Apologue Podcast

Vancouver’s premiere power-poppers The Get Arounds have just released their new full-length album, I Wanna Live. Their songs meander from revved up numbers that seem to be pulled from The Dead Boys Young Loud and Snotty into hits with melodic choruses that call to mind power-pop classics like Nikki and the Corvettes. Their female-fronted angst fills the songs with 90’s style punk-grit that are reminiscent of L7, Bikini Kill or Babes in Toyland. Guitarist Carman says  "I like short songs that stick in your brain. Don't bore us, get to the chorus type stuff. Lyrics usually come last. I listen to many types of music and I try to write a bit of everything, but most of it is trash. A few stick around and make it to an album!" The new single seems to draw on what Carman describes as the band’s Influences - Ace Frehley, Sex Pistols, Steve Earle, and Blondie. When it comes down to writing the songs Carman says "It's mostly about the feel and the sounds. I find it a bit forced trying to make the song be a certain idea

What do you get when you combine two Canadian music legends into one guitar-heavy, power-pop unit that strives to sound like Minneapolis in the 90’s? You get SLIP~ons! They come by their brand of rock honestly, with Brock Pytel of The Doughboys on guitar and Brian Minato of Sarah McLachlan on bass. Add to the mix Rob "Shockk" Matharu of The Spitfires on guitar, and Shane Wilson on drums and you’ve got a rock ‘n’ roll quartet with a vibe not unlike The Lemonheads, Hüsker Dü, Ash, The Replacements or Dinosaur Jr. After a long run of obstacles, SLIP~ons have finally been able to announce their debut EP Heavy Machinery (mixed by Dave Ogalvie of Skinny Puppy fame) with a single and accompanying video for the title track of their new vinyl release. The black and white video (directed and edited by the R.D. Cane, shot by Ryan C. Clark) consists of layers of short montages of the band in rehearsal with heady, swirling edits that play with time and space. Viewers get a frenetic and intimate side stage view of the band

Mason Lowe (drummer of Seattle’s feel-good, classic rock-inspired outfit Bread & Butter) has just announced his debut solo LP Morning People, due out June 23rd on Seattle’s Killroom Records. The advance single Plastered features pounding, hyperactive guitar riffs over loping drums before opening up into a delightfully poppy chorus with descending melodies. Reflecting on the process behind the album and first single Lowe said, “When I started writing songs for this album, I was going through a long lonely period. But "Plastered” was one of the last few songs written for the album. And by then, I was in L-U-V love. I was a straight-up twinkle toes motherfucker! This song is about someone getting steamrolled by love, is heading off the rails, and is just letting it happen.” In a record with lots of different vibes, this is one of the heavier songs. Mason says, "I don’t know where that riff came from! It's a mystery. I’m not a bombastic dude. I'm the kind of guy that tiptoes around my house when I’m alone.” The a

Brown was one of the primary singers and songwriters for the alternative rock band Bourbon Tabernacle Choir in the 1980s and 1990s. When that band broke up, he continued performing as a duo with his Bourbon bandmate Kate Fenner. Brown has accompanied dozens of notable musicians on stage, including a six-month stint as a member of Barenaked Ladies in 1998 filling in for Kevin Hearn while Hearn battled leukemia. He is also a social justice activist and the founder of the Pros and Cons Program bringing recording arts to prisons and creating musical works for charities. The Pros and Cons Program has become internationally recognized as groundbreaking in fields of restorative justice and inmate mentorship, with the support of The David Rockefeller Fund. Brown recorded an album with the prisoners called Postcards from the County which Exclaim! described as "inescapably honest and sincere". Brown has recently launched Wolfe Island Records as a home for the prison music and the many artists he produces and coll

Ben Sir was a singer/songwriter from Edmonton, Alberta. Ben Sir passed away April 24th 2023 from undisclosed reasons. Ben was a great interview, and a good dude. We made plans to hang out that never came to fruition. Rest in Peace Ben

