September 6, 2025 • 33 mins
Yves Charbonneau, DJ FYE – Professional DJ | Episode 27 | Sudbury Interviews | September 6, 2025 | Host: Dani Star (Canadian Idol, Season 5) | Find us on Sudztown and join the conversation | If you would like to be a guest on the show, please reach out | Listen on: YouTube | Spotify | Apple Podcasts | iHeart Radio | Pocket Casts | Amazon Music | Audacy | Audible | Listen Notes | Overcast | RSS Feed| Website: https://sudztown.com/show/
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(00:00):
Hi everyone, welcome to Sudbury Interviews.
Today we have Eve Charbonneau, known professionally as DJ Phi
and he's a professional DJ here in Sudbury, very well known and
very successful. And also I went to high school
with Eve, so it's a pleasure to have him on the show.
Before we begin, you can find uson Suds Town and join the
(00:21):
conversation. If you would be like to be a
guest on the show, please reach out.
DJ Phi, how are you? How's my friend Daddy Stark?
I'm doing well. Thanks for coming on.
Yeah, thank you, man. Pleasure's all mine.
So you're saying you're you're gigging at Valley E days this
(00:41):
weekend? Yeah, I'm, I'm spinning between
sets and MC and nothing short ofgood times.
Regardless of the weather, it's always horrible weather this
weekend in September and yesterday we had an outage or
(01:03):
several hydro outage and it knocked out all the power at the
mall and all the surrounding areas.
So that killed the vibe for about.
Well, I let it only chill for about an hour and then I ran
inside the bar. I ripped apart by Tallows, the
(01:23):
restaurant owners stage, and I found a powered speaker,
luckily, and then I found some specific cables.
I was able to find a generator and Jimmy rig at least a speaker
and a microphone for at least two hours and to have people
listen to music and have the Q&A2 cast do their announcements.
(01:45):
And yeah, it was. It was great.
So you were the hero of the day yesterday?
Everybody's a hero, yeah. Yeah.
Yeah, I I just tried. That's the name of the game.
And that's why people, this one doesn't stop.
And they they just know that theservice will be there regardless
(02:07):
of the music and the entertainment.
And that's what it's that's what5 stands for.
It took me about 10 years to come up with that name.
It's for your entertainment and there's nothing better to
represent me. So tell us about your beginnings
with music, how you got into thebusiness, because I know you're
(02:27):
a singer and a guitar player too.
So how did you start out? Started out with family so his
family. I grew up in a really Catholic
household and so church every Sunday, lots of singing, lots of
family events on the weekends, alot of uncles and cousins
playing guitar and singing. And it was always fun to to sing
(02:51):
along. And then till you figured out
that someone couldn't finish a song on any type of instrument
they were playing. That encouraged me a little bit
to play guitar because I said, well, I can sing a song from
start to finish, I could play one too.
And yeah, my sisters Jose, she was a major Jennifer York
(03:11):
University, so she was pro operasinger.
My sister Mel, some of the closet singer, Beautiful voices,
both of them, and me being the younger sibling and growing up
with that, I just wanted to harmonize and be as good as
them. It will never happen, but I'd
(03:32):
like to think so. And so.
Yeah, that picking up guitar. Then high school came around and
there was the music group there.That's how I got to meet you.
You were actually one of my idols too when I was younger.
Seeing you play and sing a good song, play guitar properly and
(03:52):
sing the song from start to finish and hit those notes, it's
encouraging to see others do that, especially at a young age
and when you have the passion for it.
There's you, there's Ron, there's Justin, there's a whole
bunch of wicked, wicked artists at that school.
(04:12):
It's unreal. And yeah, I kept going with
that. I joined the school band.
I brought back the school band 2.
We wrote a new theme song for that high school, which went
grades. We travelled a bit in grade 12
with our band Edie Kibb. And then I branched off from
(04:35):
that. Early in high school I had a
band called Neglected by Societywith a bunch of guys from
Horizon as well and then also tried the French Market, our
band name. It was the same band but we're
called Franco Maniac and we released 2 demos, look at a demo
(04:55):
with each band but nothing more than that.
We played local Battle of the bands.
I remember in like 2005 we'd be back Roads.
Oh 2005 me and you buddy. Canadian Idol.
Top 1000 Top 2000 would you hit?I went top 50 but it was O seven
season 5. Top 50, That was the only year
(05:18):
you did it, or you did before that too.
I had tried out but I didn't. I didn't even get through the
first time. Kitchener.
Was it Kitchener 2000 and. Seven.
No, the O 7 was London. I went to London.
Yeah, we drove there in a snowstorm and the only reason I
(05:38):
went back because is is they allowed us to play guitar.
That was the first year that they said you could play guitar
in your auditions. Oh, that's right, you're in
London. I I went to the kitchen, I went
to Kitchener and I made the first 3 rounds and that's the
first year I went to because they you had to you got the
guitar. That was fun.
(06:00):
I made a top 1000. I'm not top 50 like you.
There was a professional, I was young, dumb and naive and I went
there with a broken arm, tight cancer bat pink T-shirt with a
pink cast and Good Charlotte hair.
There I had a little bleach spoton my head.
(06:24):
It was good. Like some of the buddies that
came up with each. I turned 19, so it was a pretty
busy weekend to say the least and could have done better.
But again, it was just there forfun and to see where you can
actually put yourself in. Yeah, you did top 50.
You actually got airtime too. I remember that.
(06:46):
Yeah, for sure. Yeah, so shout out for you too.
Oh thanks. So how did you transition from a
musician to a DJ? That's a big step.
I mean, I don't think I could ever do that.
Like I did a gig for you last October, didn't really know what
I was doing, but pulled it off because you told me what to do.
Basically showed me the ropes. But how do you How do you learn?
(07:08):
That again, thank you for that. Then you pulled through that day
and again, much thanks and it's much appreciated.
