Toronto Mike'd: The Official Toronto Mike Podcast - Chris Tait from Lazarettes: Toronto Mike'd #1299
Episode Date: July 27, 2023In this 1299th episode of Toronto Mike'd, Mike realizes he booked the wrong Chris Tait, but as it turns out, it might have been the right Chris Tait. Toronto Mike'd is proudly brought to you by Grea...t Lakes Brewery, Palma Pasta, The Moment Lab, Ridley Funeral Home and Electronic Products Recycling Association.
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No April Fool, be whole today, when my kingdom falls, and yours will stay. Welcome to episode 1299 of Toronto Mic'd.
Chris, don't crack that open until you're on the mic later.
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$12.99.
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Today, making his Toronto Mike debut is Chris Tate.
Welcome back.
Welcome back.
It's your debut.
You've never been here.
Welcome to Toronto Mike, Chris.
Welcome back for the first time ever.
Welcome back.
You got to add that into the set list.
Welcome back.
How are you doing?
I'm doing fantastic.
How about you?
Good, good.
I saw you had a bike on the back of your car,
so I liked you instantly.
You're a cyclist.
That's right, yeah.
Lots of mountain biking in Ontario,
all over the place, in Quebec, for sure.
Really?
Okay.
So whereabouts would you have gone yesterday
for a bike ride?
Yesterday I went to Guelph Lakes,
which is amazing,
and close to a really nice Royal City
Brewery.
So you can have a beer there afterwards, which is great.
Okay.
Well, you're not allowed to drink anything but Great Lakes.
I understand that.
I understand that.
I got it.
I got it.
But since I said Great Lakes, now you can do it.
I saw you almost pop that during the intro, but on the mic.
So right in front of the mic, you're going to pop open a Burst IPA.
Okay.
And I'm going to join you and then we can toast each other here.
So, what am I going to pop open? Sunnyside
IPA.
That's a good sound.
Sounds good. Okay, cheers.
Cheers. Thanks for having me.
Nice to meet you. I feel like this should have happened a long time ago,
and then we just had to get our ducks in order
and make it happen. I agree with that, yeah.
There was some scheduling challenges.
I've dropped the name Chalk Circle many times
because it's a fun fact,
the very first rock concert I ever attended in my lifetime
was Chalk Circle at Ontario Place Forum.
That is amazing.
Unfortunately, that is a different Chris Tate.
Oh, it's...
Tell me...
That's funny.
Which Chris Tate am I talking to right now?
You were talking to Chris Tate right here.
So the other Chris Tate am I talking to right now? You were talking to Chris Tate right here. I'm, uh, it's, it's,
so,
uh,
the other Chris Tate and I have,
I have lives that have coincided all through that time.
You know what?
You need to,
you need to slow down and tell me everything.
Cause I think this happened to Kevin McDonald,
who's an FOTM,
Kevin McDonald from kids in the hall where he was,
there was two Kevin McDonald's booked on WTF.
This podcast,
there was a famous moment where they booked the wrong one.
This might've happened now.
So slowly tell us exactly who you are
because this is making me laugh inside.
But who the hell are you, Chris?
I'll tell you.
So, well, the other Chris Tate
runs a production studio called Pirate
and I run one called Resonator.
And back a million years ago,
so we both were in various and sundry bands,
and Chris was in Shock Circle,
and I was in a band called Sign the Whiplash a long time ago.
Okay.
And then since then, subsequently,
we would constantly, when we were both playing individually,
we would play shows, and we would both show up,
or one of us would show up to the wrong show.
And so eventually it got to be kind of hilarious,
and we uh we actually
ended up booking a show called me myself and i with both chris's and a third chris tate who's
a photographer and the three of us okay because me myself and i which i'll just bring it in while
we talk here so so i'll put this on in the background uh this is going to be a different
kind of episode only because i'm telling you this has never happened so this is episode 1299 i thought i booked the other chris tate there you go so how do you feel
knowing i uh you know i'm happy to talk to you we're gonna have a great chat here but you're
gonna do a lot of the heavy lifting because all my prep work all my audio all my questions are
for the other chris tate that is hilarious okay sw some beer. Let's listen to this and we'll talk. It's wrapped with barbed wire, so don't cut your pretty hands.
All my silly selfishness is just not easy to understand.
The key.
So this is me, myself, and I, and you had nothing to do with it, Chris,
because the other Chris Tate is singing on this song.
Correct.
Okay.
Correct.
But yeah, so it's a fantastic case singing on this song. Correct. Okay. Correct. But yeah, so it's
a fantastic case of mistaken identity
I suppose. Okay. And are you shocked
by this? I'm just curious. Did any
part of you think maybe he thinks I'm the other
Chris Tate?
I did not. But he and I
have had this happen in the past
which is kind of hilarious. And
as I say, it was
something that would come up occasionally.
So we did a show together, which was really funny.
Yeah, Me, Myself, and I, which is the name of this song.
Absolutely.
And then subsequently, we both went on to work in advertising.
And bizarrely, both had kids named Gabriel.
So when I talked to him, he was like, I have my kids named Gabriel.
I was like, my kids named Gabriel, too.
It's a little freaky, right?
It is a little freaky. Yeah, and actually, two of our employees at one point were both from the same family.
It's been that way the whole way through.
And I think we worked together on one song in advertising where it was music and lyrics by Chris Tate, but it was actually two different people.
That's wild.
Do you remember what that campaign was?
I don't remember the campaign, but I remember that Spooky Rubin sang on it,
which was amazing.
Oh, yeah.
Oh, yeah.
I remember Spooky Rubin.
Yeah, yeah, yeah.
He was great.
Okay, now.
So, okay.
So, I'm obviously,
we're not going to spend the whole episode
talking about Chalk Circle.
We're going to learn about you, Chris Tate.
And I do find it amazing.
Have you never had this happen before?
Never.
No, never.
It's kind of great.
It's amazing to me
that when I started telling you that the first rock band i ever saw live was chalk circle at
the ontario place forum and then to hear you like even just to hear you in the headphones say
that's the other chris tate i can't tell you what it feels like when you when you when you book a
guest and you prepare and i've got all this audio you know and all these questions and then to realize
you have a different chris tate like it's it's never happened to me i know it did happen to
kevin mcdonald because we talked about it on toronto mic sure because there's a scottish
director uh no last king of scotland i think there's a great muse uh movie director named
kevin mcdonald i think who i can't remember which kevin m Macdonald uh he actually wanted to book actually but he got
two of them because of a screw-up two for the price of one so here's what we're gonna do okay
you should you should next book Chris Tate and tell him that this is happening how friendly are
you with Chris Tate like do you have a phone number for Chris Tate like could you phone him
and tell him what happened and then we chat or uh absolutely yeah I'll call him afterwards and let
him know just hey put it on speakerphone call him now and let him know. I was going to say, put it on speakerphone, call him now. And if he doesn't answer, it's fine.
But I would totally do that.
Okay.
And tell Chris, though, I do want to talk to him.
I will do.
Because I don't want to waste all this homework I did, right?
Yeah, you should keep it, for sure.
It's important.
You prepped for the test, just the wrong one.
