August 19, 2025 • 27 mins
In the debut episode of Earshifter, hosts Rene and Sean dive into Toronto's Change of Heart, reflecting on their significant but overlooked influence. Amid tales of teenage button collections and record exchanges, they discuss the band's history, evolution, and why they're deserving of more recognition. Earshifter playlist: https://open.spotify.com/playlist/4xT3qcagxiU1wsHNNaVOwR?si=a51c033d6a0c4f56 UPDATE: In 2025, Change of Heart released their new album, In the Wreckage – giving you more Change of Heart to explore.
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Episode Transcript
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Speaker 00 (00:00):
o Welcome to EarShifter.
He's Rene Rouleau.
And he's Sean Kapstick.
And Rene, tell us whywe're here.
(00:21):
We are here because this is abrand new music podcast and it
is about bands or artists thatdidn't that we feel didn't get
the recognition they deserved.
Mm hmm.
And I hope we can share alittle bit of our recollection
of the bands, a little bit ofhistory with them, put them in
context.
And yes, give these bands theexposure that they deserve, that
(00:42):
we think we should share withpeople.
Speaker 01 (00:45):
Yeah.
And I think the other thing I'dsay, Sean, is that it's really
it's about two things.
So it's about discovery.
So meaning new bands you'venever heard of.
But it's also for those fansthat know the band, but want to
explore that band more.
And this podcast, guys, this isall about, hey, you like that
band?
Excellent.
Okay, so.
(01:11):
Why are you so passionate aboutmusic?
Oh, man.
So I think for me, like, OK, sofirst of all, this podcast,
guys, this started becauseselfishly, I'm just going to say
this.
I'm in the 96th percentile ofSpotify heavy listeners in
Canada.
And that's where we're comingfrom.
We're coming from Toronto,Canada.
(01:31):
So 96th percentile says a lotin 33 million people.
And that just says that we areinto music.
And Sean and I have always beeninto music since were
teenagers, and that's actuallyhow we met.
Yep.
You were
Speaker 00 (01:45):
wearing buttons like you did back in the day.
And I'm questioned whether youreally should be wearing those
buttons.
Do you remember what button?
I
Speaker 01 (01:52):
know I had a Clash button.
I had a Who button.
And I think I had a Sincerosbutton.
I
Speaker 00 (01:58):
can't remember the third, but you definitely had
the Who and the Clash.
Yeah.
And I wanted to know whetheryou were legit on the Clash.
Speaker 01 (02:04):
Yeah.
And that was before, guys, justso you know.
If any of you know, the Whotoured with the Clash opening,
that was before that.
So my buttons were actuallybefore the time when they...
actually toured together.
You've always been atrendsetter.
Thank you.
Yes.
And your buttons...
I don't remember
Speaker 00 (02:21):
what your buttons were, Sean.
I had the spoons.
Oh man, that's right.
But I also was trying to rebelwithin that rebellious thing by
not having so many buttons.
Yeah, whereas I was just awhore.
I was a buttons whore.
Speaker 01 (02:34):
Those were good days.
Those were good days.
And just one more thing on thatbefore we get into this.
Sean and I have been friendsfor a long time, but our
friendship is truly based onmusic and I'll tell you why.
For about 12 months, weexchanged to records every month
and that's all we did weactually didn't sit together
(02:55):
drink together nothing we justsaid this is a good album i like
this band and that's all we do10 minutes of exchange of albums
once a month for about 12months and then we
Speaker 00 (03:05):
became friends and then we started critiquing the
records and i kept asking youwhy does this one not have any
songs on it why is it just musicis that true yes you gave me a
brian eno ambient album and iwas like I guess it's okay if I
was going to sleep, but thesongs aren't very good.
He wrote a lot of good songs.
(03:25):
Why didn't you give me TakingTiger Mountain by Strategy way
back then?
That would have saved me a lotof time before I found that.
Speaker 01 (03:31):
Well, Sean, you know how I feel about ambient music.
This is not a podcast aboutambient music, guys.
Don't drop off yet.
But Sean is heavy duty in thelyrics.
And what he's getting at isSean loves lyrics.
I love music that makes me feelgood.
And that's kind of what you'regoing to get in this podcast as
well, is kind of an objective...
Look at these bands from alyric standpoint and from a feel
(03:52):
standpoint.
Speaker 00 (03:53):
Yeah.
And mostly we agree on music.
Sometimes we don't agree on themusic.
Mostly when I'm like...
watching the band going, whyare there no microphones?
Did you bring me to anotherband that doesn't sing?
But most of the time we agreeon the music, but we do come
from a very differentperspective in terms of why we
like the music.
And even when we talk aboutbands that we like, we have very
(04:15):
different reasons about thesongs and approach the songs
differently.
So yeah, it is kind ofinteresting how the same music
can evoke different...
emotions and different ideas ofwhy the band did it so
Speaker 01 (04:25):
yeah but let's get to i mean we're having fun but
is everyone else having fun idon't know so let's let's why
don't we are you ready to ripinto this sure but before we
Speaker 00 (04:36):
start in terms of of the band we want to talk to
today let's set a little bit ofground rules in terms of when
you said they need exposure sowhere are bands in terms of
popularity so we don't want tohave a band that nobody's ever
listened to even if that wasimportant to us but at the same
time we don't feel that we needto talk about bands that most
people know or maybe most peopledon't.
(04:57):
know in our minds don't need toknow more about so where is
what is an ear shifter band foryou yeah okay so this gets weird
Speaker 01 (05:05):
so i think it's really based on people i talk to
if they don't know the bandthen that tells me that the band
is not radio friendly or tiktokfriendly if it's my daughter
and in that case i feel likethey deserve more but there are
bands and we're not going to getinto a rabbit hole too much yet
but there are bands like carseat headrests that we both love
(05:25):
and one could argue he's got at1.2 million listeners on
Spotify monthly.
