Kreative Kontrol

This episode of Long Night with Vish Khanna was recorded before a live studio audience at Longboat Hall in the Great Hall in Toronto, Ontario, as an actual TV show for FibeTV1. Our guests were the world's greatest rock 'n' roll band, The Sadies, who performed five songs and stuck around for conversations about their 2007 record, New Seasons, and their 2017 album, Northern Passages. Produced by Ian Daffern, Vish Khanna, and FibeTV1. Photos by Amy Wilson. With sidekick James Keast and our house band, the Bicycles. Sponsored by Long and McQuade, Long Winter, and Planet Bean Coffee. Watch the Long Night tv show on its YouTube channel.   Support this show http://supporter.acast.com/kreative-kontrol. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Change of Heart is an iconic, underground Canadian rock ‘n’ roll band based in Toronto, Ontario. Formed in 1982, Change of Heart initially consisted of singer/guitarist Ian Blurton, bassist Rob Taylor, keyboardist Bernard Maiezza, and drummer Ron Duffy. By the time Change of Heart disbanded in 1997, Blurton and Maiezza were the sole original members left. A rather different, 13-person version of Change of Heart entered Reaction Studio in early January of 1992 to record the album Smile, which would come to be regarded as a landmark effort in Toronto music history. To celebrate the 25th anniversary of the record’s release, Label Obscura is reissuing a remastered, double-vinyl limited edition of Smile, which has prompted Change of Heart to re-convene for shows, including one in Toronto at the Horseshoe on July 22, 2017, dates in Waterloo, London, Kingston, and Ottawa in September, and shows in Calgary and Edmonton in October. I recently travelled to Change of Heart’s practice space in Toronto to meet with Michael Armstrong, Glenn Milchem, Rob Taylor, Bernard Maiezza, and Ian Blurton to discuss the history of their band, the album Smile, what Toronto was really like in the early 1990s, and other stuff too. Sponsored by Pizza Trokadero, the Bookshelf, Planet Bean Coffee, and Grandad's Donuts.  Support this show http://supporter.acast.com/kreative-kontrol. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Kevin McDonald is an ingenious comedic performer and writer currently based in Winnipeg, Manitoba. Originally from Toronto, McDonald is best known as a member of the hugely influential Canadian sketch troupe, the Kids in the Hall. This August marks the first anniversary of McDonald’s inventive variety show podcast, Kevin McDonald’s Kevin McDonald Show, a mix of sketch comedy and conversations and musical performances, which has featured guest turns from Mike Myers, Wallace Shawn, Rachel Dratch, Ted Leo, Michael Showalter, Craig Finn, Susanna Hoffs, Rob Corddry, and his fellow Kids, Scott Thompson and Dave Foley, among many others. McDonald and I had a chat recently about living in Winnipeg, his idiosyncratic approach to comedy podcasts, John Lennon’s perfect rock ‘n’ roll life, the new wave of sketch comedy, news about the Kids in the Hall and their upcoming appearance at a benefit show featuring Dave Thomas, Rick Moranis, and many members of the original SCTV cast, and much more. Sponsored by Pizza Trokadero, the Bookshelf, Planet Bean Coffee, and Grandad's Donuts.  Support this show http://supporter.acast.com/kreative-kontrol. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Billy Bragg is an iconic musician, songwriter, singer, and activist who lives in and hails from the United Kingdom. An active and outspoken artist for 40 years, Bragg has pledged his life and livelihood to making a positive change in this world and urging others, particularly younger generations, to hold authority figures and politicians to account for their decisions. He speaks of empathy and political engagement and he has been speaking of such things long before the likes of Brexit and the presidency of Donald Trump. On July 7, 2017, Bragg released a new song called “The Sleep of Reason” and he and his collaborator, Joe Henry, are appearing at the Hillside Festival in Guelph the weekend of July 14 to perform songs from their acclaimed 2016 album, Shine a Light: Field Recordings From the Great American Railroad. They’ll be playing some other songs too, I’m sure. Billy and I caught up this week to extensively discuss “The Sleep of Reason” and its lyrics, the current political landscape, travelling in trains on the American railway system with Joe Henry and cutting their record along the way, Gordon Lightfoot, his future plans, and much more. Sponsored by Pizza Trokadero, the Bookshelf, and Planet Bean Coffee.     Support this show http://supporter.acast.com/kreative-kontrol. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Kliph Nesteroff is a comedy historian and expert who currently calls Hollywood, California home. Originally from South Slocan, British Columbia, Nesteroff made a name for himself as a stand-up comedian and then a journalistic writer. In 2015, Grove Press published Nesteroff’s remarkably comprehensive book, The Comedians: Drunks, Thieves, Scoundrels and the History of American Comedy, which was lauded by critics, readers, and comedians themselves. Nesteroff’s latest project is a tv series for VICELAND called Funny How?, which examines aspects of comedy like bombing, breaking in, comedy classes, and niche comedy from the LGBTQ community and Christian comics. Funny How? is utterly fascinating and runs on VICELAND from July 10th to July 14th at 11:30 PM. Kliph and I had a chat recently about life in Slocan and loving MAD Magazine, the book he wrote about the secret, salacious oral history of Hockey Night in Canada that was ultimately blocked from being published, the importance of The Kids in the Hall to Canadian comedy, why and how he wrote The Comedians, why there might be so much general interest in how comedy works these days, the drug LSD, Funny How?, and more. Sponsored by Pizza Trokadero, the Bookshelf, and Planet Bean Coffee.   