My did this transition because as a Group, A band, even if
you're travelling or not, it's tight budget wise to pursue
this. Even if you have a paid off
(07:29):
vehicle, it's, it's hard to movearound to get gas.
It's hard to move around as in finding people that aren't
committed to anything else that could travel with you.
It's and it's, it's, it's, it's quite costly to, to start up.
So we did a little bit Northern Ontario and we were quite
(07:54):
successful. But again, we're young and like
the drummer was in his second year heavy duty mechanic
apprenticeship. Our bass player was in his
second year of teachers college.Our lead guitarist was in his
first year of social working. It was really tough to to to
(08:14):
actually book something or plan something out there to hit the
road. So we just cut at that.
And then around 2000 and five, 2007 looked at like 2011.
I just started doing solo gigs, started open mic nights from
Little Montreal, Shaughnessy's, which is Wacky Wings.
(08:35):
Now there's a few other pubs SROI started doing competing
nights. So I do one on a Wednesday at
Little Montreal, Thursday at Shaughnessy's, and that started
becoming quite successful and tothe point where I was hosting
and I was playing most of the night because there's no one
coming out and to play, people would come to watch.
(09:01):
Really. Wow.
No one would come to play because everybody was too shy or
they didn't want to do it. And I knew another few gems,
wicked guitar players, wicked singers, and they just didn't
have the courage until they see me do it multiple times.
And then they finally got the courage like can you play with
me and or can you do this with me?
(09:22):
And pushed a few individuals to pursue.
And they're quite successful today and I'm proud of them too.
But DJI had the gear. It was my gear.
I was the one that was fronting most of the stuff for the band,
(09:44):
booking the gigs, the songs, like everything from writing
music I, I had I backed it, it was a majority mine.
Like obviously everything is shared but like I was doing the
work I was doing like legwork, the writing, the the bookings,
the everything and takes time. And so I found a better way to
(10:10):
make a little bit more money as a musician.
Obviously I'm not getting to play my original stuff in which
I would like to do, but that's always coming.
I know like I've been talking about releasing albums.
I have 3 full albums right now that I'm still not done mixing
and mastering. Have a country album coming out.
I have a Hard Rock album coming out and then a French folk rock
(10:33):
album alternative. Stay tuned for that DJ 5 on
MENA. But yeah, my website too.
We're supposed to launch. I was supposed to have something
good this weekend with Valley E Days.
Something had occurred yesterday.
I was supposed to launch my website this weekend and give
(10:55):
out some big promos and some huge discounts on weddings,
events, parties and more. But I did do the first step
yesterday and add Valley E Days on the stage and I ended up
getting a few bookings right then and there.
People see me hustling and it's a good advertisement through
(11:17):
them. I am the local, first local DJ
there in a long time for about these days.
Like all the other guys are not from him or not from Balkan.
So I'll take a, I'll take a little bit of pride in that.
And then, yeah. So a band is five people, four
people, 3 people and you can buy, oh, Black Keys is 2 people.
(11:42):
You have to split everything down the middle.
So everything's 5050. And as a band, like some gigs,
man, you can pay 200 bucks a night.
Some, sometimes you get lucky, 456.
It'd be rare to hit $1000 marker, and then you'd have to
split that five ways. So that didn't even pay for the
(12:03):
gas for the trip in the car. So once we're all starting to
grow apart, we're getting turning into adults and we're
all going our separate ways. So someone said, hey, well, you
got the gear. Why don't you become ADJ?
You love to sing, You love to dokaraoke.
Like you don't need a band. And they said, yeah, that's
(12:24):
right. I don't need anybody.
So it's fun to doing it with others, but then you know
getting that $200, getting that 400 dollars, $600,000 market
yourself compared to splitting it five ways makes it bigger.
(12:45):
You can make bigger moves, bigger changes.
And actually it was great. The start up at first I was
booking into thought this is legally speaking 15 years of
doing this and it was great. I started low and you know, 400
(13:09):
bucks a night just to spin, playmusic or MC or just bring gear
out. My rate was cheap, but I was
building up the name. I was building up the brand, but
I was also getting booked every weekend and to the point where I
was almost able to sustain myself.
(13:33):
Pre COVID, I was going to be making roughly just around.
I'd be shy of $55,000 a year just doing DJ so that I can live
off that. I've lived poor.
I was poor. I'm still poor in the sense of
(14:01):
you can always make more, You'remore.
You got to know the the worth, the value of your time to be a
long time to understand that. And like I kept that rate low
for like 5 years. People like what you're you're
being underpaid. You're one of the best.
You're funnier going, you actually interact, you get the
people dancing, make people laugh.
(14:23):
I said, yeah, but that's, that'swhat I've done my whole life.
I've done that for my my cousins.
I've done that for my sisters, my mom, my dad.
I've done that for for for any random stranger.
If I get bored, I can grab a guitar.
When I was younger and I go downtown, I go play guitar for
strangers and just to get a reaction.
I love getting reactions. I love seeing someone smile and
(14:47):
making their day. So that's what Phi stands for.
And now just do the work itself.I'm still getting booked.
The rate has more than quadrupled.
And yeah, I'm a competitor up here to, to the point where I'm
(15:08):
getting booked right across Ontario that I'm going to ask
Southern Ontario, right up north, just through word of
mouth and repeating clients because they they had a great
experience and they wanted it again.
And one time I just recently, like right after COVID, I went
to to Toronto with a friend because there was an MC
(15:31):
competition. And I went there and maybe I
wasn't in the right state of mind at the time, but I ended up
coming up runner up out of like 100 people.
And I was the only one that was in the local in that area.
Wow, yeah. So that that pumped me up.
(15:52):
So I was like, yeah, because I could freestyle a little bit.
Like I'm really good on spot. Like you name it.
