August 9, 2024 • 15 mins
Welcome to One Bad Podcast!
Join Kurt and Shane as they kick off 20 years worth of stories, memories and advice for up-and-coming Canadian rock and roll bands.
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Join Kurt and Shane as they kick off 20 years worth of stories, memories and advice for up-and-coming Canadian rock and roll bands.
You can watch One Bad Podcast on YouTube, here: https://youtu.be/DIn99sZPj6U
Checkout One Bad Son online: https://www.onebadson.com/
Shane Volk: https://www.shaneconneryvolk.com/
Kurt Dahl: https://lawyerdrummer.com/
If you are a content creator, new or experienced, join our team!
If you'd like to advertise with us, head to our website.
Join the movement here: https://www.dufferinave.com/
Socials:
https://www.instagram.com/onebadson
https://www.facebook.com/onebadson/
https://x.com/OneBadSon
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:01):
Welcome the One Bad Podcast. Here's your host Kad and Shaner.
Speaker 2 (00:09):
Katie. This is great. We were also welcome back to
the podcast.
Speaker 3 (00:14):
By the way, everybody, I keep just jumping into these
We have so much to talk about. So we were
talking about off air, just how telling these stories and
sort of revisiting an era. All of a sudden, these
memories and stuff, they really start to pop off. And
it's one thing I love about this podcast is just
re entering a headspace almost of this era, and we're
(00:38):
gonna talk about while it's one of, if not like
the rival to biggest hits kind of for fans I
think is Scarecrows and then Retribution Blues.
Speaker 4 (00:50):
Yeah, man, it was a It's always been a special
song because it it's always say it's one of those songs.
Many of our songs take hours and weeks and months
sometimes years to write, but Scarecrows and Blues, like often
the biggest ones just seem to write themselves.
Speaker 1 (01:06):
And Blues.
Speaker 4 (01:07):
I think we wrote it, you know, it's some minor
tweaks after, but it took about like ten minutes to write,
you know, and it just came out of the ether.
And have you told the story about the sound checking
yet or.
Speaker 3 (01:17):
No, like how how we actually wrote the song. It's
one of my favorite stories that we have. I love it.
Speaker 2 (01:25):
Do you want to do you want to? Go go ahead?
Speaker 3 (01:27):
Well, you tell it from your perspective, because I remember
how it happened for me, So go ahead. Well.
Speaker 4 (01:31):
Actually, had we rented this as Hicks was living in
a rental property, and we jammed in the basement. I
remembers like kind of a dank basement, and it was
like our first jam, and we were worried that it
was gonna be too loud for the neighbors and landlord.
Speaker 3 (01:45):
Well, because that we should say at the at the
band house, which we are now moved out of, the
police came over a decent amount of times because of
noise complaints. So that was the new thing, where like
we better make sure that like we're not going to
get in too much shit, right, so.
Speaker 4 (01:58):
We're we're being respectful renters or Hicks was, and so
I was like, Hicks, just want you to play a
little riff. I'm gonna go outside and check the volume, right,
And so as you and Hicks stayed in the house, right, is.
Speaker 1 (02:08):
That the vibe?
Speaker 4 (02:09):
And so I go outside, and I walked out, you know,
a few houses down, just to see the volume, and
Hicks starts playing this riff and it was just like
the catchiest riff I've heard him play in the nine
year eight years that I knew him. You know, it
just groovy, sexy, kind of stone zy. I was like, whoa,
And so I come inside and he stops playing, and.
Speaker 1 (02:29):
And well, you tell me what you tell me?
Speaker 3 (02:31):
You remember, because I remember exactly what you said. You're
like two things. First of all, it's not too loud.
Second of all, what fucking song is that? And then
we literally sat down and you I mean the beat
that you played like pretty much right off the hot
Like you said, that song was just like Granny threw
a bassline down.
Speaker 2 (02:51):
That was basically it my melody.
Speaker 3 (02:54):
Even the lyrics were it was kind of like walk
the Line, Wait Waste my songs. I was listening to
a lot of Johnny Cash, so like walk the Line
popped him my head. It was very like, You're right,
that was very kind of untouched, And it was. It's
cool telling this story from both perspectives because you you know,
you're like, you volunteered to go out and see how
(03:16):
loud it was, and the three of us were standing
there and it was like.