Support this show http://supporter.acast.com/kreative-kontrol. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Do Make Say Think is an instrumental band whose members all call Toronto, Ontario home. A functioning outfit for more than 20 years, Do Make Say Think’s core configuration consists of Justin Small, Charles Spearin, Ohad Benchetrit, David Mitchell, and James Payment, and together they’ve toured the world and released some hugely influential records. Their latest album is called Stubborn Persistent Illusions, it’s out now via Constellation Records, and will bring the band to a city, likely near you, later this year. A couple of days after their triumphant album release show at the Danforth Music Hall on June 10, 2017, I went to Charlie’s house where I met with him, Justin, and Ohad for a conversation about cinematic music and film scoring awards, the influence of the musical suite, Pictures at an Exhibition by the Russian composer Modest Mussorgsky, generic signifiers like ‘post-rock,’ how drummer Jimmy Payment almost had his foot amputated in the weeks leading up to the aforementioned Danforth Music Hall show, how Charles must balance his duties in Broken Social Scene with those in Do Make Say Think, and much, much more. Sponsored by Pizza Trokadero, the Bookshelf, and Planet Bean Coffee. Support this show http://supporter.acast.com/kreative-kontrol. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

This episode of Long Night with Vish Khanna was recorded before a live studio audience at Longboat Hall in the Great Hall in Toronto, Ontario, as an actual TV show for FibeTV1. The central theme and discussion point of the program was "Is social media making us desperate for fame?" and our guests were culture columnist and comedy writer Anne T. Donahue and Matt Johnson and Jay McCarrol of Nirvanna the Band the Show. Produced by Ian Daffern, Vish Khanna, and FibeTV1. Photos by Colin Medley. With sidekick James Keast and our house band, the Bicycles. Sponsored by Long and McQuade, Long Winter, and Planet Bean Coffee. Watch the Long Night tv show on its YouTube channel. Support this show http://supporter.acast.com/kreative-kontrol. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Jessy Lanza is an acclaimed and alluring electronic pop songwriter based in Hamilton, Ontario. Along with her frequent collaborator Jeremy Greenspan of Junior Boys, Lanza has released two stunning records: 2013's Pull My Hair Back and 2016's Oh No, which were both shortlisted for Canada's prestigious Polaris Music Prize and are each available via the Hyperdub label. Lanza was in Guelph for the underground arts and music extravaganza known as Kazoo! Fest recently and we caught up in a reverb-rich church basement to discuss things like studying jazz, Jill Scott and Patrice Rushen, stress and anxiety, European spas and Canada's place in the world, Grandad's Donuts in Hamilton, and much more. Sponsored by Pizza Trokadero, the Bookshelf, and Planet Bean Coffee. Support this show http://supporter.acast.com/kreative-kontrol. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Mac McCaughan is a talented and influential songwriter, musician, and singer based in North Carolina. Renowned for his prolific output in bands like Superchunk and Portastatic, McCaughan also co-founded Merge Records, one of the world’s most resilient and tastemaking independent labels. In the face of Republican cuts to programs that cruelly impact women and other disenfranchised people, McCaughan and his bandmates in Superchunk just released a limited edition single called I Got Cut with all proceeds benefitting Planned Parenthood. They also worked with local visual artists who custom made artwork for a handful of singles that are up for auction until June 28 on the site, Paddle8.com. Again, all proceeds from the auction benefit Planned Parenthood. Mac and I recently had a conversation about what motivated this new single, the political landscape in North Carolina and how it relates to the rest of U.S., the state of progressivism, his early exposure to political punk and seeing Van Halen in the early 1980s, how his Merge Records partner and fellow Superchunk member Laura Ballance has been doing since leaving the road behind in 2013, Arcade Fire’s departure from Merge for Columbia Records, and much more. Sponsored by Pizza Trokadero, the Bookshelf, and Planet Bean Coffee.   Support this show http://supporter.acast.com/kreative-kontrol. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Alanna Gurr is a musician, singer, and songwriter who is based in her hometown of Guelph, ON. She and her band, the Greatest State, have just released a new EP on Missed Connection Records. It’s called Stand Still and it has prompted Gurr to play a few shows over the coming months. Alanna and I met at the CFRU studios in Guelph recently where we discussed things like her band Cupcake Ductape and Steph Yates but not the band Esther Grey, her role as a piano tuner and technician and what it’s like dealing with people who want their pianos tuned, the lure of St. John’s, Newfoundland, misogyny in music scenes, and much more. Sponsored by Pizza Trokadero, the Bookshelf, and Planet Bean Coffee. Support this show http://supporter.acast.com/kreative-kontrol. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.