Steel Saddle – Montreal Country-Rockers with Soulful Edge

when you L your [Applause] Al Crash and Burn Hearts get broke table turn you lose your welcome to the rugged Revival podcast I'm rugged Ronnie uh it's nice to be back with you again uh after my belt of sickness again um but we're back bringing you the very best conversations with Incredible artists uh and now bands um so on this episode on the very first Christmas episode uh you joining us um we have the very talented Band still saddle um still saddle are a six-piece band from Montreal Canada uh they create a mixture of country rock and Southern Soul music and are influenced by many other styles too uh the boys are not just the only not only just the first band to appear on the show but also the first musicians to have from Canada so it's dou special episode and it's so nice to have you uh Ben Mac thanks for having oh thanks very much for for joining us TJ um I don't know if you wanted to if you wanted to say a few words before we carry on but I think people are bored of hearing my voice over the last few episodes so it's nice to to take a back seat and uh no it's great um we've obviously been speaking on Instagram and you guys reached out to say hello and you know we we've been kind of keeping a Keen Eye on what you guys are doing so yeah again thanks for for coming on the show and yeah we're really Keen to to get to know what you've been up to pleasure thanks for having us so guys just over to you so um just a bit of introduction from yourselves uh and and what you do in a band uh my name's Mack and I play the bass yeah I'm uh I'm Ben and I play the steel guitar brilliant thanks very much so tell us a bit about yourselves how did you how did you all you guys meet how did you first get together so I I I can lead this one off Ben I guess we'll go chronologically um back to that magical period of co uh you know wind back to the before times uh friend of mine Austin boin was crashing on my couch in between tours with his his previous band and uh we started hanging out right in jamming you know loving Jerry Lee Lewis the Everly Brothers The Birds whan And Willie Etc and uh kind of just snowballed into a period of this is what we're doing right now and a buddy came to town with the tape machine and we hunkered down in a parking garage converted to rehearsal space and just you know recorded every song and wrote stuff for a week week and and it was a blast and slowly but surely we uh started looking for full-time B members meeting uh you know talking to Buddies meeting new people and uh one day Austin called me really excited he's I met this guy named Ben he's a pedal steel wizard incredible he's a country music encyclopedia he's perfect for the band you know we got to get this guy in I I just jammed with him he's unbelievable and Ben I'll turn it over to you I think that was 2022 right yeah it's true I mean I had re I had gotten a message from Austin in like 2019 that was like Hey do you play the pedal steel and I was like yes I do and then he did not answer me and then three years later he was like Hey do you play the pedal steel and I was like yo yes I do and then this band started um like I mean where I joined this band anyway at that point we jammed for the first time at our drummer's place and uh yeah I ended up like you know it's crazy to think that far back like we were all it feels like it was yesterday but also feels like it was forever ago um lot has happened since then yeah yeah that's that's fabulous we we assembled the group almost uh Al blu's brother style you know Quest through the the city stole a drummer from a buddy band you convinced another buddy to switch from guitar to to keys and uh one thing led to another and and uh there's now six six full-time members and I got to give a shout out to the the traveling horns who uh we got a a group of of guys who we always we always call when when uh when we can make it work to bring a a three piece horn section along and Mark Evan and and Scott special special players and great people that's awesome it's so I think oh sorry and Cassidy Cassidy Johnson I gotta can't miss anybody off yeah no man I I don't want to leave anybody out because uh [ __ ] our album release show oh sorry I don't know if we could S no you're right don't worry say what you want we do mate yeah yeah no um uh we we we had 10 people on stage for the first time in uh this past August um Austin the lead singer's partner fiance s to be wife uh sings with us as well and contributed additional vocals to half the songs on the record so it was an absolute treat to to finally be the full 10 on stage as we as appeared on the record you know wow that's incredible it's absolutely incredible um and and so unique as well as as I said before you know it's it's such a unique um sort of thing to listen to as well to see you know I've watched some of the YouTube videos um that I've been posted I know you were playing in I think I watched one from 2022 the other day um it was it's awesome it really gets like proper foot tapping um and sing it along so uh that's great what what what about your backgrounds have you what's what's your background Ben are you from a musical family you when did you start playing where when did you start it all yeah I'm I'm not super from a musical family I mean my I I there's no musicians in my family um my mom when I was a kid like my I mean my dad and I would listen to CDs in the car all the time and but never really country music and my first like musical Obsession came out of spite because my mom was going to see de leopard and I couldn't go and I was in the third grade and I was like well I'm gonna become obsessed with this thing and I did for the next three years I grew my hair out and I I was truly obsessed with de leopard until I got to high school and then in high school I discovered you know Willie Nelson and and and and folk music and country music and bluegrass music I think like most of my guitar playing stems from the Bluegrass world and then I bought a petal steel when I was 1516 and wow I uh I became super super immersed in in in country and Hony Tonk music and there's this Canadian this pretty legendary Canadian country band called Blue Rodeo and um it's one of the CDs I would listen to in my dad's car growing up and there's a steel guitar in that band and there's this guy offering steel guitar lessons in Montreal where I was from like where in the West Island of Montreal when I was looking for a steel and I reached out to him and it never worked out anyway that guy ended up being the guy from that Blue Rodeo record and then we ended up linking up when I was like 16 and since then he's become a great friend and and we play music pretty regularly together but he's like there's not many steel guitar players in in Montreal so he was a big uh a big push there just to watch someone else do it and uh that's about it I've been just kind of snowballing downhill into country music Obsession ever since Asic I can't I can't believe I'm really disappointed Ben actually that you haven't started off with country and love country ever since just I can't imagine listening to anything else but I'm going J um so I mean pretty good yeah um I I was I'm a little bit like yourself to to be honest I'm I was obsessed with the with the pedal steel um sound and and how people do it I wouldn't even begin to even think I could sit down and attempt to play it because I'd just mess it up and go horri be wrong um but it's an amazing sound and it's such an incredible instrument to watch play as well um so uh yeah no really interesting thank you and Mac what about yourself um so a a really musical family I think I I gotta thank my parents a lot for opportunities at a young age my dad wasn't a player but had a you know a killer record collection Great