ifitbeyourwill S06E26 • 54-40

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Here we are, people.
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Another episode of If It Be Your Will Podcast coming at you.
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Uh trying to connect with artists across the world to talk about their musical journey.
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And today, what a treat.
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I have Neil Osborne from 54-40, a great Canadian band that's been around for quite some time.
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And we're on the eve of uh their latest release called Porto coming out in this month of January 2026.
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Um, and I just again I'm a super big fan of Neil, been following 54-40 since uh well, since the first record came out.
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So if I nerd out a bit, people, sorry, I will contain myself.
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Um, Neil, it's just such a pleasure.
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Um, these are like kind of bucket moments for myself, uh, having artists that I can talk to in real time uh uh of music that I've been listening to that's just been a part of me.
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So thank you for for that.
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Uh and and my development as a person just through listening to what you put out there.
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Um appreciate you saying that.
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Well, it's a real, real honor.
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Um, Neil, I guess I typically start these off kind of like going back in time and those early Vancouver years of when 54-40 was first starting to get its legs under it.
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Um can you paint us a picture of that of that time of when you were just starting up and and songs were starting to get written and you were performing?
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And what was the feel of those early songs, records, and and and the audience members' reaction to what you guys were doing um when you first started in those Vancouver clubs all those years ago?
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Right.
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So looking back, I can only I can only do that.
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You know, I can't go there.
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Right.
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But uh as I recall, I mean, you know, Brad and I started this this band out of high school, and we were part of the Vancouver, not part of the Vancouver scene, but we were fans of the Vancouver scene, which started pretty much as a punk rock scene.
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But it was also we called it in those days, to be quite honest, more of an underground scene, and it truly was.
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There was, you know, the Oddfellows hall or basically little speakeasies or where people would rent a warehouse, maybe graphic artists or painters, and then they'd have a gig to raise a few bucks, you know, sell a beer for a buck and try to pay their rent, that kind of thing.
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Or art school, and so there was other weird bands like avant-garde type bands that because there wasn't a million bands, there was a few punk rock bands, DOA was the I guess the flag bearer.
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And then there was New Wave bands like Pointed Sticks and a few others, and then just anybody could sort of fit in if you were part of that underground, which later became a word called a t alternative, I guess, scene.
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Uh for us, it the it was just the energy was amazing and so intense, because you know, jumping on stage in a in a nightclub and you're 19 or 20 and and it you were part of a scene at that point.
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Uh it just felt so electric and so alive.
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And, you know, one of the first gigs we did, well, I guess I don't know how if it's inside the first ten or something like that, we played a place called Gary Taylor's Rock Room, which was a strip club, except for Monday nights they had uh new wave bands, what they called new wave bands.
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And we did a gig there, and we were so excited and nervous that we were we did a cover like uh emulating the jams.
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Um what the hell's that?
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An R and B song.
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I can't remember it.
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Weird.
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Anyway, can play it.
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Anyways, uh it got sp it sped up and sped up and sped up and sped up that we just crashed.
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We were three-piece.
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And there's one guy leaning against you know the wall behind us or in front of us, and he just smiled and started clapping.
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And that ended up being Alan Moy, our manager.
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Who's still our manager?
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Wow.
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So he saw something there.
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Uh you know, there was just this incredible feeling and energy, and uh it was just everything was exciting and electric and almost in my case, too hard to handle, like just too much energy.
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Yeah, and so I think that somehow translated on stage.
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You know, when we went on stage, we were so in the moment, barely able to control what was going on, which is kind of one of the great definitions of rock and roll, is like almost out of control, right?
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And uh, I guess people kind of like that because we kept getting asked to open for other bands, and then all of a sudden we could do our own shows, and something worked, you know, and then I think the songwriting evolved and came kind of later than just performing ideas, musical ideas, which you know, some of our older fans or people that have given up on us that liked us in the early days, liked the more experimental, just feeling around where potential goes and and putting it out there.
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And then we learned our craft uh you know on the fly, really.
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Interesting.
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Yeah, because it it those early recordings that that are out there, it does have this kind of post-punky feel to you to what you guys are doing, that kind of on the edge all the time, you know, of frenetic, um which was amazing, and then the evolution of you know, how did that songwriting, and you just kind of mentioned it a bit, how did that start to change a little bit or shift in your approach to writing songs from more of just wow, we're playing in front of people, to you know, when people are starting to m recognize you more.
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I imagine you put more attention into how your songs were crafted.