Speaker 2 (03:19):
Oh, what should we what should we play?
Speaker 3 (03:21):
Because without drums, we probably should have sent me, quite honestly,
because I would be like, well, the drums and guitar
are probably going to be what are the loudest.
Speaker 2 (03:29):
But I don't know why you got sent out.
Speaker 3 (03:32):
But we stood there and we were like, well, what
are we going to play and whatever? Hicks said something
and I'm like, I don't think we can even jant
without drums. I don't wan't we Just I said, why
don't you just do like a blues thing, just like
give me a give me like some blues riff and
I'll just riff over. I'll just sing and then grant
(03:52):
you know. So that's what we did, or like play something.
And he literally played that riff like he had wrote it.
He came up with it on the spot. Full credit
to Hicks. It just came out and uh, yeah, the
rest is history. You came in and we jammed it
and it was like, holy shit.
Speaker 4 (04:08):
And tell me if this remind me this is true
or is this just my imagination? But when I came
back in, didn't he for a moment forget it, like
we had to, like yeah, like it was gone. So
the universe gave and it taketh away because like for
a few minutes he forgot right and you you like
you saw potential soda grinny, We're all like, Hicks, play
it again, and he couldn't figure it out right for.
Speaker 2 (04:30):
Yeah, cause he could, You're dude, that's funny.
Speaker 3 (04:33):
You're one hundred percent right because he didn't remember because
he didn't write it, like he just literally jammed a
blues thing and it was like he and I remember
being like he kind of played it and I was like, no,
you did this like thing at the end.
Speaker 2 (04:46):
It's like and then he got it back. Luckily the
universe was like, nah, here you can have it back,
you guys. You guys need this one.
Speaker 4 (04:56):
I've seen you guys have been eating the last several years.
That's crazy And you're right, And I remember from that
point on because this is kind of pre smartphones, like,
but I remember I always had I bought like a
recorder from like radio Shack or something to make sure
we never missed something like that again because I was
we had over the years, we'd had some gems. The
(05:17):
Hicks would come up with and then he'd forget by
the next jam, like and yeah, maybe.
Speaker 1 (05:21):
Those are our biggest songs yet. We'll have to see
if we can find them again.
Speaker 4 (05:24):
But but it's always record, record, record, Now it's easy
with a smartphone.
Speaker 1 (05:28):
But had he not remembered that riff again? What if? Right?
Speaker 3 (05:34):
Well, totally absolutely, And that's funny you bring that up too,
because I had the same I had a little my
parents bought me a little recorder with like the little tapes,
and I still have them somewhere, so I should probably
go back. I bet you that in moments it's on
one of ours somewhere, unless we were already recording on
iPhones by that time. But it was crazy, man, what
a That is so rare for something like that to happen,
(05:57):
because you know, we'll talk about Satellite Hotel on the
next when we get into the Black Buffalo album. But
it was the exact opposite, right like we fought for
that song. We fought, we had like a cool idea
was in there, like again, we'll talk about this more,
but Hicks had that riff for Satellite Hotel.
Speaker 2 (06:17):
But we could not come up with a course.
Speaker 3 (06:19):
I remember like going home and writing and we'd write,
you know, so usually that's kind of you sort of
fight to get where you're like, okay, now we've got it, man,
and you just wish that they all happened, Like you
you said that quote about you know, if you knew
where those ideas came from, you would just like the
Leonard co unquote, you just go there all the time
(06:39):
and get them.
Speaker 2 (06:40):
But it's cool because it's a magical moment.
Speaker 4 (06:43):
Absolutely, yeah, and like you're always chasing that high, right,
Like that's and think I mean, think about we moved
out to Vancouver, which is after this, I believe it was. Yeah,
think about how many hours we put in Vancouver. It
was actually in Langley, but I mean that's when we really,
I think, put our hours in and just you know,
(07:04):
how many hours did we'd spend jamming and you'd find
those moments but it wasn't.