I know how to handle the mic. I know how to properly
communicate. A little tired right now, but
and this phone's garbage. So if you, if you don't hear me
properly, please just let me know and I'll try.
(16:12):
I'll try to do better. So were you.
You were off loading a bunch of gear lately I saw on Facebook.
So tell us about you have a lot of gear.
From what I understand, music, equipment, speakers, all that.
Tell us about some of the gear that you have that you use for a
show. I'm I got gear coming.
(16:34):
Out of your ears. Anybody want gear?
Does anybody want gear? Got gear for sale right now.
I'm trying to downsize. I got Marshall stacks, I got
Roland V series drum, electric drum kits, So I got a acoustic
Pearl acoustic kit. I just started getting into
drumming. I love it.
(16:56):
I love rhythm. I was always a rhythm kind of
guy and I was never able to master the guitar.
Even though I try, I still practice.
Not every day as much as I want to and I used to, but I I'm
already excelling in drums compared to guitar just because
(17:16):
fingers compared to, you know, arms, wrist movements and, you
know, throwing a stick against avinyl skin and or like a you
know what a what a difference. And I'm loving that.
I have a do didgeridoo. Yeah, I have one of those man,
(17:36):
for a much sure. Yeah, I have maracas, tamas,
bongos. I have a little little wind
chimes. I got roto Toms I got from
Marshall to Orange for for amps and for guitars, my specialty,
what I like, I like fat body guitars for acoustics.
(17:58):
So I have an old beater, an old Washburn wide body.
Also I have Michael Chuford. An acoustic is Simon, Simon
Luther. It's made by a good day.
And that's a wicked guitar. But yeah, I got basses, Ibanez,
(18:20):
acoustic, electric. I got whatever you want, man.
Like a Gretch, Fender, Gibson. Yeah.
For sale, Big yard sale here on Monday.
Check out my marketplace. Always stuff for sale.
Monday coming up. Yeah, this Monday, Yeah, this
Monday. I just sold this property here
(18:42):
in Hamrick. So I'm planning on on taking a
retreat. I'm going to do East to West
Coast Drive and then I'm planning on travelling a little
bit. I got my French teacher's
certificate so I can teach French abroad.
(19:02):
So I applied in Thailand, I applied in Hawaii, few other
places abroad. I really want to be Oceanside or
water. I want to get in that water.
I always loved water and I want to see what's in the water.
I want to feel something different.
I always love to swim. Swim is a natural euphoria for
(19:24):
me. It gets me really, really high
naturally and I love it. I always loved water, golf, our
bodies, what 98% of it, I, it's,it's in me.
I I'm like an avatar alien. Give me the water.
I guess I thought you had a goodtime then if you're going to be
(19:46):
traveling. It wasn't a good time.
It was a good year. Out of all I I would like to
have a good time. I lost.
I lost a lot this year. I lost my grandmother, my
mother, some immediate aunts anduncles.
(20:06):
I lost a friend, lost my wife and about to lose the house.
So not going to lose the house, don't want to lose the wife.
Everything's amicable. But yeah, it's been an intense
year and never, I was never one to believe in mental health.
(20:26):
I was never one to believe any of that sort because I had a lot
of friends going up saying, oh, you know, like I grew up with a
doctor saying the person has three things.
They're diagnosed with this, this or this and whoever says
mental health. My, my old family doctor, which
is no longer in practice. There's there's no such thing.
(20:49):
Now I am a strong believer and II'd like to apologize to
everyone too, that if I was hardon him growing up, I'm sorry.
Mental health is, is, is real and I feel it.
I felt it. And I'm always here too.
My lines are always open, my emails always there.
So if anybody needs to talk about anything, I have a
(21:12):
gentleman's club. It's called gentleman's Club and
it's once a month, a bunch of us.
It's not only for men. I just call the gentleman's
club. I invite everybody over and then
I have a fire and we just, we just talk, we vent because it's
better with it's, it's been, it's actually been growing and
(21:35):
it's actually been quite crazy and inspiring.
It's it's motivating. It shows a lot of people still
have empathy that still cares, still love.
I got loved twice in my life andit was from my mom and from my
wife here. So seeing strangers come out and
(21:58):
actually throw it all out there,it's quite inspiring and it's
moving and there's something generating out of this.
There's something that has been created and is going to have to
continue because it's it's helping people move on.
And again, like with this, by the end of the night, we put
(22:22):
some instruments, bongos, guitars, and it's it's just
always a good time, always a good time.
Every day is a blessing, eh? Every day when you wake up, it's
a blessing. You're still here.
And it's you can always make a amove, make a change.
And yeah, I consider this heaven.
(22:45):
If people believe in heaven or hell or have a specific
religion, I believe that this isour afterlife.
There is nothing after this. So you got to move today.
We got to make the best out of today because you know you won't
you'll be able to moving forward.
(23:07):
That's my belief. That's what I think.
And I'm trying to do exactly that.
I'm trying to move forward. I'm trying to help where I can.
And now I'm just, you know, getting older.
I want to explore a little bit. I want to work on my music on my
own time. I'll have a little bit of time
(23:27):
to do that now that's, you know,I'll, I have time.
And it's always good to make time too.
If you don't have any, because then you can't, you can't really
see what you really want to do. You can't really see where you
want to go or because there's constant obstacles in your daily
(23:49):
life. You're doing good with this
podcast too. You're doing a few other things.
You know, you're still pursuing it.
This is a passion. Like that's what it is with DJ
Fight. It's a passion of mine.
It's become a job and sometimes that your jobs you're working.
Sometimes you don't like doing what you're doing at your job,
(24:11):
but it's always rewarding and always a good time.
Always a good time. So DJ Phi, I just want to make a
note that I, I feel that you're very inspiring as a, as a
person. So if, if I ever inspired you
while you're paying me back. So the next question that I
have, I ask every guest, it's the same question exactly.
