Rene: Welcome to Earshifter. He's Sean Capstick.

Sean: and he's Rene Rouleau. And Rene, tell us why are we here? 

Rene: Sean, we are here because we are very passionate about music and we would like to share with you what bands we feel we're kind of overlooked and we're very passionate about. And maybe, who knows, you might like them too, or you already like them and you're like, Hey, I'd like to know more about that band. We are here for you people. We are here. 

Sean: Okay, well I've got my work cut out for me on this episode 'cause I want to talk about sparks. So Sparks is a band that have been making music for over 60 years. They have 28 albums and they have started genres, stopped playing genres, gone back to genres. So many times it's really hard to classify the band, but they're two brothers, Ron and Russell Male.

And unlike other brothers like the Reed brothers who were great pop, uh, they wrote different. Catchy pop songs. You know, they don't hate being rock stars anymore. Like the Reed Brothers and the Reed Brothers are from witch band Jesus and the Merky Rain. 

Rene: Yes. 

Sean: Otherwise known as the Jesus and Mary chain.

Yes. One of our faves, and they're kind of similar to the Butler brothers. Who started a look, you know, have kept that look from, uh, the start. But unlike the Butler brothers, they play their old hits, but they play their new songs, but really they just wanna play their old hits. Whereas sparks have vital new music that's doing as well as it has ever up until this day.

Rene: And just a little background there. He actually referenced the psych Fs or psychedelic Fs and Sean and I saw Jesus Mary chain and the psychedelic Fs here in Toronto a few months back. 

Sean: Yeah, both good bands, both good bands and like the Ashton brothers who were on a major label and got kicked off the major label and had a period of bad commercial success.

The sparks just kept going. They went through periods where I think they went a couple, like six, seven years between albums, even though they released an album at the beginning, you know, sometimes twice a year, every year. And now they're back on that every other year. Cycle they've kept going and the Ashton Brothers are.

I wanna say the Verve, but I'm not sure. Oh, that would've been a good, uh, brothers, it's the band that the world forgot about. Gene Loves Jezebel. 

Rene: Oh, that is Gene Loves. Okay. And I was thinking Richard Ashcroft and I got thrown. Yeah. Gotcha. Now 

Sean: the, what is the Ashcroft now the, uh, who are the brothers in the Stooges who were pretty good brothers?

No idea. The Ashton Brothers as well. Yeah, there were two brothers in the original Stooges. Yeah, that's good. Uh, great band. So who, you know, the sparks, if we'll talk about the influence that Sparks have had on people, but Sparks have worked with a lot of people, right. Todd Rundgren, who also produced the New York Dolls, Patty Smith.

The psych first. The last good one, the what is it? Ghost In You? That was Todd Rundgren. He produced Spark's first album, Tony Visconti, who worked with. David Bowie, mark Boland, T-Rex, Iggy Pop, Damon Albarn. He produced my favorite album. And then what we'll talk about a lot is Georgio Moroder and Georgio Moroder, of course, from Disco fame, Donna Summer the Disco Blondie, David Bowie, Japan, Duran Duran.

You know, they all worked with Sparks, so, you know and the latest compilation from indie Pat from Portland they just came out with a new single, they're Gonna Be On The Gorilla is a new album, and that's probably as good an endorsement as you can Kat, uh, from someone 

Rene: that's pretty good.

And I hope I'm not stealing your thunder here, but there's also the Franz Ferdinand Club. The Fran Ferdin and collab. Yep. And I believe the album was called FSS Fran Ferdin And Sparks. Did they have a song 

Sean: called Collabs Never Work or something like that? That was one of the songs. I love that. And Johnny Delusional was the hit off that record.

Yeah. So I remember because Sparks are so memorable they're two brothers. The one brother sits at his keyboard looking very, you know, forlorn. Yeah. Straight face, doesn't, you know, he mugs for the camera. And then the other brother Prances and was quite a beautiful man, still is a beautiful man.

And uh, he danced around and. Ron, who's the keyboardist, writes all the lyrics, does all the music, and his brother Emos it and performs it. So they're really interesting. So I remember seeing them because I saw them on top of the Pops in 1979. You know, the summer of 1979. 

