daniel_v

Aside from the fact that I'm glad they chose this song as a third single given how lyrically powerful and unique it is, I also like the video. Obviously the lyrics stand out as they should given how much energy Matt must have put into them, but also the shots chosen for the TV all work too and create a nice sense of reflection. Does anyone know who all the people are in this one? I recognize some of the faces (Snowden, MLKJ, Terry Fox, Cash, etc) but I don't recognize everyone.

Thanks for such an in depth description of all the unreleased stuff, John. Truly fascinating ? Based on that post and the interview you did with Ian I've got a couple more questions: -With regards to the Lost Album and the song "Awkward", you mention there's some "Alabama in there". Does that mean there were sections of AMR in Awkward before Matt actually used them in AMR? Or did you just mean the song has some similar tones and feelings to AMR? - Matt has a varied history with covers. Sometimes they carry the original tone and mood of the original (Enjoy the Silence) and other times he completely changes them (Moon over Marine). Either way they usually turn out pretty worthwhile. On the Depeche Mode cover for the Lost Album, is the version him and the band did similar to the original or quite different? Likewise, with regards to the solo at the end, does Matt do it or does someone else? I know different people have different opinions about Matt's lead guitar work but I've always loved it. Even the stuff he did on LOTGA is to the point, but also so unique and adds a great deal of extra feeling to each song (Radio Bomb is a favorite of mine, especially the lead guitar work at the end). Another question that I have is related to how in your interview with Ian earlier in July you mentioned that Change of Season was one of the songs you and the band had thought about recording for LOTGA and that the version that ended up on Underdogs was quite similar. To those points: -Were there any differences in the final version that your aware of or remember (such as any guitar solo during the bridge in version that almost made it onto LOTGA)? -Was it being worked on in the studio during the recording or had the band simply worked it out in the rehearsal space? -Do any demos of that version exist that you're aware of? As usual my apologies for all the questions, lol. Definitely no rush on answering them.

Alright, so the second interview is done. Went well I think. There's going to be a third now because this one went as long as it did and we didn't have time to address everything we wanted to, haha. Quick question though: Does anyone remember if Ian ever opened up for Matt as part of Ryan Dahle's band "Alarm Bell", before they reverted to Limblifer? This would have been back in 2003 or the start of 2004. I could have sworn I remember reading a few reviews from people back in that time period saying how it was cool to see Ian behind the drum set again when Ryan opened up for Matt in Vancouver or something, but when I brought it up to Ian he was hesitant to say he remembered even having done so. Obviously I would assume Ian knows his memory better than me, but I just could have sworn I remember that happening once. So yeah, just curious if anyone else has a similar recollection or knows of any archived reviews of a concert like that.

Oh, btw, Foats- you asked a question about what kind of a collection Ian has for MGB merch. Aside from the answer he gives at the 1:30:23 mark, he also sent this pic after the interview and said I was free to share it here. He also said he might be willing to part with certain items depending on what they were and depending on the price offered.

Yeah, if the account isn't verified you can't go over the 15 minute mark. All good though, I got everything figured out ? Interview is now posted:

Alright folks, here it is. My apologies for the length of time it took to get this shared, btw. It was recorded on July 4th, but I just got busy with life and work. That's not to mention that because I'm a nerd I wanted to create an intro for this to kind of commemorate how special an album I honestly believe it is, so that also took a couple days on top of all the uploading problems I had with this video due to the length. Given that it's my first time doing anything like it I'm sure it'll come off kind of corny, but regardless I figured I might as well get some practice. You'll probably need to adjust the volume levels at first as my narration came out a little louder in the final conversion than it was in the editing program I was using and I am not going back to redo it after all the time it took to convert and upload this to Youtube, lol. As the title suggests the main focus of the interview is LOTGA, but it's also just a really informal chat between two people who hadn't talked for a long time. In fact, despite the fact that I throw out a few questions here and there, I wouldn't even call it an interview as much as I would just a video podcast of sorts. Both John and Ian seemed like they were having a good time conversing which was fantastic (because I wasn't exactly on top form for interviewing people anyways, as you'll probably notice). Plus, more to the point, I didn't want to interrupt that flow much because them just informally talking back and forth led to a lot of interesting conversation where they actually answered questions I was going to ask before I even had the chance to ask them, haha. Lastly, this is sort of just part 1. I'm going to be interviewing Ian again this Sunday where we'll cover everything under the sun after LOTGA, up until the present regarding his time after MGB too. So when that's done I'll share it too. And of course, again, a "huge" thanks to Ian and John for doing this.

