December 19, 2023 • 21 mins
This week, Tommy is joined by the always dapper, the always smooth, Michael Bublé. Michael has sold more than 75 million albums worldwide over the course of his extraordinary career. His voice is often described as one of the best of our time, and it’s a voice that can do it all: pop, swing, jazz, R&B and more. He takes his audiences on a special journey with every song he performs. In this conversation, Bublé opens up about his new whiskey company Fraser & Thompson, the sentimental meaning behind the name, how creating a whiskey brand is not much different than how he creates his music, working with the legendary Cher to re-record his song “Home,” and how important it is to be living in the now.
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Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:01):
Hey, guys, welcome to I've never said this before with
me Tommy di Dario. Today's guest is the always dapper,
the always smooth, and the always serenading Michael Boublay. Michael
Boublay has sold more than seventy five million albums worldwide
over the course of his extraordinary career. Now let me
(00:24):
break this down. Five Grammys, a star on the Hollywood
and Canada Walk of Fame, six multi platinum albums, over
fourteen billion global streams. You know what, I'm just gonna
stop there, Otherwise I will be reciting his accolades for
the next twenty four hours because there are so many.
I mean, clearly, he has made a tremendous impact in
(00:46):
music and pop culture. But what I love about Boublay
is that his voice his instrument. It can do at all.
He sings pop, swing, jazz, R and B, and he
takes his audiences on a special journey with every song
he performs. He feels his music so deeply, and that
is evident every time you watch him, and the guy
(01:07):
is all heart. But what is also evident is that
Michael has exceptional taste. Yes he does. He recently launched
Fraser and Thompson, an elegantly blended North American whiskey brand.
And today Michael invited me to sip some whiskey and
dive into his latest venture. And let me tell you,
the whiskey is good. We chat all about the sweet
(01:31):
story behind the name Fraser and Thompson, who he would
love to sit down and have a cocktail with, and
the moment Cher called him to work with him and
recreate one of his most iconic songs. So let's see
if today we can get Michael Boublay to say something
that he's never said before. Michael Boublay, thank you so
(01:54):
much for joining me today.
Speaker 2 (01:55):
How are you. I'm really good, Thanks for having me.
Speaker 1 (01:57):
I am so happy you are here. I see a
beautiful bottle of whiskey in front of me. It's calling
my name. You poured me a glass.
Speaker 2 (02:07):
What time is it right now?
Speaker 1 (02:08):
It's nine thirty. It's not relevant.
Speaker 2 (02:09):
That sounds like a good time in the morning. Relevant.
Speaker 1 (02:11):
You even to blow up my spot, all right, So
first of all, cheers to you. This is your new endeavor,
thever we go.
Speaker 2 (02:17):
Thanks for having me.
Speaker 1 (02:17):
Let's have a sip.
Speaker 2 (02:18):
Let's check it out. M oh man, what do you think?
Oh man, don't you know what? I know. I'm not
going to be kind and you're gonna be courteous, but
be really honest with me.
Speaker 1 (02:32):
You know, I'm not a huge whiskey drinker. I'm Italian.
I drink a lot of wine, getting more and more
into whiskey, and I gotta say it's smooth and it
doesn't burn. Why do so many whiskeys burn?
Speaker 2 (02:44):
That is because they're fancy, I swear to man, that's
what's Listen, real connoisseurs of great whiskeys. Somebody who loved
doing poppyvan Winkle at three thousand bucks a bottle, Well,
they love that. They love that burn. You know, I
never did. I liked a more excess whiskey. I always
like whiskey, but I liked that a little bit more
smooth than the sweeter flavor at the end, A little
(03:05):
bit of sweet at the end, not too sweet. B Yeah.
And the truth is this all started on my birthday,
where a fellow named Paul Circa who had a distillery
in Montreal, a little boutique distillery, and he had called
my manager and said, we'd love Mike to be the
face of this thing. And my manager said, listen, Mike,
I think I don't know if it's a big enough
business for you to do that. And so my birthday
(03:25):
I was having drinks and I loved it. I mean,
I knew it was great quality. And I said to
my wife, you know what, Lou, what if you and
I do something where we joined forces kind of artistically creatively,
And what if we buy we'd become a part owner
of this distillery. And that is really where it started.
And so we became part owners. Had no idea what
we were doing. And then a fellow named Larry Roof
(03:46):
out of Las Vegas, out of Southern Glacier, was a
big distributor. He said, you know, Mike, why don't you
go and meet with Shelley Stein, who worked for West Brands.
And I went to go meet Shelley. I was working
with Lauren Michaels on the SNL SAT and I went
to go see Shelley, and Shelley said, you know, Mike,
I think you got the right brand for this, the
personality you obviously like the whiskey. Why don't we try something.
(04:08):
And so we made a deal with Southern Glaziers and
we went to a beautiful place called heaven Hill, which
is a beautiful whiskey one hundred year old company that
out of Kentucky earned a very famous whiskey makers, and
first time, you know, for one hundred years, that family
allowed someone else in and we started Fraser and Thompson,
(04:29):
which was a mix of that Montreal Distilleries whiskey bourbon
with the Heaven Hill Whiskey bourbon. So we have this
beautiful North American whiskey and listen, man, I lost control.