Rene: You know what I was gonna say was, Hmm, that reminds me of the Gallagher Brothers, because Liam really just sings, he can't play an instrument to save his life.

And the Gallagher Brothers are what the, what band are they from? I believe it's a band called Oasis. Oh yeah, I've heard of them. Oh my lord. Alright. Alright. He's gaslighting me now. 

Sean: We talked about it last episode. So It was the summer of 79. I was visiting my cousins in the UK and like everybody in the UK at that time I can't remember what night it was.

We watched top of the Pop Pops, so we all gathered around the telly. And top of the pops for people who don't know, this was when, again, television was important back then. This is how you consumed music. This is how I, you know found out about the band. It was a, like American Bandstand. It was a, a hit uh, the day on tv and.

Everybody had to lip sync on the show. So the bands just performed on the soundstage lip sync to their hits. So who was on that episode? The Sex Pistols. We're on that episode. Yes. The same episode. As the same episode as Sparks. Wow. They saying, come on everybody. So not from an album that you recognize.

Uh, but it was still, that was an okay, that was a catchy tune. That was a good pop tune. It was. Okay. Dave Edmonds Girl Talk. The UK Subs and Other Pink Band Stranglehold. I remember that one. I was, that, that was pretty cool. The Pretenders Kid. The Corgis, remember they, they were synth band.

They were kind of a, a, a band, Abba uvu. And then what, I remember this on top of the pops, but what was Gary Newman's first band? Well, it was Two-Way Army I believe. Two-Way Army. Our Friend's Electric was on that same love, that song, love 

Rene: that song. Question. So these 

Sean: are all on one episode top?

Yeah. They were charting and it was all about, you know, what was on, what was the, the charts back then were based on single sales, and so people were buying these as singles in the, in the shops on the High Street. So like the green room is filled with like 10 bands, basically. Yep. Wow. And I'm sure they.

You know, would've got along or not. The, the one that, the band that, that most influenced me for the shortest, for, for a longer period of time, but [00:08:00] was the BoomTown Rats. I don't like Mondays. So I remember coming back from the UK and buying those records and liking, you know, sir Bob Geldof. That was great.

But the sparks were on with Beat The Clock, which was a Georgie Moor production. And again, was like nothing I had ever seen. I bought the single and, it, you know, was, I knew at that point. I guess maybe I didn't recognize it, but, you know, oh, the other, the other band that was on there that I didn't mention that because that was the only band that I was familiar with before I went to the uk, the nac.

Aw, my so awesome. I had that album. You don't get it. That was, it was, it was nice. But, you know, I quickly moved on past my Sharon, I realized I like songs that maybe other people don't like, and that was okay. I came back to, you know, Otoko and uh, yeah, it did move me a little bit on that. But now it's the, the sparks.

So how about we [00:09:00] hear not beat the clock, but the, the other hit single that was a little bit earlier that year off that Georgio Meder album, number one song in Heaven, 

Rene: which I'm just gonna say up front, is my favorite song of sparks.

Sean: [00:10:00] Okay, so The Boo and the two, the whole album has that, that song on it, and it's, it's hard to think now how revolutionary that was at the time. Right. You know, the, the previous albums were guitar based, rock, guitar based operatic Prague, and then they went to totally synthesizers and that beats per minute.

That was. Really fast now we think nothing of that, but at the time that was like super fast and that really inspired a lot of bands. 

Rene: Yeah. And in fact, so now it's commonplace, but back then it was insane. And it inspired bands like depe mode probably, oh, a band I'm not fond of very much, but Yaz influenced Yaz as well.

And, and, and many, many others. But now it just feels like normal. But back then it was crazy. It 

Sean: was pretty revolutionary that Synthesizer Sequencer was, was was cutting edge. So I. [00:11:00] I started buying the band's records but never heard them 'cause there was no top of the pops in Canada. And you know, so they existed in, you know, in records for me and they're weird.

They are a weird band. So Renee, you are one of the few people that I've converted over to Sparks. Because usually I don't bother or I say, you should listen to that. And then people say, that's weird. So how, how would you suggest if someone hasn't listened to Sparks, how do they go about that? 

Rene: Okay. This is gonna be a very lame answer, but watch the documentary.

