97.7 HTZ-FM

In Your Last Days by 97.7 HTZ-FM

Into the Light by 97.7 HTZ-FM

You Lose by 97.7 HTZ-FM

Today a dude in a Pest Control van cut me off, so I wrote the number down to the company and prank called them. After doing this, I don't think sales people even listen to you...they just want the sale haha. Have a listen.

Yesterday I was having a few beers at Kullys Original Sports Bar downtown St. Catharines and I heard this guy Dan Serre of Niagara Falls singing on Open Mic Night. He was playing a whole bunch of rock covers...and was pretty damn good so I invited him on the show to play this afternoon. He did a cover of Alexisonfire - Young Cardinals. Check it out.

Lead guitarist John-Angus MacDonald called in to talk up their free show coming up on Friday at the Supercrawl in Hamilton on a stage on James Street. John reveals that HE picks the song and tells us what goes into it. We also chat about the new Best-Of compilation coming out Friday: TIME CAPSULE and the four new songs that are added. If fans order the album in advance they automatically get a bonus album of out-takes and cover versions that won't be available in the near future. Go to http://www.pledgemusic.com/projects/thetrewsnewalbum?referrer=popular

Jag Tanna guitarist for I Mother Earth checks in and tells us about the band's reunion with Edwin, that first meeting and first rehersal and how it all feels now going into this weekend's show at Lakeside Park, St. Catharines at the Biggs&Barr-BQ. Later this fall IME will hook up with Our Lady Peace & The Standstills for a national tour. We talk about how that come to be. Plus the possibility of some new music with IME & Edwin.

9:30am is very early for a rock band, let alone a band from Vancouver, camping out in Toronto to do a round of promotions for their new album Positive Thinking.  Performing in the cellar of the basement of The Whitehouse of Rock at that time also presents its own challenges but once Becky Black plugged in and knocked out “Skin This” and a cover song by The Thermals, it was suddenly Saturday night. After we sat down and talked about the new album (their 6th), which drummer Maya Miller suggests is a new beginning. We get into their roots, their freaky videos and upcoming touring plans.

John of Nickel Brook Brewing stopped by The Whitehouse of Rock to talk about the beers that will be available at The BBBQ August 27th!

When we first saw the package with their music, we first thought, another Niagara band called after an adult entertainer. Unlike Alexisonfire, AMBER REIGNS, do not take their name from the blonde porn star. The Fort Erie band played a blazing set at Rocksearch 2016 and were crowned this year’s runner’s up! The four guys in Amber Reigns bring in countless influences, ranging from The Beatles to Alice In Chains to Lamb of God to Coheed & Cambria defying any convenient label. Its just great rock music - born of passion, soul and grit. The band is currently putting the finishing touches on a new album to be out soon.

Ballroom Babies is a family band in the truest sense of the word. Brothers Mike, Steve & Nathan were weened on their father’s classic rock albums and Hammond B3 organ. It didn’t take long for the Mississauga band to start writing and cutting their own songs. They’ve got a brand new song out in “I Won’t Change” and will head into the studio by the end of summer to complete a new album. Their first album, by their own account was a sprawling effort and the goal this time is to record a more focused, epic-sounding album. We can’t wait.

Nick Walsh, former lead vox for SLIK TOXIC is the singer for Classic Albums Live's Led Zeppelin 2 show at The Safari Niagara Amphitheatre on July 9th. Nick calls in to talk to Paulie about how he tackles Robert Plant's singing and how the band faithfully play the legendary album and ensure all it's nuances are duplicated, from the "ghost vocals" on "Whole Lotta Love" to the fade out-fade in ending on "Thank You".

Jesse Modz chatted with Ben from Billy Talent about touring, their new record, WTFest, opening up for Guns N Roses, their drummer situation and more. Check it out!

Adam Gontier of Saint Asonia talks with Jesse Modz of 97.7 HTZ-FM. Check Saint Asonia out at WTFest In Brantford June 25th w/ Billy Talent, Monster Truck, The Standstills and more.

