April 19, 2024

Roly Platt interview

Roly Platt joins me on episode 108. Roly is a Canadian player who has recorded countless sessions over his 45 year career. He started out playing in a country band which set the scene for him playing a diverse range of genres throughout that time. Roly has recorded 1700 individual session cuts, with the numerous bands he has played in, and also various film, tv and commercial jingles. Roly ecorded his own album in 2017, Inside Out, where he showcased his versatility by including a range of di...

Roly Platt joins me on episode 108.

Roly is a Canadian player who has recorded countless sessions over his 45 year career. He started out playing in a country band which set the scene for him playing a diverse range of genres throughout that time. Roly has recorded 1700 individual session cuts, with the numerous bands he has played in, and also various film, tv and commercial jingles.

Roly ecorded his own album in 2017, Inside Out, where he showcased his versatility by including a range of different types of song.

Roly produced and sells the great Harp Wah harmonica mute and later this year he will be releasing a book about his life with the harmonica.

Links:
Roly’s main website:
https://www.harmonicamute.com

Other website:
https://rolyplatt.com/

The Book - pre-order:
https://www.harmonicamute.com/product/i-play-harmonica-book-preorder/

Roly’s harmonica workshops:
https://www.harmonicamute.com/2-hour-harmonica-workshops-prerecorded/

Roly’s gear reviews:
https://www.harmonicamute.com/gear-reviews/

Ross Garden interview with Jimmie Fadden:
http://www.rossgarren.com/jimmie-fadden.html

Videos:
With Matt Minglewood:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XbXuNtkxTSY

Inside Out album interview:
https://rolyplatt.com/canadian-harmonica-player-roly-platt-talks-debut-cd-inside.html

It Ain’t Right:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Tx0NOq5ma5Q

Toronto Blue Jays theme song:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dTGDF0dc5T0

New Orleans Funk:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TPljRQKt59o

Podcast website:
https://www.harmonicahappyhour.com

Donations:
If you want to make a voluntary donation to help support the running costs of the podcast then please use this link (or visit the podcast website link above):
https://paypal.me/harmonicahappyhour?locale.x=en_GB

Spotify Playlist:
Also check out the Spotify Playlist, which contains most of the songs discussed in the podcast:
https://open.spotify.com/playlist/5QC6RF2VTfs4iPuasJBqwT?si=M-j3IkiISeefhR7ybm9qIQ

Podcast sponsors:
This podcast is sponsored by SEYDEL harmonicas - visit the oldest harmonica factory in the world at www.seydel1847.com or on Facebook or Instagram at SEYDEL HARMONICAS

Support the show

01:30 - Roly is based in just north of Toronto in Canada

01:41 - Canadian harmonica players, including Steve Mariner

02:46 - Canadian harmonica drew influences from its US neighbours, with Roly also listening to a lot of John Mayall in his early days of playing

03:16 - Bands would travel up to Toronto from New York

03:46 - Listening to brothers records and bought himself a harmonica aged 17

04:24 - Roly is about to complete writing a book

05:03 - Paul Butterfield was a big influence on Roly, with the double live album the first he heard of Butter

06:20 - Listened to Bluegrass music early on and playing along with this more traditional form of music influenced the direction Roly took on harmonica

07:17 - Jimmie Fadden from Nitty Gritty Dirt band plays some Country / Bluegrass harmonica and had an influence on Roly

08:17 - These early influences took Roly down the path of the diverse range of session work he has recorded through his career

08:29 - Roly’s first band was a country band called the Cement City Swampers

08:53 - Charlie McCoy was another early influence on Roly

09:02 - Most of Roly’s early session work was to play country music

09:49 - Session work was around Toronto, where there was a lot of studios back then

10:37 - How the internet has changed recording sessions in studios

11:29 - Started playing professionally 18 months after picking up the harmonica, after practising ‘like a mad man’ in the early days

11:49 - Great music scene in Toronto in those days with gigs 6 nights a week

12:20 - Joining his first band (the Cement City Swampers) was one of happiest days of his life

13:08 - Started touring Canada with Matt Minglewood and other bands played with early on

14:41 - Had to find a way to make harmonica fit in music which didn’t previously have harmonica in it

16:02 - Started listening more to other instruments and not just harmonica which developed his style

17:09 - First recording session Roly did was age 19 when he knew very little, but they liked his playing so he got more work

19:14 - Recording on albums with bands came after the more commercial session work

19:20 - Started session work in the late 1970s

19:43 - Has made 1700 individual session cuts

20:30 - Roly’s career has been as a sideman harmonica player as opposed to harp players who run their own bands

21:54 - Some recordings with Canadian bands

23:27 - Played in a Bollywood movie called ‘Delhi Belly’ with a big Indian star as the main character

25:10 - Recorded numerous jingles for commercials

25:24 - Most of working life has been as a professional harmonica player, with a brief interlude as a graphic designer

26:52 - Recordings with Wayne Buttery

27:49 - Released own album ‘Inside Out’ in 2017

29:58 - Hard process to put the album together, but worth it

30:54 - If recorded another album would need a game plan as to why and how it would be used, such as for self-promotion

31:47 - Advent of streaming makes albums financially challenging to make

32:08 - Has own YouTube channel where puts out material which is under his complete control and is easy to release

33:33 - The book that Roly is writing is about his life in harmonica and what it will be about

35:06 - Book is almost complete and should be out in July 2024

35:50 - Roly’s advice for anyone else interested in writing a book

36:54 - Compares writing a book to creating an album

38:18 - YouTube channel and song recordings Roly has made on there and generating backing tracks

39:41 - Always does YouTube videos in one take

39:48 - Using AI to pull out individual tracks from recordings to enable creation of backing tracks from the original recordings and the moral conundrum this brings

41:12 - Recorded the Toronto Blue Jays baseball team theme song, in which Roly had to imitate a seagull on harmonica

43:21 - Won some music awards as part of recording on other artists albums

43:36 - Does some teaching, including at harmonica camps, and has pre-recorded video tutorials via his website

44:12 - Ten minute question

46:27 - Roly’s Harp Wah product, like playing the harmonica through a cup or glass

48:16 - Harp Wah is a specific effect to be used when required

48:56 - Sound you get from the Harp Wah and the material used

50:03 - Resonates best on the low notes

50:23 - Released a handle with it later, to make it easier to hold

51:08 - Roly has gear reviews on his website

51:25 - Roly is a Seydel endorser and plays the 1847 after first trying out the Session Steels for a harp where the reeds laster longer

52:39 - Doesn’t play any chromatic, although owns several

53:06 - Has used some different tunings on recordings

54:01 - How Roly discovered Country tuning via Charlie McCoy

55:12 - Embouchre: mainly puckers but some tongue blocking for splits and octaves

55:26 - Holds harp on almost a vertical angle, except when tongue blocking

55:34 - Amps: Bassman re-issue, Gibson Maestro,

56:01 - Uses Ultimate 58 and 57 mics, also uses bullet mics

56:56 - Makes some use of effects generated by computer when recording YouTube videos

57:38 - Uses Sub n Up pedal for octave effect

57:53 - Uses some pedals when playing live

58:17 - Future plans is to complete book this year and see where that takes him, as well as selling the Harp Wah, recording sessions and playing out live

WEBVTT

00:00:00.258 --> 00:00:02.020
Rolly Platt joins me on episode 108.