(24:37):
So here it is. We have about 5 minutes left.
What is one thing that you feel would make Sudbury greater?
And it's like asking me one plusone, what does that equal to?
A lot of people say Oh well 1 + 1 = 1.
And then other people say well, 1 + 1 = 2.
(25:00):
What would make Subway better? If you actually look into the
history of Subway, the valley, it is a mining town and it's
unreal. Like from the 70s, eighties, how
it was a dirt Rd. Paris was a dirt Rd. and then
it's paved the next year and there's science north right
beside it. Unreal the growth here in
(25:23):
Sudbury overnight but right now everything's backwards.
They should have kept everythinglocal.
Nothing's local anymore. It goes local, it's no longer
local and stuff stop progressinghere.
Stuff just stopped since the 80sand the 90s Nothing.
(25:45):
Sudbury hasn't moved forward since then.
You look at all the jobs like they have the highest turnovers
for employees. They're still there, still the
same jobs. What we need is a new face.
What we need is togetherness. We need to people to stand up
and say, OK, it's time to exactly that move on.
(26:08):
What would makes every better isproper communication.
It's, you know, teamwork. You'll be actually standing up
and showing up. There's talking.
What what was that we were discussing the Damien the wave.
They're saying there's you can walk the walk and talk to talk.
Well, when I, when I talk to talk, best believe that I walk
(26:34):
it whatever I say, I do whateverothers say.
And this, this was tough too. You get to see this growing up.
A lot of people say that they'regoing to do something and they
don't. And that's 5050 now.
(26:54):
And that's due to, you know, could be multiple things, but
you want to do something for you, you got to do it for you.
And best thing for Sebri right now, man, oh man, music wise,
everything downtown is old. Downtown's got to shift.
(27:17):
Nightclub's still the nightclub.You know, there's maybe a new
restaurant popping here there. They're promoting downtown.
And yet it's the most unsafe area to be in Sebri right now
due to the drug epidemic, homelessness.
There's always something happening downtown every day.
And that too, like our media, our municipality, our city.
(27:44):
Not everybody is 100% honest. And the media doesn't release
everything that happens in the city every day, like people like
Bonjour, but really there's someone dying every day from a,
a drug problem or someone dying due to opiates or somebody dying
due to a murder, you know, like,and they don't share that
(28:07):
information. And like municipalities like
you, when you're a neighbor, when you have somebody beside
you and you hear something, you spark up a conversation and you
find something out. Well, me, I call that.
I want to, I want to hear it. I need the truth.
Like I called BSA lot, eh? Like you tell me something and I
(28:29):
don't believe you. I'll say it right there in your
face BS like prove it. That's the other thing I say.
Prove it. And you know, it's 5050.
Some can, some can't, and somebody can't.
Somebody can't move forward. This is going to be the same
(28:50):
town that it's been, unfortunately, with the federal
government with immigration, youhave a lot more competition now
for jobs. And best believe that those
immigrants too know how to play music.
I know how to say, oh, dude, unreal.
This guy was singing like MariahCarey there the other day and he
(29:14):
was like 4 foot nothing there, anice little thick mustache.
And I was like, what? And I said this guy could barely
speak English, but yet he was nailing this song.
And I just heard him just walking like across the mall
there one day. I encourage that.
I say, hey, I'm DJ 5 S draw me aline.
(29:36):
And like, I want to help you, like help.
I rather that's what it is, subway moving.
Like you just got to be there for other people because the
city is not there. You know, like somebody's not
going to move forward. The mine will still be there.
You either have to be a minor ora teacher here to survive.
(30:00):
You can't survive 1. You know, mom and pop shop.
Like I could have like with the DJ 5:00 I could have.
But eventually, you know, I get squeezed out due to taxes.
Like even if you own a property these days, like just your
property taxes been doubling every year for like the past
(30:24):
seven years for nothing. We're not getting any extra
services. If somebody would have stayed
separate and would get the valley separate, remember like
how things were different. Our roads are plowed in the
valley. We had nice lights on our street
posts. Everything was neat and clean in
the valley before it amalgamatedto the city.
(30:48):
And now, like, I'm paying extra property taxes because I'm
considered in a school zone, theschools on the other side of
another St. and I'm still getting billed for it.
And I'm the last Rd. getting plowed and the last Rd. you
know, getting salted. You know, like it's all
backwards. It's all political.
(31:10):
And I'm not getting into that. I've got a lot of people saying
that you should jump into politics.
I was like, yeah, sure. No, maybe if the old mayor from
Toronto was still around there, I'd probably kick it with him
for a little bit of like to pokehis brain there.
Yeah, Rob Ford. But he was a people person.
(31:30):
Regardless of how, you know, howpeople portrayed him.
He was actually on the streets. He was out there.
I met him one time and you know,it was, it was pretty, it was
pretty surreal, like how open and honest someone could be.
But then yet, you know, have a slight issue and then turns
around. But he's still got elected.
(31:52):
He just goes to show if you're apeople person, people are there.
If you're not, you know people won't want to listen, won't want
to tune in, people won't want toshare or like or because now
it's all social media. You know.
The the summary I want is onlineand like the online summary is
(32:15):
people like you and me, friends and family and all artists
supporting each other because noone else will.
You know that. Well, hey, man, that's our time
for today's Sudbury interviews, everyone.
And Eva, I want to thank you sincerely for taking a moment
because I know you're very busy and you're you're going to play
today at Valley E Days. I might even pop by there.
(32:37):
Check that. Yeah. 48th, 40th anniversary of
Valley E days here in Hammer, Ontario.
And tonight we have a Aerosmith cover band starting up at 7:00.
Then we have Finger 11 that's headlining so should be a good
turn out. Yesterday we hit around like 4
or 500 people. Tonight we're expecting around
(32:58):
18 to 2000 depending on the weather.
