Transcript
Speaker: Hi it's Dan here for Dusty Discs Radio and this is the podcast Liner Notes revealing chats with Canada's retro music makers. Today I'm very honoured to have as my guest singer songwriter David Wanless, best known as the lead singer for the iconic Canadian band Svengali. We'll be talking about his many musical adventures and get some insights into the Canadian music scene from someone who's been part of it since the 80s. So thanks for joining me today Dave, how are you? I'm very well, thank you very much for having me. How does it feel to be retro?
Speaker: Wow. I tell you, yeah. I think I'm going to go get that tattoo next. ta It goes fast, doesn't it? You know, it's funny. I mentioned to to my guests quite often about the timelines and looking back and how fast it went. And here we are 2024. Holy cow. Yeah. It's a, you know, it's funny, um,
Speaker: when When we were younger, we'd see some bands that, you know, they they' you know they're older. and And I always said to myself back then, I said, okay, there's going to be a time where I'm just going to have to say, that's it. And just let people remember, you know, Svengali, the way it was back then. but right they as you get going and you feel like there's so much more to offer. And and that's for how we ended up um you know recording and and playing again because we feel good about what we're doing and we think we're just getting a little bit better. Well, good. and i I appreciate that. And I have made the comments and I think it's true that you know when we were kids, I'm probably a little bit older than you, but when we were kids, 50 years old seemed really old.
Speaker: you know they would walk around hunched over and maybe you with the pull up pants and the suspenders. Nowadays, we're a lot younger as we get older, if you know what I mean. Yes, so I agree 100%. So that makes it nice. So we're we're were younger and and the the timelines are, are you know we where we can act younger longer is I guess my point. So you were born in Southern Ontario, you were you born in Hamilton? No, um I was born in London, England. Okay. Yeah. I did not know that.
Speaker: Yeah, I was born in London, England, and, you know, my family came over and when when I was young, like a lot of people. And, you know, Andy andy from Svengali was ah born in in Romania. oh And Dee and Sean are Hamilton boys. But yeah, we all came together, you know, in our, you know, late teens. Yeah. So you you came from England and ended up in Hamilton.
Speaker: I came from England and ah ended up in Niagara Falls. Niagara Falls, yeah, because that's what I thought. So Sven Galley came out of the Hamilton Niagara region, I guess. is is Yeah, that's correct. Well, very cool. and And then it's an exciting time for music. I mean, i guess I guess you're a little bit late to the dance in the sense that the 60s, 70s, and 80s were kind of the golden decades of of music. So you're sort of in the middle of the tail end of that, I guess.
Speaker: Yeah, you know what, um, it was, it was, uh, kind of weird cause we, we were ready to go at, at, you know, in 85 and we had a lot of, a lot of stuff and, uh, recorded. And then by the time things happened and records started getting going and, you know, in the recording process, all of a sudden it's the end of the eighties. Yeah, there you go. Yeah. So you kind of, we kind of miss that part. What a great time to, what a great time to be alive and for music. Yeah, absolutely. i I loved living through that. And of course, the.
Speaker: the club scene in the eighties was a huge thing. And then I guess you got into the the Hamilton and Niagara region music scene and then got a cover band together and thought, you know, let's go out and make some money and have some fun. Well, I don't know about the money part, but the fun part. definite know ah but no um I can remember, you know, there's a ah an iconic club in Niagara called Uncle Sam's back in the day. And I remember I was very good friends with the the the owner's son. And so we would at 14 years old get hired just to keep filling the beer fridge. They had this massive lock -in beer fridge and we'd be in the back loading beer and and seeing great acts from Pat Travers to Nazareth to to Kim Mitchell, Honeymoon Sweet.
Speaker: all the Canadian bands that would come through there. um It was it was great. And it was like I felt like every Friday, Saturday night um I was going to school. Yeah. Well, it's invigorating, too, right? It's exciting. And you kind of think you get stars in your eyes, I guess, and you come up with a plan. So did you have a plan? Did you say, OK, I'm going to try to do that? Here's how I'm going to try to do it? Or did you just kind of fall into it? You know, you think that um you know come from small towns or, you know, at the time, small towns, you know,
Speaker: the success is reserved for people in bigger cities. But but some what what got us all fired up is is number one, our we love music and and the passion, but number two, you got you got bands that are actually knocking doors down for us like Honeymoon Suite from the area, yeah you know, Bright and Rock and bands like that from back in back in the day. And then you kind of figure, you know what, if if they can have success, why not us?
Speaker: yeah so um I guess the number one reason to get into it is for the love of it. And then once you sign your record deal, then it turns into business. Well, I guess. yeah and and And you make a good point because young people I guess the saying is they don't know what they can't do. So you just go, well, let's go try it. Let's see what happens. I mean, I've i've had Greg Fraser and and of course, Derry Graham on the podcast as well. And, you know, a lot of times people would say, well, I did, we didn't really overthink it. We just thought, well, let's put a band together and we'll see what happens we'll go and we'll can grind it out and get some gigs and, you know, fix it as we go, as so to speak. Yes, I agree. I agree. There's a, there's a saying in, uh, in the sports world for, for, for athletes, um,
Speaker: you know, everybody thinks that they have to go to a big city or move to a different country. But if you're good enough, they'll find you. Yes. And I think that applies so much to music also. Yeah. And I guess it's the sustained effort too, because, you know, from what I've ah read and what I've seen, you guys toured lots, you played lots, right? I mean, that's part of the key of it. You got to go out and play. Of course, you're not making a lot of money. I went through the whole 80s club thing too. And I get the whole thing. I owned a truck and a PA a and trying to make a living and work all week and make $300, but somehow it's kind of worth it. Yeah. In the end, you know, it's, uh, you can't, I look back on everything and you'd never change anything. All the hardship wasn't really that hard much of a hardship. It was a lot of fun. I mean, um, we had the opportunity to, you know, go across the country several times in a Malibu with a, with a Cuban following us. There you go. What a, what a show that was. Let me tell you. Did you make it out to Vancouver?
Speaker: We did. We went, well, we did. I don't know about the car, but yeah, but yeah we were we were all over. We went everywhere. and um And I think, you know, you know, the days of social media did not exist. And the only way you could really earn yourself is to get out there and be seen by everybody. And fortunately, yeah, fortunately, after our shows, the the name got stronger. And, and and you know, the rumors started flying out, you know, the band's a great band to see live. And and it was like true, true earned rock hard rock on the road earning it. Yeah.
Speaker: Yeah, well that's and and your genre back then where you you you were basically a heavy band where you're covering the pop, rock, classics. What were you doing? What was your main thrust?
Speaker: well we um we We started writing songs like right off the bat. We had a bunch of stuff, but but we knew that we're not going to get into clubs playing our own stuff. um is everybody you know It was like it was um tribute bands like you know back then a lot. so We played a lot of Scorpions and a lot of rock.
