Impossible Way Of Life

R.I.P to a Real One.  Rest in Power Charlie.

It's flowing like 1988 flo-jo, and we're taking it back to Clapton's first strategic target, and the man who wrote all his biggest songs (except for Bob Marley).  JJ Cale, everyone's favourite guitarist, and the only man to fully encapsulate the feeling of jamming around a campfire.  We're both having a great time, and hope you are to. x

Episode 91 - It’s peak summer and we are crackin’ the Red Stripe and skankin’ to Bob Marley’s “Catch A Fire,” the album that got a lil help in the form of Blues Overdubs.   Don’t worry if you don’t know his songs, you can still have his poster on your wall and smoke weed about it.  Jah Bless.

We break down the top 100 RANKED classic rock guitarists of all time.  And In memory of Dusty Hill, we got our boy Mike to come in and talk all things ZZ Top and dissect their top sirloin steak of an album “Tres Hombres”.  RIP to a real one.   Check out the link in our bio and you’ll find our Patreon, which at this point has about 50 episodes on it.  Join us in the greenroom, where the real rock n...

Johnny is producing a record, so I hopped on my bike.  Full Ocean Way Feel riding down to his studio.  Got to share a couple beers with an old pal Travis and discuss Burrito Bro's 1969 cosmic country masterpiece.  As you expect, we get to all the important questions - Is Chris Hillman the most underrated "technician" of his day?  Who the hell is even in The Byrds? 

I finally got my wish.  I've been working on the SSL console famous for that "Vancouver Snare Sound."  Though I'm still not sure what that is, I know I'll find it on Pump.  Luckily, we have a Toxic Twin of oyur own, Luke Paquin, to walk us through it.  Strangely, in style this episode is more early Aerosmith, fast and loose, not the AA ghost written stadium anthems of thei...

We are officially commencing our Summer of Beatles Beatles Beatles.  In today's episode we discuss the first two episodes of the Cocaine vs Peyote, McCartney vs Rubin standoff, that is McCartney 3,2,1.  Apologies if you have to trial or buy Disney+, there are sacrifices to watching great artists mentally duel.

Bounced back from the Euro defeat and right back into the swing of things.  Read a great Vanity Fair article on how Led Zeppelin were the ultimate hotel room trashers, were loathed by the critics, and sorta had a feud with The Stones.  I accidentally drank carbonated water with high sodium content and me and Johnny got back into it after a week of actually being musicians. 

On the 50th Anniversary of Jim's ascent into Rock and Roll Heaven, we discuss The Doors Eponymous L.P.  We are joined by our IWOL Hollywood Insider and Sunset Strip Field Reporter Amanda Morck, to talk all things Jim, as well as getting the Low Down on current events on the Strip and The Hollywood Vampires. 

The People have decided - Queen are the biggest band on Spotify, which we can only assume, by current ranking systems, means they are the best.  We take a deep dive into their best albums - Greatest Hits 1 & 2, to decide once and for all if they are the best band ever at this moment algorithmically and based only on numbers and fractional more likes.  Joined by our esteemed guest Alex Bleeker...

Slowly becoming a Ranking Podcast and here we set a Euro 2020 / Round Robin competition involving all Beatles albums and the choice solo Beatles records.  Turns out ranking is really hard.  We also talk Garcia and Mayer meeting in Rock n Roll Heaven, the mental anguish of trying to play non-blues, and get an update on Johnny's swimming goggles.  Hope you enjoyed Solstice.

Still feelin' the double albums and started watch the " Steve Jobs and  Apple 1971: Rock changing the world and all that" series, so thought we'd tackle the sleaziest of the records from that year, "Exile On Main Street."  Some say it's the finest album of the Stones's career, but it's also the sound of a slow implosion, of things falling apart post alt...

In a special new feature, we have a round table Charlie Rose / Hard Talk style serious tete a tete discussion about all that is "The Blues."  We dissect Microsoft vs Apple blues rivalry, what makes Clapton's "Technique" so important in his ranking within The Blues Pantheon, and Joe Perry's pectoral workout regime.  We are fortunate to be joined on the call live from t...

Johnny called today as the first day of summer, and we tackle the record that pushed the California sound of the 60s to it's apocalyptic conclusion.  Punk is here - it's getting angular.  There are all sorts of pagan / pirate hybrids happening, Lindsey Buckingham is cutting his hair with toe nail clippers - and there is a blizzard of Cocaine.  Plus it's a Double Album, so this is pa...

We are joined by Vom Cruise, who gets banned from instagram every time we do a podcast (ask Mike Love, Chris Martin, Johnny Depp why).  We explore the machinations of the first indie band of all time, and choose their most Beatlesy album.  Beware, we are still mainly talking about John Stamos.

THE BOYS ARE BACK IN TOWN.  Johnny returns to the big city and, since we really just wanted to enjoy our reunion, we chose an album that we didn't even have to think to talk about, because we didn't even know we didn't like it. If life is a 4 way street which direction would you choose? We haven't decided yet but it's probably not Stills Drive; Too many bad vibes down that...

We are joined by Jason Grimmer, Vancouver's  Roky Erickson and a local rare Pokemon.  He was Johnny's floor manager at Zulu Records, in it's Artie Fufkin heyday.  Now in Montreal, he chats with us about Iggy Pop and The Blues Continuum.  I had a blast on this episode, enjoy.

Much discussed topic on the pod  since Episode 1 and we're try and get to the bottom of it once and for all.   So, the Doors are Pagan Pirates.  Dylan started Pilgrim, but shifted to Pirate in the mid 70s.  McCartney heard Pet Sounds and introduced Clown, which is a sub-genre of Pirate.......of course it's all blues, and.....well......it gets complicated.  

Bleeker is back and he's pissed we didn't talk enough about Aja; so we did the only IWOL appropriate thing and tried to not talk about it again.  These Bleeker episodes are always my favourite, and we consult him for what is "in" and what is "out" in the world of Pitchfork Cool.  Listen and learn people.

Over the course of the Pandemic there have been a number of powerful political songs by the Classic Rock heavy hitters (mostly recorded in Garageband, or to the same Rock Drum Loop). I'm talking Van, Eric, Mike Love, some dude from Yes, and of course Mick and Dave's post punk banger "Easy Sleazy."  There's also  been a lot of y'all sliding into our DM's demanding...

We got a new cable that allows us to play "fuckin' tunes mate."  Sun is out, and we went marina side and decided to dig in once and for all to the "West Coast" Sound.  Why does every song sound like "What A Fool Believes?" Who are these bands? Is it just one guy? Did they play shows? Will we have a show after this two part on Yacht Rock is done? Smooth Sailing pe...

The new variant is in Vancouver, we are facing lockdown, and in the midst of such uncertainty, felt the only way to go was keyed up positive smooth jazz pop fusion.  You've requested Steely Dan for a long time, and I you would expect , we answered - by doing the bare minimum research and I don't think we talked about it once.  May do it again at some point.  Happy Wednesday.

It’s 1970 and the Beatles are toast.  Lennon and Macca are going toe to toe (let’s not forget George).  Paul moves to the country and John spends 6 months in primal scream therapy.   They’re both dipping into rock and roll hell candidates -  Clapton, Spector etc.  Yoko has hypnotized John.  Macca is vegetarian and lives on a farm.  They both emerge ready to make an album with their reputations on...

Recorded this last week, so we drank Jameson's and Guinness and talked a little bit about Thin Lizzy, Bono, and Van Morrison.   Happy St Patrick's Day! 

It's a beautiful Wednesday afternoon, and it's time to listen to "Songs to get Keyed up on life too."  We are tapping our toes over here.