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Uh well, I mean, if you're implying that to cater to an audience, I don't think that was ever the case necessarily.
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You know.
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We just figured out stuff a little better.
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You know, it's there's a great quote from uh I think one uh either the bass player, the guitar player from New Order when they were in Joy Division.
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And they always thought they were writing pop songs.
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They just didn't know how.
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And it came out what those came out, which people love, obviously.
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And that's kind of what we thought.
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And then all of a sudden we kind of were writing, you know, we were wanted to write, you know, good catchy rock songs.
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And uh, you know, and the more we wrote, we j we just sort of followed, you know, our ears, I guess, or what our taste and uh and things things kind of evolved.
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You know, I I can't say it more than that.
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I mean, for for us from from our perspective, especially Brad and I, you know, it's quite a natural evolution, you know.
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Yeah.
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I wouldn't necessarily say that this that we've improved or you know, I just it's just those are all representations of our abilities and where we're at at the time, just like the new one is.
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Right.
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There's no no right or wrong or rhyme or reason, really.
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Yeah.
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Does that make any sense?
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Yeah, yeah.
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Kind of like spots in time along your experiences and um they evolve into an LP.
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Um with what the tools you have and the perspective that you have and the energy that you have, and everything that comes into play doing during it, it you manifest something, it's entirely valid.
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It might not be successful, it might not be something that wanna you want to listen to for very long, or it might be something that lasts for a long, long time.
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Uh, you never know.
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Exactly.
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Did did you guys know when you were writing when it was a 54-40 song that would have legs to it?
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Or were some like, okay, let's let's shelve that one.
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Like when you were writing songs, would you always be able to pick out like, yeah, this one will work really good with what where we're at right now and what we want to you know put on the next record or whatnot?
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Yeah.
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So yes, I had a I had a it's funny because uh at Dave Ginn, who joined the band, I don't know, 22 years ago or 23 years ago.
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I don't even know when he joined.
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23 years ago, I guess.
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You know, he'd aft asked me a lot of stories of those days and and continues with him, but I always had a sense of like, okay, this one, this one's gonna track, I can tell.
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And I'd be about half right.
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And he said, if you had if you were an AR guy, you'd be a billionaire because guess you know, singles about half the ones that be right and successful.
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So it's not easy.
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It's just that once again, the sort of energy behind it and there's a catchiness to it uh when we were writing it, you just you just go with it.
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And then when we take songs on the in those days, and including with this new record Porto, we we took them on the road.
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So we got good feedback.
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So for instance, like a shaw a song like Sheila, it was on the road a lot.
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And uh we could tell it was coming back very well, and we already knew it had a good vibe to it.
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So when we went and recorded it, we just kind of performed what we were doing live and it and it tracked well as what again.
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So I don't know, it's yeah, there's an intuition about it.
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Once again, I just if it's catchy to me, then that's one.
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Right.
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Hopefully there's another.
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And then if it's catchy to two people, well then maybe they can be catchy to four, and you know, and they tell two friends, and they tell two friends.
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Right.
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And then you're it's not just your friends showing up at the shows anymore, yeah.
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People that actually, you know, like it it evolves pretty quickly.
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And like a song like I Go Blind, right?
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Like when that was when you were creating that, did you get a sense that that song was gonna become this anthem that would be timeless?
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Like, I'm sure that song is on many people's top hundred songs all time, just because of what it does to us emotionally and human-wise.
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Yeah, like are those kinds of songs, like what was the surprise of that?
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Like, what like what's going on here with this song?
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Like, what how did you the band take that?
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Um that that people grabbed onto that song and just went with it, like ran with it.
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And I mean, I'm sure when you're performing that live, you don't hear the band anymore, you just hear everyone singing it because everyone knows that song.
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Exactly.
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Yeah, we get that actually with a lot of songs, yeah.
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You know, I remember we were singing uh lies to me, you know.
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What's wrong with me?
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I'm not supposed to be.
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And then my I had a little dry spell in my throat, and I couldn't say happy all the time.
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And the whole crowd sang it, it's like, shit, I don't even need to sing this song.
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This is awesome.
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Um, so I go blind, you know, once again, I had I remember I was uh living with my uh then girlfriend at the time in a commercial drive in a basement suite apartment, and you know, the futon on the floor, that kind of lifestyle.
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And she was she was out or something, and I had the guitar and I was lying on my back, and I came up with that that riff, and then just said, every time I look at you, I go blind.
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It's like okay, I'll park that.