00:00:02.201 --> 00:00:07.450
Rolly is a Canadian player who has recorded countless sessions over his 45 year career.

00:00:07.910 --> 00:00:13.922
He started out playing in a country band which set the scene for him playing a diverse range of genres throughout that time.

00:00:13.942 --> 00:00:22.777
Rolly has recorded 1700 individual session cuts with the numerous bands he has played in and also various film, TV and commercial jingles.

00:00:23.553 --> 00:00:31.431
Rowley has recorded his own album in 2017, Inside Out, where he showcases versatility by including a range of different types of songs.

00:00:32.012 --> 00:00:38.908
Rowley produced and sells the great Harp War harmonica mutes, and later this year he will be releasing a book about his life with the harmonica.

00:00:41.026 --> 00:00:43.573
This podcast is sponsored by Seidel Harmonicas.

00:00:43.993 --> 00:00:53.338
Visit the oldest harmonica factory in the world at www.seidel1847.com or on Facebook or Instagram at Seidel Harmonicas.

00:01:24.194 --> 00:01:26.182
Hello Rolly Platt and welcome to the podcast.

00:01:26.864 --> 00:01:27.045
Hey

00:01:27.064 --> 00:01:27.847
Neil, how are you doing?

00:01:28.489 --> 00:01:29.192
I'm good, thank you.

00:01:29.253 --> 00:01:30.438
Thanks so much for joining.

00:01:30.900 --> 00:01:34.513
So you're talking to us from Canada and I believe you're based in Toronto.

00:01:34.977 --> 00:01:37.640
I'm just north of Toronto, but an hour north of Toronto.

00:01:37.659 --> 00:01:40.962
I'm basically from Toronto, but a little north now.

00:01:41.524 --> 00:01:42.965
So I've had a few Canadian players on.

00:01:42.984 --> 00:01:46.847
This seems to be quite a good scene of players in Canada.

00:01:47.429 --> 00:01:50.191
Mike Stevens comes to mind, a fantastic player I had on.

00:01:50.510 --> 00:01:50.632
Oh,

00:01:50.731 --> 00:01:50.951
Mike.

00:01:51.091 --> 00:01:51.492
Okay.

00:01:51.611 --> 00:01:51.893
I love

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Mike.

00:01:53.114 --> 00:01:54.114
Yeah, he's great.

00:01:54.135 --> 00:01:56.075
So what's the harmonica scene like in Canada then?

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We've got a big country.

00:01:57.658 --> 00:01:58.237
It's spread out.

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I grew up in Toronto, so there was a handful of players.

00:02:01.301 --> 00:02:03.643
When I grew up, there's several out there now.

00:02:03.802 --> 00:02:07.108
It's not a a massive collection of players.

00:02:07.709 --> 00:02:11.996
Steve Mariner is probably my favorite in the Canadian scene.

00:02:12.015 --> 00:02:13.277
I don't know if you're familiar with him.

00:02:13.778 --> 00:02:15.281
Great traditional blues player.

00:02:15.300 --> 00:02:19.026
He plays like four different instruments, sings, writes, produces.

00:02:19.046 --> 00:02:25.518
He's just a great player and a great musician on harmonica as opposed to just a technical sort of player.

00:02:25.538 --> 00:02:27.901
piano plays

00:02:37.858 --> 00:02:53.390
I mean I'm in the UK so you know we draw our influences of you know harmonica from different places you know obviously we've got the whole British blues boom thing so what about kind of does that draw on do you think from America and you know not being so far away from Chicago is that quite a strong influence do you think?

00:02:53.852 --> 00:03:14.050
For sure yeah I would say American influence is probably number one although I listened to a lot of John Mayall when I was starting out my older brother would bring home these various albums and say listen to this you know forcing me to accept his taste and stuff but he introduced me to a whole bunch of stuff that I never would have even knew was there

00:03:14.371 --> 00:03:15.711
and John Mayall was one.

00:03:16.193 --> 00:03:21.598
So Toronto's kind of closer to New York isn't it so is that did you delve into the music scene around there?

00:03:22.079 --> 00:03:45.644
Yeah I mean you'd get bands just coming up I mean there was a point later on you know when I was sort of well into my career that they'd bring bands up from Chicago to play Albert's Hall so you'd see or the Amakamo which was a big club in toronto they that's where you kind of see the the big names come in and then of course everything was done through going to the record store

00:03:46.324 --> 00:03:56.575
yeah yeah and so uh what got you started on harmonica then i think uh reading that uh your brother's records you were listening to and then that sort of he gave you a harmonica for a present and

00:03:56.795 --> 00:04:10.506
well i actually bought myself one so the it was my older brother first he just introduced me into that kind of eclectic stuff i was listening to rock and you know the beatles that and all the usual things as a teenager.

00:04:10.526 --> 00:04:13.163
He was bringing home Butterfield.

00:04:13.665 --> 00:04:22.153
Asleep at the Wheel, Dan Hicks and His Hot Licks, bluegrass stuff, you know, like a real odd collection of artists, not the mainstream.

00:04:22.454 --> 00:04:24.154
But he played a little bit of harmonica.

00:04:24.615 --> 00:04:46.295
I told you, I mentioned that I'm in the process of finishing a book, and there's a story in there about how he would buy me birthday presents, like come home two weeks before my birthday, and he'd say, happy birthday, and it would be an unwrapped album still in the bag from the record store, and it would be in a band I've never heard of, like Butterfield or somebody And he'd say, play it now.

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So I wound up buying myself a harmonica for my birthday, knowing what my brother would get me, which is nothing.

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So I bought myself one and started playing on my 17th birthday as a project to see if I could learn how to play.

00:05:02.072 --> 00:05:02.132
And

00:05:02.612 --> 00:05:03.392
that's how it started.

00:05:03.713 --> 00:05:05.675
Obviously, Paul Butterfield then was a big influence.

00:05:05.815 --> 00:05:07.357
Butterfield was the first one, yeah.

00:05:07.737 --> 00:05:09.500
Which was the first album you got of his?

00:05:10.100 --> 00:05:11.581
I had the Double Live album.

00:05:12.202 --> 00:05:13.584
It was an older brother album.