But is that enough?
And when I talk to anyonethat's into music, a lot of them
don't know who Car SeatHeadrest is.
So really, what is an earshifter band?
An ear shifter band is a bandthat we feel deserves more.
Whatever that is, that more, itdepends.
Speaker 00 (05:48):
Fair.
So we go to shows and sometimeswe can't believe how popular
the band is when we think nobodylikes them and there's a whole
bunch more people liking them.
So, you know, we mentioned TheClash.
The Clash need more exposure.
Everybody should know TheClash.
I'm glad The Clash are on tothe third generation, but maybe
we won't deal with those typesof bands that do have more base
(06:12):
of popularity and exposure.
So, yeah, I think it's going tobe interesting to explore
whether these bands we talkabout But our ear shifter bands
are not.
And you know what that means.
And maybe they will think it'sgood too.
Hopefully.
If they get our seal ofapproval.
So we'll start about our first.
What are we going to talk aboutin terms of our first ear
shifter band?
Well, I'd like to talk aboutChange of Heart from Toronto,
(06:35):
Ontario, Canada.
I'd like to thank them verymuch for being part of my
growing up.
I can't remember when...
change of heart.
And the main guy, who I'll talkabout, Ian Blurton, has been
(07:05):
there for a long time.
So I think he's as an artistand he's done many other things.
But the first meaningfulproject was Change of Heart.
So he and Rob Taylor startedthe band probably in the early
80s.
They came out with their firstalbum, which I know I had.
(07:26):
I can't find it right now.
So it was 50 feet up andthey've evolved.
The sound has evolved.
The band has evolved over thetime.
And listening to the songsthere, they were pretty simple.
They released an anthem that Ihave seen him play in the last
decade, Reasons for Living, thatstill holds up, even though he
was a very young person and theywere both young at the time.
(07:47):
And then they evolved to SlowDance, which was a and I guess
even before we go in if we leavebefore we leave 50 feet up you
know I think one of the reasonswhy Change of Heart has been so
lasting is because they punchedabove their weight so that album
cover was worn by i think itwas sloan on their big breakout
(08:11):
i don't know if it was i thinkit was underwhelmed when you
know they were able to to reallymake it out of the canadian
music scene and the drummer waswearing a change of heart
t-shirt and that's been a numberof other influential canadian
bands who are like kind ofpointing back to change of heart
Speaker 01 (08:27):
that's kind of awesome so listeners just in
case you don't know who sloan issloan was a popular band a kind
of a grunge band back in thetime in canada
Speaker 00 (08:35):
the canadian they're the
Speaker 01 (08:37):
canadian nirvana there you go and they're still
kicking around and they arestill kicking around and and you
know i i've seen them live i'mi don't know have you seen them
live yeah i'm not togetherthough but yeah anyway they were
they were a pretty iconic bandfor canada a little small
country just north of the u.sbut the thing i want to ask you
sean and i don't i don't thinkyou said this but how did you
(08:57):
first hear about change of heartwas it on the radio was it in
the mag what where did you hearabout them That I don't
remember.
Speaker 00 (09:04):
They would have been part of, I'm sure it was...
I might have saw them inconcert.
They might have been openingfor a band on Queen Street.
They may have been, you know,played on the Ryerson radio
station.
Something.
You just don't know.
I just don't know.
And then when I look back, youknow, Ian Blurton was around all
(09:25):
the time.
Like there was a novelty act,the Jolly Tambourine Band, and
he was on another potential earshifter band, Neon Rome, that
we'll talk about.
He was a drummer on that.
So he was all around the musicscene.
He didn't grow up in Toronto.
or Canada he grew up in theStates but he was all around
that Toronto scene in the 80sand so it was kind of ubiquitous
(09:46):
so like I'd see him play indifferent bands he'd tour with
other bands so it was kind of hewas always there and then
Change of Heart was verydistinctive in terms of those
other acts and you know and theway that he that they, he and
Rob evolved, right?
Slow dance was much lesssimple, more complicated, more,
(10:09):
still had some nice, easy, youknow, like, They never were
ballads, but quieter music.
And then Stress Monkey, one ofthe songs, had a locked track.
If you played it on the record,the needle wouldn't come out.
It was just in a circle rightbefore the record would release.
So it was just this drowning,that if you didn't take your
(10:31):
record off, would go on forever.
Speaker 01 (10:33):
Whoa, that's kind of cool.
Speaker 00 (10:34):
That's really innovative.
And that was back in like 84 orsomething, right?
And so they then moved on.
and expanded musical leapchanged people and then they
released an album called Soapboxthat had I don't know like from
a conventional you know foursongs per side Soapbox probably
(10:56):
had i don't know 20 songs on iti had you know at this point cds
had come out so i don't longerhave that well actually my son
has it because he took all mycds i hope he still has them he
thought they were more valuablethan i did but you know that's
that became quite a differentmore involved sound so maybe
let's let's hear a pat's decline
Speaker 02 (11:19):
it's
Speaker 00 (11:21):
just
Speaker 02 (11:22):
a day that is making and breaking suddenly i I could
tell you it would be adifferent sort of hell without
me.
Could you make your hellwithout me?
(11:44):
Was that thunder or backfire?
They
Speaker 00 (12:10):
started to get pretty complex at this point,
bringing in differentinstrumentation.
You know, they were moving awayfrom being a simple rock band
or a punk band, but they stillhad that ethos of do-it-yourself
touring.
