Remember Wide Mouth Mason? I never forgot ’em – always loved the band, and I listen to them regularly. In November they’re celebrating the 20th anniversary of their album Stew by releasing a special version of it on vinyl, and WMM drummer Safwan Javed called into the show to talk to me about it (and of course, the songs that make his skin vibrate). 

Safwan is an incredible musician and a great dude, and we have some good laughs during our chat. He’s got some incredible stories from Wide Mouth Mason’s days opening up for The Rolling Stones and ZZ Top – having dinner with Charlie Watts, being invited to Billy Gibbons’ house for BBQ and homemade guacamole, and more. And what a playlist! Really enjoyed this chat with Safwan, check it out. 

Podcast: Play in new window | Download

Subscribe: RSS

It’s here! The third and final part of the special No Sleep ’til Sudbury Honeymoon Suite series featuring HMS singer Johnnie Dee and guitarist Derry Grehan. It was a real pleasure to be a part of this very laid-back conversation between two legendary musicians who have been in the trenches together for decades.   

In this series finale, Johnnie and Derry discuss the music that makes each other’s skin vibrate – they chat about their playlists in terms of what they expected to see from each other, what surprised them, what they would add to their own lists, and which specific Honeymoon Suite songs give them goosebumps. Plus more great stories, including the time Ratt singer Stephen Pearcy visited their tour bus.     

Podcast: Play in new window | Download

Subscribe: RSS

Welcome back to No Sleep ’til Sudbury’s three-part Honeymoon Suite musical discussion series. This week is part two, in which fleet-fingered HMS guitarist Derry Grehan joins me to chat about the new single and the songs that make his skin vibrate. 

He immediately won me over with his playlist, particularly the Van Halen and Deep Purple picks. There’s a song I wasn’t expecting in his list but Derry shares the reasoning behind it, along with some other great stories and a great Ted Templeman impression to boot! Don’t miss this. 

Grehan’s playlist:

Grand Funk Railroad – Are You Ready

Alice Cooper – Eighteen

Van Halen – I’m The One

Peter Gabriel – Don’t Give Up

Deep Purple – Burn   

Podcast: Play in new window | Download

Subscribe: RSS

In the first of a three-part Honeymoon Suite series, HMS singer Johnnie Dee joins me this week on No Sleep ’til Sudbury to talk about the band’s new single, “Find What You’re Looking For”, and also of course, the songs that make his skin vibrate. 

For Johnnie, it’s all about lyrics and melody in music. The songs he brings to the show reflect his love for sentimentality and purity in music, and in our discussion, I was reminded of how important it is for him to convey a genuine purity of his own through Honeymoon Suite’s songs. Really enjoyable chat. 

Dee’s playlist:

Chris Cornell – The Promise

Bruce Springsteen – Stones

Coldplay – The Scientist

Sting – Fragile

Ian Hunter – Standing in my Light  

Podcast: Play in new window | Download

Subscribe: RSS

CHUM-FM Morning Show producer and Famous Lost Words cohost Tom Jokic is my guest this week on NSTS. Tom’s been in the music industry for decades, and has some great stories from his time spent interviewing some of the biggest names in the business. His Famous Lost Words podcast, which he hosts alongside MuchMusic alumni Christopher Ward, unearths those archived interviews for our listening pleasure.  

During our chat Tom shares some tales from his past, along with the songs that make his skin vibrate – not to mention the one that makes his skin crawl.          

Jokic’s playlist: 

Bob Dylan – Like a Rolling Stone

Leonard Cohen – Hallelujah

Bruce Springsteen – My City of Ruins

Talking Heads – Once in a Lifetime

KISS – Detroit Rock City

Podcast: Play in new window | Download

Subscribe: RSS

Following our examination of the conspiracy theory surrounding Kurt Cobain’s death, this week on NSTS we look at other music-related conspiracy theories – ranging from the ridiculously far-fetched, through to the maybe kinda believable. 

Did Supertramp and the Freemasons try to warn us about the September 11 attacks with clues hidden in their Breakfast in America album cover, 22 years earlier? Did David Bowie reference Kanye West’s rise to fame with Ziggy Stardust and Blackstar? Did Elvis fake his own death in order to hide from the mob? All of these theories and more are addressed in detail this week on the No Sleep ’til Sudbury podcast. 

Podcast: Play in new window | Download

Subscribe: RSS

It’s here! The second half of my chat with the lovely Erica Ehm is now live, complete with the songs that make her skin vibrate (and that John ‘JD’ Roberts cliffhanger conclusion).

Erica’s playlist was compiled as a retrospective of her life thus far, documenting childhood memories, her time at MuchMusic and the artists she befriended, motherhood and her connection to her mother, and driving Bono and the rest of U2 around Toronto in her mom’s car. Erica also shares the silly reason why she was never permitted to interview U2 as a MuchMusic VJ. Enjoy!        

Podcast: Play in new window | Download

Subscribe: RSS

It’s a wonderful thing when you find out someone you’ve admired as a younger person is actually worthy of that admiration. And Erica Ehm certainly is. 

Following her stint as an original MuchMusic VJ, Erica went on to write and produce Juno-winning songs, publish books, establish two successful companies, launch a speaking career, and more. In part one of our chat this week, Erica takes me through the journey that led to her MuchMusic career and beyond, with a sharp focus on the details of her 1994 Seattle interview with Kurt Cobain, one of the last he would ever give. Our discussion was so fluid that I didn’t even get to the songs that make Erica’s skin vibrate! But worry not – that’s part two, next week’s episode.         

Podcast: Play in new window | Download

Subscribe: RSS

This week on NSTS we examine the events leading up to the unfortunate death of Nirvana singer and guitarist Kurt Cobain, considered by many to be the primary architect of a musical movement that changed the face of music in the early nineties. 

Despite Cobain’s death being ruled a suicide, there have been plenty of assertions that he may not have died by own hand. A number of peculiar and inexplicable events have given rise to conspiracy theories that Cobain was killed, all of which are laid out for consideration on this week’s show.     

Podcast: Play in new window | Download

Subscribe: RSS

When music fans share the songs that really mean something to them and the reasons why, they’re sharing a part of themselves in doing so. And Spoons singer Gordon Deppe truly does that with us this week on No Sleep ’til Sudbury. He graciously provides the backstories for the songs that have made his skin vibrate over the course of his life, and we go pretty deep in reinforcing the idea that music provides a significant connective power. 

Talking with Gord about these songs was like talking to an old friend, and I appreciated the level of sentimentality he demonstrated. I could have gone on for several more hours, but that just means Gord gets an invite to come back with more songs anytime. Don’t miss this. 

Deppe’s playlist:         

The Verve – Lucky Man

Oasis – Don’t Look Back in Anger

Jason Wade – You Belong To Me

Procol Harum – Whiter Shade of Pale

When In Rome – The Promise

Dooley Wilson – As Time Goes By

Podcast: Play in new window | Download

Subscribe: RSS