Speaker 1 (07:08):
Like they didn't come that often.
Speaker 4 (07:10):
We're you just write a complete a song presents itself
essentially complete, right that this just doesn't happen.
Speaker 1 (07:16):
But when it does, it's like, holy crap, what a gift?
Speaker 3 (07:19):
You know, oh, absolutely absolutely, And you know it's such
an interesting time because we've already talked about a lot
of our time in Vancouver and about the Carlie Ray
thing and about waiting around for the two years, so
you can imagine that, you know, we had Scarecrows, we
had Blues It and right in like so many good
songs on that record that I'm super proud of, but
(07:41):
we sat on them for two years.
Speaker 2 (07:42):
You know.
Speaker 3 (07:43):
That was why when we were talking about how Scarecrows
came out, it was so hard for us to like,
after that two years, we finally are putting stuff out
on the radio and Russ bucket bombs. So that's why, like,
you know, going back to that Scarecrow's or like, man,
everything was on it, like there was you felt the
(08:04):
pressure because of like all these years, like these moments
that happened. We had these amazing songs, and you realize, like, well,
if people don't like Scarecrows, they're not gonna get to
even hear Retribution Blues. And that's always a tough feeling
because that's the other thing that you inevitably have to
do when you're picking singles is uh, you know, do
(08:25):
you put out this one or this one? They're both singles,
you know, but if this one bombs. They might never
hear that one. And you get into this like horrible
like mental like it's like a mental straight jacket squeezing tighter.
You just I don't know, I can't predict what people
are gonna like. But that's you know, it's it's a
scary I remember thinking it's a scary thought like if Scarecrow,
(08:47):
Scarecrows doesn't go, we don't get to get these other
songs out, and that's a it's a bad feeling, you know,
how did you feel about that?
Speaker 1 (08:54):
Yeah?
Speaker 4 (08:55):
Good point. And I think you've said this. It's a
Danny Craig quote. Oh yeah, Like it's a great it's
a great one.
Speaker 1 (09:02):
So he can pick singles, but he can't pick hits,
right is that? Is that right?
Speaker 4 (09:08):
Because you can pick songs that you think are good
for radio, but will they resonate with millions of people?
That's that's if again, if everyone knew that, we'd all
be rich, right totally where it's like, yeah, Scarecrows, it
probably wasn't even a single, but it was a hit,
but thankfully he became both. But it kind of broke
the rules of what a single should be. Uh, same
(09:28):
with blues, I mean, they both kind of broke the
rules of what radio was kind of looking for, which
I think I'm also proud of us, right because those songs,
it was like the double edged sword that worked in
our favor is that they didn't sound like what else
was out at the time.
Speaker 3 (09:42):
Right.
Speaker 4 (09:42):
It was like Us against you know, three Days, Grayce
Nickel Back all this really just really highly produced sort
of shiny rock or like the edgy or like like
or kind of more indie heavy like Monster Truck. But
we weren't either of those sort of extremes, right, And
(10:02):
so it's like Scarecrows when it actually broke or Blues,
they actually stood out so much. And also that's those
magical songs where the listener calls the station says, who
the hell was that? That's the exact reaction you want,
right the station. Then I'll start start spinning it like crazy.
So I'm just I'm kind of proud that we picked
those songs that didn't really fit into what was playing
(10:23):
at the time, because I think that's what really ended
up paying off for us.
Speaker 3 (10:26):
You know, Yeah, dude, I totally agree. It's always set
us apart. And I'm also incredibly proud of that record
of those songs, like even the non singles, Like, there's
so many good songs on that record that I'm super
proud of, like money Trains one of my favoritest things live, Like.
Speaker 1 (10:43):
Oh, it's it's like I got to bring it back.
Speaker 2 (10:45):
Oh, I think we definitely should.
Speaker 3 (10:47):
I mean, there's there's gonna be shows coming up this
year at some point here. So we got to start
talking set list, which is tough after twenty years, what
do you put in a set list? But I should
say that we kind of talked about earlier this time,
you know, to get on the radio. One of the
secret ingredients that because we kind of talked in this podcast,
started like what does it take to get on the radio?