00:05:13.584 --> 00:05:43.536
kind of thing and I put it on and it was I know now sort of what I was hearing then or not hearing it but it's I didn't get it there was a couple tunes on there that were sort of more jazz influence and the solos were a little outside and I just couldn't get my like geez they're just playing all over the place they're not playing anything proper you know and suddenly after a few weeks of forcing myself to sort of listen to some of the tunes I locked into drifting and drifting and everything's going to be all right

00:05:43.536 --> 00:05:46.781
music music

00:05:53.793 --> 00:05:57.958
It moved me is the best way I can, simplest way I could describe it.

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It's his playing.

00:05:59.579 --> 00:06:01.540
I didn't know anything about harmonica.

00:06:01.560 --> 00:06:02.661
I wasn't playing harmonica.

00:06:03.122 --> 00:06:13.651
It sounded to me, it had the same level of expression that a rock guitar kind of sound had, that emotional, crying, screaming kind of sound.

00:06:14.271 --> 00:06:15.552
And that grabbed me.

00:06:15.913 --> 00:06:18.134
And I, once I got it, I got it.

00:06:18.274 --> 00:06:19.877
And I, you know, I loved it.

00:06:20.416 --> 00:06:21.877
So you mentioned bluegrass as well.

00:06:21.958 --> 00:06:27.043
So is that something that, you know, you were trying to play harmonica along with bluegrass.

00:06:27.084 --> 00:06:30.406
I take it there wasn't any harmonica on these bluegrass records.

00:06:30.827 --> 00:06:32.168
Well, that's the thing.

00:06:32.189 --> 00:06:34.490
I mean, people say, oh, you play a lot of bluegrass.

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And I always correct them and say, I play along to bluegrass.

00:06:37.834 --> 00:06:39.156
I'm not a bluegrass player.

00:06:39.437 --> 00:06:48.326
To me, somebody that plays true bluegrass harmonica would be somebody playing the intricate melodies with the fiddle and things like that.

00:06:48.365 --> 00:06:55.353
I mean, I could do some of that, but what I liked about bluegrass was just playing fills and solos within it.

00:06:55.874 --> 00:06:58.156
But it was definitely a big influence on me.

00:06:58.437 --> 00:07:02.261
The album my brother brought home was the Will the Circle Be Unbroken?

00:07:02.661 --> 00:07:09.127
It's like the encyclopedia of traditional bluegrass players all on one three-album collection.

00:07:09.148 --> 00:07:10.769
I didn't know anything about it.

00:07:10.850 --> 00:07:11.891
I still don't.

00:07:12.091 --> 00:07:17.016
I just listen to these things and try to find things that I like to play.

00:07:17.497 --> 00:07:21.682
Jimmy Fadden was on that from the Nitty Gritty Dirt Band, the drummer who plays harmonica.

00:07:21.721 --> 00:07:56.807
He's not an advanced player by any means but he had an influence on me of how to approach playing these songs so you know my my approach to playing is you know you don't have to be you know technically advanced and things to to make things work in his simplicity and his technique was there but he had ideas like he had he just knew what to do in the right spots in the songs it's very simple but it's there's things he that I learned from him back then that I still do in songs like that today you know where he simple chording little things that just work, right?

00:07:56.827 --> 00:07:57.711
It's not complicated.

00:07:57.732 --> 00:08:00.021
Anybody can play it, but it sounds right.

00:08:15.713 --> 00:08:22.226
So this path, it took you on a path which, you know, has influenced, you know, what you did the rest of your career, right?

00:08:22.266 --> 00:08:28.197
Because you played a lot of session work and you played lots of different genres of music in that session work, yeah?

00:08:28.237 --> 00:08:32.446
So I think you moved into playing a kind of country type band.

00:08:32.746 --> 00:08:33.828
It was your first band, was it?

00:08:34.269 --> 00:08:34.470
That's

00:08:34.529 --> 00:08:34.990
correct, yes.

00:08:35.010 --> 00:08:35.192
Yeah.

00:08:49.922 --> 00:08:56.065
I was mainly a blues player, but I had this sort of country, bluegrass-y Charlie McCoy was a big influence on me.

00:08:56.125 --> 00:08:58.333
That was the other sort of...

00:08:58.498 --> 00:09:42.767
parallel to Butterfield was listening to Charlie McCoy the polar opposite really but the session work I got in those early days in particular was mostly countries that's just what was being recorded there wasn't a ton of blues recordings happening but there was lots of country artists and lots of jingles and commercial work that they wanted that kind of harmonica for so that it wasn't always that like sometimes it was a little more bluesy or blues rock but it was in that vein so it the influence And was this around Toronto, this session work?

00:09:52.769 --> 00:09:53.070
Yes.

00:09:53.510 --> 00:10:13.927
Yeah, it was almost all in Toronto.

00:10:22.735 --> 00:10:28.626
a certain sort of collection of session guys that did 90% of the work.

00:10:29.248 --> 00:10:31.211
And they did it because of necessity.

00:10:31.251 --> 00:10:33.134
They did it in those big studios.

00:10:33.316 --> 00:10:36.181
It changed over the years with technology.

00:10:37.186 --> 00:10:53.500
yeah so a lot of uh recording done at home now right and but yeah the big difference there would be that you know you were in toronto you were one of the guys that got called but now because everything's online you can pretty much go all around the world and that local sort of session scene has gone i guess

00:10:54.498 --> 00:11:17.937
yeah it certainly changed i mean there's still the networking aspect of it that the people that i'll still get calls from people in toronto i'll do it remotely these days for me i i find it quite comfortable doing it that way you know so i'll know people from the scene you know from back then or that i've kept in touch with that i'll still get calls for but i do work from for people all over the world now

00:11:18.359 --> 00:11:27.129
which is cool going back then to this this first band of yours so you started um i've got here that you started playing professionally eight 18 months after you started playing, was that right?

00:11:27.730 --> 00:11:27.909
Yeah.

00:11:28.552 --> 00:11:30.274
Again, yeah, so it's a few people like that.

00:11:30.294 --> 00:11:38.009
It seems to be quite a rapid road, you know, to getting out and just being able to play, joining a band and going touring with this kind of country swing band you were in.

00:11:38.594 --> 00:11:45.000
Yeah, I practiced like a madman in the early days, you know, at about a year into playing.

00:11:45.200 --> 00:11:49.003
I had harps with me everywhere, like I'd just carry them around and play all the time.

00:11:49.543 --> 00:11:56.349
But I would go out, sneak out from school, from high school at night and go down and see bands play in Toronto.

00:11:56.389 --> 00:12:00.913
And back then there was quite a good scene for blues and roots music.

00:12:01.413 --> 00:12:06.758
And there were six nights a week back then, including when I was playing for the first many years.

00:12:07.178 --> 00:12:11.089
It was all six-nighters, so you You'd go see a band at a blues club.

00:12:11.129 --> 00:12:13.719
They'd start on Monday night and they'd play until Saturday night.