Pretty are people who appear onstage with lots of noise and then leave.This half-silly,half-serious sentence summarizes the band’s ethic and sound, from their earlyinspiration byToronto’s 2010s-era DIYpunk scene, to their current fascination withpsychedelic sound and culture, elements that fuse into a highly distinctive, dark andfrenzied sonic landscape.The band had a busy 2022, recording their second EPand follow-up to their debutalbum Sertraline Dream (2020); playing headline sets to increasingly large andenthusiastic crowds and being featured acts for Exclaim! Magazine’s Class of 2022,Canadian Music Week and Sarnia’s Empty Fest. If you dig getting warped anddiscovering another side of yourself, you won’t want to miss Pretty Photo credit: Elijah Shark https://prettytheband.bandcamp.com/ Brought to you by AIXdspShop now and get up to 50% off on all plugins.Website: HEREPledge monthly with Patreon https://www.patreon.com/apologueShop Apologue products at http://apolo

Energetic, raw, honest, and heart on the sleeve punk rock, Brutal Youth have been causing a ruckus for the last 10+ years. Singer Patty O'Lantern, drummer Dustin Campbell, bassist Kyle Hynes, and guitarist Greg Hounsel formed the band in 2010. The band hit the ground running and recorded their first brutally fantastic album, "Spill Your Guts". Shortly thereafter the group uprooted themselves from their hometown of St. John's, NL and moved to Toronto. After settling into their new digs, Brutal Youth gained attention with their lightning-fast sets and blood-soaked high-intensity performances. A long list of records and touring ensued while the band honed their craft and caught the attention of various record labels. Stomp Records is proud to present their most current longplayer Rebuilding Year on beautiful blue marble vinyl. Keep an eye out for this punk rock tornado with a deluge of live shows planned for 2023.   D I S C O V E R Twitter: https://twitter.com/brutalyouth709 Bandcamp: https://brutalyout

One of my favourite episodes ever. Sometimes things just click! Friendly Rich, Canada’s legendary songsmith of dark and deranged folk songs, has just announced his highly anticipated new LP Man Out of Time (due out March 31st on We Are Busy Bodies) with an advance single and video for the song Le P'tit Bonheur. This latest single is sung in French and is an homage to one of Friendly Rich’s greatest inspirations. In explaining the single he had to say, “I hope you enjoy this release, this work means alot to me, I honour the great Quebecois songwriter Felix Leclerc, and I go to even darker places as a songwriter. I wanted to honour Felix Leclerc's music, and was able to dive into it with Mike T Kerr and Drew Jurecka to help.”  What came out is a dark and unique interpretation that sets the tone for this record. With 4 Leclerc songs embedded throughout the recording, Man Out of Time shows the many sides of Friendly Rich as a composer and performer. Friendly Rich describes his latest studio recording as a

The duo of Toronto-based Brent Randall and Los Angeles-dwelling Johnny Toomey are known for their previous achievements with Los Angeles based, baroque-pop group, The Electric Looking Glass. Both musicians compliment each other stylistically and add sparks to their newest project, Vanity Mirror. Their debut LP, PUFF was written, recorded, performed, produced and even mixed by Brent Randall. The resulting album starts where their other project Electric Looking Glass leaves off, with hummable, dreamy pop that branches out into more intimate, less genre specific freeform songcraft. It is a nostalgic collection of songs pieced together in makeshift spaces while traveling between LA, Montreal, Detroit and Toronto. Taping old pianos in public libraries and abandoned houses and tracking vocals in vintage shop basements, Randall  sent the tracks to Toomey who recorded drums and percussion in his Los Angeles basement using a handheld field recorder. Listeners will call to mind artists like Emitt Rhodes, Olivia Tremor

Confusionaires are a world-class rock & roll band that are constantly pushing the boundaries of what rockabilly and country music can be. The trio of Edmonton-based musicians has built a sound that’s synonymous with the hardest-hitting country and rockabilly acts around with sound that stands on its own. Their sound fills dance floors with fans from age 8 to 80. Since the inception of Confusionaires in 2017, the trio have focused heavily on live performances throughout Western Canada, earning their place as festival darlings and as a must-see live act. Their impact has led to the successful release of 2 full-length albums and 2 E.P.'s – And now their third full length album, and most ambitious collection of works to date: "Westernization". Confusionaires are bringing this new crop of thoughtful and hard-hitting songs to the people that believe that music should have a little dirt under its fingernails. Website: https://confusionaires.com/Facebook:https://www.facebook.com/confusionaires Brought to you by