Speaker: and And that's how we kind of you know got the shows and and then we would we would you know play a few covers and then we'd slip in several originals and you know that's how we'd start going. Yeah. Well, good for you. I mean, it speaks well of you because I talked to a friend of mine and having gone through, I i didn't do the the the A rooms out here because I just didn't want to tour. That was my main thing.
Speaker: I didn't want to travel a lot, but the comment that we made was of of all the club bands, and there was tons of them, almost none of them ever made it to that next level. Most of them just had fun in the eighties, and then when the club scene died, they just kind of drifted off. But further, there's a very few that made that jump, like to get original songs and get a record deal was more rare than perhaps you might've thought, because some of those bands were real good, but they just didn't have the, I guess the tunes and the business sense and the,
Speaker: the willingness to to take that next step. Yeah, yeah you're right. and it's it's and then And then real quickly it becomes more than you. It becomes more than the band. It becomes who you surround yourself with management, who you surround yourself with, with people involved in the band.
Speaker: Yeah. And, um, and if, if you don't, if ever, if everybody's not on the same wavelength, if everybody's not going in the same direction, driving, you know, uh, following the, you know, the protocol, if you will, um, it falls apart. Yeah. awesome and So yeah, it's, uh, it's funny cause you really, and fortunately all, all the guys in, you know, Spain galley, we, we kind of do like today, we do everything. We do our own recording. We do our own bit. We even do our own videos. We do everything and that's how we keep it. That's our quality control.
Speaker: Yeah. And also it keeps the energy up, right? You're focused on, like you said, on the same page. Okay. What are we going to do here? You got to have some kind of plan, some kind of, here's what we're going to try to do. Right. Exactly. and well Well, that works well for you, but you must have had a plan back then too, because you, uh, you took the right steps. Did you go to, I see you went to New York and l LA. Did you like really make a thrust and say, okay, we're going to do this and here's what we're going to need to do. It's funny cause, um,
Speaker: I remember when it all when when you know we we went we played all over Canada, and we were played Toronto several times and there was a bit of the, you know, the Sveng Alley buzz was happening, but really nothing and as far as a record deal was on the table. And so we we got, and I'm not gonna say we got a little disgruntled, but but we were just like, okay, so what are we doing here, guys? um You know, what else can can we do? And it just popped into our heads, like, you know what? We took a one -way ticket to Los Angeles.
Speaker: We got dropped off in front of the troubadour where we booked a gig and we started playing the circuit down there. Well, that's pretty cheeky. It was, it was, it was like, it was probably, it was probably one of the most stupidest things we've ever done. But it it ended up being, it ended up being the the way to get signed. it yeah and the And the funny thing is, is we went all the way down there, we did that. And then about three months, four months later, then we had an interest from BMG Canada. yeah So then it was packed all up and then come back home and start recording.
Speaker: Wow. And then so you actually got signed, did you get signed in LA or in Canada? We got, we signed in ah um in Canada, but RCA for the rest of the world. Okay. Very cool. Well, that's, and did I read that right? You got a seven album deal. Like you got a big, a bigger deal. Yeah, it was a big deal. Like we were, we were pretty, we were pretty happy that, to that, you know, we, we,
Speaker: it was all It was all just letters to us. All as we wanted to do was just make that first record and then go from there. Right. you know But most of the time it would be two and an option for a third or maybe three and an option for a fourth one. That would be a pretty good deal. like to yeah they must have They must have saw something in you that was a confidence booster for you guys.
Speaker: Yeah, you know, um it was neat because when we came home, I i remember um the the CEO of the record label in the front row of the show that when we got home, we played at Rock and Roll Heaven downtown Toronto. And he was in the front row with, and it was like, and I'm looking around, we're going, I just met all these people. This is BMG here in the front front row. and and ah And then and afterwards, there was the business side of it and recording, but there was actually a friendship with everybody. We got on very well with our A &R guy, who we still you know David Bendeth, who's doing very well for himself and we still talk today. And it became more than making records. It was it was good. It was a relationship there.
Speaker: well Very cool. so you must ah i mean You must have been zooming. You must have thought, well, we've made it now. This is what we wanted. Now we got it. The head of the record company sitting in the front row, we got a deal. How did that feel? It was pretty cool. i was It was nerfing too. I got to be honest with you. it's You know, that that that thing they say where you have you you yeah have your whole life to write your first record and then you got a year to write the second one. right well yeah It comes with pressures. As soon as you put your name on that piece of paper, I felt pressure. I was going, okay, first time in my life, I feel pressure. Well, I guess, but you got to step up or step off at that point, right? That's like, are we going to do this or are we going to go home?
Speaker: Yeah, that's exactly right. And then on the upside, I mean, you got some push now, right? You got the videos, you got the marketing, you got the the tours, the album, you got the TV, the radio, you're on much music. I mean, that must have been cool. Yeah, you know what? It was it really hit me um when we went on the Def Leppard tour across Canada.
Speaker: And I remember the very first show, our hotel was right near the venue. And you and you just saw streams of people walking down the street, heading it heading to the venue and and then getting the call to be in the front lobby, getting in ah get picked up and then head backstage. And very first time walking out in front of 40 ,000 people.
Speaker: on a beautiful hot summer day and then that I'll just never ever forget. It was just so cool to to lead off that uh that show that day and then and then followed by Ugly Kid Joe, April Wine, um Meat Loaf, Def Leppard. It was cool. Yeah I mean you kind of yeah it's it's you kind of look around and go it's it's almost like it's happening to someone else right but then you go wait a second this is me. Exactly exactly what I felt like Well, that's super cool. Well, and the first album, I mean, it came out in 92. So you were a little bit late to the dance, I guess, right? Because I mean, that album probably should have come out a couple of years earlier, you think, or 80s? Should have come out, you know, 87, 88. Okay. Yeah. I mean, excellent production. And you got, like I said, you had all the push now, you see, you got great production, you got great songs, you got the videos. I mean, yeah everything that a band could want, you basically had at that point, right?
Speaker: Yes, for sure. and And some great songs that love, love don't live here anymore. i I mean, that's the one I remember more than any of them, but it's got that great melody and I mean, ah I like heavy music, but I like melodic heavy music and I like harmonies and I like acoustic guitar, you know, they the triumph thing where it starts with acoustic and then it gets heavier. but yeah Yeah, that's the same with same with me. I like the same.
Speaker: Yeah. And I remember that one and it's got, it it sounds almost like extreme, like your voice is high and clear and it's got the nice finger picking and stuff. So it reminded me of extreme. It's funny, we were in Lake Geneva, Wisconsin, um recording the drum tracks for the first record. And um we were in, I think, well, the David Bendeth was in the control room um getting some ah drum sounds and Dee and I and Andy and the rest of us were in like the lounge and we were playing that song. We've never, it never was supposed to be on any record. It was just a little, a ballad that we had.