My Son The Hurricane (MSTH) call themselves a “14 piece brass-hop beast” with the mantra “anything worth doing is worth overdoing”. My Son The Hurricane mixes Funk, jazz hip-hop & rock powered by a 7 piece horn ensemble with a more conventional 6 piece band & one charismatic MC in Jacob Bergsma. It seems audacious in theory, but on record and on stage it’s magic! My Son The Hurricane are based in Niagara but have members scattered all over the Golden Horseshow, first came to our attention here at HTZ-FM when somebody passed along a video of the band covering Metallica’s For Whom the Bell Tolls but as we dug deeper we found that MSTH was far greater than a band with a clever cover version. Their new album Is This What You Want? and it goes on sale on June 3rd and Dan & Jacob dropped by to talk up the new album & upcoming tour.

Our Intern McCall left me a voicemail asking for dinner gift cards for him and his girlfriend cause he's in the dog house. Then he almost looses his girlfriend. Have a listen.

97.7 HTZ-FM won radio station of the year at the Canadian Music Awards this week, The Biggs and Barr Show won Morning Show of the Year and our boss Jeff won 'Radio Boss' of the year...I was feeling left out so I had my Grandma give me award! Have a listen.

first off - please excuse the sound quality - we're not sure what happened. But its a good chat with Adam Baldwin who's recorded is first full solo album while he waits to return to work with Matt Mays. The new album : No Telling When (Precisely Nineteen Eight-Five)is out on June 24th. In our scrum we go back a little bit to Matt Mays' tour and the sudden passing of a bandmate and its impact. We spent most of the time talking about Adam moving to Toronto to record the new album and how both the joy of the Blue Jays' run for the ALCS and the tension around town during the final weeks of the federal election and how that "leaked" into the record.

I don't understand how McCall can be this gullible. I really don't. But after working McHappy Day with him today I called him to tell him a woman complained that he copied her phone number down from a ballot she filled out...and then he kind of admitted to doing it...even though it was originally a joke. Haha have a listen to this.

Ben From Promo Get's A Raise And Mcall Throws Him Under The Bus! by 97.7 HTZ-FM

Pranking McCall Into Thinking He Got The New Promo Guy Fired by 97.7 HTZ-FM

May 8th, 2016, runners all over the world, including myself will be taking off on foot to raise awareness of spinal cord injury. Taking place at 34 different locations around the world at the same time, the Wings for Life World Run is the largest global running event ever undertaken. Athletes and amateurs alike keep running as the Catcher Car – which will set off 30 minutes after the last runner crosses the start line – chases down and passes all of the runners. The last male and female runners to be caught by the cars are crowned the champions. I will not be the last one caught, I guarantee that. But I have been training for the last few weeks for this run. It's going to be a lot of fun and it's for a great cause. I caught up with my celebrity coach Will Gadd to introduce myself and get some tips leading up to the race. Check it out. To join me go to wingsforlifeworldrun.com/registration

I called a 7/11 on behalf of head office pretending to have a new slogan for the Slurpees. The slogan came from 'Immigrant Song' by Led Zeppelin. Have a listen.

SAY YES - Interview by 97.7 HTZ-FM

This week I had the great pleasure of talking with Rick Nielsen, the legendary guitarist of CHEAP TRICK. Rick was still brimming with excitement from Cheap Trick’s induction into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame in New York City just days before. This wasn’t an “interview” but more of a conversation. Despite their legacy, he deflects questions about key moments in their career but instead choose to tell stories, LOTS of stories of all those times in-between the benchmarks. I haven’t had this much fun in a long time because he had so much to say and so much to share. Mid-conversation he’d pull out his cell and show me pictures of him with Little Richard or Little Steven or Bobby Cannavale from the HBO show Vinyl, or to have me read his acceptance speech from Saturday night. Even after 40 years as lead guitarist for Cheap Trick, he still loves it. He’s unstoppable. We met at hotel bar in Toronto and talked for over 30 minutes. it was the last interview of full day of press and I learned later that he had started at 7am in the morning and had gone non-stop til 6pm when we finished up. We talk about the new Cheap Trick album: Bang-Zoom-Crazy-Hello; the 150 date tour; playing Mike McCready’s (Pearl Jam)birthday party; people bitching about the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame and Kid Rock’s induction speech for the band; the tv show Vinyl as a mirror of the 70s; his infamous 5-necked guitar and that he was a drummer first and why he switched to the guitar. Rick got all misty when talked about the late producer George Martin; the Ringo album that never happened that he was going to co-produce with David Bowie; the guitar he designed for John Lennon and how he attempted to save his soon to be released album (Double Fantasy) from sounding like the “lounge-record” it turned out to be; recording the unreleased “Baby Mumbles” with John. I asked about the 5 neck guitar and whether was for show or was actually authentic and playable. He had some very kind things to say about Dave Grohl and his experiences with the Sound City & Sonic Highways film and documentaries. There should be a book about all this stuff. Until he finally slows down and takes time to write it, grab your favourite beverage and settle into this. Nb. The rattling you’ll hear is Rick’s chain bracelet dangling the glass-top table we were at. Enjoy

