Welcome To The Music

With time on his hands during the pandemic lockdown, roots music troubadour Ken Tizzard decided to create a new album comprising the fresh versions of cover songs he had worked up on his solo shows over the past decade. Tizzard explains that “initially I told my fans that I was going to record all these cover tunes I’ve been playing at Whiskey Wednesday [his popular weekly residency at a pub in Ca...

Mike Boguski has been playing keyboards for Canadian Music Hall of Famers Blue Rodeo since 2008, but when he’s had the chance to explore different musical avenues in recent years, the results have consistently revealed his naturally restless creative spirit.(via Mike's website!)photo credit: Heather Pollock Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Hosts Gregg Tilston and Karim Kanji welcome author, artist and podcaster Martin Popoff onto the show to talk about Canada's favourite hard rock band, RUSH. Popoff has written multiple books about RUSH. His most recent being the ECW published "trilogy" which include the books Anthem, Limelight and Driven. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Brad Bradford is a City Councillor of the Beaches - East York ward in Toronto. Among his many duties he is currently the chair of the Toronto Music Advisory Council. In this episode Brad discusses with hosts Gregg Tilston and Karim Kanji the initiatives the city of Toronto is taking to bring back live music to the city in a post-pandemic scenario. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more in...

Jason Wilson is a two-time Juno-Awards nominee, Canadian Reggae Music Award winner, four-time Reggae Music Achievements Award nominee and Best-Selling Canadian historian from Downsview, Ontario. In 2007, Wilson became the first recipient of the Karl Mullings Memorial Award for commitment to reggae in Canada. The protégé of Studio One keyboardist Jackie Mittoo, Jason has performed and recorded with...

Welcome To The Music hosts Gregg Tilston and Karim Kanji take a look back at the 50th JUNO Awards. Gregg and Karim also celebrate past guests of the podcast who were nominated and even some who won! In other words, WTTM is a path to either a nomination or a statue! Congrats to all the nominees, winners and Canadian music! Photos: Ryan Bolton Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more informat...

Art Bergmann is Canada's Prince of Punk. Just don't call him that. In pure punk fashion, Art recently received the Order Of Canada but has yet to give an acceptance speech or even wear the "coveted" OoC pin. In this timely interview, Gregg Tilston and Karim Kanji talk to Art about music and the role of being a shit disturber by holding those in power to account. We end of the interview with a powe...

Zaki Ibrahim recently released her album, The Secret Life Of Planets and joined both Gregg Tilston and Karim Kanji on the show to talk about it. We also explore Zaki's musical inspirations and how growing up in South Africa, Nanaimo and Toronto shaped her identity and music. Stay until the end for a wonderful performance of her song, Gemini Moon. Photo by: Josh Rille Hosted on Acast. See acast.com...

The Cabana Room, the upstairs venue of The Spadina Hotel, was the centre of the Queen West music scene back in the 60s and 70s and flourished as a place to watch indie acts before being turned into a youth hostel in 1997. In this episode, hosts Gregg Tilston and Karim Kanji debate which Canadian act should join The Band, Joni Mitchell, Neil Young, Rush and Leonard Cohen in the Rock and Roll Hall o...

Prior to the release of her new album, SET THE FIRE, Kandle joined Gregg Tilston and Karim Kanji from her home in BC to chat about music, her career, videos, her new music and her love of dogs and the comedy, Curb Your Enthusiasm. Kandle’s mastery of music comes as no surprise, having collaborated with some of Canada’s finest songwriters, including Sam Roberts, Coeur de pirate, Peter Dremanis (Jul...

If Wikipedia is to be believed... the El Mocambo is a live music and entertainment venue in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. Located on Spadina Avenue, just south of College Street, the bar has played an important role in the development of popular music in Toronto since the 1940s. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Jeff Burrows is the drummer and percussionist for Canadian rock bands Crash Karma, and The Tea Party. Jeff Burrows begun drumming at eleven years of age and professionally since 1990 when he joined childhood friends Jeff Martin and Stuart Chatwood in forming The Tea Party which is celebrating their 30th anniversary in 2021. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Nothin' But a Good Time is the definitive, no-holds-barred oral history of 1980s hard rock and hair metal, told by the musicians and industry insiders who lived it. Hard rock in the 1980s was a hedonistic and often intensely creative wellspring of escapism that perfectly encapsulated—and maybe even helped to define—a spectacularly over-the-top decade. Indeed, fist-pumping hits like Twisted Sister’...