Speaker: yeah And I was singing in a manner that I don't really sing in often, like clean like that. yeah and um And then David came out and said, what is that? And then we just told him, oh, it's just a thing we did. He goes, I've never heard you sing like that. Or I said, well, that's my voice voice. And ah he said, ah well, let's record let's record this one. So we recorded it.
Speaker: Yeah, well, it's strong. I mean, it's really strong. So he must have heard something in it, obviously, that that he thought this could work. and And it is nice too. I mean, the heavy stuff is cool, but it's nice to take a breath. Like even songs like In My Garden, right? You have you have the acoustic intro and stuff. It gets heavy, which is great. Yeah. But but you have that breath of of kind of, okay.
Speaker: Well, it comes from because we listen to everything like the band, like when we listen to all types of music. And, um you know, we when we were we're young guys, we just got the aggression out and played hard rock. But there was a little there's a lot more to us than than that.
Speaker: Yeah, you know which there needs to be because the whole sort of law the the modern stuff I call it, I i hate my parents' bands. yeah you know when Once the angst goes away, there's got to be some substance there or else the music just loses it anything that it you thought it had. right Right. 100%. Yeah. No One Died skies as tie-dyed Skies is another heavy, cool tune. There's lots of great stuff on there. and And of course you guys, so I guess now the record company, like you said, there were some pressures, but they want new tunes. They want another album. They want a tour. You got to get out there and and promote it and stuff. So you how much did you tour?
Speaker: On the that first record, we were gone. like We toured so much. we played so We played all across Canada a few times. um Then we went into the States and then from there, we were in Europe. we played I remember the European tour, we played 28 shows in like 34 days. Oh, wow.
Speaker: It was like night after night and we we went everywhere across England, into Ireland, um with then Scotland. Out of Scotland, then we're in um Germany, Belgium. It was, we were everywhere and and it was just like night after night and it really, you get to the point truly where, you know, my, um the guys, the text would put, okay, Dave, you're in You're in Frankfurt tonight, or this is where they put the name. those sets right Hello Cleveland. Yeah. Hello Cleveland. That was exactly what it felt like until we were going. um Where are we tonight? Well, yeah, I know the feeling. it's And so I was wondering about how much traction you got in the States. did Was there any talk of you moving back to LA or trying to try to base yourself out of there? and not Not as of yet.
Speaker: um We were just, you know, getting through the first record and looking towards the second record. And and um and then I know that when we went to we went to Seattle, Washington to record in wire. yeah And we had ah Christopher from Blind Melon play on it. And the singer from Count Handelbox, he sang with me on the record. We recorded it at an amazing studio where Allison chains and, and yeah you know, Soundgarden, everybody recorded there.
Speaker: And, um, and, uh, basically what happened was we finished the record and we were coming home and we were going to, uh, start a, an American tour. And then that's when, uh, um, uh, unfortunately, uh, D got into a, a seadoo accident and, and that stopped us from progressing right there. Yeah. Yeah. I mean, that's, it's kind of a fate sort of thing, I guess. Hey, how did you take that at the time? You just i thought at the time, um, at the time we.
Speaker: You think that, okay, he'll be good soon. And then there was a time where, if I recollect the, you know, should we just get somebody to stand in for him to, it was brought up to, um you know, to get going and get out there. But so we we declined that for some reason and and and we just left, you know, we wanted to wait for him and he's, we've been playing together for all our lives and we're, there was a brotherhood there and,
Speaker: And then you know the whole change of music, everything just got crazy, just weird. yeah and um And then you know we decided that that was it. We're just going to wait it out. yeah Yeah, because you guys really were the epitome of the 80s, right? You got the long hair, you got the heavy tunes, you got the great guitar solos. that I mean, what you were you know for lack of a better term, an 80s band. yeah yeah Which is one of your strengths. I mean, that's your wheelhouse. you're doing but And then the music business is kind of changing underneath you, I guess. And and that a lot of bands got caught up in that. I mean, there's there's no doubt that you know everyone thought it was going to carry on like it did for you know for the foreseeable future. I mean, I can't believe that much music, I thought, okay, every band's going to have of a video for almost every song they're trying to push and much music's going to be like it is forever. And it just wasn't.
Speaker: No, yeah, everything changed. It was weird. It was like, it was such a downer time. Like I always like you, you listen, you know, the, the, the songs were great. Like they're strong songs, but everything was such a, such a downer. Like, you know, it was, uh, we're, we're in the eighties. Everybody just wanted to party and have fun and, you know, have a blast. But, um, yeah, that grunge scene, it's a little bit of a wake up call. Um, and you, you know, um, for what was actually kind of rumbling around in the country in the States, especially Seattle.
Speaker: I guess it's just the nature of you know looking back, you probably have a better perspective, but it's just the nature of music to shift and grow and change. you know The 70s was different than the 80s and then in the 90s, it changed to grunge for a number of years. So tell me about your connection with the Teenage Head and and Frankie Venom and those guys. and And then you redid Disgustine, which is pretty cool. Tell me about that.
Speaker: Well, so Dee Dee are before Sven galley came together in in one night. It was a weird um It was just it was almost it was a fate thing We you know, I got a call I was up and Andy and I were at my house and we got a call from um Sean who's the the bass player TT and he says yeah I heard you guys are looking for a bass player once you come meet me so in the snowstorm we drove to Hamilton and met Sean at his house and So we're we're sitting with Sean and and then and then he was saying, you know, I know a great drummer and we had a drummer at the time, but we entertained it. So we went right to the drummer's house and met him. This all happened in one night. no And then the drummer said, you know what? We got to go see, I think Dee's back. He's out playing with Frankie.
Speaker: And he'd be great for this band and I know that you know So we went over and saw d and and we sat in uh, we sat around a table We sat around the table. We shared some beers and talking about music and got on and got on really well and uh, and um adi was the guitar player for franky venom yeah, and and he really had a good relationship with him and it was weird because why we were having talking about uh songs and and creating a band and and um, you know there's this movie playing in the background, why we're why we're sitting there. and And we all kept looking at it. and
Speaker: And, uh, and then it was decided at the end of, you know, our get together there. Well, let's do it. Let's get together and jam tomorrow. So we're walking out the door and then Steve said, uh, Steve said, well, what are we going to call this band? And then we were looking at the TV and it goes, we're all looking at this movie and the movie was called Sven galley. Oh, there you go. And one night we got together and named the band. The next day we started rehearsing and then, um, we started, we started the first things that we started doing or jamming around was disgusting with teenage head. Just having fun with it. Very cool. It stuck.