Speaker 2 (11:08):
Like what is the what don't we have?
Speaker 3 (11:10):
And one of the things we realized we didn't have
yet was the musicianship, like to actually get in there,
you know, play like no one plays drums like you
do in a studio. I'm telling you, it's crazy. It's like, well, dude,
but you know what to play like bonhom kind of
bomb bass but be in time and to like you know,
(11:32):
those were the things we didn't have.
Speaker 2 (11:34):
We had energy, we had, but to actually.
Speaker 3 (11:36):
Get in there, say it and key do it over
and over like you said then. And Danny Craig also
said along with that amazing piece of advice, he was like,
you guys, jam five days a week, play until you're
that good, you know, because we had had experiences up
to that point. Actually, when we met Default, you know,
(11:58):
we were like, ah, fucking Default, We're gonna blow.
Speaker 2 (12:00):
Them off the stage.
Speaker 3 (12:00):
But I remember just being like they owned us because
they just they they were tight. Didn't mean that like
you know, maybe your songs are great and all of that,
but like I just remember watching them, I'm like, we're
not holy shit, okay, like we're not there yet, Like
there is another level of like professionalism and musicianship where
like they were tight, they didn't fall off time, you
(12:23):
know what I mean. And those things were the stuff
that we we put so much emphasis on, like energy
and rawness. But then you realize, like, well, holy shit,
like even Zeppelin, like they were energetic and raw, but
tight as shit, like you know, And this was the
beginning of us becoming like a band that was like
that next level kind of being tight.
Speaker 2 (12:44):
And I remember like, now we're gonna be.
Speaker 3 (12:47):
Uh, we're getting to the end of this episode, and
it's a good place to go next, which is the
crazy big live shows we started to have, right and
I'm so glad we put in this time. And Danny
was like he was a task master in the studio
and like, you know, drove us, but like we needed it.
And that two years that, you know, we sat around
(13:11):
mostly depressed, which is fine because you know we're grunge.
Speaker 2 (13:15):
We're quote unquote grunge.
Speaker 3 (13:17):
Lovers, So it was okay to be sad and sitting
in rainy Vancouver and just jamming all the time. But
but you know, five days a week sometimes right like,
and we just went and then this is a great
place to end off because what we get into next
is probably my favorite when I think of things we've
(13:38):
done in our career. The first time we stepped onto
an arena stage and we wouldn't have been ready and
you realized it not until these songs broke, not until
we started to play a lot more jam all the time.
I'll tell you what, I don't know how you felt, man,
and we'll I think this is a great thing to
talk about.
Speaker 2 (13:57):
Actually, let's let's save it, because.
Speaker 3 (13:59):
I want to know what you felt like because I
I remember the first time I walked out onto an
arena stage and it just it fucking blew my mind.
Speaker 2 (14:07):
This is all I'm gonna say.
Speaker 4 (14:09):
Oh yeah, well yeah, that's that's an episode of itself
for sure. And yeah it's a great place stand because
you're right, this was the time we put in all
five I tell us to every young band, you jam
five times a week, like that's crazy.
Speaker 1 (14:22):
No, no, no, that's how.
Speaker 4 (14:23):
That's how we got to be as good as I
still have my muscle memory of playing all these songs.
It's from that era, you know, like you know, it's
just it's it's ingrained in my DNA because we played
the song so much. And that's what it took to
get us from well Orange City. Look at that record
compared to the Red album Night and Day right, and
and then and then another jump to Black Buffalo, and
that's when we started doing arenas. It's yeah, it's all
(14:46):
about time. It's there's no there's no magic formula. It's like,
just put the time and put the ten thousand hours in.
And like you you alluded to, we put in ten
thousand rainy hours that were soaked in West Coast. I
pa and and you know, headaches from the ip A,
but we did it, you know, And and then and then
we're ready to sort of go to that next level,
(15:07):
which is arenas.
Speaker 3 (15:08):
You know, absolutely, And I'll say last thing I'll say
for this episode, uh is and I think we got
told this. I actually don't remember first time we met
Ralph James. He's an industry legend. His line always stuck
with me. He's like, oh, it's nothing five hundred shows
won't fix, which is great advice because it's like get
out there and fucking plays.
