July 14, 2025 • 56 mins
Drew Arnott
Take a walk with me down Fascination Street as I get to know Drew Arnott. In this episode, Drew and I chat about his growing up between Scottland and Canada, and why. Then we do a bit of a deep dive on the unique and rare instrument called The Mellotron. Drew shares some fun and nutty stories about his own Mellotron, and then we get into why he and Darryl Kromm started Strange Advance in the first place. Strange Advance signed a deal with Capitol Records and released TWO albums; having never played a single live show. Drew explains how that is even possible, and why that happened. The first THREE records released by Strange Advance sold GOLD in Canada, and then they stopped making music..... for 33 years. I ask Drew what the heck happened, and he gives me the deets. Strange Advance has released a new record. Thier fourth record, aptly titled 'Strange Advance 4' is out now, and is a banger! Drew graciously agrees to let me play 'Flow My Tears', my favorite track from the new album, and you will understand why that is my fave. Currently, you can catch Strange Advance playing in and around Canada, at various shows and events. Make sure you follow them on social media, specifically Facebook, and check out their website to find out when they will be playing a show near you.
Take a walk with me down Fascination Street as I get to know Drew Arnott. In this episode, Drew and I chat about his growing up between Scottland and Canada, and why. Then we do a bit of a deep dive on the unique and rare instrument called The Mellotron. Drew shares some fun and nutty stories about his own Mellotron, and then we get into why he and Darryl Kromm started Strange Advance in the first place. Strange Advance signed a deal with Capitol Records and released TWO albums; having never played a single live show. Drew explains how that is even possible, and why that happened. The first THREE records released by Strange Advance sold GOLD in Canada, and then they stopped making music..... for 33 years. I ask Drew what the heck happened, and he gives me the deets. Strange Advance has released a new record. Thier fourth record, aptly titled 'Strange Advance 4' is out now, and is a banger! Drew graciously agrees to let me play 'Flow My Tears', my favorite track from the new album, and you will understand why that is my fave. Currently, you can catch Strange Advance playing in and around Canada, at various shows and events. Make sure you follow them on social media, specifically Facebook, and check out their website to find out when they will be playing a show near you.
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:05):
Hi, This is Drew from Strange Advance and you are
listening to Fascination Street podcasts.
Speaker 2 (00:14):
Yes, yes, the amp was feing.
Speaker 3 (00:21):
You woke down the most interested street in the world
with my voice d Fascination Street.
Speaker 4 (00:26):
You already know, let's get it when you went for
the Fascination Street.
Speaker 2 (00:30):
Welcome back, Street Walkers. This episode is with Drew or
Not from Strange Advance. In this episode, we get to
know Drew where he started, how he grew up, how
he got from Scotland to Canada, and why and how
he fell in love with the Melotron. We talked a
fair bit about the melotron because I've only heard about
(00:52):
it intelligens and stories, and so he gives me a great,
great explanation of what the meloitron is and why he
likes it so much. And then we talk about his band,
Strange Advance. Back in the early eighties, Strange Advance signed
a record deal and released two albums before they ever
(01:13):
even played a live show. Strange Advance's first three albums
went gold in Canada. So we talk about how all
those things came to be, how it's possible to even
get a record deal having never played a show, live,
which is bizarre. And then we talk about the newest album.
Strange Advance four is their newest album. They are playing
(01:35):
various shows throughout Canada, so check out their website for
show dates and also that is the only place you
can get this new album. Again. The new album is
called Strange Advance four. Drew lets me play my favorite
song off this album. That way you guys can get
an idea of what the whole album is like. It
is my favorite song on the album. But if you
(01:56):
like that song, you will like every single track on
the album. Make sure you follow them on social media.
Check out their website Strange Advance dot com for tour
dates and to get on the email newsletter to find
out more about when they will be in a city
near you. And this is my conversation with Drew Are
(02:17):
not from the band Strange Advance.
Speaker 1 (02:20):
For credit me fascinating for credit, me fascinating for credit,
me fascinating.
Speaker 2 (02:31):
Welcome to Fascination Street Podcasts. Drew Are not how you doing,
tod Amen?
Speaker 1 (02:36):
Not too bad?
Speaker 2 (02:36):
Thank you well, that is good to hear, ladies and gentlemen.
This is Drew Are not, the legendary founder of Strange
Advance We're going to get to that, but first, Drew.
What I like to do is I like to start
from the beginning. It helps us understand how the guests
got from where they were or where they are. So
where were you going to raise man? Where'd you grow up?
Speaker 1 (02:54):
I was born in Glasgow, Scotland. Came out to Canada
when I was three. When I was five, we went
back to Scotland because my mom was very homesick, and
we went up up to the Hebrides on the West Coast,
really a bunch of islands there, really wild weather, crazy,
(03:14):
crazy place, and I fell in love with it. And
when I got home, I wrote a song about it,
the first song I ever wrote, except it was played
on a harmonica. But guess what, at five years old,
I did not know how to play at harmonica. So
I'm just like.
Speaker 2 (03:32):
You played it like a kazoo exactly exactly.
Speaker 1 (03:37):
So that was my first sort of memory of actually
wanting to express myself through music. But anyway, so I lived.
I grew up in a place called New Westminster and
BC had a pretty regular upbringing. Joined the school band.
That's what sort of saved my ass through high school,
and then left high school and formed pick up bands,
(04:01):
club bands and stuff, and that's where I met Darryl.
My partner was in strange advance and we were off
to the races.
Speaker 2 (04:10):
So what made your family move from Scotland to Canada
in the first place.
Speaker 1 (04:17):
Well, my mom's sister met a Canadian soldier during the
war and so she moved to Canada and was talking
it up. And I think my mom and dad were
up for a little adventure, you know, you know, your
typical the streets are lined with gold and all that
kind of thing. So the better life for their kids.
Speaker 2 (04:38):
So both of your parents are Scottish. Yeah, oh cool,
This is a weird question. But I gotta know. Why
was your dad so adamant about you learning how to
play the bagpipes?
Speaker 1 (04:51):
Well, actually it was my mom. Oh there's a band
from Vancouver called Spirit of the West and they had
very strong Scottish roots. They wrote a song called There's
none so Scots as the Scots Abroad. So as soon
as you leave Scotland you become ultra Scottish. In Scotland,
(05:12):
people are not walking around wearing kilts playing bagpipes.
Speaker 2 (05:16):
No, that doesn't happen there, not so much.
Speaker 1 (05:19):
But when they come over to candidate, it's like, oh,
we got to do something Scottish, you know. So the
first thing was okay, you've got to become a highland dancer.
I said, well, it's not really in my blood. I
don't feel like doing this.
Speaker 2 (05:35):
No river dancing for you.
Speaker 1 (05:37):
Well, no, not so much, although I will say I
did enter one competition and I won two silver medals,
so I was quite proud of myself. Of course, there
are only two people in the class, so.
Speaker 2 (05:50):
Hey, a winner's a winner, man, exactly.
Speaker 1 (05:53):
I got the metal to prove it. So anyway, my
mom said, fine, you can quit dancing, but you've got
to take up the bagpipes. So I go, boy, okay,
you know fine, So I start the process of learning
the pipes. Again, I'm not really interested in learning the pipes,
and not to mention that. At the same time, my
mom's brother moved over with his family and his son
(06:16):
was like, you know, a really good piper, dead Keene
into the pipes and stuff, and he was making me
look bad to be honest, you know, because he actually
practiced and I did. So then finally I made my
last deal with them. It's like, okay, if I can
take up the drums. Then I'll join the pipe band.
I'll be a drummer in the pipe band. And that
(06:37):
took because I liked the drums, so I became a
drummer and I got to be in a pipe band
and have all that experience and stuff. So so yeah,
music was always a big part of my life. My
dad was a sax player. When I was fifteen years old,
I started gigging.
Speaker 2 (06:54):
With him in the Bassiders.
Speaker 1 (06:56):
Yeah yeah, and the Bassiders. Yeah.
Speaker 2 (06:59):
I can't imagine you would have been joining his bassiders
if you were playing the bagpipes.
Speaker 5 (07:04):
Horribly, No, no, So I got to be there, and
you know something, I went out with him and it's
all big band music and old jazz standards and things
like that, and it just bored me to tears.
Speaker 1 (07:17):
You know, I've fallen asleep on the bandstand.
Speaker 2 (07:20):
Which says a lot for a drummer because you're busy
up there.
Speaker 1 (07:23):
Well yeah, usually you are. But then later in life,
you know, my dad said, well, I've lost my drummer,
you know, he retired, got to try to find a drummer.
And I said, well, you know what about me? So
I ended off. You know, my dad's musical life being
his drummer once again playing all the same old songs. Now,
(07:44):
I loved that music. I came to understand. Oh, it's
worked its way into my brain. You know, it's part
of my musical development. And you know, like I'm very,
very big into melody, and of course all those songs
from the thirties and the forties and the fifties and stuff,
you know, great great melodic songs. So anyway, that was
a fun way to end off my dad's career. He
(08:06):
played till he was ninety three, wow, and passed away
when he was ninety six. So he had a long,
long history playing music.
Speaker 2 (08:15):
That's awesome. How long ago was it that you rejoined
his band for those last us years or whatever?
Speaker 1 (08:22):
Well, he passed away in twenty twelve, so remember made
two thousand or something. I played for the last six
seven eight years of his musical life.
Speaker 2 (08:31):
So what was that like working with your dad again
on stage after so much time had passed and you had,
I mean, for lack of a better term, grown up musically. Yeah,
how was that different going back and doing the same
songs with the same dad.
Speaker 1 (08:45):
Well, you know, for one thing, now, I had a
much better grasp of how the songs were written and
much more respect for how it was all put together.
And also my dad played in trios, quartets. You know,
maybe we'd have like five people in the band at once.
That would be about it. And he always played with
fantastic pianists. It was remarkable. They had a storehouse in
(09:09):
their heads of thousands of tunes. They could just shout out,
you know, a dozen songs to each other in keys
and stuff to play it in and there was no hesitation.
You know. It was a different style of playing, obviously
a different style of music, but the greatest thing of
it all was and I'm getting that experience now myself,
(09:30):
having people, you know, he would be playing for dances
mostly and having elderly couples flowed up near the front
near the bandstand and say, oh, you know, tears in
their eyes. I haven't heard that song for like fifty years.
You know, it was so meaningful to them and it
brought back so many great memories and stuff. And now
(09:52):
here's strange advances out on the road, you know, playing
for people that haven't heard us for you know, thirty
five forty years and ha the same experience, you know,
It's like there was this huge gap for if we
weren't doing anything, and so people thought, I'm never going
to get a chance to see them, you know, because
we barely toured in the eighties. So it's pretty thrilling.
Speaker 2 (10:12):
Now I have to say, Okay, we are going to
bounce around all over the place.
Speaker 1 (10:16):
Sure.
Speaker 2 (10:17):
But what I got to know about is there is
a musical instrument that I have only ever heard about
referenced on a podcast. Oddly enough, it's called Disgraceland, and
it's a podcast that tells the stories of musicians who
went crazy, like the crazy things that happened to musicians
and whatnot. But on that show, every single episode they
(10:40):
use some sounds and talk about a melotron. Tell me
how you found and fell in love with the melotron.
Speaker 1 (10:49):
Well, that's one of my favorite instruments in the world.
And I love talking about melotron. You know. Back in
the day, you know, we used to buy those of
the hunks of vinyl and it had all the liner
notes and you got to read all about who produced
what and what musicians were playing on what song, and
(11:09):
what instruments they were playing. The melotron originally it's a
tape playback. It's a sample machine, an analog tape playback machine,
so that you can record anything you want, any instrument
you want. You would play a long note, so a violin,
you know, you'd just be playing this and it can
handle like eight seconds or so, and then later you
(11:32):
can play them back and it sounds as oh, you're
playing a little orchestra. It could be anything, sacks, is
you know, trumpets, anything at all. One time I was
in London, England, and I went to the melotron office Melotronics,
and the guy there said, oh, man, you just missed
Paul McCartney. He was here tried to sing. He was
(11:52):
going to do his own choir, so he was singing
notes and then he was going to be able to
play all his own voices on the eltron, except he
couldn't really hold his tropes for eight seconds. That was
the problem. He was just a little bit on the
shaky side, so it just ended up sounded horrible.