They could be Quite abrasive inconcert, but looking back, you
know, I've got a single herethat I was going through my
(12:31):
record collection because Istill have my records on my CDs
and they look so young.
I mean, there's the double Aside with the asexuals with
another cut from that song.
And yeah, he looks so young.
Speaker 01 (12:42):
guys it's it's just a testament to sean as to like
he actually brought these 45singles with him and he's kept
them for all this time ian ifyou're listening he's got them
man if you want them we couldsell them to you
Speaker 00 (12:56):
i checked his songs they're not that worth that much
all right to me they are so atthis point they'd had you know
radio college success and theyreally started to okay say what
can we do next and at this timethe band had kind of switched
Like the members, you mean?
(13:20):
Whoa,
Speaker 01 (13:36):
I didn't know
Speaker 00 (13:36):
that was the origin.
That's so cool.
Smile is one of the Beach Boys.
Of course.
Albums.
Brian Wilson specifically.
Yeah.
And so that was the album andit was released.
It was recorded like in threedays live to tape with, you
know, a band of, you know, therewere 20 people in the studio at
some point.
And it's quite, again, adeparture from the soapbox,
(13:59):
lyrically similar.
But now it went forward.
And are we going to we're goingto hear Smile?
and their hit that actuallycrossed over to commercial
alternative radio there you goOkay, so that was Smile, the
(15:03):
title cut.
There's very little spacebetween the tracks before they
just go from one song to anotherand deals with
environmentalism, loneliness,laziness.
And then, ironically, they hada college radio-friendly hit
called with There You Go, whichdid have a little bit of play
(15:24):
and all of a sudden, you know,maybe they were going to get
popular and maybe they weregoing to break out of a little
smaller venue touring.
So let's hear There You Go.
But before we do, I
Speaker 01 (15:33):
just want to say that, you know, Sean, we take
turns.
Sean brought Change of Heart tome and I'm like, Change of
Heart?
Okay.
Yeah, sure.
Sure.
Sean, that sounds good.
I mean, I'm down.
I like them.
We saw them together, but Ididn't like them as much as I
remembered.
I liked them.
So what I'm getting at here isI hadn't listened to them in
like a long, long time untilwe're doing this podcast, which
is by the way, why we're doingthis podcast.
(15:55):
So we can do this too.
And I was fucking, I was lovinglike listening to them.
I had them in my head for dayswhen I was like away from it.
And I just, I just remember howinfluential they were to me
too.
And I just forgot.
And so this is, this is anawesome moment for me in terms
of like, Just bringing them backand feeling all those feelings
again.
And yeah, let's listen to ThereYou Go.
Speaker 02 (16:16):
There you go, standing alone.
Do you find there's no onehome?
And if I could tell you, if Icould find, I would know all
through you.
okay
Speaker 01 (17:08):
i gotta say something right off the top i'm
sorry but that song gives mefucking goosebumps every time
like when he says the blueperfume line i just i get
goosebumps every single time ihe hits that note it's just
amazing so why weren't they morepopular why didn't they hit the
big time i don't know i thinkabout your son and i remember
(17:29):
him saying are they seminal AndI remember I had to look up
seminal because I didn't knowwhat the fuck it meant.
And then I realized, okay, itjust means influential on other
bands.
So my question to you, I'msorry if I'm jumping the gun,
man.
I'm just getting excited.
But were they seminal?
What kind of influences didthey have on other bands?
Do we know?
I think they were totallyseminal.
Speaker 00 (17:51):
I think that not just me, but I think if you
were...
Growing up and looking up to,you know, the band scene in
Toronto was super vibrant.
You could see them often.
They were playing in differentbands.
There was a real scene.
So, yeah.
So, they matter.
(18:11):
Now, off the top of my head,who could do that?
I think Ian has gone on to bequite seminal because he's a
very well-known producer, hashad different bands since then.
Does solo stuff too.
His solo stuff.
And so, yeah, I think that theinfluence has been lasting and
maybe a little bit more thanoutput as a band during the
(18:33):
time.
But, you know, the next recordcoming up, Tummy Suckle, they
won the CFNY, which was analternative commercial radio
station intro it's still goingbut it's very different than it
was as everything is it's calledthe edge now the edge and what
was there the spirit of radioyeah back then so they gave it
they gave they gave a hundredthousand dollar prize to an
(18:55):
upcoming band so you know abigger band won it the bare
naked ladies they went on tofame and fortune sorry
Speaker 01 (19:02):
i'm just gonna say this i hate the bare naked
ladies so much it's a strongit's a very strong word i use it
very sparingly and this is ourfirst episode but you'll learn i
really can't stand them what isthe
Speaker 00 (19:15):
other band that never made it i think it was the
kill joys uh or treble chargerthey were also i think and then
after that they'd the cfny hadrun out of hundred thousand
dollars to give away so changeyour heart got it they had tummy
suckle in the bag they spentthe money i hope they did well
in terms of what they did andthen they came out with tummy
suckle it's amazing they hadflames on the album they had a
(19:37):
baby wait a baby like In flames?
Or...
The baby and the belly, becausethe unofficial version, because
they were waiting to remasterit because they had all this
money that they wanted to wastein the studio, had a picture of
a belly.
I think it was one of the celloplayer we heard on Smile.
Okay.
And then the baby was on thecover because it took so long to
(19:58):
come out.
So there was a real tangibletime between the bootleg copy I
got at Vortex and the recordlabel that came out.
And then the band completelyblew apart.
