The Weakerthans

The Weakerthans – the post-punk, introspective Winnipeg band who deserve more recognition. Sean and Rene discuss their history and evolution, and “fun” facts about Winnipeg. Plus, hear Sean's Riot Fest coincidence that blows Rene's mind. https://open.spotify.com/playlist/3QcYyKd8tX6wuLavitI9KP?si=d50427e4638744a7

Transcript

Rene: [00:00:00] Hello and welcome to Ear Shifter. He's Sean CapStack and he's Renee Relo, and we are your warm and congenial hosts. Indeed and Sean, tell us why we're here. Why, why did we start Air Shift or what's it all about? Well, 

Sean: I think it's because we wanted to talk about bands we love and maybe educate people about the bands that if they haven't heard of them, they might find something interesting in the bands that we're talking about.

If they do like the band already, maybe we can talk a little bit more about them and they can find something out and we can, you know. Talk about other bands along the way that influenced this band, 

Rene: I think. Yeah, and I think also it's our chance to kind of re-explore bands as well. Like this band in [00:01:00] particular you mentioned them to me probably 15 years ago, but I didn't really, they didn't grab me.

But this forced me to re-listen to them and, uh, we'll get into that in a little bit. But it was a interesting journey for me. Well, 

Sean: I have liked them for the last 15 years. They have been. Never that far away in terms of when I need something to listen to that's gonna be very lyrically oriented, emotional, emotive, and, uh, something that in the end just makes me feel good.

Rene: Wow. Okay. That's, that's interesting. I wanna hear more about that because. Musically, some of the songs made me feel good, but some of them were very melancholy and kind of sad. So I thought that's interesting. And yeah, we'll talk about how we, how, 

Sean: how I would categorize all of the songs. Okay. But, uh, yeah, so.

Uh, the week of ends started much like uh, the last, uh, band that we [00:02:00] talked about, uh, as skateboarding punk rockers, which is a pretty good place to start out of. They are from Winnipeg, Manitoba. And for our listeners who aren't familiar with probably about the geographical center of Canada, that's where you would find Winnipeg in.

The Canadian Shield on the, the path of the Voyagers. And, uh, at one time probably was thinking it was gonna become the capital of Canada since it was so economically important. And now they've got a pretty rich musical scene. So there was a, a punk rock scene. John K. Sampson, who I'll talk a lot about.

He left the punk band propaganda and formed the w Dans with red Fisher, another punk band from Winnipeg, uh, with John P. Sutton and Jason Tate. And they became a more melodic, introspective. Maybe a little bit melancholy band than just, uh, a a very [00:03:00] political punk band.

They took their name from a, uh, a Union Anthem Solidarity forever. The line is what Force on Earth is weaker than the feeble strength of one. Huh. Which is actually he does sing that in one of the songs as well. 

Rene: Okay. That 

Sean: was one of my questions. So that's how the weaker Thans Okay. Uh, became the weaker thans and.

They are on hiatus. They are cryogenically frozen to quote the band, uh, but don't fret. They're still pretty active. I don't know what, uh, John Sutton's doing now, but Jason Tate continues to work with John K. Sampson. He is one of the, uh. The first time I saw them, Bahamas opened up for them and he's a drummer for Bahamas.

I like Bahamas. And you know, has been working with Bahamas and other independent bands. Also Canadian, right. Also Canadian Steven Carroll is a producer, and Greg Smith replaced the original bassist. He is the bassist [00:04:00] for the lowest and low. Huh. So they continue to be. Active, even if they aren't active you know, as the, the band.

Rene: And help me out. 

Sean: Who's the lead singer? What's his name 

Rene: again? 

Sean: John k Samson. Okay. Because there's two John, right? And really is the. You know, the band to me, he wrote the lyrics. He is the front man. The other guys were great, but you know, he is really what you know, when I think of the weak events, I think of his lyrics.