Speaker 1 (15:29):
Like, how was how do you think we're? What do
you think we're? Sat? Ralph? It was good? And then
and then.
Speaker 2 (15:36):
All right, buddy, let's talk arenas next time.
Speaker 1 (15:38):
Okay, peace.
Speaker 4 (15:39):
Thanks everyone, Thanks for listening to One Bad Podcast.
Welcome the One Bad Podcast. Here's your host Kad and Shaner.
Speaker 2 (00:09):
Katie. This is great. We were also welcome back to
the podcast.
Speaker 3 (00:14):
By the way, everybody, I keep just jumping into these
We have so much to talk about. So we were
talking about off air, just how telling these stories and
sort of revisiting an era. All of a sudden, these
memories and stuff, they really start to pop off. And
it's one thing I love about this podcast is just
re entering a headspace almost of this era, and we're
(00:38):
gonna talk about while it's one of, if not like
the rival to biggest hits kind of for fans I
think is Scarecrows and then Retribution Blues.
Speaker 4 (00:50):
Yeah, man, it was a It's always been a special
song because it it's always say it's one of those songs.
Many of our songs take hours and weeks and months
sometimes years to write, but Scarecrows and Blues, like often
the biggest ones just seem to write themselves.
Speaker 1 (01:06):
And Blues.
Speaker 4 (01:07):
I think we wrote it, you know, it's some minor
tweaks after, but it took about like ten minutes to write,
you know, and it just came out of the ether.
And have you told the story about the sound checking
yet or.
Speaker 3 (01:17):
No, like how how we actually wrote the song. It's
one of my favorite stories that we have. I love it.
Speaker 2 (01:25):
Do you want to do you want to? Go go ahead?
Speaker 3 (01:27):
Well, you tell it from your perspective, because I remember
how it happened for me, So go ahead. Well.
Speaker 4 (01:31):
Actually, had we rented this as Hicks was living in
a rental property, and we jammed in the basement. I
remembers like kind of a dank basement, and it was
like our first jam, and we were worried that it
was gonna be too loud for the neighbors and landlord.
Speaker 3 (01:45):
Well, because that we should say at the at the
band house, which we are now moved out of, the
police came over a decent amount of times because of
noise complaints. So that was the new thing, where like
we better make sure that like we're not going to
get in too much shit, right, so.
Speaker 4 (01:58):
We're we're being respectful renters or Hicks was, and so
I was like, Hicks, just want you to play a
little riff. I'm gonna go outside and check the volume, right,
And so as you and Hicks stayed in the house, right, is.
Speaker 1 (02:08):
That the vibe?
Speaker 4 (02:09):
And so I go outside, and I walked out, you know,
a few houses down, just to see the volume, and
Hicks starts playing this riff and it was just like
the catchiest riff I've heard him play in the nine
year eight years that I knew him. You know, it
just groovy, sexy, kind of stone zy. I was like, whoa,
And so I come inside and he stops playing, and.
Speaker 1 (02:29):
And well, you tell me what you tell me?
Speaker 3 (02:31):
You remember, because I remember exactly what you said. You're
like two things. First of all, it's not too loud.
Second of all, what fucking song is that? And then
we literally sat down and you I mean the beat
that you played like pretty much right off the hot
Like you said, that song was just like Granny threw
a bassline down.
Speaker 2 (02:51):
That was basically it my melody.
Speaker 3 (02:54):
Even the lyrics were it was kind of like walk
the Line, Wait Waste my songs. I was listening to
a lot of Johnny Cash, so like walk the Line
popped him my head. It was very like, You're right,
that was very kind of untouched, And it was. It's
cool telling this story from both perspectives because you you know,
you're like, you volunteered to go out and see how
(03:16):
loud it was, and the three of us were standing
there and it was like.
Speaker 2 (03:19):
Oh, what should we what should we play?
Speaker 3 (03:21):
Because without drums, we probably should have sent me, quite honestly,
because I would be like, well, the drums and guitar
are probably going to be what are the loudest.
Speaker 2 (03:29):
But I don't know why you got sent out.