'cause I watched the documentary and that changed my perspective entirely. And I do wanna add something that you know about me, but I don't think our listeners do. I do not. Like music and comedy combined. I actually hate it enormously, which is why I hate the bare naked ladies and I'm using hate judiciously.

But in this case, I do hate the bare. And the [00:12:00] only one I hate more than bare naked ladies is weird. Al Yakovich. I cannot stand that guy. I think if I saw him on the street and he was walking on the sidewalk, I'd probably punch him and then run really fast hoping he couldn't punch me. 

Sean: Well, those are strong feelings.

I think you maybe should. You know, maybe just listen to maybe some silent comedy to, to calm down, you know, if that's, listen to silent comedy, Charlie, chaplain. You know, what are these always mean? Watch. 

Rene: Okay, but let me just say this. So this band, right, they do mix comedy and music, but for some reason. I'm okay with it.

And I think it's because I feel like their sense of humor is a bit more tongue in cheek and it's not so in your face like weird al or like bare naked ladies. There's some subtleties in it that I just love. They don't drop 

Sean: the persona. They are in interviews. They are in character. They're in character all the time.

[00:13:00] And yeah, and they loved performing. So we saw them last night. Isn't that great? You know, sparks played Toronto. It was a great show. People loved them. There was so much adoration, so at least, you know, 1500 people loved them. And it wasn't just old people. It wasn't just old people with uh, gray hair and uh, gel in their hair.

It was, you know, there were some young younger people. There was some kids that were dragged with their parents or voluntarily went with their parents. But there was some independent people. It was, it was really interesting. So you liked the show? 

Rene: I really, I did enjoy the show. There, honestly, man, I think I mentioned this to you yesterday.

I was like, oh, I think I like the idea of sparks more than I like the music of Sparks. But, but I mean that genuinely, and I really did enjoy the show. How many songs did I enjoy? Maybe four or five. And that's okay. I mean, you don't need them a whole lot. And I just love their enthusiasm. I love, like you said, their quirky stage presence and I kinda love what they stand [00:14:00] for which is just, you know what?

It's okay to be weird. Embrace her weird 

Sean: and go with it and do something different every time. So let's hear two songs they played last night one off their latest album that entered in the UK album charts at number two. That's their highest charting album ever. It's on their own record and label.

They've, they're independently publishing the song's called Matter or the, the album's called Matter. And the song is, what do you wanna say before we get, I think the album's called Mad. Mad. Oh yeah. Mad is the next one coming out. Oh, that's awesome. They've got more record. They've got something coming out again.

Do you think the third one's gonna be called Madis? Let's see. We know what they're going to do is whatever they want to, so let's hear the song. Do things my own way. All right, let's hear it.[00:15:00] 

Clip: Gonna do things my own way, not things my own way on a.

Gotta run things, gotta go do things, gotta do things. Gotta do. Gotta run. Two things. Gotta go, two things, gotta stay, two things, gotta go. Saw the told him no. 

Rene: Okay, so this is not one of my favorite songs. [00:16:00] In fact, the song actually kind of drives me a little crazy 'cause I know what they're trying to do, what they're going for.

That kind of staccato sort of, but I am not enjoying, I'm not enjoying the song. 

Sean: Well, I like the sediment of the song, just doing things their own way. And you know, after 60 years they can do things their own way. That's what they do. So one of their, you know, they've been. Down so many times uh, you know, they've been counted out.

One of their records was called w that sucker where they were pretending they were boxers and I think Ron or Russell's on the ground. They, they released an album called Senseless Violins and Gratuitous Sack. And they do this great song called, when Do I Get to Sing My Way? So let's hear that.

Let's hear that one

Speaker 7: when.[00:17:00] 

So when do

heaven?

Speaker 8: Yes.

Rene: Okay. So I like this song. I find it interesting that yes, he says Frank Sinatra, but he also references Sid Vicious. And what I find really fascinating is in that Rock Doc, which I, I know you're gonna talk about a little bit later on I remember Ron vividly saying that the Sex Pistols album was.

Absolutely amazing. Like they respect the Sex pistols in like, which makes [00:18:00] sense because at the beginning of that documentary, they talk about an old timey movie that they saw called Blackboard Jungle. 