And so this is how he describes himself on a very, very simple website. John K. Sampson is a talk singing sober leftist, vegetarian Quaker who lives in Winnipeg Treaty One Territory Treaty one meaning treaty with the indigenous, oh, uh, first Nations. Okay. That, uh, Canada is divided up into non treaty and treaty areas.

And Treaty One was the first treaty that was signed between, uh, the British and the different first Nations people. Holy crap. I didn't think [00:05:00] this was a history lesson too. Jesus. Okay, and he lives with his wife, Christine. Fellows. He, at one point was a I believe a adjunct professor at UBC.

She's been a, a literary professor at universities, and he continues to release music that we'll talk about. He runs a, a book publishing company. And you Know, is uh, still out there? Does he write poetry? He does write poetry. Oh, like books? Like books put, okay. Yeah, there's a uh, I could see that.

Yeah. Yeah. He's got a collected, uh, book of lyrics and poems. Do you own that, Sean? No. Would you like that for Christmas? I am giving it to my son for his birthday. 

Rene: Oh, very cool. But, okay. Well. Spoiler alert, sun. Sorry, it's coming up pretty quick before we get this edited. Yeah, you'll out. Yeah, yeah, yeah.

Alright, 

Sean: cool. So they continue to be you know, although the band is John K. Sampson, the Weak Ends, were a band themselves. Uh, another, uh, favorite of our family Jim Bryson, who is a guy. I think he's from Ottawa. He lives in Ottawa [00:06:00] now. But he had the weaker than band back him up on a classic album called the Falcon Lake Incident, which Falcon Lake is a lake in Manitoba and.

Maybe this is a history lesson. Yeah, man. It's famous for Canada's most famous, uh, UFO sighting. Whoa. Very cool. So, so it has been investigated by the Americans as well, the Falcon Late Institute. Wow. Uh, 

Rene: do you know when that was? Not too late. In 67. 67, 

Sean: okay. So it's been. Of some renowned for some time.

Yeah. So let's get back to Winnipeg, right. Okay. Because it's musical history is pretty strong. 

Rene: Winnipeg. Winnipeg, sorry. Winnipeg, Manitoba. Winnipeg. Manitoba. Okay. Guys, just so you know, it's like minus 30 Celsius most of the winter in Winnipeg. 

Sean: Yep. The guess who are from Winnipeg. 

Rene: Oh. That's kinda awesome.

My sister loved 

Sean: the guess who, and 

Rene: of course 

Sean: that means Bon Turner. Turner overdrive. Yeah. But Neil Young went to high school there. [00:07:00] What? Yeah. 

Rene: That's actually pretty cool. 

Sean: Yeah. And he left from Winnipeg to California to start Buffalo Springfield. So he, um, yeah. So Winnipeg's got a pretty good musical history.

Okay. So we can talk about their albums. They started in 97 and astute listeners should know that all of the albums were produced by Ian Burton of Change of Heart Fame. Whoa, whoa. That is wild. Starting in 97, fallow. Following up three years later with left and leaving arguably their best album, uh, but then a solid reconstruction site.

And then finally their last album, the, somewhat ironic 

Rene: reunion tour album, which I think, you know, not to get ahead of ourselves, but I think that had my most favorite tracks. I actually just from my experience, uh, the first album was, was okay. But I found myself getting more into some of the tracks from the following two albums.

Sean: So I think we [00:08:00] can, we can categorize for the purposes of our discussion, we, John K. Sampson writes only about four things sports. An, I gotta say Anthro ification he follows the literary devices of play settings and literary cartography. He also sings about amateur cartography and, uh, very much grounded in a, a a place.

The, the, the, his songs are rooted. A lot of them are in Winnipeg, sat in Winnipeg. Yeah. And relationships. So sports he has since released two solo albums. So I'll start with his solo albums, which are again, very place-based provincial that has a lot of 

Rene: hockey references, hockey references, and road crying out 

Sean: loud road references actually.