Speaker 2 (12:10):
So he was older at the time that he was
trying to do this.
Speaker 1 (12:13):
Well, no, not so much. This would have been in
the seventies.
Speaker 2 (12:16):
Oh snap oops.
Speaker 1 (12:20):
But anyway, and I would find albums that had a
melotron on it, and I just loved the sound of strings,
you know, essentially I love orchestral works. When I was
eighteen years old and just graduated from high school, I
borrowed a couple thousand dollars from my dad and I
got on a plane went to England and the first
(12:40):
thing I did was check into my hotel and then
down into this area that had, you know, a lot
of music stores. Walked into the first music store. Oh
you know, there it was on this pedestal and a
guy comes over. Would you like to, you know, play it.
It's like yes, yes, please, and he hands me some headphones.
I hit a couple of notes and it's like, there's
(13:01):
this sound. I'm now going to be able to make
that sound myself. You know, this is awesome. I ended
up buying a used one. I couldn't afford a new one,
and I bought it from a keyboard player from the animals,
so it sort of had a pretty cool, cool history.
I go to the guy's house and there it is,
and it's like sort of sitting in their dining room
(13:23):
with Doiley's and ornaments sitting on top of it. It's like, okay,
but clearly you're not using this thing too much. So anyway,
I brought that back to Canada, and not only did
it spark my songwriting desire, but it also got me
into the recording studio world, because you know, someone suggested, hey,
(13:44):
you know, this is a rare thing. I think it's
the only one in Canada. You should rent it out
to studios. So the first thing I was I arranged
to rent it out to Mushroom Studios where they were
recording Dreaming aboute Annie by Heart. That was the first
gig my Man had.
Speaker 2 (14:01):
So on that album is your Melotron? Yeah yeah, and
you've got it from Alan Price?
Speaker 1 (14:07):
No, no, no, there was a touring keyboard player for
the Animals. Allen Price wasn't always there, gotcha pretty darn
cool and as I say, it led me into all
sorts of you know, of course, I was into Prague
rock and stuff. So the first group Daryl and I
put together, we used to open our set with Watcher
of the Skies by Genesis, which is a big Melotron number,
(14:29):
and people were just so excited because now it's like
we actually sound like Genesis, you know, I mean, it's
totally sounds legit and not to mention. You know, we
were big into Bowie and now we could do like
Space Audity just like the record. And as a matter
of fact, another hard story, we were backing them up
at a club in Vancouver called oil Can Harry's and
(14:51):
they noticed that we had Space Audity on our set
lists and they said, oh, you can't play that, you know,
because we play that in our set But being the
rock and roll rebels that we played it anyway against
you know, his strict instructions from heart not to sadly
was our last gig we ever played with.
Speaker 2 (15:08):
Our shocking Drew has mentioned Darryl a couple of times.
This is Daryl crom He is a co founder of
Strange Advance and arguably Drew's best friend when they're not
writing together or something.
Speaker 6 (15:28):
Hey, street walkers, here's a word from our sponsors. Let's
get back into it.
Speaker 2 (15:38):
So again, we're going to go all over the place.
This is going to sound like a weird question, but
I'm a musical idiot. How many times do you think
there's a melotron on any Strange Advance album? Do you
use it on the albums? Now? Do you still have it?
Speaker 1 (15:53):
No? As a matter of fact, What happened was Mike
Pinder from The Moody Blues ended up recording CD ROM
with a friend of mine and they did such a
phenomenal job on the CD ROM. My friend actually bought
the company and owns many melotrons and the original master
tapes and things that goes, so do you play them?
(16:16):
He's going, Why, you know, I've got the samples. They're perfect. Yeah,
so I don't really feel the need for the original
instrument now. As a matter of fact, I went down
to his place in Moses Lake, Washington, and I got
to go through all the original master tapes and record
them to DAT. So I've got a copy of everything. Wow,
(16:39):
it's pretty amazing. It's pretty amazing anyway. Yeah, I just
love the melotron, and yes, it shows up on every
strange advance. As a matter of fact, I have a
friend who's a producer and that's his thing. It's like, yes,
i'll produce your album for you as long as I
can add melatron. I don't know if it's every track,
but every record he plays on he has to have
(16:59):
melot on it and he's that devoted.
Speaker 2 (17:02):
So amelotron is an instrument that is still used in
twenty twenty five.
Speaker 1 (17:06):
Oh yeah, I see them on stages still as an
archaic instrument. There were so few of them made that
it's pretty cool if you.
Speaker 2 (17:14):
Got one and it still works.
Speaker 1 (17:16):
Yeah, I'll just give you the quick history on it.
It was actually made by a guy named Harry Chamberlain.
It was in the States, in California. He came up
with the idea originally. And what happened was, I think
just one of his salesmen took Amelotron over to England
and sold somebody on the idea of making their own,
cutting poor old Harry Chamberlain out of the picture. Well,
(17:40):
I guess it all kind of got amalgamated. But Harry
Chamberlain proceeded to develop the melod Well the Chamberlain actually
is what they called it, and he had a model
called the M one. It was very small in compact
and it was like the cream of the crop. And
when I was like, well, I don't know, maybe twenty
or something, I thought, yeah, I want a Chamberlain. So
I drove down to California and I met Harry Chamberlain
(18:03):
and he says, yeah, no problem. You know, I'm going
to put you on the list Harry Belafonte had ordered one,
and he says, yeah, after Harry gets his, you'll be
the next one to get an m one. It's like,
and so, how long do you think that would be.
It's like, oh, probably two, maybe two and a half years.
It's like, I'm twenty years old. I can't wait two
(18:24):
and a half years for anything. It's like, give me
my deposit back. So I never ended up getting my
m one, which, of course I've always regretted. But it
was so cool because I was so enamored with the
Melatron and with the group Yes. I went to a
Yes concert and I was disgusted because the keyboard player
(18:45):
at the time, Igor was playing some terrible Melatron samples
and as soon as like you're supposed to hear this
big choir come in, you'd hear this rancid sounded. What
is that supposed to be? So, you know, I thought, oh,
I've I've got to write a letter to this guy.
You know, I've got to let him know it's like
you're doing a terrible disservice to the music of Yes.
(19:07):
And then I find out Yes are coming to Vancouver
to work with my friend Bruce Fairburn. The producer, and
so I call up Bruce, I'm going you got to
get me in that session. You know, they cannot use
those melotron sounds. They're despicable. So anyway, I got to
go down to the studio, meet the guys, hang out
for a couple of weeks with this band that I'd
(19:28):
admired since you know, birth practically and supply them with
my Melatron sounds and actually even suggest the odd musical ideas.
So it's like unbelievable after all these years, because like
when I was a drummer, I used to go to
a YES show and just pray the drummer would break
his leg. Are there any drummers in the house? It's like, yes,
(19:52):
you're right here, which would have been crazy because I
was a good drummer, but not YES worthy. But anyway,
to have those ambitious as a kid, and then to
end up in the studio with the band, you know,
getting to hear all the stories and it was it
was a real life changing moment.
Speaker 2 (20:11):
So how did that did take it? When you told
him that he sucks at the militron?
Speaker 1 (20:16):
Surprisingly well? Surprisingly well? Actually I ended up bringing him home.
I had a studio at home and we ended up
recording a bunch of the orchestral stuff at my place.
So pretty cool.
Speaker 2 (20:27):
So you've recorded a bunch of the orchestral stuff at
your place for the Yes album?
Speaker 1 (20:32):
Yeah?
Speaker 2 (20:33):
Did you get credit?
Speaker 1 (20:34):
No? Damn it. You know something I learned that valuable
lesson because I had done, you know, a number of
different things on the album, and the assistant or the
engineer I think he was the assistant engineer on the
on the sessions called me up and said, so, you know,
what do you want credit wise on the record? I said, oh,
just you know something. Creative. Keyboard tech is what he
(20:56):
comes up with. Seriously keyboard tech.
Speaker 2 (21:00):
Oh well that's creative.
Speaker 1 (21:01):
Yeah. Oh man. Anyway, so now I gotta keep that
in mind if I ever am in that position again.
But you know, Bruce brought me in to play melotron
on an Aerosmith album and on a Van Halen album,
on a bon Jovie record, and it was a cool
instrument and it opened up some doors for me.
Speaker 2 (21:22):
I love it so strained advance. You and Darryl crom
you guys got together and decided to form a band
sort of. If I understand this correctly, you guys were
just kind of songwriters and then all of a sudden
you needed a band. Tell me that story. How did
this come to be?
Speaker 1 (21:39):
Darryl and I formed a band together, a club act,
and we did all sorts of esoteric music from England
and that was fine, except as we went along and
we got sort of more serious musically, it turned out
we weren't that compatible and we were at each other's throats,
so it was like, clearly, this is not gonna work. Fortunately,
(22:00):
Daryl's dad bought me out of the band, which allowed
me to buy a lighting rig and go out and
be a lighting director for a group. Here.
Speaker 2 (22:08):
Where are you located, I'm in San Antonio, Texas.
Speaker 1 (22:11):
Well. There was a band here called Sweeney Todd and
they had a song called Roxy Roller went to number
one in Canada and it was on its way to
number one in the States, but because the singer and
guitar player left the band and they replaced them and
put out another version of the song, and the two
versions were fighting, and the records we're suing. Oh well, no,
we're suing you. It's like, oh, forget it, so that
(22:34):
the song just died in the States. It was the
Nick Gilder and Jim McCollough, and they had another number
one song in the States called Hot Child in the City.
So anyway, I was working with them and I get
a call, you know, like a year later or so
from Daryl and asking me if I'd like to get
together and I write some songs. It's like, oh, I
wasn't anticipating hearing from you again. So we got together.
(22:58):
And the funny thing is music isn't involved. Darrel and
I are best friends, you know, we're very simpatico. We
love the same things and we just talked for hours
on the phone and just amuse each other. But when
it comes to music, tempers start to flare, things, you know,
kind of go awry. So we got together. We wrote
(23:18):
songs and demoed the songs, and then I went to
LA a couple of times and tried to get a deal.
Ended up in Capitol Records and they were interested. They
sent the material up to Dean Cameron, the Canadian A
and R guy, and he liked it. But in the meantime,
Darryl had another cover band called Remote Control and Brian
(23:39):
Adams at the time wanted to do his first tour
and he was just a local kid. You know, he
wasn't like, oh, it's Brian Adams. He desperately wanted to tour,
so he took Daryl's band out on the road as
his band. So Remote Control would do a set and
then Brian would come out and do They would do
a set of Brian material, and Darryl played them our
(24:02):
demo tape and Brian really liked it, so he played
it for Bruce Ferver and the producer, and Bruce sent
it to Capitol Records, who had already heard it, you know,
from being it sent a copy from the Saints, so
it was all just lovely and now Darryl and I
have a record deal, except we have no band, and
the idea of signing us as a songwriting duo that
(24:24):
wasn't really in the cards for Capital. They liked the
idea of we want to sign a band, so we
used Daryl's band, Remote Control, that was going to be
the band. And the funny part of the story is
originally I wasn't in the band because I had a
recording studio and I was like sort of one of
the main songwriters. So Bruce said, okay, well Remote Control
(24:46):
can be the band, and Drew you'll just be supplying songs.
You'll be a songwriter. Well, they start recording, and whoever
was drumming for them, it was a kind of substandard drumming.