So before Tummy Suckle the bandhad disbarred the longtime
bassist John Taylor had leftJohn Bora came in from a Neon
Rome Bernard Meza came in from aNeon Rome who's then I
(20:19):
mentioned them you knowincestuous band Ian was a
drummer we can talk about maybea Neon Rome on a later show they
were again great Glenn Mitchumleft because he was too busy
making money with Blue Rodeo butthey were still a good band and
then John Bora left you know Idon't know what Ian does to
bassists and I don't want toknow John Taylor seems like a
very nice man it Every time wesaw him, Deanne would always go,
(20:41):
he looks so dirty.
And I'm sorry, John Taylor, ifyou're listening.
But then we met you at thereunion show and you look like a
fine upstanding guy.
Anyway, the band then, Iancompletely changed the band, all
new players and came out withSteel Teeth, completely
different sound, and then hadanother little hit.
So why don't we hear theirsecond almost hit, Little
(21:03):
Kingdoms.
Unknown (21:05):
Little Kingdoms
Speaker 00 (21:34):
So there, and then they broke up and that was it.
And since then, Ian has goneon, as we said, to produce many
different albums.
He's had different incarnationsof bands.
Jicky Woo, Come On, The Kingdomof Blurtonia.
Can I ask you a question,
Speaker 01 (21:51):
Sean?
So when we were talking offmic, you said that the writer of
the songs lyrically is not Ianor Rob.
Is that correct?
Speaker 00 (22:00):
No, Rob wrote all of the lyrics.
So when they started, RobTaylor wrote all of the lyrics.
Ian sang them.
Rob sang backup.
But it was Ian who was emotingthe lyrics and definitely had a
stage presence, has always had apresence.
I remember, yeah.
And he
Speaker 01 (22:18):
didn't write the lyrics.
Okay, so we probably don't knowthis.
I know we should have askedyou, but maybe we will.
Who knows?
Did the music come first or didthe lyrics come first?
So I think about Elton John.
Yeah, I'm going to say EltonJohn.
who's a very good musicianabsolutely and famous obviously
never on this podcast but eltonjohn and bernie topin was the
(22:40):
writer and bernie always wrotethe lyrics and then elton would
take the lyrics and write thesong to those lyrics so my
question would be which camefirst and we don't know
Speaker 00 (22:50):
we don't know perhaps the lyrics for another
great canadian band maybe an airshifter band this would be a
good debate for a later date maxwebster oh max webster they
didn't write the lyrics they wasa guy who wasn't even the band
who wrote the lyrics.
Pidey Boab wrote all of thelyrics.
He wrote the lyrics first andthen they put that to music and
(23:10):
some pretty good 70s rock.
Speaker 01 (23:12):
Damn right.
Now, again, Canadian band, Ithink Toronto band, actually
lead singer Kim Mitchell.
Kim Mitchell had a couple oflike local hits here, but Max
Webster were iconic in the 70s.
Absolutely.
A million vacations.
Very, very cool.
Speaker 00 (23:27):
So the the other thing that I think is kind of,
you know, like why they were whythey're lasting, why do people
like them so much.
So a long time after they brokeup, they re-released Smile as a
20th anniversary and theytoured that, which is the last
time I believe they toured.
But before that, they got intheir head that they would have
(23:48):
a reunion tour and they playedtheir albums in chronological
order backwards in time withevery single band member from
the band members that he hadgone through who would play.
So they would play a couplesongs off Steel teeth the steel
teeth band would not be on thenthey'd go back to tummy suckle
and the tummy suckle era bandwould come on and they'd go back
(24:09):
right to the first album andthe guys that were in the first
album came out and played this
Speaker 01 (24:14):
is all in the one
Speaker 00 (24:15):
concert this is one concert where was it do you know
the horseshoe it was amazingpeople cried it was wonderful
were you there yeah oh man itwas amazing yeah at the end
ian's hands were bloody fromstrumming the guitar so hard and
so cool yeah but at that ithink at that point he became a
curmudgeon
Speaker 01 (24:33):
Ian if you're listening I mean you've been
super nice to us so far in termsof your texts and stuff so
maybe it was just a bad nightcurmudgeon wise I don't know
Speaker 00 (24:42):
man I don't know it comes to all of us and you don't
know how curmudgeon you areexcept to external maybe we are
curmudgeon's daughters my wifehas told me I'm curmudgeon my
daughter too but he looked atthe band at the audience and
we're like you're a rock god andhe's like I don't want to be a
rock god but I would say he is arock god, at least in Toronto.
(25:05):
He's a deity of amongst acertain people.
And yeah, so that's why I thinkhe's an ear shifter band or
Change of Heart is an earshifter band.
Speaker 01 (25:15):
Yeah.
Yeah.
And at first, I'm going to bejust totally honest.
At first, I was like, well,this is surprising.
But when I kind of rediscoveredthem as I did, I was like,
yeah, OK, they do deserve this.
Absolutely.
So give a listen to them whenyou have a chance.
And I might have to edit thisout.
I don't.
don't know but when i wastexting with ian he said that
(25:35):
change of heart will be comingout with a new album
Speaker 00 (25:38):
the rumor all over the internet or instagram which
is the only social mediapresence that i see him on he
has announced that we can lookforward to it and yeah he's got
old band members coming backsupposedly or playing it and
then he said it's the last butwho knows and hopefully maybe
people are going to be moreexcited about it after listening
(25:59):
to the show
Speaker 01 (26:00):
yeah so it's official there will be a new
Change of Heart album.
So you can dig into the oldtracks.
We're going to put kind of ourfaves on Ear Shifter on Spotify
so you can like that or listento that.
And you can also reach out tous via Instagram, Twitter,
Facebook, even Facebook.
Yep.
Sometimes Facebook.
(26:20):
Guys, that's our very firstepisode.
I'm Rene Rouleau and my co-hostSean Kapsik.
