Q with Tom Power

After a life-altering attack that nearly killed him when he was 16, Cole Stevenson, also known as Merkules, set out to become one of the biggest rappers on Canada’s West Coast. Growing up, he had pictures of Snoop Dogg on his bedroom wall. So years later, when Snoop’s label Death Row Records came calling, Merkules almost hung up the phone. Today, he’s the only Canadian artist to ever be signed to...

Paul Grimstad is a Yale professor and music composer who just so happens to be in two of this year’s most talked-about films: One Battle After Another and Marty Supreme. Paul talks to guest host Talia Schlanger about how he landed the roles without an agent or recent acting credits, the advice he got from actor Leonardo DiCaprio, and what he means when he says “experimenting is a lot like experien...

Ian Thornley has been at the helm of the rock band Big Wreck for the better part of 30 years — but he didn’t always see himself as a frontman. With encouragement from his bandmates, he stepped into the role and Big Wreck went on to become bona fide Canadian hitmakers. The band’s latest album, The Rest of the Story, is out now, and they’re currently on tour across Canada. Ian stops by the Q studio...

Julia Dault is an acclaimed Canadian abstract painter and sculptor whose work can be found in the Guggenheim Museum, Miami’s Pérez Art Museum, the National Gallery of Canada, and many other notable galleries around the world. But after a midlife crisis, Julia shifted her focus away from international exhibits and toward the hyper-local. She sits down with guest host Garvia Bailey to talk about tha...

After a decade away from music, Hilary Duff is back with Luck… or Something — a new album that dives into the messy, vulnerable and raw parts of life she’s now navigating in her late 30s. Hilary sits down with guest host Garvia Bailey in the Q studio to discuss her comeback album, child stardom, and her complicated relationship with Lizzie McGuire. 

Jully Black, Canada’s Queen of R&B Soul, is currently on tour, but not the kind of tour we’re used to. She’s performing at small venues across the country for what she’s calling the Jully Black Live Experience. Guest host Garvia Bailey catches up with the R&B powerhouse to talk about why she wanted to get up close and personal with her fans. Plus, Jully reflects on how a song she recorded...

Damon Albarn and Jamie Hewlett — the architects of the Grammy-winning, multi-platinum band Gorillaz — are back with their ninth studio record, The Mountain. It might be the group’s most personal record yet, as it follows a fictional story inspired by real events. After Damon and Jamie both lost their fathers, they decided to travel to India where they gained a new understanding of death and family...

The Montreal hip-hop trio Muzion were pioneers of the Quebec rap scene in the late 1990s and early 2000s. The group was known for bringing their Haitian roots to the world stage, mixing French, English and Haitian Creole into their music. For Black History Month, Canada Post recently unveiled special edition postage stamps to honour Muzion and other Canadian hip-hop artists that have helped shape...

Candi Staton has been a gospel prodigy, a Southern soul powerhouse and a disco icon. Now, at 85, she’s back in the spotlight with her Grammy-nominated album Back to My Roots, which marks her return to the gospel music where it all began. From segregated Alabama churches to ’90s dance floors, her career includes timeless hits like Young Hearts Run Free and You Got the Love. But it’s also a journey...

Canadian rapper Alexander Gumuchian, better known as bbno$, is up for three Junos next month. A few years ago, he sat down with Tom Power in the Q studio to talk about his unconventional path to success, from a bored college kid making music for fun to a viral TikTok star and mainstream hitmaker.

Leroy Sibbles is one of the biggest names in reggae history. Known as the undisputed king of the reggae bassline, Leroy first rose to fame as the lead singer of The Heptones. He  was also an integral part of Jamaica's Studio One record label, which is often described as “the Motown of Jamaica.” In the early ’70s, Leroy left Jamaica for Canada, where he helped build Toronto’s fledgling reggae...

When artist Jesse Mockrin looks at Renaissance paintings, she can't help but see the gender-based violence in them. Her new exhibit, Echo, at the Art Gallery of Ontario, reimagines these works from a feminist perspective — shifting focus to the women whose stories have long been overlooked or erased in historical art. Jesse joins guest host Garvia Bailey to discuss the inspirations behind her work...

Oliver Laxe is the director of the Oscar-nominated film Sirāt, which is up for best international feature (representing Spain) and best sound at this year’s Academy Awards. Set against vast stretches of desert, the film follows a father searching for his missing daughter after she disappears at a rave deep in the mountains of southern Morocco. Oliver spent more than a decade making Sirāt, paring t...