You know, it's timing was terrible, and I'm like, oh,
you know, we can't put this out. And they said, well, look,
you know the drums are still set up. Why don't
you go out and drum. So I went out and drummed,
(25:08):
and it's like, okay, well you know that was much better. Okay,
you can be the drummer, all right, Now I'm the drummer,
and then the keyboard player. Good keyboard player, better keyboard
player than me, but not really adept with sounds and
parts and things. So I would end up, you know,
adding keyboard parts, and it was clear it's like, well
(25:28):
I might as well be the keyboard player. So so
now I'm the drummer and the keyboard player, and now
we're down to basically we've only got the bass player
left from remote control. So okay, well now we're a trio.
At least you could be a band and be a trio.
That was us. We were strange advanced, and then when
it came time to do our next album, there were issues,
(25:49):
so we ended up just dropping down to the two
of us.
Speaker 2 (25:52):
So, if I were straying this correctly, Strange Advanced signed
a record deal with Capitol Records and released two albums
having never once played a live show. Is that true?
And how is that possible?
Speaker 7 (26:04):
Well?
Speaker 1 (26:04):
Yeah, you know, it was the time. And also the
reason we got the deal was that the president of
Capital in LA really liked us, especially he liked Worlds
Away and he sort of saw us as being like potentially,
you know, a new Moody Blues type of act, So
he really felt strongly about the group. And also, by
(26:27):
the way, we were going to tour after the first album.
The problem was literally days away from the start of
the tour. I drove Daryl home after rehearsal and there's
an ambulance parked outside his house. His father had just
passed away. He was an only child, so it was
just he and his mom, and he's like, I can't
leave my mom at this time, you know, like this,
(26:48):
So we pulled the plug on the tour and decided
instead just to start working on the second album. And
I really regret not having the chance to tour the
first album, because you know, it's when you, you know,
make all the mistakes live, no one cares, no one
knows who you are, and you get to forge relationships
with all these bands you tour with and stuff. By
(27:10):
the time we toured after our second album, we were
big enough that we could headline, and we didn't get
that opportunity. You know. It's like, I feel like we
missed out on a chapter in the rock and Roll
Book of Making It.
Speaker 2 (27:23):
Yeah, you miss some wrungs on that ladder for sure.
Speaker 1 (27:26):
Yeah. Yeah.
Speaker 2 (27:27):
Also, is this correct? Your first three albums with Strange
Advance went gold in Canada? Did all three of them
go gold?
Speaker 1 (27:35):
Yeah?
Speaker 2 (27:36):
Okay, now you've got some explaining to do, Drew, your
first three records went gold in Canada, and then you
guys just stopped for thirty years. What happened? What's going on?
Speaker 1 (27:51):
Well, you know what happened. When we got to the
end of touring after the third album, Darryl and I
had reached that point with each other where it was
difficult and we decided that we would part ways. You know,
for the most part, Daryl wanted to focus on dance music.
The only problem with that was that he wasn't very
(28:11):
technologically adept and you know, everything's done in computers and
stuff these days. You know, it's all samples and soft
sense and stuff. And anyway, that's what he wanted to do,
and I wanted to carry on with strange advance. So
I just kept writing and recording. But it was a
weird time period in my personal life, and also musically
(28:33):
in the world was changing, moving into smells like teen spirit,
you know, grunge, all that stuff. Musical tastes were really
really changing quickly, and I didn't really feel like doing
battle against that. I really enjoy writing songs, and I
had the opportunity to work with a few younger artists,
(28:54):
you know, produced records and stuff, and that satisfied my
musical itch. And then Daryl and I started talking to
each other again and being best friends again. And then
when Bowie passed away, it was just like a cold,
hard slap in the face. It's like, well, you know
what this means. It's like, we're next.
Speaker 2 (29:14):
So when David Bowie died in twenty sixteen, that was
a literal conversation that you and Daryl had were like, look,
we just lost this great dude, and that lets us
know that if not now.
Speaker 1 (29:24):
When exactly exactly. And that's when we first started talking
seriously about it. And believe me, we're good talkers. There
was a lot of talking now, what about this? What
about that? And we went through various forms of how
it would be possible for us to get out there
and do this, and then I started to actually build
the band and all along. Darryl was a bit trepidacious
(29:47):
about actually being able to do it. He's not a
good traveler. He was wondering, is there any way we
could just do this by train? It's like, I don't
know how that's going to work. You still have trains, yeah, exactly.
So anyway, he was going to do his best, but
sadly at the end, you know, the thought of him
(30:09):
climbing onto a plane, it's just like beyond him, you know.
Speaker 2 (30:13):
Okay, So that said strange advances on tour. So it's
Daryl not part of the lineup for this tour that's
going on.
Speaker 1 (30:23):
No, I mean, he's got an open invitation, you know,
to come and sing. And that's the thing when we
realized it was going to be iffy for him to
play with us. It's like Darryl, because he was concerned
about having the weight of the whole show on his shoulders.
And that's when I found Sean, our current singer. It's
(30:45):
like Darryl, You sing whatever songs you want and Sean
will sing the rest and I'll sing I'll sing the
other ones. You know, no stress, what's all? If you
sing one song, that's great, the fans will love it.
But he just can't force himself to do it.
Speaker 2 (30:59):
So few years ago, like right before COVID, you guys
decided to get back out there and do a tour,
but then COVID mess that all up? Is COVID the
reason that he doesn't want to get on a plane
or they fall out of the sky, And that's the reason.
Speaker 1 (31:11):
It's a combination of all the above. Yeah, he doesn't
really need too many excuses to be anxious.
Speaker 2 (31:18):
Sure, I don't need too many excuses to stay at
my house either.
Speaker 6 (31:27):
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Speaker 2 (31:32):
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(31:53):
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Speaker 6 (32:12):
Let's get back into it.
Speaker 2 (32:17):
Well, how has it been doing it all over again?
I mean it's been forty years or whatever, So how
has it been touring and playing and traveling and whatnot.
How are you enjoying it?
Speaker 1 (32:26):
It's been amazing, just amazing, and the fans are what
make it amazing. You know. First of all, we get
to do now a show much closer to what we
wanted to do back in the eighties, you know, because
the technology has come down in price to the point
where okay, we can afford all this stuff. I don't
know if you've heard of a band from Vancouver calls
(32:47):
Skinny Puppy.
Speaker 2 (32:48):
Oh yeah, back in the olden days, yeah for sure.
Speaker 1 (32:51):
Yeah. Yeah, an industrial goth kind of a you know group.
Tim Hill, the guy that used to do visuals for them,
does visuals for us. So we've got big screens and
projectors and lasers and all sorts of interesting things going on,
and so visually, you know, it's a pretty cool looking show.
(33:11):
And now with social media, we can connect with the fans.
You know, I know personally a good handful of our
fans that were in the past. It's like, you know,
there was a distance. You know, you're up here on
stage and they're down there, and now you get to
know each other through you know, Facebook or Instagram or whatever,
and you can communicate and it's a fun aspect of
(33:34):
the show.
Speaker 2 (33:35):
It really is. Times have changed a lot back in
the days, you know, before podcasting and social media and whatnot.
I'd go see Rush or I go see Queen's Rock
or something, and I'm just one of thirty five thousand
people in this giant stadium. I can barely see them,
but they for sure can't see me. But now, you know,
even just this year, some previous guests of the show
(33:55):
have come through town with their bands, and like you said,
I've gotten to you know, not only interview them and
have them on the show, but keeping contact with them
via social media or whatnot. And then I get to
go to their shows and meet and talk to them
and hang out with them. And it's just as cool
for us as it is for you, is what I'm saying.
It's just as cool for the listener as it is
(34:16):
for the artists. So I do like that part.
Speaker 1 (34:18):
Oh yeah. You get to hear so many great stories
from people, you know, you find out how important music
is to people. And of course the vast majority of
our audience is from the eighties, but it's also cool
to see all the young people showing up. It's like,
I just love eighties music. It's like, oh, how nice
for us because you're actually you know, coming to the shows,
(34:40):
you know, buying the shirts. It's like it's keeping us going.
Speaker 2 (34:44):
You know, I love it. You did mention social media,
so I got to ask, I know, a couple of
years ago, you were enlisting the help of social media
to assist you in trying to find the album cover
model for your World's Away album. Were you ever able
to find her?
Speaker 1 (34:59):
So disappointing. I cannot find that girl. You know. I've
spoken to people that, you know, worked in all the
talent agencies and modeling agencies and stuff. Nobody has a clue.
Although we just played Dayton Toronto and this woman comes
up to me and says, I was one of the
dancers and then we run video. It's like, you're kidding,
(35:21):
that's so cool, Oh that's rad. Yeah, so she said, yeah.
She was like immediately afterwards, you know, she had to
leave town for a modeling job. And then she said,
a couple of years after that, I'm sitting in a
bar in Morocco and I'm going I know that song.
She looks up and there's our video and there's her,
(35:41):
you know, crossing the screen. You know, what are the chances, right?
Speaker 2 (35:44):
That's awesome?
Speaker 1 (35:45):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (35:46):
Well, I do have an email out to Derek Murray,
who was the director of photography for that shoot, so
I'm waiting to hear back from him. If he gives
me an info, you'll be the first to know.
Speaker 1 (35:56):
Awesome. Thank you, thank you.
Speaker 2 (35:58):
You're welcome. How are record companies today different from those
back in the day when strange advance was coming up?
I mean, I know that the pay structure is wildly different,
but how are the record companies these days? How's the cocaine?
Speaker 1 (36:17):
You know what, it's hard to believe that record companies
are even slimier today than they used to be.
Speaker 2 (36:23):
That's possible.
Speaker 1 (36:24):
I know it's hard to believe, but it seems to
be true. First of all, record companies used to take
some responsibility for breaking an act. Now that's not our job.
You know, you go find yourself, you know, five million
TikTok followers, and after you've done that, then come back
to us, and then we'll talk about giving you a
(36:44):
record deal.
Speaker 2 (36:45):
Yeah. Then we'll talk about taking half of your rosies.
Speaker 1 (36:48):
Yeah. And also, of course, back when three sixty deals
started up, Oh, that's a great idea. You know, it's like, okay, yeah,
now you're getting a chunk of every every part possible
way I can make money. You're taking a commission off
of that. Why exactly, it's just really grim. Unless you're
Taylor Swift or you know, or you know, like a
(37:10):
Ed Sharon or something. It's like everybody else is just
getting screwed. There's no fun for young bands trying to
you know, make it in the world today, even bands
that seem to be successful. I hear stories about them.
It's like, you know, sure we're able to tour constantly,
Sure we're selling some records and you know, getting some airplay,
but we're not making enough money. I've got to stop.
(37:33):
I have to actually get a job. You know, I'm
too old for this now, you know. So if you
don't break through that you know, sort of middle ground,
it's not going to happen.
Speaker 2 (37:42):
You just gets my show. I won't say his name,
but he was a founding bass player of two separate
bands whose debut albums went multi platinum, and he is
a ups driver.
Speaker 4 (37:56):
I know.
Speaker 1 (37:56):
It's just criminal. It's just criminal. I can remember going
out with Record Company because like record company guys probably
I say, would enjoy partying more than your average person,
and so we would go out on endless, big thousand
dollars lunches, you know, five thousand dollars dinners and all
that kind of stuff, and it's like, well, these guys
(38:18):
are so generous, you know, it was it Two years later,
it's like you're kidding. We were paying for all those dinners.
It's like it went on our bill. Oh no, oh,
if only i'd known.
Speaker 2 (38:33):
Yeah, that's terrible. So you're saying that, as of right now,
you can't just retire and live off the millions that
you make from Spotify.
Speaker 1 (38:41):
Well no, but fortunately I'm you know, sort of grandfathered
in with a few songs, at least in Canada. I mean,
I still get airplay around the world, but Canada, by
far is our most popular play.
Speaker 2 (38:55):
So good.