Special thanks go to our logodesigner Stuart Thursby and our
intro outro music.
You can find Joe at Bye bye,Batman.
All one word on SoundCloud.
And yeah, a little hint.
Next episode, we are going tobe doing a band that's from
(26:42):
Wales, which I believe makesthem Welsh.
OK, until next time.
o Welcome to EarShifter.
He's Rene Rouleau.
And he's Sean Kapstick.
And Rene, tell us whywe're here.
(00:21):
We are here because this is abrand new music podcast and it
is about bands or artists thatdidn't that we feel didn't get
the recognition they deserved.
Mm hmm.
And I hope we can share alittle bit of our recollection
of the bands, a little bit ofhistory with them, put them in
context.
And yes, give these bands theexposure that they deserve, that
(00:42):
we think we should share withpeople.
Speaker 01 (00:45):
Yeah.
And I think the other thing I'dsay, Sean, is that it's really
it's about two things.
So it's about discovery.
So meaning new bands you'venever heard of.
But it's also for those fansthat know the band, but want to
explore that band more.
And this podcast, guys, this isall about, hey, you like that
band?
Excellent.
Okay, so.
(01:11):
Why are you so passionate aboutmusic?
Oh, man.
So I think for me, like, OK, sofirst of all, this podcast,
guys, this started becauseselfishly, I'm just going to say
this.
I'm in the 96th percentile ofSpotify heavy listeners in
Canada.
And that's where we're comingfrom.
We're coming from Toronto,Canada.
(01:31):
So 96th percentile says a lotin 33 million people.
And that just says that we areinto music.
And Sean and I have always beeninto music since were
teenagers, and that's actuallyhow we met.
Yep.
You were
Speaker 00 (01:45):
wearing buttons like you did back in the day.
And I'm questioned whether youreally should be wearing those
buttons.
Do you remember what button?
I
Speaker 01 (01:52):
know I had a Clash button.
I had a Who button.
And I think I had a Sincerosbutton.
I
Speaker 00 (01:58):
can't remember the third, but you definitely had
the Who and the Clash.
Yeah.
And I wanted to know whetheryou were legit on the Clash.
Speaker 01 (02:04):
Yeah.
And that was before, guys, justso you know.
If any of you know, the Whotoured with the Clash opening,
that was before that.
So my buttons were actuallybefore the time when they...
actually toured together.
You've always been atrendsetter.
Thank you.
Yes.
And your buttons...
I don't remember
Speaker 00 (02:21):
what your buttons were, Sean.
I had the spoons.
Oh man, that's right.
But I also was trying to rebelwithin that rebellious thing by
not having so many buttons.
Yeah, whereas I was just awhore.
I was a buttons whore.
Speaker 01 (02:34):
Those were good days.
Those were good days.
And just one more thing on thatbefore we get into this.
Sean and I have been friendsfor a long time, but our
friendship is truly based onmusic and I'll tell you why.
For about 12 months, weexchanged to records every month
and that's all we did weactually didn't sit together
(02:55):
drink together nothing we justsaid this is a good album i like
this band and that's all we do10 minutes of exchange of albums
once a month for about 12months and then we
Speaker 00 (03:05):
became friends and then we started critiquing the
records and i kept asking youwhy does this one not have any
songs on it why is it just musicis that true yes you gave me a
brian eno ambient album and iwas like I guess it's okay if I
was going to sleep, but thesongs aren't very good.
He wrote a lot of good songs.
(03:25):
Why didn't you give me TakingTiger Mountain by Strategy way
back then?
That would have saved me a lotof time before I found that.
Speaker 01 (03:31):
Well, Sean, you know how I feel about ambient music.
This is not a podcast aboutambient music, guys.
Don't drop off yet.
But Sean is heavy duty in thelyrics.
And what he's getting at isSean loves lyrics.
I love music that makes me feelgood.
And that's kind of what you'regoing to get in this podcast as
well, is kind of an objective...
Look at these bands from alyric standpoint and from a feel
(03:52):
standpoint.
Speaker 00 (03:53):
Yeah.
And mostly we agree on music.
Sometimes we don't agree on themusic.
Mostly when I'm like...
watching the band going, whyare there no microphones?
Did you bring me to anotherband that doesn't sing?
But most of the time we agreeon the music, but we do come
from a very differentperspective in terms of why we
like the music.
And even when we talk aboutbands that we like, we have very
(04:15):
different reasons about thesongs and approach the songs
differently.
So yeah, it is kind ofinteresting how the same music
can evoke different...
emotions and different ideas ofwhy the band did it so
Speaker 01 (04:25):
yeah but let's get to i mean we're having fun but
is everyone else having fun idon't know so let's let's why
don't we are you ready to ripinto this sure but before we
Speaker 00 (04:36):
start in terms of of the band we want to talk to
today let's set a little bit ofground rules in terms of when
you said they need exposure sowhere are bands in terms of
popularity so we don't want tohave a band that nobody's ever
listened to even if that wasimportant to us but at the same
time we don't feel that we needto talk about bands that most
people know or maybe most peopledon't.
(04:57):
know in our minds don't need toknow more about so where is
what is an ear shifter band foryou yeah okay so this gets weird
Speaker 01 (05:05):
so i think it's really based on people i talk to
if they don't know the bandthen that tells me that the band
is not radio friendly or tiktokfriendly if it's my daughter
and in that case i feel likethey deserve more but there are
bands and we're not going to getinto a rabbit hole too much yet
but there are bands like carseat headrests that we both love
(05:25):
and one could argue he's got at1.2 million listeners on
Spotify monthly.
But is that enough?
And when I talk to anyonethat's into music, a lot of them
don't know who Car SeatHeadrest is.