It was supposed to be this little, fun little thing
with my wife, and it's turned into something that it's
a lot bigger and a lot more ambitious. But the
(04:50):
truth is it's been fun. It really has like we're
having a kick out of doing it. And I think
what you said when I first walked in, you said
to me, this new challenge, new endeavor. And I think
twenty years writing records, promoting the record, and touring the record,
and there's been it's been cyclical over and over again.
Twenty years yeah, doing the same thing. And by the way,
ten years before that, of playing nightclubs and bars and
(05:13):
everything else, it was really fun to go. You know what,
I don't want to be maybe I can try being
an entrepreneur and not taking myself too seriously, but try
to do this thing. And more than anything, was an
idea and a way for my wife and I to
have a deeper connection. So wow, here I am man.
Speaker 1 (05:29):
Were you always a whiskey drinker or he's always ask drink? Yeah?
Speaker 2 (05:32):
You were? Yeah? Okay, all right. I wasn't much of
a beer guy, not much of a wine guy. I mean,
I appreciate it. My wife like wine, but I liked
you know, someone was saying to me recently that they
liked the they liked the direct road. You know. I
like having a few pops with my buddies and my family. Yeah,
and I don't you know, I love having a nice
(05:53):
little buzz and I don't love sometimes taking eight beers
to get there.
Speaker 1 (05:57):
No, I get it, because I get it.
Speaker 2 (06:00):
Just a couple of little glasses of whiskey and I'm
a happy boy.
Speaker 1 (06:03):
So talk to me about the name. I know it
has sentimental meaning to you.
Speaker 2 (06:06):
Yeah. Well, you were talking to me about your heritage,
about your grandparents, and you know, I'm a really proud
Canadian of Italian extraction, and our family's just really close.
My grandpa and Grandma Nona. Nona were just a tight
part of our family. And the reason that I'm here
sitting in this chair across from you is because I
had a grandpa who loved the music of the big band.
(06:27):
He loved the thirties and forties, fift he loved Sinatra
and Dino, I mean, all the time is Tony Bennett
and I loved it. And it was one of those
things where it was like not just enough, where you
just love your grandpa because you both love hockey and
you love each other, and you know, just we just
had a really great connection. But he used to make wine,
his homemade wine, and it was like the hit of
the neighborhood. And he'd make grandpa and put cherries in
(06:49):
and this basically moonshine. And so when I came up
with this whiskey and I knew we were going to
do this, I wanted to pay tribute to him. So
my grandpa was a plumber for fifty years, but he
really wanted to be a geography teacher and he used
to it was fascinated with the world, and he used
to take his camping and we'd go up to where
the Mighty Fraser and the glacier Thompson met in this
(07:10):
beautiful confluence. They built a gondol over it now. But
when I thought about this mix of North American whistkey,
I was like, you know what, talk about paying tribute
to this dude that is my everything. We will call
it Fraser and Thompson, F and ty and and it
all just you know, in a marketing way, it just
it was perfect. It was one of those ideas where
(07:30):
you just go, oh, yeah, that's this is easy, and
it's cool because even on the bottle, there's these little
some of these little easter eggs, you know, like here
at the very top, that's nineteen twenty seven, the year
he was born. And here I've got I pretend it's
a serial number, but it's not. It's my birthday, nine
nine seventy five. Wow. So there's all these cool little
easter eggs, and you can see where the Fraser and
(07:52):
the Thompson meet here.
Speaker 1 (07:54):
So it's a deeply personal adventure.
Speaker 2 (07:56):
Yeah, man, it really, it really is. And it's you know,
I hope that I don't sun crass when I say this,
but I've been really lucky in my life. I've been
really fortunate. I've had great success in my business, and
it's really nice not to make decisions based on finance.
And I'm sure you feel the same way about your life.
(08:18):
When you make decisions based on monetary goals, things just
go wrong really quickly, and even when you don't mean
for them to, there's a purity that's lost. And so
it's a really nice thing to you know, by the way,
this is a lot of pressing the flesh. It's me
going to you know, to different companies and meeting you know, me,
(08:38):
your contributors, and you know, it's my I own the company,
you know, my wife and I.
Speaker 1 (08:42):
It's not just a face in it.
Speaker 2 (08:44):
And we took three years to make sure that we
could reverse engineer whiskey for people that might not love whiskey,
you know. And and I sort of wanted to bust
all the tropes. I didn't want to sit in a
leather chair and and try to be mister smooth. I
wanted to, you know, I wanted to you know, our
whole brand was about easy. Now the world's got nuts,
you know, and there's so much divisions, so much to fighter,
(09:06):
or how about we just chill, have a nice glass
of whiskey and get along for a second.
Speaker 1 (09:18):
And we keep bringing up the idea of this being
your new en Denver, and obviously you're a pro in
the music space, So how is creating this whiskey different
or similar to creating music?
Speaker 2 (09:27):
For you? Was just so similar because I don't really
I know nothing about it. And the truth is, I
don't know much about music. I never oh, come on,
well listen, I know what I know, I know what
I like. But I never went to school. You know.