Speaker 3 (03:32):
But we stood there and we were like, well, what
are we going to play and whatever? Hicks said something
and I'm like, I don't think we can even jant
without drums. I don't wan't we Just I said, why
don't you just do like a blues thing, just like
give me a give me like some blues riff and
I'll just riff over. I'll just sing and then grant
(03:52):
you know. So that's what we did, or like play something.
And he literally played that riff like he had wrote it.
He came up with it on the spot. Full credit
to Hicks. It just came out and uh, yeah, the
rest is history. You came in and we jammed it
and it was like, holy shit.
Speaker 4 (04:08):
And tell me if this remind me this is true
or is this just my imagination? But when I came
back in, didn't he for a moment forget it, like
we had to, like yeah, like it was gone. So
the universe gave and it taketh away because like for
a few minutes he forgot right and you you like
you saw potential soda grinny, We're all like, Hicks, play
it again, and he couldn't figure it out right for.
Speaker 2 (04:30):
Yeah, cause he could, You're dude, that's funny.
Speaker 3 (04:33):
You're one hundred percent right because he didn't remember because
he didn't write it, like he just literally jammed a
blues thing and it was like he and I remember
being like he kind of played it and I was like, no,
you did this like thing at the end.
Speaker 2 (04:46):
It's like and then he got it back. Luckily the
universe was like, nah, here you can have it back,
you guys. You guys need this one.
Speaker 4 (04:56):
I've seen you guys have been eating the last several years.
That's crazy And you're right, And I remember from that
point on because this is kind of pre smartphones, like,
but I remember I always had I bought like a
recorder from like radio Shack or something to make sure
we never missed something like that again because I was
we had over the years, we'd had some gems. The
(05:17):
Hicks would come up with and then he'd forget by
the next jam, like and yeah, maybe.
Speaker 1 (05:21):
Those are our biggest songs yet. We'll have to see
if we can find them again.
Speaker 4 (05:24):
But but it's always record, record, record, Now it's easy
with a smartphone.
Speaker 1 (05:28):
But had he not remembered that riff again? What if? Right?
Speaker 3 (05:34):
Well, totally absolutely, And that's funny you bring that up too,
because I had the same I had a little my
parents bought me a little recorder with like the little tapes,
and I still have them somewhere, so I should probably
go back. I bet you that in moments it's on
one of ours somewhere, unless we were already recording on
iPhones by that time. But it was crazy, man, what
a That is so rare for something like that to happen,
(05:57):
because you know, we'll talk about Satellite Hotel on the
next when we get into the Black Buffalo album. But
it was the exact opposite, right like we fought for
that song. We fought, we had like a cool idea
was in there, like again, we'll talk about this more,
but Hicks had that riff for Satellite Hotel.
Speaker 2 (06:17):
But we could not come up with a course.
Speaker 3 (06:19):
I remember like going home and writing and we'd write,
you know, so usually that's kind of you sort of
fight to get where you're like, okay, now we've got it, man,
and you just wish that they all happened, Like you
you said that quote about you know, if you knew
where those ideas came from, you would just like the
Leonard co unquote, you just go there all the time
(06:39):
and get them.
Speaker 2 (06:40):
But it's cool because it's a magical moment.
Speaker 4 (06:43):
Absolutely, yeah, and like you're always chasing that high, right,
Like that's and think I mean, think about we moved
out to Vancouver, which is after this, I believe it was. Yeah,
think about how many hours we put in Vancouver. It
was actually in Langley, but I mean that's when we really,
I think, put our hours in and just you know,
(07:04):
how many hours did we'd spend jamming and you'd find
those moments but it wasn't.
Speaker 1 (07:08):
Like they didn't come that often.
Speaker 4 (07:10):
We're you just write a complete a song presents itself
essentially complete, right that this just doesn't happen.
Speaker 1 (07:16):
But when it does, it's like, holy crap, what a gift?
Speaker 3 (07:19):
You know, oh, absolutely absolutely, And you know it's such
an interesting time because we've already talked about a lot
of our time in Vancouver and about the Carlie Ray
thing and about waiting around for the two years, so
you can imagine that, you know, we had Scarecrows, we
had Blues It and right in like so many good
songs on that record that I'm super proud of, but
(07:41):
we sat on them for two years.
