Andy Curran is back on NSTS this week to talk about the five-ish songs that make his skin vibrate – he actually sneaks a few extra tunes in! Before that, we finish up last week’s discussion detailing how Coney Hatch’s excellent new new live record Live at the El Mocambo came together.     

Along with the song discussion, there are more incredible stories. Andy recounts how Robin Zander took his request and played his favourite Cheap Trick song for him during their Toronto show, what it was like seeing an unknown opening act called AC/DC open for UFO at Massey Hall in Toronto, and much more.  Don’t miss this.   

Curran’s playlist (on Spotify):

Aerosmith – Nobody’s Fault

Cheap Trick – Auf Weidersehen

Tom Petty – Into The Great Wide Open

Deep Purple – Highway Star

AC/DC – Overdose

(Van Halen – Ain’t Talkin’ ‘Bout Love)

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As a Coney Hatch fan from waaaaay back, it was a privilege for me to host Coney singer and bassist Andy Curran this week. The band has released their new live record, Coney Hatch Live at the El Mocambo, recorded in October 2020 at the historic Toronto venue. 

Andy has some tremendous rock stories, and he shares many of them with me in this episode – playing tennis on the road with Iron Maiden’s Steve Harris and getting pelted with cutlery on stage opening up for Judas Priest among them. You don’t want to miss this.       

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Since its inception, Heavy Metal has spawned a countless number of subgenres. Death Metal is one of them, and in the early 1990s Norwegian Death Metal became more than just a musical subgenre. It developed into a violent, deeply sinister belief system. 

In this episode of No Sleep ’til Sudbury, we examine the dark origins and horrifying transgressions associated with the genre – Satanism, murder and corpse mutilation, church burnings, and the disturbing extremism of Norwegian Black Metal’s purveyors. 

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Longtime NSTS listeners know that I love speaking with up-and-coming musical talent on the show. And I anticipate that country singer songwriter Nelson Sobral will be a well-known name fairly soon.   

Nelson’s imaginative with the instrumentation he utilizes in his country-inflected material, a nod to his sophisticated musical tastes – something he credits to his mother. We talk Crowes, Otis Redding, The Ronettes, Howling Wolf….and we see things very, very similarly. 

Sobral’s playlist (available in Spotify):

The Ronettes – Be My Baby

The Black Crowes – Sting Me

Willie Nelson – Can I Sleep in Your Arms

Otis Redding – I Love You More Than Words Can Say

Howlin’ Wolf – 300 lbs of Joy

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This week on NSTS I welcome back one of the industry’s ‘good guys’, Jitters frontman Blair Packham. Blair is a friend and it’s always a pleasure to have him on the show. 

In addition to chatting about the new record he’s currently working on and his skin-vibrating songs, we also discuss how his dad inadvertently named his last record, the interesting story behind how Blair became acquainted with Crowded House’s Temple of Low Men record, what Malcolm Gladwell sees him as, and how he really feels about Elvis Costello’s lyrical cleverness. 

Packham’s playlist (available in Spotify):

Ron Sexsmith – Speaking With The Angel

Elvis Costello – Shipbuilding

Tom Petty – Dreamville

Crowded House – I Feel Possessed

John Legend – Everybody Knows

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This week on NSTS I speak with someone whose parents I watched on television as a kid – her mom is Cindy Williams, who played Shirley from Laverne & Shirley, and her dad is Bill Hudson of the Hudson Brothers. Her name is Emily Taylor Hudson, and she’s a super talented singer songwriter with brand new music available.    

Emily and I have a really great chat in this episode. Her new single is “Hearts We Wanna Break”, from her EP entitled Love is a Dirty Word. We also talk about her deep appreciation for the classics – old school Marvin Gaye, Joni Mitchell, The Beatles’ “Julia”, and more.  Wonderful discussion. 

Hudson’s playlist (found here on Spotify)

The Beatles – Revolution

Enya – Caribbean Blue

Marvin Gaye – Ain’t That Peculiar

Joni Mitchell – The Last Time I Saw Richard

Sting – If I Ever Lose My Faith In You 

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As he did in life, Doors frontman and rock icon Jim Morrison also commands mystique in death. The circumstances surrounding his death are mysterious and unclear – if he did in fact even die. 

This week No Sleep ’til Sudbury examines the multiple theories associated with Morrison’s passing, including the assertions made by some who claim he’s alive and living on a farm in Oregon under the name Bill Loyer.   

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It’s here. NSTS episode number 200! While much has changed since the very first episodes of No Sleep ’til Sudbury were released in April 2017, the premise of the show remains the same – to celebrate music’s power to connect us and enrich our lives. 

The last four years have been quite a trip, I must say. The conversations and exchanges, the new friendships, and the shared music have all made for some truly life-enriching experiences, ones I feel very fortunate to have enjoyed. I wasn’t sure what would happen when I clicked on ‘publish’ that very first time back in 2017. But I couldn’t be more glad I did. 

Episode 200 is a tribute to all of these experiences, and a tip of my hat to all of the people who delivered them to me.  As No Sleep ’til Sudbury turns 4, I sincerely thank everyone, guests and listeners alike, for making it all possible.   

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My guest this week is Jonathan Gross, a former rock critic, Rolling Stone contributor, and music promoter who brought Run DMC, The Beastie Boys and other New York City hip hop acts up to Canada in the early 80s. 

The chat that Jonathan and I have about his songs is sentimental, funny, and fascinating all at the same time. Bad breakups, getting to first base (and a half), the beauty of nostalgia, the 70s Toronto music scene, Steve Rubell, Jon’s relationship with Ric Ocasek of The Cars, The Beatles versus The Stones… it all gets covered in this episode.  

Gross’ playlist (Spotify – NSTS Episode 199 – Jonathan Gross):

Hall & Oates – She’s Gone

Goo Goo Dolls – Name

Boston – More Than A Feeling

The Cars – My Best Friend’s Girl

The Beach Boys – Surfer Girl

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