I write all those songs that you hear, and even
the arrangements when you hear feeling good or sway, that's
me sitting down and singing out those parts. But I
(09:49):
never learned music theory. I still can't read music. It's
funny because people hear that and they go, well, if
you can't read music, you know, but a lot of
people can't read music. Paul mcarr and he can't read
music or doesn't. But it was the same. When I
say it was the same, it's because you don't have
to know logistically what you're doing when you're mixing notes.
(10:13):
These things feel good essentially, and I think you're creating
a vibe. And with this and the profile, it was
mixing flavors that I really liked. It's the same as
mixing notes that I really like. When I write a song,
you know what I mean, it really is, and you
come up with this harmony that works for you. And
it helped too that when I songwrite many times, I
(10:33):
know what I want Conceptually. You know I'm going to
write a I'm going to write a love song that
is about having your heart broken. And once I go
in that direction, I know I know where I'm going,
I know what it is. And this wasn't me trying
to come up with a three thousand dollars bottle of
a whiskey. It was me saying, I want to create
something that is accessible that gives you. My dad talks
(10:57):
all the time, but value. My dad talks about My
dad talks about value. You call him frugal if you want,
or but he does. Even in my concerts, you know,
my commage or the tickets, do you think for that
amount people are experiencing value for their dollar spend. And
He'll say to me, because if they do, they will
(11:18):
come back over and over again. The moment that they
don't feel they've got value, they're gone. They will disappear
from your life. And so for me, I was really
lucky that the people that I was working with, my partners,
they understood the assignment, which was, let's make a gorgeous
whiskey that is really flavorful, that's a yummy that you
(11:40):
can walk into a party with a three thousand dollars
bottle of whiskey and I can walk in with F
and T and you'll go and you know, the whiskey
drinker will go, yeah, man, I'll try that. And I
wasn't going for the high you know, I wasn't going
for some high falutin thing. I wanted to make accessible
whiskey that gave value for flavor.
Speaker 1 (11:57):
But man, quality doesn't have to be expensive, it doesn't.
You're absolutely right, right, So this is priced at what twenty?
Speaker 2 (12:03):
It's thirty five bucks?
Speaker 1 (12:04):
Thirty five bucks? I mean, come on, come on, how
do you beat that?
Speaker 2 (12:07):
Yeah? That must be very absolutely. I mean, I love
this sweater and I think it's forty bucks.
Speaker 1 (12:12):
So it's a good sweater. You look pretty dapper. You
look pretty dapper in that. Can you give me the
name of that one?
Speaker 2 (12:19):
Later? We were talking about it this morning when I
got ready, and it was like you're gonna wear a
suit and I was like, no, it's too early.
Speaker 1 (12:24):
No, no, no, no, that's amazing, man. So if you could
have a glass of this with anyone right now, let's
see two people, someone living and someone who's passed on
to the other side. Who would you sit down and
share this amazing glass of windy.
Speaker 2 (12:36):
I'm really honest right now because all I have is
now it's you. I'm really happy to be sitting with
you having this class, and I'm glad you're not dead.
And the person that i'd love to sit down with
is my grandpa. And because because I miss him every
(12:57):
single day, every minute of the day, everything good happens
to me, my first thought is.
Speaker 1 (13:01):
To call him.
Speaker 2 (13:02):
And I don't know, man, my happiness was, you know
what's weird. I know we love our we love our family,
we love our mom and dad. But every once in
a while, and you may not say it out loud
because you don't want to play favorites, but we have favorites.
There are people that just you just click. And that
was what that was for me. Every time the Vancouver
(13:23):
Canucks won a hockey game or I got a break
where hey get they called You're going to be on
Leno or you know you're going to open for Dion
Warwick or you know that was the very literally two six,
that was the number. And I wish he was here.
What I love is here.
Speaker 1 (13:43):
He is here, He's with us. And what I love
about you, man, is your heart. And I feel that
in your music. You have so much soul. You write
with passion, you write with your truth, and if you
don't know, we see that in all of the artists
in today's world. And I think that's something that you
have had such success with. It's connecting with people and
making us feel something. And even when you talk about
(14:04):
this beautiful bottle of whiskey that I'm touching and looking at,
I feel what you're talking about. And that's a gift
you have, man.
Speaker 2 (14:11):
Thank you, And I wish I could tell you I
was I'm this great. If you met my sisters, or
my mom and dad, or if you met my grandma
and grandpa, you'd understand who I am, and you probably
like them all more than you like me. The truth,
so where you know many times listen, it's funny because
I have friends that have not had what I've had,
(14:33):
and they've turned out to be really marvelous human beings.
And I have one of my best friends. It's just
not been an easy life. He's just not He just
he didn't get lucky. You know. Dad left early, Mom
passed away, brother left as well. And he has a
(14:53):
million reasons and a million excuses to why he could
be terrible, unhappy, bitter human being. And he has made
the decision to strive for greatness. And I don't mean
in business, I mean and just as a human being.
And and so we all you know, I'm just really
lucky that, you know, I had this incredible support, Like
(15:15):
even man, I was sixteen fifteen when I told them
I want to be a singer, and you know how
many parents would go, you know, oh Jesus, it wants
to be a singer. And it was like my parents went, Okay,
let's do this. Let's buy him a mic and an
ab and they would come to every show, every shopping mall,
every busking thing that I did, every cruise ship, every
(15:35):
I mean dude that my mom used to used to
do these theater events. And my mom would take old records,
you know, the ascetates, and she would melt them into
a bowl and then she would make like a little
gift bag. And then she you know what I mean,
it's been a family It's been a family fair from
the beginning. So I'm a lucky boy.