Speaker 2 (07:42):
You know.
Speaker 3 (07:43):
That was why when we were talking about how Scarecrows
came out, it was so hard for us to like,
after that two years, we finally are putting stuff out
on the radio and Russ bucket bombs. So that's why, like,
you know, going back to that Scarecrow's or like, man,
everything was on it, like there was you felt the
(08:04):
pressure because of like all these years, like these moments
that happened. We had these amazing songs, and you realize, like, well,
if people don't like Scarecrows, they're not gonna get to
even hear Retribution Blues. And that's always a tough feeling
because that's the other thing that you inevitably have to
do when you're picking singles is uh, you know, do
(08:25):
you put out this one or this one? They're both singles,
you know, but if this one bombs. They might never
hear that one. And you get into this like horrible
like mental like it's like a mental straight jacket squeezing tighter.
You just I don't know, I can't predict what people
are gonna like. But that's you know, it's it's a
scary I remember thinking it's a scary thought like if Scarecrow,
(08:47):
Scarecrows doesn't go, we don't get to get these other
songs out, and that's a it's a bad feeling, you know,
how did you feel about that?
Speaker 1 (08:54):
Yeah?
Speaker 4 (08:55):
Good point. And I think you've said this. It's a
Danny Craig quote. Oh yeah, Like it's a great it's
a great one.
Speaker 1 (09:02):
So he can pick singles, but he can't pick hits,
right is that? Is that right?
Speaker 4 (09:08):
Because you can pick songs that you think are good
for radio, but will they resonate with millions of people?
That's that's if again, if everyone knew that, we'd all
be rich, right totally where it's like, yeah, Scarecrows, it
probably wasn't even a single, but it was a hit,
but thankfully he became both. But it kind of broke
the rules of what a single should be. Uh, same
(09:28):
with blues, I mean, they both kind of broke the
rules of what radio was kind of looking for, which
I think I'm also proud of us, right because those songs,
it was like the double edged sword that worked in
our favor is that they didn't sound like what else
was out at the time.
Speaker 3 (09:42):
Right.
Speaker 4 (09:42):
It was like Us against you know, three Days, Grayce
Nickel Back all this really just really highly produced sort
of shiny rock or like the edgy or like like
or kind of more indie heavy like Monster Truck. But
we weren't either of those sort of extremes, right, And
(10:02):
so it's like Scarecrows when it actually broke or Blues,
they actually stood out so much. And also that's those
magical songs where the listener calls the station says, who
the hell was that? That's the exact reaction you want,
right the station. Then I'll start start spinning it like crazy.
So I'm just I'm kind of proud that we picked
those songs that didn't really fit into what was playing
(10:23):
at the time, because I think that's what really ended
up paying off for us.
Speaker 3 (10:26):
You know, Yeah, dude, I totally agree. It's always set
us apart. And I'm also incredibly proud of that record
of those songs, like even the non singles, Like, there's
so many good songs on that record that I'm super
proud of, like money Trains one of my favoritest things live, Like.
Speaker 1 (10:43):
Oh, it's it's like I got to bring it back.
Speaker 2 (10:45):
Oh, I think we definitely should.
Speaker 3 (10:47):
I mean, there's there's gonna be shows coming up this
year at some point here. So we got to start
talking set list, which is tough after twenty years, what
do you put in a set list? But I should
say that we kind of talked about earlier this time,
you know, to get on the radio. One of the
secret ingredients that because we kind of talked in this podcast,
started like what does it take to get on the radio?
Speaker 2 (11:08):
Like what is the what don't we have?
Speaker 3 (11:10):
And one of the things we realized we didn't have
yet was the musicianship, like to actually get in there,
you know, play like no one plays drums like you
do in a studio. I'm telling you, it's crazy. It's like, well, dude,
but you know what to play like bonhom kind of
bomb bass but be in time and to like you know,
(11:32):
those were the things we didn't have.
Speaker 2 (11:34):
We had energy, we had, but to actually.
