The Sonic Collective

Send us Fan Mail This month on The Sonic Collective, things got a little louder and a lot more divided. Our newest and youngest member, Owen Pearson, brought us Machine Gun Kelly’s 2020 album Tickets to My Downfall—a bold departure from the classic rock and older albums we often cover. Owen loved this album when it dropped, and he wanted to challenge the crew to revisit it and see if it holds up a...

Send us Fan Mail 🎧 The Sonic Collective podcast is back with a nostalgic deep dive into one of Canada's most iconic compilation albums — Big Shiny Tunes 4! For over 10 years, our crew of passionate music lovers — Darren Scott, Scott Coates, Alain DuPuis, and Scott Gregory — have reviewed classic albums to see if they still hold up today. In this episode, we proudly welcome our newest member,...

Send us Fan Mail This episode explores the original motion picture soundtrack of the 1997 action-horror movie, Spawn, based on Todd McFarlane's comic book of the same name. This album is unique in that it consists of all original music, with each song featuring a collaboration between some of the hottests artists of the day. Contributors of note include Korn, The Prodigy, Moby, Marilyn Manson...

Send us Fan Mail We chat about impressions listening to 1983's Hit Express. Overall we really enjoyed it and everyone rated it 4 out of 5. Support the show

Send us Fan Mail Welcome to the Sonic Collective, a music podcast that explores a different album or musical concept each month, diving deep into its history, context, and impact on the music industry. Join hosts Alain DuPuis, Scott Coates and Darren Scott, along with Scott Gregory, as they share their thoughts, insights, and personal connections to the music, inviting listeners to discover new pe...

Send us Fan Mail Skid Row entered the scene at a cross roads of rock and grunge. Touring with both sides of the fence, they went through a journey on this album from a more polished glam metal sound to something harder. Did it work? The guys get together and give their takes on what they thought of the album and the musical happenings of the time that might have influenced it's fate. Could th...

Send us Fan Mail We spent January 2025 listening to and pondering over the 1967 compilation album, Best of the Beach Boys, Vol. 2. As we listened, we found ourselves dreaming about what it must have been like to spend carefree summer days in the 1960s, catching waves along the coasts of California with the surf-rock stylings and delicious harmonies of the Beach Boys. Tune in to hear our review of...

Send us Fan Mail Over the last couple of months, both Darren and Scott picked the first albums they ever owned for us to review, so I'm continuing the trend. The first album I ever owned was Best of the Beach Boys, vol. 2 on cassette. Compiled and released by Capitol Records in 1967, this album served to fill a gap in releases by the band to keep the fans happy and the hype train going. Best...

Send us Fan Mail We chat about Joan Jett's debut album after listening to it over the month of December 2024. We enjoyed it, were blown away by what she has become over the decades, but were also surprised by how it had a bit of everything (not always good). From 50s-style tracks to straight up rock, they were throwing it all at the wall here to see what stuck. But it's a must listen to...

Send us Fan Mail Take a Musical Journey with the King: Elvis Presley’s Debut AlbumWhat made Elvis Presley the undisputed King of Rock ‘n’ Roll? This month on The Sonic Collective, the team dives into the groundbreaking self-titled debut album that launched Elvis into stardom. Released in 1956, this record is a time capsule of raw energy and revolutionary sound that forever changed the music landsc...

Send us Fan Mail We think it was in late 2014 that a thirst for exposure to a greater range of music led us to come together as a group – The Sonic Collective (TSC). Our goal is to each month select, listen to, and consider an album of ‘significance’ that is at least six-years of age. We tend to avoid greatest hits compilations and live albums, but exceptions have been made. Over the years we’ve l...

Send us Fan Mail Growing up in Newfoundland in 1975, I was a kid who loved Elvis Presley. His music had a unique spark that captured my imagination, and, looking back, I realize that spark ignited worldwide. For my pick on The Sonic Collective Podcast this month, I chose Elvis’s groundbreaking debut album from 1956, an album that changed the music industry forever. This album didn't just brin...