So...all has not gone well. Not well at all. I have good news and bad news. Good news is that everything is put together and done. Bad news is that Youtube has decided to be...unpleasant- for the sole purpose of aggravating me- by screwing up my upload attempts twice in the last little bit. On Monday night I tried uploading it before I went to bed thinking that when I woke up the video would have been uploaded and processed. Instead I woke up at 5 yesterday in the morning to find the process had frozen at 47 percent. So, I canceled the upload, altered the sleep time on my computer in case that was what interrupted the process , and began the upload again 15 minutes later. My thinking was that by the time I got home from work in the afternoon that surely the video would have been uploaded and processed this time. Unfortunately yesterday turned into one of those days where just about anything that could go wrong did go wrong. I got home at 3:30 to find the video was frozen at the 99 percent processed line. Then an hour later it decided to tell me the video was too long to be processed (which it isn't since it is no where near the max limit- 128 GBs). That was...frustrating....to put it lightly. I'm now reformatting a version that is in AVI format instead of MP4 (which I should have done in the first place to decrease the file size). Once that's done I'm going to try the upload process again and pray that Youtube decides not to screw me again this time. That said, if anyone has any other suggestions I am most definitely open to trying them. I'm converting from Videopad (NCH) if anyone has much experience using that program. I was considering reformatting it in lossless form (since apparently it provides the highest quality export with the lowest file size?) but when I looked at the formatting it was stuck at a default setting of 15 FPS which would be just a little too low for what I've put together in Videopad. This is my first time doing any even semi-serious video editing so I'm really a novice at all of this who is just learning by trial and error.

I'm just finishing the final touches on the intro to the interview tonight and will edit out just a couple seconds of material from various parts tomorrow. So hopefully I'll have this posted in the next few days if all goes well.

I've heard rumors it was a heart attack ?

Just a stab after a couple listens: "You've lain next to me Woke up to the same thing For so, so long For so, so long Walked the same streets Worked the same (kick back?) jobs For so long, For so, so long What do you say to comfort her After the way our life is gone What do I say to comfort us After the wave of our lives is gone? Triage, triage, triage Slam the same shit, Move to the same hits For so, so long For so, so long Walk the same streets Hustle the same bullshit con For so long For so, so long What do you say to comfort her After the wave of our life is gone What do I say to comfort us After the wave of our lives is gone? Triage, triage Triage, Triage, Triage" I could definitely get behind a full album of stuff like this and the Crisis Airlines material. Really enjoying the writing and texture of the songs.

What a year. While I never had the pleasure of meeting him, as someone who grew up on MGB what I found interesting about Rich from all the interviews I watched was how he was always the guy showing so much humor. Whether it was dry or straight up, he seemed like he was always trying (and succeeding) in making people laugh. One of my favorite interview he ever gave was a satire one that him and Matt did with Chris Nelson after the release of Loser Anthems. How he was able to keep a straight face during this is beyond me: That's not to mention his talent. Whether it was that dream like bass work he did on Giant, the dark and busy framing for Under the Influence, the appropriately intense climbing and descending notation he came up with for The Rat Who Would Be King, or all of the intricate work he did on White Light Rock and Roll Review, I always really appreciated what he would create/contribute. He'll definitely be missed. Hope him and Geoff are having a cold one somewhere up above. Also, I thought Dave made a really nice write up for him.

Fascinating ? All of it. Absolutely fascinating. I was thinking of asking you for a break down of each song but thought that might be a little too much to ask about, lol. You not only describing each song, but also giving a description of all the different subjects addressed (on top of what the feel of each song was like) is greatly appreciated. I mean that. I agree it's definitely too bad it's stuck in a vault, but even getting to hear about the songs individually is truly satisfying simply from a point of curiosity. To know that those political subjects (disharmony, bias, racial injustice, social reform) have always been an interest of Matt's is pretty cool and it's also interesting to note that the other subjects covered (mental health in 12 second tour; the denigration that comes with unhealthy relationships in The Navigator; boredom and imagination in Ceiling Song; etc) are ones that Matt has always had an interest in too. Likewise, the tone and feel of the instrumentals seems like it runs the gamut as is the case in most of Matt's albums which is something that I have always appreciated. You get light songs, dark songs, ballads, heavy rockers, acoustics, etc. Was also cool to see that Matt and the band covered another Depeche Mode song. I hadn't heard of that one before so I had to go look it up. Given how well Matt, Ian, Dave, Geoff did with Enjoy the Silence, I can only imagine that he and the talent of Judy, Steve, Ariel, and Eran must have knocked that one out of the park. Anyways, thanks again!

