Videos

The Show Must Go On! Favourite Concert Memories on the Friday LeBrain Train

Dave Lizmi was a no-show, but that can’t stop the LeBrain Train from rolling.

We’re good at improvising, so tonight’s show was a discussion of favourite concert memories and rock star encounters.  Encounters such as:  Rush, Kim Mitchell, Cyndi Lauper and more.  Have you heard the story of Lauper asking T-Rev for directions in Sarnia?  Or Uncle Meat blowing pot smoke in Geddy Lee’s face?  You will after watching this!

Thank you T-Rev for your understanding, and thanks to Uncle Meat for pinch-hitting at the last minute.  Apologies to you for the change of plan.  I talked to Dave a few days ago, and he was good to go.  I don’t know what happened.  But we rocked it anyway!

Also — a couple of minor announcements were made, although as we’ve seen, anything can change.  Let us know what you think.

 

Dave Lizmi Returns! Rockin’ Is His Business on the LeBrain Train

The LeBrain Train: 2000 Words or More with Mike and T-Rev

Episode 75 – Dave Lizmi

By now Dave Lizmi and the Four fuckin’ Horsemen should need no introduction.  Dave was a surprise special guest back when we did Top Album Cover Designers in May.  He’s most famous for being a killer guitarist/songwriter, making his mark in the 1990s with the legendary Four Horsemen.  “Rockin’ Is Ma Business”, “Tired Wings”, “Nobody Said It Was Easy” and “Back in Business Again” are songs that should ring a bell or two.  The Horsemen burned bright and fast, and their story has not been as well documented as it should be.  T-Rev and I intend to fix that tonight.

Dave is a master of tone and riff.  We can’t wait to pick his brain and find out what he’s been up to. And we will be taking your questions! Make sure you tune in live!

Friday July 16, 7:00 PM E.S.T. on Facebook:  MikeLeBrain and YouTube:  Mike LeBrain.

What are the Top Debut Albums of All Time? Our panel decides!

Fascinating lists tonight, and a clear winner emerged!  This fantabulous list show was brought to you by:

This epic show included some surprises, including about 25% CanCon and none of them named “Rush”.  Even the picks that were only selected once included some pretty massive albums.  Check out the lists, and the graphs by Geoff, and let us know what you think about our picks!

 

Top Debut Albums of All Time — We’ll List ‘Em on the LeBrain Train Tonight!

The LeBrain Train: 2000 Words or More with Mike and Friends

Saturday July 9 – Episode 75 – Top Debut Albums of All Time

 

Our audacious panel is tackling a big list topic this week, brought to you by Kevin:  Top debut albums.  The graphic above is a mere tease.  Some of those albums might be on lists, some might not…you never can tell what you’re going to get with a rogue’s gallery like this:

In a show first, this will be Geoff’s debut as a participant and not just the scorekeeper/grapher!  This will be a lot of fun for us, and hopefully you as well.  Get ready with your own lists — this show’s gonna rock.

Friday July 9, 7:00 PM E.S.T. on Facebook:  MikeLeBrain and YouTube:  Mike LeBrain.

Storytime With Ryan Williams, Studio Wiz!

Great show today!  John from 2loud2oldmusic brought on engineer/mixer/musician/songwriter Ryan Williams for storytime.  Though his credits range from pop to metal, we tended to focus our discussion on rock and roll.  If you’re a fan of Stone Temple Pilots, Pearl Jam, Slayer, Staind, U2, Phil Collen of Def Leppard, Limp Bizkit, Velvet Revolver, Dave Navarro, or Kelly Clarkson then you’ll want to check this show out.

From starting out in Atlanta, to travelling the world recording epic performances, Ryan Williams has seemingly seen it all and done it all.  Recording music on a Tascam 4-track home studio, graduating to two synced 24-tracks machines, to the modern tools of today, Ryan has kept learning.  We talked about his beginnings, and working with Brendan O’Brien, all the way to the present day and the imminent release of a Stone Temple Pilots box set for Tiny Music.  Ryan even had a little bit of show and tell with some hand-written original Eddie Vedder lyrics.

Great show all around and thank you for watching.

Engineer and Mixer Ryan Williams on the Saturday LeBrain Train

The LeBrain Train: 2000 Words or More with Mike and John Snow

Saturday July 3 – Episode 74 – Ryan Williams

Have you ever had anything with your name on it nominated for a Grammy award?  Ryan Williams has — for his work on Train’s Drops of Jupiter, Velvet Revolver’s Contraband, and Kelly Clarkson’s Stronger.  And we’ll be talking to him about it on Saturday’s LeBrain Train.

Join John Snow and I for this special Saturday episode with a very in-demand engineer.  How much demand?  Well, besides Stone Temple Pilots, he’s either engineered or mixed for Matt Nathanson, 3 Doors Down, Lifehouse, Linkin Park, Limp Bizkit, Pearl Jam, Outkast, Staind, Michelle Branch, The Panic Channel, Phil Collen’s Delta Deep, Korn, Static-X, Thirty Seconds to Mars, Biffy Clyro, 10 Years, Atreyu, Mastodon, Billy Idol, P!nk, Sugar Ray, Deftones, Adam Lambert, Coheed & Cambria, The Black Dahlia Murder, Bush, Neon Trees, and Beck.  He even has a co-write on a Kelly Clarkson song.  Is that enough demand for ya?

This is going to be a great chance for us to pick the brain of a guy who has literally worked with the biggest names in modern music.  You do not want to miss this one — catch it live so we can ask Ryan your questions!

Saturday July 3, 1:00 PM E.S.T. on Facebook:  MikeLeBrain and YouTube:  Mike LeBrain.

All About Suicide Star: Brian Hamilton and Rob Barton rock the LeBrain Train!