Taste and and Jazz and Blues and rock a little vanilla in the 80s you know he went through AAS he was born in 64 so it's you know comes with the territory and maybe you know uh my mom was a classically trained pianist we got the Royal Conservatory School here in Canada and her aunt my great sister Marie was a a a nun who taught for the conservatory she taught avra LaVine how to play the piano wow napan Ontario yeah so I I grew up uh in Calgary Alberta at West my dad took a job in Houston in 99 and uh there were no piano teachers in the area and so I got put on the the cello I wanted to play bass and they're like you're eight years old kid they don't make them that size so uh you know I did I did the the cello growing up and by high school I I wanted to learn guitar and and bass and ended up going to a classical music school on the base here in Canada and took a gig out of uh out of school with a a touring band with my buddy Paul Paul Jacobs here in Montreal and that's how I met Austin boand so that's sort of the long- winded short answer of wow from then till now yeah what Rich history of music it's incredible I mean that's that's that's unreal um and thank you thank you for sharing that you know it's really really good so who would you say um it's a question for both you really who would you say is your biggest influences um or influencers in country in in music whole music go ahead Ben um man I got to say like really like a records I like listen to the most that influen my playing and singing the most um probably it's either like Willie nelon especially the phases and stages record and anything from from that era or it's um the singer Daryl single ter who I was completely obsessed with right out of high school um rest in peace but he's uh yeah I'd say those two are biggest influences on me um myself uh as a basist um at the time when the band Steel saddle started I was uh really studying a lot of uh Stacks records and uh the work of Donald Duck Dunn and I can like link it back to my childhood and not realizing it at the time but like having silly dance parties with my brothers and dad to The Blues Brothers record and some of their hilarious live recordings and you know little did I know at the time how much like Steve Cropper on guitar and and Duck Dunn would influence my own musical uh approach with like a less as more space as the place and like a very powerful malotic based player but keeping things tight and funky and um you know it's evolved as a as a like a a songwriter and and writing Melodies to sing and and and songs I think in the past while Jean Clark has been somebody that has always really resonated with me throughout his career from the birds to his Solo solo work and uh my mom loved Toby Keith and shanai Twain my God I think I know the word still to every every song on the big dog Daddy CD that that thing was like lived in our Carmen and and Ben and I bonded over just like you know Shai Twain and we joke to bring it back to De leopard you know you got the mut Lane connection there and and the power of a whisper track people don't think about that a lot but the Shai Tain the woman in me sounds a lot like hysteria if you listen with the right ear you know there's connections to be made um but man I got to see Willie and uh and Toby Keith uh play at the the Houston Rodeo as a kid so I mean that's like a a memory that's ingrained in in my brain and I remember like when they he's saying I'll Never Smoke Weed With Willie Again I was like 12 or something and my mom was there like you know trying to like brush it off like she didn't know what that song was about I didn't even really know what it was about bit of you know a sheltered background but uh yeah I mean to to name a few people I think that's a that's a good place to start and influences that crept in to the the record for me that's good it's um the reason we love doing this podcast is because you know you bring up lots of different names and and some of them I'm not familiar with you know I'm I'm you know not new into country but you know probably 10 15 years and you know going back some you know further than that it's interesting to hear different names particularly from from Canada and places like that and all of the people that we speak to so it's um it takes me down a bit of a rabbit hole some weekends when I'm away from the kids away from the wife and I could just put the you know put the Spotify on have a couple of beers and you know go down that road so I appreciate you guys sharing that it's it's really interesting um the next thing is you know I was really excited to have you you guys on um there's been a lot of hype um around you online and that's uh I first kind of heard about you guys several months ago from mainly Twitter funny enough um and a lot of guys talking about your album and um actually saying you know this is the album of the year and a for wow that that's a huge statement but there were some real credible people saying that and after listening to it absolutely agree I think it's an amazing record I've given it a spin ever since and I I annoyed my 10-year-old son earlier uh taking him to football practice and and just you know kicking the hell out of it and he's like what's this music but I was like listen to it and uh he he he loved it as well so um that's you know that's your best critic men but uh so when did you guys originally start releasing your music under still saddle was that last year the record came out this summer uh we had recorded a single in uh the keyboard players apartment when steel sad was a four piece and uh we released that in 2022 and we just we just wanted to to wait and kind of iron out our songs Pat our pocketbooks a bit and and go to a place where we could record on tape live off the floor and uh when the timing was was eventually right we did it we went for it and it was a it was an absolute blast so it's uh the record was probably like uh two years of of writing and rehearsing and we had a a big list of songs and then we were like what can we track in 5 days and uh narrowed it down and and that was that but uh did have Ben you have anything to add no no in terms of when we released it yeah it would have been that that first single we released it because we were playing our first show we didn't want anything we didn't want to go out there and play a show with nothing for people to like go back and listen to I think the promoter was nagging us yeah yeah yeah but we did like you know uh me and um Charlie our guitar player SL my roommate uh weren't even on that song is it is it is it Coleman drumming on that or is it Evan drumming on that yeah yeah so Coleman the current drummer myself uh Nick power on the keys he had a Hammond B3 organ at the time in his apartment and the Leslie speaker to boot you couldn't even get around his room he had a 15-year-old pooping and falling asleep and peeing on the floor he'd like lay under the drum set up in the kitchen his apartment was called the fun Thunderdome and uh we cut that track right in the thunderdome's K kitchen live and uh that was our our first foray into recording since the original the secret steel saddle record there there is one in existence but it's just like a a total collaboration of loads of different people over over covid and maybe that will see the light of day some with mentioning that uh that Nick Nick had a B3 organ in an apartment that was not a ground floor apartment yeah yeah yeah so it kind of shook the place as he uh in literal Thunderdome there it's uh I mean listening to the record this this week again and you know um lucky enough to have kind of big speakers behind me and you know it's fairly soundproof in here so I was blasting a hell out of it and uh you know I think if you any anyone listening to him Ping On for the first time would know what