Alright, finally have some more time off so I’ll move onto The Lost Album. With regards to it, it’s interesting to read how you describe it. On one hand you note that you felt the songs from the Lost Album were better than those from 15 Hours and yet “still in the progressive folk-rock domain, long etudes, poetic and Dylanesque, but more radio friendly”. But, you also note that it was “way more folk, way more lyrics. More Talk Talk than Pixies…”. That sounds really interesting: Talk Talk meets Dylan in a radio friendly way? Would that be an accurate summary? Another thing that strikes me is all the different songs there were and especially the names: Where Ever We May Go; 12 second Tour; Ceiling Song; Awkward; Black Penny; The Navigator; The Boy Who Cried Wolf; I Dream of Dolphins; Sky Pilot; Never Let Me Down; Healers and Saints; A Mile Out of Paris. So 12 all together (but not all recorded, such as The Boy Who Cried Wolf)? While sometimes names can sound completely different from what the sonic instrumentals are for an actual song, sometimes they sound exactly like what one would expect (The Fall of Man for example). As such, a lot of these names got me thinking about what they all sounded like. For example, I noticed there was a song named Sky Pilot that you were all working on during February 9th of 1995. Being a nerd and thinking of the title I’m imagining something between Blue Bird and Generation X-Wing, though given your description of the album I’m probably off on that. Was it ever finished? -Where Ever We May Go was not only the opening track for the Lost Album, but it was also included in the A list (along with Awkward). Does that mean you and the band were possibly thinking about redoing those two tracks and including them on LOTGA? Likewise were they more in the vein of LOTGA too? When I hear a name like WEWMG I, rightly or wrongly, kind of think of a ballad (similar to Fearless or Apparitions). - I noticed the section in there where you noted there being a "tug of war" with each new submission of songs on the Lost Album. Is that to suggest there was a lot discussion and debate about how the songs would ultimately be finalized? Again, as usual you don’t have to answer all these questions, but I just thought I’d throw them out there because they are what came to mind when first watching this video. Thanks again, John!

I'll add these to the list ? Also, the interview has been moved back to this Saturday so both me and Ian have a little more time to get our ducks in a row. So if people have more questions please feel free to continue adding them.

Hi everyone, in celebration of the 25th anniversary of LOTGA I’m supposed to be doing a video interview with Ian on Canada Day (this Wednesday). We’re of course going to be talking about LOTGA, Ian’s thoughts on the album, and what recording it was like. “If” we have the time I’d be happy to throw in some questions from users here on The Bored. We’ve scheduled about 45 minutes to an hour for the interview so depending on how short or long it takes me to get through the questions and format I’ve drafted, it’s possible I might have time to field some questions from here. So if anyone does have any questions for Ian please feel free to leave them below. I can’t guarantee I’ll be able to fit them in, but I will make an honest effort if people do post a few below. If people don’t have any, that’s fine too. Just wanted to make sure I made the offer in case anyone was interested.

Well, since I'm going chronologically I’ll throw a few more out there next for 15 hours. That is easily my favourite Pre-LOATGA album and has some of my favourite tracks from both MGB or MG’s catalogue in it (specifically Parable and Bluebird). -As the title suggests it was recorded all in one day. What was behind the drive for this? Was it just to save money or did the band just feel they wanted to capture a live off the floor feel for the album? -As I said, so many good songs: The Bomb Maker, The Ocean, LOTGA, Brand New Tune, Parable. But out of all of them- and even everything that has come after for Matt- Bluebird to this day remains one of my favourite songs of all time. The openess, the hopefulness, the energy, the progression, the lyrics, all the instrumentation done by every single band member and everything about the song is just so inspiring. My question about the song is whether or not that was one that everyone spent a long time on during pre-production to try and make sure it was as good as it could be or if it just came together quickly and naturally? -U mentioned Euphony was straight up all written by Matt. I’ve heard that this one was more of a group effort. Could u expand upon what the writing process was like for this one? Again, obviously if it was recorded in 15 hours the songs had been worked out long in advance I would assume. -Do you have any favorites from this album that specifically stood out to you after listening to it again after so long?

Man those are some beautiful covers! I especially like the Subversive Literature (which is a great idea and title) and Vancouver ones. The WLRARR (a lit up and upside down American flag during the Iraq War ?), CN, and SLAS are great choices and concepts too. Thanks a lot for sharing!