Speaker: Yeah, well I wondered about that because because Frankie had that personality too. right he really i mean He really was the the face of that band in the sense that that he brought a lot of personality to the stage and to that band. so yeah Yeah. He really liked our band. like I remember being in the studio in Toronto with him when we were recording, because he did the the middle part, the breakdown. yeah And he was in the band, he was in the room listening to our version of the of the music and he's going, oh my God, if I had a band like this, if I had a band like this, heavy band like this. So it was it was it was nice that he yeah he dug it. Yeah. Oh, very cool. Oh, that's neat. and yeah I like some of the connections, right? and
Speaker: Like ah you you mentioned, Brighton Rock has one of the bands coming up and I had Greg on the yeah on the podcast and stuff too. and you know He's pretty humble and reflective about everything too, right just saying, hey, we were young guys, we had some fun, people liked our music, it was just a cool time to be alive and a cool time to do what we did. mean Yeah, 100%. It was good.
Speaker: Yeah. and But like lots of bands, I mean, you had, you had success, you had some success, but you had that mid -level success, right? Which is both cool and frustrating, right? I mean, it's in the one hand, you're like, you know, ah we made it, you know, we got a record deal, we're doing these big tours and everything. But on the other hand, you know, there's all the pressures and the money and the touring and the next album and the changing music scene. So, the so tell me about the frustration in, in, in that.
Speaker: it's like it was it was like ah it it did feel exactly like that it was like It was like driving Hyundai when you really wanted a Cadillac. yeah yeah it was it was It was like that. it was just you know You know you had you know you had um a lot to offer. and and um And just what I guess the whole thing for us is for people to see us live. Once they saw us live, then a lot changed for us. And it was it was just hoping to get on those big shows to ah to be seen. Because still and in that time, it was the only way to see the band was either, you know, the videos were just coming out, which we won video of the year, I believe, on much music for heavy metal or hard rock video. So it was just starting. And then
Speaker: I think that it you know to some people, if we had stayed the course um and music didn't fluctuate the way it did went at that time, it have been might have been probably have been a much different picture for us. yeah But um you know all the worlds came the way they came and and it just, we kind of fizzled out there. so you So did the band, did you lose the record deal? Did the record company say, well, we're moving on with a different genre? Because Inwire came out in 95, right?
Speaker: Yeah. And wire came up. I'm sorry. So by then it was pretty much, you're going to have to reevaluate sort of where you're at, where the music scene's at and what you're going to do moving forward. Yeah. We were confused. Okay.
Speaker: It was it was confusion, like, okay, so we can. um yeah It was when in where came out, I think ah people thought, well, people did think that, you know, we we left our roots and, you know, we're trying to jump on what's next in music.
Speaker: But the truth is that, as I mentioned to you earlier, is we were a lot more than a hard rock band. We love all types of music and we like to explore like you know um and we listen to different things. And because we were on the road for so long and listening to music and writing, different expressions and different things as we we know got older and matured a little bit more, um we started doing you know experimenting more with our music. So In Wire was a record that in our eyes, it it was going to happen regardless of when it happened. It was going to be us, um you know, just stretching it out a little bit. um You know, but so to I guess to some people it was, we were trying to, Well, I mean, but that's the rub, right? I mean, there was a famous ah thing about ACDC when somebody had said you made 12 albums that sounded the same, right? And then Angus Young said, no, we made 13 albums that sounded the same. it's Some kind of a joke. I don't know if it's true or not, but it it kind of makes sense because they they play Meat and Potatoes Rock. That's it. That's what you're going to get.
Speaker: and But other bands have that, you have to innovate, you have to grow, you have to change, otherwise it's just the same. So it's ah it's a real double -edged sword, I guess. Yeah, I mean, like, I'm not, I don't know if you are, I'm not the same person I was when I was, you know, you know, early 20s. Yeah, of course. And my Mike, you know, I, yeah I hated olives back then, but I love olives right now. don i mean Everything changes. And ah I just think that we never, we we always played music for what we didn't, it was, its you don't, we never thought about selling something. We thought about just being true to what we wanted to do. Right.
Speaker: And that's the artist's creed. That's what artists do. But the record companies are they want to sell plastic, right? Exactly. Exactly. And I think that's where the you know, the we met we met at the intersection.
Speaker: Yeah. But then, you know, like, so you guys just kind of, you didn't really break up. You just stopped playing. Is that you just went on with your lives? This, this band never said that's it. Okay. We just all went off and did different things and, and moved on um ah from each other, but stayed in touch. And like, you know, when we talked, it was like, you know, it was like yesterday's there's, it was no way, although it was ah quite a while. Yeah. And then, um,
Speaker: And then you know one day I got a call to come and jam with Dan from Varga, who was our label mates at BMG. We actually turned them on to BMG. And I went and you know jammed with him and Sean showed up for a bass player.
Speaker: And it felt so good. Like it just felt, wow, that was, that was, that was good. I remember driving home from that thinking, man, what, what could have been or is stuff like that. And then, uh, before I know it, I was on the phone with Andy and we started jamming as Svengali again. So what year would this have been? 2007? Yeah. yeah what what is it Oh, was it maybe.
Speaker: Maybe, um, I wasn't, I think maybe seven, eight years ago, maybe. Okay. That's when you got, when you actually got back together and thought, you know, well, let's try to do something here. And sort of talking about reinvigorating the band and coming out again. Well, it wasn't even that it was let's get together and just jam and then have some fun again. And we were having fun again. And then one thing led to another and, and we, uh, ended up in New York city with David Bendith, our our first, our original producer recording the lies.
Speaker: And, and then from there, uh, we had more material and we started pumping it out and then we did an EP called three. Yeah. And that came out in, um, that would have been late. Uh, what year did EP three EP three come out? Would that be like a couple of years ago? Yeah.
Speaker: Um, yeah, maybe three or four years ago. I'm sorry my dates. everything oh That's fine. No, I just just just curious just for our listeners just for the timelines but the interesting you make a good point because You know when you're young and you're energetic and you're enthusiastic about what you're doing It's it's I often say to older musicians try to find that again like like reinvigorate that remember how fun it was when we were younger You still got that in you just go find it and bring it out Exactly. Yeah, and you know what because you know you you think that all of your experiences you've had since that time, ah it it it it changes people. ah you know And things, flavors change, things change, people lose lose energy, typically. yeah ah But for us it was ah it for us, it was that thing in the back of our head where we had unfinished business.
Speaker: yeah Yeah, very cool. Yeah, it was infinite. And actually, we we got together and we did about four or five shows um in Ontario. and And we called it andfinished the Unfinished Business Tour. Yeah, that's great. Yeah. And that's what it felt like. And you know we felt like we we had so much to offer.
Speaker: And, um, and unfortunately the way things ended up, it we didn't have that chance to express those. yeah Well, it's, it's funny cause years ago, a professor said something that really stuck with me. You said, you know, the way that I look at my life is everything that I've done in my life, every experience I've had, everything I've learned, I bring to this moment that made me the person I am at this very moment. And that's what I'm bringing to the table. And that's a good thing. Like age is your friend, not your enemy, because it brings all those other things with it.