So really, what is an earshifter band?
An ear shifter band is a bandthat we feel deserves more.
Whatever that is, that more, itdepends.
Speaker 00 (05:48):
Fair.
So we go to shows and sometimeswe can't believe how popular
the band is when we think nobodylikes them and there's a whole
bunch more people liking them.
So, you know, we mentioned TheClash.
The Clash need more exposure.
Everybody should know TheClash.
I'm glad The Clash are on tothe third generation, but maybe
we won't deal with those typesof bands that do have more base
(06:12):
of popularity and exposure.
So, yeah, I think it's going tobe interesting to explore
whether these bands we talkabout But our ear shifter bands
are not.
And you know what that means.
And maybe they will think it'sgood too.
Hopefully.
If they get our seal ofapproval.
So we'll start about our first.
What are we going to talk aboutin terms of our first ear
shifter band?
Well, I'd like to talk aboutChange of Heart from Toronto,
(06:35):
Ontario, Canada.
I'd like to thank them verymuch for being part of my
growing up.
I can't remember when...
change of heart.
And the main guy, who I'll talkabout, Ian Blurton, has been
(07:05):
there for a long time.
So I think he's as an artistand he's done many other things.
But the first meaningfulproject was Change of Heart.
So he and Rob Taylor startedthe band probably in the early
80s.
They came out with their firstalbum, which I know I had.
(07:26):
I can't find it right now.
So it was 50 feet up andthey've evolved.
The sound has evolved.
The band has evolved over thetime.
And listening to the songsthere, they were pretty simple.
They released an anthem that Ihave seen him play in the last
decade, Reasons for Living, thatstill holds up, even though he
was a very young person and theywere both young at the time.
(07:47):
And then they evolved to SlowDance, which was a and I guess
even before we go in if we leavebefore we leave 50 feet up you
know I think one of the reasonswhy Change of Heart has been so
lasting is because they punchedabove their weight so that album
cover was worn by i think itwas sloan on their big breakout
(08:11):
i don't know if it was i thinkit was underwhelmed when you
know they were able to to reallymake it out of the canadian
music scene and the drummer waswearing a change of heart
t-shirt and that's been a numberof other influential canadian
bands who are like kind ofpointing back to change of heart
Speaker 01 (08:27):
that's kind of awesome so listeners just in
case you don't know who sloan issloan was a popular band a kind
of a grunge band back in thetime in canada
Speaker 00 (08:35):
the canadian they're the
Speaker 01 (08:37):
canadian nirvana there you go and they're still
kicking around and they arestill kicking around and and you
know i i've seen them live i'mi don't know have you seen them
live yeah i'm not togetherthough but yeah anyway they were
they were a pretty iconic bandfor canada a little small
country just north of the u.sbut the thing i want to ask you
sean and i don't i don't thinkyou said this but how did you
(08:57):
first hear about change of heartwas it on the radio was it in
the mag what where did you hearabout them That I don't
remember.
Speaker 00 (09:04):
They would have been part of, I'm sure it was...
I might have saw them inconcert.
They might have been openingfor a band on Queen Street.
They may have been, you know,played on the Ryerson radio
station.
Something.
You just don't know.
I just don't know.
And then when I look back, youknow, Ian Blurton was around all
(09:25):
the time.
Like there was a novelty act,the Jolly Tambourine Band, and
he was on another potential earshifter band, Neon Rome, that
we'll talk about.
He was a drummer on that.
So he was all around the musicscene.
He didn't grow up in Toronto.
or Canada he grew up in theStates but he was all around
that Toronto scene in the 80sand so it was kind of ubiquitous
(09:46):
so like I'd see him play indifferent bands he'd tour with
other bands so it was kind of hewas always there and then
Change of Heart was verydistinctive in terms of those
other acts and you know and theway that he that they, he and
Rob evolved, right?
Slow dance was much lesssimple, more complicated, more,
(10:09):
still had some nice, easy, youknow, like, They never were
ballads, but quieter music.
And then Stress Monkey, one ofthe songs, had a locked track.
If you played it on the record,the needle wouldn't come out.
It was just in a circle rightbefore the record would release.
So it was just this drowning,that if you didn't take your
(10:31):
record off, would go on forever.
Speaker 01 (10:33):
Whoa, that's kind of cool.
Speaker 00 (10:34):
That's really innovative.
And that was back in like 84 orsomething, right?
And so they then moved on.
and expanded musical leapchanged people and then they
released an album called Soapboxthat had I don't know like from
a conventional you know foursongs per side Soapbox probably
(10:56):
had i don't know 20 songs on iti had you know at this point cds
had come out so i don't longerhave that well actually my son
has it because he took all mycds i hope he still has them he
thought they were more valuablethan i did but you know that's
that became quite a differentmore involved sound so maybe
let's let's hear a pat's decline
Speaker 02 (11:19):
it's
Speaker 00 (11:21):
just
Speaker 02 (11:22):
a day that is making and breaking suddenly i I could
tell you it would be adifferent sort of hell without
me.
Could you make your hellwithout me?
(11:44):
Was that thunder or backfire?
They
Speaker 00 (12:10):
started to get pretty complex at this point,
bringing in differentinstrumentation.
You know, they were moving awayfrom being a simple rock band
or a punk band, but they stillhad that ethos of do-it-yourself
touring.
They could be Quite abrasive inconcert, but looking back, you
know, I've got a single herethat I was going through my
(12:31):
record collection because Istill have my records on my CDs
and they look so young.
I mean, there's the double Aside with the asexuals with
another cut from that song.
And yeah, he looks so young.