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Couldn't really turn it into anything.
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And then we were working on this other song, uh, Phil and I, primarily, you know.
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In the morning I get up, dun dun.
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You know, it's kind of an easy little wandering folk song.
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And then he said, as I understand, why don't we put those two together?
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Because we couldn't sort of figure out an arrangement, and it became this weird arrangement, and it's like, okay, let's just do it.
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Honestly, I never thought, Chris, that uh that was going to be one that would work.
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We just put it in there, it felt kind of good.
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Uh, it didn't seem like a complete song to me, but it was enough of a musical statement that we stuck it in.
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And I remember when we uh released the Green Record and we played our first headline at the Commodore Ballroom in Vancouver, and we didn't play I go blind because we just didn't think it was, you know, I don't know why we didn't play it, and we got a lot of complaints.
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And it was like, oh, oh, oh.
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So that was a surprise for me.
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It was that one where I called.
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I went that one, that one's gonna turn.
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I never thought that.
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I thought it was just a good little song.
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Yeah, you know, like some of the others that we have, like Apollo and Me or something like that.
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We always have this sort of GC m melodic journey that's not too hard to get.
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Uh, but I never call them complete songs, they're just nice little statements, you know, nice little appetizer or something.
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Right, right.
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And that one just turned into a hit.
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So I don't know.
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Sometimes you you I guess you you're not even aware sometimes when you kind of catch lightning in a bottle that I guess, yeah.
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I don't know, you know, and and and who knows like at that time what was going on and like the world kind of looking for something.
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But I mean, at the heart of that song, I think that it kind of avoids any kind of resolution.
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And I started to think about that how some of your songs just are you leave things there for people to kind of think about and feel as humans.
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Um, and I started to see that coming out in Porto as I was listening to it again, right?
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Where you present ideas and then there's no kind of resolution to it.
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It's up to you as the listener to kind of seep your experiences inside that.
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And there's something in particular about Virgil that I I wanted to ask you about lyric-wise.
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Um and the lyric is I I think this is the chorus, and I just uh want this shift to end right now so that I can love you again and again and again.
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What's that shift, Neil, that you're talking about?
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So there's a theme that runs out runs through the whole record, and it's very young, Carl Young uh inspired.
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Um you know, we have the song running for the fence and and so which is hiding behind defenses with default positions when there's too much stress or fear or person, you know, the things that you even from childhood that you're not even aware that you've that you sort of do, and that restricts your ability to sort of uh be free from inside or maybe your true self.
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You know, I don't want to get too trippy here.
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Virgil, I mean we can get into w how that was inspired by a dream, and Virgil is from Dante's Divine Comedy and all that, but the line you're referring to is the process that you have to go through.
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You can only sort of love or be as free as as soon as you as as you forgive yourself or love yourself, right?
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As integrated and that's the theory, and I do believe it's true.
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In other words, when you're feeling good, and you can feel good at any moment, maybe after your first cup of coffee, uh that radiates an energy, right?
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Um when you're not feeling good, you you sort of get tunnel vision.
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So you have to go through all this stuff, you have to integrate this stuff, you know.
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Like Carl Jung talks about the shadows, right?
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Shadow personalities, in other words, things that you repress uh become shadows, and they they affect maybe you get cranky, or maybe you don't know why you're having road rage, or all these things.
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This that's a simple way of of putting it.
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So you have to go through those shifts.
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That's that's like a shift in a coal mine or or whatever, right?
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You have to do the dirty work.
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If you don't do the dirty work, you're not gonna sort of rise up above to be free to love.
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And and that's really the message of the song, and that's also the message of of the of of Dante's divine comedy s in a s in essence.
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So I just like I had a dream that sort of I can get into if you like.
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Uh I had no idea what the dream was telling me, and this name Beatrice kept popping into my head in the dream, and then you know, like you do, you kind of look up what that is, and it be she was the muse of of Dante's divine comedy, and she's in heaven, sends Virgil down to help Dante navigate the nine levels of hell so she she can uh help bring him back up.
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In other words, he can surrender to be his true self and then therefore easy to love and lovable.
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So, or he can love too.
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So that's that's without getting too crazy.
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That's the song.
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It's amazing.
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And what was it that dream that kind of like opened this door to Porto?
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Or like how did this kind of record come to be in the sense that okay, I have this this nucleus of this idea, and then you started writing songs around that, or did you go back into the archives and kind of like look at some things that you kind of put aside and start pulling them in, or was this are these all like written lately, these songs?