Speaker: Yeah, I agree. I agree. And, ah you know, when when I'm, when I'm, when I look back. You look back and you think your parents, know they don't have a clue. you know They don't know what's going on. But when when you start walking down the road a little bit, you and you can put it and you and you can have the capability to put it all together where you where you have that that drive to succeed, but you have the experience of no what' know what' what's right or wrong, or decision making. Then you feel there's a sense of calmness and you feel comfortable. And and i that's where how we feel as a band right now. We're very calm about what we're doing. We feel like it's we're in the moment.
Speaker: and We're not doing it for anybody else. we're We're very happy that Bombs and Battle Scars has done very well and people really like the videos. and yeah and some We've got some nice surprises coming up for everybody very soon for for for the people that listen to Sven.
Speaker: and um And it's just in a, it's in a really, you know, we enter rehearsals and stuff just in a very chilled vibe. It's really cool. Yeah. Well, I'm glad to hear that because I, we all have the music friends that are jaded. I've had people that actually, one guy, quite a well -known guy said, i I can't be on your podcast because I wouldn't have anything positive to say.
Speaker: all the experiences I had were just too negative and I don't want to spend an hour talking to you about all the business stuff. But you know he got caught up in all that and it swallowed him and he hated it and he walked away from the music business, jaded about everything and about life too.
Speaker: Yeah. You know, what if you put yourself out as an as a musician, out there to um if you put yourself out there and a businessman or or or an athlete, there's more doors shut and there's more no's and failures than there is success, as we all know. But if you can just, every time you get down, if you can just get up again,
Speaker: You're bound to either learn and and there's you're bound to just to get to the point where something comes For you. Yeah, and I let cynicism creep in because cynicism is your enemy being jaded is your enemy not your friend exactly exactly And that's ah that's a whole mindset. You got to prepare and and kind of understand that from, and I, for myself, I know what that's like from, you know, back in, you know, being an athlete where I, where, you know, you you're you know, you're good enough, but you've, it's, you got to be at the right place, the right moment, and just keep trying training every day. And all the work in music and all the work in life happens when nobody's watching, you know, it's another,
Speaker: Yeah, for sure. And then I guess, so what was your preferred athleticism? What what were you involved in there? I've always been a big soccer fan, footballer. yeah Okay. you So I've always i always been, I was always ah athletic. um I won the athlete of the year award in my schools and I designed every team. i just I just really enjoyed athletics. Yeah. Well, very cool. Well, and it's a lot, my point is it's transferable, right? Because you have to have that strong mind you have to have the
Speaker: And the preconception about what's going to happen. You have to be calm under pressure. I mean, a lot of the things are very, um, it's funny because I watched the the monster video and you're in the boxing ring, tying the box and stuff. Of course, I, I've been a martial arts guy my whole life. And, uh, so I was looking at it and I was thinking, yeah, that's martial arts and, and music are very, very interrelated and in the things that you have to learn and the skills you have to have. So that was, you know, yeah, you're, you're, you're right. It's a.
Speaker: it's It's anything, anything that you want to, anything to step out of the box of just a regular day um can can can can beat you up, but you just got to keep giving her. And and I think that's how we we all got kind of mentally strong by, yeah I tell my son all the time, you're going to go through it, buddy, and in life. And I just got to keep going through it. That's the key. It's easy. left so that a video monster right it's in a boxing ring right so it's sort of like fighting the fight and stuff but you you're doing your hand wraps too on there so yeah but i can tell you you might i gotta tell you i've been told by a couple boxing friends of mine yeah that i i was not doing it ah properly you didn't lace your fingers yeah i i didn't i did not do it properly and i and i told him i had no idea what i was doing so he just threw me that wrap and i started wrapping myself up like a mummy
Speaker: That's great. No, it's funny. I looked, I kind of chuckled too, cause I thought he's not lacing his fingers. I mean, there's a hundred different ways to do your wraps, but normally a boxer would lace his fingers, but every, that was fine. It looked good though. It was a good video. good cause It's funny you brought that up because everybody, everybody who does what you do and fights always makes the comment.
Speaker: yeah Well, I noticed it right away because I've, you know, I, I use the half wraps now with the just the pads and then you just do the wrist and the thumbs. Right. So, but I'm still fully involved and I still love doing it, but, uh, but it's a good analogy for life too, because life is a struggle and everything you do and all the things we've talked about and then the pressure comes and then, okay, how can I.
Speaker: perform under pressure. Some guys, I know guys that have walked away from the business just because of that. They said, I don't, I wanted to play music because I love playing music. Once I got these people around me and and and pressuring me and stuff, it just took all the fun out of it for me. Yeah. Yeah. It's, it's right. It's, but, uh, you know what, that's in everything, right? That it's, everything is competition today, no matter what you do, whether you you work at a Canadian tire or your, it doesn't matter what you're doing today. There's a lot of competition out there.
Speaker: Yeah, exactly. and then And like what's the old saying about, instead of complaining about the rain, rain learn how to dance on the rain, something to that effect. yes you know whatever You're going to have struggles in life. That's that's what life is about. so But so you got some cool tunes. so So again, I'll ask you, you know, how do you stay true to your sound and and yet innovate, right? That's the double -edged sword. You got to come up with new stuff that sounds fresh and good, but you got to stay true to what brought you to the dance in the first place. Your fans, you want to go into new fans, but you want to make your your existing fans happy. So how did you balance that?
Speaker: um well you know what's i think um i think our our Well, for me, my kids kept me current in music and what was going on because our whole family are big music fans. You walk into any room in my house and there's music playing or in in anybody's car. and and it's there's always something. So i've been you know i was I've walked through every genre and every time period of music with them as they grew. nice yeah good for you and And there's a lot of lot of things that I was listening to and and thinking, oh cool, that would sound great if it had this with it, or I love that melody. you know there's some There's a couple of things that Drake did that I'm going, man, if you put this to that,
Speaker: Um, and you know, I went to all these concerts with them that that would never really go to and it kind of opened up my eyes So I think when we started um, and uh, you know recording and um, you know, uh, the spangali sound I think we can say that we you know, we have a sound it's you know, whether whatever record you listen to it's there's consistency there um, but it was just the way we approached The melodies and and and the music and if you if you smash now if you smash in wire and our first record together You can hear it. You can hear it in bombs about a scars the new one. You can hear some wire in there Yeah, it's very cool. Um, it's just I think it's just it's in you it's in us, right? Yeah Well, it's good and and it's cool that you give your kids a good musical education and give them the whole palette and say here's here's what's out there check this out and then they kind of return the favor by saying well check this out and
Speaker: Yeah. You know, it's neat. it's ah my ah My son's in in university in the States on on a soccer scholarship, actually. And he listens to absolutely everything. And then the other night, he so he always sends me a video. He goes, Dad, you ever heard of corn?
Speaker: You're crazy. Great. And it just flip flops all over the place. yeah It's kind of neat. It's great. i mean it's <unk>s ah you know i'm I'm sort of old school, lost in the 70s guy, but you know we listened to everything. I mean, from acoustic to Cat Stevens to Led Zeppelin to everything, whatever. You just listen to everything and see what you like out of it. And that that comes through. So you did the the song, Nothing New.