Speaker 1 (38:56):
I can retire if I am prepared to, you know,
and she's seven days a week, No problem, I gotta coverage.
Speaker 2 (39:07):
Okay. So you have a new album out along with
this tour. I believe the title of this album is four.
Speaker 1 (39:13):
Well, you know, we weren't gonna get clever with this one.
I was gonna try the numeral four. Oh you are?
You know? But no, I thought we've messed with people's
minds enough.
Speaker 2 (39:24):
So this album is called four.
Speaker 1 (39:26):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (39:27):
How did this album come to be? Is Darryl part
of all of these songs? Is he a writer? Does
he help with these things? I know he's not touring,
but is he writing and studio king?
Speaker 1 (39:37):
No? Not so much, so I had to dig through
all his material in order to because I wanted a
relatively balanced mix of our music. So I had to
find material that, you know, maybe we had demoed prior
or some of it we actually re recorded. But yeah,
he's not really writing music these.
Speaker 2 (39:56):
Days, gotcha.
Speaker 1 (39:58):
And you know it's sad because you know he wrote
some amazing songs.
Speaker 2 (40:03):
Well, this new album four, I have a favorite track,
but I'm not going to tell you what it is
until you tell me what your favorite trick is. If
you had to guess, you probably could guess which one
is my favorite song on the album. But I want
to hear what is your favorite track?
Speaker 1 (40:18):
Oh that's really bloody hard. That's really hard. As a
matter of fact, it's impossible. No, I can't do it.
Speaker 2 (40:26):
Well, I'll do it. I don't know if you were
paying attention. At the very beginning, when I was trying
to get my MIC's situation set up, I was humming
my favorite song off of this album.
Speaker 1 (40:35):
I missed that, but hum away let me see.
Speaker 2 (40:38):
Not gonna happen. But there is a song on this
album called flow my Tears.
Speaker 1 (40:47):
Oh fascination Street, Yes that is right.
Speaker 2 (40:53):
Now, I've only ever heard now three songs ever that
mentioned Fascination Street. One obviously here to a rapper named
ambush Van. He wrote a song for my show. So
that's why it says Fascination the Street because it's for
the show. Tell me why you decided to throw the
words Fascination Street.
Speaker 1 (41:13):
I did not. That is a Darryll song and I
love that song. Oh, I just think it's it's such
a cool track.
Speaker 2 (41:21):
It is a great track and as a matter of fact,
it is so great. I'm gonna ask you for a
huge favor. You could say no, sure, can I play
Flow My Tears in this episode so that everybody can
get an idea of what this album sounds like?
Speaker 1 (41:33):
Pleading. Keep in mind it's that was a demo.
Speaker 2 (41:37):
Okay, sounds awesome, but I thought.
Speaker 1 (41:40):
It was a good demo. So and it's a great song.
So yes, for sure you can play it.
Speaker 2 (41:45):
Will you do me a favorite? Is my favorite thing?
Will you introduce the song like you're a radio DJ.
It could be a Canadian radio DJ if you want,
you can say a boot sure.
Speaker 1 (41:54):
First of all, I have to apologize for being a
Canadian dh Hi. This drew from Strange Advance and you
are about to hear flow My Tears, a song by
Darryl Crumb, one of the best songs on our new record,
Strange Advance.
Speaker 7 (42:09):
For flow myighty.
Speaker 8 (42:23):
To please, Man's say, look good guy, an anti b.
Speaker 9 (42:38):
Protective Live with with.
Speaker 4 (42:55):
Flum Myity.
Speaker 10 (43:06):
City Night begins.
Speaker 7 (43:13):
A thousand dancers.
Speaker 10 (43:17):
With a thousany suits. Babe, the lie I never as
see your son's mind's.
Speaker 11 (43:33):
Key, O my tea, please Nancy eighty, the tective, Sir, where.
Speaker 3 (44:09):
It's attacked dance. It's a glass against you voices, I
am snow, shall make.
Speaker 4 (44:21):
A real listen. That's aistor. It's not clear. I seem
to remember you from a lost street day, from a
lost street, said Protectanger. It's still a dread condition when
(45:16):
we have fought in the modern weapons and one.
Speaker 9 (45:20):
Sometimes when I see the streets healthy and glass coated,
the picture.
Speaker 1 (45:29):
Comes back into my mind. It's always dark. She is
always in the headlight speed.
Speaker 2 (45:54):
Protect answer, awesome, Okay, what is this that I hear
(46:59):
about you writing?
Speaker 1 (47:01):
But you know, somedthing. It used to be a method
for me to get to sleep. I would just lie
in bed, close my eyes and then I think, Okay,
there's a man. He's coming outside the door to his
brown house and what happens to him? Where does he go?
You know, who does he meet? And I would just
start a little idea for a film and it would
(47:21):
just put me to sleep. Eventually every night I would like,
you know, he would get another block further or some
or he'd meet somebody, or the story would develop, and
then eventually it's like, okay, I'm forty five minutes into
the movie. It's like, but yeah, I would do that.
And then I thought, you know, okay, why not try writing?
And fortunately, for me, because I'm not a very studious person,
(47:45):
I just sort of naturally have a decent grasp of English.
I say fortunately because if it required a huge amount
of work, if I really had to slave at this,
I don't think I would keep up with it. But
it just kind of comes easily to me. So it's
just fun thing. So what happened was I wrote my
first screenplay. I've got about three, maybe four or five
(48:06):
in pieces. I was telling a story because I didn't know.
Originally I thought I was going to be scoring films,
you know, writing the music for movies, because like you know,
I think sort of in large orchestral terms, but the
actual writing for film is way too difficult for me.
It's like I tried. I was an abysmal failure. You know,
(48:28):
maybe given enough time I could learn the language. You know.
When we were in England, Michael Kaman, who did lots
of great films and was producing our record, brought in
Hans Zimmer, who's done a ton of great films, and
they're working on the orchestral parts for We Run. Well.
It's just spitting out of them, you know, it's coming
(48:49):
so fast. It's like just a phenomenal flow of creativity,
and it's like I'm watching them and going, oh no,
I can't do that. I can eventually do it, but
you know you're going to have to wait for a
couple of years for the music for your film, you know.
So I write this screenplay and I thought, okay, I
(49:09):
had some connections in the film world. We actually signed
a management deal with Jerry Weintraub Wow Management three. Of course,
he passed away before I got into wrecking films, so
that didn't help. And I had another old manager who financed,
he produced films and Broadway musicals and stuff. I thought, well,
(49:31):
that's a great connection. He passed away and I thought, well,
a guy I met when we first went to New
Orleans to do our first videos, Dvance Degenerus Ellen's brother.
He was still in the film business and he was
running a production company for Steve Carrell. So I thought, oh,
he knows people. I'll send it to him and get
(49:53):
an opinion from him. And well, his opinion was, okay,
never do that again, because you're not allowed to send unrequests,
you know, scripts to people. It's a frowned upon And secondly,
he says, you're a really good writer. Let me tell
you a story about another really good writer. And he's
got a buddy from New Orleans who came out and
he's been beating his head against the wall in Hollywood
(50:13):
for the last ten years, you know, and he says
he's got amazing scripts, he just can't get anyone to
pay attention to it. So anyway, I'm being interviewed for
a documentary on the Canadian music scene and there's a
guy there, you know, talking about the film world. And
I said, oh, I've got a story, and I tell
him about my screenplay and he says, well, I'd like
to read it. And the next thing, you know, he's like, yeah,
(50:34):
I read it, I liked it. I think we should
make this movie. It's like what you know, So it's like, okay,
you know, let's talk about it. So anyway, he wants
to try to sell the script or at least to
raise the money to make the movie, because Vancouver's, like,
you know, a pretty happening place for film these days.
Speaker 2 (50:53):
Sure half the TV shows we watched down here are
filmed up there.
Speaker 1 (50:57):
Yeah, it's always a game with me to watch a
new show. Oh it's like, oh, can I spot a
familiar Oh there's the bridge, you know, I can. That's Vancouver.
But yeah, it passes for a lot of different places.
Who knows if the'll come of it. I always anticipate
these things will fall through in the end. But it's
fun to do. And like music. I write songs just
(51:18):
because I like writing songs, you know, And I like
writing screenplays just for the fun of it. So if
something happens, great, If it doesn't, that's all right.
Speaker 2 (51:27):
I love it. How long is this tour going on
that you're doing right.
Speaker 1 (51:30):
Now, Well, calling it a tour is a bit of
a misnomer. Basically, these days we only go out and
do like two or three dates at a time and
then we fly home. I'm so not into long tours anymore.
It just takes me too far away from my regular life. Sure,
you know, I've got other things going on that I've
got to keep plugged into. So it's enough just to
(51:53):
do two or three dates, and we'll continue doing that
as long as everyone's health holds up, because you know,
it's a lot of fun.
Speaker 2 (52:00):
Okay. Well that said, where would people go to find
out where you might be touring? Is there a website?
Speaker 1 (52:06):
There is a website, strange Advanced dot com. Okay, And
of course we've got a fan page on Facebook, and
an official page on Facebook, an Instagram account. I don't
know what else we've got because it's not my thing,
but it should be. You know something, I thought, I've
got to start a TikTok When Twitter first started, I thought, okay,
(52:29):
I'm joining Twitter, finally a place for all my little
witticisms and all my thoughts on whatever, place for them
to come out. And I posted one thing, then it's
like I've got nothing to say.
Speaker 2 (52:41):
I remember the beginning of Twitter. Everybody was posting about
what they were eating that day, right, that's it. I
remember that everybody's like I just had a two offic sandwich.
Speaker 1 (52:49):
Like I know, but for the band's sake, here's the problem.
We sold more than a couple hundred thousand records and
there are fans out there who still to this day,
you're kidding you're back together. I didn't know. Oh no,
you have to come back, come back. It's like, what
are you supposed to do? We're advertising for where we can't,
(53:10):
but still trying to reach those people.
Speaker 2 (53:12):
It's crazy.
Speaker 1 (53:13):
I get a dribble of people signing up every week
on the mailing list, but it would be great if
we could get like, you know, I think we've got
like two or three thousand people on our mailing list.
I want like thirty or forty thousand, so that it's like, Okay,
I can get the word out. You know, we can
get people out to the shows. But it's right now
that's my biggest job, just finding our old fans.
Speaker 2 (53:36):
Well, maybe this episode will help bring them out of
the woodwork, I hope. So where is this mailing list is?
Where can people go to sign up for this mailing list?
Speaker 1 (53:46):
They can go to the website, go to strangerervance dot com.
You will find the mailing list and little dribs and
drabs of stories and lyrics and bits of demos, and
there's some interesting stuff there. That's where you will find it.
Speaker 2 (54:01):
Fantastic. Drew are not from Strange Advance, Dude, thank you
for taking the time out of your busy day and
your hectic melatronic schedule to hang out and let us
get to know you a little bit on Fascination Street man.
I really appreciate it.
Speaker 1 (54:15):
My pleasure, Steve.
Speaker 2 (54:16):
You have a great rest of your week. And again,
this new album, everybody's Strange Advance for it kicks ass.
I said it. It kicks the ass. Everybody go check
it out. It's everywhere where you find music.
Speaker 1 (54:32):
It's nowhere where you find music. Is a very difficult
to find item. As a matter of fact, Either you
come to a show and we sell you one, or
you can get it on the store on Strange Advance
dot com.
Speaker 2 (54:46):
Okay, so you can buy it from the website, Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.
In what formats is it available on the website.
Speaker 1 (54:52):
It's only a CD. When we put it out, it
was a two year wait time for vinyl, so it
was like no, no, maybe the next one.
Speaker 2 (55:01):
Do you at least autograph the CD and tell everybody
how cool they are.
Speaker 1 (55:05):
Oh absolutely absolutely, I'll write a little story on it
for you.