Erica Ehm is a good friend of the podcast. She was kind enough to sit down with hosts Gregg Tilston and Karim Kanji a few months ago to help us think about our podcast differently. Out of that brainstorming session came a segment called, Lost Venues. Lost Venues is a celebration of music venues from our past that no longer exist. Sometimes Gregg and Karim will chat about venues that Gregg has play...

Amin Bhatia joined Gregg Tilston and, at times, Karim Kanji in this special episode of Welcome To The Music. With more than 50 scores to his credit, Emmy nominated composer Amin Bhatia has written music for film, television, radio, theatre, IMAX movies, and his own albums, for more than 30 years. A composer of orchestral and electronic music, Bhatia has scored television projects that include the...

ZENESOUL is a Soul artist from Brampton, Canada. Born in Nigeria, she began writing songs at 11 years old. Today, this love for writing plays a big role in her music as she transports listeners with her lyrics, the clarity in her voice and use of simple instrumentals. Incorporating R&B, Neo-soul and Afro-beats into her music, ZENESOUL creates a sound of her own. In March 2019, ZENESOUL released he...

Any Night Of The Week - A DIY History of Toronto Music 1957-2001 just might be one of the most important books about the Toronto live music scene ever written. In this episode Karim Kanji speaks with author, musician and co-founder of Wavelength Music, Jonny Dovercourt. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Born in Toronto in 1951, Greg Godovitz has been an active member of the Canadian music industry since 1964. The year 2021 marks his 57th anniversary as a musician. His recorded works with Toronto based group Fludd produced eight top ten hits including the SOCAN Hall Of Fame inductees Cousin Mary, Brother and Me and Turned 21 which have reached the amazing milestone of over 100,000 airplays. Greg w...

Justine Giles is a folk singer songwriter based in Calgary, Alberta, Canada. Originally from Sudbury, Ontario, Canada Justine was the 2020 Jim Beam Talent Search National Finalist, Calgary Region Winner. Photo: https://www.facebook.com/justinegilesmusic/ Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Toronto-based Bad Breed started out as a hard-edged combination of punk rock and 60s R&B. Inspired by the sounds of Stevie Wonder, Curtis Mayfield, Betty Davis and Led Zeppelin, the muscular funk, lightning-sharp guitar riffs and soulful songs of love and despair from their latest album are a testament to the transformative and ferocious power of love. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for mo...

Danny Miles is best known as the drummer of Juno Award-winning alternative band July Talk. Danny is also drummer and co-producer of the Alternative Hip Hop group Tongue Helmet and an avid bird photographer. Image: https://www.drummerswholovebirds.com/drummers-who-love-birdsTapes by Gumbel used under Creative Commons license Attribution 4.0 International (CC BY 4.0) https://freemusicarchive.org/mus...

BIO: Dubbed “Hip Hops kid sister”, Keysha Freshh blends everything you love about the 90’s with everything you appreciate about Hip Hop. Born in Toronto, Keysha found a love for hip hop spending summers in NYC. She was exposed to the culture at an early age, listening to mixtapes her cousins would have. Keysha had her first song published when she was 5 years old, the song was titled “Summers comi...

Hotel Isabella was built in the 1890s in Toronto. During it's first heyday it was a fancy hotel that people went to for weddings and anniversaries. In the 1970s and 80s it was known as a jazz bar. In the 1980s and 90s Gregg's band, International Boundaries, played the basement bar of Hotel Isabella, Under The Izzy. There was also a main floor venue called Cameo Lounge. Besides Gregg, the Hotel Isa...

Paul Chin is a Polaris Music Prize-nominated producer that has risen from a pedigree of classical training, to discovering bedroom production; then years of releasing music as a beatmaker's beatmaker; followed by almost a half-decade of inwardly-focused musical exploration, practice, and collaboration. The Toronto artist's return to the market – while easy to be apprehensive about – begins a new c...

Here's the first episode in a series we're doing called Lost Venues. We'll explore lost concert venues through the eyes of former musician Gregg Tilston. Gregg was 16 when he started playing live gigs with Plastic Dollz from Whitby/Ajax, Ontario. The first gig in Toronto was at Larry's Hideaway. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.