out. Yeah. With the label I'm working with. And I think everyone's just trying to figure out what the best method is. You sort of, well, you have to send it out early to press to get your reviews so you make magazine features for a certain date. All this sort of bull****.

11:31You know, which, but then look like a band like The Raccoon Terrace sort of finished their record. Within release? Yeah, yeah, and then released it. But I think you know. And it's amazing too. Yeah, I don't know. I've heard one tune. But I think maybe they're in a slightly, you know, people know The Raccoon Terrace better than you. You need the brand name company. Yeah. I think, you know, people know the brand name of Broken Social Scene, but not to the degree where, although we've sort of done things very much our own way, I think we still need to exact a little more of power, shall you say, or, you know, to sort of, you know, to be able to dictate what you want to do. I mean, we sort of do that anyway, but I think we could do it a little more. Yeah, fair enough. July 22nd is when the official release is about. Yeah, the official release date.

12:17Yeah, but it's out there for people who want to buy it, how? Yeah, but some people wait, you know, they want it, because the album artwork, it really is going to look pretty spanking on a nice vinyl record. Cool. Yeah, I like how you guys all press vinyl. It's amazing. Yeah. You like the only label that does it make and make sure for every single record. Yeah, I mean, that's basically my mode of listening to music. Is vinyl? Yeah, I mean, I'm going to get an iPod one day, but, whatever. Yeah, you know, one day when I feel like I should go out and listen to music instead of walking down the street and listening to the sounds of people talking. There you go. That's, you know, a little more interesting to me sometimes. You ever write songs from things you hear people walking around? Maybe they spark a word and you're like, hey, that would work. Yeah, the song title, All the Best Wooden Toys,

13:03come from Germany. That was a friend. A friend was over and he's got, he's got, you know, a new baby who will not so new anymore. But he was saying how he bought his child this toy and he just so matter of fact, we said, well, you know, all the best wooden toys come from Germany. And I just got anything. Oh, yeah, who doesn't know? Yeah. Yeah. I thought it was just such a bizarre thing to say that, okay, there's a song title. That's awesome. Let's play that one for people because I like that too. Oh, yeah. Cool. Brendan Canning from Broken Social Scene Live in Studio. Here's his tune. All the best wooden toys are made in Germany, fuel 90.3. Fuel 90.3.

16:24This is 16th Ave. Matt Brendan Canning from his brand new record. All the best wooden toys are made in Germany. That's the tune title. This record is called something for all of us. Broken Social Scene presents something for all of us. We got Brendan Live in Studio. And how can people get the record now? I know the official release dates July 22, but it can be bought online. They can go to arts-crafts.ca. And I hear it's slightly complicated to purchase it from the website. You got to sign up and become a member. I don't mean old. It takes five seconds. Yeah, yeah. I think they're still working on their website to make it a little more user-friendly. So you can either get it now or you can wait until July 2 and get it at... 20 seconds. Yeah, what did I just say? It's not next week.

17:09People got waited a little while. It's not next week, July 22. Yeah, and you can get it from your favorite outlets. Amazing. You're going to play us a tune? Sure. I'll play you a tune. What do you feel like playing? I'm going to play a song that's not on the record. And it was recorded at Jimmy Shaw's Cottage a few years back. Oh, yeah. And it's going to be released on a B-side or at least an Arts and Craft sampler. Yeah, one of those just to give it a... Yeah, and it's a tune called Secretary's Parties. And I always liked it, so here it is. And you said the dance might end.

19:08Well, we all like throwing parties for the Secretary's. When the world defies. Because the creatures you care are the ones that you bear. And the ones that you bear don't go on living. And the secrets you kept are the ones they all said. Couldn't be any answer. What no one.

19:55It's not saying that it's better when it ends. Or it's better when you say it not it ends. Open. It disappear like heroes under glass. You keep them there. Now you sit in it. Discover ways negotiate.

20:45And don't travel in circles. Thanks, man. That was lovely. Oh, yeah, man. Great tune. And so B-side's disc may be in the future. We'll see what happens. Yeah, we're going to do a hit the wall EP. Oh, yeah? And with a remix of Love is New. What you're going to play for us in a bit? Yeah. The railway version. Yeah. Yeah. Or whatever you want to call it. No, I like that. That's what I'm still putting parentheses. Yeah, yeah.