not not know what era that music or that album was released they wouldn't say you know 2024 it's got this real kind of 70s this this kind of authentic um how you describe a kind of retro vibe to it and uh this real Soulful kind of sound it's it's amazing it's it's something I haven't heard for a long time and particularly new bands coming out having a six piece kind of band with a horn section it's quite unique and is that quite unique to Montreal I'm interesting like in the different scenes when we have people on you know we've had people on from Texas and Kentucky and you know we we haven't had anyone from Canada like we said so what is the Montreal scene like for you guys can I take this one back certainly yeah yeah I would I would say um it's funny because it is like the record is kind of a it obviously is very very retr sounding it's it's certainly not very contemporary like doesn't sound like contemporary country music or contemporary rock music and we we recorded it to tape live off the floor to the method itself is is kind of old school but we in in Canada you know Austin's from out west M grew up out west and Ontario and uh me and Nick are both from Montreal and Coleman grew up kind of near Montreal all near Ottawa um we all there's a band that we can all claim because we're not from you know we're not from the south we're not from uh places where we're around country music all the time but there is a Canadian band that uh all of us had big phases of being obsessed with and that is the band they're all from Ontario uh they're all from really close to where all of us have lived and every single member of our band knows those records front to back and grew up with it and like I remember my band phase in high school like it was yesterday it was like that was there was nothing I wanted to listen to except for that band for a long time and I think that when we got in the room and started playing music together it wasn't we never were like hey like you gotta play old school you got to do this it sound we got to make this a throwback band because that's never what this was it was just like we want to make the music we like listening to the most we want to make and and so in the in the scene in in Montreal there's not much of a country music scene or you know but lately after Orville peek and these things there's been like a more of like a ye-haw music scene where people are like wear cowboy hats and stuff and and that's fine like it's cool and it's fun but we were never about like pigeon hauling ourselves into anything I myself have my own music career that is pretty strictly country music but this band was never like part of any scene really with Mac comes from a a garage scene kind of and Austin comes from this like Post Punk scene and I do Mo mostly country music and we all have kind of different we were kind of like a a center like a a how should I say a sum of all parts you know yeah yeah that that's that's really interes and I I could hear a lot of the band in the stuff that you've put out and that that is one of my favorite ever bands it's it's hard to talk about the band without saying band constantly but um yeah Rob Robbie Robertson's uh from from Canada I don't think Leonel and the other guys are from I know Leon is the only one that's not levon's from Arkansas but the rest of them are from Ontario oh that's cool they're just so awesome it's um lass Walts is my favorite documentary music-wise and the album is just some of the best music I've I've ever heard and with the horn section and the stuff that you got going on it it it really is reminiscent of of that kind of era and that for me the ' 70s and and that sort of time was for me anyway the best ERA for for it and the band were a funny one because they they weren't strictly country it was you know a lot of influences in that you know southern music there was you know there was some country with Emy L Harris and and and things like that but um so yeah I can absolutely guar oh yeah exactly that that's what they were missing mate but uh there many still guitar players in Canada there's there's decent amount yeah more now but like there are some like big name steel players from out west I think Travis toy is from out west and he's like one of the biggest names in Nashville these days uh yeah there are not certainly not like the states but there's a decent amount cool man it's um say I'm just trying to get to the bottom of kind of the Canadian scene and um just just kind of delving into that a little bit deeper so do you guys exclusively um play where you are at the moment have you kind of crossed the border to to kind of play in Nashville or is that something that you're looking to do uh next year oh we'd certainly love to someday you know there's certain uh I guess Financial hurdles being a Canadian and wishing to perform in the US I've I've been fortunate to be able to do it in the past in other projects and you have to have a work visa they used to be more affordable and they went up like 200% in uh the past year or two so it's it's like over a grand ahead and uh you know if you don't own your own van uh accommodations in the US for touring band especially a six- piece are uh a lot more expensive or not included from promoters so I like in the past from my own experience and from seeing others it's often uh more financially viable to go across the pond and uh that's something we've been been toying with the idea and planning uh speaking with various promoters uh some in Scandinavia we've been approached by a few others across across Europe and and uh obviously you know the US is the big market and everyone wants to go there and they they protect their borders and their their local artists and you know politics aside and all that kind of jazz like you know sure if we had the if we have the bread and the the time like we'd love to do it um Teddy and the Rough Riders are a really cool band out of out of Nashville and we've sort of become internet friends and uh we enjoy kind of chatting with them about their experience playing and touring and and um you know talking about the idea of of it would be fun to play play together someday and if we can make it work we'd love to um but yeah we've been we've been up and down the 401 man that's a a highway here that connects Detroit to Montreal and uh we've played uh in Toronto Montreal couple festivals a cool old uh historic music venue in Ontario called the key to Bala it was like a a big band jazz venue that opened in like the early 1900s and we got to open for the sheep dogs there a Great Canadian band and uh you know here and there make when uh when we can and keeping our options open it's uh it's really fun to to see different uh places and audiences react to the music and and meet new people no that's great it's um you know so we speak to a lot of artists across the US and um there's their own challenges in their own States and I I did think there would be an additional challenge for you guys being a six-piece band or like you said earlier having 10 people on stage you know to to try and get everyone you know where you need to be in the right places um and you know to make sure that it's funded in the right way because like you say it's not cheap to do these things and it's interesting you say you know you're looking across the pond you know we're always saying about our grand old Revival pipe dream for the UK and we want the best artist over here and we're not seeing it necessarily we're starting to see it more and more now and I'm seeing next year you know funny enough we've seeing a lot of um Virginia kind of artists come over which is great and we've got tickets to see kobby T Helms in Birmingham next year and that that's great I'd love to see more and um me and Dan were talking and saying well we set up our own own