But you'll like the hockey references. Will I though? Yes, I think you will. You sure? Old school hockey. Okay. Okay. Old School Hawk I can live with. Yeah. And then Winter Wheat, which is [00:09:00] of course one of the main exports along with financial advice that Winnipeg gives out. Um, what? Yeah.

Winni. Winnipeg's a huge financial center. That's where Power Corp is located. 

Rene: Holy crap. I am learning like a lot of stuff about Winnipeg. Okay. 

Sean: All right, let's keep going. Called the Winter Wheat. Okay. So sports, um, and I think it's just a s single, uh, but he has sings a song called Fantasy Baseball at the end of the World.

Where he just talks things about, uh, his fantasy baseball league and how he would trade hope and joy if he could kill that president, uh, and doesn't name the president by name, but it's quite a poignant protest song about how he hopes one day. His fantasy baseball league will continue past the presidency.

Hmm. Okay. So it's an interesting sports [00:10:00] metaphor. When was that written? Do we know like what year? Uh, I don't know. Okay. Alright. Fair enough. In the last, in the last six years as well. Okay. What are his latest things that he's put out? He has a, a petition song to to put an indigenous hockey player who won a Stanley Cup with the Islanders into the hockey Hall of Fame.

So that's another sports reference. He, uh, talks about Bobby Orr in one of his protest songs and compares the the protagonist to Bobby Orr's hockey career. And he sings an elegy. He's got a few ies, which is a singing eulogy. Thank you. 'cause that was gonna be my next question, two Gump Warley, which is a Goldie who played for the New York Rangers, the Canadians and the North Stars.

So, you know, again, old school hockey. But I think the. Funniest uh, sports song is where he [00:11:00] uses curling to describe the a troubled relationship. So why don't we hear tournament of hearts?

Speaker 4: Hold it up and let it figures of twos battling an.

Rene: Okay, so I liked this song. Now, I didn't like a ton of the songs, but I was very surprised at myself. That I listened to, uh, the plays list that you shared with me. So thank you for that. And I listened to it a good three, four or five times, and I found myself starting to like certain songs, which is much like the radio, where it's like, Hey, I'm starting to like this song.

They're playing 18 million times. So that song in particular reminded [00:12:00] me, tell me if I'm wrong, but it felt a bit like a Death cab for Cutie song or a shin song, like it had a poppy. Good feeling sort of feel. And, uh, so I enjoyed it 'cause of that. And that was 

Sean: from the, the last album they had developed a, a, a more polished poppier uh, sound and fun.

Right. The Tournament of Hearts is the name for the Women's Curling Championship. So Nice. And, uh, you are a recent curler. It's a boot I take back Any derision, any bad things I ever said about curling. It's actually extremely fun, difficult, and, uh, a great social activity. Well, there you go. And Canadian.

And Canadian, yeah. Although those Scottish people are pretty good at it now too. Ah, okay. So now moving on to the anthro. Amorphic Amorphic, I think uh, songs. So he song sings a song from the perspective of Bigfoot, [00:13:00] but my favorite song is the first of the trilogy about Virtue the Cat. Are we gonna hear that?

Let's talk about the story a little bit and then we can play it. Okay. So. This is a trilogy. It starts on the, uh, reconstruction site album. Again, a little bit more poppy, a little more polished songs. He's not just talking about the human condition. And it's a song about the human condition written from a cat's perspective.

So the cat is telling its owner that they're strong. And that the cat, they should get over their depression and, uh, that if they just worked at it, they would get better. And it's quite a poignant song written from the perspective of the cat. And then on the uh, reunion tour. Album. [00:14:00] Album the, uh, cat leaves.

So the cat explains her departure, and again, very you know, sad. But the cat explains how she can't remember. The sound that the owner made for her, I, I hear name right, that I can't remember the sound that you made for me and how she just slowly goes away because she can't, didn't want to be with this depressed person anymore.

So the cat chooses to to do what the cat wants to do. And then as one of his solo albums, he's, he's quoted to say that that was really a tough place to leave both the cat and the the unnamed uh, subject of the first album, of first song. So they have they reunite. In on his solo work.