21:30The one I'm still trying to figure out. Railway mix. And yeah, I've got some friends working on a remix which I think might be done. He said he was going to leave it in my mail slot. And then I came down the next morning and it wasn't there. But maybe he got my address wrong. So there's a disc somewhere with a Love is New remix that is maybe finished or maybe in the works of being finished because Andrew, a puzzle of a hustle, was working on a remix too. But sometimes you can't rely on your bandmates to get things done on time. Well, he's on the road with you. He is on the road. He's playing two shows yesterday. Yeah, I know. I know. I know. No, I'm going to do a remix. OK. One of these days I'm going to run. I'm sure you'll get around to it, Andrew. One of my favorite songs on the record is called Church Is Under the Stairs. I think it's fantastic because I love there's a part in the song where you kind of dictate

22:17to the band. This is where the choir comes in. Oh, yeah. That's Kevin, actually. Oh, him saying? Yeah, yeah. It's how come you left them in the tune? Like, it sounds like stuff that you'd be saying in the studio kind of thing. Oh, that's kind of like a very broken social scene. I know. I love it though. And it kind of sets up the last vocal because you know, Kevin and Brendan do it sort of my as I was going up to the studio to do the vocals, my gal Sarah. She said, this is like your island's in the sun song. Really? Yeah. And you're you know, he's Kenny and your dolly or your. Our feist in the costume scene. Yeah, I know. And you know, it's so funny because that single came out a few weeks later. And we sort of thought, oh, it's definitely something floating around something floating around in the air. But this is our version of islands in the sun. And I came up with the bass line, like one sound check.

23:07And then we did this pitchfork. They do like this basement jam thing. That pitchfork.com, the pitchforkmedia.com website. And we recorded it in there with the band. But then when I came back home from touring and I realized that was one song short of a record. Like, well, I'd love to wait around for the band to record this. But I know Kevin's already got a vocal line for it. And I'm just going to do everything else myself and get Justin into play drums. Cool. Make it a little. That was like the quickest song to come together. Really? Yeah, I would say so just because. Cool. It's like, OK, we need four guitar parts. Here they are. Don't think about it too much.

23:53That's awesome. And yeah. Here it is from Brandon's brand new record, something for all of us. It's churches under the stairs, fuel, Maddie. Point three.

28:17This is 16. Dava, Matt, I got Brandon Canning from Broken Social, seen live in studio. He just heard brand new music from him. Churches under the stairs, his record, something for all of us out in stores July 22. But you can buy it online now if you're interested. And that tune, Kevin Drew singing parts on it. I heard FICE was supposed to originally be doing that. True, false. That's what you had originally intended. On that song? Yeah. No, not on that song. Cool. Whatever website you find that on people, it's wrong. Yeah, I know. You know what? She it was just not a good time for Leslie to come in participate all as much as I would have liked her to come in. I mean, I was very lucky enough to have very talented female vocals from Lisa Lobb singer, Liz Powell, Land of Talk,

29:02and Amy Miland. So you know, I definitely. Oh, you're fine. Yeah, I got it covered. I got it covered because the music we write has broken. It definitely needs a female element. No, it just does. Yeah, it just works. Yeah. So there's a movie being filmed while you're recording? Yeah, Bruce McDonald and his crew, they did a documentary. There was this television series coming out. It's unfortunately named The Raw Side of something. He's trying to get the name changed. But anyway, yeah, it's a very sweet little documentary that sort of fallen me around in my kitchen. And in the studio and getting my bike fixed and all the shoots. Yeah, it sort of gave them carte blanche to come around.

29:50And they came in the studio to. There's a lot of the song, Churches Under the Stairs, because that was the last song we were doing. OK. So they were in the studio for that, which isn't necessarily a great idea to have a film crew while you're trying to record music. I was going to say a little bit. It was a little bit of a beef in the Beatles, and it broke them up. Yeah, I mean, I would never have a documentary going for Broken Social Scene, where it has a lot of you forgotten in people footage in the studio. But it just felt like it shows too many of the blemishes that it's supposed to be the mystique of the studio. Exactly. But we did give them, we do show some blemishes of that song. But at the same time, it kind of fucks you up a little bit, because it's like, OK, if there's cameras watching me do this vocal,

30:37and a lot of this stuff we recorded, like, well, those vocals didn't make the record. But you think you would make yourself conscious at times, because you're overthinking things with someone watching you at all times. Yeah, you know, it's, and then plus, all of a sudden, all the girlfriends show up that day because there's a camera crew. Like, hey, it's Justin's girlfriend and her sister, and Ryan's girlfriend. And you guys are never in the studio, but and your dog. And, you know, like camera, boom operator, producer, director. So all of a sudden you've got like 11 or 12 people in the studio. And it's a bit much. It's a bit much when you're used to like three or four people in the studio kind of maximum. Yeah. Yeah. Well, there's just you in the studio right now, and you're going to play another song.