All right, here's your resonator.
What's his pirate radio?
Correct.
Okay, gotcha, gotcha.
This is the jam.
Now, you're not that Chris Tate,
but this is the one I actually have loaded up.
One, two, three, four. Cause the bigger they are, the harder they're gonna fall.
The smile of this humble little guy.
He can keep it close, boy, he can take it outside.
One day, he really gonna show.
So this was a big ad campaign for the Mini, the Mini Cooper,
and Money on the Little Guy, and this was a Chris Tate joint.
Not you, Chris Tate. This is another Chris Tate.
Okay, so there.
I burned it.
The only other big thing I was going to do
and I'm going to save it all
for the other Chris Tate,
but of course, of course,
I had like a hundred questions
about this song right here,
April Fool.
Were you a fan of April Fool
when it was...
Yeah, absolutely.
Yeah, yeah, for sure.
Yeah.
Chalk Circular, great. great okay so you haven't you
haven't won a casby award is what you're telling me okay all right so tell me okay tell me about
yourself we're gonna do this but uh like like what does resonator do sure um so resonators uh we're
we're a brand marketing agency and we we focus on sustainability and we work mostly on purpose for a brand.
So whereas the other piece is more advertising, this is more we work on, you know, why should people believe in you and what should they know about you?
What's your purpose?
What's your value other than selling a widget?
So we do a lot of that kind of work.
But outside of Resonator, I do music and write a lot of kids books and work in the creative field a lot.
So kind of a well-rounded...
You're a well-rounded guy.
And you also cycle,
which I bet you the other Chris Tate doesn't cycle.
Do we know?
I couldn't tell you for sure.
I couldn't tell you for sure.
Okay, so what's going to be fun
is that I'm actually going to learn things
as we chat about, you know,
all this wonderful stuff you're doing.
But maybe before we get to you, Chris Tate,
who, not the Chris Tate I thought I was getting,
but I'm actually happy to meet you.
I like,
this is gonna,
we're gonna become good buds from this.
It's like you,
you accidentally shut up my door cause I invited you in.
That's right.
And like a vampire.
Well,
yeah,
it's like once,
once I invite you in,
you're an FOTM.
You are now a friend of Toronto Mike.
Amazing.
So whether you like it or not,
it was a accident,
first accident in 1300 episodes,
but you are now an FOTM. This is good. this is good this is uh this is gets you ready for 1300 and you know what after
that many episodes you need something different to happen like i am coming off a rather different
episode because the last guest on toronto mic was fergie oliver and it was quite something because
he hadn't appeared in public in a long time and he was sitting right there. And you heard that. Okay. So that's like not,
that's not a typical episode because it's,
it's got a little more interesting like texture to it.
And then we have to address the video and there's lots,
you know,
it was kind of interesting to hear his response to all that.
So that was the last episode,
but you know,
you start to paint by numbers,
right?
Like at this point,
you know,
you have a guest on,
you kind of know how it's going to go.
You load up your jams and it's like paint by numbers but then something like this
happens and it's like exciting that i actually don't have any questions for you i'm going to
learn about you as we chat about you sure exciting to me okay but there's i was going to talk about
this with the other chris tape but i'm just as happy to talk to you about it i'm going to play
a little of this music and just talk about a musician who has passed away.
But here's a jam that'll take you back to 1990. See you love me. Things I just became famous and that's how you mess me up.
But it's wrong.
How could I possibly know what I want when I was only 21?
There's millions of people to offer advice and say how I should be.
But they are twisted and they will never be.
Any influence on me, but you will always be.
You will always be. We will always be.
What treated you mean?
I really don't mean to.
But you know how it is and how ain't Pregnancy can change you
I see plenty of clothes that I like
But I won't go anywhere
Chris, it was sad.
I'm still kind of grappling with it, to be honest.
I was trying to figure out what I'm going to say
on the Ridley Funeral Home Memorial episode
when we talk about Sinead O'Connor.
And it's actually a tough one for me
because I'm curious,
what did you think of Sinead as a musician, as as a human being any thoughts I mean she was incredible I mean I think
I think one of the things that uh was so powerful is that she she didn't you know I think there's
some great quotes from her saying you know I didn't everyone said you screwed up your career
by tearing up that photo of the pope but she sort of said no I screwed up everyone else's career
they couldn't buy their house in Antigua.
They couldn't do the things they wanted to do,
but that was true to her purpose and true to who she was,
and I think really a part of a punk rock spirit,
and she stayed that way until the end.
I saw some clips from her just 10 days ago,
and she's very much the same, and obviously tragic and been through tragedy, but really powerful.
Might be the most punk rock thing I've ever witnessed
when she rips that photo.
It was her mom's photo of Pope John Paul II, too.
Yeah, just a powerful thing to do and very brave.
And obviously, in the backlash, she paid the price for it,
but she was okay with the price, which was interesting.
It wasn't accidental.
It was very much a purposeful act.
And then there was that uh concert i'm trying to remember who was it a tribute to but she was she was booed basically
chris christopherson bob dylan bob dylan and chris christopherson held her in quite a moment there
you know she basically totally if you if you gave a shit about money and chris i don't know if you
care about money but if you give a shit about money, basically that punk rock move at Saturday Night Live
totally kind of destroyed her commercial prospects.
Yeah, but I don't think she did.
I think she ended up being an artist who made her money from playing live,
and I think that's what she wanted to do.
And again, I think it was a moment of anger and defiance but not uh not a spur of
the moment decision obviously it was something that she planned to do and and executed so that's
kind of incredible speaking truth to power that way without a doubt and she was so public about
her mental health uh challenges and you know if you especially since her son her son took his own life just in like january 2022 that's right
he was like 17 and then i mean she was basically you know screaming from the rooftops
about how she wanted to to join him and it's one of the it's very interesting to me and why i'm
grappling with this is that she was so vocally she spoke spoke out and shared her, her mental health challenges and basically said to us a point blank,
like I want to take my own life.
And meanwhile,
you feel kind of helpless.
Like I,
how does Chris Tate help Sinead O'Connor?
How does Toronto Mike help Sinead O'Connor?
Yeah.
I mean,
I think all you can,
you know,
what you can take from it is aside from a eulogy about how incredibly
powerful she was and what a great artist she was is, you know, what you can take from it, aside from a eulogy about how incredibly powerful she was and what a great artist she was, is, you know, mental health issues like this, they're in everyone's lives.
They're not just, you know, in her situation.
It's in every family.
It's in my family.
It's in all families.
And statistically, it's, you know, it's something that we all have to deal with.
And I think we have to remain vigilant and really check on the people close to us, especially when news comes out like this,
because I think one of the things that happens is it does start to seem like,
well, that seems like a viable option.
So that's, you know, that's dangerous and scary.
But also you just, yeah, you just got to really watch the people around you
and make sure that they're, you know,
not everyone's going to be in great mental health shape all the time,
but to really try and understand how you can help them
and what you can do to keep them here and keep them trying.