So if you haven't gotten your tickets, come out, get your
tickets, come have fun. I'll be there.
Come say hi. Right on man.
Appreciate you, Dan. I appreciate you.
Take care, brother. You too.
Bye bye.
Hi everyone, welcome to Sudbury Interviews.
Today we have Eve Charbonneau, known professionally as DJ Phi
and he's a professional DJ here in Sudbury, very well known and
very successful. And also I went to high school
with Eve, so it's a pleasure to have him on the show.
Before we begin, you can find uson Suds Town and join the
(00:21):
conversation. If you would be like to be a
guest on the show, please reach out.
DJ Phi, how are you? How's my friend Daddy Stark?
I'm doing well. Thanks for coming on.
Yeah, thank you, man. Pleasure's all mine.
So you're saying you're you're gigging at Valley E days this
(00:41):
weekend? Yeah, I'm, I'm spinning between
sets and MC and nothing short ofgood times.
Regardless of the weather, it's always horrible weather this
weekend in September and yesterday we had an outage or
(01:03):
several hydro outage and it knocked out all the power at the
mall and all the surrounding areas.
So that killed the vibe for about.
Well, I let it only chill for about an hour and then I ran
inside the bar. I ripped apart by Tallows, the
(01:23):
restaurant owners stage, and I found a powered speaker,
luckily, and then I found some specific cables.
I was able to find a generator and Jimmy rig at least a speaker
and a microphone for at least two hours and to have people
listen to music and have the Q&A2 cast do their announcements.
(01:45):
And yeah, it was. It was great.
So you were the hero of the day yesterday?
Everybody's a hero, yeah. Yeah.
Yeah, I I just tried. That's the name of the game.
And that's why people, this one doesn't stop.
And they they just know that theservice will be there regardless
(02:07):
of the music and the entertainment.
And that's what it's that's what5 stands for.
It took me about 10 years to come up with that name.
It's for your entertainment and there's nothing better to
represent me. So tell us about your beginnings
with music, how you got into thebusiness, because I know you're
(02:27):
a singer and a guitar player too.
So how did you start out? Started out with family so his
family. I grew up in a really Catholic
household and so church every Sunday, lots of singing, lots of
family events on the weekends, alot of uncles and cousins
playing guitar and singing. And it was always fun to to sing
(02:51):
along. And then till you figured out
that someone couldn't finish a song on any type of instrument
they were playing. That encouraged me a little bit
to play guitar because I said, well, I can sing a song from
start to finish, I could play one too.
And yeah, my sisters Jose, she was a major Jennifer York
(03:11):
University, so she was pro operasinger.
My sister Mel, some of the closet singer, Beautiful voices,
both of them, and me being the younger sibling and growing up
with that, I just wanted to harmonize and be as good as
them. It will never happen, but I'd
(03:32):
like to think so. And so.
Yeah, that picking up guitar. Then high school came around and
there was the music group there.That's how I got to meet you.
You were actually one of my idols too when I was younger.
Seeing you play and sing a good song, play guitar properly and
(03:52):
sing the song from start to finish and hit those notes, it's
encouraging to see others do that, especially at a young age
and when you have the passion for it.
There's you, there's Ron, there's Justin, there's a whole
bunch of wicked, wicked artists at that school.
(04:12):
It's unreal. And yeah, I kept going with
that. I joined the school band.
I brought back the school band 2.
We wrote a new theme song for that high school, which went
grades. We travelled a bit in grade 12
with our band Edie Kibb. And then I branched off from
(04:35):
that. Early in high school I had a
band called Neglected by Societywith a bunch of guys from
Horizon as well and then also tried the French Market, our
band name. It was the same band but we're
called Franco Maniac and we released 2 demos, look at a demo
(04:55):
with each band but nothing more than that.
We played local Battle of the bands.
I remember in like 2005 we'd be back Roads.
Oh 2005 me and you buddy. Canadian Idol.
Top 1000 Top 2000 would you hit?I went top 50 but it was O seven
season 5. Top 50, That was the only year
(05:18):
you did it, or you did before that too.
I had tried out but I didn't. I didn't even get through the
first time. Kitchener.
Was it Kitchener 2000 and. Seven.
No, the O 7 was London. I went to London.
Yeah, we drove there in a snowstorm and the only reason I
(05:38):
went back because is is they allowed us to play guitar.
That was the first year that they said you could play guitar
in your auditions. Oh, that's right, you're in
London. I I went to the kitchen, I went
to Kitchener and I made the first 3 rounds and that's the
first year I went to because they you had to you got the
guitar. That was fun.
(06:00):
I made a top 1000. I'm not top 50 like you.
There was a professional, I was young, dumb and naive and I went
there with a broken arm, tight cancer bat pink T-shirt with a
pink cast and Good Charlotte hair.
There I had a little bleach spoton my head.
(06:24):
It was good. Like some of the buddies that
came up with each. I turned 19, so it was a pretty
busy weekend to say the least and could have done better.
But again, it was just there forfun and to see where you can
actually put yourself in. Yeah, you did top 50.
You actually got airtime too. I remember that.
(06:46):
Yeah, for sure. Yeah, so shout out for you too.
Oh thanks. So how did you transition from a
musician to a DJ? That's a big step.
I mean, I don't think I could ever do that.
Like I did a gig for you last October, didn't really know what
I was doing, but pulled it off because you told me what to do.
Basically showed me the ropes. But how do you How do you learn?
(07:08):
That again, thank you for that. Then you pulled through that day
and again, much thanks and it's much appreciated.
My did this transition because as a Group, A band, even if
you're travelling or not, it's tight budget wise to pursue
this. Even if you have a paid off
(07:29):
vehicle, it's, it's hard to movearound to get gas.