Speaker: Yes, which again has got that extreme kind of sound, you know, it's got the nice voice and the nice acoustic guitar and stuff. It's really, really good. I like it. Oh, thank you. Yeah. so It was kind of the same type of moment as Love Don't Live Here. It's just those moments when we're just sitting around jamming and, you know, and and things, ah you know, come up and um it was a great experience and Dee brought that song to the table. And it was great sitting down and putting it together.
Speaker: Well, I think it's great. Like I said, that the heavy stuff's cool, but yeah you have to have a moment to breathe, right? You can't just sort of yeah push everybody from the stage. Every song, all song, you have to have those moments where people can go, yeah, it's, you know, and that's one of those. Right. So ah rest the years a little bit. Well, yeah. And just kind of reflect a bit and and coming home sounds good to the video and the songs. Cool, heavy tune. Cool video. So yeah. Who's doing your videos? We are. Yeah. You got to the cameras.
Speaker: Yeah, we do. the we do our we did though I think we did, well, we've done basically all of them but one on iPhones. Yeah, which is so great. I mean, back in the day, look at how much record companies spent on videos. I mean, there was videos that cost hundreds of thousands of dollars to make for one song. I know. $70 ,000, $80 ,000 I think we spent on yeah anon under the influence. Crazy. And you'd never get that money back. I mean, I guess the record company did, but it all comes off your royalties anyways.
Speaker: Yeah, that's just, you know, when I got, if you only knew, if I knew then what I know now, but then the technology wasn't there. I guess, yeah. yeah so And then some of those concept videos were really way over the top and way more money than they should have ever been spent building sets and hiring Hollywood producers and stuff. you know Spend a quarter of a million dollars doing a video for one song. It's ridiculous. yeah But was you know that was the time. right there was ah Record companies were splashing a lot of money around and that was part of it. so
Speaker: yeah yeah Yeah, and then you've got to work with some cool people like Andy Curran, Lee Aaron, Rick Emmett, or I guess Gil Moore, then Greg Fraser, Derry Granite. I've had all of them on the podcast and they're all great people and there was a real community and you got sort of tied into that, right? And then you ended up doing the Spellbound by Triumph, which is pretty cool.
Speaker: Yeah, it was it was neat. and you know andy curran um Andy Curran worked with us on Monster, which is great. yeah And um and when when we heard that song, we said, man, it would be cool if Andy was involved in this this tune. There's a little Coney Hatch bottom end going on in there. yeah no um And then from there, you know he's a very big supporter of the band. Nice.
Speaker: We got the invitation to watch you know much guys record a a triumph song. And what was neat about it and why we said yes right away was because that in Metalworks was our very first recording experience as Svengali prior to the record deal.
Speaker: So we went in there and and the first, I remember the first day that we walked in there, I did feel intimidated. I'm going um walk i'm going into metalworks and what was, you know, we're just young guys and and what was really neat about it is Triumph was there. They were home. oh wow So we walked in and met Gil and Mike Levine. And and I remember Sean's bass was acting up and all of a sudden Sean's using Mike's head. fell well And it was just like such a cool humbling, like they just regular guys, you know, they've they've got the t -shirt, they've been down the road. and
Speaker: and and And then when we recorded the song, we we we actually recorded Spellbound. We said, you know what, we're going to do the video in there because that's where the song was written and recorded. yeah And when we met Gil and his wife came to say hello. Is there a video right in the beginning of the video actually? Yeah, we asked him to be in the video. that's cool And it was neat because the the song Spellbound was written about his wife.
Speaker: Yeah. Oh, cool. Yeah. So, uh, we, she said, uh, we're about to record the video and, um, she was about to leave. I said, where are you going? I said, no, no, you're in the video. Have a seat. It was, it was so spontaneous. It was good. Great people. Yeah. No, they're really down to earth. I talked to Gil for.
Speaker: Well, over an hour and we were just like talking to a guy, a just friendly guy and just totally down to earth, which is really nice. I mean, it's nice to see that because some of the rock stars in the past had that sort of elevated snooty kind of attitude. And the guys in triumph didn't have that Rick was totally great too. So they don't have that at all. They're just regular guys. Yeah. I found a lot of Canadian guys are.
Speaker: Yeah, I think it's it's it's a better way to be. just Just be yourself. If you have some success, you know be thankful for it and then move on. Be nice, be cool. Yeah. yeah so um So you did Spellbound. So the one thing I noticed, you got the wall of guitars, you got the heavier, sort of not that Rick Emmett wasn't a heavy guitar player, but I was wondering how you, when you approached that song, how you were going to do it differently.
Speaker: Well, we we before when we approach all the covers that we that we you know have attempted and stuff like that, we always make them they always end up sounding a little bit of Svengali twist in there. Of course, yeah.
Speaker: and I like everybody would. And because we love big guitars and we love that that sound, i thought I thought when I heard it the first time, I went, man, that sounds good. like it's not it we We would never have have released it if we didn't think we did the song justice. And yeah and for and for Gil, that song's on his personal playlist in his car. Cool.
Speaker: Our version. Yeah, very nice. So he goes, he loves it. And and and his wife actually made a comment that she that she made a comment that that she likes that version better than his. Oh, cool. There you go. So we got her approval, then we went. Which a triumph doesn't have a anything to apologize for. so No, they don't. Yeah, it was nice. Well, very cool. And how's your voice?
Speaker: ah You know what? um i i It's weird because I um i think on bombs and battle scars, i I did a good job. I felt felt comfortable and it feels good. It feels good alive. The thing is is I have to turn it on. it when i When we turn it off, we turn it off for a long time because you know where everybody's doing everything else. then you know over the winter, there's not much going on. And I'm terrible, terrible, terrible for rehearsing myself or, or training or anything like that. I'm just one of those guys that, okay, we got four weeks till we're going on the road. Then I, I go crazy for four weeks and then I'm ready to go. Well, that's what I was going to ask you about. Cause you got to be like the footballer analogy, like you would never take the winter off and then go and play a game. That's right. You just would never do it. So you got to be in game shape. And that's the way I look at singing. You know, I do lots of tribute shows and lots of high vocals, hard stuff.
Speaker: But I got to be in game shape, even if you're a little worn, at least you're confident in your voice. So I was wondering know over the years, and then of course playing sporadically, you play some gigs, but not not like you used to. Right. Yeah. um um i think I think that if I kept doing it,
Speaker: And we didn't have that long break many, many, many, many years. ah My voice might've been, you know, beat up a little bit more or felt a bit beat up. But I think that break actually kind of saved it.