00:12:14.280 --> 00:12:19.239
And so there was lots of opportunity on any day of the week to go check out these bands.

00:12:20.225 --> 00:12:33.857
Yeah, so at about a year playing with these bands, soon after that, I ran into somebody, you know, me sitting in at a place, and it was Cement City Stompers was the name of the band.

00:12:33.937 --> 00:12:35.078
It was a country swing band.

00:12:35.820 --> 00:12:36.919
I was talking to him.

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He played steel guitar.

00:12:38.261 --> 00:12:40.082
I said, you know, maybe we could start a band.

00:12:40.604 --> 00:12:43.765
And he goes, well, actually, I was thinking maybe you could join our band.

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It was one of the happiest days of my life.

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I remember running home, you know, all excited that, you know, telling my mother that I'm in a band now.

00:12:53.004 --> 00:12:56.379
And I'm sure she was at least as excited as I was.

00:12:57.857 --> 00:13:07.426
that's how it started we went into the studio we did a little demo thing and the next week I was playing full time and it's been that way ever since

00:13:08.187 --> 00:13:15.273
and you were touring around with these guys I think your next band was Manglewood you started touring across Canada with them

00:13:15.592 --> 00:14:08.273
yeah there was some other bands in between there was I played with Hawk Walsh Rick Walsh the singer from Downchild Blues Band that was another sort of local influence back then he his own band and we did this I'll call it a nightmare tour because it was it's in the book that was a strict blues band that was after Cement City I also played with a band called Max Mouse and the Gorillas which was a really cool original music band, sort of soul R&B, you know, mixture, original material, and a wacky bunch of guys.

00:14:08.354 --> 00:14:21.804
And touring was, for any of those bands except for the tour out west, it was local around Ontario, which Ontario is massive in size, so you're traveling, but it's within the same province kind of thing.

00:14:22.306 --> 00:14:41.303
And then I moved out east in Minglewood came into the picture at that point

00:14:41.323 --> 00:14:56.532
so uh so as you say you're playing country and on different some blues in there but um uh reading into it you had to you know adapt to playing harmonica were there you know there wasn't previous harmonica for those parts, so you're having to find your way into those genres.

00:14:57.666 --> 00:14:58.506
Yeah, exactly.

00:14:58.547 --> 00:15:07.894
And at the time, if you had asked me what would be the perfect band, I would have thought more blues and all the stuff that I'm particularly comfortable with.

00:15:08.375 --> 00:15:19.524
But because of this eclectic bunch of players and songs and things that we did, we played in the country circuit, which back then was fairly traditional around this area.

00:15:19.565 --> 00:15:36.360
The bands were fairly, a little more straight-laced kind of traditional country kind of thing, and we were doing some of that, but we were doing more country swing and Louis Prima, Sleep at the Wheel stuff, a little more progressive kind of happening stuff, or at least that's how I saw it.

00:15:36.741 --> 00:15:46.272
But the education I got because of that was totally shaped my playing going forward, because I had to, like you said, I had to adapt to, what do you play in this song?

00:15:46.451 --> 00:15:54.421
There's not only no harmonica in the original, but there's nobody that's recorded songs like that to even go by, at least nothing I was aware of.

00:15:55.261 --> 00:16:01.687
And so you wind up trying to find a layer in that music that makes sense with that style.

00:16:01.727 --> 00:16:16.604
It was around that time in that band that I stopped listening to other harmonica players, not consciously, but I just moved away from that and just sort of started listening to what other instruments did and how I could fit into the music.

00:16:17.125 --> 00:16:22.370
You know, if I do have any kind of recognizable style at all, that's how that came about.

00:16:22.410 --> 00:16:26.434
It was from not trying to copy Little Walter or copy...

00:16:26.794 --> 00:16:27.316
I mean, I did...

00:16:27.535 --> 00:16:44.153
spend a long time you know learning Butterfield stuff and I'm sure I sound like I've done that as well but like I said I stopped doing that and just listening to what are the other instruments in this band doing how can I work with them individually.

00:16:44.714 --> 00:17:05.557
Yeah so great so you're playing these different bands around kind of touring and you know working professionally so you did lots of recordings with you know with lots of these and that led on to lots of session work so you know how did the session work come about was this mainly with bands recording as a sideband on lots of albums and you also did sort of getting into movie scores and jingles and commercial work that sort of thing

00:17:06.465 --> 00:17:08.307
It sort of happened the other way around.

00:17:08.327 --> 00:17:14.192
The first session, if I remember correctly, the first session I did was, I might have been 19.

00:17:15.933 --> 00:17:19.636
So, you know, maybe playing professionally for a year at the most.

00:17:19.978 --> 00:17:30.846
The session worked back then because of the closed kind of network of people doing that work, because it's a very specific type of playing and a lot of, you have to read music.

00:17:30.926 --> 00:18:42.021
And I was recommended by somebody who knew, who saw me, you know, knew the guys in the band who was one of the guys in that scene he recommended me and i got a call to do a beer commercial a tv commercial for a popular beer here i first of all i can't read music still to this day and i don't have a clue of what notes i'm playing or or anything else but back then i knew even less like i really didn't know anything i just knew how to play but i got the call this great studio and i don't know anything and they're they everybody that's involved in these things has done this stuff a million times and so they I would have assumed that I knew that as well and just kind of left me to figure it out myself I didn't have a clue but I you know I pulled it off they hit record and you start playing basically they realized that I can't read music after a while and I asked a couple of really really dumb questions you know the 19 year old kid about some of the terminology they were using and they're they're laughing because the producer Sid Kessler was a very well-known guy in that industry, basically comes out and says, man, I love this kid.

00:18:42.041 --> 00:18:45.986
He says he doesn't know crap about music, but he can play his ass off.

00:18:46.467 --> 00:18:48.228
And it was that type of experience.

00:18:48.307 --> 00:18:53.253
I felt like the hillbilly kid that came in and doesn't know anything but could play.

00:18:53.673 --> 00:18:54.775
But that's how it started.

00:18:54.815 --> 00:19:00.760
Once I got that job, then once they find somebody that can do the job, you're in.

00:19:01.142 --> 00:19:04.625
They don't want to be looking for new people and feeling them out like anything else.

00:19:05.473 --> 00:19:06.736
So that's how it started.

00:19:06.756 --> 00:19:12.065
And then most of the recording was for maybe a country artist.

00:19:12.105 --> 00:19:14.348
They want harmonica on a couple of songs on their record.

00:19:14.789 --> 00:19:19.878
The recording for albums in bands that I played with, like Minglewood, came later.

00:19:19.898 --> 00:19:22.522
When did you start your session?

00:19:22.542 --> 00:19:23.605
What sort of year is this?

00:19:24.125 --> 00:19:25.147
The first one would have been 78,

00:19:25.167 --> 00:19:28.553
79 maybe.