Speaker 2 (55:09):
Everybody, go check out the website, grab that album. I
promise you you're gonna enjoy it. You got to hear
Flow My Tears, which is my favorite song off the album.
If you like that song, I promise you're gonna like
the entire album. It is awesome. Everybody go check it
out again Strange Advance dot com and thank you Drew seriously.
I have enjoyed our time together, man, and I can't
(55:31):
imagine you ever come into South Texas, but if you do,
holler at a fat kid.
Speaker 1 (55:35):
Thanks.
Speaker 2 (55:37):
Thanks a lot, Drew. I'm yes your day. Bye bye.
Opening music is the song fsp theme, written, performed and
provided by Ambush Vin. Closing music is from the song
(55:59):
say My Name off the twenty twenty one album Underdog Anthems,
used with permission from Jack's Alive. If you like the show,
tell a friend, subscribe and rate and review the show
on iTunes and wherever else you download podcasts. Don't forget
to subscribe to my YouTube channel. All the episodes are
(56:22):
available there as well. Check me out on vio at
Fascination Street Pod and TikTok at Fascination Street Pod, and
again thanks for listening.
Hi, This is Drew from Strange Advance and you are
listening to Fascination Street podcasts.
Speaker 2 (00:14):
Yes, yes, the amp was feing.
Speaker 3 (00:21):
You woke down the most interested street in the world
with my voice d Fascination Street.
Speaker 4 (00:26):
You already know, let's get it when you went for
the Fascination Street.
Speaker 2 (00:30):
Welcome back, Street Walkers. This episode is with Drew or
Not from Strange Advance. In this episode, we get to
know Drew where he started, how he grew up, how
he got from Scotland to Canada, and why and how
he fell in love with the Melotron. We talked a
fair bit about the melotron because I've only heard about
(00:52):
it intelligens and stories, and so he gives me a great,
great explanation of what the meloitron is and why he
likes it so much. And then we talk about his band,
Strange Advance. Back in the early eighties, Strange Advance signed
a record deal and released two albums before they ever
(01:13):
even played a live show. Strange Advance's first three albums
went gold in Canada. So we talk about how all
those things came to be, how it's possible to even
get a record deal having never played a show, live,
which is bizarre. And then we talk about the newest album.
Strange Advance four is their newest album. They are playing
(01:35):
various shows throughout Canada, so check out their website for
show dates and also that is the only place you
can get this new album. Again. The new album is
called Strange Advance four. Drew lets me play my favorite
song off this album. That way you guys can get
an idea of what the whole album is like. It
is my favorite song on the album. But if you
(01:56):
like that song, you will like every single track on
the album. Make sure you follow them on social media.
Check out their website Strange Advance dot com for tour
dates and to get on the email newsletter to find
out more about when they will be in a city
near you. And this is my conversation with Drew Are
(02:17):
not from the band Strange Advance.
Speaker 1 (02:20):
For credit me fascinating for credit, me fascinating for credit,
me fascinating.
Speaker 2 (02:31):
Welcome to Fascination Street Podcasts. Drew Are not how you doing,
tod Amen?
Speaker 1 (02:36):
Not too bad?
Speaker 2 (02:36):
Thank you well, that is good to hear, ladies and gentlemen.
This is Drew Are not, the legendary founder of Strange
Advance We're going to get to that, but first, Drew.
What I like to do is I like to start
from the beginning. It helps us understand how the guests
got from where they were or where they are. So
where were you going to raise man? Where'd you grow up?
Speaker 1 (02:54):
I was born in Glasgow, Scotland. Came out to Canada
when I was three. When I was five, we went
back to Scotland because my mom was very homesick, and
we went up up to the Hebrides on the West Coast,
really a bunch of islands there, really wild weather, crazy,
(03:14):
crazy place, and I fell in love with it. And
when I got home, I wrote a song about it,
the first song I ever wrote, except it was played
on a harmonica. But guess what, at five years old,
I did not know how to play at harmonica. So
I'm just like.
Speaker 2 (03:32):
You played it like a kazoo exactly exactly.
Speaker 1 (03:37):
So that was my first sort of memory of actually
wanting to express myself through music. But anyway, so I lived.
I grew up in a place called New Westminster and
BC had a pretty regular upbringing. Joined the school band.
That's what sort of saved my ass through high school,
and then left high school and formed pick up bands,
(04:01):
club bands and stuff, and that's where I met Darryl.
My partner was in strange advance and we were off
to the races.
Speaker 2 (04:10):
So what made your family move from Scotland to Canada
in the first place.
Speaker 1 (04:17):
Well, my mom's sister met a Canadian soldier during the
war and so she moved to Canada and was talking
it up. And I think my mom and dad were
up for a little adventure, you know, you know, your
typical the streets are lined with gold and all that
kind of thing. So the better life for their kids.
Speaker 2 (04:38):
So both of your parents are Scottish. Yeah, oh cool,
This is a weird question. But I gotta know. Why
was your dad so adamant about you learning how to
play the bagpipes?
Speaker 1 (04:51):
Well, actually it was my mom. Oh there's a band
from Vancouver called Spirit of the West and they had
very strong Scottish roots. They wrote a song called There's
none so Scots as the Scots Abroad. So as soon
as you leave Scotland you become ultra Scottish. In Scotland,
(05:12):
people are not walking around wearing kilts playing bagpipes.
Speaker 2 (05:16):
No, that doesn't happen there, not so much.
Speaker 1 (05:19):
But when they come over to candidate, it's like, oh,
we got to do something Scottish, you know. So the
first thing was okay, you've got to become a highland dancer.
I said, well, it's not really in my blood. I
don't feel like doing this.
Speaker 2 (05:35):
No river dancing for you.
Speaker 1 (05:37):
Well, no, not so much, although I will say I
did enter one competition and I won two silver medals,
so I was quite proud of myself. Of course, there
are only two people in the class, so.
Speaker 2 (05:50):
Hey, a winner's a winner, man, exactly.
Speaker 1 (05:53):
I got the metal to prove it. So anyway, my
mom said, fine, you can quit dancing, but you've got
to take up the bagpipes. So I go, boy, okay,
you know fine, So I start the process of learning
the pipes. Again, I'm not really interested in learning the pipes,
and not to mention that. At the same time, my
mom's brother moved over with his family and his son
(06:16):
was like, you know, a really good piper, dead Keene
into the pipes and stuff, and he was making me
look bad to be honest, you know, because he actually
practiced and I did. So then finally I made my
last deal with them. It's like, okay, if I can
take up the drums. Then I'll join the pipe band.
I'll be a drummer in the pipe band. And that
(06:37):
took because I liked the drums, so I became a
drummer and I got to be in a pipe band
and have all that experience and stuff. So so yeah,
music was always a big part of my life. My
dad was a sax player. When I was fifteen years old,
I started gigging.
Speaker 2 (06:54):
With him in the Bassiders.
Speaker 1 (06:56):
Yeah yeah, and the Bassiders. Yeah.
Speaker 2 (06:59):
I can't imagine you would have been joining his bassiders
if you were playing the bagpipes.
Speaker 5 (07:04):
Horribly, No, no, So I got to be there, and
you know something, I went out with him and it's
all big band music and old jazz standards and things
like that, and it just bored me to tears.
Speaker 1 (07:17):
You know, I've fallen asleep on the bandstand.
Speaker 2 (07:20):
Which says a lot for a drummer because you're busy
up there.
Speaker 1 (07:23):
Well yeah, usually you are. But then later in life,
you know, my dad said, well, I've lost my drummer,
you know, he retired, got to try to find a drummer.
And I said, well, you know what about me? So
I ended off. You know, my dad's musical life being
his drummer once again playing all the same old songs. Now,
(07:44):
I loved that music. I came to understand. Oh, it's
worked its way into my brain. You know, it's part
of my musical development. And you know, like I'm very,
very big into melody, and of course all those songs
from the thirties and the forties and the fifties and stuff,
you know, great great melodic songs. So anyway, that was
a fun way to end off my dad's career. He
(08:06):
played till he was ninety three, wow, and passed away
when he was ninety six. So he had a long,
long history playing music.
Speaker 2 (08:15):
That's awesome. How long ago was it that you rejoined
his band for those last us years or whatever?
Speaker 1 (08:22):
Well, he passed away in twenty twelve, so remember made
two thousand or something. I played for the last six
seven eight years of his musical life.
Speaker 2 (08:31):
So what was that like working with your dad again
on stage after so much time had passed and you had,
I mean, for lack of a better term, grown up musically. Yeah,
how was that different going back and doing the same
songs with the same dad.
Speaker 1 (08:45):
Well, you know, for one thing, now, I had a
much better grasp of how the songs were written and
much more respect for how it was all put together.
And also my dad played in trios, quartets. You know,
maybe we'd have like five people in the band at once.
That would be about it. And he always played with
fantastic pianists. It was remarkable. They had a storehouse in
(09:09):
their heads of thousands of tunes. They could just shout out,
you know, a dozen songs to each other in keys
and stuff to play it in and there was no hesitation.
You know. It was a different style of playing, obviously
a different style of music, but the greatest thing of
it all was and I'm getting that experience now myself,
(09:30):
having people, you know, he would be playing for dances
mostly and having elderly couples flowed up near the front
near the bandstand and say, oh, you know, tears in
their eyes. I haven't heard that song for like fifty years.
You know, it was so meaningful to them and it
brought back so many great memories and stuff. And now
(09:52):
here's strange advances out on the road, you know, playing
for people that haven't heard us for you know, thirty
five forty years and ha the same experience, you know,
It's like there was this huge gap for if we
weren't doing anything, and so people thought, I'm never going
to get a chance to see them, you know, because
we barely toured in the eighties. So it's pretty thrilling.
Speaker 2 (10:12):
Now I have to say, Okay, we are going to
bounce around all over the place.
Speaker 1 (10:16):
Sure.
Speaker 2 (10:17):
But what I got to know about is there is
a musical instrument that I have only ever heard about
referenced on a podcast. Oddly enough, it's called Disgraceland, and
it's a podcast that tells the stories of musicians who
went crazy, like the crazy things that happened to musicians
and whatnot. But on that show, every single episode they
(10:40):
use some sounds and talk about a melotron. Tell me
how you found and fell in love with the melotron.
Speaker 1 (10:49):
Well, that's one of my favorite instruments in the world.
And I love talking about melotron. You know. Back in
the day, you know, we used to buy those of
the hunks of vinyl and it had all the liner
notes and you got to read all about who produced
what and what musicians were playing on what song, and
(11:09):
what instruments they were playing. The melotron originally it's a
tape playback. It's a sample machine, an analog tape playback machine,
so that you can record anything you want, any instrument
you want. You would play a long note, so a violin,
you know, you'd just be playing this and it can
handle like eight seconds or so, and then later you
(11:32):
can play them back and it sounds as oh, you're
playing a little orchestra. It could be anything, sacks, is
you know, trumpets, anything at all. One time I was
in London, England, and I went to the melotron office Melotronics,
and the guy there said, oh, man, you just missed
Paul McCartney. He was here tried to sing. He was
(11:52):
going to do his own choir, so he was singing
notes and then he was going to be able to
play all his own voices on the eltron, except he
couldn't really hold his tropes for eight seconds. That was
the problem. He was just a little bit on the
shaky side, so it just ended up sounded horrible.
Speaker 2 (12:10):
So he was older at the time that he was
trying to do this.
Speaker 1 (12:13):
Well, no, not so much. This would have been in
the seventies.
Speaker 2 (12:16):
Oh snap oops.
Speaker 1 (12:20):
But anyway, and I would find albums that had a
melotron on it, and I just loved the sound of strings,
you know, essentially I love orchestral works. When I was
eighteen years old and just graduated from high school, I
borrowed a couple thousand dollars from my dad and I
got on a plane went to England and the first
(12:40):
thing I did was check into my hotel and then
down into this area that had, you know, a lot
of music stores. Walked into the first music store. Oh
you know, there it was on this pedestal and a
guy comes over. Would you like to, you know, play it.