Rene: Okay. 'cause I only know the two songs. And by the way, I, I love both those songs. Maybe the first one a little bit more than the departure one, [00:15:00] but I actually. Thought the departure one was about the cat passing, but it's not, which is nice to hear 

Sean: the cat is, the cat is decided that it's not gonna come back.

Rene: Yeah, but it's not dead. 

Sean: It's not dead. No, no. It, uh, that's good. Um, and no, the cat and, and the lines are so great about the cat wanting to cater. This party that, that, uh, the cat is encouraging its owner to have with all the birds that it can kill, which a cat would be like, I'll do that. Yep. Birds are mice.

Yep. You can, you can bring your sister if she doesn't bring her Bassett hound. And so it's quite, again, a nice turn of phrase in terms of this view of, uh, the human condition. 

Rene: Yeah. And the irony, uh, listeners, is that for the first time ever, Sean, why don't, why don't you tell the listeners what you have right beside you?

I have a sleeping cat. Yes. That isn't catering our, uh, concerned with much at all. Yeah, yeah. Not much [00:16:00] of a participant in the podcast, but visually kind of cute. Yeah. Um, so are we gonna listen to, uh, virtue of the Cat? Excellent. Let's do it.

Okay, so Sean, this is probably my favorite song, like this song like. Was the first one to grow on me. And now each time I listen to it, it's, I just, I just have a nice kind of happy feeling and it's just got some energy to it and it's just kind of cute, for lack of a better description. Mm-hmm. It's just cute and makes me feel good.

Sean: Yeah. And, and I think the, the, the harmony about lick the sorrow from your skin is a very nice little [00:17:00] course. 

Rene: Yeah. Actually. This seems like a good time to talk about this. So when I was listening to this band, or listening to it for the second time in 15 years, immediately, Sean, immediately I was like, oh my God.

I totally understand why Sean wants to cover the weaker Thans. 'cause lyrically the guy, I mean, I was paying attention to lyrics. Now, listeners, you know, if you haven't listened to any of these, Sean's kind of ironically, the Lyric listener and me with a background in it as an English major. I actually listened to the feeling of the music more than the lyrics, and so this band actually made me pay attention to lyrics 'cause lyrically just phenomenal.

Just phenomenal. And his voice is one of those voices. That makes you pay attention to the lyrics as well. There are some bands or artists that have great lyrics, but you just don't, you're not paying attention to lyrics as much. But peop and I put 'em in the same category, by the way, as a Daniel Johnson, he's got that kind of delicate voice.

Mm-hmm. Yeah. And, and [00:18:00] he, you know, makes you pay attention to what he's singing about and then a little bit different. Very different actually. Voice wise, tone wise, similar to Manchester Orchestra, believe it or not. Hmm. If you really think about it, it's that kind of delicate, not weak voice, but kind of almost.

It's gonna break at any moment. And Manchester Orchestra has moments like that too. So, uh, but this song just beautiful, just so, so pretty. Yeah. 

Sean: So the place-based songs. I think the Faye, you know, the, the most popular is one Great City, which is the motto of Winnipeg. Love that song too. Uh, yes.

Love that song, which he, um, sings about how. People are trying to take Winnipeg down, how it's not that great a place. The jets were lousy anyway. The guess who sucked the jets were lousy anyway. Wow. 

Rene: I like the sharp elbows. There's something about sharp [00:19:00] elbows. Yes. In the end. I love that. The underground.

Yeah, it was 

Sean: great. Um, so that's, you know, that and, and a lot of his songs reference the. The, the districts of Winnipeg, the, the fact that it is a, it is a rougher town. So that's kind of interesting, but I think that, that it, that, as you know, the first albums are more settings and he paints a picture of, you know, the, his characters and what the characters are doing right now.