The Toronto Motorcycle Spring Show is going down this weekend at the International Centre on Airport road. You can get tickets here: http://motorcyclespringshow.com/ Friend of the show Kim Coates who played Tig on Sons of Anarchy will be their all weekend long and he called in to talk about it!

I was stoked that Sam accepted our invitation for this feature to come down and play for us and chat as I wanted to get the goods from the man in person. Check out our conversation in which Sam tells some stories about the songs, the band and working with legendary producer Ian Blurton and look for Sam Cash & The Romatic Dogs on the road this summer.

Steven Wright is coming to the Performing Arts Centre on April 25th to preform Stand Up. I chatted with him about the show, Johnny Carson, Donald Trump, Louis C.K and more. Check it out!

Leave A Message! I call a random place of work and leave a message with an employee for another employee but the message is always just rock lyrics, and then I have them read the message back to me. Today I called a tools warehouse and left a message for a shipper who "changed my life" with some help from Sublime. Have a listen!

AC/DC has confirmed their new lead singer and it's not Axl Rose, I broke the news with Paulie Morris minutes ago! Have a listen!

March 25th, 2016 is Jeff Healey's birthday. To celebrate his life they've released some of the 36 songs that were recorded but never released. Paul got Jeff's good friend Roger Costa on the phone to talk about HEAL MY SOUL, which taps just some of those unreleased songs and the stories behind them and this new posthumous release.

I called my aunt to do a prank call and she was hammered mid afternoon on a Thursday. Check this out!

Last Bullet Interview by 97.7 HTZ-FM

The Niagara Region has it's first case of Rabies in over 2 decades when a Raccoon was found in West Lincoln that tested positive for Rabies. SO I I decided to do some very SERIOUS Investigative Journalism to find out what to do if you come in contact with a rabid animal. Have a listen!

The Stone Temple Pilots are looking for a new singer! I've talked about this before, I think STP should have ended when Scott Weiland left the band. What is STP without Scott? Chester Bennington tried to take a stab at it, still STP was Scott Weiland. I was not a fan of of the band searching for yet ANOTHER lead singer until I heard Brian Byrne of I Mother Earth wanted to take a kick at the can. First of all he is such a great dude, I remember in Port Colborne at Canal Days hanging out backstage with him shooting the shit. We started talking about kids, and I had my son back there with me. My son took a liking to Brian, and Brian took the time to sit there and entertain my kid for a few minutes. It was pretty cool to see a rockstar take some time out of his day moments before a show to hang with a 2 year old he just met. On top of being a good dude, the guy can sing. How cool would it be to have a Canadian fronting Stone Temple Pilots? Have a listen to my chat with Brian about this here!

The Maysides dropped by for an acoustic jam in the cellar of the WhiteHouse of Rock on the title track of their new Ep: Loved & Lost. After they packed the gear away, we got down to talking about how the band came together, influences, the new songs and then to headier topics like the state of punk rock today.... and cassettes. I also had them embellish some of the claims they make on their bio: Lead singer Matt's Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle obsession; drummer Mike's "abnormal rider requests" and why guitarist Kenny crowns himself "the King of Bromley". Its fun. Have a listen.

Andrew Stockdale the lead singer of Wolfmother called into the show to talk about their new record Victorious that comes out on February 19th, their show at the Danforth Music Hall Feb 27th and more. Check out my interview with Andrew Stockdale here!

Moon Vs. Sun is a project involving Raine Maida of Our Lady Peace and his wife Chantal Kreviazuk. They are performing together February 9th at The First Ontario Performing Arts Center! I spoke with them both about the new project, Raine going to school in St. Catharines and getting kicked out of Ridley College, Our Lady Peace and more. Check it out.

The Julian Taylor band is out with a new Ep Desert Star, the first of series of diverse Eps that collectively will form a double album. Check out our chat about Julian’s musical journey, his love for Bowie and the music in his home growing up that influenced him. Julian said it was a great “hang”.