It's like yes, yes, please, and he hands me some headphones.
I hit a couple of notes and it's like, there's
(13:01):
this sound. I'm now going to be able to make
that sound myself. You know, this is awesome. I ended
up buying a used one. I couldn't afford a new one,
and I bought it from a keyboard player from the animals,
so it sort of had a pretty cool, cool history.
I go to the guy's house and there it is,
and it's like sort of sitting in their dining room
(13:23):
with Doiley's and ornaments sitting on top of it. It's like, okay,
but clearly you're not using this thing too much. So anyway,
I brought that back to Canada, and not only did
it spark my songwriting desire, but it also got me
into the recording studio world, because you know, someone suggested, hey,
(13:44):
you know, this is a rare thing. I think it's
the only one in Canada. You should rent it out
to studios. So the first thing I was I arranged
to rent it out to Mushroom Studios where they were
recording Dreaming aboute Annie by Heart. That was the first
gig my Man had.
Speaker 2 (14:01):
So on that album is your Melotron? Yeah yeah, and
you've got it from Alan Price?
Speaker 1 (14:07):
No, no, no, there was a touring keyboard player for
the Animals. Allen Price wasn't always there, gotcha pretty darn
cool and as I say, it led me into all
sorts of you know, of course, I was into Prague
rock and stuff. So the first group Daryl and I
put together, we used to open our set with Watcher
of the Skies by Genesis, which is a big Melotron number,
(14:29):
and people were just so excited because now it's like
we actually sound like Genesis, you know, I mean, it's
totally sounds legit and not to mention. You know, we
were big into Bowie and now we could do like
Space Audity just like the record. And as a matter
of fact, another hard story, we were backing them up
at a club in Vancouver called oil Can Harry's and
(14:51):
they noticed that we had Space Audity on our set
lists and they said, oh, you can't play that, you know,
because we play that in our set But being the
rock and roll rebels that we played it anyway against
you know, his strict instructions from heart not to sadly
was our last gig we ever played with.
Speaker 2 (15:08):
Our shocking Drew has mentioned Darryl a couple of times.
This is Daryl crom He is a co founder of
Strange Advance and arguably Drew's best friend when they're not
writing together or something.
Speaker 6 (15:28):
Hey, street walkers, here's a word from our sponsors. Let's
get back into it.
Speaker 2 (15:38):
So again, we're going to go all over the place.
This is going to sound like a weird question, but
I'm a musical idiot. How many times do you think
there's a melotron on any Strange Advance album? Do you
use it on the albums? Now? Do you still have it?
Speaker 1 (15:53):
No? As a matter of fact, What happened was Mike
Pinder from The Moody Blues ended up recording CD ROM
with a friend of mine and they did such a
phenomenal job on the CD ROM. My friend actually bought
the company and owns many melotrons and the original master
tapes and things that goes, so do you play them?
(16:16):
He's going, Why, you know, I've got the samples. They're perfect. Yeah,
so I don't really feel the need for the original
instrument now. As a matter of fact, I went down
to his place in Moses Lake, Washington, and I got
to go through all the original master tapes and record
them to DAT. So I've got a copy of everything. Wow,
(16:39):
it's pretty amazing. It's pretty amazing anyway. Yeah, I just
love the melotron, and yes, it shows up on every
strange advance. As a matter of fact, I have a
friend who's a producer and that's his thing. It's like, yes,
i'll produce your album for you as long as I
can add melatron. I don't know if it's every track,
but every record he plays on he has to have
(16:59):
melot on it and he's that devoted.
Speaker 2 (17:02):
So amelotron is an instrument that is still used in
twenty twenty five.
Speaker 1 (17:06):
Oh yeah, I see them on stages still as an
archaic instrument. There were so few of them made that
it's pretty cool if you.
Speaker 2 (17:14):
Got one and it still works.
Speaker 1 (17:16):
Yeah, I'll just give you the quick history on it.
It was actually made by a guy named Harry Chamberlain.
It was in the States, in California. He came up
with the idea originally. And what happened was, I think
just one of his salesmen took Amelotron over to England
and sold somebody on the idea of making their own,
cutting poor old Harry Chamberlain out of the picture. Well,
(17:40):
I guess it all kind of got amalgamated. But Harry
Chamberlain proceeded to develop the melod Well the Chamberlain actually
is what they called it, and he had a model
called the M one. It was very small in compact
and it was like the cream of the crop. And
when I was like, well, I don't know, maybe twenty
or something, I thought, yeah, I want a Chamberlain. So
I drove down to California and I met Harry Chamberlain
(18:03):
and he says, yeah, no problem. You know, I'm going
to put you on the list Harry Belafonte had ordered one,
and he says, yeah, after Harry gets his, you'll be
the next one to get an m one. It's like,
and so, how long do you think that would be.
It's like, oh, probably two, maybe two and a half years.
It's like, I'm twenty years old. I can't wait two
(18:24):
and a half years for anything. It's like, give me
my deposit back. So I never ended up getting my
m one, which, of course I've always regretted. But it
was so cool because I was so enamored with the
Melatron and with the group Yes. I went to a
Yes concert and I was disgusted because the keyboard player
(18:45):
at the time, Igor was playing some terrible Melatron samples
and as soon as like you're supposed to hear this
big choir come in, you'd hear this rancid sounded. What
is that supposed to be? So, you know, I thought, oh,
I've I've got to write a letter to this guy.
You know, I've got to let him know it's like
you're doing a terrible disservice to the music of Yes.
(19:07):
And then I find out Yes are coming to Vancouver
to work with my friend Bruce Fairburn. The producer, and
so I call up Bruce, I'm going you got to
get me in that session. You know, they cannot use
those melotron sounds. They're despicable. So anyway, I got to
go down to the studio, meet the guys, hang out
for a couple of weeks with this band that I'd
(19:28):
admired since you know, birth practically and supply them with
my Melatron sounds and actually even suggest the odd musical ideas.
So it's like unbelievable after all these years, because like
when I was a drummer, I used to go to
a YES show and just pray the drummer would break
his leg. Are there any drummers in the house? It's like, yes,
(19:52):
you're right here, which would have been crazy because I
was a good drummer, but not YES worthy. But anyway,
to have those ambitious as a kid, and then to
end up in the studio with the band, you know,
getting to hear all the stories and it was it
was a real life changing moment.
Speaker 2 (20:11):
So how did that did take it? When you told
him that he sucks at the militron?
Speaker 1 (20:16):
Surprisingly well? Surprisingly well? Actually I ended up bringing him home.
I had a studio at home and we ended up
recording a bunch of the orchestral stuff at my place.
So pretty cool.
Speaker 2 (20:27):
So you've recorded a bunch of the orchestral stuff at
your place for the Yes album?
Speaker 1 (20:32):
Yeah?
Speaker 2 (20:33):
Did you get credit?
Speaker 1 (20:34):
No? Damn it. You know something I learned that valuable
lesson because I had done, you know, a number of
different things on the album, and the assistant or the
engineer I think he was the assistant engineer on the
on the sessions called me up and said, so, you know,
what do you want credit wise on the record? I said, oh,
just you know something. Creative. Keyboard tech is what he
(20:56):
comes up with. Seriously keyboard tech.
Speaker 2 (21:00):
Oh well that's creative.
Speaker 1 (21:01):
Yeah. Oh man. Anyway, so now I gotta keep that
in mind if I ever am in that position again.
But you know, Bruce brought me in to play melotron
on an Aerosmith album and on a Van Halen album,
on a bon Jovie record, and it was a cool
instrument and it opened up some doors for me.
Speaker 2 (21:22):
I love it so strained advance. You and Darryl crom
you guys got together and decided to form a band
sort of. If I understand this correctly, you guys were
just kind of songwriters and then all of a sudden
you needed a band. Tell me that story. How did
this come to be?
Speaker 1 (21:39):
Darryl and I formed a band together, a club act,
and we did all sorts of esoteric music from England
and that was fine, except as we went along and
we got sort of more serious musically, it turned out
we weren't that compatible and we were at each other's throats,
so it was like, clearly, this is not gonna work. Fortunately,
(22:00):
Daryl's dad bought me out of the band, which allowed
me to buy a lighting rig and go out and
be a lighting director for a group. Here.
Speaker 2 (22:08):
Where are you located, I'm in San Antonio, Texas.
Speaker 1 (22:11):
Well. There was a band here called Sweeney Todd and
they had a song called Roxy Roller went to number
one in Canada and it was on its way to
number one in the States, but because the singer and
guitar player left the band and they replaced them and
put out another version of the song, and the two
versions were fighting, and the records we're suing. Oh well, no,
we're suing you. It's like, oh, forget it, so that
(22:34):
the song just died in the States. It was the
Nick Gilder and Jim McCollough, and they had another number
one song in the States called Hot Child in the City.
So anyway, I was working with them and I get
a call, you know, like a year later or so
from Daryl and asking me if I'd like to get
together and I write some songs. It's like, oh, I
wasn't anticipating hearing from you again. So we got together.
(22:58):
And the funny thing is music isn't involved. Darrel and
I are best friends, you know, we're very simpatico. We
love the same things and we just talked for hours
on the phone and just amuse each other. But when
it comes to music, tempers start to flare, things, you know,
kind of go awry. So we got together. We wrote
(23:18):
songs and demoed the songs, and then I went to
LA a couple of times and tried to get a deal.
Ended up in Capitol Records and they were interested. They
sent the material up to Dean Cameron, the Canadian A
and R guy, and he liked it. But in the meantime,
Darryl had another cover band called Remote Control and Brian
(23:39):
Adams at the time wanted to do his first tour
and he was just a local kid. You know, he
wasn't like, oh, it's Brian Adams. He desperately wanted to tour,
so he took Daryl's band out on the road as
his band. So Remote Control would do a set and
then Brian would come out and do They would do
a set of Brian material, and Darryl played them our
(24:02):
demo tape and Brian really liked it, so he played
it for Bruce Ferver and the producer, and Bruce sent
it to Capitol Records, who had already heard it, you know,
from being it sent a copy from the Saints, so
it was all just lovely and now Darryl and I
have a record deal, except we have no band, and
the idea of signing us as a songwriting duo that
(24:24):
wasn't really in the cards for Capital. They liked the
idea of we want to sign a band, so we
used Daryl's band, Remote Control, that was going to be
the band. And the funny part of the story is
originally I wasn't in the band because I had a
recording studio and I was like sort of one of
the main songwriters. So Bruce said, okay, well Remote Control
(24:46):
can be the band, and Drew you'll just be supplying songs.
You'll be a songwriter. Well, they start recording, and whoever
was drumming for them, it was a kind of substandard drumming.
You know, it's timing was terrible, and I'm like, oh,
you know, we can't put this out. And they said, well, look,
you know the drums are still set up. Why don't
you go out and drum. So I went out and drummed,
(25:08):
and it's like, okay, well you know that was much better. Okay,
you can be the drummer, all right, Now I'm the drummer,
and then the keyboard player. Good keyboard player, better keyboard
player than me, but not really adept with sounds and
parts and things. So I would end up, you know,
adding keyboard parts, and it was clear it's like, well
(25:28):
I might as well be the keyboard player. So so
now I'm the drummer and the keyboard player, and now
we're down to basically we've only got the bass player
left from remote control. So okay, well now we're a trio.
At least you could be a band and be a trio.
That was us. We were strange advanced, and then when
it came time to do our next album, there were issues,
(25:49):
so we ended up just dropping down to the two
of us.
Speaker 2 (25:52):
So, if I were straying this correctly, Strange Advanced signed
a record deal with Capitol Records and released two albums
having never once played a live show. Is that true?
And how is that possible?
Speaker 7 (26:04):
Well?