Speaker 1 (15:59):
I know that concept is super important to you. And
you talked about family a lot today and where you're
from and your roots even earlier before we were recording.
And I have to bring up the home version with Share. Yeah,
because man, that is epic. How did that happen? She
just called you and said, yeah, I have a song,
let's record it.
Speaker 2 (16:16):
And it's you know, it's funny. It happened because we
have people in our lives that are mutual friends, and
it's been no joke twenty years of them saying to me,
you need to meet Schaer. You need to work with Share,
you need to hang with Share, you need to know
Share Share, and you would love each other, Sharon, you
would laugh your ass off together. And then to her,
(16:38):
they were going, you need to meet this booblet guy,
this booblet you know, she was Share. So I mean
I imagine she was going, okay, And and I think
that it wasn't a surprise for all of those people
that we would meet and that we would establish this
really great chemistry and connection. She's just I mean, she's amazing.
(16:58):
I mean every the truth is. I mean, she's just real.
She's unapologetic about who she is. I think I don't
think she thinks it's a big deal that she share.
I think if you put a truth serum into her
arm and you said, like, oh my god, your share,
she'd say yeah. And you know, and but she's it's
funny man, when they called and you know. And I
(17:21):
did an interview about this the other day. Listen, I
made a Christmas record many years ago, and I meant it.
I didn't make a Christmas record. I should clarify. I
made a Michael Boublet record and I love Christmas. And
that that I think people kind of like they couldn't
articulate or express why they felt it was genuine. But
then you like, oh my god. Actually people used to
(17:42):
ask me and say, wow, you're making a Christmas record,
and literally in the studio, I'd go, no, I'm making
the Christmas record. Oh I like. I just loved it.
I like, And I think I think she did the
same thing. And I think when her and I got together,
I realized quickly how ambitious she was. I realized she
wasn't making a Christmas album. She was making a share album.
(18:03):
And it was cute because here she is, this veteran,
this beautiful, you know, full of light woman, and she
is like fifteen years old. She was on the phone
playing me all the songs over and over again, and
oh my god, listen and I love this one. Listen
to Darling Love, and oh, you know that I used
to sing when I was a kid. I used to
do the backout rack round things, and and oh my god, Stevie,
(18:23):
I called Stevie. Stevie actually answered, and you're going, well,
of course he answered, your share. But she's still genuinely,
you know, like excited. And so every dude about September
of every single year the last thirteen years, you know,
or many of the biggest celebrities that we know start
to call me and they start to say, I have
(18:46):
an idea. We should do a duet or let's do
a Christmas thing, And I say, thank you so much,
you know, I you know, I really appreciate you thinking
to me. But I love Christmas, but I want Christmas.
I want Christmas for my baby. I went Christmas from it,
and so I say no. I have said no to
five different gigantic, iconic acts. But when Share called, there
(19:09):
was I mean, are you kidding me? You just say yes?
And then the fact that she said, like, we're thinking
about singing the song home that I wrote, and it
was like I met like I was talking to Elvis
Durant about it, and my mom. I have sung with
the most amazing artists in the universe, like you know,
the ones, all of the ones that we love. I
have been blessed to have a moment with them. My
(19:31):
mother lost her mind that like none other. It was Share, like,
you're doing this with the Share So I don't even
know what to say. I imagine you do it too,
But there continue to be so many moments where I
just go, how is this happening? What is happening? And
never gets old.
Speaker 1 (19:51):
Well, man, you should be so proud. There's there's so
much you should be celebrating. As we wrap up this conversation,
the name of the show is I've never said this before,
so I'm curious to is there something you can think
of that you've never said before, Whether it's silly or
deep or whatever it can be. I know you're an
open book man, is there that comes to mind?
Speaker 2 (20:08):
Can I have both?
Speaker 1 (20:09):
You cannot both?
Speaker 2 (20:10):
Well, I think one of the things you've probably never
heard me say, or I'd never have said, is I
cannot wait to go to the gym tomorrow. That one,
and I think the other is, you know the world,
the world could use more cynical people.
Speaker 1 (20:23):
Mmmm, well said my man.
Speaker 2 (20:25):
Well said a pleasure. Man.
Speaker 1 (20:27):
Cheers to you, Happy holidays.
Speaker 2 (20:29):
Happy holidays.
Speaker 1 (20:29):
And I'll be drinking some whiskey now, thanks man.
Speaker 2 (20:31):
I hope you'll And you know what, if you're not
the guy that likes it straight like this, just pour
a little but of the bottle, mix a little brown
sugar and water, maybe crush a little bit of orange
juice or orange bubbly and it's like a new old
fashioned it. I mean, that's what I do. I love it.
Put in the freezer and it's also like a big
ball ice and and enjoy yourself.
Speaker 1 (20:51):
I've Never Said This Before is hosted by Me Tommy Diderio.