31:23Just me. Yeah. What do we want? Love is new. Yeah. A railway version. The railway, yeah, or the boxcar version. There you go. I like that better. That's good. There was a time for the play that you made. Well, read in the loop about the way you're living. It's public space where you find your target.

32:11Your instrument is your choice of weapon. Can you explain all the fine points for you? Discriminate. Make some fun. That's money.

32:57Your target. It's public space. The way you're living is a public space.

34:48You will 90.3. This is 16. Dava, Madia, Brendan, canning from Broken Social Scene Live in Studio. He's got new record. Something for all of us out July 22nd. I was in him live in Studio Play and Love is New. The boxcar version. I love it. It just makes you want to clap along the entire time. Tell me about Lisa Lobsinger. She's from Calgary. She's now part of Broken Social Scene. Officially? Yeah, officially, whatever official it means. But when we were going out in 2005, we sort of felt like, OK, we need someone to take

35:38care of some of the female vocals. And Lisa, we had met her at a show at Royal, what Mount Royal? Mount Royal College when Broken and Stars played their way back on. And Lisa came up to us and introduced herself, gave us a Revery Sound Review album, like a fourth- Great local band for people. And I probably didn't listen to it until months later. And then I heard it. I go, wow, this girl, she's got a really sweet voice. We were thinking about getting someone to come in on the road with us. And I brought her name up. I was actually the only one who would listen to it. But yeah, everyone just sort of said, OK, great. And she flew out. And I think it was maybe a little hard for her at first to sort of realize, well, this

36:26is kind of a funny band to all of a sudden just be thrown into. It's not a typical band. It's not a typical band. And bands are funny little plans as once was said by that guy from Mercury Rev. I think it was a really great thing that she came out. She moved to Toronto and sort of left Calgary behind for the time being. Because she grew up here or you got to leave home at some point. Yeah, of course. So yeah, that's a little bit of the story. And then when I came to making my record, I really, because she was singing other people's songs, I really wanted to get her involved to do some, you know, do something where it shows her, let her shine a little bit.

37:12Yeah. Yeah. What's your favorite track that she worked on in this record? Well, the one she takes the lead on Antique Bull. I think that's a really sweet little tune. Let's play that for people. Yeah.

40:52If you will, 90.3 Calgary's classic alternative. This is 16th Ave. I'm Matt Gubren and Canning from Broken Social Scene Live in studio. I was attuned from his new record called Antique Bull. So this is the second record in the series of Broken Social Scene Presents. What is third? Any ideas? There's a couple ideas. You know, Dave Newfelt as we were talking about. Wants his own? He has a bunch of stuff. Is he right? I didn't even know he wrote. Yeah. Yeah. Okay. You know, on the Broken Social Scene self-titled record, because we were away a lot, you know, we'd leave certain things to him and he'd come back and be like, oh, I just laid down this little guitar part here. I down this little Dolphzomar part here. Oh, here's a really good bass. I know right here. I came up with his beat here and left to his own devices.

41:38He will make madness. Good madness. And good madness. Yeah, great madness. So he's got, I don't think a finished record, but he's definitely got something cooking. And then we also have a bunch of stuff we've done. Soundtrack work that we were kind of thinking, okay, well maybe Broken Social Scene presents, you know, the soundtracks of these films. Oh, yeah, that'd be cool. Because there's a lot of material, like stuff I haven't even listened to. What was the movie? Half Nelson? We got, you know, we got Half Nelson. That's a good movie. It's great film. Yeah. I love it. But that's also a lot of material that, well, in fact, everything that's on that film has been released on a record. Oh, yeah. Yeah, feel good loss. They draw from a lot. You've forgotten people and beehives.