Speaker 1 (26:04):
Yeah, you know, it was the time. And also the
reason we got the deal was that the president of
Capital in LA really liked us, especially he liked Worlds
Away and he sort of saw us as being like potentially,
you know, a new Moody Blues type of act, So
he really felt strongly about the group. And also, by
(26:27):
the way, we were going to tour after the first album.
The problem was literally days away from the start of
the tour. I drove Daryl home after rehearsal and there's
an ambulance parked outside his house. His father had just
passed away. He was an only child, so it was
just he and his mom, and he's like, I can't
leave my mom at this time, you know, like this,
(26:48):
So we pulled the plug on the tour and decided
instead just to start working on the second album. And
I really regret not having the chance to tour the
first album, because you know, it's when you, you know,
make all the mistakes live, no one cares, no one
knows who you are, and you get to forge relationships
with all these bands you tour with and stuff. By
(27:10):
the time we toured after our second album, we were
big enough that we could headline, and we didn't get
that opportunity. You know. It's like, I feel like we
missed out on a chapter in the rock and Roll
Book of Making It.
Speaker 2 (27:23):
Yeah, you miss some wrungs on that ladder for sure.
Speaker 1 (27:26):
Yeah. Yeah.
Speaker 2 (27:27):
Also, is this correct? Your first three albums with Strange
Advance went gold in Canada? Did all three of them
go gold?
Speaker 1 (27:35):
Yeah?
Speaker 2 (27:36):
Okay, now you've got some explaining to do, Drew, your
first three records went gold in Canada, and then you
guys just stopped for thirty years. What happened? What's going on?
Speaker 1 (27:51):
Well, you know what happened. When we got to the
end of touring after the third album, Darryl and I
had reached that point with each other where it was
difficult and we decided that we would part ways. You know,
for the most part, Daryl wanted to focus on dance music.
The only problem with that was that he wasn't very
(28:11):
technologically adept and you know, everything's done in computers and
stuff these days. You know, it's all samples and soft
sense and stuff. And anyway, that's what he wanted to do,
and I wanted to carry on with strange advance. So
I just kept writing and recording. But it was a
weird time period in my personal life, and also musically
(28:33):
in the world was changing, moving into smells like teen spirit,
you know, grunge, all that stuff. Musical tastes were really
really changing quickly, and I didn't really feel like doing
battle against that. I really enjoy writing songs, and I
had the opportunity to work with a few younger artists,
(28:54):
you know, produced records and stuff, and that satisfied my
musical itch. And then Daryl and I started talking to
each other again and being best friends again. And then
when Bowie passed away, it was just like a cold,
hard slap in the face. It's like, well, you know
what this means. It's like, we're next.
Speaker 2 (29:14):
So when David Bowie died in twenty sixteen, that was
a literal conversation that you and Daryl had were like, look,
we just lost this great dude, and that lets us
know that if not now.
Speaker 1 (29:24):
When exactly exactly. And that's when we first started talking
seriously about it. And believe me, we're good talkers. There
was a lot of talking now, what about this? What
about that? And we went through various forms of how
it would be possible for us to get out there
and do this, and then I started to actually build
the band and all along. Darryl was a bit trepidacious
(29:47):
about actually being able to do it. He's not a
good traveler. He was wondering, is there any way we
could just do this by train? It's like, I don't
know how that's going to work. You still have trains, yeah, exactly.
So anyway, he was going to do his best, but
sadly at the end, you know, the thought of him
(30:09):
climbing onto a plane, it's just like beyond him, you know.
Speaker 2 (30:13):
Okay, So that said strange advances on tour. So it's
Daryl not part of the lineup for this tour that's
going on.
Speaker 1 (30:23):
No, I mean, he's got an open invitation, you know,
to come and sing. And that's the thing when we
realized it was going to be iffy for him to
play with us. It's like Darryl, because he was concerned
about having the weight of the whole show on his shoulders.
And that's when I found Sean, our current singer. It's
(30:45):
like Darryl, You sing whatever songs you want and Sean
will sing the rest and I'll sing I'll sing the
other ones. You know, no stress, what's all? If you
sing one song, that's great, the fans will love it.
But he just can't force himself to do it.
Speaker 2 (30:59):
So few years ago, like right before COVID, you guys
decided to get back out there and do a tour,
but then COVID mess that all up? Is COVID the
reason that he doesn't want to get on a plane
or they fall out of the sky, And that's the reason.
Speaker 1 (31:11):
It's a combination of all the above. Yeah, he doesn't
really need too many excuses to be anxious.
Speaker 2 (31:18):
Sure, I don't need too many excuses to stay at
my house either.
Speaker 6 (31:27):
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Speaker 2 (31:32):
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(31:53):
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Speaker 6 (32:12):
Let's get back into it.
Speaker 2 (32:17):
Well, how has it been doing it all over again?
I mean it's been forty years or whatever, So how
has it been touring and playing and traveling and whatnot.
How are you enjoying it?
Speaker 1 (32:26):
It's been amazing, just amazing, and the fans are what
make it amazing. You know. First of all, we get
to do now a show much closer to what we
wanted to do back in the eighties, you know, because
the technology has come down in price to the point
where okay, we can afford all this stuff. I don't
know if you've heard of a band from Vancouver calls
(32:47):
Skinny Puppy.
Speaker 2 (32:48):
Oh yeah, back in the olden days, yeah for sure.
Speaker 1 (32:51):
Yeah. Yeah, an industrial goth kind of a you know group.
Tim Hill, the guy that used to do visuals for them,
does visuals for us. So we've got big screens and
projectors and lasers and all sorts of interesting things going on,
and so visually, you know, it's a pretty cool looking show.
(33:11):
And now with social media, we can connect with the fans.
You know, I know personally a good handful of our
fans that were in the past. It's like, you know,
there was a distance. You know, you're up here on
stage and they're down there, and now you get to
know each other through you know, Facebook or Instagram or whatever,
and you can communicate and it's a fun aspect of
(33:34):
the show.
Speaker 2 (33:35):
It really is. Times have changed a lot back in
the days, you know, before podcasting and social media and whatnot.
I'd go see Rush or I go see Queen's Rock
or something, and I'm just one of thirty five thousand
people in this giant stadium. I can barely see them,
but they for sure can't see me. But now, you know,
even just this year, some previous guests of the show
(33:55):
have come through town with their bands, and like you said,
I've gotten to you know, not only interview them and
have them on the show, but keeping contact with them
via social media or whatnot. And then I get to
go to their shows and meet and talk to them
and hang out with them. And it's just as cool
for us as it is for you, is what I'm saying.
It's just as cool for the listener as it is
(34:16):
for the artists. So I do like that part.
Speaker 1 (34:18):
Oh yeah. You get to hear so many great stories
from people, you know, you find out how important music
is to people. And of course the vast majority of
our audience is from the eighties, but it's also cool
to see all the young people showing up. It's like,
I just love eighties music. It's like, oh, how nice
for us because you're actually you know, coming to the shows,
(34:40):
you know, buying the shirts. It's like it's keeping us going.
Speaker 2 (34:44):
You know, I love it. You did mention social media,
so I got to ask, I know, a couple of
years ago, you were enlisting the help of social media
to assist you in trying to find the album cover
model for your World's Away album. Were you ever able
to find her?
Speaker 1 (34:59):
So disappointing. I cannot find that girl. You know. I've
spoken to people that, you know, worked in all the
talent agencies and modeling agencies and stuff. Nobody has a clue.
Although we just played Dayton Toronto and this woman comes
up to me and says, I was one of the
dancers and then we run video. It's like, you're kidding,
(35:21):
that's so cool, Oh that's rad. Yeah, so she said, yeah.
She was like immediately afterwards, you know, she had to
leave town for a modeling job. And then she said,
a couple of years after that, I'm sitting in a
bar in Morocco and I'm going I know that song.
She looks up and there's our video and there's her,
(35:41):
you know, crossing the screen. You know, what are the chances, right?
Speaker 2 (35:44):
That's awesome?
Speaker 1 (35:45):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (35:46):
Well, I do have an email out to Derek Murray,
who was the director of photography for that shoot, so
I'm waiting to hear back from him. If he gives
me an info, you'll be the first to know.
Speaker 1 (35:56):
Awesome. Thank you, thank you.
Speaker 2 (35:58):
You're welcome. How are record companies today different from those
back in the day when strange advance was coming up?
I mean, I know that the pay structure is wildly different,
but how are the record companies these days? How's the cocaine?
Speaker 1 (36:17):
You know what, it's hard to believe that record companies
are even slimier today than they used to be.
Speaker 2 (36:23):
That's possible.
Speaker 1 (36:24):
I know it's hard to believe, but it seems to
be true. First of all, record companies used to take
some responsibility for breaking an act. Now that's not our job.
You know, you go find yourself, you know, five million
TikTok followers, and after you've done that, then come back
to us, and then we'll talk about giving you a
(36:44):
record deal.
Speaker 2 (36:45):
Yeah. Then we'll talk about taking half of your rosies.
Speaker 1 (36:48):
Yeah. And also, of course, back when three sixty deals
started up, Oh, that's a great idea. You know, it's like, okay, yeah,
now you're getting a chunk of every every part possible
way I can make money. You're taking a commission off
of that. Why exactly, it's just really grim. Unless you're
Taylor Swift or you know, or you know, like a
(37:10):
Ed Sharon or something. It's like everybody else is just
getting screwed. There's no fun for young bands trying to
you know, make it in the world today, even bands
that seem to be successful. I hear stories about them.
It's like, you know, sure we're able to tour constantly,
Sure we're selling some records and you know, getting some airplay,
but we're not making enough money. I've got to stop.
(37:33):
I have to actually get a job. You know, I'm
too old for this now, you know. So if you
don't break through that you know, sort of middle ground,
it's not going to happen.
Speaker 2 (37:42):
You just gets my show. I won't say his name,
but he was a founding bass player of two separate
bands whose debut albums went multi platinum, and he is
a ups driver.
Speaker 4 (37:56):
I know.
Speaker 1 (37:56):
It's just criminal. It's just criminal. I can remember going
out with Record Company because like record company guys probably
I say, would enjoy partying more than your average person,
and so we would go out on endless, big thousand
dollars lunches, you know, five thousand dollars dinners and all
that kind of stuff, and it's like, well, these guys
(38:18):
are so generous, you know, it was it Two years later,
it's like you're kidding. We were paying for all those dinners.
It's like it went on our bill. Oh no, oh,
if only i'd known.
Speaker 2 (38:33):
Yeah, that's terrible. So you're saying that, as of right now,
you can't just retire and live off the millions that
you make from Spotify.
Speaker 1 (38:41):
Well no, but fortunately I'm you know, sort of grandfathered
in with a few songs, at least in Canada. I mean,
I still get airplay around the world, but Canada, by
far is our most popular play.
Speaker 2 (38:55):
So good.
Speaker 1 (38:56):
I can retire if I am prepared to, you know,
and she's seven days a week, No problem, I gotta coverage.
Speaker 2 (39:07):
Okay. So you have a new album out along with
this tour. I believe the title of this album is four.
Speaker 1 (39:13):
Well, you know, we weren't gonna get clever with this one.
I was gonna try the numeral four. Oh you are?
You know? But no, I thought we've messed with people's
minds enough.
Speaker 2 (39:24):
So this album is called four.
Speaker 1 (39:26):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (39:27):
How did this album come to be? Is Darryl part
of all of these songs? Is he a writer? Does
he help with these things? I know he's not touring,
but is he writing and studio king?
Speaker 1 (39:37):
No? Not so much, so I had to dig through
all his material in order to because I wanted a
relatively balanced mix of our music. So I had to
find material that, you know, maybe we had demoed prior
or some of it we actually re recorded. But yeah,
he's not really writing music these.
Speaker 2 (39:56):
Days, gotcha.
Speaker 1 (39:58):
And you know it's sad because you know he wrote
some amazing songs.