00:19:28.993 --> 00:19:32.521
Yeah, so you've been doing this for, what, getting on for 45 years now?

00:19:33.063 --> 00:19:33.324
Yes.

00:19:34.406 --> 00:19:36.391
I'm starting to get the hang of it, but just barely.

00:19:36.872 --> 00:19:37.574
Fantastic, yeah.

00:19:37.594 --> 00:19:42.585
So I think you've got here that you've done 1,700 session recordings.

00:19:42.978 --> 00:20:11.282
individual cuts not actual I'd be a multi-millionaire if I did 1700 sessions but I'm a thousandaire because some sessions were like six songs you know out of ten songs on the record that you play on other ones would be one song other ones other recordings might be a 30 second jingle so just in total it's at least that much it's probably more by now but some big time stuff some very small time stuff and everything in between you just

00:20:11.982 --> 00:20:29.705
you don't know until you sort of do the job so in the last 45 years and you've had this kind of combination of doing some session work in the studio and then playing with different bands as you've mentioned some of them and i'm playing being a sideman on on various albums yeah is that that's how your your career's mainly gone is it

00:20:30.082 --> 00:20:38.509
Yeah, I tell people that, you know, really, I don't know too many people that are in the position of being a sideman harmonica player.

00:20:38.548 --> 00:20:48.337
When I say sideman, it means, to me, it means being hired by an artist or a band to play in their band or being a member of a band.

00:20:48.998 --> 00:20:53.782
So, you know, some bands are more communal where everybody kind of has a say in things.

00:20:54.063 --> 00:20:57.905
And so, like, Cement City was like that, a couple other bands I was in.

00:20:57.945 --> 00:20:59.488
And then other bands...

00:21:00.048 --> 00:21:05.334
are where you're in a band, but it's somebody in particular's band.

00:21:05.653 --> 00:21:07.175
Matt Minglewood, it's his band.

00:21:07.215 --> 00:21:13.561
You're a band member and you're treated properly and everything else, but you're still working for somebody else.

00:21:13.582 --> 00:21:27.477
So my role in those types of things, I feel like it's still, I get to showcase myself, but my real job fundamentally, if I'm doing it right, is to support him and the performance of the show and the albums and things like that.

00:21:27.557 --> 00:21:29.459
It's not about me.

00:21:30.000 --> 00:21:31.021
as opposed to...

00:21:31.746 --> 00:21:39.192
a lot of harmonica players that have their own band, you know, where they're, you know, they're doing their own thing under their name.

00:21:39.211 --> 00:21:43.876
They're showcasing their own stuff and they can do whatever they want.

00:21:43.916 --> 00:21:45.738
They can play as much as they want.

00:21:45.758 --> 00:21:48.601
They can orchestrate it the way that they want.

00:21:48.921 --> 00:21:51.643
Most of my, 90% of my playing has not been that.

00:21:51.722 --> 00:21:53.964
It's been in more of the supportive role.

00:21:54.326 --> 00:21:55.066
Yeah, sure, yeah.

00:21:55.125 --> 00:21:56.647
And you sent me some great clips.

00:21:56.708 --> 00:21:58.409
So just going through a few.

00:21:58.548 --> 00:22:19.184
You've done a song with Susie Vinnick so A song with Rick Fine and Dean McTaggart.

00:22:19.266 --> 00:22:21.548
So most of these are Canadian bands, are they?

00:22:22.028 --> 00:22:22.288
Yes.

00:22:22.849 --> 00:22:27.115
Susie and Rick have been playing with both of them for many years.

00:22:27.134 --> 00:22:28.477
I mean, that's another example.

00:22:28.517 --> 00:22:33.482
They don't look at it like I'm a sideman, but I'm talking sort of philosophically.

00:22:33.542 --> 00:22:39.128
That's how I approach playing, is my job isn't to necessarily showcase everything I can do.

00:22:39.250 --> 00:22:42.413
It's to have some of that, but support them.

00:22:44.097 --> 00:22:45.479
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00:23:22.615 --> 00:23:26.260
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00:23:27.182 --> 00:23:29.986
More around TV and film and jingles.

00:23:30.046 --> 00:23:34.031
So I understand you played on a Bollywood hit called Deli Belly.

00:23:34.071 --> 00:23:35.594
So how did you get this one?

00:23:36.097 --> 00:23:38.042
Interesting story, actually.

00:23:38.063 --> 00:23:42.936
I'm at home doing my thing, and I get a call about two in the afternoon.

00:23:42.977 --> 00:23:51.441
The person on the other end of the line says, so-and-so, I'm calling from India, and we're looking for you to do a recording for us.

00:23:52.001 --> 00:23:53.143
He mentioned his name.

00:23:53.163 --> 00:23:54.503
He says it's for a movie.

00:23:54.624 --> 00:23:56.066
It's a big movie.

00:23:56.125 --> 00:23:57.446
And I'm thinking, really?

00:23:57.487 --> 00:24:01.730
This doesn't sound right or whatever.

00:24:01.769 --> 00:24:03.231
And I was super busy at the time.

00:24:03.251 --> 00:24:06.134
I was in the middle of another recording project.

00:24:06.454 --> 00:24:10.097
And I said, look, I can do it, but it sounds like you need it right away.

00:24:10.157 --> 00:24:11.519
And he says, yeah, like immediately.

00:24:11.558 --> 00:24:14.340
The release of the movie is in a couple of days.

00:24:14.441 --> 00:24:16.103
And I said, I just can't.

00:24:16.262 --> 00:24:18.325
And he says, well, Google the name.

00:24:18.365 --> 00:24:21.788
So he tells me the producer's name or the actor's name.

00:24:21.968 --> 00:24:56.984
and it's one of those things where you hit the first three letters of the guy's name and then there's like a million major hits he's one of the it's like the Brad Pitt of India and Bollywood long story short is I accepted the session and went at it right away like that afternoon it was only for one section in the in the movie that was the climax of the movie this massive slow motion shootout scene I just they just wanted some crazy fast harmonica stuff and you know they gave me direction on specific you know more ear candy for the scene

00:24:57.185 --> 00:24:57.425
yeah

00:24:57.486 --> 00:25:09.338
so I did that and they actually if you slow the credits down at the end of the movie they've actually listed the actual musicians including myself in there which is unusual yeah turned out to be a major major motion picture

00:25:10.078 --> 00:25:20.230
great and then you've done various jingles as well you know some big names again you know Ford and Chrysler and McDonald's and Budweiser so yeah you've got some big ticket ones there

00:25:20.691 --> 00:25:22.673
that's right I almost famous

00:25:23.294 --> 00:25:30.601
well great and so you've obviously managed to you know work as a professional musician your whole life yeah you've not had to have a day job have you not during this time

00:25:31.102 --> 00:26:36.050
there was a period maybe 15 years ago where work was slow I kind of made some lifestyle changes and you know wasn't traveling like I was but at the same time as in the 90s early 90s I think the economy here at least tanked and that affected the club scene so there was less work being a harmonica player when things slow down like that you're the first to go like you know you're not a necessity so bands were cutting down from five pieces to three pieces long story short as I went to college for a couple of years for not graphic design specifically but multimedia wound up becoming a graphic designer and some web design and things like that but I was always playing through that but I did that as sort of my main source of income and playing kind of went to not seeking it as much as just you know doing the work as it came up so I was always playing but just not as focused on it and then I fell in love with playing and wanted to do that full time and so I'm actually it's come full circle again now

00:26:37.511 --> 00:26:57.219
and yeah I saw a very nice graphic of your name with sort of harmonica I take that that's your work your graphic design work yeah yeah it's great you can do that I'm sure you got some cool stuff for your website and everything yeah always useful Getting to some more recent work from you, obviously you carried on recording.