It's hard to move around as in finding people that aren't
committed to anything else that could travel with you.
It's and it's, it's, it's, it's quite costly to, to start up.
So we did a little bit Northern Ontario and we were quite
(07:54):
successful. But again, we're young and like
the drummer was in his second year heavy duty mechanic
apprenticeship. Our bass player was in his
second year of teachers college.Our lead guitarist was in his
first year of social working. It was really tough to to to
(08:14):
actually book something or plan something out there to hit the
road. So we just cut at that.
And then around 2000 and five, 2007 looked at like 2011.
I just started doing solo gigs, started open mic nights from
Little Montreal, Shaughnessy's, which is Wacky Wings.
(08:35):
Now there's a few other pubs SROI started doing competing
nights. So I do one on a Wednesday at
Little Montreal, Thursday at Shaughnessy's, and that started
becoming quite successful and tothe point where I was hosting
and I was playing most of the night because there's no one
coming out and to play, people would come to watch.
(09:01):
Really. Wow.
No one would come to play because everybody was too shy or
they didn't want to do it. And I knew another few gems,
wicked guitar players, wicked singers, and they just didn't
have the courage until they see me do it multiple times.
And then they finally got the courage like can you play with
me and or can you do this with me?
(09:22):
And pushed a few individuals to pursue.
And they're quite successful today and I'm proud of them too.
But DJI had the gear. It was my gear.
I was the one that was fronting most of the stuff for the band,
(09:44):
booking the gigs, the songs, like everything from writing
music I, I had I backed it, it was a majority mine.
Like obviously everything is shared but like I was doing the
work I was doing like legwork, the writing, the the bookings,
the everything and takes time. And so I found a better way to
(10:10):
make a little bit more money as a musician.
Obviously I'm not getting to play my original stuff in which
I would like to do, but that's always coming.
I know like I've been talking about releasing albums.
I have 3 full albums right now that I'm still not done mixing
and mastering. Have a country album coming out.
I have a Hard Rock album coming out and then a French folk rock
(10:33):
album alternative. Stay tuned for that DJ 5 on
MENA. But yeah, my website too.
We're supposed to launch. I was supposed to have something
good this weekend with Valley E Days.
Something had occurred yesterday.
I was supposed to launch my website this weekend and give
(10:55):
out some big promos and some huge discounts on weddings,
events, parties and more. But I did do the first step
yesterday and add Valley E Days on the stage and I ended up
getting a few bookings right then and there.
People see me hustling and it's a good advertisement through
(11:17):
them. I am the local, first local DJ
there in a long time for about these days.
Like all the other guys are not from him or not from Balkan.
So I'll take a, I'll take a little bit of pride in that.
And then, yeah. So a band is five people, four
people, 3 people and you can buy, oh, Black Keys is 2 people.
(11:42):
You have to split everything down the middle.
So everything's 5050. And as a band, like some gigs,
man, you can pay 200 bucks a night.
Some, sometimes you get lucky, 456.
It'd be rare to hit $1000 marker, and then you'd have to
split that five ways. So that didn't even pay for the
(12:03):
gas for the trip in the car. So once we're all starting to
grow apart, we're getting turning into adults and we're
all going our separate ways. So someone said, hey, well, you
got the gear. Why don't you become ADJ?
You love to sing, You love to dokaraoke.
Like you don't need a band. And they said, yeah, that's
(12:24):
right. I don't need anybody.
So it's fun to doing it with others, but then you know
getting that $200, getting that 400 dollars, $600,000 market
yourself compared to splitting it five ways makes it bigger.
(12:45):
You can make bigger moves, bigger changes.
And actually it was great. The start up at first I was
booking into thought this is legally speaking 15 years of
doing this and it was great. I started low and you know, 400
(13:09):
bucks a night just to spin, playmusic or MC or just bring gear
out. My rate was cheap, but I was
building up the name. I was building up the brand, but
I was also getting booked every weekend and to the point where I
was almost able to sustain myself.
(13:33):
Pre COVID, I was going to be making roughly just around.
I'd be shy of $55,000 a year just doing DJ so that I can live
off that. I've lived poor.
I was poor. I'm still poor in the sense of
(14:01):
you can always make more, You'remore.
You got to know the the worth, the value of your time to be a
long time to understand that. And like I kept that rate low
for like 5 years. People like what you're you're
being underpaid. You're one of the best.
You're funnier going, you actually interact, you get the
people dancing, make people laugh.
(14:23):
I said, yeah, but that's, that'swhat I've done my whole life.
I've done that for my my cousins.
I've done that for my sisters, my mom, my dad.
I've done that for for for any random stranger.
If I get bored, I can grab a guitar.
When I was younger and I go downtown, I go play guitar for
strangers and just to get a reaction.
I love getting reactions. I love seeing someone smile and
(14:47):
making their day. So that's what Phi stands for.
And now just do the work itself.I'm still getting booked.
The rate has more than quadrupled.
And yeah, I'm a competitor up here to, to the point where I'm
(15:08):
getting booked right across Ontario that I'm going to ask
Southern Ontario, right up north, just through word of
mouth and repeating clients because they they had a great
experience and they wanted it again.
And one time I just recently, like right after COVID, I went
to to Toronto with a friend because there was an MC
(15:31):
competition. And I went there and maybe I
wasn't in the right state of mind at the time, but I ended up
coming up runner up out of like 100 people.
And I was the only one that was in the local in that area.
Wow, yeah. So that that pumped me up.
(15:52):
So I was like, yeah, because I could freestyle a little bit.
Like I'm really good on spot. Like you name it.
I know how to handle the mic. I know how to properly
communicate. A little tired right now, but
and this phone's garbage. So if you, if you don't hear me
properly, please just let me know and I'll try.
(16:12):
I'll try to do better. So were you.
You were off loading a bunch of gear lately I saw on Facebook.