So the. Fallow, which again, it it is, it's it's rougher, right? It is not as That's the first album, right? That's the first album, yeah. But it is very personal. It, it really does have a a personal um, aspect to it. And it, it's the one that I come back to and really gives me that emotional kind of melancholy, but happiness that it comes out. I was waiting 

Rene: for it, man. It was like literally like emotional high, [00:20:00] emotional low. And it's kind of in between. It's, it's, it's both, 

Sean: right? Yeah. Let's talk about confessions of a futon. Revolutionist. So this song paints the picture of people who are just finished university and don't know what they're gonna do.

Rene: Did you own a futon? 

Sean: I, I had a watered, I don't know if I had a futon. I had a futon 

Rene: on the floor. Not even a futon framed, not even a floor futon frame. Yeah. 

Sean: Yeah. So the, uh, there they hang their diplomas on the bathroom wall. That's a line. But what I find very interesting, and again, this is 97, they just, just come out of the punk movement.

He talks about in, because they're bored as opposed to any specific reason, but they, he sings a line, let's go plant a bomb. At City Hall and kill a MLA, which is a member of legislative [00:21:00] assembly. Which I don't think you could actually publish that song right now. No, I don't think so. So I didn't put that part of the song because I don't want uh, anyone to come and uh, knock on your door.

Yeah. Of that. I don't think planning a bomb is a good idea and killing is always 

Rene: bad. Guys, for the record, just we're stating planning bombs bad. That's basically what we're saying right now, 

Sean: but. It rhymes the songs in time. Let's hear it. The confessions of a Futon. Revolutionist. Alright, let's hear it. 

Speaker 6: To buy alcohol.

Rene: Okay, so Sean, I'm just gonna say it. This was not one of my favorite songs. It just felt. Like a lot of other stuff I've heard. So it didn't really stand out for me. It just felt [00:22:00] like, yeah, I, I know where you're going with this. I can't na name the bands that I've heard this, but it's a very, it just felt very familiar and kind of meh for me.

Sean: Yeah. And you know, that the, the, it is a simp, it's it's way simpler. The instrumentation is simpler. Straightforward. Straightforward, yeah. Again, I just think that as their preparing for the impending class war is such a funny line and one that is, you know, who didn't uh, have some angst at one time in your life.

So that's a bit of the, the part of that. So, yeah, 

Rene: and this just goes right back to. Sean pays attention to lyrics, Renee pays attention to the feeling of the song. Um, so that just kind of hammers that home basically. The other thing I wanted to say was, um, you know, I kept, I kept asking myself, why didn't I like this band the first time I heard them [00:23:00] 15 years ago?

And like, you know, or even longer, but. I thought about like back in the day in high school, uh, you and I would exchange albums and there were some albums that you, I'm pretty sure you, you lent me The Replacements Tim album. Yeah, I'm pretty sure you did. And I remember listening to it going, it's okay. Like just for me it's okay, but you lent me the Stooges and that shit like stuck with me so hard and it's not the songs you expect.

It's not I want to be your dog or No Fun. It was like, it was, there was this one long song, it's 11 minutes long and I'll, and to this day I still know the slow chant. Do you know what I'm talking about? Yeah. Mm-hmm. Yeah. It's a crazy song that blew my mind at the time. Like I'd never heard anything like it.

I actually felt high at the end of it because it's just the most remarkable, unusual chant like song. But this chanting actually, I think it slows down, which gets even weirder. And, uh. You know, like I said, I felt high and if [00:24:00] I wasn't, I wanted to get high. Like that's what, that's what it actually did for me.

And there were other songs in that album on, on both. You gave me both albums, actually. Fun House and the the first one. And, uh, there are other songs that stuck with me way more than the usual. I Want to Be Your Dog and, and No Fun. Those are good songs, but there are better songs on those albums. And my point being is like.

Replacements. Why didn't that grab me? I don't know. Right. But stooges that, and that was old back then, like was That was old. Yeah. The, the replacements were current. Yeah. Yeah. So by all rights, I should have been all over the replacements and stooges, whatever. They're 10 years old and, and I never liked to gee pop either.