Speaker 3 (11:36):
Get in there, say it and key do it over
and over like you said then. And Danny Craig also
said along with that amazing piece of advice, he was like,
you guys, jam five days a week, play until you're
that good, you know, because we had had experiences up
to that point. Actually, when we met Default, you know,
(11:58):
we were like, ah, fucking Default, We're gonna blow.
Speaker 2 (12:00):
Them off the stage.
Speaker 3 (12:00):
But I remember just being like they owned us because
they just they they were tight. Didn't mean that like
you know, maybe your songs are great and all of that,
but like I just remember watching them, I'm like, we're
not holy shit, okay, like we're not there yet, Like
there is another level of like professionalism and musicianship where
like they were tight, they didn't fall off time, you
(12:23):
know what I mean. And those things were the stuff
that we we put so much emphasis on, like energy
and rawness. But then you realize, like, well, holy shit,
like even Zeppelin, like they were energetic and raw, but
tight as shit, like you know, And this was the
beginning of us becoming like a band that was like
that next level kind of being tight.
Speaker 2 (12:44):
And I remember like, now we're gonna be.
Speaker 3 (12:47):
Uh, we're getting to the end of this episode, and
it's a good place to go next, which is the
crazy big live shows we started to have, right and
I'm so glad we put in this time. And Danny
was like he was a task master in the studio
and like, you know, drove us, but like we needed it.
And that two years that, you know, we sat around
(13:11):
mostly depressed, which is fine because you know we're grunge.
Speaker 2 (13:15):
We're quote unquote grunge.
Speaker 3 (13:17):
Lovers, So it was okay to be sad and sitting
in rainy Vancouver and just jamming all the time. But
but you know, five days a week sometimes right like,
and we just went and then this is a great
place to end off because what we get into next
is probably my favorite when I think of things we've
(13:38):
done in our career. The first time we stepped onto
an arena stage and we wouldn't have been ready and
you realized it not until these songs broke, not until
we started to play a lot more jam all the time.
I'll tell you what, I don't know how you felt, man,
and we'll I think this is a great thing to
talk about.
Speaker 2 (13:57):
Actually, let's let's save it, because.
Speaker 3 (13:59):
I want to know what you felt like because I
I remember the first time I walked out onto an
arena stage and it just it fucking blew my mind.
Speaker 2 (14:07):
This is all I'm gonna say.
Speaker 4 (14:09):
Oh yeah, well yeah, that's that's an episode of itself
for sure. And yeah it's a great place stand because
you're right, this was the time we put in all
five I tell us to every young band, you jam
five times a week, like that's crazy.
Speaker 1 (14:22):
No, no, no, that's how.
Speaker 4 (14:23):
That's how we got to be as good as I
still have my muscle memory of playing all these songs.
It's from that era, you know, like you know, it's
just it's it's ingrained in my DNA because we played
the song so much. And that's what it took to
get us from well Orange City. Look at that record
compared to the Red album Night and Day right, and
and then and then another jump to Black Buffalo, and
that's when we started doing arenas. It's yeah, it's all
(14:46):
about time. It's there's no there's no magic formula. It's like,
just put the time and put the ten thousand hours in.
And like you you alluded to, we put in ten
thousand rainy hours that were soaked in West Coast. I
pa and and you know, headaches from the ip A,
but we did it, you know, And and then and then
we're ready to sort of go to that next level,
(15:07):
which is arenas.
Speaker 3 (15:08):
You know, absolutely, And I'll say last thing I'll say
for this episode, uh is and I think we got
told this. I actually don't remember first time we met
Ralph James. He's an industry legend. His line always stuck
with me. He's like, oh, it's nothing five hundred shows
won't fix, which is great advice because it's like get
out there and fucking plays.
Speaker 1 (15:29):
Like, how was how do you think we're? What do
you think we're? Sat? Ralph? It was good? And then
and then.
Speaker 2 (15:36):
All right, buddy, let's talk arenas next time.
Speaker 1 (15:38):
Okay, peace.
Speaker 4 (15:39):
Thanks everyone, Thanks for listening to One Bad Podcast.
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