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Um most of the so there's a few ideas that were kicking around um for years, actually.
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A couple of them, like Thank You, Mother.
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Um maybe that's it.
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Yeah.
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Maybe some of the elements of work not worry.
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Um But it's funny you you identified Virgil because that was that was the way in.
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That's the door to the whole album.
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That was the first song I wrote for it.
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And it's such a I mean, I love how it it crashes you know the after the verses and then the chorus crashes in, like it's so 54-40 and like the best parts of I just love how that comes in.
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Um like it's just it feels inspired and like oh yes, that's the song I've been waiting for them to write.
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Um based on you know your whole catalog that that is out there.
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Yeah.
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No, can I ask you how how did you it was your process to writing these songs similar to like past records, or did it come about so you had that that door that opened up.
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Did your songwriting process maintain the way that it has typically been for writing the rest of the songs that that are encompassed in this record?
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Not necessarily.
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So there's two parts to that answer to this answer, I guess.
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One is you always, you know, yeah, I'm I'm I'm the person that I am, or evolved.
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In other words, what attracts my ears or heart or sense of music that lifts is always the same.
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But the process is was definitely different on this one.
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So there's a lot I uh wanted like a lot of the rock songs and even the the the riff in in uh in Virgil, actually most of the songs I got this old 1960 something or other super amp with a little eight-inch speaker, you know?
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Yeah, and it's so garage sounding, it's awesome.
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It sounds like the kinks or something.
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And I just sat here one day in in my studio and uh just started coming up with stuff, right?
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They say that about guitars, and I had I had an old super guitar too, and an old Gretsch.
00:20:45.519 --> 00:20:57.039
And they both sounded amazing through this amp, you know, and I think it was Neil Young or somebody that qu said that, you know, something about old guitars, they all got music in them.
00:20:57.039 --> 00:20:58.400
And I find that too.
00:20:58.400 --> 00:21:02.559
And sometimes they say hello to you doing and they're friendly to you, and sometimes they're not friendly.
00:21:02.559 --> 00:21:08.559
New guitars don't even don't even know the guitars yet, they still think they're trees, so that's really talked with a new guitar.
00:21:08.559 --> 00:21:25.359
So I had this old guitar and this old amp, and then I just went, Whoa, something's happening here, you know, and so I started recording them all and then doubling Gretchen Supro, and then I had these double so it's like the whole Virgil thing was actually the first thing that I the riff that I came out with.
00:21:25.359 --> 00:21:36.960
And so I parked all that and then I sort of sketched some melody ideas while swimming around emotionally and vibe-wise where I think this could go.
00:21:36.960 --> 00:21:46.799
All you know, the emotive you something about a music, music that there's an emotive transcendence, there's a there's a connection that you all automatically feel.
00:21:46.799 --> 00:21:48.960
It doesn't have to be any words or anything like that.
00:21:48.960 --> 00:21:56.720
In fact, the words I always have to be careful because they can make that potential smaller, that emotion.
00:21:56.720 --> 00:21:58.400
You know, you don't want to overdefine something.
00:21:58.400 --> 00:21:59.920
You were alluding to it earlier.
00:21:59.920 --> 00:22:02.000
I always leave the answers open-ended.
00:22:02.000 --> 00:22:04.400
A lot not a lot of conclusions.
00:22:04.400 --> 00:22:16.960
Um for that very reason, so that you can experience what I think I'm experiencing emotion emotively while you're on that journey listening you know, to the music.
00:22:16.960 --> 00:22:21.599
But anyhow, so I've been getting into this Carl Young thing.
00:22:21.599 --> 00:22:23.839
I was really into it for the fight for love record.
00:22:23.839 --> 00:22:27.200
And then I decided to get readopt it.
00:22:27.200 --> 00:22:29.440
Yeah, right.
00:22:29.440 --> 00:22:34.240
To the point where I was I was getting analysis, which is different from therapy, by the way.
00:22:34.240 --> 00:22:46.400
You know, you you s you talk with your analyst y in in in terms of shadows and dreams and uh visions and creative creativity and and well, what is that telling you?
00:22:46.400 --> 00:22:49.839
That's that's kind of you know, not that I need help here.
00:22:49.839 --> 00:22:51.839
What is the messages that I'm already getting?
00:22:51.839 --> 00:22:54.880
What is what does my body already know?
00:22:54.880 --> 00:22:56.319
These kinds of things.