So tell us about you have a lot of gear.
From what I understand, music, equipment, speakers, all that.
Tell us about some of the gear that you have that you use for a
show. I'm I got gear coming.
(16:34):
Out of your ears. Anybody want gear?
Does anybody want gear? Got gear for sale right now.
I'm trying to downsize. I got Marshall stacks, I got
Roland V series drum, electric drum kits, So I got a acoustic
Pearl acoustic kit. I just started getting into
drumming. I love it.
(16:56):
I love rhythm. I was always a rhythm kind of
guy and I was never able to master the guitar.
Even though I try, I still practice.
Not every day as much as I want to and I used to, but I I'm
already excelling in drums compared to guitar just because
(17:16):
fingers compared to, you know, arms, wrist movements and, you
know, throwing a stick against avinyl skin and or like a you
know what a what a difference. And I'm loving that.
I have a do didgeridoo. Yeah, I have one of those man,
(17:36):
for a much sure. Yeah, I have maracas, tamas,
bongos. I have a little little wind
chimes. I got roto Toms I got from
Marshall to Orange for for amps and for guitars, my specialty,
what I like, I like fat body guitars for acoustics.
(17:58):
So I have an old beater, an old Washburn wide body.
Also I have Michael Chuford. An acoustic is Simon, Simon
Luther. It's made by a good day.
And that's a wicked guitar. But yeah, I got basses, Ibanez,
(18:20):
acoustic, electric. I got whatever you want, man.
Like a Gretch, Fender, Gibson. Yeah.
For sale, Big yard sale here on Monday.
Check out my marketplace. Always stuff for sale.
Monday coming up. Yeah, this Monday, Yeah, this
Monday. I just sold this property here
(18:42):
in Hamrick. So I'm planning on on taking a
retreat. I'm going to do East to West
Coast Drive and then I'm planning on travelling a little
bit. I got my French teacher's
certificate so I can teach French abroad.
(19:02):
So I applied in Thailand, I applied in Hawaii, few other
places abroad. I really want to be Oceanside or
water. I want to get in that water.
I always loved water and I want to see what's in the water.
I want to feel something different.
I always love to swim. Swim is a natural euphoria for
(19:24):
me. It gets me really, really high
naturally and I love it. I always loved water, golf, our
bodies, what 98% of it, I, it's,it's in me.
I I'm like an avatar alien. Give me the water.
I guess I thought you had a goodtime then if you're going to be
(19:46):
traveling. It wasn't a good time.
It was a good year. Out of all I I would like to
have a good time. I lost.
I lost a lot this year. I lost my grandmother, my
mother, some immediate aunts anduncles.
(20:06):
I lost a friend, lost my wife and about to lose the house.
So not going to lose the house, don't want to lose the wife.
Everything's amicable. But yeah, it's been an intense
year and never, I was never one to believe in mental health.
(20:26):
I was never one to believe any of that sort because I had a lot
of friends going up saying, oh, you know, like I grew up with a
doctor saying the person has three things.
They're diagnosed with this, this or this and whoever says
mental health. My, my old family doctor, which
is no longer in practice. There's there's no such thing.
(20:49):
Now I am a strong believer and II'd like to apologize to
everyone too, that if I was hardon him growing up, I'm sorry.
Mental health is, is, is real and I feel it.
I felt it. And I'm always here too.
My lines are always open, my emails always there.
So if anybody needs to talk about anything, I have a
(21:12):
gentleman's club. It's called gentleman's Club and
it's once a month, a bunch of us.
It's not only for men. I just call the gentleman's
club. I invite everybody over and then
I have a fire and we just, we just talk, we vent because it's
better with it's, it's been, it's actually been growing and
(21:35):
it's actually been quite crazy and inspiring.
It's it's motivating. It shows a lot of people still
have empathy that still cares, still love.
I got loved twice in my life andit was from my mom and from my
wife here. So seeing strangers come out and
(21:58):
actually throw it all out there,it's quite inspiring and it's
moving and there's something generating out of this.
There's something that has been created and is going to have to
continue because it's it's helping people move on.
And again, like with this, by the end of the night, we put
(22:22):
some instruments, bongos, guitars, and it's it's just
always a good time, always a good time.
Every day is a blessing, eh? Every day when you wake up, it's
a blessing. You're still here.
And it's you can always make a amove, make a change.
And yeah, I consider this heaven.
(22:45):
If people believe in heaven or hell or have a specific
religion, I believe that this isour afterlife.
There is nothing after this. So you got to move today.
We got to make the best out of today because you know you won't
you'll be able to moving forward.
(23:07):
That's my belief. That's what I think.
And I'm trying to do exactly that.
I'm trying to move forward. I'm trying to help where I can.
And now I'm just, you know, getting older.
I want to explore a little bit. I want to work on my music on my
own time. I'll have a little bit of time
(23:27):
to do that now that's, you know,I'll, I have time.
And it's always good to make time too.
If you don't have any, because then you can't, you can't really
see what you really want to do. You can't really see where you
want to go or because there's constant obstacles in your daily
(23:49):
life. You're doing good with this
podcast too. You're doing a few other things.
You know, you're still pursuing it.
This is a passion. Like that's what it is with DJ
Fight. It's a passion of mine.
It's become a job and sometimes that your jobs you're working.
Sometimes you don't like doing what you're doing at your job,
(24:11):
but it's always rewarding and always a good time.
Always a good time. So DJ Phi, I just want to make a
note that I, I feel that you're very inspiring as a, as a
person. So if, if I ever inspired you
while you're paying me back. So the next question that I
have, I ask every guest, it's the same question exactly.
(24:37):
So here it is. We have about 5 minutes left.
What is one thing that you feel would make Sudbury greater?
And it's like asking me one plusone, what does that equal to?
A lot of people say Oh well 1 + 1 = 1.