And even if that's just, you know, defer for a day. I mean, sometimes you get help them and what you can do to keep them here and keep them keep them trying and even if that's just you know defer for a day i mean we sometimes you get
in those situations where you're like let's just move that to tomorrow let's you know all the all
the drastic activities can happen tomorrow not today now regarding the music so i played the
emperor's new clothes i've always been interested in the follow-up to the big lead single like this
is like a little i'm always interested when there's a big album, which I do not want what I haven't got was a big album.
And there's a big lead single and nothing compares to you is as big as a lead
single gets.
And it's a monster single,
that Prince song.
And then the followup,
I'm always interested in like,
how do you follow that up?
And I,
she wrote that song.
So this is a Sinead O'Connor song of the Emperor's New Clothes.
And I,
it's the song I gravitate towards the most on.
I, like there's so many great songs on that album actually,
but it's, you know, I rarely play Nothing Compares to You,
but The Emperor's New Clothes, that's a banger.
I mean, it's a heavy jam, but it's great.
Yeah, Nothing Compares to You is also an incredible
interpretation of a song.
I mean, and really just, you know, flipping the gender
and sort of changing it up and making it that way
because it was,
it's a great song,
but it's such a different sentiment
from anything she'd done before
and much less charged
and emotional.
What's the best song
you've ever written,
Chris?
The best song I've ever written?
Yeah.
I just put out a record
with a band called
The Lazzarats
like three weeks ago,
four weeks ago.
And we had an amazing video
made by a guy named Jared Papasku out of BC
who's a stop motion animator.
And he did an incredible video for this song of ours
called Life on Fire.
And it's really good.
I'm really proud of that song.
It's sort of a post-pandemic song.
And that was very much like of a moment
where it was sort of, you know,
talking about
what everybody went through so it's it's a great video okay this is the quarantine uh life on fire
okay i'm just again we're on the fly here which is exciting to me because it's different chris i'm
their jobs they just quit wearing pants and in the dark, they wondered if they still knew how to dance.
And everybody went, do not disturb and enter dark mode, baby, just to observe.
And if the creeping and sliding will only destroy the part of us that was not paranoid, don't leave a message.
After the tone, I guarantee you that nobody's home.
I want to kill my phone and maybe just light my life on fire.
Cause it's chewed down fire.
Maybe we should conspire.
Together we could spark that fire and light this life on fire.
All right, I have questions here.
So, Lazaret, first of all,
very cool video.
People can find this.
It's called Lazaret's Life on Fire.
Yeah.
I'm looking at it now and you mentioned directed by Jared Popescu.
Did I say it right?
Okay.
Yeah.
Grayland Studio.
Now, so what is Lazarets
Lazarets is
so I
write music
and I work with
the kind of
collective of people
who are in Toronto
and this is produced
the record is produced
by Dave McKinnon
of the Fembots
so Fembots
are an amazing
Toronto band
if you haven't
checked them out
they're amazing
and Dave also
plays guitar
and Vincent D. Nicholson who are from Sour Landslide,
play in the band as well.
And then Ron Hawkins from The Lowest Low
does some backup vocals on this piece.
So can we hear Ron on this song?
Yeah, he's singing backup in the chorus.
Together we could spark that fire and light
This life on fire
Ron Hawkins is a busy guy. Life on fire.
Ron Hawkins is a busy guy.
I hear he's just involved in so much stuff.
Yeah.
I should also say Duncan McKinnon plays Pedal Steel on most of the record,
and he's Dave's brother, and he's amazing at this. So in between, Fembots are back on tour,
and they just played up in Sub Reopening for Sloan at the festival up there.
So they're back and they put out an amazing, amazing new record.
And Ron's putting out a ton of records in the low.
We're putting out a new record in October.
So lots and lots of good music coming out.
I just had Simon Head on the show.
He directed a documentary called Subversives on the lowest of the low.
Yeah, yeah, yeah.
And I was lucky enough to get a
media screener.
It's a link, really.
But it's great.
Yeah, it's great. And there's so much
footage of those guys and they're such
legends. And Steve's off doing his own thing
now, too. Steve Stanley's playing and touring
and doing great work. And he's a sweetheart.
And I think he and
Chris Brown and Steve just did a tour together, which was great too.
I had all three down here.
Oh, did you?
Yeah, and it was amazing.
Oh, beautiful.
Yeah, they're great guys.
So yeah, we've just put that out
and we just played in Toronto
and then we'll do some more shows in September.
But really, it's a collective of people
who are very busy with their own music as well.
So I'm lucky to have them helping me out.
Yeah, cool video.
Okay.
So Lazarus, so this is fresh.
I mean, this only came out in March.
That's right, yeah.
Yeah, we just, we made it.
So we sort of wrote it over the pandemic and then we recorded it last summer up north in the Collingwood area at a house.
And it really was a chance to kind of get together and play after.
And even that song is really sort of about, you know,
everything seems so frayed and so insane.
You know, what do you do next and how do you restart
and what do you want to keep and what do you want to give away?
So that was a good piece for us to all get back together
and sort of start playing.
Very, very cool. Very cool.
Now, walk us backwards here.
So that's sort of the most recent project,
musical project you've been involved in is the Lazarats.
Yep.
Yeah, so I've played a lot on my own
and played with a bunch of different bands,
but Lazarats, we've put a record here
and one a few years back as well.
But it's sort of a bit of a mix.
I play music, as I said, I write a lot of kids' books
and work collaboratively with people on their art projects as well but it's sort of a bit of a mix i do i play music as i said i write a lot of kids books and work collaboratively with people on on their art projects as well and then
and then work in uh in advertising as well like was there ever a moment where you thought like
okay maybe i'll be chris j tate or something like like just a serious question because uh like
because you're so intertwined with the toronto scene and you're in, uh, working for,
uh,
Regency.
No,
say it again.
Resonator.
There was never a moment where you're like,
maybe I'll just go with Christopher Tate or,
I know Chris Brown just went through this,
right?
He became Christopher Hugh Brown.
Christopher Hugh Brown.
Yeah.
I mean,
I think it's of that part of the reason to play another,
uh,
you know,
things like Lazarus to have, to have a name attached to it is, is a good, good way to differentiate. But I think, um think part of the reason to play in other things like Lazarus, to have a name attached to it is a good way to differentiate.
But I think realistically I've been playing music,
but really because I've been in the corporate sphere as well,
there's enough, if people know us,
they know that we're different human beings
and there's different areas for us to be in.
But yeah, I would say that uh my uh my musical work and my and the writing work have
always been a bit differentiated from from that piece which is more of a studio piece anyway so
what got you writing uh children's books um i was um i was a i've always been a writer and i just
finished a degree a bizarrely a um a degree in musical ethnography, studying authenticity in punk music subcultures.
Really?
Yeah.
Now you got my attention.
Holy smokes.
So that was,
I didn't know that was an option.
Yeah,
I knew that I will.
So the truth of it was I was doing an undergraduate degree in creative
writing at York and I had finished it.
And one of my professors said,
you know,
you could do a master's if you combined it with two other disciplines.
And so I sort of looked at a
couple of other disciplines that I could combine it with. And then, and then got into the idea that
I could write a, basically a book about punk music subcultures, but also write a fiction piece that
went with it. So that, that got me into, into that world and writing that way and thinking that way.