Speaker 01 (12:42):
guys it's it's just a testament to sean as to like
he actually brought these 45singles with him and he's kept
them for all this time ian ifyou're listening he's got them
man if you want them we couldsell them to you
Speaker 00 (12:56):
i checked his songs they're not that worth that much
all right to me they are so atthis point they'd had you know
radio college success and theyreally started to okay say what
can we do next and at this timethe band had kind of switched
Like the members, you mean?
(13:20):
Whoa,
Speaker 01 (13:36):
I didn't know
Speaker 00 (13:36):
that was the origin.
That's so cool.
Smile is one of the Beach Boys.
Of course.
Albums.
Brian Wilson specifically.
Yeah.
And so that was the album andit was released.
It was recorded like in threedays live to tape with, you
know, a band of, you know, therewere 20 people in the studio at
some point.
And it's quite, again, adeparture from the soapbox,
(13:59):
lyrically similar.
But now it went forward.
And are we going to we're goingto hear Smile?
and their hit that actuallycrossed over to commercial
alternative radio there you goOkay, so that was Smile, the
(15:03):
title cut.
There's very little spacebetween the tracks before they
just go from one song to anotherand deals with
environmentalism, loneliness,laziness.
And then, ironically, they hada college radio-friendly hit
called with There You Go, whichdid have a little bit of play
(15:24):
and all of a sudden, you know,maybe they were going to get
popular and maybe they weregoing to break out of a little
smaller venue touring.
So let's hear There You Go.
But before we do, I
Speaker 01 (15:33):
just want to say that, you know, Sean, we take
turns.
Sean brought Change of Heart tome and I'm like, Change of
Heart?
Okay.
Yeah, sure.
Sure.
Sean, that sounds good.
I mean, I'm down.
I like them.
We saw them together, but Ididn't like them as much as I
remembered.
I liked them.
So what I'm getting at here isI hadn't listened to them in
like a long, long time untilwe're doing this podcast, which
is by the way, why we're doingthis podcast.
(15:55):
So we can do this too.
And I was fucking, I was lovinglike listening to them.
I had them in my head for dayswhen I was like away from it.
And I just, I just remember howinfluential they were to me
too.
And I just forgot.
And so this is, this is anawesome moment for me in terms
of like, Just bringing them backand feeling all those feelings
again.
And yeah, let's listen to ThereYou Go.
Speaker 02 (16:16):
There you go, standing alone.
Do you find there's no onehome?
And if I could tell you, if Icould find, I would know all
through you.
okay
Speaker 01 (17:08):
i gotta say something right off the top i'm
sorry but that song gives mefucking goosebumps every time
like when he says the blueperfume line i just i get
goosebumps every single time ihe hits that note it's just
amazing so why weren't they morepopular why didn't they hit the
big time i don't know i thinkabout your son and i remember
(17:29):
him saying are they seminal AndI remember I had to look up
seminal because I didn't knowwhat the fuck it meant.
And then I realized, okay, itjust means influential on other
bands.
So my question to you, I'msorry if I'm jumping the gun,
man.
I'm just getting excited.
But were they seminal?
What kind of influences didthey have on other bands?
Do we know?
I think they were totallyseminal.
Speaker 00 (17:51):
I think that not just me, but I think if you
were...
Growing up and looking up to,you know, the band scene in
Toronto was super vibrant.
You could see them often.
They were playing in differentbands.
There was a real scene.
So, yeah.
So, they matter.
(18:11):
Now, off the top of my head,who could do that?
I think Ian has gone on to bequite seminal because he's a
very well-known producer, hashad different bands since then.
Does solo stuff too.
His solo stuff.
And so, yeah, I think that theinfluence has been lasting and
maybe a little bit more thanoutput as a band during the
(18:33):
time.
But, you know, the next recordcoming up, Tummy Suckle, they
won the CFNY, which was analternative commercial radio
station intro it's still goingbut it's very different than it
was as everything is it's calledthe edge now the edge and what
was there the spirit of radioyeah back then so they gave it
they gave they gave a hundredthousand dollar prize to an
(18:55):
upcoming band so you know abigger band won it the bare
naked ladies they went on tofame and fortune sorry
Speaker 01 (19:02):
i'm just gonna say this i hate the bare naked
ladies so much it's a strongit's a very strong word i use it
very sparingly and this is ourfirst episode but you'll learn i
really can't stand them what isthe
Speaker 00 (19:15):
other band that never made it i think it was the
kill joys uh or treble chargerthey were also i think and then
after that they'd the cfny hadrun out of hundred thousand
dollars to give away so changeyour heart got it they had tummy
suckle in the bag they spentthe money i hope they did well
in terms of what they did andthen they came out with tummy
suckle it's amazing they hadflames on the album they had a
(19:37):
baby wait a baby like In flames?
Or...
The baby and the belly, becausethe unofficial version, because
they were waiting to remasterit because they had all this
money that they wanted to wastein the studio, had a picture of
a belly.
I think it was one of the celloplayer we heard on Smile.
Okay.
And then the baby was on thecover because it took so long to
(19:58):
come out.
So there was a real tangibletime between the bootleg copy I
got at Vortex and the recordlabel that came out.
And then the band completelyblew apart.
So before Tummy Suckle the bandhad disbarred the longtime
bassist John Taylor had leftJohn Bora came in from a Neon
Rome Bernard Meza came in from aNeon Rome who's then I
(20:19):
mentioned them you knowincestuous band Ian was a
drummer we can talk about maybea Neon Rome on a later show they
were again great Glenn Mitchumleft because he was too busy
making money with Blue Rodeo butthey were still a good band and
then John Bora left you know Idon't know what Ian does to
bassists and I don't want toknow John Taylor seems like a
very nice man it Every time wesaw him, Deanne would always go,
(20:41):
he looks so dirty.