Like, oh man, I'm gonna get some haters on this podcast. But I wasn't crazy about Agy pop like, Hmm. That I think is right. We could debate that. I, well, solo album wise, I wasn't, I wasn't nuts. I liked a couple songs. Lost for Life. Yes. I mean it's, it's very likable and maybe two more, but I was never like, oh, I gotta get this album just never [00:25:00] was so wild.

So anyway, going back to the weaker thens, I just thought it was interesting that, why didn't they grab me the first time? I don't know. I don't have an answer for that. But maybe the fact that I had to force myself to listen to it for this podcast, maybe that helped. 'cause now I'm kind of into it. It's kind of cool.

Sean: So I don't think you, then you'll like the relationship song that I picked because again, it's off, uh, fallow, but I picked it for you, uh, because, uh, it doesn't have. Like he's got other songs about relationships. A line is we came here for our dress rehearsal to say we wanted it that way. And you know about.

You know, the, the relationship's not necessarily going, uh, the best way. So this is about a bar. This is about going out for a drink, wearing uh, eyeshadow. 'cause of course, you know, he's a of a certain age where, [00:26:00] uh, you know, that was the height of style, new wave, and, uh, dead man neckties.

Yep. And uh, you know, just rinse and repeating and it's so great that the chorus there is a voice cuts through the crowd. Lonely people talk too loud and then it goes into a little driving guitar, and then they do a cover of uh, new order. Well. 

Rene: What Within the song? Within the song, whoa. Okay.

We're gonna listen to that now. And this song is called Wellington Wednesdays,

Speaker 6: everyone.[00:27:00] 

Rene: Okay. So yeah, that song was okay, but where's the new order part? Well, you have to listen to the whole thing. 

Sean: You can't give it everything away. Okay. 

Rene: Okay. You 

Sean: gotta listen to it. It's at the end. It's about there's always a number you can call and then he breaks into, so you've got green eyes. Oh, that's so cool.

Rene: Now, that wasn't on the playlist that you made for me though. It was, oh, I missed it. That's weird. Okay. Embarrassing. Keep listening. Okay. So Sean, I need to know how many I remember specifically you leaving a house party to go see the weaker thens. I'm pretty sure. How many times have you seen the weaker thens?

I had seen the weak events twice. Only twice. Only twice. And was one of them at Lee's Palace? No. Whoa. Okay. Where? Oh, sorry guys. This is Lee's Palace in Toronto. Maybe has like 800 capacity. The band that I left and came back, 

Sean: Was the wooden tops. It was the wooden tox. Okay. So. Another one of my favorite W [00:28:00] band.

Speaker 4: Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. 

Sean: Okay. And I was, uh, blown away by their cover of, uh, suicide's, Frankie Teardrop that, uh, that was their encore. And nobody wanted to listen to any more songs after the, they 

Rene: had finished with that suicide Heavy band. Heavy band. Okay. So where did you see them then? So the first 

Sean: time I saw them was at the queen Elizabeth Theater.

Okay. So a soft cedar where we saw a band of horses. Yeah. Acoustic version. Version. Amazing. Um, and they were amazing. It was a, you know, a soft cedar. We sat and listened to them. It was great. And then the second time it's funny, the bands that you mentioned, I saw them at Riot Fest in Toronto.

So Riot Fest is a big, uh, I think Chicago based festival. Festival. And for. Yeah, three years. They had a Riot Fest in Toronto was at, uh, Fort York. So the, uh, old, uh, thing. And so I told you [00:29:00] about this concert at Beach House opened up. 

Rene: Oh man. Yeah. 

Sean: Rocket from the crypt. And then dinosaur Jr.

With Lou Barlow. And and then, uh, the weaker then came out and they had pretty much started to, you know, like this was after reunion tour. They were kind of on hiatus. They were finishing up and they were, John k Sanson came out and then said we are. Bemused befuddled and honored to be playing.