00:26:57.259 --> 00:26:59.541
You did an album with Wayne Buttery.

00:27:14.124 --> 00:27:15.365
You've

00:27:15.385 --> 00:27:17.229
done regular work with Wayne, have you?

00:27:18.145 --> 00:27:21.848
Yeah, I knew Wayne was actually from the area where I'm living.

00:27:22.128 --> 00:27:23.130
We did a show together.

00:27:23.150 --> 00:27:27.413
I mean, that album came together almost spontaneously.

00:27:27.433 --> 00:27:35.921
We had done a show together as a duo, and somebody floated the idea that you guys should record a CD, and one thing led to another, and we actually did.

00:27:35.961 --> 00:27:46.069
And Wayne passed away, unfortunately, three or four years ago, but was a great singer and sweetheart guy that's sort of been around the scene up here for many years.

00:27:46.089 --> 00:27:48.531
And I used to have done the CD with them

00:27:49.153 --> 00:27:59.703
and then in 2017 I believe you released your own album produced by you called Inside Out I believe it was your son who got you onto getting this one out there

00:28:01.026 --> 00:28:21.647
yeah my very young son at the time or fairly young said something we were driving and we were talking about me my playing and career and he just stops and looks at me and he goes you know dad if you don't do your own CD or start your own band you're going to regret it And I stopped and I went, geez, you know, hate when they're right.

00:28:22.648 --> 00:28:28.034
Yeah, so I mean, it was something that I wanted to do myself, but it's cost a lot of money.

00:28:28.233 --> 00:28:32.699
It's a ton of effort to do it, you know, where you're happy with the results of it.

00:28:32.959 --> 00:28:36.082
So that was certainly the catalyst for it.

00:28:36.423 --> 00:28:37.222
Yeah, fantastic.

00:28:37.262 --> 00:28:42.348
So these, I think you co-wrote four of the songs on here and you've got different styles on here.

00:28:42.429 --> 00:28:45.030
Well, you've got Somewhere Over the Rainbow, for example.

00:28:47.534 --> 00:28:47.614
Yeah.

00:28:47.809 --> 00:28:48.605
Bye.

00:29:05.218 --> 00:29:08.740
you know, some kind of rocking blues stuff, some funky stuff.

00:29:08.780 --> 00:29:09.922
So there's quite a mixture.

00:29:09.961 --> 00:29:12.124
You wanted to cover your different genres on here.

00:29:12.463 --> 00:29:12.984
Exactly.

00:29:13.325 --> 00:29:13.404
Yeah.

00:29:13.484 --> 00:29:21.392
I mean, I could have done, you know, pick a lane role, you know, and stuck with more, maybe a more cohesive album.

00:29:21.652 --> 00:29:26.596
But I really wanted to do the stuff that I could do, you know, like showcase the stuff.

00:29:26.797 --> 00:29:38.289
And I don't think there's anything that doesn't work on there, but it's, you know, you wouldn't, certainly wouldn't be able to put it into a category of you know this is a it's a harmonica album how about that

00:29:55.560 --> 00:29:57.825
you're pleased you did it then your son was right was he about that

00:29:58.594 --> 00:29:59.535
He was very right.

00:29:59.615 --> 00:30:01.696
It was a hard process.

00:30:02.196 --> 00:30:03.738
I don't play a cording instrument.

00:30:03.778 --> 00:30:05.359
I don't play guitar or piano or anything.

00:30:05.400 --> 00:30:10.624
So just even figuring out how to physically write a song, like how to get the ideas down.

00:30:10.663 --> 00:30:14.867
Writing the lyrics was an interesting process that I really enjoyed.

00:30:14.907 --> 00:30:18.371
Incredibly challenging, but really rewarding if you get it right.

00:30:18.832 --> 00:30:21.554
But yeah, it was a great experience for sure.

00:30:22.034 --> 00:30:53.727
My biggest joy, it's great to get compliments from other harmonica players, which is obviously with an album like this, that's a big part of it but what really sunk in to me was when people who didn't know music at all like they couldn't tell you who was a good harmonica player who wasn't and they were coming up to me and saying they liked the album we listened to it when we were driving that to me means a lot because that to me reaches out way beyond the harmonica world and just to me sounds like it might be just on a more musical end they just enjoy it

00:30:53.747 --> 00:30:55.769
So would you do another one?

00:30:55.949 --> 00:30:57.029
Have you got any plans to do any more?

00:30:57.049 --> 00:30:57.069
I

00:30:58.030 --> 00:30:58.916
can ask that a lot.

00:30:59.301 --> 00:31:01.204
The answer is I would love to.

00:31:01.761 --> 00:31:15.334
But I also realized after doing it, in the process of doing it, which I probably knew this already, is that unless you're independently wealthy and the money doesn't matter and you just want to do it, that would be a great reason just for fun.

00:31:15.733 --> 00:31:25.403
But I realized that when you do something like this, you really need to have a game plan, if you're going to do a second one especially, of are you touring?

00:31:25.502 --> 00:31:26.844
Are you starting your own band?

00:31:27.663 --> 00:32:04.623
How are you using this to promote yourself or to you know for what end are you doing this why are you doing it basically yeah and so you know i wouldn't do another one unless i had a clear image in my mind of what i wanted to do after doing it like i'm 66 years old now you know as much as i would love to on the creative end of things do that i don't know if i would spend the money and the time to do it with the state of the music business that it is right now with streaming services and yeah and all those things you know it's it's changed a bit over the over the years

00:32:05.044 --> 00:32:23.303
well i think as well you know we'll get into this with you shortly as well but you know when you've got some things like youtube which you have and you've got an active channel and you can put yourself out playing on that which doesn't then cost you lots of money right you don't have to go to the studio and then you'll hire loads of musicians and you know you know it's a much easier way isn't it of getting yourself out there and you know

00:32:23.563 --> 00:32:35.868
i was gonna say that exact thing that having that outlet and i mean for a of the YouTube ones where I'm just jamming for four minutes straight.