Brock Pytel, best known as the singing drummer for late 80’s Montreal pop-punks The Doughboys, has just released his new solo single, Anemic Heart. The single is the follow up to his 2022 single, Hurrah Hooray. The Vancouver transplant’s two latest singles were both from a session he did in 2011 at Montreal’s Hotel2Tango with Howard Bilerman (Godspeed You! Black Emperor, Arcade Fire) after some Doughboys reunion tour dates with The Foo Fighters. The track features two of his former bandmates, Jonathan Cummins on the Jazzmaster, and Jon “Bond Head” Asencio on bass (both of whom are in Montreal’s The Low Sixes) and was mastered by Ronan Chris Murphy (Gwar, King Crimson). The song meanders from jangly verses that seem to be pulled from The Rolling Stone’s “Their Satanic Majesty’s Request” into melodic choruses that call to mind 90’s pop crossovers like The Fluid or Afghan Whigs. Accompanying the new single is Pytel’s video for Anemic Heart, filmed and edited by prolific Vancouver artist RD Cane. The video featur

Mixed by Kevin McMahon (Swans, Titus Andronicus), "I Taste Blood" has a dark and punchy treatment, capturing the raw and ferocious energy that Ace Of Wands can achieve in their live performance.  Exploring the genre of Dream Rock through immersive / intricate soundscapes, and captivating live performances - the band compels audiences to listen with attention and not shy away from the dreams that may reveal hidden parts of themselves. At the core of the band, multi-instrumentalist Lee Rose sings, plays violin/guitar and synth-bass foot pedals simultaneously while Anna Mernieks and Jody Brumell accompany her on swirling guitar and thunderous drums. Their instrumentation, soaring vocals, and commitment to artistically-driven visual elements explore the depths of overwhelming emotion and transcend typical pop and rock forms. "I Taste Blood" was inspired by the magnetic, electrical energy of being in the presence of someone that you desire, especially when you realize that the feeling is mutual. Exploring a gri

Portland, Oregon’s Bothers have just announced the release of their sophomore LP “II” on San Antonio/PDX label Dirt Cult Records. The band’s self-titled debut album was a concise and raging lesson in relentless punk 'n' roll, with tips of the hat to bands like Motörhead, and Hot Snakes. ‘II’ marks a new era for the band. Heavier and more expansive, the album ventures into the realm of metalic hardcore with fiercesome riffing and dynamic tempo changes. The melodic intensity of their first release remains, resulting in an album that calls to mind influences like Tragedy, Laughing Hyenas, Jesus lizard, Neurosis and Born Against.  The band’s one sheet succinctly captures the feel of the album in a way only the composers’ could capture. “When you decide it’s finally time to strip naked, scarf a fistful of peyote buttons, and drive an ’82 Cadillac Cutlass deep into the desert in the middle of a lightning storm, BOTHERS second LP should probably be blaring on your tape deck while you daydream about communing with

Vancouver’s Sunday Morning have just released their latest single with an a-side cover of Art Bergmann’s Canadian punk classic Junky Don’t Care and a b-side original called Explain the World. Sunday Morning is the brainchild of Vancouver music scene stalwart, Bruce Wilson. Wilson’s prolific art and music career took shape in New York and Detroit after his drug and alcohol fueled grunge-punk band “Tankhog” imploded in the late 90’s. Junky Don’t Care is a tribute to Canadian punk legend Art Bergmann, and an exercise in self-reflection for Wilson, who himself survived the challenges of addiction. “Art’s music has been a soundtrack to my life and his poetic lyrics and brilliant vocal delivery are qualities I’ve always aspired to,” says Wilson. "More than anything this song is a loving tribute to a man who has never stopped being an artist and whose work has influenced me since I was the pink haired teenager writing bad high school poetry in spiral notebooks during math class.” When it came time to make the video