And I'm sorry, John Taylor, ifyou're listening.
But then we met you at thereunion show and you look like a
fine upstanding guy.
Anyway, the band then, Iancompletely changed the band, all
new players and came out withSteel Teeth, completely
different sound, and then hadanother little hit.
So why don't we hear theirsecond almost hit, Little
(21:03):
Kingdoms.
Unknown (21:05):
Little Kingdoms
Speaker 00 (21:34):
So there, and then they broke up and that was it.
And since then, Ian has goneon, as we said, to produce many
different albums.
He's had different incarnationsof bands.
Jicky Woo, Come On, The Kingdomof Blurtonia.
Can I ask you a question,
Speaker 01 (21:51):
Sean?
So when we were talking offmic, you said that the writer of
the songs lyrically is not Ianor Rob.
Is that correct?
Speaker 00 (22:00):
No, Rob wrote all of the lyrics.
So when they started, RobTaylor wrote all of the lyrics.
Ian sang them.
Rob sang backup.
But it was Ian who was emotingthe lyrics and definitely had a
stage presence, has always had apresence.
I remember, yeah.
And he
Speaker 01 (22:18):
didn't write the lyrics.
Okay, so we probably don't knowthis.
I know we should have askedyou, but maybe we will.
Who knows?
Did the music come first or didthe lyrics come first?
So I think about Elton John.
Yeah, I'm going to say EltonJohn.
who's a very good musicianabsolutely and famous obviously
never on this podcast but eltonjohn and bernie topin was the
(22:40):
writer and bernie always wrotethe lyrics and then elton would
take the lyrics and write thesong to those lyrics so my
question would be which camefirst and we don't know
Speaker 00 (22:50):
we don't know perhaps the lyrics for another
great canadian band maybe an airshifter band this would be a
good debate for a later date maxwebster oh max webster they
didn't write the lyrics they wasa guy who wasn't even the band
who wrote the lyrics.
Pidey Boab wrote all of thelyrics.
He wrote the lyrics first andthen they put that to music and
(23:10):
some pretty good 70s rock.
Speaker 01 (23:12):
Damn right.
Now, again, Canadian band, Ithink Toronto band, actually
lead singer Kim Mitchell.
Kim Mitchell had a couple oflike local hits here, but Max
Webster were iconic in the 70s.
Absolutely.
A million vacations.
Very, very cool.
Speaker 00 (23:27):
So the the other thing that I think is kind of,
you know, like why they were whythey're lasting, why do people
like them so much.
So a long time after they brokeup, they re-released Smile as a
20th anniversary and theytoured that, which is the last
time I believe they toured.
But before that, they got intheir head that they would have
(23:48):
a reunion tour and they playedtheir albums in chronological
order backwards in time withevery single band member from
the band members that he hadgone through who would play.
So they would play a couplesongs off Steel teeth the steel
teeth band would not be on thenthey'd go back to tummy suckle
and the tummy suckle era bandwould come on and they'd go back
(24:09):
right to the first album andthe guys that were in the first
album came out and played this
Speaker 01 (24:14):
is all in the one
Speaker 00 (24:15):
concert this is one concert where was it do you know
the horseshoe it was amazingpeople cried it was wonderful
were you there yeah oh man itwas amazing yeah at the end
ian's hands were bloody fromstrumming the guitar so hard and
so cool yeah but at that ithink at that point he became a
curmudgeon
Speaker 01 (24:33):
Ian if you're listening I mean you've been
super nice to us so far in termsof your texts and stuff so
maybe it was just a bad nightcurmudgeon wise I don't know
Speaker 00 (24:42):
man I don't know it comes to all of us and you don't
know how curmudgeon you areexcept to external maybe we are
curmudgeon's daughters my wifehas told me I'm curmudgeon my
daughter too but he looked atthe band at the audience and
we're like you're a rock god andhe's like I don't want to be a
rock god but I would say he is arock god, at least in Toronto.
(25:05):
He's a deity of amongst acertain people.
And yeah, so that's why I thinkhe's an ear shifter band or
Change of Heart is an earshifter band.
Speaker 01 (25:15):
Yeah.
Yeah.
And at first, I'm going to bejust totally honest.
At first, I was like, well,this is surprising.
But when I kind of rediscoveredthem as I did, I was like,
yeah, OK, they do deserve this.
Absolutely.
So give a listen to them whenyou have a chance.
And I might have to edit thisout.
I don't.
don't know but when i wastexting with ian he said that
(25:35):
change of heart will be comingout with a new album
Speaker 00 (25:38):
the rumor all over the internet or instagram which
is the only social mediapresence that i see him on he
has announced that we can lookforward to it and yeah he's got
old band members coming backsupposedly or playing it and
then he said it's the last butwho knows and hopefully maybe
people are going to be moreexcited about it after listening
(25:59):
to the show
Speaker 01 (26:00):
yeah so it's official there will be a new
Change of Heart album.
So you can dig into the oldtracks.
We're going to put kind of ourfaves on Ear Shifter on Spotify
so you can like that or listento that.
And you can also reach out tous via Instagram, Twitter,
Facebook, even Facebook.
Yep.
Sometimes Facebook.
(26:20):
Guys, that's our very firstepisode.
I'm Rene Rouleau and my co-hostSean Kapsik.
Special thanks go to our logodesigner Stuart Thursby and our
intro outro music.
You can find Joe at Bye bye,Batman.
All one word on SoundCloud.
And yeah, a little hint.
Next episode, we are going tobe doing a band that's from
(26:42):
Wales, which I believe makesthem Welsh.
OK, until next time.
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