Send us Fan Mail Our pick for December 2024 is Joan Jett's Bad Reputation, her first debut solo studio album after her band The Runaways called it quits. It was originally released independently in May 1980, self titled, then Jett signed with Boardwalk Records and it was re-released worldwide with this new title on January 23, 1981. It was pretty favourably received, with Jett having song wri...

Send us Fan Mail In this episode, Darren, Scott C, Alain, and Scott G close out our series of four special episodes where we select two feature albums and discuss how one may have been influenced by the other in some form. The twist this time is new kids Stone Temple Pilots might have influenced Def Leppard, comparing the albums Purple and Slang. Is there a connection? Support the show

Send us Fan Mail This month, we round out our four-part series exploring how some albums influence others by seeing if the Stone Temple Pilots influenced Def Leppard. Sometimes bands with careers that span decades aren't just the influencers, but take inspiration from new genres and newer bands smashing it in them. When Def Leppard decided to get into the grunge and alt rock scene in the 90s,...

Send us Fan Mail In this episode, Darren, Scott C, Alain, and Scott G embark on our third of four special episodes where we select two feature albums and discuss how one may have been influenced by the other in some form. Up for discussion: The Deftones' third album from 2000, White Pony and Sleep Token's debut album from 2019, Sundowning. Support the show

Send us Fan Mail In this review we share our impressions of the second of four episodes where we feature two album picks thinking about how one album may have influenced the other. This time we’re exploring The Southern Harmony and Musical Companion by The Black Crowes and how it may have been influenced by The Rolling Stones’ Exile on Main St. These albums were released 20-years apart and we all...

Send us Fan Mail Did the Deftones influence Sleep Token? This month, Alain kicks off the third of our four-part series exploring albums that sound like they were influenced by other albums. Or perhaps, more broadly, bands that sound like they were influenced by other bands, focusing on an album from each band that demonstrates the similarities. Can you find the influences when listening to Deftone...

Send us Fan Mail When the members of The Sonic Collective podcast set out to explore the connection between Bad Brains' "Rock for Light" and Dave Grohl's self-titled Foo Fighters album, they embarked on a journey filled with deep dives into music history, interviews, and countless hours of listening. Each member approached the research from a unique angle, tracing musical linea...

Send us Fan Mail Released in May 1992, The Southern Harmony and Musical Companion is The Black Crowes’ second album and expectations were beyond high after the huge success of their first release, Shake Your Money Maker. And it did not disappoint. Was it influenced by Exile on Main St., The Rolling Stones’ 10th UK album and 12th in the US. It’s known for its murky, inconsistent sound due to more d...

Send us Fan Mail It's the end of the month and we come back together to discuss this month's pick: Fiona Apple's debut album, Sleep to Dream. Our differing musical tastes show through as we explore what we each liked and didn't like on the album. See how our thoughts match yours, and stay tuned to the end to see if you agree with the scores we give and find out what's on t...

Send us Fan Mail The Foo Fighters' self-titled debut album, released in 1995, bears noticeable influences from Bad Brains' "Rock for Light," a seminal hardcore punk album released in 1983. Dave Grohl, the driving force behind the Foo Fighters and former drummer of Nirvana, has often cited Bad Brains as one of his major musical inspirations. The raw energy, aggressive sound, and...

Send us Fan Mail Fiona Apple’s first album Tidal debuted in 1996, and received significant positive reviews from fans and industry. It had this dark, rough vibe to it that somehow bridged the rock and grunge I was into at that time. Her vocals cut against the cutesy pop star image that was being sold at that time by many others, yet she wasn’t some crazy metal chick either. She seemed like some de...

Send us Fan Mail Over the month of April, 2024, The Sonic Collective did a deep dive into The Prodigy's third, and most impactful album, Fat of the Land. Tune into this episode and hear our thoughts on what makes this album good, whether or not we enjoyed it, and if it still holds up to modern music sensibilities. Support the show

Send us Fan Mail We chat about our impressions of our pick for March 2024, John Mayer's Continuum. Have a listen to hear what we thought and how we scored it. Support the show