thing so maybe keep keep uh us in mind if you ever want to come to the UK and um we'll try and try and set something up we have no idea what we're doing we keep saying that Ben noton out on the head earlier when you said uh it maybe not actually when you said it's the Yeehaw music scene uh because that's what you know sometimes the UK goes through uh Peaks and troughs of country music sometimes it's good sometimes it's you know uh people haven't really got interest and you know really want to push that we really want to be able to to do it and that's why we've every podcast we been talking about bringing the grand grand old Revival before I get myself in trouble with something else um so the grand old Revival uh bringing it over here and having people uh like yourselves come over and really show you know your talent to the UK and and and to Europe you know for for this for this end so you never know that P dream might change into something it will if we push it but um darling back slightly guys so um and talking about you know the still settle self-titled album um which is fantastic you know how how did that become produced because it's such a well polished uh piece of music and I'm always interested to find out who produced it and and how that kind of came about well thanks so much for for all your kind words it it it means a lot I mean we make for me making music is like a 5050 thing I you know I do it for myself and and and then hopefully you know for for other people to enjoy so it is a it's really a great feeling to to get feedback and hear what people like or what they wish there was more of or whatever um we produced it ourselves but it would be uh it it would be uh I guess wrong to not uh bring up how much of a an influence the the mixing engineer and uh recording engineer and propri proprietor co-founder of the studio the treatment room Jill castelo um played as just kind of being like an invisible hand listening to six of us ramble fight and and toss ideas around and then and then make the sound come to life in the window we had Ben introduced Jill to us through his experience recording with him and the the studio and and Jill's touch kind of uh made it into what it is it like to kind of come back to what you brought about the sound and and like what Ben said it wasn't never like a a project of like we want to to sound old or or do anything other than just play the music we enjoy listening to and and making together is just how it it sounds we're all just kind of doing our own thing when we bring songs to the band and and work them out and uh best idea in the room wins type of environment so we went in with a a bunch of songs we played them live off the floor no singing and no horns but everything else was done done live there um and that's the sound um there was a a beautiful 2-in stter 24 track tape machine that looked like it was out of a Soviet air spacecraft and that that machine obviously you know the hiss or whatever and had its distinct color and warmth we mixed some of the tracks live analog which was really cool and a fun process so you know as far as like production those things played into it uh but it wasn't like a pure analog record there were there were some digital plugins used and uh and yeah and why not you know smoke them if you got them it's 2024 and and uh I think of the 10 songs on the record two of the Masters were digital Masters we bounced everything down to to quarter inch stereo took the final mixes to Harris Newman at gr gry Market mastering he's mastered like 2,000 over 2,000 albums something crazy like that and uh he knows what he's doing and a couple mixes like Donnie the Satanist he was like the the analog Master is um is muddier I thought I could hear a child in the background yeah she just made her podcast debut tell her when she gets older and but things like that you know is like a a fun learning experience for all of us where he's like hey I think uh this song will sound better if we use the digital Master like all right or the digital Final Mix it's like sure let's do it anything there's a real science to it and yeah Ben if there's anything to add mik I mean I think it's worth mentioning that we recorded the record in what it was September or October Mac I think it was October yeah October 2022 October y right and as of like what was it June or May Austin went West yeah yeah so our lead singer moved to the other side of the country like uh you know in May or in June and then came back we had like a week to just kind of like dial in the sound and do nothing but play these songs and then we went to the studio and cut the record um it was fun like the recording to tape is is romanticized for a lot of reasons like analog in general especially when you're doing something that's a little more old school I happen to as I know Ma does like I love the process of of working on tape in the way that you kind of have to be really decisive and you do full takes of songs and if it feels good then you keep it and if you run out of room on a reel you got to decide what you're going over what you're getting rid of and you know the last song on the record the song called it's my time I can remember I remember that take it was a second take uh and I remember like what the room looked like I remember what everybody's faces looked like for that take like I swear when I hear that recording I can hear the breaths and I can hear it's like and so and that's kind of just for me you know like a looking back at it like it it feels like a a really like a postcard from a a great week I got to spend with my closest friends and and it also doubles as like a record that we're able to promote and sell and tour and whatever but uh the process of working live in a room and just like looking up at each other and I don't know it was H it was in fact very romantic except for poor Coleman the drummer he was in ISO Boo and and he was like having to look over the mic and his uh and the high hats through a window where there was this sight line where he could see Austin who sang scratch vocals on a few songs but but other ones didn't and was sitting down playing acoustic guitar and I'm the basis I it like a funny oversight where I remember telling Jill after we recorded the record I was like I couldn't see Coleman he's like if you had told me we would have moved y'all around in the we would have made it that change but like we're all watching Austin sing the songs and the rest of us were set up in a circle in the live room and uh amps in in isolated rooms and then Colman off in the uh in the iso Booth with his little window and and Nick sitting at the baby grand like uh there with us so there's some of that like that bleed natural bleed too which is fun and like not to go off on a tangent but like those Motown those Stacks records those old country records with George Jones or Sun Records with with Elvis where it was just like people in a room playing together and and it's the sound of of people playing together and there is bleed and there are imperfections and like uh Cole Alexander from the black lips said once in an interview like the imperfections are Perfections and that's like a quote that always stuck with me when we would like go back and listen and and just being it was more about the field you know than than all the notes when we were picking takes and and being like five five days what can we get done let's make it happen yeah a day that's cool so the drama got a bum deal then you you got memories etched in your mind forever and this guy was setting a boo on his own oh dude there was a couple a couple of songs where like there's a little positive silence I'm like dang I can't believe we we hit that and then there's a couple where we like rushed a little bit and it just you know it's funny I remember when we were