Clip: Mm-hmm. Yeah. And in 

Rene: Blackboard Jungle, um, there's a theater and the theater seats get ripped out and thrown around.

Sean, the Clash. Came to Toronto, they got interviewed. Mm-hmm. And what did Joe Strummer say when 

Sean: he looked at the seats in the, in the Hummingbird Center? The O'Keefe Center at the time, and there were a dozen seats ripped out. He said There's at least a dozen Rock fans in Toronto. 

Rene: Yeah. Which I thought was really interesting.

So, you know, you got that, you got Steve Jones, who is a big fan of Sparks and, and we, this is the theme guys that we keep talking about with Sparks, is they just do their own thing and they don't care. And my question to you is, are they the most punk, non punk band ever? 

Sean: I think they are pretty punk. They do what they want on [00:19:00] the on a Clash tribute album.

They I'm sure they were able to pick which song they wanted to do the tribute of. They picked we are the clash of Cut the Crap. What, which is a great song. What he said, we are the Clash. But then Russell singed his high voice. That was one good song Off Cut the 

Rene: Crap. I have never actually listened to Cut the Crap.

I'm a huge Clash fan, but because so many Clash fans have just, oh, I think crapped on it. 

Sean: Okay. I think that this is England where he talks about you know. The moral decay that's lying at the heart of the country and, uh, being a punk rock And the clash, uh, the, the, I don't recall any other songs, but yeah.

Rene: Okay. Alright. What's your one song for me to listen to on that album? We are The Clash. Okay. Yeah. Alright. And 

Sean: this is England. 

Rene: Okay. I thought this is England was on Santa Misa, but 

Sean: no, that's something about it. Ah, yeah, yeah, yeah. That's a great song. 

Rene: I love that song. That's one of my faves. 

Sean: Okay, so how did Sparks get started?

Right. They were in UCLA, so a lot of people think they're [00:20:00] a British band 'cause they've had a lot of success in the uk, top of the pops. But they are from California. They were heavily on K Rock in the eighties. The angst in the pants album, which is great, where the brothers are pretending to get married to each other.

And Ron is in the wedding dress. You know that, that's a great album. I don't know, don't play any songs off that. But again, listen to that one. Listen to them all people please. 

Rene: And I, you know, we don't have pictures or videos in these podcasts, so we need to describe what Ron looks like and, and the mustache phases, let's call them, that he's gone through.

So him in a dress is just extra funny because of his mustaches with his tooth. 

Sean: Brush mustache, and I think it's on angst in my pants. He, sangs sings a song called Mustache. Oh, excellent. 

Rene: And, and so they, as I understand it, they love Char Charlie Chaplin. They were fans. Yes. So his mustache is an homage to Charlie Chaplin, but of course, that same mustache is also a Hitler mustache.

So, yes. [00:21:00] He kind of gained some controversy around that as well. And then he went to a, I wanna say a pencil, mustache pencil. I think he's got the Errol Flynn now. I think it looks good. Yeah. 

Sean: Yeah, yeah. Yeah. But he's always had a stash. He's always had a stash. And on the first album he's got a pretty big stash, you know, 'cause it's, it's the seventies and he got big hair and a big mustache and, yeah, they, Todd Rundgren produced them, and so let's hear the single off of that first album is called Wonder Girl.

Speaker 9: She was a wonder to dad, self made man,

and.[00:22:00] 

Wonder Girl.

Speaker 8: She was a Wonder girl.

Sean: Okay, so. You wouldn't think back in 1971. And at that time they were called Half Nelson. They changed their name to Sparks when that album didn't sell because they thought that name change might help. You wouldn't not think that they were the most punk band non punk punk band ever, but they stuck with it.

And they've released some pretty good albums over the year from that very [00:23:00] avant-garde start. 

Rene: Yeah, I would agree. And, and they did change their sound often. His falsetto voice, not my favorite voice not my favorite song, but again, I went for a reason because I'm sold on Sparks. And again, the hot Tip guys is besides listening to our podcast about it, watch the documentary because that turned it for me.

And, and just so you also know, it was only six months ago that Sean said I might do an episode on Sparks. And I said. Who?