And then other people say well, 1 + 1 = 2.
(25:00):
What would make Subway better? If you actually look into the
history of Subway, the valley, it is a mining town and it's
unreal. Like from the 70s, eighties, how
it was a dirt Rd. Paris was a dirt Rd. and then
it's paved the next year and there's science north right
beside it. Unreal the growth here in
(25:23):
Sudbury overnight but right now everything's backwards.
They should have kept everythinglocal.
Nothing's local anymore. It goes local, it's no longer
local and stuff stop progressinghere.
Stuff just stopped since the 80sand the 90s Nothing.
(25:45):
Sudbury hasn't moved forward since then.
You look at all the jobs like they have the highest turnovers
for employees. They're still there, still the
same jobs. What we need is a new face.
What we need is togetherness. We need to people to stand up
and say, OK, it's time to exactly that move on.
(26:08):
What would makes every better isproper communication.
It's, you know, teamwork. You'll be actually standing up
and showing up. There's talking.
What what was that we were discussing the Damien the wave.
They're saying there's you can walk the walk and talk to talk.
Well, when I, when I talk to talk, best believe that I walk
(26:34):
it whatever I say, I do whateverothers say.
And this, this was tough too. You get to see this growing up.
A lot of people say that they'regoing to do something and they
don't. And that's 5050 now.
(26:54):
And that's due to, you know, could be multiple things, but
you want to do something for you, you got to do it for you.
And best thing for Sebri right now, man, oh man, music wise,
everything downtown is old. Downtown's got to shift.
(27:17):
Nightclub's still the nightclub.You know, there's maybe a new
restaurant popping here there. They're promoting downtown.
And yet it's the most unsafe area to be in Sebri right now
due to the drug epidemic, homelessness.
There's always something happening downtown every day.
And that too, like our media, our municipality, our city.
(27:44):
Not everybody is 100% honest. And the media doesn't release
everything that happens in the city every day, like people like
Bonjour, but really there's someone dying every day from a,
a drug problem or someone dying due to opiates or somebody dying
due to a murder, you know, like,and they don't share that
(28:07):
information. And like municipalities like
you, when you're a neighbor, when you have somebody beside
you and you hear something, you spark up a conversation and you
find something out. Well, me, I call that.
I want to, I want to hear it. I need the truth.
Like I called BSA lot, eh? Like you tell me something and I
(28:29):
don't believe you. I'll say it right there in your
face BS like prove it. That's the other thing I say.
Prove it. And you know, it's 5050.
Some can, some can't, and somebody can't.
Somebody can't move forward. This is going to be the same
(28:50):
town that it's been, unfortunately, with the federal
government with immigration, youhave a lot more competition now
for jobs. And best believe that those
immigrants too know how to play music.
I know how to say, oh, dude, unreal.
This guy was singing like MariahCarey there the other day and he
(29:14):
was like 4 foot nothing there, anice little thick mustache.
And I was like, what? And I said this guy could barely
speak English, but yet he was nailing this song.
And I just heard him just walking like across the mall
there one day. I encourage that.
I say, hey, I'm DJ 5 S draw me aline.
(29:36):
And like, I want to help you, like help.
I rather that's what it is, subway moving.
Like you just got to be there for other people because the
city is not there. You know, like somebody's not
going to move forward. The mine will still be there.
You either have to be a minor ora teacher here to survive.
(30:00):
You can't survive 1. You know, mom and pop shop.
Like I could have like with the DJ 5:00 I could have.
But eventually, you know, I get squeezed out due to taxes.
Like even if you own a property these days, like just your
property taxes been doubling every year for like the past
(30:24):
seven years for nothing. We're not getting any extra
services. If somebody would have stayed
separate and would get the valley separate, remember like
how things were different. Our roads are plowed in the
valley. We had nice lights on our street
posts. Everything was neat and clean in
the valley before it amalgamatedto the city.
(30:48):
And now, like, I'm paying extra property taxes because I'm
considered in a school zone, theschools on the other side of
another St. and I'm still getting billed for it.
And I'm the last Rd. getting plowed and the last Rd. you
know, getting salted. You know, like it's all
backwards. It's all political.
(31:10):
And I'm not getting into that. I've got a lot of people saying
that you should jump into politics.
I was like, yeah, sure. No, maybe if the old mayor from
Toronto was still around there, I'd probably kick it with him
for a little bit of like to pokehis brain there.
Yeah, Rob Ford. But he was a people person.
(31:30):
Regardless of how, you know, howpeople portrayed him.
He was actually on the streets. He was out there.
I met him one time and you know,it was, it was pretty, it was
pretty surreal, like how open and honest someone could be.
But then yet, you know, have a slight issue and then turns
around. But he's still got elected.
(31:52):
He just goes to show if you're apeople person, people are there.
If you're not, you know people won't want to listen, won't want
to tune in, people won't want toshare or like or because now
it's all social media. You know.
The the summary I want is onlineand like the online summary is
(32:15):
people like you and me, friends and family and all artists
supporting each other because noone else will.
You know that. Well, hey, man, that's our time
for today's Sudbury interviews, everyone.
And Eva, I want to thank you sincerely for taking a moment
because I know you're very busy and you're you're going to play
today at Valley E Days. I might even pop by there.
(32:37):
Check that. Yeah. 48th, 40th anniversary of
Valley E days here in Hammer, Ontario.
And tonight we have a Aerosmith cover band starting up at 7:00.
Then we have Finger 11 that's headlining so should be a good
turn out. Yesterday we hit around like 4
or 500 people. Tonight we're expecting around
(32:58):
18 to 2000 depending on the weather.
So if you haven't gotten your tickets, come out, get your
tickets, come have fun. I'll be there.
Come say hi. Right on man.
Appreciate you, Dan. I appreciate you.
Take care, brother. You too.
Bye bye.
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