00:22:56.319 --> 00:23:09.839
So when it came time to uh put the words in, uh something I've rarely done but on every song in this record, I never wrote one down.
00:23:09.839 --> 00:23:22.400
I kind of had a an idea you know swimming around in my head, and you know, maybe a title you know, or kind of a concept of what it that will be about.
00:23:22.400 --> 00:23:28.720
And then what I did is I sang about four takes of each song over about three days, and I went through all eleven.
00:23:28.720 --> 00:23:35.200
The only songs that the only ideas that that we ever looked at for this whole record were eleven and they all made the record.
00:23:35.200 --> 00:23:39.200
Sometimes it's like you have thirty or twenty-five and ten make a record.
00:23:39.200 --> 00:23:41.599
This was like no every one of these is something.
00:23:41.599 --> 00:23:49.599
So I went in uh and I just started singing whatever came out of my mouth, right, with a general idea.
00:23:49.599 --> 00:24:14.240
Or maybe I had a like the transcript of that dream and Virgil in front of me even though none of the words in the dream except the w the name, not even Virgil, to tell you the truth, because it was all about Beatrice, but the idea, the emotion of it, and I just sort of and I knew what you know, having looked up what the poem was about, this just started to come out.
00:24:14.240 --> 00:24:22.559
So without judging or trying not to judge, although if something resonated, I'd sing that same line again in the second take.
00:24:22.559 --> 00:24:24.480
But new words would just pop out.
00:24:24.480 --> 00:24:26.720
And I swear to God, this is all true.
00:24:26.720 --> 00:24:33.920
And then, you know, a couple of days later I'd listen to it back and go, Oh, I like that, I like that, I like that, I'll put that there.
00:24:33.920 --> 00:24:41.039
That'll be the chorus, you know, and I just physically on the computer moved them around and it fit.
00:24:41.039 --> 00:24:44.559
I never really had to sort of change kind of anything.
00:24:44.559 --> 00:24:51.839
They I have a natural ability to sort of rhyme anyway, right?
00:24:51.839 --> 00:25:00.799
Like uh when we perform live something, sometimes I'll just start playing a couple chords and start singing whatever comes out of my mouth, just feel like it.
00:25:00.799 --> 00:25:14.000
And I'd say eight times out of ten you know, the first few lines kinda kinda work, and then I lose it, but anyhow, so that that I knew I was on to something.
00:25:14.000 --> 00:25:27.599
And with this whole record, and it's one of those few really in a different way, you know, combined with all our experience, age, and wisdom, it's very much like those that early energy we were talking about when we first started.
00:25:27.599 --> 00:25:30.160
It's like, holy moly, we're we're this is magic.
00:25:30.160 --> 00:25:31.519
How did we tap into this?
00:25:31.519 --> 00:25:33.680
Just the creation of music and performing.
00:25:33.680 --> 00:25:35.920
It's like, what a thrill.
00:25:35.920 --> 00:25:39.920
So here we were with this sort of energy or wind at our back.
00:25:39.920 --> 00:25:45.519
And you know, when I brought the band in, um, you know, we were very quick on the arrangements.
00:25:45.519 --> 00:25:57.039
They turned up some of those songs, you know, like even Running for the Fence was more kind of a folk song with a little keyboard, and you know, Dave right away said, This is a rock song, and here we go.
00:25:57.039 --> 00:25:58.480
And like, yeah.
00:25:58.480 --> 00:26:02.720
And uh didn't argue, didn't fight about any of that.
00:26:02.720 --> 00:26:11.920
Those guys just sort of we had three days here and I, you know, basically said, We got 90 minutes a song to come up with how it's gonna sound.
00:26:11.920 --> 00:26:14.400
And you know, Dave, you're gonna play your solo.
00:26:14.400 --> 00:26:29.119
And then that translated into bringing Warren Livsey into production and he really liked the the energy and the liveness, and we talked about, you know, things like Jack White or old 54-40, where was pretty much live off the floor.
00:26:29.119 --> 00:26:31.119
And that's what we did in Portugal.
00:26:31.119 --> 00:26:32.880
We were all in a circle.
00:26:32.880 --> 00:26:35.519
You know, I had that I brought that little amp.
00:26:35.519 --> 00:26:35.759
Yeah.
00:26:35.759 --> 00:26:37.279
That's the amp that that I play.
00:26:37.279 --> 00:26:40.160
You can hear it on one side of the speaker, the whole record.