That's a 

Sean: fact. Okay, so I'm buying, you know, this is high school university. I'm buying records at Vortex. I don't know what records I'm buying, but I see sparks in the used bin. So I'm gonna buy a Sparks record. And it worked 

Rene: out most of the time. So which album was it? And then follow up question, what is your favorite album?

So I think 

Sean: I got [00:24:00] most of them at least until, you know, like the, the, the when vortex closed down and CDs happened and all of those types of things. But, uh, I sitting you know, at my house I've got all of these vinyl records. So I would have to say my favorite. It is by far my favorite. Every song I love, I can sing The songs is called Indiscreet.

So this was 1975. Let me check. And the album features Ron and Russell, as most of the albums do with, a airplane accident in the middle of a street, and Ron looks hurt. Russell is looking kind of de debonair out of the airplane and it's a crazy song. This is the one produced by by Tony Visconti.

And they are not conventional rock songs by any means. But they are amazing. [00:25:00] Yeah. And I gotta ask you, so I've listened to that song. I dunno, I can't count. So it's burned into my head. I feel that repetition is the heart of music. Do you agree? 

Rene: I think you are probably right, and whether that repetition becomes bigger and builds more on that same repetition that the song starts with that happens and that, I love that, that slow build to a crescendo, but again, that's still the repetition's happening.

It's just going to a crescendo. The other thing, which is kind of a half answer to you, Sean, is I think repetition is. Also a poison for people's minds. So what I mean by that is radio head. Yeah, they're awful. Yeah. No, not that. No. God dammit. No radio. What do they do? They play the same [00:26:00] song every hour until Oh, surprise, surprise.

You like it or you become familiar with it. So you like it. And that is why, part of the reason we started this part was because. It's not, I don't think it's right. I think it's a form of brainwashing, quite frankly. And there's so much great music out there that does not get the airplay that it deserves.

And as a result, people miss it. So that's repetition in a bad way. 

Sean: Repetition in a good way, is you hear something and you think that something in me, I wanna listen to it. I don't know how Sparks did that to me. Because let's hear one of the songs. I wish we could play all of the songs. I would like to, you know, everyone to hear all the songs are funny.

I go on about everyone. But let's, let's hear one of the songs off of the record. 

Rene: Okay. Which record? Sorry? Indiscreet. Indiscreet. Okay. And the last thing I wanna say before you hear that song is I can almost answer your question for you. You lyrically [00:27:00] they're brilliant and they're funny and they're dry, and, and I'm pretty sure you and your son, 'cause Sean's son went with us last night.

I think both of you are just there lyrically or just enjoying those dry, dry lyrics. And the irony behind the lyrics, I think that's what you love the most because a, a lot of the time the song composition is. Expected or not super unconventional. Sometimes it is like my baby's taking me home, which is actually one of my favorite songs of sparks because all they do, guys, and speaking of repetition, all they do in the entire song is sing My babies, taking me home in a million different ways.

That's the one lyric in the whole song. And it's just repeat, repeat me. Repeat for I believe five and a half minutes. But okay, let's get back to your song. So, I, I think that is your answer 'cause it's, it's so on brand for you. It really is. Uh, so let's hear the song.[00:28:00] 

Speaker 10: Get in the, get in the swing with everybody.

In. In. Everybody

Speaker 9: are here. To not come back again. Well, thanks a lot. Hooray. Hooray. The night is younger than the girl who's got the touch without by much. When.

Underneath.

Rene: Okay. So that one, like honestly kind of interesting and a little bit in the op operatic sort of phase of their careers almost [00:29:00] sounds like a pre queen song in some ways, which, which I kind of, I kind of like. And I like that song because it is unconventional musically as well. So nice and surprising.

Sean: It's the, the whole album is totally unconventional. And if you like that, then yeah, maybe you should listen to it. And speaking of Queen. Freddie Mercury was inspired by Russell's Prancing. He credits him with why he has that stage presence, and I don't know if it's apocryphal, but at one point Sparks did try to hire, what is the guitarist's name?

May, yeah, Brian May. Yeah. That they were trying to hire him to come to the band. 