42:23Yeah. I mean, that's what that was. Yeah. But there's a film called Snowcake that had Alan Rickman, Sigourney Weaver, and Cuny and Moss, and a few others. And you get to meet these people? Or is it just like... And that's Sigourney. Oh, yeah. Oh, yeah. Oh, yeah. We went up for dinner with Alan in London. And he came back to a gig at a club called Coco. I was kind of, you know, he liked the band. And that was cool. Yeah, that's cool. And, you know, the premiere at the Toronto Film Festival, we were going on stage in Sigourney Weaver. And he's looking good. That's very nice. That dress fits you well. Yeah. I'd like to see Jimmy Shaw do his own record. Yeah. Do you think he ever would? I know that he's, you know, he's... Not to say the metric stuff isn't great because it is. Oh, no. He's got stuff of his own. Plus he's, you know, I feel like he could just do whatever he wants.

43:11He's got lots of ideas. And any time we've ever written with Jimmy, you know, whether it's like super connected or anthems for a 17 year old girl, almost crimes, you know, like big social scene tunes and the repertoire, like tunes that people really love, you know. He's always been the guy there that will give you that really great hook or arrangement idea. And the horn playing he does on the record, you know, he's so easy to work with. It's like he'll come up with a horn part, you know, like, da, da, da, da, da, da, da, da, da, da, da, da, da, da, da, da, da, da, da, da, da, da, da, da, da, da, da, da, da, da, da, da, da, da, da, da, da, da, da, da, da, da, da, da, da, da, da, da, da, da, da, da, da, da, da, da, da, da, da, da, da, da, da, da, da, da, da, da, da, da, da, da, da,

43:59da, da, da, da, da, da, da, da, da, da, da, da, da, da, da, da, da, da, da, da, da, da, da, da, da, da, da, da, da, da, da, da, da, da, da, da, da, da, da, da, da, da, da, da, It's like maybe an hour and it sounds, you know, I love it even though it's lo-fi and whatever. I love the way it sounds. Cool. Before I let you go, five questions, one word answers. Sure. Studio or road? Studio. Landon or McCartney? Landon. Alcohol or marijuana? Marijuana. Sunga. Although, well, I got a, I got a, I got to be a, I'm on a, I'm on a hiatus for, for a while. Fair enough. Song you've written you're most proud of. I like Secretary of his parties. Cool. I like that word. Branding canning. Fairness. Here's a good word. There you go. Thank you very much. Let's close it up with a tune.

44:45Play a social scene tune. Shoreline or lover spit? Uh, oh, let's play lover spit. It's a good, you know, seven or eight minute tune. Fan favorite. Fan favorite for sure. Thank you so much, man. I really appreciate it. Oh, of course, man. Yeah, pleasure. So we close it out with lover spit from Broken Social Senior. Let's sing the fuel. Maddy Point Three.

Part 2

0:06Hey, this is Brendan Canning and you're watching MSN Exclusives. This is your record, your solo record, but there's one song you don't sing on. Well, I guess there's a few that you don't sing on because there's some instrumentals, but... Yeah. But you give the lead away to someone else, how come? Did it just not feel right to sing?

0:51I think she just does a better job. I like writing in that range, you know, for female vocalists. So you wrote for a female vocalist? Yeah. Okay, so you always have a... I mean, not like, not in tension, you know, you just like strum around and I generally like, to find my melodies, I generally sing high. And then, you know, like had another girl sing it. Who's on the record, but when we were doing trying to track that one, just her, I was like, oh, it wasn't quite sounding right. I needed someone a little bit, a little bit of a different take on it. So, yeah, yeah, Daniel. Because this is tight from Snowflake, love it. She's a killer singer. Awesome. So we just started with the video. Featuring Kenny Haughts, you want to talk about either shooting that video, talking about writing the song and give a little intro for that? Shooting the video. I mean, it was sort of done with... Were you there?