After years working behind the scenes as a songwriter and producer, followed by a nearly decade-long hiatus in the corporate world, Koladae made the decision to finally release his own music. But then, a little over a year ago, he was diagnosed with thyroid cancer. He wrote his latest single, Keep Rolling, just two weeks before his surgery. Koladae talks to guest host Garvia Bailey about what this...

Suzy Eddie Izzard is a Tony-nominated actor, stand-up comedian, multi-marathon runner and one-time political candidate. Now, she’s performing a solo adaptation of Shakespeare’s Hamlet at the CAA Theatre in Toronto, in which she plays all 23 characters. Suzy joins guest host Garvia Bailey to tell us about the challenges of doing Hamlet solo, why she was especially keen to breathe new life into Shak...

Zochi is a Regina-based, Nigerian-born artist who’s just released a new single called What You Want. It showcases her smooth vocals and vulnerable storytelling, diving into feelings of unrequited love. She joins guest host Garvia Bailey to talk about being honest in her music, how moving to Canada changed her life, and why she’s never giving up on love.

If you’re shocked by a few songs full of dirty words, try watching the news — that’s the challenge laid out by Peaches on her first album in more than 10 years, No Lube So Rude. On the new record, the Canadian electro-punk legend uses her brand of raunchy wordplay and danceable beats to sound off on everything from the reversal of Roe v. Wade to Elon Musk’s Starlink. Peaches joins guest host Talia...

Actor and writer Scott Turner Schofield has spent his career quietly reshaping what transgender visibility looks like on screen. He was the first openly trans actor on daytime television with The Bold and the Beautiful, the first openly trans man nominated for an Emmy, and a consultant on HBO’s Euphoria. Now, after moving to Canada amid rising anti-trans legislation in the U.S., Scott is telling h...

Canadian comedian Dave Foley (The Kids in the Hall) is a lifelong Toronto Maple Leafs fan. He’s always had a love of the game — even when it felt like the game didn’t love him back. Now, he’s hosting a new docuseries, Hockey Fanatics, which explores hockey fandom across North America. In the show, Dave visits NHL teams and their biggest and most notable fans, including Wynonna Judd (a Nashville Pr...

Winnipeg-based musician Liam Duncan, also known as Boy Golden, is back with a new record, Best of Our Possible Lives, which can only be described as a balm for the uncertain times we’re living in. He sits down with guest host Garvia Bailey to talk about the record, the power of having an alter ego, and why he thinks softness and vulnerability are the countermeasures to grief and suffering.

Award-winning composer Kris Bowers is the man behind the musical scores for films like Green Book, King Richard, The Color Purple, and The Wild Robot, as well as TV series like Bridgerton, Mrs. America, and Dear White People. His latest score is for the new animated movie Goat, which follows a small goat named Will who has big dreams about joining the pros to play roarball — a high-intensity sport...

Canadian jazz singer and pianist Laila Biali recently caused a stir after her album Wintersongs received a Grammy nomination for best traditional pop vocal album, alongside Lady Gaga, Jennifer Hudson, Brandi Carlile and Elton John, Laufey, and Barbra Streisand. She sits down with guest host Garvia Bailey to tell us about the unexpected recognition, and what it was like to go to the Grammys ceremon...

Laura Ramoso is bringing her most personal material yet to her new comedy tour. It’s called The Calm Down Tour, and she’s launching it this month at Just For Laughs Vancouver. Laura is best known for the viral character impressions she posts on social media. Some of her most popular characters — including “German Mom,” “Italian Dad,” and an airline worker named Chiara — have racked up millions of...

Canadian actor and playwright Natasha Mumba has described her debut play, Copperbelt, as an “African Succession.” It centres on the Kasubas, a wealthy Zambian mining family. After the family patriarch falls ill, he summons his adult children home to help run the business. But long-simmering tensions rise and relationships fracture, forcing the family to confront its legacy — and its future. Natash...

Natalie MacMaster is a virtuoso Canadian fiddle player from Cape Breton who’s brought traditional East Coast music to the rest of the world. She was nine when she got her first fiddle, but she felt like she already had nine years of experience at that point because she had been surrounded by fiddle music from the time she was born. Now, Natalie has released a new memoir, I Have a Love Story, which...