This podcast is executive produced by Andrew Puglisi at iHeartRadio
and Tommy, with editing by Joshua Colaudney. I've Never Said
This Before is part of the Elvis Duran podcast Network
on iHeart Podcasts for more rate, review and subscribe to
(21:11):
our show. And if you liked this episode, tell your friends.
Until next time, I'm Tommy Diderio.
Hey, guys, welcome to I've never said this before with
me Tommy di Dario. Today's guest is the always dapper,
the always smooth, and the always serenading Michael Boublay. Michael
Boublay has sold more than seventy five million albums worldwide
over the course of his extraordinary career. Now let me
(00:24):
break this down. Five Grammys, a star on the Hollywood
and Canada Walk of Fame, six multi platinum albums, over
fourteen billion global streams. You know what, I'm just gonna
stop there, Otherwise I will be reciting his accolades for
the next twenty four hours because there are so many.
I mean, clearly, he has made a tremendous impact in
(00:46):
music and pop culture. But what I love about Boublay
is that his voice his instrument. It can do at all.
He sings pop, swing, jazz, R and B, and he
takes his audiences on a special journey with every song
he performs. He feels his music so deeply, and that
is evident every time you watch him, and the guy
(01:07):
is all heart. But what is also evident is that
Michael has exceptional taste. Yes he does. He recently launched
Fraser and Thompson, an elegantly blended North American whiskey brand.
And today Michael invited me to sip some whiskey and
dive into his latest venture. And let me tell you,
the whiskey is good. We chat all about the sweet
(01:31):
story behind the name Fraser and Thompson, who he would
love to sit down and have a cocktail with, and
the moment Cher called him to work with him and
recreate one of his most iconic songs. So let's see
if today we can get Michael Boublay to say something
that he's never said before. Michael Boublay, thank you so
(01:54):
much for joining me today.
Speaker 2 (01:55):
How are you. I'm really good, Thanks for having me.
Speaker 1 (01:57):
I am so happy you are here. I see a
beautiful bottle of whiskey in front of me. It's calling
my name. You poured me a glass.
Speaker 2 (02:07):
What time is it right now?
Speaker 1 (02:08):
It's nine thirty. It's not relevant.
Speaker 2 (02:09):
That sounds like a good time in the morning. Relevant.
Speaker 1 (02:11):
You even to blow up my spot, all right, So
first of all, cheers to you. This is your new endeavor,
thever we go.
Speaker 2 (02:17):
Thanks for having me.
Speaker 1 (02:17):
Let's have a sip.
Speaker 2 (02:18):
Let's check it out. M oh man, what do you think?
Oh man, don't you know what? I know. I'm not
going to be kind and you're gonna be courteous, but
be really honest with me.
Speaker 1 (02:32):
You know, I'm not a huge whiskey drinker. I'm Italian.
I drink a lot of wine, getting more and more
into whiskey, and I gotta say it's smooth and it
doesn't burn. Why do so many whiskeys burn?
Speaker 2 (02:44):
That is because they're fancy, I swear to man, that's
what's Listen, real connoisseurs of great whiskeys. Somebody who loved
doing poppyvan Winkle at three thousand bucks a bottle, Well,
they love that. They love that burn. You know, I
never did. I liked a more excess whiskey. I always
like whiskey, but I liked that a little bit more
smooth than the sweeter flavor at the end, A little
(03:05):
bit of sweet at the end, not too sweet. B Yeah.
And the truth is this all started on my birthday,
where a fellow named Paul Circa who had a distillery
in Montreal, a little boutique distillery, and he had called
my manager and said, we'd love Mike to be the
face of this thing. And my manager said, listen, Mike,
I think I don't know if it's a big enough
business for you to do that. And so my birthday
(03:25):
I was having drinks and I loved it. I mean,
I knew it was great quality. And I said to
my wife, you know what, Lou, what if you and
I do something where we joined forces kind of artistically creatively,
And what if we buy we'd become a part owner
of this distillery. And that is really where it started.
And so we became part owners. Had no idea what
we were doing. And then a fellow named Larry Roof
(03:46):
out of Las Vegas, out of Southern Glacier, was a
big distributor. He said, you know, Mike, why don't you
go and meet with Shelley Stein, who worked for West Brands.
And I went to go meet Shelley. I was working
with Lauren Michaels on the SNL SAT and I went
to go see Shelley, and Shelley said, you know, Mike,
I think you got the right brand for this, the
personality you obviously like the whiskey. Why don't we try something.
(04:08):
And so we made a deal with Southern Glaziers and
we went to a beautiful place called heaven Hill, which
is a beautiful whiskey one hundred year old company that
out of Kentucky earned a very famous whiskey makers, and
first time, you know, for one hundred years, that family
allowed someone else in and we started Fraser and Thompson,
(04:29):
which was a mix of that Montreal Distilleries whiskey bourbon
with the Heaven Hill Whiskey bourbon. So we have this
beautiful North American whiskey and listen, man, I lost control.
It was supposed to be this little, fun little thing
with my wife, and it's turned into something that it's
a lot bigger and a lot more ambitious. But the
(04:50):
truth is it's been fun. It really has like we're
having a kick out of doing it. And I think
what you said when I first walked in, you said
to me, this new challenge, new endeavor. And I think
twenty years writing records, promoting the record, and touring the record,
and there's been it's been cyclical over and over again.