1:41I was there. Yeah, I was, you know, I wasn't so, like, I can't take any credit other than, you know, asking Kenny to be in it. But my partner at the Draper Street Records label, she hired the directors and, you know, she kind of, you know, she kind of orchestrated it. And then, this team of Joel and Faucet was the other guy's name. Good team, you know, very simple idea and just walked around the city, Kenny, handing out dev cards. But yeah, he was a champ. Of course, Dan Burke from Silver Dollar makes an appearance in there. Toronto legend that he is. But yeah, and the song, you know, it's just, it was one of the songs on the record that

2:29everyone, you know, whether it was at the label or my buddy Steve who did the majority of the record with me, it was just one of the tunes that sort of popped out for everyone immediately. You mentioned a few things in our audience. I mean, we'll start with Draper Street Records because that's new. So what did this record, I mean, you drew the artwork, you did everything for this record, is that because you wanted this to just be you? Yeah, I mean, I didn't record and engineer it. Right. And you know, I definitely had some help in the production side of things. Yeah, it just seemed like the most natural thing. I wasn't like into like shopping and around so much. You know, the ANC, I mean, with my relationship with ANC, it's like they deal with so much of

3:16like my life for the past 10 or 12 years, it's like. Do you want it to give it to my break? Give us all a break. I think, you know, I mean, not that you know, I have some very close contacts there, obviously, as you would. But yeah, it just seemed like a way to just keep operations very close to home. And I'm working with lots of the same people, you know, like press people. Well, they've already had David to us. You're sitting right over there. Like, you know, we've worked together for years. So what's been the most daunting thing about creating your own record? It's not so much. It's just like, you know, more emails to answer, I guess, or more like, and even still I'm falling behind on a few things. And just, you know, since I've put

4:03I've put a band together for this for this album. So it's just like, okay, well, if I don't take charge and make sure we got like a good repertoire, whereas, you know, when you're in a band, you know, you can kind of rely on everyone to get the repertoire of the set together. But within this instance, it's like, well, I really, you know, it's Brendan Canning. So it's got to be like my directive. Brendan Jay Canning. Brendan Jay Canning. So that must have been intentional, obviously. Yeah, that was into eyes. It just, the J just looks nice. That's the reason, okay. Yeah. And you know, when I'm writing out the name, maybe should be something different. And most people don't even take notice of it. But it's just there. Aesthetically, it looks, you know, the J kind of parting the two, the Brendan and the Canning just works, works. Well, you talked about the band. You were talking

4:50about four or two, but playing the first show on this, I guess, run if you want to call it that this record in Montreal this weekend. So what was it like, what was it like playing the new songs? Who's playing in the band? It's the same people from the record. No, well, Steve Sing, who I did the record with, the majority of the record with, he is in band Natasha Pasternak, is on the female vocal duties and some keyboards. Greg Calderon is doing keys, guitar, bit of bass. He was also in the movie, this movie is broken. Oh, yes. That's how we ended up meeting. But, you know, he's, he's a great vibe. And on drums, Jay Anderson, who's, I've known him for years, he's played around town in so many different bands. And he really, he gets where this

5:37music needs to go. And I think if I'm going to go out and tour and people are going to pay money to come see a show, you know, I'm not, I'm not so into just like me and acoustic guitar. I mean, that's, there could be done that way though. It could be done in the production of this record. Yeah, I think I'd need to write about 25 more songs. And I think I'd need to, you know, go, I think I'd need to do my homework at the local, local haunts around here. And really, like before I go on a tour, like I've never spent much time like working my, a solo thing, because that's never really been a primary interest. I mean, the record, when you listen to it, it may be, you know, more intimate, but it's still like lots of instruments going around. There's lots of sounds. They may not be like drums and full orchestration with horns, but there's lots of,

6:24you know, lots of like, yeah, this track has got like four guitar parts. And I think all four guitar parts for this track are key, or I wouldn't have added them in there. This is interesting marriage at times of acoustic guitars. And I don't really know what the word is trying to think of word this morning in indie production. Like the social scene stuff that I would kind of would expect the interesting noise in the background. It's an interesting marriage of acoustic, which is such a natural organic instrument and production that you probably dig a lot. Yeah, you know, that was just, you know, between Stephen and myself. And we just kind of hammered away. And it's like, I like that. I don't like that. I don't like that. That sounds good. So, you know, just a lot of that stuff. And did you dig the sound? Because you can hear your fingers sliding all over the acoustic on the radio. Like there was one tune, I can't remember what it was called, but you can, it's noticeable, right? Probably a lot of them. I'm a sloppy little guitar

7:09player. No, it's not. It's not sloppy, but it's nice to hear like it sounds like the guitar was almost miked on the neck as well. Yeah, yeah, for yeah, there's, you know, it's very like kind of present as far as like finger movements and whatnot. Did it all, every song must have started on acoustic for this? Yeah. Yeah. Is that different for you or is that? Yeah, no, that's, that's different. Oh, okay. Interesting. Yeah, I've never, I've never taken any, I think maybe one song on the previous record, Antique Bull, that started within acoustic guitar. But other than that, oh, and they, oh, I guess, snowballs and icicles on that, that record too, the something for all of this record. That was an acoustic guitar song. Are you going to be playing those songs live too? Because, I mean, they're vastly different records.