00:32:50.306 --> 00:32:53.909
You're not going to get too many opportunities to do that in a studio.

00:32:53.969 --> 00:32:56.131
You certainly won't get it on somebody else's album.

00:32:56.672 --> 00:33:02.656
And if you did it on your own, you could, but it might cost you many, many thousands of dollars to do it.

00:33:02.997 --> 00:33:08.481
Like you said, I can do this in an afternoon and post it on YouTube.

00:33:08.801 --> 00:33:10.604
It's not the same as doing your own record.

00:33:10.663 --> 00:33:14.386
It's not the same of all the things that go into writing songs and blah, blah, blah.

00:33:14.747 --> 00:33:58.084
But it is an outlet for my playing, and that's a big part of the motivation to do an album you know one way or the other unless if you're a songwriter and you're sort of getting pleasure from creating songs or maybe production on the record you know other things but it's strictly as far as harmonica playing you know the other thing is this book that I'm doing I'm actually getting a surprisingly amount of satisfaction in writing this almost like songwriting it's the same sort of feeling where you're maybe even more personal because you're really getting personal in the book so that's That combined with posting the live stuff and the various other things I do, recording and things, it's fairly satisfying as it is.

00:33:58.625 --> 00:34:00.048
Yeah, so let's go on to the book now.

00:34:00.289 --> 00:34:01.413
Tell me, what's the book about?

00:34:01.452 --> 00:34:02.074
It's

00:34:02.414 --> 00:34:03.557
kind of a combination of...

00:34:05.218 --> 00:34:10.862
insights and detailed sort of discussion on how I approach playing.

00:34:10.943 --> 00:34:17.528
It's not a how-to book, like a step-by-step how I approach all things harmonic.

00:34:17.548 --> 00:34:18.710
I'm not even close.

00:34:19.269 --> 00:35:06.237
It's a conversational sort of look at why I do what I do, where that came from, how I use it in music, improvising, how I approach improvising, my influences, what I've learned as a sideman in particular, like how to work in those environments which to me is quite different than just doing your own thing but surrounding all that and interwoven with it is a ton of stories from the crazy years of traveling on the road and in the studio some of the crazy things that have happened on recording sessions and all that stuff but the big takeaway I guess is it's done in a very humorous entertaining way conversational way

00:35:06.737 --> 00:35:09.561
great stuff so uh how far are you through writing the book now

00:35:09.981 --> 00:35:20.152
i'm near completion i'm very thrilled to say i'm 90 there so i'm looking in the next two and a half months maybe to actually get it in my hands

00:35:20.652 --> 00:35:24.295
fantastic yeah good stuff so um it might be out then what later this year

00:35:24.657 --> 00:35:32.766
yeah i'm hoping mid-july i've got a link on my harmonica mute.com site pre-sales if anyone is interested in that

00:35:33.106 --> 00:35:35.829
fantastic yeah i'll put a link onto that onto the podcast page.

00:35:35.869 --> 00:35:37.670
So yeah, again, well done for getting that down.

00:35:37.731 --> 00:35:38.831
How long have you been writing it?

00:35:39.313 --> 00:35:40.574
Maybe eight months.

00:35:41.135 --> 00:35:41.476
Okay.

00:35:41.615 --> 00:35:42.297
Well, pretty good then.

00:35:42.436 --> 00:35:42.836
Pretty good.

00:35:43.097 --> 00:35:43.818
But I've been at it.

00:35:44.378 --> 00:35:49.125
That's been my entire focus for the past

00:35:49.164 --> 00:35:49.925
few months at least.

00:35:50.485 --> 00:35:50.666
Great.

00:35:50.706 --> 00:35:56.432
So for anyone else who might be thinking about writing a book, so what's the most challenging thing about writing a book?

00:35:56.713 --> 00:35:57.795
I mean, I'm not a writer.

00:35:58.014 --> 00:36:08.014
So I mean, the first interesting thing that I learned was, because it's quite a challenge to take on I had a lot of the stories with my musician friends.

00:36:08.074 --> 00:36:12.938
We'll sit around and trade stories of road stories and, you know, oh, you remember this?

00:36:12.978 --> 00:36:19.222
And so, you know, and I tell my wife, my wife just sort of, you know, nods her head because she's heard the story like seven times.

00:36:19.603 --> 00:36:25.309
So I had a lot of those stories and the idea was sort of to, you know, put them down on paper.

00:36:25.668 --> 00:36:40.503
But it was, you know, obviously when you get into my approach to playing and things, I sort of discovered a bit of that through one-on-one lessons when I'm teaching or doing my workshops that what I'm saying here could be put into words as well.

00:36:40.583 --> 00:36:41.985
That's sort of how I teach as well.

00:36:42.105 --> 00:36:49.413
It's not what I would call follow the bouncing ball where it's play this hole, then play that hole, draw, blow.

00:36:49.452 --> 00:36:53.336
It's more explaining in a more conversational way.

00:36:53.737 --> 00:37:10.135
Closest comparison I could make would be doing a CD or two CDs because you're writing content so there's the songwriting aspect where you've got to find, geez, I just need a way to say this last line in this to make this song work.

00:37:10.195 --> 00:37:13.398
You know, in the chorus, I need the last, that's just not working.

00:37:13.739 --> 00:37:20.005
And then weeks go by and then you come up with it and you change it and it's like, yes, that makes the song right there.

00:37:20.025 --> 00:37:21.086
There's the gem in it.

00:37:21.306 --> 00:37:24.010
There's a hundred of those things in the book, if not more.

00:37:24.050 --> 00:37:29.556
And then there's, you know, once you've recorded your CD, now you have to mix it.

00:37:29.775 --> 00:38:08.179
So now, you know, I'm still in the mixing stage of the book where I'm over and over again you know reading it again and going I think this should be over here I need to change this you know the edit you know a bit of editing so it's very similar creative process I talk about that in the book as well that the way things are the same across different art forms is quite striking to me it was the same way I learned about music through doing graphic design strangely like the concepts of design once I learned that in a more formal way or more practical I started to see music differently because I realised it's exactly the

00:38:08.199 --> 00:38:08.920
same in music.

00:38:09.960 --> 00:38:10.382
Fantastic.

00:38:10.402 --> 00:38:11.483
Well, I look forward to reading it again.

00:38:11.523 --> 00:38:16.030
I always enjoy reading any book around harmonica, so I'll definitely have a read when it's out, really.

00:38:16.150 --> 00:38:16.431
Thank you.

00:38:16.451 --> 00:38:17.251
I'll get a kick out of it.

00:38:18.353 --> 00:38:21.097
You touched on some of your YouTube video recordings.