And then, and then post-university, I lived in Japan for a while and was writing for places like vice about those,
those guys about, about, you know,
Japanese subcultures and Tokyo subcultures.
And then when I came back was talking to an editor in the U S who was a friend
of mine. And she said, we've got some kids books that need to be written.
Would you be interested in trying your hand at that? And that, that worked out.
So I wrote a lot of those and worked on a series called The Classic Starts,
which was sort of re-imagining older kids' books
like Treasure Island
and re-imagining them for a modern audience
with some modern language.
So I worked on Treasure Island
and Swiss Family Robinson and things like that
and trying to make them readable in this age,
the day and age,
make some changes to them a little bit.
It's interesting.
Only a couple of weeks ago,
Robert Priest made, it might even have been last week a couple of weeks ago, uh, Robert Priest made,
it might even have been last week.
It's all better now,
but Robert Priest made his Toronto Mike debut and he's been,
uh,
he's been doing a lot of music for children.
Yeah.
It's,
uh,
and,
and funnily enough,
going back to,
uh,
Ron and I,
Ron and I both worked on,
um,
uh,
TVO kids music,
uh,
for a while.
I think it originally had come to him and then Ron passed it off to me.
And,
and with,
um,
Dave McKinnon from the Fembots,
I wrote a bunch of music for TVO Kids.
We put it all together for Giselle's Big Backyard and a bunch of other shows,
but then Ron ended up singing it because it was,
it had gone through a bunch of people and Ron ended up being the voice of TVO
Kids for a while.
That's wild. So Ron Hawkins.
Yeah. Yeah.
Did I know that? Do you know if I knew that?
Do I know if you knew that?
Sometimes I get these facts. I'm like, that's a fun fact.
I'm like, did I already know that fun fact?
But that is a fun fact.
I don't know.
Yeah.
It's a,
yeah,
it's,
but it's a,
it's a really fascinating world
because it's a,
a very different audience to write for.
And there's some amazing stuff happening.
So,
uh,
working on those kids books
and I'm,
and I'm working on a piece right now
with,
uh,
a guy named Josh Greenhut,
um,
about,
uh,
believe it or not,
there's a beekeeping,
there's a beekeeping division
of the New York Police Department called the Bee Patrol.
Did not know that.
This is a learning experience today.
I'm learning a lot.
Anyway, so we're working on a book
about beekeeping
in New York City with the police force.
I kind of just follow my interests
wherever they go.
And I do think you're being a good sport about this,
because I'm trying to think, how would I feel if I were booked on a podcast
and then not until they're like live recording?
Is it just like, do you understand that you're actually the wrong guy?
Like you're being a good sport about this.
I think we're going to make lemonade here.
I think we are too.
I think we're both the right guys for the moment.
That's what I think.
Okay.
We're not the heroes we wanted, but we're the heroes we needed.
And I mean, look at it.
You got a Great Lakes beer in your hand.
Okay.
A cold IPA from Great Lakes.
I have no complaints.
And you're going to leave here
with a large lasagna.
It's in my freezer right now,
but I do have a large lasagna
for you from Palma Pasta.
So, I mean,
it's going to be worth your time.
And then you'll have
this story to tell.
And again,
1,300 episodes.
This has only happened once
and it might never happen again
because I really did think
I was communicating
with the other Chris Tate.
Well, I'll let him know and I'm sure he'll find it hilarious.
But luckily you represented him well because you were a nice guy.
And you could, if you were an asshole, I could have been talking about that asshole from Chalk Circle.
Yeah, that's right.
You never know.
You may get him on here and not like him at all.
You know, that's totally possible.
Oh, I'm prepared not to like him.
I'm going to be like, did you bike yesterday?
Because my FOTM Chris Tate biked yesterday.
That's right.
That's right.
And speaking about this, when I met you outside and you were coming in, you said you noticed.
I have the most ginormous grease stain on my calf right now.
I had no idea I had it.
So I did a ride just before you got here to Ontario Place.
But I don't know if it's how I carried the bike down the stairs or whatever but like a huge grease smear on my leg right now you
can you can vouch for that yeah it is like it's i thought it was a tattoo at first because it's
it looks quite a lot it looks like you laid down with your bike so maybe that's what happened
unbelievable okay so take us so we know now about your uh involvement with writing for children but
uh like what what made you want to be a musician?
I mean, that Lazaretts jam, that's a real jam.
Yeah, yeah, yeah.
Yeah, it's real stuff.
And you know what?
Again, sort of like writing, I'd always written music
and it was something that I did as a kid and kept doing
and then played a lot in the 90s in Toronto
and in and around the Toronto scene
and just sort of kept with it. But I mean as you do as you as you kind of get older and and and life
moves on and you need and you find out that that's not actually a way to make a living that's a way
to that's a way to be alive but not necessarily a way to make but how do you like how do you come
to that realization i'm always curious like how do you come to the realization that you can't make
a living doing this art well i think you know to to talk about people like ron ron is ron is stuck
with it and he's been someone who's, who's persevered and had an
incredible career and been a real journeyman in Canada, but it is, it's a super challenging
place to be. And for, um, for the way that I was approaching it, it was, uh, it was something when
I got into the advertising world, the way I got into it was writing music. So I got into it being
asked to write music for, for commercials or for, or for jingles or for events or whatever. And then so that sort of seemed to be a way to take that ability and make it into something that made sense for me and sort of led me into all the things I ended up doing in that world.
Fascinating. Okay. Now, what made you, I guess you needed a job that paid money. Like, how do you end up in the line of business you're in at Resonator? Uh, well, a million years ago, uh, when I was a kid, my,
I had an uncle who worked in advertising and I ended up working on what's called color corrects,
which are, which are kind of like this can of beer, but making them for commercials, making
little, little prop versions of them or prop versions where it's the, you know, the logos
look different and making those pieces and doing set painting and all those kinds of things.
So hanging around in that world and seeing that it was really creative and vital and,
and really out there in the late eighties and early nineties. So it was, it was a really fun
place to be. And as someone with an artistic bent who was working in the arts, it seemed like a
great way to sort of see if I could make those, uh, those abilities work for me. So, uh, yeah,
got into, got into writing and working on in the commercial world. And then, um, and then, uh, yeah, got into, got into writing and working on in the commercial world. And then, um,
and then,
uh,
ended up starting agencies after that and,
and resonators,
the most recent one.
And it's,
it's been amazing.
It's been an amazing career to work with,
uh,
really creative people and,
and be able to work on some,
uh,
really fascinating projects.
Yeah.
Not to put you on the spot,
but I'm on the spot right now,
Chris,
you should join me on the spot,
but like,
uh,
any,
uh,
notable campaigns or anything, any highlights that you want to, uh, shine a light should join me on the spot, but like any notable campaigns or anything,
any highlights that you want to shine a light on? Yeah. I mean, I think we work a lot, as I say,
we work a lot on purpose-driven and sustainability pieces at Resnir. So a lot of that work is sort of,
you know, how can we make a difference? How can we connect with people to change behavior? We
work a lot with, I think, you know, Cliff from EPRA and Recycling Electronics.
Okay. Let's stop there for a minute.