like uh mixing the record I really wanted us to keep at the end of it my time like it's a pretty long song and you listen to that song all the way to the end if that song was extended another 10 seconds you would have heard the reaction in the room to that take you know like the song ended and then I think it was like Austin was like oh I like that and then everybody's like that that was the take that was good and I I don't know stuff like that like a Coleman still got to experience that through the headphones you know he just had to do it while looking at a [Laughter] wall hopefully he benefits another way by being in the band but um no it's interesting you say that because I I've been watching YouTube videos where they break down the stems of some of the old classic kind of mtown tracks and like you say the bleed that comes through you know the the kind of drum tracks and the things like that and it's really interesting but they keep it in and it it gives you that kind of authentic that raw sound and I I I think that's what I'm hearing in your record and I love it man it's um um yeah I I can't say enough about it so are you are you guys signed up are you are you independent at the moment what what's kind of going on for you oh yeah fully independent yeah we're just doing our thing when we can we have the time to do it and we're we're happy and grateful to do it so did did you guys work uh fulltime kind of jobs in in the background while you're trying to do this sort of thing oh yeah I'm ass designer at a video game studio uh we all lead you know our own lives I just had a kid congratulations working like Ben was saying he he's working we got a uh the drummer Coleman he works in uh music distribution and fraud he always tells us crazy stories how he catches people making money scams Off streaming and funny stuff like that so is he like Dog the Bounty Hunter going inare in he's received threads man I wish he was here to he's got some good stories yeah yeah but this is where it's interesting you know we we we speak to and this is part of the rugged Revival is promoting a lot of the Independent Artists because I I just find a scene really interesting and it's favorite scene and you know you guys are are doing what you do producing these amazing records going out touring and and kind of playing as much as you can but still holding down full-time jobs still looking after your families and you know it's um you know it's an interesting world that I find going on other than speaking to establish artists some some of them probably have forgotten what it's like to you know work a a 9 to5 or a day job like some of us obviously still do but um no that's great um so where where are you guys receiving kind of the most support at the moment you know either online or in person I'm interesting geographically is it it kind of the region that you're in now or any weird pockets of obviously we're from the UK and we we've heard of you we love your stuff so that that's obviously different geographically but where would you say is the most support you're currently getting uh like it's like online number breakdowns and things we've looked at uh the US just with the sheer size of it you know it's number one on Canada the home front and then in the top five it sort of rotates between the UK Sweden and and like a another European Country Strong support out of the Netherlands we've received a lot of uh warm responses and people writing us like come to we here and Spain Germany France so that's interesting hopefully we keep pushing yeah yeah Dan you were talking earlier today about a Dutch guy that you're following and one of your favorite bands actually from Sweden as well so it's um it's not surprising to us that you're getting that that kind of support from those countries but who was that guy you were you were talking about earlier I can't even remember now I don't really want to mention it to be honest TJ uh it was um I think it's more of a it's more of a viral thing he went off and there was two of them um I'm not going to say their names but uh they went off and it's in a in a Dutch language singing some random song and he's fully dressed in a stepson and he's got the he got eye and it's it's just bizarre but I our country from Netherlands I can't stop watching it can I guess who the is go on is it is it harmonica sound no the countryside harmonica sound we've talked about before but yeah not not the Dutch guys yeah that's one of your favorites um is yeah Dan isn't it obviously you're my favorites very good yeah it's uh I I'll um so one of them is called Fabio so I'm going to leave it as that and it's a it's a um yeah but anyway let's we'll send you a link after anyway so moving on um so in terms of um I so I'm just really interesting to see how how things are kind of going for you guys we're talking about geographically uh are you getting much support from kind of radio stations and you know where can we kind of hear from you the most obviously on Spotify and the main platforms but you know are you going to a a lot of attention from radio stations at all yeah are we these ones are kind to defer to Mac Mac is the he keeps the books the analytics guy yeah yeah it's been it's been fun to see that we got the the National College charts here and and you get pinged and and notified when uh when you know when you when you chart in a i station and and so there's there's been like little College stations across the US and across Canada that we've we've uh managed to you know get in the charts with with no budget a lot of it's like pay to play too where you you like pay to put the music out into the college radio station distri online distribution system they have here called earshot and then you like reach out and you build and develop a network there's been fun other podcasts too John Anderson is a Canadian music historian based out of Winnipeg he's written a lot of uh incredible books and about uh rock music country music Etc and like I was thrilled he he gave us a shout out and a spin on his show and we've worked with a distributor getting into serious channels and stuff like that so you know we do what we can with with the resources we have at hand and uh we're grateful for the support in the college radio and uh various other stations podcasts like yourself you know awesome really appreciate it man it's it's awesome it's great to have you on it's great to to join you know for you to join us I mean we've we've TJ's mentioned it earlier you know we we we bring people on because we we want to speak to the people that we enjoy their music we love their music we love seeing how they're how they're getting on seeing where you're going you know being able to to promote you as well you know coming coming through here being able to um you know push you out across the UK and wherever the podcast gets listened to um I I just think you know thanks for taking the time thanks for taking the time at your schedule to come and join us um it's not over yet but but I've got a couple more questions if that's right absolutely that's great so I know you you talked us through you know around your creative process um and you know you're telling some of the stories about when you when you're recording everything else but I just wanted to see you know I just wanted to know what what parts do you all play in in the songwriting process what parts do you all play in in bringing that all together does someone just have an idea do someone just bring up is it you know tell us tell us if you can how how that comes to light yeah um well uh as a steel player you know I'm like uh I I do the steel Player thing I don't really do I I don't I do steel playing and and I sing harmonies when I can but sometimes it's hard to you know when you're playing steel you're using both feet both knees and