Speaker: yeah um But my voice has changed asley as I've grown. Well, you guys should get all together. So now I'm just trying to work within what I can do comfortably and not trying to be 1987 Dave. Right. And it sounds good. I just was curious about that because I know, you know, I've sang my whole life and I'm the one of the lead singers in the band, but I know when COVID hit, like I'd never taken two weeks off in my life ever. And I've always sang and worked steady. And then when I, after COVID hit, I was, I was resting and my falsetto came back and I thought, oh, there it is. Yeah. Okay. Cause I kept, you know, that glassy falsetto, he just loses it and it doesn't come back because your voice is too ragged, I guess. So that, way I noticed that anyway.
Speaker: Yeah. and And I, I realized, um, you know, when you're young, while I realized the importance of, um, hydration, yeah you know, all these little things like training, like when you're an athlete eating, right. Doing, and you know, I, um, I, uh, I stopped drinking alcohol for close to a year now. yeah And, um, so I don't, I don't drink and I, and I find, uh, I find that's helped.
Speaker: Well, that's, and for me, it's been 31 years. Like I, I quit drinking in the early nineties. I don't drink, smoke, do drugs, nothing. I stay in shape. I do my martial arts, but I look at it the same as being an athlete and you understand that very well.
Speaker: exactly Exactly. And for me, it only takes a glass of wine or something and my voice is done. you know Alcohol is not good for singers. i mean I know a lot of guys we used to do would have a few beers and sing, but boy, you sure pay the price for it, I think. Yeah, I agree. It's funny. i um yeah it's ah We used to come off stage, ah you know, when we were younger on the Duffer Flapper Tour in Europe and you grab the beer and and you know have some beers, the boys, and it was like, yeah, like, you know, celebrate what we just did. And now, now we come off stage this much older and and we grab a glass of water or a non -alcoholic beer and sandwich.
Speaker: What was Jane Leno's joke? For your birthday, now that you're older, instead of a woman jumping out of a cake, you're going to have a registered nurse jump out of a giant bran muffin. ah that's good yeah i thought that's exactly right We're not gonna do we don't want to push ourselves that far yet. Yeah, exactly. That's it. No, that's funny I wanted to ask you about the singing thing because being a singer myself I'm you just think about it all the time and then of course what you just said after the tour what you got to sing the next day and then the next day after that so you're always feeling your voice and thinking okay, Adam like so it is a lead singer thing and
Speaker: It is 100%. I was very fortunate that um as we toured, I got stronger. Yeah, good for you. that was you know I didn't have those bad nights, but also when we toured, i was like our our road manager, Rick, he would he would wrap me up in a blanket and take me back to the hotel. We have ah we had this ritual that we'd finish the show, do our thing, and then he'd take me back to the the hotel. We'd stop at the hotel bar. We'd have one or two ah ah dark rum and cokes together with a twist of lime and then then go crash.
Speaker: Yeah. Yeah. Good for you. Well, that's important because the sort of staying up all night thing. I remember when Van Halen with Sammy Hagar came through Vancouver. I didn't go to the concert. My buddies did, but they were partying way too much. And Sammy got up there and apologized and just didn't have it. You know, he was hung over and his voice was cacked and they'd been up all night drinking and stuff. So, yeah, you know that's a super. bad yeah Well, yeah, at your level, you can't afford to do that. You got to bring it every night, right? Yeah. open for So let me ask you then, you know, when you came back, you reformed the band, you put out some music and stuff. I mean, it's a whole new world from the one you left in the mid 90s, right? I mean, how these days, how do you promote? How do you tour? How do you monetize, you know, and then the old fans and getting new fans and, you know, how how did you manage all that?
Speaker: Well, this social media thing, man, I tell you, you can you can reach pretty far. like i been yeah I've been doing um interviews all all around the world and I did one in India, oh wow which was, I'm so surprised. I was you know i'm i was shocked. i There's a pretty big following for Hard Rock there. and cool And it was ah the the the gentleman that interviewed me, he was on it. like He knew what was going on in music and he knew you know what it was back then. and And it was enlightening to say, you know what? it's ah This world has become so small.
Speaker: yeah It's so small. and you know Andy will come up with an idea. like Andy lives in Beijing, ah the guitar player for Smack Valley. He lives in Beijing. and you know I'll wake up in the in the morning and there'll be a guitar riff in my inbox. Then I would do something and fly it back. Same with Dan and and Sean. Sean sea has a place in Mexico and and he does the same thing. and wow Um, it's just funny how we can just bounce things around like that. Then when we come together, we, you know, bang it out. Yeah. No, you're right. I mean, the, the old days of stapling, you know, we used to have a hammer stapler and you put the posters on them, uh, telephone poles, put them up in stores. I mean, well the how the hell did you reach people? You had word of mouth, you could buy radio and advertising, but that was expensive. TV advertising was really expensive. So you had posters. Yeah. Yeah. Forgot about that.
Speaker: Yeah, that was that was crazy. like It's ah such a different world. Yeah, so so I guess it's it's the it's better in some ways, but not as good in other ways, because monetizing music these days. I mean you know i i did an album last year with Mike Fraser, who's a good friend of mine, and you know I spent lots of money on it that I'll never get back. So it's more of a labor of love than a way to make money.
Speaker: Yeah, yeah we call it we call it our expensive hobby. Yes, there you go. Well, you know that's right. I mean, that's the reality of it, right? There's no big record deals. And we wouldn't even, who would even want those nowadays? I mean, I play live all the time and i'm I've been making a full -time living for over 40 years playing music. So I'm the most thankful guy in the world. And I just wanted to to do a real album with a real producer and, you know, yeah real fun to do. But the money part of it was secondary to me. I didn't care about that that much. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Well, that's because you because you have a passion for the craft. Right. And that's and that's what's important. It's it's it's guys like you are far, you know, far between everybody. I talked a lot of bands and I was like to think about is even cover bands in the area where they seem to. Dave, you know what? We. Yeah, we we're making this tonight. We never even thought about the money. yeah Ever. i Never came to, you know, okay, we got gas in the car, we we got something in our belly, that's where we're going next. Yeah.
Speaker: Yeah, I mean, for me, I had to make a living playing music. So my wife had a thing where, you know, you got to give me so much per week. I don't care where you get it from your gigs or whatever, but I need so much per week. So it really forced me. I just didn't like touring. So I stayed in Vancouver, but I've done millions of dollars worth of gigs in van just out of Vancouver, but just didn't want to tour, you know, just ah been working steady corporate events, festivals, you know, tribute shows we do now. they The tribute shows are a big big now, so we make a good good dollar doing those. but So I was going to ask you, did you reach the level of success that you wanted or was was that a goal when you started? Like when you started out, I want to be such and such or I want to get this or that. Did you did you get what you wanted?
Speaker: um
Speaker: i think that ah I think that I got what I wanted but I didn't know I was getting it. ok And i what I meant was by that is if we had continued on and and played and and doing what we were doing at that time, the turnout would have been totally different. I probably wouldn't have had my my son and daughter okay that I have now or or my wife that I have now. And in the end, in the end I got to experience an amazing musical career at at a medium level.