And then they played their hits and it was great. Nice. Nice. Both times I saw with Evan. Nice. That's his son. Uh, and Evan likes lyrics as much as his dad. And so we had, uh, a wonderful father son bond. Father son bond to see that. And then who was the headliner? The replacements. 

Rene: Oh, weird. Okay. And if [00:30:00] that makes sense.

Iggy 

Sean: And the Stooges played. What? Uh, after, 

Rene: uh, guys, I'm telling you right now, this is all coincidence. This was not planned. This is so weird. Mike Watt was the 

Sean: basis for Iggy. 'Cause of course all the stooges are dead now. I think there's only one sto left being and, uh. Yeah. Mike Watt of, uh, the Minute Men Fame.

Oh, right. Uh, fire hose fame. Right, right, right. Uh, played bass and I didn't realize at the time, but on that Funhouse the Horns. So the, uh, a lot of the, the, there's a, a quite a heavy saxophone part in that Fun House song where there's, that's, that's the horns of dilemma that were on the, uh, violet Femmes albums.

Whoa. 

Rene: Weird. 

Sean: Yeah. 

Rene: Okay. 

Sean: So yeah, so that was, uh, that was a great show. That was a good riot fest. Come back please. 

Rene: And that was wild. I mentioned all those bands that you just happen to see at Riot Fest. How weird is that? Oh, that is cool. [00:31:00] That is cool. I, I feel like the replacements in the weaker thans, they, they feel in some ways, and I can't tell you why, 'cause I know you're looking at me weird, but they feel similar and I don't know what that is.

I can't really put my. Finger on it, to 

Sean: be honest. Uh, four piece straight ahead. Rock and roll. Rock and roll matters to them. But you know the difference between John K. Sampson and Westerberg Paul? Paul Westerberg. Oh yeah. Paul Westerberg. Yeah. Westerberg hates life. Right. He wrote about broken people, but he was a profoundly broken person and doesn't love life.

I think he's, I don't know. I don't think I'd want to meet Paul Westerberg. You know, I think that if there was one common element in all of those groupings that I talked about, it. That human condition that, that every one of his characters are flawed in some way. They you know, they use [00:32:00] metaphors, uh, for curling as opposed to saying, you know, why can't I say what I should say to my, uh, wife, girlfriend, right.

You know, I'm always throwing hack weight, which is just going straight through the, uh, the uh, curling terms. But all of the characters really do have some hope in the end, even when they're in bad things. There is that hope. And, uh, there's that joy of the way the, uh, you know, he talks about spreading the maps on the floor to, and being so exciting about.

Getting someplace right to look at the, his amateur cartography and how he is going to be going someplace. Right. And, uh, you know, that, that, you know, even when he talks about maps that, uh, you know, the maps that he folded all wrong [00:33:00] Right. Are still, they're, they're on a journey together. Yeah. So maybe if there's one song that.

Yeah. I will say right now, uh, is better than bastards of young, I would say it's the aside, which he relies a little bit too heavily on alcohol and irony, but he's so much better than he was before. Hmm. And, uh, his ribs, they show through t-shirts and the shoes he got for free, he's uncons console.

And that's how he rhymes. I'm so much better than I used to be. Hmm. So by the way, Sean is not 

Rene: reading this. He's just remembering these lyrics, which astounds me sometimes, but yes. I can sing the ball when, when the music's 

Sean: playing. I don't think we want boys. No, it's suffer through that. No. So just play the song.

Let's just play the damn song.

Speaker 7: My rib at show through t-shirts and the shoes [00:34:00] I got for free. I'm uncon, I'm lonely. I'm so much better than I used to be. 

Rene: Okay. Yeah, so you know I, this one, although it does feel straight, straight ahead, kind of rock and rolly, I like this one 'cause I felt like the CO, when he broke into the chorus, it kind of dragged a little bit and I kind of like his draggy way, the way he dragged the sun, the words through the chorus.

