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00:00:27:08 How did you guys get in touch with Jagjaguwar?
00:00:31:19 And like, obviously, are there benefits or hindrances
00:00:35:08 being on American record label?
00:00:37:08 We just sort of sent our record to them,
00:00:39:11 because we're friends with Black Mountain,
00:00:40:20 we're like, oh, they're on that label,
00:00:41:28 maybe they will like us too.
00:00:44:02 And we played some shows with
00:00:46:04 Jason Molina and Magnolia Electric Co.,
00:00:48:10 and he sort of put in a good word for us too.
00:00:51:19 But yeah, I think it's definitely like
00:00:53:21 different to be on American label.
00:00:56:18 Even a label like that, which is like kind of a bigger,
00:00:58:18 sort of Indie label, you know,
00:01:03:04 they've got like certain artists that are really big and
00:01:07:13 successful for them, and then they have like bands like us,
00:01:10:19 and it's easy to sort of feel like you're lost in the shuffle,
00:01:13:25 you know, like you're not like a super high priority.
00:01:17:00 And it's also like, having a Canadian label is great,
00:01:18:28 because then you can sort of get some government funding too,
00:01:21:28 another great thing that exists in Canada.
00:01:24:15 Yeah, we haven't been able to like get
00:01:28:07 any of that sweet fruit yet.
00:01:30:07 Oh yeah, it's a tasty fruit.
00:01:33:27 It's like a nice ripe peach, you know.
00:01:36:15 I've asked you about this before, off camera obviously,
00:01:39:04 but in the new record, [inaudible] you thank
00:01:41:17 Tim Kinsella, what was his involvement with the record?
00:01:46:16 My best friend lives in Chicago, and I went out there
00:01:50:13 I guess in 2003.
00:01:54:11 Yeah.
00:01:56:22 And I stayed out there for like a month,
00:01:58:21 and then recorded a bunch of stuff with him.
00:02:00:28 He works at a recording studio, and he has recorded a bunch of
00:02:04:26 albums for like Joan of Arc and a bunch of various other
00:02:09:04 Tim Kinsella other offshoots,
00:02:11:11 because he has got about a million bands,
00:02:13:10 like Make Believe and stuff like that.
00:02:15:18 I met him, and the song, Ghost Blues,
00:02:18:15 I had actually recorded a version of that in Chicago
00:02:22:14 way back then and Tim Kinsella actually sang on it,
00:02:26:05 and he kind of like had some of the...
00:02:30:01 he helped to sort of like shape, kind of carve the song,
00:02:33:21 so I was like, well, I've got to give him proxy...
00:02:35:03 Back to Colona versus Vancouver.
00:02:38:07 When did you move from Colona to Vancouver,
00:02:41:09 like at what age were you guys?
00:02:43:08 I was like the last one to move there.
00:02:45:28 I mean, I moved there for six months or something
00:02:49:23 when I was 18 or 19, but I moved back
00:02:53:22 because I couldn't hack living away from the nest,
00:02:56:24 I guess,
00:02:59:21 I moved there in 2004 or something,
00:03:04:23 these guys lived there for a long time.
00:03:06:17 I moved there in 1999.
00:03:09:20 And are you guys living in East Vancouver, is that right?
00:03:13:00 Yeah.
00:03:14:10 There's some hairy parts of those neighborhoods.
00:03:17:09 I don't live in the hairy part.
00:03:18:29 Okay.
00:03:20:11 It's crazy, but it's not dangerous.
00:03:22:26 It's totally mellow. Yeah.
00:03:24:08 It's weird though,
00:03:25:18 because I was just talking about this with someone yesterday
00:03:27:12 about how it's, you see the most harsh,
00:03:30:18 most extreme fucked up shit every single day,
00:03:33:08 and like I don't even flinch.
00:03:36:13 Like I'll see someone with the needles hanging
00:03:38:18 out of their arms, or something like rolling on the ground,
00:03:42:16 clawing at their face and screaming,
00:03:44:26 and it's just like, oh, okay,
00:03:46:10 and I'm on my way to work.
00:03:48:20 it doesn't even affect you after a while,
00:03:49:28 which is pretty kind of weird and sick.
00:03:53:28 You see some pretty extreme stuff.
00:03:57:10 Well, Pigeon Park, I mean like even when...
00:03:59:18 you come down East Hasting and like...
00:04:00:28 I remember seeing that for the first time
00:04:02:08 just thinking that it was fucking,
00:04:05:14 like we're in a third world country.
00:04:08:07 I've seen so many people just like selling their stolen things
00:04:12:17 and... I work at Pigeon Park Savings Bank,
00:04:16:28 run by a nonprofit organization down there,
00:04:19:28 for the people of the downtown, East side.
00:04:22:28 Then they're having a lot of trouble with the
00:04:24:28 For Needles Program.
00:04:26:08 But it saves lives,
00:04:29:14 it's a really good service that they do.
00:04:33:03 But obviously, I mean, people are going to have problems.
00:04:36:05 Unless the government stops someone from selling crap.
00:04:39:28 Well, you know, because the Olympics are coming in 2010 to
00:04:43:19 Vancouver so they're doing this whole thing,
00:04:44:28 where they're really trying to like clean up this city
00:04:47:18 and like... but they're not doing anything
00:04:49:13 to like help the problem,
00:04:52:11 they're just sort of like sweeping it under the rug
00:04:56:07 or further East.
00:04:58:08 There is like rumors that they're shipping
00:05:00:08 all the homeless people to Victoria and stuff like that,
00:05:04:02 we were talking about that.
00:05:05:17 They're going to reopen like the Insane Asylum,
00:05:09:01 this part of the region, they're there in the first place.
00:05:10:28 Yeah, lot of free mental institutions to set everyone up.
00:05:13:13 -Riverside. -Set everyone up on the street,
00:05:15:16 and they've been talking about reopening that,
00:05:17:13 and like housing people in there.
00:05:19:27 [Music]
00:05:22:08 This is Strange Notes, you are welcome.