both hands um but that is uh sorry hey how's it going um yeah uh beyond that uh I think the only times I've ever like in memory I I contribute to all the times that things get lessoned in songs like I I I can distinctly remember Parts in songs where I was like oh yeah it was me who was like let's stop let's like break it down here let's punch here but otherwise it's mainly just Mac and Austin write a tune or Mac rites a tune or Austin wres a tune brings it to a rehearsal or I mean because Austin lives on the other side of the country sends it as a as a me like a voice message on on messenger and then we get down and jam uh the tune and we just kind of [ __ ] around and I like you know we all uh we kind of work it out in real time and we I think one thing we we're all really good at is like instead of like shouting down bad ideas kind of like cheering on really good ones like when you hear something that's good you're like man that's good like do that and that naturally helps us get to like a finished product but of course we have like you know you got Mac playing bass Austin's playing acoustic guitar Austin singing you got piano electric guitar petal steel drums and then horns so there's not much room for people playing all of the time it has to be kind of decided when certain pieces of certain songs are going to go to certain instruments and certain groups of instruments and that can be a lot of fun to kind of arrange and and curate you know a certain Vibe on a song I don't know yeah that's totally that's PR good yeah it's fun I remember like hearing Josh H from Queens of the Stone Age talk about that that Dynamic of like being in a group where you're able to uh say to your bandmates like trust me I'm not telling you what to play I'm I'm asking you to to trust me flush out this idea or this sound that I have in my head and will will you go there with me and and and see it through the end and then we can decide uh yeah is it a keeper or or are we going to to go in a different direction and and I feel grateful that this is a group where that's that's pretty effortless I don't think it ever really feels like uh we're telling each other what to do it's it's it's a collaborative process working out parts and arrangements and plus we've had the the pleasure and privilege to work with an absolute tremendous horn arranger Mark L cler he's a professional uh gigging musician here in town he's a high school music educator uh tremendous guy tremendous player and and like I was like I love The Memphis Horns and I got this we got this record and I think five of the songs could use this Memphis Horns style of arranging and uh he like all right I got it you know we're like in the studio and he did he did the five songs and in like before lunch with the the section there's like a couple parts where it we like worked it out and changed it just through the TalkBack mic and he's in the live room making the adjustments to the charts and and things just came really quick and that's that's kind of been like I think something too where you've maybe heard songwriters talk about or musicians over the years were like often when you have an idea just to be able to to chase it down while it's fresh and you don't overthink things and something that we try to do and and that that was done for the record that we released and now we've sort of entered this this new phase of of Home recording and doing it ourselves I got next to me this beautiful 16 track one inch tape machine and and at the drummer's house Colman's got the same one so we can trade tapes and uh we do it ourselves now and it's it's a whole new process of of having the time to kind of pursue it sonically in a similar direction as the record but crafting it is is completely changed because we're not under this uh deadline of paying per day and yeah the next band's coming in the next week or whatever and how often how of do you get to meet up just to you know not only to to get together to just have a play just uh you know share some ideas have a bit of a laugh have some fun do you get to meet up regularly or it abs and flows yeah we're all pretty interconnected like uh of course Mac has U more adult responsibilities now with the birth of his child but uh you know like I me and the guitar player Charlie we live together Coleman the drummer and Nick the piano player they live together I used to live with Coleman there so there's like you know and and we're really have either of you guys ever been to Montreal before no who big mistake big mistake you guys gotta come down sometime we would love to mate absolutely any anytime Yeah Yeah well yeah you guys should come down I'd be happy and and in return I come to the UK and we go to the hn and flowers and Buckingham share but uh yeah we're we're hanging out kind of more often than we're ever making music like I I you know yesterday I was driving home from work and Nick was finishing work kind of in a similar area where I was working so I picked him up brought him home sat down with Coleman and Nick we just sat there and had a chat like that is the kind of the thing that is the most special about this band as good as the music is and as as fun as as the shows can be and and and all the hype around the record and stuff it's like I would you know the thing I care most about is just that these are all my friends and and I like spending time with them and I don't know it feels that that's what feels the most precious about this band is not like the music that I do think is special and unique that we make and and the Synergy we have but it's it's pales like it's what that's worth to me pales in comparison to uh how much I love just like when we get together and Mac makes a chili and and a new hot sauce or something and we're just over hanging out and I don't know watching a a a game or I don't this is like the beautiful thing about this band to me yeah it's like a a real sort of family band real you know it's a real thing brilliant we're lucky we're in a a city where it's easy to to get around and see each other too you know like growing up in in the states like uh it's it's not always so simple you got some cities that are much more spread out or you have to have a car to get around and Montreal you can like jump on a bike or a Metro any time of the year and kind of get wherever you need to to be in like a half an hour uh unless you're like out in the suburbs but we all live in the sort of like condensed Plateau area the plateau next to the Mountain Sounds yeah it does yeah covered in snow yeah yeah we'll find out when we go over yeah please yeah hit us up we do have to do it all a poutin I heard that's getting popular in the UK oh I love poutine great could be better yeah man it's getting popular in the UK I I've seen it a few PBS yeah it's uh there's one by my work that uh does poutine and I have a few beers and you know just a big plate of that and it's yeah should say just because I'm the only quebecer in this in this call here it is like it is called puten that is kind of How It's like it is yeah yeah tomato tomato yeah get it right TJ next time and to be fair if you if you s if you plan on coming by you got to get it right you'd be you'd be disgusted with our ptin I don't think it's actual cheese curds either it's just like cheddar cheese dunked in gravy but still tastes that's what the Greek diners do around here it's awesome secretly it's awesome get the the mozzarella the pizza poutin yeah ex [ __ ] do that man when when we used to rehearse like when when Austin espe when Austin lived in Montreal after every big rehearsal we would go to this restaurant on uh on Mount Royal Boulevard called um Mount Royal hot dog and we would all get club sandwiches except Mac did you ever get the club or you always just got that one weird Mexican puten yeah yeah okay