00:26:40.160 --> 00:26:48.640
And then Dave had one there that was a a fender version of the same thing, an old deluxe reverb from the fifties, tiny little thing, you know, the tweed color.
00:26:48.640 --> 00:26:51.599
Very powerful and garagey.
00:26:51.599 --> 00:26:59.119
And you know, Warren said to Dave, okay, you're gonna play your part, and then when you hit the solo, press a pedal or whatever, we're not overdubbing.
00:26:59.119 --> 00:27:16.000
You know, there's a few little keyboard textures that are overdubbed, but all the main body of the song wasn't, you know, the old like we you go through that, you know, we went through that in the 90s and a little in the early 2000s, where it's like every chord's gotta be punched in and such of this.
00:27:16.000 --> 00:27:17.839
And it's like, ah, fuck off.
00:27:17.839 --> 00:27:18.799
You know?
00:27:18.799 --> 00:27:19.680
Yeah, yeah.
00:27:19.680 --> 00:27:22.640
You wonder, like, your record's only 40 minutes.
00:27:22.640 --> 00:27:24.720
Why did it take you four months?
00:27:24.720 --> 00:27:27.359
Why didn't it take you 40 minutes, you know?
00:27:28.319 --> 00:27:44.079
Has that always been the case, Neil, though, like of kind of like not over tinkering, you know, and letting it just be true to itself or you know, letting those old guitars speak for themselves and not trying to you know overdub or too much time.
00:27:45.200 --> 00:27:46.480
No, it hasn't been always the case.
00:27:46.480 --> 00:27:49.440
I mean, that's that's been the foundation for sure.
00:27:49.440 --> 00:27:52.559
You know, because when we play them live, that's what you get.
00:27:52.559 --> 00:27:55.440
We don't know really how to play the tracks.
00:27:55.440 --> 00:27:59.200
A lot of a lot of bands do, and whatever.
00:27:59.200 --> 00:28:05.920
Um you know, but the thing is the studio can be a lot of fun and it can be addictive in terms of creativity, right?
00:28:05.920 --> 00:28:08.079
It's like, ooh, what does this do?
00:28:08.079 --> 00:28:13.039
You know, ooh, what if we bring in strings or ooh, what about this weird synthesizer?
00:28:13.039 --> 00:28:13.920
That's kind of cool.
00:28:13.920 --> 00:28:25.920
Like, that's just natural to sort of want to play with stuff and smear your record with it and become this weird spaghetti sauce that no one's really gonna want to taste because you've got everything in it.
00:28:26.160 --> 00:28:26.799
Right.
00:28:28.160 --> 00:28:33.599
And then you realize, you know what, just tomato sauce, maybe a little beef or whatever, you know.
00:28:33.599 --> 00:28:35.599
Like let's just keep it simple.
00:28:35.839 --> 00:28:36.640
Yeah, yeah.
00:28:36.640 --> 00:28:44.559
And is your kind of your closing um thoughts on on this final production of Porta?
00:28:44.559 --> 00:28:53.039
Is that does it follow those lines where it's you know, you didn't mess with it too much, it really just kind of is what you intended it to be.
00:28:53.039 --> 00:28:53.759
Absolutely.
00:28:54.799 --> 00:28:55.039
Yeah.
00:28:55.039 --> 00:29:02.000
Yeah, and Warren Livsey did an excellent job of bringing that out and then helping define it even better.
00:29:02.000 --> 00:29:03.119
I think.
00:29:03.119 --> 00:29:05.119
And we had a great time, right?
00:29:05.119 --> 00:29:09.279
So we went to Porto in Portugal, that's why it's called that.
00:29:09.279 --> 00:29:12.000
And that cover, that's me on that bridge, by the way.
00:29:12.000 --> 00:29:12.720
Oh, cool.
00:29:12.720 --> 00:29:19.200
Dave Gannon and Warren both took the picture, and the and the graphic artist combined the two to make one picture.
00:29:19.200 --> 00:29:23.759
And that bridge is is is one of the relatives of Eiffel.
00:29:23.759 --> 00:29:26.880
If you turn it sideways, it almost looks like the Eiffel Tower.
00:29:26.880 --> 00:29:27.599
True.
00:29:27.599 --> 00:29:37.599
Um every day that bridge is covered in tourists, except that day was raining, and even the band the guys in the band took Ubers, and I said, No, I'm walking, I walk every day to the studio.
00:29:37.599 --> 00:29:42.240
So they took a picture of me beautiful uh walking in the rain.