Twenty years yeah, doing the same thing. And by the way,
ten years before that, of playing nightclubs and bars and
(05:13):
everything else, it was really fun to go. You know what,
I don't want to be maybe I can try being
an entrepreneur and not taking myself too seriously, but try
to do this thing. And more than anything, was an
idea and a way for my wife and I to
have a deeper connection. So wow, here I am man.
Speaker 1 (05:29):
Were you always a whiskey drinker or he's always ask drink? Yeah?
Speaker 2 (05:32):
You were? Yeah? Okay, all right. I wasn't much of
a beer guy, not much of a wine guy. I mean,
I appreciate it. My wife like wine, but I liked
you know, someone was saying to me recently that they
liked the they liked the direct road. You know. I
like having a few pops with my buddies and my family. Yeah,
and I don't you know, I love having a nice
(05:53):
little buzz and I don't love sometimes taking eight beers
to get there.
Speaker 1 (05:57):
No, I get it, because I get it.
Speaker 2 (06:00):
Just a couple of little glasses of whiskey and I'm
a happy boy.
Speaker 1 (06:03):
So talk to me about the name. I know it
has sentimental meaning to you.
Speaker 2 (06:06):
Yeah. Well, you were talking to me about your heritage,
about your grandparents, and you know, I'm a really proud
Canadian of Italian extraction, and our family's just really close.
My grandpa and Grandma Nona. Nona were just a tight
part of our family. And the reason that I'm here
sitting in this chair across from you is because I
had a grandpa who loved the music of the big band.
(06:27):
He loved the thirties and forties, fift he loved Sinatra
and Dino, I mean, all the time is Tony Bennett
and I loved it. And it was one of those
things where it was like not just enough, where you
just love your grandpa because you both love hockey and
you love each other, and you know, just we just
had a really great connection. But he used to make wine,
his homemade wine, and it was like the hit of
the neighborhood. And he'd make grandpa and put cherries in
(06:49):
and this basically moonshine. And so when I came up
with this whiskey and I knew we were going to
do this, I wanted to pay tribute to him. So
my grandpa was a plumber for fifty years, but he
really wanted to be a geography teacher and he used
to it was fascinated with the world, and he used
to take his camping and we'd go up to where
the Mighty Fraser and the glacier Thompson met in this
(07:10):
beautiful confluence. They built a gondol over it now. But
when I thought about this mix of North American whistkey,
I was like, you know what, talk about paying tribute
to this dude that is my everything. We will call
it Fraser and Thompson, F and ty and and it
all just you know, in a marketing way, it just
it was perfect. It was one of those ideas where
(07:30):
you just go, oh, yeah, that's this is easy, and
it's cool because even on the bottle, there's these little
some of these little easter eggs, you know, like here
at the very top, that's nineteen twenty seven, the year
he was born. And here I've got I pretend it's
a serial number, but it's not. It's my birthday, nine
nine seventy five. Wow. So there's all these cool little
easter eggs, and you can see where the Fraser and
(07:52):
the Thompson meet here.
Speaker 1 (07:54):
So it's a deeply personal adventure.
Speaker 2 (07:56):
Yeah, man, it really, it really is. And it's you know,
I hope that I don't sun crass when I say this,
but I've been really lucky in my life. I've been
really fortunate. I've had great success in my business, and
it's really nice not to make decisions based on finance.
And I'm sure you feel the same way about your life.
(08:18):
When you make decisions based on monetary goals, things just
go wrong really quickly, and even when you don't mean
for them to, there's a purity that's lost. And so
it's a really nice thing to you know, by the way,
this is a lot of pressing the flesh. It's me
going to you know, to different companies and meeting you know, me,
(08:38):
your contributors, and you know, it's my I own the company,
you know, my wife and I.
Speaker 1 (08:42):
It's not just a face in it.
Speaker 2 (08:44):
And we took three years to make sure that we
could reverse engineer whiskey for people that might not love whiskey,
you know. And and I sort of wanted to bust
all the tropes. I didn't want to sit in a
leather chair and and try to be mister smooth. I
wanted to, you know, I wanted to you know, our
whole brand was about easy. Now the world's got nuts,
you know, and there's so much divisions, so much to fighter,
(09:06):
or how about we just chill, have a nice glass
of whiskey and get along for a second.
Speaker 1 (09:18):
And we keep bringing up the idea of this being
your new en Denver, and obviously you're a pro in
the music space, So how is creating this whiskey different
or similar to creating music?
Speaker 2 (09:27):
For you? Was just so similar because I don't really
I know nothing about it. And the truth is, I
don't know much about music. I never oh, come on,
well listen, I know what I know, I know what
I like. But I never went to school. You know.
I write all those songs that you hear, and even
the arrangements when you hear feeling good or sway, that's
me sitting down and singing out those parts. But I
(09:49):
never learned music theory. I still can't read music. It's
funny because people hear that and they go, well, if
you can't read music, you know, but a lot of
people can't read music. Paul mcarr and he can't read
music or doesn't. But it was the same. When I
say it was the same, it's because you don't have
to know logistically what you're doing when you're mixing notes.