It starts fast and then kind of goes a little bit slower in the course. And that I kind of dug. I didn't love it, but I liked it for sure. Yeah, maybe it'll grow on you. Yeah, maybe it'll grow on me. 'cause honestly, man, like the, they did grow on me. That surprised me. And I, I went in with an open mind, but also in the back of my head, I was like, I never liked these guys.

Like, this isn't gonna go well.

But, but honest, genuinely, I was like, I like at least. At least five to six songs, and that's [00:35:00] after four or five listens of your, the playlist that you shared with me. So that's pretty good. 

Sean: That's high praise from Mr. High. Praise indeed. So you've given the high praise of uh, the, you liked a few of the songs on the playlist.

So you've talked about the importance of lyrics, 

Rene: ear shifter, band. I would say it is a hundred percent a near shifter band for you. I would say that in terms of like lyrically, my God, like really there's way up there. Um, so I think, I don't know what kind of influence they had on others. I think that'd be my question.

'cause that is part of the ear shifter criteria is like, have they influenced other bands and other artists? Well, and that might be, 

Sean: so I was reading a interview that, uh, Frank Turner who is again, a. They uh, a iconic, iconic [00:36:00] punk, uh, influenced troubadour sing songs. He has a tattoo of virtue and virtue of cat.

It was spelled weirdly, 

Rene: by the way. Virtue is spelled unusually, yes. Yeah. Yeah. So, so it's spelled the way the song is. Wow. Okay. 

Sean: And the, he often covers the plea for MCC Catnet virtue in his shows. And so he interviewed, uh, John K. Sampson for a UK paper. Talked about Canada and uh, Frank was like, oh yeah, you know, Neil Young was so good and these Canadian bands.

Um, John K. Sampson says, well, you know, I actually thought Billy Bragg was, uh, pretty good, uh, growing up. So, and Frank Turner is, is heavily influenced by Billy Bragg, which is brag in a good way. In a good, in a very good way. Yeah. Billy Bragg is awesome. And so they get around to poetry and, you know, lyrics standing by themselves and you know, what, uh, what, what makes a [00:37:00] good song and what makes a good poem and, they talk about drive and ambition and John k Evanson just says, I'm not cut out to be a rock star. Hmm. I don't, uh, want all the trappings, I'm happy enough just to do what I'm doing. And you know, for that I am happy for him that he's done what he wants to do. That he has had. Yeah, they've, uh, for a band from Winnipeg, I think they've punched, uh, uh, above their weight if they've released four.

Great different, perfect albums that, uh, I think everybody should listen to. 

Rene: Yeah. And, and, sorry, I just remembered our sound engineer, Joe, who actually listened to them as well, said that there were, there were a bunch of covers of weaker than songs like. On Spotify and stuff. So I think that speaks to influence as well, which is pretty cool.

So yes, ear shifter band for you, like a thousand percent. And then ear shifter band, just in general I'd say. Yeah. But I guess my only caveat is I don't think I'll [00:38:00] listen to them unless you're listening to them. Unless we're in a room together and you're playing them and then I'm like, I'm in. What are we gonna hear next time?

I don't think I'm gonna actively like listen to them on my own, which I do. Yeah. Next road trip. Alright, next road trip. Alright, excellent. And uh, I think that's it. Okay. Until next time. And what are we gonna hear next time? I don't know. Well then stay tuned. All right. That's it. Okay. Bye guys. Bye bye. We hope you enjoyed this episode of Year Shifter.

Tune in next time where we'll cover another band that deserves more. You can find Year Shifter on Instagram, Facebook, and TikTok Friend us or listen to our playlist on Spotify and visit air shifter.com for more information. Special thanks. Go to our logo designer Stuart Thorsby, and our intro outro music by Joe Novak.

You can find him as Bye. Bye. Badman, one word on SoundCloud and a big shout out to Joe for being our awesome sound [00:39:00] engineer slash editor. Until next time.