Laptop Love is the segment where I call up people selling Laptops in the Classifieds and get them to admit they have watched porn on the laptop they are trying to sell. Today I got in touch with a man who is really in touch with Jesus and he tried to get me to see the light. Check this out!

When NORTHCOTE came to HTZ-FM to perform, his songs gave us that shiver of excitement that shoots up your spine when the music hits that nerve. The nerve that can touch your soul – touch your heart. You feel that connection to the music, to the lyrics, to the performer. Northcote took a couple of minutes to chat wilth Paulie Morris about the songs and his new album Hope Is Made of Steel

Laptop Love is a new segment where I call people selling Laptops on the classifieds and see if they will admit they have watched porn on the laptop they are trying to sell. Today a guy denies ever watching porn on the laptop, but once pressured...does he break? SHAME!

"I met a girl from New Orleans". Makes sense to head south to the Big Easy to shoot the video for the new national hit for The Standstills, "Orleans". We got Jonny, guitarist & singer for The Standstills on the phone to walk us through the making of the new video and how they got talked into performing on rocky boat in the bayou surrounded by gigantic alligators. We also talk about the huge surge in popularity for the song and .... what's next for The Standstills in 2016!

The Lazys stopped by The Whitehouse of Rock to chat about Australian Accents, Woman, Stitches and of course old fashioned Rock N Roll! They also immediately regretted asking us to help them sing 'Shake It Like You Mean It'. Check it out. Lotsa fun.

Laptop Love is a new segment where I call people selling Laptops on the classifieds and see if they will admit they have watched porn on the laptop they are trying to sell. Today a girl pins all the porn blame on her father. Check this out haha!

His new solo album is SECRETS. This is nothing like you heard from Ian Thornley or Big Wreck before.. I'm reluctant to call it an acoustic album so let's label it "stripped way-down". It's very personal - very intimate. It sounds laid back but the playing is exquisite; the emotions - real. Ian called in to talk about the record and what the songs mean to him. He and two friends, plus their producer, retreated to a remote cottage to woodshed these performances. The isolation of their northern location definitely bleeds it way into the songs. Its a great album. Ian is doing a short tour in December, starting in Quebec and then throughout Southern Ontario. He tells us they'll not only play songs from SECRETS but some Big Wreck classics, some deep cuts and maybe some cover versions.

This blazingguitar player was invited to Eric Clapton's Crossroads concert, a blues summit of sorts, at Madison Square Gardens a couple of years ago. Raised in Toronto, he got his start at jam nights at Grossman's Tavern, was invited by Jeff Healey to go out on tour with him for a few years. A move to L.A. brought on a gig as a sideman to Melissa Etheridge. in 2009 he kicked off a solo career and has been torching a path ever since. He might be on of rock's best kept secrets until now. The album is INFLUENCE and it is a sum of the great influences the inform his playing: from Stevie Ray Vaughan to Hendrix to the "3 Kings". This is Philip Sayce!

Brand New Segment: Laptop Love I call up people from the classifieds who are selling Laptops and get that to admit they have watched porn on the laptop they are trying to sell! Have a listen to the first edition and let me know what you think!

I finally got the chance to talk to LEIGH KAKATY. He’s the lead singer of Michigan’s POP EVIL who currently have the number one song at Rock Radio in USA. Besides talking about the usual band business, include their new video for “Footsteps” and a string of Canadian tour dates, I wanted to dig into his KINGSTON ONTARIO roots. Yeah, he’s a hoser, born in the city that not only gave us our first Prime Minister, Sir John A., but Gord Downie & Gord Sinclair of The Tragically Hip, Hugh Dillon of The Headstones, Bryan Adams, Bruce Cockburn, Sarah Harmer, Zal Yanovsky of The Lovin’ Spoonful & Bruce McDonald of Kids In The Hall. He talks them relocating to Michigan but staying in touch with family in Kingston & London Ontario and that his band Pop Evil will be playing Canada more often.

The guys dropped by 977 HTZ-FM to talk about their new album: HOLDING PATTERNS & current tour, some Maritime rock music heritage, the hockey doneybrook in their new video for "The Boards" and almost destroying a vintage table hockey game - plus then recent news of Whoopi Goldberg’s tour bus catching fire at a casino gig in their hometown of “Moncton Ontario”.