(10:13):
These things feel good essentially, and I think you're creating
a vibe. And with this and the profile, it was
mixing flavors that I really liked. It's the same as
mixing notes that I really like. When I write a song,
you know what I mean, it really is, and you
come up with this harmony that works for you. And
it helped too that when I songwrite many times, I
(10:33):
know what I want Conceptually. You know I'm going to
write a I'm going to write a love song that
is about having your heart broken. And once I go
in that direction, I know I know where I'm going,
I know what it is. And this wasn't me trying
to come up with a three thousand dollars bottle of
a whiskey. It was me saying, I want to create
something that is accessible that gives you. My dad talks
(10:57):
all the time, but value. My dad talks about My
dad talks about value. You call him frugal if you want,
or but he does. Even in my concerts, you know,
my commage or the tickets, do you think for that
amount people are experiencing value for their dollar spend. And
He'll say to me, because if they do, they will
(11:18):
come back over and over again. The moment that they
don't feel they've got value, they're gone. They will disappear
from your life. And so for me, I was really
lucky that the people that I was working with, my partners,
they understood the assignment, which was, let's make a gorgeous
whiskey that is really flavorful, that's a yummy that you
(11:40):
can walk into a party with a three thousand dollars
bottle of whiskey and I can walk in with F
and T and you'll go and you know, the whiskey
drinker will go, yeah, man, I'll try that. And I
wasn't going for the high you know, I wasn't going
for some high falutin thing. I wanted to make accessible
whiskey that gave value for flavor.
Speaker 1 (11:57):
But man, quality doesn't have to be expensive, it doesn't.
You're absolutely right, right, So this is priced at what twenty?
Speaker 2 (12:03):
It's thirty five bucks?
Speaker 1 (12:04):
Thirty five bucks? I mean, come on, come on, how
do you beat that?
Speaker 2 (12:07):
Yeah? That must be very absolutely. I mean, I love
this sweater and I think it's forty bucks.
Speaker 1 (12:12):
So it's a good sweater. You look pretty dapper. You
look pretty dapper in that. Can you give me the
name of that one?
Speaker 2 (12:19):
Later? We were talking about it this morning when I
got ready, and it was like you're gonna wear a
suit and I was like, no, it's too early.
Speaker 1 (12:24):
No, no, no, no, that's amazing, man. So if you could
have a glass of this with anyone right now, let's
see two people, someone living and someone who's passed on
to the other side. Who would you sit down and
share this amazing glass of windy.
Speaker 2 (12:36):
I'm really honest right now because all I have is
now it's you. I'm really happy to be sitting with
you having this class, and I'm glad you're not dead.
And the person that i'd love to sit down with
is my grandpa. And because because I miss him every
(12:57):
single day, every minute of the day, everything good happens
to me, my first thought is.
Speaker 1 (13:01):
To call him.
Speaker 2 (13:02):
And I don't know, man, my happiness was, you know
what's weird. I know we love our we love our family,
we love our mom and dad. But every once in
a while, and you may not say it out loud
because you don't want to play favorites, but we have favorites.
There are people that just you just click. And that
was what that was for me. Every time the Vancouver
(13:23):
Canucks won a hockey game or I got a break
where hey get they called You're going to be on
Leno or you know you're going to open for Dion
Warwick or you know that was the very literally two six,
that was the number. And I wish he was here.
What I love is here.
Speaker 1 (13:43):
He is here, He's with us. And what I love
about you, man, is your heart. And I feel that
in your music. You have so much soul. You write
with passion, you write with your truth, and if you
don't know, we see that in all of the artists
in today's world. And I think that's something that you
have had such success with. It's connecting with people and
making us feel something. And even when you talk about
(14:04):
this beautiful bottle of whiskey that I'm touching and looking at,
I feel what you're talking about. And that's a gift
you have, man.
Speaker 2 (14:11):
Thank you, And I wish I could tell you I
was I'm this great. If you met my sisters, or
my mom and dad, or if you met my grandma
and grandpa, you'd understand who I am, and you probably
like them all more than you like me. The truth,
so where you know many times listen, it's funny because
I have friends that have not had what I've had,
(14:33):
and they've turned out to be really marvelous human beings.
And I have one of my best friends. It's just
not been an easy life. He's just not He just
he didn't get lucky. You know. Dad left early, Mom
passed away, brother left as well. And he has a
(14:53):
million reasons and a million excuses to why he could
be terrible, unhappy, bitter human being. And he has made
the decision to strive for greatness. And I don't mean
in business, I mean and just as a human being.
And and so we all you know, I'm just really
lucky that, you know, I had this incredible support, Like
(15:15):
even man, I was sixteen fifteen when I told them
I want to be a singer, and you know how
many parents would go, you know, oh Jesus, it wants
to be a singer. And it was like my parents went, Okay,
let's do this. Let's buy him a mic and an
ab and they would come to every show, every shopping mall,
every busking thing that I did, every cruise ship, every
(15:35):
I mean dude that my mom used to used to
do these theater events. And my mom would take old records,
you know, the ascetates, and she would melt them into
a bowl and then she would make like a little
gift bag. And then she you know what I mean,
it's been a family It's been a family fair from
the beginning. So I'm a lucky boy.