Suicide Star is the hot new band featuring singer Rob Barton, drummer Brian Hamilton, bassist Aki Maris, and guitarist Les Serran.  Metal with a modern twist — classic music, new songs, vital lyrics.  An album written and recorded during and of this time, but with an eye on the future.   A hard rocking, uplifting, heartfelt album aptly titled Isolation.

I had the pleasure of speaking to Brian and Rob about many topics.  Among them:

  • The genesis of the band
  • The making of the album (remotely)
  • The music video for “Mercy”
  • The next video
  • The meaning of the lyrics
  • The future of recording and playing live
  • Brian’s history with New Wave
  • To solo or not to solo?
  • New Storm Force

Check out the band on your favourite streaming services such as Spotify, Amazon, or buy the CD from the band.  As revealed in this interview, the CD version has additional content not available to stream.  Physical product!  Check them out on Facebook.

Big thanks to Rob and Brian for coming on the show with us music nerds, and congratulations on a wicked CD.

Another big thank-you to last Friday’s guest Robert Lawson, who sent me a signed copy of his book Razama-Snaz! The Listener’s Guide to Nazareth.  I opened the package near the start of the video.

I hope you enjoy this very special episode with Suicide Star, a great band that is going places.

 

Brian and Rob from Suicide Star on this week’s LeBrain Train!

The LeBrain Train: 2000 Words or More with Mike and Deke

Saturday – Episode 73 – Brian and Rob from Suicide Star

 

Brian Hamilton, drummer for the awesome Storm Force, has a new band called Suicide Star!  Itching to keep making music, Hamilton and his bandmates from former group Step Echo found lead singer Rob Barton online, who had recently gotten back into music.  When the four decided to unite, Covid shut the world down.  But that couldn’t stop them and a new album called Isolation is here to rock the summer of ’21.  The CD was mixed by Hamilton and is out now.

This Friday, June 25, Brian and Rob join us on the LeBrain Train.  We’ll talk about the album in depth, the members, and what it’s been like trying to launch a new project during Covid.  Don’t miss this show – as usual you’ll want to catch it live and have your questions asked!

  • Aki Maris – Bass
  • Rob Barton – Vocals
  • Les Serran – Guitars
  • Brian Hamilton – Drums

Friday June 25, 7:00 PM E.S.T. on Facebook:  MikeLeBrain and YouTube:  Mike LeBrain.

 

This Is Your Life, Jacob Moon on the LeBrain Train + musical performance of “Someday”

The LeBrain Train reunites old friends — it is what we do!  Whether it be Mike Fraser and Andy Curran, or members of the community at large, we enjoy bringing people together.  We also enjoy improvisation, both in our music and in the live show.  This time, flying by the seats of our pants, we reunited Jacob Moon with old friends from his past.  By the stories told, you can call this episode This Is Your Life, Jacob Moon.

Watch as Meat, Trevor and Jacob relive their favourite memories, musical and otherwise.  Observe as Meat forgets how to count up to eleven.  Enjoy as Jacob performs some of his favourite impressions.  Ed Grimley?  Check.  Tom Waits?  Check.  Nigel Tufnel?  Top ten!

In a LeBrain Train first, Jacob gave us the show’s first full musical performance.  Steve Earle’s “Someday”, live by Jacob Moon, is a LeBrain Train exclusive musical performance!  He also gave us a partial version of “Downtown Train” with some hilarious impressions.

We took viewer questions and a celebrity guest question from Andy Curran.  Discussion subjects included:

  • The making of “Subdivisions”
  • Musical adventures with Trev and Eric
  • “Christmas Goalie”
  • Playing a Rush song in front of Rush
  • Playing the Marillion weekend
  • Looping and technical stuff
  • Streaming live

Thank you Meat, Trevor and especially Jacob Moon for an awesome Saturday show.  Jacob, I am honoured and flattered to have you play live on my little show!  I cannot thank you enough.

 

Robert Lawson Defeats the Live Stream Technical Glitches for an Evening of Rock

Not even disconnections and bad internet can keep a good man down. Robert Lawson — author of great listener’s guides on Cheap Trick, Nazareth and The Guess Who — persevered and eventually defeated the internet demons plaguing the start of Friday’s show. Hang in there folks — it starts rough but gets better!

This free-flowing chat covers numerous topics:

  • The Guess Who and Burton Cummings
  • Nazareth and “the kids”
  • Cheap Trick encounters
  • Band management
  • Rarities
  • Aerosmith’s Done With Mirrors
  • Martin Popoff
  • Sean Kelly
  • Gene & Paul
  • 5150
  • King Kong

When it comes to Cheap Trick, Robert gets raw and tells it from the heart.  You’ll have to see for yourself but we appreciate Robert’s candor and willingness to relive some emotional moments in his rock and roll life.

Thank you Deke for introducing me to Robert, and thank you Robert for being patient and generous with your time tonight!

REMINDER – The LeBrain Train: 2000 Words or More with Mike and Meat

Saturday – Episode 72 – Jacob Moon

“Jacob is an incredible Canadian talent.” — Andy Curran

If you only know Jacob Moon from his jaw-dropping Rush cover of “Subdivisions”, then you are in for a treat.  That viral video catapulted him to Youtube fame, but he is about so much more than just covers.  With nine albums to his name (so far), Jacob has been around.  When guys like Andy Curran sing his praises, you know he’s seriously good at what he does.  He has also won the admiration of Rush, Marillion, and many more.  What’s it feel like performing a Rush song in front of Rush?  Let’s find out from Jacob himself!

Saturday June 19, 1:00 PM E.S.T. on Facebook:  MikeLeBrain and YouTube:  Mike LeBrain.