we would all get these club sandwiches and a side of gravy all of us I've got like several pictures on my phone of just like the whole wash on the table like five club sandwiches and so pin and that kind of culture that that that cost Kea Diner culture is kind of a big part of this band a big part of the social aspect of this band that's brilliant it sounds it sounds awesome and I can't wait to join you over there some fun yeah food to her it's a good time got the smoked meat sandwiches here too yes stop it stop it got we'll be changing this over from a from a country music podcast to a to a food podcast they go together I think you absolutely it's family um that's it so just going back to to to you guys being being the band that you are and how big you are sometimes and and what have you is there any challenges that you see when you go around do you get any challenges when you have to travel when you have to you know go to certain gigs or is there any challenges you face being a band of that size yeah we got to take two cars yeah dou with the cost yeah man I mean simple Logistics yeah uh I don't know the threepiece is probably the most economical band format and then you know but we like it it's something we make work hell every show we've we've played after the first one uh Austin flies here from BC 4,000 kilometers the 8,000 kilometer round trip man and uh we make it work and uh we're fortunate we're able to do it and bringing the horns on the road's tough we've only done that uh a handful of times times but yeah you know there's logistical challenges but uh it's an absolute blast to play with that group and that wall of sound Toby Keith has this amazing quote where he's like when people come to a Toby Keith show he's talking about horns and country music is like they start tailgating around two or three he's like by the time I go on stage at 8 n they are ready to party and what takes the party to the place they're expecting is the horns yeah you know Toby man he was a a legend but no it's it's true it's something we've been super fortunate to do and and to experiment with and and to have fun with see I'm just finding out now so when we hold the grand old uh rugger Revival we know what challenges you face and we'll get it all sorted by the time you come over so we can just get you up there get you playing it's all good yeah yeah amazing so so tell us what's what's your what's your main goals um and aspirations what's your what's your dream outcomes um I don't know shows where people start tailgating at two I guess yeah yeah that's like that's kind of it man like I don't know shortterm is like a second record would be Wicked and uh maybe maybe some kind of representation that made sense but it's kind of hard to find representation that'll do it better than you know like I don't know I can't remember who a Canadian country singer by the name of Zachary lucky was in town last week and we were having uh Lebanese food at like 1 in the morning and he was like man nobody will nobody will work as hard for you as you will for yourself and so shortterm goal like it'd be cool to have a team where the people playing the music weren't also the people putting the tours together and figure out the accommodations mainly McKenzie to be honest but uh that that would be a cool goal for us I'd say is to to make it so that we can go from you know being guys that bike over to each other's houses to eat dinner and jam for a couple hours before it's too late you don't want to keep the neighbors up to yeah like a proper Willie Nelson style family band where we have like three tour buses and we're all raising our children on the road and you know everybody's happy and world peace I guess end of ending world hunger be cool just starting off Smalling yeah [Laughter] that's shop in every town oh my sorry M hry on mate oh I just say we're like we're not in a rush to do anything man we're just super grateful to be able to do it it when we have the opportunity to and uh what comes of it will be as it may and for us it's it's just more about en enjoying the the process that's what what brought us together in the first place and uh we're having a blast right now recording material ourselves I've had to figure out so many different mixing boards man I'm lucky I don't have any hair cuz I'd be pulling it out you know but like those kind of challenges at home and and doing it together and calling up jaill from the treatment room and be like can you please come over like we're stuck and you know so he's still kind of like working with us and and helping us out and sort of like a mentor as we we Traverse the the DIY for record number two approach and uh and just seeing where that goes taking our time and joying the process experimenting with new instrumentation we got people who can play a whole Nick power could play a a screen door hey Ben you'd always say that um but yeah you know like he plays like the mandolin he's a good heart player Ben plays banjo guitar steel and just playing with different Sonic textures and uh and seeing where that leads and you know just following our ear and we're starting to collaborate more too uh yeah it was a different era when we started the band where like Austin and I live pretty close to each other and with each other for a period of time so writing naturally just happened like that or he would bring a tune and then now he's living out west so it's like there's maybe more of just like Austin songs and now there's been starting to be like some ideas and collaborations where the five of us in town get together and and work stuff out you know someone has a riff someone has a Melody someone works on some lyrics or whatever and seeing where that goes man we got it got a lot of material and you know hopefully it we'll see the light of day sooner than later cool and it will yeah yeah I mean I suppose that's the benefit of living in this digital age you know it's uh you don't necessarily have to be in person you can collaborate in so many different ways and you mentioned you know meeting up with other country artists locally having having kind of dinner with these people is there anyone outside at a band that you you're looking to collaborate with in the future or have plans now to to kind of Branch out was that just something that's kind of down down the road shall we say oh [ __ ] I mean that's good question it's like dream yeah no you go on ma no I got nothing go ahead I mean like yeah it'd be cool like there's like more and more a DIY music scene all over the world really but like let's say in in North America especially in Canada and um there's recently an article in the globe in mail that I contributed to about this like this guy started writing this article about the DIY hardcore scene in Montreal and in Canada and then he while he was riding it started to realize that wait there's a DIY scene for every genre because you know there's like kind of a big disparity between like people with major representation and people without and because of that the collaborations you make and and the connections you make thanks to the digital age on Instagram and when you're on the road you meet people become the gateways to um further spreading your wings and finding different places to tour so play people that I'd like to collaborate with like in terms of Steel saddle it's like well whoever will help us tour other parts of uh North America or Europe for example that we can then return the favor and have them come see the beautiful 401 here in Canada so I don't know that I think that that would be the smart the smart answer if this was a quiz trying to get the right answer that's the political no no that's uh it's interesting to kind of find out you know what what what you're doing on that front and I suppose being out on the road as well and