Speaker 1 (15:59):
I know that concept is super important to you. And
you talked about family a lot today and where you're
from and your roots even earlier before we were recording.
And I have to bring up the home version with Share. Yeah,
because man, that is epic. How did that happen? She
just called you and said, yeah, I have a song,
let's record it.
Speaker 2 (16:16):
And it's you know, it's funny. It happened because we
have people in our lives that are mutual friends, and
it's been no joke twenty years of them saying to me,
you need to meet Schaer. You need to work with Share,
you need to hang with Share, you need to know
Share Share, and you would love each other, Sharon, you
would laugh your ass off together. And then to her,
(16:38):
they were going, you need to meet this booblet guy,
this booblet you know, she was Share. So I mean
I imagine she was going, okay, And and I think
that it wasn't a surprise for all of those people
that we would meet and that we would establish this
really great chemistry and connection. She's just I mean, she's amazing.
(16:58):
I mean every the truth is. I mean, she's just real.
She's unapologetic about who she is. I think I don't
think she thinks it's a big deal that she share.
I think if you put a truth serum into her
arm and you said, like, oh my god, your share,
she'd say yeah. And you know, and but she's it's
funny man, when they called and you know. And I
(17:21):
did an interview about this the other day. Listen, I
made a Christmas record many years ago, and I meant it.
I didn't make a Christmas record. I should clarify. I
made a Michael Boublet record and I love Christmas. And
that that I think people kind of like they couldn't
articulate or express why they felt it was genuine. But
then you like, oh my god. Actually people used to
(17:42):
ask me and say, wow, you're making a Christmas record,
and literally in the studio, I'd go, no, I'm making
the Christmas record. Oh I like. I just loved it.
I like, And I think I think she did the
same thing. And I think when her and I got together,
I realized quickly how ambitious she was. I realized she
wasn't making a Christmas album. She was making a share album.
(18:03):
And it was cute because here she is, this veteran,
this beautiful, you know, full of light woman, and she
is like fifteen years old. She was on the phone
playing me all the songs over and over again, and
oh my god, listen and I love this one. Listen
to Darling Love, and oh, you know that I used
to sing when I was a kid. I used to
do the backout rack round things, and and oh my god, Stevie,
(18:23):
I called Stevie. Stevie actually answered, and you're going, well,
of course he answered, your share. But she's still genuinely,
you know, like excited. And so every dude about September
of every single year the last thirteen years, you know,
or many of the biggest celebrities that we know start
to call me and they start to say, I have
(18:46):
an idea. We should do a duet or let's do
a Christmas thing, And I say, thank you so much,
you know, I you know, I really appreciate you thinking
to me. But I love Christmas, but I want Christmas.
I want Christmas for my baby. I went Christmas from it,
and so I say no. I have said no to
five different gigantic, iconic acts. But when Share called, there
(19:09):
was I mean, are you kidding me? You just say yes?
And then the fact that she said, like, we're thinking
about singing the song home that I wrote, and it
was like I met like I was talking to Elvis
Durant about it, and my mom. I have sung with
the most amazing artists in the universe, like you know,
the ones, all of the ones that we love. I
have been blessed to have a moment with them. My
(19:31):
mother lost her mind that like none other. It was Share, like,
you're doing this with the Share So I don't even
know what to say. I imagine you do it too,
But there continue to be so many moments where I
just go, how is this happening? What is happening? And
never gets old.
Speaker 1 (19:51):
Well, man, you should be so proud. There's there's so
much you should be celebrating. As we wrap up this conversation,
the name of the show is I've never said this before,
so I'm curious to is there something you can think
of that you've never said before, Whether it's silly or
deep or whatever it can be. I know you're an
open book man, is there that comes to mind?
Speaker 2 (20:08):
Can I have both?
Speaker 1 (20:09):
You cannot both?
Speaker 2 (20:10):
Well, I think one of the things you've probably never
heard me say, or I'd never have said, is I
cannot wait to go to the gym tomorrow. That one,
and I think the other is, you know the world,
the world could use more cynical people.
Speaker 1 (20:23):
Mmmm, well said my man.
Speaker 2 (20:25):
Well said a pleasure. Man.
Speaker 1 (20:27):
Cheers to you, Happy holidays.
Speaker 2 (20:29):
Happy holidays.
Speaker 1 (20:29):
And I'll be drinking some whiskey now, thanks man.
Speaker 2 (20:31):
I hope you'll And you know what, if you're not
the guy that likes it straight like this, just pour
a little but of the bottle, mix a little brown
sugar and water, maybe crush a little bit of orange
juice or orange bubbly and it's like a new old
fashioned it. I mean, that's what I do. I love it.
Put in the freezer and it's also like a big
ball ice and and enjoy yourself.
Speaker 1 (20:51):
I've Never Said This Before is hosted by Me Tommy Diderio.
This podcast is executive produced by Andrew Puglisi at iHeartRadio
and Tommy, with editing by Joshua Colaudney. I've Never Said
This Before is part of the Elvis Duran podcast Network
on iHeart Podcasts for more rate, review and subscribe to
(21:11):
our show. And if you liked this episode, tell your friends.
Until next time, I'm Tommy Diderio.
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