Rene: Wow. I did not know that, but that's amazing, right? Like that's just a testament to sparks and their influence and how wide it goes. It's amazing. So let's 

Sean: talk about that. So you've mentioned the movie when I teased this episode, I said Your favorite bands, favorite band, and let's just go through some of the artists [00:30:00] that are in this documentary.

So back. Steve Jones from the Sex Pistols. Vince Clark and Andy Bell, erasure Vince Clark from Depeche Mode the Nick Rhodes and John Taylor from Duran Duran. Right. The you know, so those are Martin Ware, which was great in the Human League, right? And Heaven 17 before uh, they became really popular.

So there's this electronic artist and, and there's a guy from Visa who was a DJ that, uh, you know, visage totally owes everything to the sparks for sure. And then you know. Then new order Steven Morris and Jillian Gilbert. Right. So Steven Morris, the drummer from joy Division. Right. So, you know that they, they were influential to them.

Thurston Moores on it, right. From Sonic Youth. Right. You know, saying they were influential to me. Right. Bjork. Right. Faith no more. 

Rene: Yeah. And uh, quite frankly, if you just watch the trailer for the movie, that is the hook. The hook is Beck opening saying if you're on tour with musicians on a [00:31:00] bus, I'm, I'm paraphrasing here.

There is a always at some point on that bus tour, sparks will come up. And that was the hook for me. I was like, I need to see what this is all about. 

Sean: Yep. Other bands that have, uh, you know, not in the movie Damon Arb R band says that, uh, Spark's British Eccentricity made him write all those eccentric British records, right?

It's kind of. Blur that has come back now that the gorillas are having them and maybe, you know, the I don't know if it's a good reference or not, and it may be apocryphal because you know, it's been stuck in my head for a long time. But you know, Kirk Cobain talks about his influences, right?

The vaselines, the sunshine, and all of these you know, very. Obscure bands and he says that kimono my house and specifically this town ain't big enough for the both of us. Was his favorite song growing up? So let's hear Kurt's favorite song.[00:32:00] 

Okay. So again, in their operatic gue rock phase not a conventional song by any means. I love the gunshot in the song, and yeah, why not that be your favorite song? And that album was, I think the [00:33:00] first one that didn't feature Ron and Russell on the front cover. There's a picture of two geishas and one of them looks very naughty and the other one looks very surprised.

And then Ron and Russell are in, he should close on the back. So it's, it's just a great 

Rene: album. And that reminds me, way back then, they often insisted that there was no name of the band on certain albums. I believe at least one or two, where the name of the album, the name of the band, and the album name is actually on the back of the album cover.

I think it says Kimono My house on this. In this one? Yeah. This? Yeah, in this one. But there are one or two. Where it's literally nothing on the front except the image. That is the image and that's it, which is, I'm pretty sure record companies don't really like that. The seventies were a wild time. 

Sean: It was pretty good.

Rene: Okay, so how popular are they, Renee? Oh, you mean in terms of Spotify listeners? [00:34:00] Well, Sean, they have actually, and it surprised me, 2.3 million monthly listeners. So is that our Pop? Well, 

Sean: band of horses is more popular, but this is our second popular, most popular band so far. 

Rene: Yeah. I, I mean, I think they're up there with band of horses in terms of popularity.

Yeah. So, but at the same time, buddy, you introduced them to me six months ago and I fancy myself as kind of a music guy. Right. And in terms of friends, yeah. Chloe's, uh, boyfriend, who's a musician, hadn't heard of Sparks, 

Sean: so. There you go. Well, he better hear them soon if he wants to be somebody's favorite band.

Clip: Exactly. 

Sean: And by the way, I made him watch the documentary with me, so yeah, he's seen it. Good. He's well on his way to rock and roll. Uh, startup. 

Rene: There you go. Lear Jets. Yep. Okay. So are they in your shifter band? I mean, we know they're a near shifter band 'cause we're doing the episode, but what makes them a near shifter band, Sean?

[00:35:00] So, 

Sean: They do what they want to do. They're punk rock. They've never stuck to one sound glam, synth, pop rock, rock opera techno. They started some of it and they've done it all. The lyrical wit their lyrics are clever, ironic, and often hilarious. Right? And they tell stories That's important to me in an air shifter band they're over the top personalities, right?