00:29:42.240 --> 00:29:45.279
Yeah, great um cover art.
00:29:45.279 --> 00:29:54.880
Yeah, and that's a view from the place that we had, which was a seven-bedroom, seven-bathroom on the riverbank, uh looking at the bridge and the river.
00:29:54.880 --> 00:30:02.559
And uh you know, so it was Alan Moira manager who I referred to earlier, right, who was at that first gig at the strip club.
00:30:02.559 --> 00:30:15.359
And uh the four guys of the band and my brother, who plays keyboards and sacks, piano, and then uh Warren, we and we all lived together for three weeks.
00:30:15.359 --> 00:30:17.039
It was so much fun.
00:30:17.039 --> 00:30:19.759
And it's just like the old school days, right?
00:30:19.759 --> 00:30:26.799
And you know, you can't you can call home, but it's nine hours different, so you know, it's not really you can't carry all that stuff.
00:30:26.799 --> 00:30:32.079
Not that it's bad, but you want your focus in the music, and that's definitely what was happening.
00:30:32.559 --> 00:30:33.440
That's really cool.
00:30:33.440 --> 00:30:47.839
And you know, you say that too, and I'm I had the privilege of listening to the whole thing so far, and you get that sense of joy a bit, you know, and the the connection between you guys just seems tighter than it's ever felt.
00:30:47.839 --> 00:30:53.039
Um but at the same time it's still loose and free a bit.
00:30:53.039 --> 00:30:57.039
Um one of the songs, yeah, like the song Whale.
00:30:57.039 --> 00:31:01.200
I mean, I just think that that is I can't get enough of that song.
00:31:01.200 --> 00:31:04.079
Um yeah, that for a while, that was my favorite too.
00:31:04.079 --> 00:31:15.839
Oh, I just think it's just so powerful and um I love how it just kind of inches up and inches up and it just gets you as as a listener.
00:31:15.839 --> 00:31:18.559
Anyway, I I just love the whole record.
00:31:18.559 --> 00:31:25.279
Um Neil, I guess I'll I'll close out with this is what what happens from here on?
00:31:25.279 --> 00:31:27.839
Um it's getting launched next week.
00:31:27.839 --> 00:31:38.880
Um what what's in store for 54-40 for the first part of this 2026 that you can share with uh well not much to be quite honest.
00:31:39.119 --> 00:31:46.000
You know, just the the record's coming out and we're you know trying to get people to listen to it and maybe talk about it like you, so thank you for that.
00:31:46.000 --> 00:31:49.759
Um we had a very busy 2025.
00:31:49.759 --> 00:31:53.759
We did more shows, we did over 55 shows, something like that.
00:31:53.759 --> 00:31:58.480
So, um, which is more than we've done since the 90s.
00:31:58.480 --> 00:32:02.720
Uh but what that does is leave a bit of a vacuum.
00:32:02.720 --> 00:32:05.680
And also we're gonna take some time off.
00:32:05.680 --> 00:32:11.279
I'm gonna uh I'm gonna take my wife to Mexico in two days for three weeks.
00:32:11.599 --> 00:32:11.839
Awesome.
00:32:12.400 --> 00:32:18.079
Hang out with some friends, and then uh and then I'm going to Europe in my in April.
00:32:18.559 --> 00:32:18.720
Okay.
00:32:18.960 --> 00:32:20.000
Uh again.
00:32:20.000 --> 00:32:32.880
I think uh the gigs will start up again in May or June, and then it's gonna get really busy, and we'll be doing at least three songs, hope maybe two, but hopefully three, you know, songs from the record.
00:32:32.880 --> 00:32:38.640
The other thing I I'd like to say is that we before we went into the studio, we did take all these songs live at least twice.
00:32:38.640 --> 00:32:39.440
Okay.
00:32:39.440 --> 00:32:42.799
So we kind of had that to hammer out things a bit.
00:32:42.799 --> 00:32:43.440
Yeah.
00:32:43.440 --> 00:32:52.000
Well it's more it's just you know, there's uh the old saying that we used to have that one rehearsal or one gig is worth twenty rehearsals, right?
00:32:52.000 --> 00:33:03.839
Uh like when so when you're in front of five hundred or two thousand people or whatever it is, and you're playing a new song, it's tells you something about what's gonna what the song does.
00:33:03.839 --> 00:33:04.240
Right.
00:33:04.240 --> 00:33:08.079
More than you can learn by recording it or rehearsing it.
00:33:08.079 --> 00:33:09.599
It's something interesting.