So Cliff Hacking, also an FOTM, and I hear he's a hell of a tennis player.
He is apparently a hell of a tennis player.
I haven't played tennis with him,
but he's a fantastic individual.
Like literally FOTMs who play like a fairly competitive,
obviously they're not winning, you know, they're not pros,
but they're playing a competitive level of tennis,
have literally sent me notes to say,
hey, I played Cliff Hacking, FOTMOTM cliff hacking today and he's damn good.
Yeah.
He is apparently an incredible tennis player.
And I had dinner with him a few weeks ago and he had just finished playing
tennis all day and in a myriad of tournaments.
And yeah,
apparently he's a fantastic.
So EPRA get shouted out at the,
the beginning of every episode.
And I always highlight, in fact, I'll do the highlight right now and then we'll talk a little more about what you're doing with EPRA gets shouted out at the beginning of every episode. I heard that, yeah, yeah, yeah. And I always highlight.
In fact, I'll do the highlight right now,
and then we'll talk a little more about what you're doing with EPRA.
But recyclemyelectronics.ca is the URL I like to direct the listenership to.
If anyone listening has any old antiquated,
old broken down electronics devices, technology.
Don't throw it in the garbage.
Then the dangerous chemicals end up in our landfill.
You don't do that.
You go to recyclemyelectronics.ca,
find out an accredited place near you
to safely drop off your electronics
so it can be recycled properly.
And yeah, the EPRA behind that.
Yeah, it's an incredible organization
and Cliff
is fantastic. And we work with, uh, with, uh, Amy Victoria over there and, and, uh, she's been
great about, uh, you know, really for us, we've been able to work on their brand and really try
and make a call to action that, that resonates with, you know, not to, not to use resonator,
but, but that resonates with people. That's the whole idea. That's why you call it the resonator.
Yeah. And so, you know, we, we've really worked with them and they've had some incredible milestones.
And for us, that kind of project is something that's really worthwhile to work on because a lot of advertising campaigns, you work on them and you sort of see like maybe a change in brand awareness or something.
But with Recycle Electronics, one of the great things is you can actually weigh and see the diverse, you know, what's been taken out of the landfill.
You know, I think they just have a million tons and, you know, you can sort of weigh the impact that you have, which is really encouraging. And for
our, for, you know, for people who work on our team and work in what we do to sort of see that
impact, it makes it really exciting to be involved with. Cliff promises me, Cliff's an Etobicoke guy,
by the way. So he promises me he's going to try his very best to be at TMLX 13. I've got to get my numbers
right. That's the Toronto Mic Listener Experience.
It's taking place August
31st from 6 to 9
p.m. The
Southern Etobicoke location of
Great Lakes Brewery. The OG
HQ, as I call it. So we're
all collecting. Chris,
you've got to be there, man. What part of the
whereabouts do you live?
I'm in the Bloor West Village, so no problem for me.
You can bike.
I can bike there.
I'll carry an old television on my back and drop it off. Bloor West Village.
I worked for a period of time.
I worked at the McDonald's at Runnymede and Bloor.
Wow.
That is an exciting location late at night.
That's a true story.
As a teenager, yeah, I was, and my big shift was I would open the kitchen on
Saturdays and Sundays. So like,
yeah, I would be the one who'd open the kitchen
and be making the big breakfasts.
Hilarious. And look at that, you've come
all this way. Well, I don't know.
I think I've regressed. I mean, that might have been my
peak. That was your highlight?
It's all downhill from that, but
yeah, they don't even
have that location anymore.
So you don't see a lot of McDonald's closings.
So maybe I ran that one into the ground.
It was all you.
It's all me.
I think what killed that McDonald's,
not that I'm an expert,
but it might be that fact,
there was no drive-in.
I feel like McDonald's need a drive-in to succeed.
But hey.
That's hard to do in the village.
Yeah, there's no room there.
There's not a lot of room for it. It's hard to do that in the village., there's no room there. There's not a lot of room for it.
It's hard to do that in the village.
Oh man, that's great.
I have a lot of questions for you.
I went to school,
primary school at Jane and Blue Air too.
Oh really?
What school did you go to?
St. Pius.
Oh really?
Yeah.
Shout out to Sinead O'Connor
for ripping up that.
Yeah, I was going to say,
how do you feel about the Pope thing?
You know,
I totally evolved on that
because at the time,
I don't know what,
I think I was still brainwashed
at that time.
Like that's 1990. I'm doing the math in my head. So I'm like 16. I haven't quite
like shed the brainwashing yet. Like I was sort of getting there, but I hadn't quite gotten there
yet. So like very quickly, my thoughts would evolve on this. But at the time, I'm not sure I
was as pro-Shenate as I am now. So. Well, I was, I was, I guess I'm a recovering Catholic. I was,
Sinead as I am now.
Well, I guess I'm a recovering Catholic.
I was raised Catholic as a child, but yeah, it's certainly, let's say it's not a great organization.
So that's the expression I always hear, lapsed Catholic.
So are you like me?
Do you have any kids?
I do.
I have three kids, yeah.
Are they baptized?
These are all personal questions.
No, let's go for it.
No, they're not.
So by the time they were born, I was out from under. So that's exactly my story. And I should say there's two
wives at play here. There's two kids per wife. And so I have four kids. And it was very important to
me that my kids not be indoctrinated into any religion. This was really, really important to me.
And all four have been raised and my oldest is now 21.
And my second born,
by the way,
his birthday is this weekend.
So happy 19th birthday
to Michelle coming up soon.
But very key to me
that there'd be no religion anywhere.
Like, so there's just not a stitch
of organized religion.
Have any of them come back to it?
Nope.
Well, the oldest is only 21.
So far, he's a very happy atheist.
Right.
Yeah.
My kids are all sort of the same.
I've got a twin 19 year olds and a 22 year old. Okay. We have a lot in common. We far, he's a very happy atheist. Right, yeah. My kids are all sort of the same. I've got twin 19-year-olds and a 22-year-old.
Okay, we have a lot in common, Chris.
We were meant to meet.
That's right, we were meant to meet.
Yeah, and they're all sort of the same age,
and they were free to believe in whatever ridiculous thing
they wanted to believe in.
But, you know, now that we know they're aliens,
they're just as well going to believe in that.
So that's, you know.
Yeah, I had Jehovah Witnesses at the door the other day and I said, hello.
And they were very, you know, very polite as always.
And I just smile and I say, oh, we're just a bunch of happy atheists living here.
And then that's sort of, then they kindly go on their way.
Yeah, there you go.
No harm, no foul.
You're allowed to live here.
That's great.
No harm, no foul.
Okay.
So you're, yeah.
So what neck of the, what part of the city did you grow up in?
I actually grew up in a small town called Milton,
which is not a small town anymore.
It's a ginormous...
Sheem Snow Parkway, right?
That's right, exactly.
Everyone knows Milton.
Yeah, so I grew up in Milton when it was tiny.
It was a 30,000-person town at the time.
And I used to...
I would come into Toronto, and that was the big mecca.
You know, take the GO train in and hang out here. Wow. And then as a teenager, I started come into Toronto and that was the big Mecca, you know, take the, take the GO train in and, and hang out here.