7:55I'm sure they sit together, find the set, but. Yeah, we played Antique Bull. It's, yeah, I still needs a little work, but we played it on Saturday. Snowballs and icicles, I'd have to learn that one. There's a couple that I just, you know, to be quite honest, I don't know how to play. I do a lot of alternate tunings. Okay. And then it's sort of like, oh, what is that? Yeah, it takes me a while to figure them out. Cause, you know, you record them, and then I don't like come home and play them all over again or play them the next day. I change the guitar into a different tuning. And I'm not, I'm not really thinking that far ahead. I've talked to John Ress at Goudal's guy. Yeah. Every song is in a different tuning for him. Like he's got like 45 guitars that come on tour because he needs tuning for a different song. And he was telling me he has no idea what any of these songs tunings are. Do you, do you know

8:41who you're tuning? I do. I've written them down now. Okay. Yeah. But I mean, if, yeah, I could probably, I could do a quick enough now. I don't have that many. I mean, I'd love to have some different guitars on tour, but you know, I don't put have the Goudal's guitar. I was more with the tuning thing. But yeah, I've toured with those guys too. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. In the 90s. Yeah. They were good with who with the divine, right? No, with head. Head. Oh, wow. Going in further back. So, solo show, do those old songs come into play too? Do you take, I guess this is probably a common question. Social scene tunes. I'm going to try, you know, speaking of alternate tunings, I'm just, you know, if I play antique bull, I came home after the weekend and I have one of my guitars tuned in that tuning. So I'm just like, talk this. I'm going to write another song in this

9:27tuning. So I just, you know, wrote, you know, what I'm constantly writing. I feel like you would be. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. I mean, that's kind of the, that's sort of the, the tougher part about learning all the other songs because I'm just sort of like, oh, I've already, it'd be just easier to write some new songs, I guess. But, you know, it's also good to go out and play some songs that people are familiar with. Right. I mean, I certainly like going to gigs and hearing songs I'm familiar with. You can sing along too, sure. Yeah. I think everyone, everyone can agree on that for the most part. So, yeah. I think it'll be, it'll be kind of like, it'll be a band, you know, like sort of filling out the ideas that are kind of on there on the record. And then the rest will sort of, you know, maybe I'll take a little acoustic pass on for a few minutes just to do my thing. Yeah. Talking about live shows

10:18we're in the Rivelli here. I'm sure you have some Rivelli memories. Oh, I certainly have many. You want to share something? You want the classic? I love a classic one, sure. Stone Temple Pilot's open for head here, November 7th, 92. Stone Temple Pilot's open for you. Yeah. That's cool. That's a classic one. I like that. I booked that one while I was working at Bank of Nova Scotia down the road. And both promoters, both rival promoters were trying to get the show except the other, the one promoter wanted to put the show at the Opera House and have us open. But the other promoter said, oh, do you got to show, Stone and Pilot's are coming through the end, you know, I sort of, yeah, I think we just got the cassette and we were kind of into it. It's like, yeah, it sounds like Pearl Jam, but we're really into it, you know. So yeah, that was pretty, that was a crazy show.