you mentioned kind of meeting some of your Heroes Ben uh I forget the name is it Blue Rodeo you mentioned right at the beginning and it's uh have you met any other of your Idols you know doing what you're doing and out on the road um that you kind of been Star Struck by or just someone that you you admire uh not not with steel saddle I'd I mean not with steel saddle I have my own care like my own solo career that I've I've met some cool folks doing what I do in but I I think actually with steel saddle we did open for um we open for this Canadian band called the sheep dogs and like mik was saying at the ketab Bala this old venue where like Glenn Miller and Duke Ellington played at years ago and that was pretty fun man hanging out with these dudes because like when I was in high school uh the sheep dogs were just like the dudes doing the 70s rock thing in Canada and so for them to like take an interest in our band and to help us out the way they did and to kind of put us on like that that was wicked man that was uh that they're just they're good guys and they cool yeah they G to pay it forward that was awesome which Super appreciative they they won a contest but like like Ben was saying when we were in high school where they got on the cover of the Rolling Stone and then uh went on to do their own great you know their own Success Through like major representation and now they're like back to independently running their own ship and uh it's it's inspiring to see and and we're grateful to have had their support and and you know Teddy and the Rough Riders friends down in Nashville we've all got friends sort of all over the place from our our various backgrounds um the nude party is a cool band I like uh from Asheville in the states uh you know there there's like a wish list of of people we' we'd love to tour with or or to support you know but we're taking it taking it one day at a time uh people I've met who I really like and appreciate Jeff Clark is a Great Canadian singer songwriter he's from Edmonton he played in a band here called demons claw Great Garage Band in the early 2000s same like era as King Con and barbecue show like a soul doop garage Revival and in that Montreal scene and and Jeff Clark writes some some amazing songs I've got to meet him down in in Austin and just talk about being from Canada and living in Montreal and and uh he plays in the black lips now but releases his own music like um other people I sold Julian cassa blanas a guitar once you know Co from The Strokes yeah awesome man that's funny yeah but um you never know where music will take you and you just enjoy the ride and don't Focus we we don't Focus too much on the outcome you know it's just more about enjoying enjoying the ride CU most people are are doing that too and and I think that sort of you get drawn towards where you're supposed to be drawn to probably I don't know I'm not trying to be all philosophical or what whatever no no it's um it's just really interesting to hear your perspective of things and I I love the whole social media aspect of things now and people can speak positively about it and obviously the negative sides of it but I don't think music and artists in particular have ever been so accessible in our lives and we joked about it with um Adam Hood not long ago when he was on the show to say you know the likes of us have access to these artists inbox um to invite them on the show to have these kind of long form conversations and like you know bands like yourself you know you can speak to other bands easier to kind of form connections and to you know to to collaborate in some way so I I I just love the whole kind of um OS of of what's going going on at the minute and you know I think it's a bit of a Revival in itself um and we haven't been blocked by anyone so far so I suppose that's a POS doing a good job Revival is well on its way man there's going to be a a lot of people there who knows we might get 20 people up on stage get the choir and so anything can happen and I haven't pissed anyone off too much yet so uh it's all good man but um but yeah over to Dam it's been really enjoyable having you guys on you're so interesting uh you're so unique in what you're doing and I'm Amazed by all the stuff that you're doing you know in fact you know with the kind of home studio recordings I know you know I did some production years ago and how scientific it can be just to record digitally let alone through analog kind of uh material it's um I'm going sorry I've got to interrupt you there because I need to tell him a bit of a story about that because I mentioned it one of the first podcasts so Terry or TJ as we know I'm here used to be nicknamed Costa Del who was a DJ so it was just DJing TJ the DJ so there we go we'll leave it as that yeah the worst nickname ever so I back in the day when I was younger I was producing kind of house music trance music and those sort of things I don't know if they ever cross the kind of on to to Canada that sort of music did that was kind of late 90s early Arts um that that was my whole shining still is to be fair I'm getting a bit too old for for that kind of music and Venture down the country so see move from the basement to the porch exactly I'm more comfortable there mate with a whiskey that's my scene these days but um so I I know how how kind of difficult it can be just to kind of wrap your head around B basic kind of production digital you know analog and things like that but uh I won't bore you to tears with my my kind of tales of Woe around that guys but uh but like I said it's been incredible to have you on uh the podcast thank you so much uh for for coming to speak to us um is there anything you guys want to kind of uh plug anything you want to kind of talk about particularly where's the best place to find you we've got buying off for sale yeah on our band camp all your major streaming platforms cool t-shirts I know that I like the ringer t-shirts that I saw recently that's a bit of me you know if I was a bit Slimmer I would love to order one but uh Bri us we sort something out we got all sizes yeah it reminds me of like mcc's character and daed and Confused that's the MCC hay ringer or what's his name in that movie I can't remember right now all right all right all right woodon or something like that yeah anyways but yeah man yeah we're around coming to a town yeah near you someday um check out blue Rodeo's Casino that's a good place to start that's a CD both Ben and I had in the car growing up that our our dads were were spinning and that's a cool like Canadian take on on Americana or roots or whatever you want to call it and sound kind of coming back around the bird's 12 string jangle meets petal steel guitar and yeah so that that's a cool one the little Canadian plug there Jim C's still doing his thing the singer but Kim desan plays in my band now that's the thing yeah the steel player play in myand yeah doesn't play in Blue Rodeo anymore he plays in my band so amazing I love we it's uh we we we've learned a lot about Canadian country and Canadian music in general through this and you know we we've I think Dan's been writing a load of names down as he been talking so uh take away away yeah yeah we go down honestly Ben back still sadle you've been amazing you've been incredible it's been fascinating to listen to some of your stories on here thank you thank you so much for joining us um please don't forget you know purchase out as much as you can the rugy Revival give us a follow um it's great to see you take care of yourselves and I think it's just time to close off Terry to be honest so we'll do a little toast if you've got a drink handy please grab it so we raise a toast to the grit the grind and the Revival cheers thanks for listening cheers

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