They don't come off their album covers that we've talked about, their videos we haven't talked about. I mean, they, they, you know, they were doing videos back when videos were cutting edge, right? You know, they, they are. Art. And you know, this is where again, the old Sean would be a little bit hesitant to introduce more people to bands that I like 'cause I don't really want them to be popular.

But 2.3 million is popular. They're a bit of a cult. They're a bit of a cult crowd, right? You know, it's, you're in when you like sparks. And uh, I'm glad I've got over that [00:36:00] insecurity and I'm glad, I 

Rene: hope everybody listens to them. And I'm glad you introduced me to them. So not that I'm gonna listen to them a whole ton on my own, but god damn, I enjoy, I've watched that documentary three times now.

Enjoyed every time, loved the show, like really had fun and and, and do like at least five songs, which probably isn't a lot. If you have seven El good for Renee. It's, it's good for Renee, pretty good for me. Pretty good for me. And also, are they seminal? Yes. The answer is yes. They are semi seminal.

They are. 'cause their influence is just incredible. Like, yeah. So give 'em a try, give 'em a listen. Start with the documentary or the documentary, I believe it's called Sparks. Uh, it actually did won, uh, I think it won a couple of things in the Academy Awards maybe, or something like that. So it's a well.

It's a well told story for sure. 

Sean: Great. 

Rene: And who are we gonna hear next time? Oh, next time we're going to [00:37:00] hear from a band whose main kind of lead singer. Legend has it wrote some of his early songs in the back seat of his car in an empty Walmart parking lot at night.

Can't wait. Yeah. Yeah. It's gonna be awesome. Okay. So I'm gonna ask you a question just for fun. We're gonna see how it goes. But we both like Sam and. Matt from Scorching Hot Takes they have a Scorching Hot Takes podcast, which I believe is only on YouTube. But we, we both follow them on Instagram and what they do is they literally just kind of like throw each other questions like, you know, favorite album of all time, favorite album in the sixties, whatever it is.

My question to you would be this, and I want to answer it too, by the way, so you gotta ask me. Favorite concert. 

Sean: Yesterday, my, my face [00:38:00] hurts because I've been smiling thinking about it. That was pretty fun. But that's my first hot take from an emotive can't sleep. All over. We were at a party in the annex.

And I rarely go 'cause I'm not that adventurous to go see shows by myself. But I wanted to see the wooden tops so bad. And so I walked to go see the wooden tops at the Elmo. And the last song they did was Frankie Teardrop by the Suicide. And, I walked home just in shock. I got back to the party and you were like, what happened?

And I was like, I just saw the best concert of my life. 

Rene: Yeah, that one. Wow. And like guys, just so you know, that was some time ago, 20 years, 25 years ago. And I remember that 'cause you had this look on your face. I'm like, dude. What happened, what's going on? And you were just like, you were blown away by that concert and you talked about it for quite some time.

And I think I had to give you a beer. I think you [00:39:00] needed a beer at that point. I think I did another, another, another beer maybe. I think that it's more likely another beer. It's probably another one. And then for me believe it or not, John, it's actually a few years back. You and I took a road trip to Cincinnati and that that first night with the Walkman.

That was the first night, right? Yeah. Mm-hmm. Yeah. The first night with the Walkman re reunion, so amazing. And also the national it was just such a magical night for me, and I just remember being like, just giddy, just like over. It was a beautiful full, I think it was a full moon that night, and it.

Clear sky and it was an open, obviously an open concert. So you just looked around at Cincinnati, which we thought was a pretty cool city actually. 

Sean: Yep. 

Rene: Yeah. And for me, like I was just on a high for quite some time after that. Good shows. Yeah, good shows. Alright, well I think that's it for now. Okay, till next time.

Till next time, we [00:40:00] hope you enjoyed this episode of Air Shifter. Tune in next time where we'll cover another band that deserves more. You can find Air Shifter on Instagram, Facebook, and TikTok. Friend us or listen to our playlist on Spotify and visit air shifter.com for more information. Special thanks.

Go to our logo designer Stuart Thorsby and our intro Outro Music by Joe Novak. You can find him as, bye-bye. Badman. One word on SoundCloud and a big shout out to Joe for being our awesome sound engineer slash editor. Until next time.