11:05They blew the PA and then, you know, we followed them and it was probably not, probably didn't live up to Stone Temple Pilot. I mean, they were like, they were just like, they were cruising. But yeah, then we became buddies with them. You know, we opened up for them in Montreal a year later after they had like officially blown up. So yeah. That's cool. But played the Riveley many, many, many, many, many times. Yeah, countless. I want to change this to the film scoring thing. Because what's this Cronenberg thing? I've read, it's a movie, I've read, it's a video game. What are you doing with the Cronenberg thing? I'm just making the music. Okay, first of all, for what? For body mind change. And that's the title of it. And it's, I think the gist is, if you're watching it, if you have it,

11:53you know, on your computer, you can kind of click on the different character, because there's a woman character, but there's three or four different people playing the character. It's as tool to me by who's doing the editing and a portion of the direction. He just says, if I could choose your own adventure kind of thing. Okay. So as far as my involvement, they just give me scenes or tell me what the holes are, what the gaps are. I'm like, yeah, sure, I can make this. Do they give you visuals to work with? Or do they just give you notes being like, we kind of want like a darker kind of like ethereal sense? I haven't been doing so much scoring straight to picture. I've just kind of been giving them some music and then letting them deal with it versus, you know, the last film I did, the Canyons, which was that Lindsey Lohan. Yeah, same parts of it. Yeah.

12:42Anyway, that was more debacle like where I spent way too much time. Whereas this Cronenberg thing is just like, hey, it's very efficient. Okay. Very efficient. The whole, the way it's running is very efficient versus the Canyons, which was not so efficient. Well, I've heard you say for the Canyons, you wanted this cowboy Western Depeche Mode field. Yeah. Was that something they gave you that direction or was that what you saw or read or whatever? No, I just read the script and you felt cowboy. And it felt like, yeah, it's like, oh, it's kind of like a wild west tail and it felt like Depeche Modey in there. So I think we kind of kind of stuck to that. There was one they had Iggy Pops, the passenger, Tempt in there. Oh. So I kind of wrote a tune loosely, loosely based on the passenger. Is that fun? Like branching out into this new world?

13:30Yeah, that was, I mean, that was fun because I get to do lots of lead guitar stuff. And you know, that's always fun, especially when you're like watching it in the screen and it's like, cool guitars. Who's that? Oh, it's me. Right. So yeah, that stuff is fun. You know, I'm happy for the way the music turned out as far as like, you know, the amount of time versus, you know, that sort of stuff I get a little bit finicky about. And I like to waste too much time sitting in editing this week because so much about film scoring these days is like editing. It's like, you know, you've written this piece of music, but then the director's there. It's like, oh, let's, it's too busy there. You know, let's take that out or, you know, where I think in the future, I would just say, here you go. Let my editor take care of it. I'm not interested in, I don't care how

14:17much you want to like finesse the music to this picture. Just hand them a whole thing and say, go nuts kind of. Yeah, which is kind of what I've been doing with body mind change, which has been ideal, especially when you have someone who's really into getting into the sounds and kind of tweaking that too. And there are other guys working. Yeah, there's a bunch of people working on it, you know, it's sort of, yeah. I'm still confused. So it's a computer, but kind of you, it's kind of a computer game, but it's more of like a movie with you make the way the character goes. Yeah, yeah, not so much a computer game. I definitely would not say a computer game. It's, it's a choose your own adventure movie. Cool. All right. Yeah. I'm excited to see that. Yeah, yeah, it's, it's very interesting. So we do something called five questions. We did this a few years ago in Calgar, we'll see if you remember the five quick questions. One more answers. Go ahead. Road or

15:02studio? Studio. Land and Ermecurrani. Oh, you can't pick one. You know, they're both good. When you hear a song usually hits you first, lyrics melody or rhythm? Lyrics melody or rhythm. You know, probably lyrics last, but melody and rhythm, you know, probably melody, but then, you know, there's lots of track, you know, that's tough to say too, because you can't just say it's like, oh, I love the rhythm, because, you know, what it feels like a copy melody. And then lyrics, well, if the lyrics are bad, then you say, it sucks. But if the lyrics are sort of, like, I can think of that, what's the major laser tune with the girl from dirty

15:48projectors? Like, I can't think about what her lyrics are in that song, but it's a cool track. Right. It's like, got nice melody and her lyrics aren't out of plays or bad. So, yeah. It was a good answer. If someone's never heard Brendan Canning before, what song did they start with? Oh, I don't know. Start with, start with plugged in. It's the latest one. The latest single. Yeah, it's the latest single. In one word, Brendan Canning. Just a guy, it's just a guy trying to get by, trying to do right by himself in the world and the people around him. Is that one word? Yeah, well, if you have the whole thing, that works. Yeah. Yeah. That's it. Thanks, man. Appreciate it. Yeah, of course, man. Awesome.