Wow.
And then as a teenager, I started to spend more and more time here and eventually went
to school here.
But my, my wife, who was my girlfriend at the time, lived in a house called Bartlett
House, which was a, was a schoolhouse on Bartlett Street full of, it was an artist subsidized
space.
Wow.
And all these artists lived in classrooms.
So they all had their converted loft in the
classroom. But so when I came there for the first time and I was a 17 year old kid from Milton,
there was all these musicians wandering around. There was like the guys from the pursuit of
happiness and Jane Sibury and all these people that, you know, like that, I, you know, blue
rodeo, all these guys that were sort of incredible. It was like, they're, they're from the
television. I can't, they can't be real people, but that was sort of the, the beginning of
understanding that, uh, you know, there were artists were, uh, musicians were working artists from the television. They can't be real people. But that was sort of the beginning of understanding
that, you know, there were artists were,
musicians were working artists in Toronto
and they were just making a living.
And that was kind of a fascinating eye opener
and really led me to want to live in Toronto
and be in Toronto.
Now, this is a time when you could afford
to be a, you know, struggling artist
and live in Toronto.
Could you do that today?
Like, do those communes exist today
where artists can live on very little money? I think it's really challenging to be downtown anywhere
and live in any kind of reasonable way. But these were all, I mean, these were all converted. You
know, there was a lot of studios back in the day where there was, you know, lofts in industrial
buildings full of asbestos and, you know, saran and all those places. And even, you know, it's
amazing. Liberty Village, for a long time we had a studio in liberty village but but but back in the day those those were sort of squats and places you
could go you can go to parties and go to go to places where you would sort of say this is clearly
an unsafe unsanctioned part of the world but you could you could make a living uh and live there
as an artist do you remember the uh post degrassi series cbc had with Pat Masturani called Liberty
Street.
Yes.
Yeah, yeah, yeah.
Yeah.
Yeah, it's kind of
fascinating.
Yeah, like that's
that, yeah, it's
not, yeah, that's
back when there's
just these big
lofts and just a
cool vibe.
And I thought,
so here's a piece
of Toronto history
and I could be
getting it slightly
wrong, but Liberty
Street, originally I
thought Liberty Street
was to do with the
fact that there were
munitions factories
and so it was to do with the Second World War.
But as it turns out, it's because the women's prison was there,
and Liberty Street was where you were let out
and given your liberty.
You know, this is during a time when your husband
could commit you to, you know, places like that.
But still, it was a place where you were supposed to,
meant to, you know, walk away from the prison
and think about your future on Liberty Street.
See, now you've got the hang of it, Chris.
It was meant to be.
Now you're bringing the heat.
Just drop more of that here.
And it's funny you mentioned Jane Sibury
because I learned a fun fact that I didn't know
and it blew my mind.
But the video for Mimi on the Beach.
Yes.
You can picture that in your head.
Directed by the father of Penny Oleksiak,
the most decorated Olympian in Canada's history.
So Penny Oleksiak's dad directed the video
for Jane Sibri's Mimi on the Beach.
Bizarre.
I did not know that.
That is wild, right?
And it's kind of mind-blowing that,
so I mentioned I prepared for a different Chris Tate.
So if you're just joining us,
by the way, which doesn't happen in podcasts,
there is no just doing this.
Maybe this is your new kind of,
this is your new thing.
It's a bit like a surprise guest.
Just randos.
Yeah, like I learn about you on the fly,
but you have to be,
you're interesting.
You have to be interesting
for that to work.
But this, again,
not the right Chris Tate,
but I was doing my Chalk Circle homework,
as you can imagine.
First rock band I ever saw live.
And I came across this song,
like a later Chalk Circle song called Blue Heaven.
And what I thought was really interesting about Blue Heaven,
and I'm just vamping until I get to the backgrounds here,
is that you hear a woman's voice on this song.
Let's listen.
See, I'm not hitting the post here, but I'll come back to it. But you hear a woman's voice on this song, Blue Heaven by Chalk Circle. And that woman,
of course, is Jane Sibury. So here's a little bit. I know your name Still I know your face Only when the midnight oil
Burns
By the rhythm of your breath
The torture of your dreams
We toss and turn
Messing one another
Lift us down To blue heaven Isn't that wild?
That's Jane Sibri back then.
Yeah, she's amazing.
She's, I would say, diminutive in stature.
She's an incredible person.
And I don't know if this is true or not.
This could be not factual,
but I had heard that she sort of sold up all her earthly belongings
and taken off.
Would not surprise me, actually.
To roam the earth.
Because where is she?
That's what I'm saying.
I think she went walkabout, as far as I understand.
But she may be back.
I'm not sure.
Okay, VP of Sales, if you're listening,
we need to track down Jane Simbery.
And we need the other Chris Tate
because I'm going to bring the Chris Tates together
at TMLX 13.
This is my idea.
That's a good idea.
Yeah, we could hang out.
Yeah, we'd get reacquainted.
So members of the Pursuit of Happiness,
a couple of whom are FOTMs, including Moe Berg,
but a couple of members of Pursuit of Happiness,
Jane Simbery.
Any other artists we know of
who were hanging around that
school? Yeah, but
Bartlett House, it was sort of
the Blue Radio folks, and I think just really
Do you know who? Like, has Basil Donovan
been hanging around there? Like, who are we talking about?
Yeah, absolutely, yeah, and
oh, the drummer whose name
completely escapes me now.
Yeah,
it'll come to me. Just said he's just today just earlier
today i received an email here this is fun to do this in real time here but i got an email earlier
today from uh dave sterling who works with blue rodeo to let me know that blue rodeo is celebrating
30 years of five days in july and you know you know i get these things and you're
thinking of um glenn mitchum that's true you're thinking of okay so there's a quote from glenn
mitchum in here basil donovan talking about and my reply was quite simply how do i get greg on
toronto mic like this is my new blue rodeo thing is i want to talk to Greg on Toronto Mic'd I have podcast mobile
podcast will travel
let me know how to make this
happen but just for the blue
heads out there including Michael Grange
who kicked out the jams recently
August 26th
at the Budweiser stage
is where you can see Blue Rodeo
unless you're
near Orono because they're actuallyo unless you're near Orono
because they're actually going to be playing
the Orono Fairgrounds on September 6th.
So there's your Blue Rodeo.
Oh, sorry, September 8th because I'm going blind
and my eights are starting to look like sixes for me.
Go ahead.
I was just going to say,
that was an incredible time in the Toronto music scene
and seeing those guys around.
And, you know, at the time you could go see, you know, Big Sugar stand on the Toronto music scene and, and seeing those guys around and, and, you know,
you could,
at the time you can go see,
you know,
big sugar stand on the bar at the Cameron house and play and they're,
and they're back playing,
but you know,
it was just amazing live music everywhere.
And I think that's,
that's true now too.
There's,
there's incredible music happening right now too,
but it's,
we already have been in it for so long.
I mean,
that's the longevity is incredible.
So maybe shout out some of your favorite artists. mean, that's, the longevity is incredible. So maybe shout out
some of your favorite artists.