Speaker 2 (40:03):
Well, this new album four, I have a favorite track,
but I'm not going to tell you what it is
until you tell me what your favorite trick is. If
you had to guess, you probably could guess which one
is my favorite song on the album. But I want
to hear what is your favorite track?
Speaker 1 (40:18):
Oh that's really bloody hard. That's really hard. As a
matter of fact, it's impossible. No, I can't do it.
Speaker 2 (40:26):
Well, I'll do it. I don't know if you were
paying attention. At the very beginning, when I was trying
to get my MIC's situation set up, I was humming
my favorite song off of this album.
Speaker 1 (40:35):
I missed that, but hum away let me see.
Speaker 2 (40:38):
Not gonna happen. But there is a song on this
album called flow my Tears.
Speaker 1 (40:47):
Oh fascination Street, Yes that is right.
Speaker 2 (40:53):
Now, I've only ever heard now three songs ever that
mentioned Fascination Street. One obviously here to a rapper named
ambush Van. He wrote a song for my show. So
that's why it says Fascination the Street because it's for
the show. Tell me why you decided to throw the
words Fascination Street.
Speaker 1 (41:13):
I did not. That is a Darryll song and I
love that song. Oh, I just think it's it's such
a cool track.
Speaker 2 (41:21):
It is a great track and as a matter of fact,
it is so great. I'm gonna ask you for a
huge favor. You could say no, sure, can I play
Flow My Tears in this episode so that everybody can
get an idea of what this album sounds like?
Speaker 1 (41:33):
Pleading. Keep in mind it's that was a demo.
Speaker 2 (41:37):
Okay, sounds awesome, but I thought.
Speaker 1 (41:40):
It was a good demo. So and it's a great song.
So yes, for sure you can play it.
Speaker 2 (41:45):
Will you do me a favorite? Is my favorite thing?
Will you introduce the song like you're a radio DJ.
It could be a Canadian radio DJ if you want,
you can say a boot sure.
Speaker 1 (41:54):
First of all, I have to apologize for being a
Canadian dh Hi. This drew from Strange Advance and you
are about to hear flow My Tears, a song by
Darryl Crumb, one of the best songs on our new record,
Strange Advance.
Speaker 7 (42:09):
For flow myighty.
Speaker 8 (42:23):
To please, Man's say, look good guy, an anti b.
Speaker 9 (42:38):
Protective Live with with.
Speaker 4 (42:55):
Flum Myity.
Speaker 10 (43:06):
City Night begins.
Speaker 7 (43:13):
A thousand dancers.
Speaker 10 (43:17):
With a thousany suits. Babe, the lie I never as
see your son's mind's.
Speaker 11 (43:33):
Key, O my tea, please Nancy eighty, the tective, Sir, where.
Speaker 3 (44:09):
It's attacked dance. It's a glass against you voices, I
am snow, shall make.
Speaker 4 (44:21):
A real listen. That's aistor. It's not clear. I seem
to remember you from a lost street day, from a
lost street, said Protectanger. It's still a dread condition when
(45:16):
we have fought in the modern weapons and one.
Speaker 9 (45:20):
Sometimes when I see the streets healthy and glass coated,
the picture.
Speaker 1 (45:29):
Comes back into my mind. It's always dark. She is
always in the headlight speed.
Speaker 2 (45:54):
Protect answer, awesome, Okay, what is this that I hear
(46:59):
about you writing?
Speaker 1 (47:01):
But you know, somedthing. It used to be a method
for me to get to sleep. I would just lie
in bed, close my eyes and then I think, Okay,
there's a man. He's coming outside the door to his
brown house and what happens to him? Where does he go?
You know, who does he meet? And I would just
start a little idea for a film and it would
(47:21):
just put me to sleep. Eventually every night I would like,
you know, he would get another block further or some
or he'd meet somebody, or the story would develop, and
then eventually it's like, okay, I'm forty five minutes into
the movie. It's like, but yeah, I would do that.
And then I thought, you know, okay, why not try writing?
And fortunately, for me, because I'm not a very studious person,
(47:45):
I just sort of naturally have a decent grasp of English.
I say fortunately because if it required a huge amount
of work, if I really had to slave at this,
I don't think I would keep up with it. But
it just kind of comes easily to me. So it's
just fun thing. So what happened was I wrote my
first screenplay. I've got about three, maybe four or five
(48:06):
in pieces. I was telling a story because I didn't know.
Originally I thought I was going to be scoring films,
you know, writing the music for movies, because like you know,
I think sort of in large orchestral terms, but the
actual writing for film is way too difficult for me.
It's like I tried. I was an abysmal failure. You know,
(48:28):
maybe given enough time I could learn the language. You know.
When we were in England, Michael Kaman, who did lots
of great films and was producing our record, brought in
Hans Zimmer, who's done a ton of great films, and
they're working on the orchestral parts for We Run. Well.
It's just spitting out of them, you know, it's coming
(48:49):
so fast. It's like just a phenomenal flow of creativity,
and it's like I'm watching them and going, oh no,
I can't do that. I can eventually do it, but
you know you're going to have to wait for a
couple of years for the music for your film, you know.
So I write this screenplay and I thought, okay, I
(49:09):
had some connections in the film world. We actually signed
a management deal with Jerry Weintraub Wow Management three. Of course,
he passed away before I got into wrecking films, so
that didn't help. And I had another old manager who financed,
he produced films and Broadway musicals and stuff. I thought, well,
(49:31):
that's a great connection. He passed away and I thought, well,
a guy I met when we first went to New
Orleans to do our first videos, Dvance Degenerus Ellen's brother.
He was still in the film business and he was
running a production company for Steve Carrell. So I thought, oh,
he knows people. I'll send it to him and get
(49:53):
an opinion from him. And well, his opinion was, okay,
never do that again, because you're not allowed to send unrequests,
you know, scripts to people. It's a frowned upon And secondly,
he says, you're a really good writer. Let me tell
you a story about another really good writer. And he's
got a buddy from New Orleans who came out and
he's been beating his head against the wall in Hollywood
(50:13):
for the last ten years, you know, and he says
he's got amazing scripts, he just can't get anyone to
pay attention to it. So anyway, I'm being interviewed for
a documentary on the Canadian music scene and there's a
guy there, you know, talking about the film world. And
I said, oh, I've got a story, and I tell
him about my screenplay and he says, well, I'd like
to read it. And the next thing, you know, he's like, yeah,
(50:34):
I read it, I liked it. I think we should
make this movie. It's like what you know, So it's like, okay,
you know, let's talk about it. So anyway, he wants
to try to sell the script or at least to
raise the money to make the movie, because Vancouver's, like,
you know, a pretty happening place for film these days.
Speaker 2 (50:53):
Sure half the TV shows we watched down here are
filmed up there.
Speaker 1 (50:57):
Yeah, it's always a game with me to watch a
new show. Oh it's like, oh, can I spot a
familiar Oh there's the bridge, you know, I can. That's Vancouver.
But yeah, it passes for a lot of different places.
Who knows if the'll come of it. I always anticipate
these things will fall through in the end. But it's
fun to do. And like music. I write songs just
(51:18):
because I like writing songs, you know, And I like
writing screenplays just for the fun of it. So if
something happens, great, If it doesn't, that's all right.
Speaker 2 (51:27):
I love it. How long is this tour going on
that you're doing right.
Speaker 1 (51:30):
Now, Well, calling it a tour is a bit of
a misnomer. Basically, these days we only go out and
do like two or three dates at a time and
then we fly home. I'm so not into long tours anymore.
It just takes me too far away from my regular life. Sure,
you know, I've got other things going on that I've
got to keep plugged into. So it's enough just to
(51:53):
do two or three dates, and we'll continue doing that
as long as everyone's health holds up, because you know,
it's a lot of fun.
Speaker 2 (52:00):
Okay. Well that said, where would people go to find
out where you might be touring? Is there a website?
Speaker 1 (52:06):
There is a website, strange Advanced dot com. Okay, And
of course we've got a fan page on Facebook, and
an official page on Facebook, an Instagram account. I don't
know what else we've got because it's not my thing,
but it should be. You know something, I thought, I've
got to start a TikTok When Twitter first started, I thought, okay,
(52:29):
I'm joining Twitter, finally a place for all my little
witticisms and all my thoughts on whatever, place for them
to come out. And I posted one thing, then it's
like I've got nothing to say.
Speaker 2 (52:41):
I remember the beginning of Twitter. Everybody was posting about
what they were eating that day, right, that's it. I
remember that everybody's like I just had a two offic sandwich.
Speaker 1 (52:49):
Like I know, but for the band's sake, here's the problem.
We sold more than a couple hundred thousand records and
there are fans out there who still to this day,
you're kidding you're back together. I didn't know. Oh no,
you have to come back, come back. It's like, what
are you supposed to do? We're advertising for where we can't,
(53:10):
but still trying to reach those people.
Speaker 2 (53:12):
It's crazy.
Speaker 1 (53:13):
I get a dribble of people signing up every week
on the mailing list, but it would be great if
we could get like, you know, I think we've got
like two or three thousand people on our mailing list.
I want like thirty or forty thousand, so that it's like, Okay,
I can get the word out. You know, we can
get people out to the shows. But it's right now
that's my biggest job, just finding our old fans.
Speaker 2 (53:36):
Well, maybe this episode will help bring them out of
the woodwork, I hope. So where is this mailing list is?
Where can people go to sign up for this mailing list?
Speaker 1 (53:46):
They can go to the website, go to strangerervance dot com.
You will find the mailing list and little dribs and
drabs of stories and lyrics and bits of demos, and
there's some interesting stuff there. That's where you will find it.
Speaker 2 (54:01):
Fantastic. Drew are not from Strange Advance, Dude, thank you
for taking the time out of your busy day and
your hectic melatronic schedule to hang out and let us
get to know you a little bit on Fascination Street man.
I really appreciate it.
Speaker 1 (54:15):
My pleasure, Steve.
Speaker 2 (54:16):
You have a great rest of your week. And again,
this new album, everybody's Strange Advance for it kicks ass.
I said it. It kicks the ass. Everybody go check
it out. It's everywhere where you find music.
Speaker 1 (54:32):
It's nowhere where you find music. Is a very difficult
to find item. As a matter of fact, Either you
come to a show and we sell you one, or
you can get it on the store on Strange Advance
dot com.
Speaker 2 (54:46):
Okay, so you can buy it from the website, Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.
In what formats is it available on the website.
Speaker 1 (54:52):
It's only a CD. When we put it out, it
was a two year wait time for vinyl, so it
was like no, no, maybe the next one.
Speaker 2 (55:01):
Do you at least autograph the CD and tell everybody
how cool they are.
Speaker 1 (55:05):
Oh absolutely absolutely, I'll write a little story on it
for you.
Speaker 2 (55:09):
Everybody, go check out the website, grab that album. I
promise you you're gonna enjoy it. You got to hear
Flow My Tears, which is my favorite song off the album.
If you like that song, I promise you're gonna like
the entire album. It is awesome. Everybody go check it
out again Strange Advance dot com and thank you Drew seriously.
I have enjoyed our time together, man, and I can't
(55:31):
imagine you ever come into South Texas, but if you do,
holler at a fat kid.
Speaker 1 (55:35):
Thanks.
Speaker 2 (55:37):
Thanks a lot, Drew. I'm yes your day. Bye bye.
Opening music is the song fsp theme, written, performed and
provided by Ambush Vin. Closing music is from the song
(55:59):
say My Name off the twenty twenty one album Underdog Anthems,
used with permission from Jack's Alive. If you like the show,
tell a friend, subscribe and rate and review the show
on iTunes and wherever else you download podcasts. Don't forget
to subscribe to my YouTube channel. All the episodes are
(56:22):
available there as well. Check me out on vio at
Fascination Street Pod and TikTok at Fascination Street Pod, and
again thanks for listening.
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