Again, thanks a lot for doing this, John. Very interesting stuff. I've got "a lot" of questions, but I think I'll just start at the beginning and ask some things related to the recording of the first album, Euphony. -If you started recording in January of 1994 I'm assuming you met Matt for the first time in late 93 then. After your work with Sex with Nixon, did Dan just approach you on Matt's behalf and discuss the songs they were looking to record? Or how did that first introduction go? -With regards to the songs on that album, what was the recording process like? I'm assuming if you all recorded 6 songs in 4 sessions that pre-production for all of them must have been completed before entering the studio? -Euphony has always been one of my favorite tracks given that amazing bass line and how everything else (the lyrics, keyboard, drums, acoustic guitar) just formed around it to create this really timeless, haunting, and dark commentary. When it was recorded I'm assuming you were all pretty impressed with it or it wouldn't have been entered into the C-Fox Seeds contest. Was that the "demo derby" you reference at the 3:21 section of the video? If so, what exactly was "a demo derby"? Sounds interesting. Likewise, after winning it, did that mean Euphony was actually being played on Vancouver radio? -In fact, Push, Heather's Like a Sunday, and Dancing Invisible are also really great tracks, imo. Still listen to them to this day. Do you know if Matt wrote most of the material for that album himself or was it more of a band collaboration on that album?

While I can imagine some people not being into this because looking at the past is seen as a pejorative exercise, I've always said I don't think there's anything wrong with appreciating both the past and the present at the same time (especially for a 25 year anniversary). For example, even though I admitted I wasn't a huge fan of Moving Walls at first, that album has definitely grown on me and I also absolutely love the creativity in the Crisis Airline tracks that Matt released a couple months ago. To that end though, I definitely do not think there is anything wrong with appreciating where an artist you respect and appreciate came from either, and I've always said it boggles my mind that Matt is not a fan of LOTGA and some of the even earlier stuff. The perfect bass lines that Geoff came up with for that album, and some of the songs from Euphony/15 hours are just straight up timeless and I couldn't ever say no to learning a bit more about that time period since, as Adam said, so little is known. So obviously my hat goes in the "Yes" pile too :)

You two should check your inbox next time you're online here. And yeah, Adam talked to Matt about the videos during a Q and A session last year.

Came across this guy when I discovered a cover he did of MG's Sicily. He has some really unique originals, imo, that I've quite enjoyed listening to.

Not too sure where else to post this so I thought I would post it here. Anyways, the 4 of you should check your message boxes if you see this.

All 3 are now just in the link that Gweeps just shared above and are available for download. I have to say that I'm liking both new songs. The piano and the bridge in Victory is Free are standouts to me and his use of strings and electronic elements in Back of the Tiger (on top of the themes touched on in the sound clips he used are pretty poignant. I like the fact that he used them from John. F. Kennedy who really was an incredibly president). Also have to say I'm always surprised by how proficient Matt is at using the drums in Garageband considering you have to be good at using a key board to produce them in first place which is not the easiest thing.

Hey, I don't know if I have what you'd be looking for, but I do have a lot of content back from in the day. If you want to P.M me feel free and I'll see if I can't send you some of the stuff you lost.

I hadn't heard from Travis in over a month and after having called the Langley hospital earlier this week without any results I came across this online tonight. https://www.bclocalnews.com/obituaries/travis-jeremy-simons/ Username: Barfnuts I'll have to ask everyone's forgiveness for the length of this since I've never written one of these for a Bored member here and I've always sucked at keeping things short. Most of you didn't know Travis on account of him just starting to post here this past November, but me and Adam had the honest pleasure of meeting him this past January in his own town of Langley. He was the gentleman who interviewed Matt after his hometown show in Coquitlam back in May of 1998. Right after that he put together/narrated this little segment for Roger's Cable despite only being 18 years old at the time: 21 years later after finding Adam's thread here about rare MGB videos, he would find the material he had from that night, convert it to digital, and share a bit of it with us on The Bored here just to be kind since so many of us were asking him how much other footage of the concert he still had. It's a wonderful video and made a lot of us exceptionally happy to see. He was also a super talented musician who never quite had the breaks he was looking for, but regardless always loved creating: It's funny...not much more than a month ago we were discussing how so many people who grew up on MGB would go onto to become musicians themselves and I can't help but think Travis would have included himself in that category to one degree or another since he always said MGB was a huge influence for him. Anyways, regardless of the short time period I knew him, through the many things we discussed online here- and the evening myself and Adam spent hanging out with the guy that I will never forget- I can say without hesitancy that he was a good person, who had a decent/kind soul, and lived by an honest/worthwhile set of morals. I'm extremely grateful for the time I had to know him and will miss him a hell of a lot. Thanks for reading.