So we know the artists
you were seen at your girlfriend's
cool commune.
I'm going to call it a commune
if that's okay,
which I think is cool.
But what artists were you into,
are you into?
Just give me a taste of your jam.
I mean, I think, you know,
again, going back to
the Femembots are incredible
and just seeing what they've
been producing recently is really amazing.
And I've always
Canadian music
has always been great. Ace of Wands
are a great band right now that are
playing around. They're amazing.
The Weaker Thans aren't active
at the moment, but their music was incredible,
and John Sampson's writing is incredible.
Yeah, I think if you look up the latest Femmots record
and someone that music is really great.
When the world was new and still unformed
Before he was born and I was young
I knew enough
not enough to know
I'm wrong
I'm older now
those days are gone.
Time takes its toll and has its way.
We'll still see another day.
The same, but not the same.
Love is a drug to kill the pain pain It can't make you whole again
It can make me tell you lies
Tell you everything's alright
I could do that for you
I could live a lie
And make it true
The Ballad of Me and You
Love it. It's great.
Yeah, they are really amazing.
Great writing and great production.
And they used to, not so much anymore,
but they used to play a lot much anymore, because now they're,
but they used to play a lot of found instruments and sort of reconstructed instruments
and sort of tape loops
and just really interesting,
really interesting stuff.
They're great.
Did they borrow their name from a certain movie
starring a brother of a gravelberry?
Because Austin Powers had fembots, right?
Austin Powers had fembots,
but if you go further back than that,
I believe that the $6 million man had fembots that he had to fight at some point.
Okay, I take your word for that.
Maybe more of a 70s reference.
So Mike Myers got that idea from $6 million man.
Okay, that was back when $6 million was a lot of money.
That's right.
So I think you might be a $6 million man.
Well, you know, maybe someday.
Maybe someday.
It wasn't that long ago, even like in the Barenaked Ladies song,
if I had a million dollars, maybe it's because I was young,
but the idea of a million dollars was like,
oh, that's it for the rest of my life.
I can live off a million dollars.
But you can't.
Today, if you give me a million bucks, it's like,
all right, what am I going to do in six months?
Not in Toronto.
Yeah, that's not going to get you very far in this city, that's for sure.
Okay, shout out to the FemBots.
And who's in the FemBots again?
The main guys are Dave McKinnon and Brian Poirier,
and they've been sort of writing all the music all the way through.
And yeah, they're incredible.
And a long time ago, they were both in a band called Dig Circus as well,
sort of back in the day.
I remember Dig Circus.
Yeah, who are also great.
Okay, this is fantastic.
Oh, great.
Now, strange question
coming up next but uh we just met about an uh almost an hour ago we met for the first time
yes have we met before because as i i keep looking at you like i know you have we met at a concert or
did we ever meet i i wouldn't think it would be uh highly likely that we have i mean i feel like we
yeah like like at a i don't know, a Ron Hawkins show or something?
Maybe at like the El Macombo?
Were you at that El Macombo gig?
Were you at that show
Roddy Comer presented
where Ron Hawkins did solo stuff?
I haven't,
but I've seen a lot of Ron,
a lot of Ron play over the years.
Honestly,
I've seen you before
and it's driving me crazy.
Where do I know this Chris Tate from?
And I feel like it might be
like a...
Were you at the uh
when when uh when the guys went track by track over uh their new lowest the low album at that
record studio on logan uh record studio the recording studio at logan were you there yeah
that's it okay and they had pizza and beer they did have pizza okay because it wasn't a big crowd
no it was about 30 people yeah okay so that's where it was i saw you okay that's
amazing i connected them like i swear to god i just could i just you know 30 people at this like
intimate uh lowest of the low uh event which was amazing thank you to uh lawrence nichols for the
uh the invitation and yes that's i saw your face there now we're going back several pre-pandemic
at uh at that studio, Logan.
But that's where I've seen you before.
That's right.
That's where it's from.
Are you coming to TMLX 13 in the end of August?
Absolutely.
Okay.
You can't go back on that.
I recorded it.
So any Tragically Hip stories?
I'm segwaying to something happening the next day
on September 1st, 2023.
Oh, okay.
Did you ever, any tragically hip
i never met uh any of the guys in the hip but uh certainly a huge fan and being an ontario
kid you it was inescapable and everywhere and strangely seems to be something that uh you know
you would think it's uh of our generation but definitely my kids who who play music and uh
and our great musicians play a lot of tragically
hip and love it. That's good to hear. That's good to hear. So there's an event everyone must know
about. It's called getting hip to the hip and evening for the Downey Wenjack fund. And it is,
uh, September 1st, 7 30 PM at the rec room downtown. And it's a cool event. I have a poster
on the wall, but it's's got you got a tragically
hip cover band you get a live recording of getting hip to the hip with a fotm jamie do
you have uh there's prizes and silent auctions there's a whole bunch of stuff going on again
uh proceeds are going to the downey wenjack fund which is a great great cause but i can get you
10 off your ticket and these tickets are not that expensive we talked about how a million bucks
doesn't last very long well these tickets are like 40 bucks and you get 10 off your ticket. And these tickets are not that expensive. We talked about how a million bucks doesn't last very long. Well, these tickets
are like 40 bucks. And
you get 10% off if you use the promo
code FOTM10.
So FOTM10.
And I'd love to fill the
room for FOTM Jamie
Du, who, as you heard when Paul Langlois was over
a couple of weeks ago, actually
it was probably last week when
Paul Langlois, everything's a blur was probably last week when Paul Langlois,
everything's a blur in the summertime,
but Paul Langlois liked very much
talking to Jamie Du.
He's a good egg.
Go to gettinghiptothehip.com
and use that promo code FOTM10.
And then after TMLX13 on August 31st,
you have this like the next day
you can collect and,
uh,
support Jamie and enjoy the tragically hip.
So that's your,
uh,
marching orders there,
Chris.
All right.
I'll be there.
Be there,
be there.
Any other artists?
Cause you've been name dropping a lot of artists that you,
uh,
either played with or respect,
but there's a lot of,
you know,
it's a small world.
So it's like if they're not connected, then they will be in the future.
Like, do you want to name drop a few more artists that you...
No, I think, you know, it's interesting with, you know,
I just saw Brandi Carlile play a couple of nights ago
and she closed out the show playing a Joni Mitchell track.
And it was just incredible how how much that stuff still
still resonates and still uh you know speaks to being Canadian but also is just something
universal about it and that that kind of uh that really stuck with me just a couple days ago
I recently dropped an episode in the Toronto Mic feed about uh about Joni Mitchell I'm a massive
of course like like every sensible human I'm a big Joni Mitchell fan
and I'm glad she's kind of
on a comeback here
where she can,
her health is to a point
where she can,
she can sing live again,
which is unbelievable.
Yeah,
she's back singing
and,
and seems to be playing as well
and,
and I know she's doing some,
some pieces with,
with Brandi Carlile
and,
yeah,
just incredibly talented
and also,
you know,
kind of like Sinead O'Connor really was about,
was not about the men that were around at the time
and sort of a bit of a, you know, stick it to them.
And she's certainly been outspoken about her opinions
about that time period when she was coming out.