00:33:09.599 --> 00:33:10.880
I don't know what that is.
00:33:10.880 --> 00:33:15.039
Other people probably can define it better than me, but yeah, it's something.
00:33:15.119 --> 00:33:21.200
So do you do you watch the crowd when like say when you're like trying a new song for the first time on stage?
00:33:21.200 --> 00:33:35.519
Are you more focused on the band or do you gander out to see the reac like the reaction of the fans and well it's very immediate and very quick, you know, and and and uh you know, we would get the response.
00:33:35.680 --> 00:33:43.680
Generally it would be like people actually listen, you can tell they there was sort of a a response like, yeah, thanks, or whatever.
00:33:43.680 --> 00:33:48.000
It's funny, you know, you talk about your your reaction to Virgil.
00:33:48.000 --> 00:33:56.480
I mean, I did a little solo show actually with my brother out, you know, when I just sort of written the song.
00:33:56.480 --> 00:34:01.759
Um and I decided to just play it to see see where it was.
00:34:01.759 --> 00:34:06.319
Just me in acoustic and my brother, you know, supporting me on a saxophone.
00:34:06.319 --> 00:34:14.320
And it's and it was only about a hundred people in a little cafe, just something to gig, you know, showed up at a gig to do it.
00:34:14.320 --> 00:34:18.159
And some guy goes, There's my 54-40.
00:34:18.159 --> 00:34:19.519
I just went, Wow.
00:34:19.519 --> 00:34:20.320
Okay.
00:34:21.760 --> 00:34:23.119
Is that you, by the way?
00:34:23.119 --> 00:34:29.039
I've sadly never been to Vancouver, which I have on my list to do for sure.
00:34:29.039 --> 00:34:33.840
First it was interview 54-40, and then next one's to visit Vancouver.
00:34:33.840 --> 00:34:40.079
Um but yeah, I'd love to uh I'm gonna I'll make my way out there eventually, but that sounds really amazing.
00:34:40.079 --> 00:34:41.519
That sounds really amazing.
00:34:41.519 --> 00:34:43.440
Well, Neil, I want to thank you.
00:34:43.440 --> 00:34:44.480
Um thank you.
00:34:44.480 --> 00:34:50.079
I I I've kind of spilled a little bit over our time, but I just um you're totally worth it.
00:34:50.079 --> 00:34:54.239
And I want to just keep talking with you, but I'll respect your time and day.
00:34:54.239 --> 00:34:56.639
And um great, great record.
00:34:56.639 --> 00:35:09.920
Uh I wish you all the best too, and and some much needed rest and relaxation and just kind of déclenche, as we say here in Quebec, uh, from the world a little bit and all that it uh has to offer and all this beauty.
00:35:09.920 --> 00:35:19.920
Um if you want to get a listening of Porto, there's a bandcamp listening party on January 20th at 8:30 ES um Eastern Standard.
00:35:19.920 --> 00:35:28.719
So check it out, it will be a great listen, and you'll understand all the rave that I have about this record because it is something really outstanding.
00:35:28.719 --> 00:35:32.960
Great work, um, Neil, to you and the band, and again, all the best.
00:35:32.960 --> 00:35:35.760
And uh, you know, I'm a fan forever.
00:35:35.760 --> 00:35:41.599
Uh, and thanks for putting this out in the world so that we get to uh feel 54-40 in our hearts again.
00:35:41.599 --> 00:35:42.320
So thank you.
00:35:42.320 --> 00:35:43.440
Thank you.
00:35:43.440 --> 00:35:44.880
Thank you so much.
00:35:46.400 --> 00:35:46.880
Great.
00:36:03.199 --> 00:36:07.840
I couldn't live without you.
00:36:07.840 --> 00:36:14.639
I couldn't be nervous.
00:36:14.639 --> 00:36:22.880
I don't live without you now.
00:36:22.880 --> 00:36:30.400
I look at my phone.
00:36:30.400 --> 00:36:34.159
It told me it called me.
00:36:34.159 --> 00:36:38.000
It told me it's me.
00:36:38.000 --> 00:37:21.280
Now everything everywhere It told me it was me it all too late, too late to make it better.
00:37:21.280 --> 00:37:30.000
Run away start to away now.
00:37:30.000 --> 00:37:35.119
I think I wanna carry it off too late, too late.
00:37:35.119 --> 00:38:08.880
I'll be forgotten and start to away, way, way, way in It's all me in all me.