00:38:21.177 --> 00:38:25.884
So you do one of my favourite songs, which is Little Walter's A Day At Rye.

00:38:32.353 --> 00:38:32.574
MUSIC PLAYS

00:38:42.210 --> 00:38:48.929
Well, The first challenge was finding a backing track, and there isn't any that I found.

00:38:49.431 --> 00:39:00.641
So I had to edit a tiny section of Little Walter's version and basically build a backing track from that, just kind of a loop of everything except him playing, right?

00:39:00.681 --> 00:39:01.380
The band playing.

00:39:01.661 --> 00:39:02.081
Okay.

00:39:02.382 --> 00:39:03.202
That's a good idea.

00:39:03.222 --> 00:39:03.483
Yeah.

00:39:03.822 --> 00:39:04.284
I'm with you.

00:39:04.583 --> 00:39:05.985
That's one of my favorite groups.

00:39:06.204 --> 00:39:13.592
That's one of my little sandbox tunes, I call them, where I just play to loosen up or to stretch my legs kind of thing.

00:39:13.791 --> 00:39:13.871
Yeah.

00:39:13.871 --> 00:39:20.278
You know, just like all the videos I do on YouTube, I'll pick a song that I like, start recording.

00:39:20.338 --> 00:39:23.581
I might do, you know, the first couple of takes and then I screw something up in the middle.

00:39:24.123 --> 00:39:29.228
Maybe by the third take, I've got something that works from start to finish.

00:39:29.489 --> 00:39:30.570
That's the challenge.

00:39:30.610 --> 00:39:33.373
You get like two and a half, three minutes into the song.

00:39:33.413 --> 00:39:35.094
So far, you've done well.

00:39:35.175 --> 00:39:37.657
And it's like, geez, I just got another 40 seconds.

00:39:37.697 --> 00:39:38.458
I don't want to mess up.

00:39:38.679 --> 00:39:40.480
You still want to be adventurous in your playing.

00:39:41.161 --> 00:39:45.295
Do you always do them in one take or do you, you know, kind of knit them together different

00:39:46.001 --> 00:39:47.007
it's always one take

00:39:47.269 --> 00:39:54.190
yeah So it's interesting on the backing tracks, because obviously that's a big challenge for doing these sorts of recordings, right, and putting them on usually.

00:39:54.632 --> 00:40:03.139
So what's really interesting that I've been looking at recently is this ability of AI, which can pull out the separate tracks, you know, the different instruments from a song.

00:40:03.278 --> 00:40:03.940
Exactly, yeah.

00:40:04.320 --> 00:40:05.661
So I've tried some of these.

00:40:05.681 --> 00:40:10.565
They're not quite there yet, because they all sound a little bit muddy, you know, and some songs work better than others.

00:40:10.625 --> 00:40:14.168
If they don't have so many instruments on, for example, then that kind of works better.

00:40:14.208 --> 00:40:40.704
So, for example, I love this Skylark, which is winter mouse Silas is a trumpet player and he just plays the piano so it's quite easy on that one to separate the trumpet and piano and then you can just get the piano and it sounds fantastic you've pretty much got just the piano without the trumpet right but other things when there's more instruments it's more complicated but that has got great potential you know in a few years time I think we'll be able to pretty much be able to extract little Walter from a record and then just use his band to play along with

00:40:40.784 --> 00:40:46.449
yeah unfortunately for the artist and that's why I was hesitant saying that because you really shouldn't be doing that

00:40:46.650 --> 00:40:47.030
you

00:40:47.050 --> 00:41:01.262
know it's unfortunate that it's a free for all now or it's getting to be it has been for a few years on that level which is not good I mean I try not to go beyond that but in that case hopefully he'll forgive me

00:41:02.503 --> 00:41:09.990
well there are moral question marks of course but in many ways you know you might be open other people up to go and check out Little Walter and the things, right?

00:41:10.030 --> 00:41:11.432
So it's got its plus size as well.

00:41:11.733 --> 00:41:12.034
Yeah.

00:41:12.193 --> 00:41:20.762
Picking on another recording of yours, I understand you have a gold record from doing the Toronto Blue Jays theme song, OK Blue Jays, is this right?

00:41:21.063 --> 00:41:29.972
Yeah, that was another interesting call that I got, you know, through the same network of people that needed me for something, but you don't know what it is until you get there.

00:41:30.273 --> 00:41:32.434
Very rarely do they get into any details.

00:41:32.454 --> 00:41:38.101
They just say, we've got a session tomorrow morning at eight in the was for the Blue Jays.

00:41:38.561 --> 00:41:44.088
It's a very hometown-y kind of, you know, sweet feel-good song about baseball.

00:41:44.427 --> 00:41:46.871
They wanted kind of a light-hearted harmonica.

00:41:46.911 --> 00:41:58.123
And this is, you know, another thing that I talk about is when you go into session work, I would love to just play whatever I wanted and do a great harp feature or whatever, but that's not what they're hiring you for.

00:41:58.222 --> 00:41:59.824
They have a vision of what they want.

00:41:59.885 --> 00:42:04.108
They just want your little bit of harmonica sound in there to give it that vibe.

00:42:04.550 --> 00:42:06.311
And so that was the case in this.

00:42:06.672 --> 00:42:18.545
But the funny thing that happened is they had a couple of people from the marketing team, and I played the song, and then there's this line in the song that says, is it a fly ball, is it a seagull?

00:42:18.764 --> 00:42:27.094
Because the Blue Jays play near Lake Ontario, so you get birds, occasionally the birds will actually fly into the, get hit by a ball, actually.

00:42:27.514 --> 00:42:29.135
So there's a line in there, is it a seagull?

00:42:29.275 --> 00:42:31.978
And they said, can you make a sound like a seagull in the harmonica?

00:42:32.018 --> 00:42:33.280
And I go blank.

00:42:33.721 --> 00:42:36.123
I've heard the seagulls all my life, as we all have.

00:42:36.164 --> 00:42:39.467
I could think of how it sounded if you paid me money which they were

00:42:39.487 --> 00:42:40.387
and

00:42:40.427 --> 00:43:08.697
so I'm trying to come up with something and they're all like jumping on me like no no that's not it it's more like this and they're making these seagull sounds and like the director of the marketing team is clucking away like trying to make seagull sounds and I just stopped for a second and looked and went this is nuts these high level musicians and business people all sitting around trying to to argue about what a seagull sounds like.

00:43:08.717 --> 00:43:14.625
And anyway, I wound up playing something that to me sounds like a little baby chick peeping away.

00:43:16.967 --> 00:43:17.568
So

00:43:20.391 --> 00:43:23.454
you've won a few awards as well.

00:43:23.474 --> 00:43:29.800
You've won two double platinum and a Juno award as well, which is a Canadian music award, the Juno, isn't it?

00:43:30.081 --> 00:43:36.108

Roly Platt interview

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