Speaker: in the end, but but I came into some people um in my life that you can't replace as far as I'm concerned. yeah So I found myself fortunate. And I think that anybody and anybody who does what we do and or anything like that, um be thankful for be thankful to get up it every day and do it, number one. and And what you get out of it is what you get, and you have to take take that. because like Or you turn into that guy, that disgruntled guy.
Speaker: yeah you know Good point. Good point. Because I ask quite often, ask my guests at the end, you know, where are you happy? Are you a happy person? Because you talked about all the accolades and then we wanted, you know, we were nominated for a Grammy and blah, blah, blah. The list is three pages long. But then at the end, are you happy? And, you know, sometimes, yeah, sometimes not so much.
Speaker: Yeah, it's weird. Yeah, but but you think what you think you want is what you get. And that's why I asked the question, you know like what did what were you looking for? I mean, you got to take the ride, right as they say. and And you took the ride, you did the big shows, you got the record deal, you went to the States, you did everything. But then at the end of the day, when you look back, you go, um I'm pretty content you know I'm pretty happy comfortable my own skin and got my family got my kids I mean that's that's more important in a sense right yeah you know uh don't sound like an old man but you know life wise.
Speaker: yeah It flies. I'm just fortunate that that so far, you know on the way through, you know everybody's everybody's healthy, we we we you know got good people, stay humble, treat people kindly.
Speaker: and and and you know they can when they asked ah when when my When we're out and people come up to me and say, David, we're from Sveng Alley, blah, blah, blah. and And then we get in the car with my kids, they see that happen. And then and then we get in the car, I start driving and my wife would say, if they only knew your dad was such a geek.
Speaker: you know yeah Well, I think the other thing that I've discovered as I've gotten on in years is gratitude. you know When you're thankful, I mean, hey, what what do you want out of life, man? We get to play music. We live in a free country. like Things are pretty good.
Speaker: you know it yeah So when you, when you work from a sense of gratitude, everything is just looked at through that lens and it's just better. Life is better and music's better. Everything's better. Yeah, I agree. Yeah. Cause I mean, when you look at the scene now, some guys are really glum about it. It's a whole different world and the, you know, everyone, there's no gatekeepers anymore and everyone can go on the internet. Well, yeah. So what? I mean, that's what it is. It is what it is.
Speaker: Yeah, yeah, you got to roll with the punches all the time every day. Yeah. And so where do you live now? Are you still in Southern Ontario, I assume? I'm ah i'm in the St. Catharines area, Niagara region still. I'm here. we We're here and I yeah I like it. It's, you know, like I'm ah an hour away from Toronto. yeah So I don't think I could, live I lived in Toronto, you know, when Svengali was going on, that's where we all lived. And and to live there now, it's just, it's just so busy. I just, it's just stuff that I don't like to be involved in. That's just, you know, you can't even, park parking is taking an hour and a half to. Well, yeah, I was born in Guelph. So I, I'm, you know, we came out here with my parents when I was young, but I was born in Guelph and I was a small town back then in the sixties and seventies, but, uh, It's all that whole area is just completely grown and expanded. So I i hear you on that. So you're still writing and and recording and you got, I see you did this live thing at the Elma combo. Tell me about that. That's going to come out.
Speaker: yeah Yeah, that's ah being mixed right now and the video is being done for for that live show. I just came out of the studio. We got two videos that nobody's seen yet. okay ah We have a new song, a new cover with a video that that's that we're waiting to to to get out there. We've got a lot too that that's done and prepared for people to see. We're just picking a release date.
Speaker: ah good um And then we're looking forward to, our goal is looking forward to getting across the country, doing some festivals next year, promoting ah bombs and battle scars. not even i'm right I'm not going to even use the word promote. I'm going to say share yeah you know at this point. And and you know see the people that followed the band back in the day, because the people that we've run into so far, just it's just been such a ah great experience talking to them and laughing about the past and stuff like that.
Speaker: yeah and ah And so we just want to go out and do some shows and and and keep putting out music. And as long as people want to hear it and keep listening to it, then we'll keep doing it. Yeah. Well, that's great. Well, it sounds like you're in a really good place in life and reflecting back on what was and and trying to make something out of what is now and what you can do. And I think that's great. and You can tour next summer and have some fun and and revisit some of your old fans and maybe gain a few new ones.
Speaker: Yes. Yeah. And it's it's nice going to shows and seeing the people that followed us bring their kids. but Yes. Well, then I often joke about that. I said, well, thanks for bringing your kids. We need fresh meat here. You guys are going to die off soon. We need your kids. sweet So we can still make a living here. Come on. No, it's nice. I find that it's more of a ah family sort of environment too. like we We're very much like that. you know Just include everybody. Because, I mean, really, like certain certain genres like blues or maybe heavy metal are are are fairly narrow genres. And you want to expand that out if you can, as as much as you can, anyways. Yeah. i take my we that's We started off early taking our kids to like their first concert, I think, was Theory of a Dead Man and Motley Crue. Yeah, nice. They were young, and they were shell shocked. They were like, what? is This is what you guys do? Yeah.
Speaker: yeah Well, it's pretty spectacular. Shows are pretty in -your -face stuff. Yeah, so exactly. Well, that's good. Well, I'm really glad I had the opportunity to talk to you. I know the radio station recommends people that we talk to, and and they said, well, yeah, you want to talk to Dave from Svengale? I said, sure, I'd love to talk to him. And you've had a really interesting story, and you've had some fun, and you're still still out there doing your thing. So that's inspirational, I think, to lots of people.
Speaker: Yeah. and you know what And thank you to people like yourself, um you know, carrying the the flag for what we do. and And then with the passion that you have, I think we have a lot in common with your, with your private, you know, martial arts and that discipline that you have. I share that same thing. So it's cool.
Speaker: I appreciate that. and And just again, gratitude, thankful to be able to do what we do and and share it with others too. I know lots of listeners are interested in in the behind the scenes and and the more sort of extended conversation about what you're thinking about when you're doing things and how it feels to take the ride that you took and just how you reflect on it later.
Speaker: Yeah, it's ah neat. it's ah it's It's great walking down the road. I often reflect on when I was 14, 15 years old, jean shorts, long hair, fishing, listening to the Eagles. There you go. That was the best days. Absolutely. Awesome.
Speaker: Many thanks to my guests, David Wanless, for being part of the Liner Notes podcast, ensuring some insights from as many musical adventures and accomplishments. More information is available at on Facebook. It's Svengali Canada. On Facebook, it's easy to find. Lots of great information on there. There's links and ah videos and those kinds of things. And then decoentertainment .com ah forward slash Svengali has some information as well. So we hope you enjoyed the podcast. We invite you to subscribe to it and share it on social media so others can enjoy it as well.
Speaker: We also invite you to listen to Dusty Discs Radio Tuesdays and Thursdays to hear music from the Canadian artists you're hearing on this show. So until next time, I'm Dan here.