Yeah, she's very good.
Shout out to FOTM Dave Hodge, who told us so.
We always listen to Dave Hodge here.
All right, I'm going to, I'm on YouTube.
I'm going to play one song is there
any other song I can find on YouTube that
you're involved with that I can just play
and get that story
that's I think the one you've got there is probably the
best one okay we
okay alright so what do you know about
April Fool I have some questions
about April Fool no just kidding okay so
are we really going to do this
here's what I would like to do.
I would like, if you don't mind,
just introducing me to the other Chris Tate.
Because my plan is I want to get that Chris Tate here.
I want to see if I can get the Chris Tates together
at TMLX 13.
Which, by the way, it's free.
Free event.
And the food is free because Palma Pasta will feed you.
And your first beer is free
because Great Lakes is going to buy you your first beer.
Like it really is unbelievable.
It's just a collection of FOTMs getting together.
And unlike sometimes I have music,
once I had Ron Hawkins play, I had Danny Grace,
like I've had live music in the past.
But this time I'm going to take the spirit
of the TMLX park events and bring it to the brewery.
So it's going to be a playlist playing
of all songs by FOTMs.
It's going to be a long playlist
of songs by FOTMs.
And we're all going to like literally
like we're going to just groove, man.
We're going to talk.
We're going to get to know each other.
We're all kind of there
because we're all FOTMs.
And it's going to be a cool vibe.
So come hungry, come thirsty,
6 to 9 p.m. on August 31st.
But I want to do this Chris thing with the Chris Tates.
It's in my mind now.
I definitely want to get Chris Tate in the program.
Sure.
But I'll tell you, you were a good sport about this,
and I enjoyed this conversation.
Yeah, it was great.
Thanks for having me.
Shit, I would have booked you on your own, okay?
And now that we're buddies from that lowest to the low event, I would have booked you on your own. Okay. That's like, that's,
and now that we're buddies from that lowest to the low event.
And yeah,
your face is a memorable face.
Like,
uh,
ever since,
you know,
I started looking at him like I was trying to figure out where I know that
face from.
And I can now see it in that room.
Like I can see it.
You are hogging all the pizza.
That's right.
That was me.
Well,
thanks for having me.
Well,
I just want to say thanks for having me. Well, I just want to say
thanks for having me
and it's kind of a
kind of fantastic
happenstance that it
worked out this way.
And I'll be telling
this story forever.
You know why it won't
happen again?
Because I think I'll
just make sure I've got
the right person going
forward so it doesn't
happen again.
So this only could
happen once and it
took 1,299 episodes
for this to happen,
which is, now that I think back,
I guess it's, you know, could it have happened?
It's just you guys have such similar, you know,
musical agency, kind of like just similar Chris Tate.
Very similar worlds, yeah, yeah, exactly.
But you might want to consider,
I know it's late in the game here,
but Christopher Tate does sound pretty damn good.
Right, I'll work on it, I'll work on it. Okay, i appreciate it and there's some ron hawkins again to take us home
it all comes back to lowest of the low what should i title this episode chris tate but not that chris
tate is that does that does that work yeah exactly that would work right yeah good work with resonator
we have a sponsor on this program that's kind of a similar but different thing,
The Moment Lab.
And if anyone listening would like me to introduce you to Matt or Jared at The Moment Lab,
they can talk to you about your PR strategy and how they can help.
A whole bunch of FOTMs you know and love are working with The Moment Lab,
and they do a great job.
That's a great team there.
Resonator, did you want to drop a website for Resonator if people want to learn more?
You can go to resonator.ca to take a look at it.
I mean, really, I think our, as I say, our work is really kind of in helping people understand the value of what they do
and the purpose behind their work and make it resonate, you know, with people in a way that's meaningful and they can act on.
Resonate with Resonator. And that
brings us to the end
of our 1299th show.
This will never happen again,
but I am extremely glad
it did happen this time
because it was fun.
It was exciting.
I didn't know
what was going to happen next.
Thanks for doing this.
I really, really appreciate it. No problem. It was fun. You can follow know what was going to happen next. Thanks for doing this. I really, really appreciate it. No problem.
It was fun. You can follow me on
Twitter. I'm at Toronto Mike. Is there a way we can
follow you, Chris Tate, on social media?
Yeah, you can look.
I'm on Instagram and the late
Mr. Tate. The late
Mr. Tate. This is going to be important when I tag you later.
I'm going to tag the right Chris Tate.
The late Mr. Tate.
You can find me there and yeah.
And you can always look at Resonator to find out what we're doing.
Our friends at Great Lakes Brewery or at Great Lakes Beer, how was your IPA?
It was delicious.
I'm a big fan.
I got to say, I love, well, you know, shockingly, I love summertime because you can bike more
in the summer.
But the Sunnyside IPA, it's like a summer only GLB.
And, you know, I can drink a few of these and not feel tipsy.
Like it's kind of like a perfect sunny summer IPA.
And it's delicious.
And thank you.
I mean, they've ruined me for other beers.
If I meet somebody at a restaurant or a bar and they don't have GLB, it's just disappointing.
It's like I need to only frequent the restaurants and don't have GLB, it's just disappointing. It's like, I need to only frequent the restaurants
and bars that have GLB.
And when I encounter one that doesn't,
I'm like, what's wrong with you?
You should be carrying Great Lakes beer.
So thank you, Great Lakes.
Palma Pasta is at Palma Pasta.
I do have a lasagna for you.
You can feed the kids.
Getting Hip to the Hip, everybody.
Getting Hip Pod.
Go to gettinghiptothehip.com.
The promo code is FOTM10.
Chris Tate and I have something in
common. It's
EPRA underscore Canada on Twitter.
Recycle my electronics.
Thank you for your support, EPRA.
Thank you for listening. Cliff,
The Moment Lab is at The Moment Lab.
Ridley Funeral Home are
at Ridley FH. Shout out to
Ridley Funeral Home. See you all.H. Shout out to Ridley Funeral Home.
See you all.
Going to my calendar now
to make sure I've got the right person.
Okay, the next guest on Toronto Mic'd.
Speaking of Blue Rodeo
is Bob Wiseman.
Oh, there you go.
Bob Wiseman, everybody.
Making his Toronto Mic'd debut on Monday.
I hope it's the right Bob Wiseman.
I'm going to double check.
Are you the Bob Wiseman
who played with Blue Rodeo?
He put out a great record
called Lake Michigan Soda.
Lake Michigan Soda.
One of the great lakes.
Shout out to GLB.
See you all then.
Yeah, the wind is cold
But the smell of snow
Warms me today
And your smile is fine
It's just like mine
And it won't go away
Cause everything is rosy and green
Well I've kissed you in France
And I've kissed you in Spain
And I've kissed you in places
I better not name
And I've seen the sun go down on Chaclacour
But I like it much better going down on you
Yeah, you know that's true
Because everything is coming up
Rosy and green
Yeah, the wind is cold But the smell of snow warms us today.
And your smile is fine, and it's just like mine, and it won't go away.
Because everything is rosy now.
Everything is rosy, yeah.
Everything is rosy and Everything is rosy and gray