Toronto and Montreal based trio, American Lips, have just announced the release of their latest 3-song maxi-single Waste of Crime on Ancient Fashion Records. American Lips features Death From Above 1979 drummer Sebastien Grainger and prolific producer Adrian Popovich, also known for his time in legendary Canadian rock act Tricky Woo. In explaining their newest offering the bands’ latest one-sheet asks you to ponder, “Ever wondered what it would sound like if The Art Of Noise produced a Plastic Bertrand record?” To clear up that question Popovich explains, “I spent a good chunk of 1988 listening to the Colors OST and the“Kiss”cassingle by The Art Of Noise and Tom Jones. This older kid Rob on my street who was into punk rock said “the Colors soundtrack is pretty cool but that Art Of Noise song is garbage!” As a nine-year-old, I’d yet to be called out on my questionable musical tastes. Rob made me a mixtape with songs by The Ramones, Misfits, Motorhead, The Buzzcocks and a bunch of other essentials. I’d never he

Spike Slawson along with Me First and the Gimme Gimmes have been putting out records since the late 90s. they take old songs and punk-y-fy them. They take, in my opinion, an ironic and satirical look at popular music and make it digestible to people who would never listen to them in the first place. the best part of a cover band!! This is Spike's 3rd time on the show and it was one of the good ones! Spike is also one of the good ones!! Go See MF&TGG by getting tickets HERE YouTube of Spike in a car! Brought to you by AIXdspShop now and get up to 50% off on all plugins.Website: HEREPledge monthly with Patreon https://www.patreon.com/apologueShop Apologue products at http://apologue.ca

The Sweet Kill have just announced the release of their debut LP Darkness with their newest video-single by the same name. The Sweet Kill is a one-man post-punk project which focuses on the more dark and gothic side of the genre. Perpetually recording and producing at his own The Audio Studio in Los Angeles, Pete Mills wrote The Sweet Kill’s sonic cinematic debut Darkness with the intent to inspire those lost in the shadows of life. Driven by cold synths, atmospheric guitar and melodic bass, multi-instrumentalist and velvety crooning baritone Mills conducts a darkwave masterpiece of romantic sorrow echoing the laments of The Cure and Joy Division.   The video for the single Darkness was shot and produced in Los Angeles by director James Mitchell. The video features Mills in a straitjacket, tormented by an inescapable, faceless antagonist draped in S&M gear. While Mills is tortured and teased by his nemesis in erotic black vinyl, he comes face to face with a real-live panther which eventually becomes one wi

UWUW came into being when Jay Anderson and Ian Blurton came together through a run of shows, backing mutual friend and singer/songwriter, Kate Boothman as her drummer, and guitarist, respectively. Anderson suggested bringing in Jason Haberman, a talented bassist, who Anderson had seen play with Toronto indie-folk band, The Wooden Sky. Realizing they didn’t want an instrumental record, they layered on bright horns and smooth vocals, lifting the songs from instrumental jams, to the undefinable yet distinctive sound that is, UWUW. Saxophonist, Jay Hey, was brought in to provide horn arrangements, along with Tom Richardson on trombone and Patrick McGroarty on trumpet, all three contributing on every song. The result is a blissfully cool album with music that will appeal to all listeners, from record store snobs, garage rock slobs, and even psych-pop heartthrobs! Photo Credit: Colin Medley D I S C O V E R Bandcamp: https://uwuw.bandcamp.com/album/s-t Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/wearebusybodies

Ray Carlisle is the founding member of teenage Bottlerocket. The band has been together since 2000.They've released over 11 albums since 2003 and are presently on tour in support of 2021s "Sick Sesh!" Photo Credit- Jason Pendelton Wikipedia: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Teenage_Bottlerocket#Studio_albumsWebsite: https://teenagebottlerocket.com/Tour dates: https://teenagebottlerocket.com/tour-dates/ Brought to you by AIXdspShop now and get up to 50% off on all plugins.Website: HEREPledge monthly with Patreon https://www.patreon.com/apologueShop Apologue products at http://apologue.ca Support my ride to conquer Cancer in June: HERE

Brenna Red is the founding member, guitarist and lead singer of The Last Gang. The Last Gang have been a band since the 2000's. It wasn't until 2017 when the band got some recognition through touring with the help of Fat Wreck Chords releasing their last three albums. the Last Gang is on Tour this summer and will be stopping in Toronto, Montreal and places in between! Tour dates are HERE Website: HEREFacebook: HEREInstagram: HERETwitter: HERE Brought to you by AIXdspShop now and get up to 50% off on all plugins.Website: HEREPledge monthly with Patreon https://www.patreon.com/apologueShop Apologue products at http://apologue.ca Support my ride to conquer Cancer in June: HERE