MuchMusic ran this Sandbox special shortly after the band announced their sad demise at the end of the 1990s. Since every cloud has its silver lining, we can be glad that guitarist Mike Smith found greater success as Bubbles from the Trailer Park Boys. This collection of interviews and live clips was run on the MuchEast program as “The Sandbox Wake”.
This memorial covers the band’s early days, writing terrible songs, improving, eventually getting signed and then onwards to the second LP. The clips cover 1995-1997. Graceland, The Junos, the East Coast Music Awards, concert footage…it’s here in this motherlode of Sandbox on MuchEast.
Sandbox: Jason Archibald, Mike Smith, Paul Murray, Scott MacFarlane, Troy Shanks.
“In case you tuned in, we’re here with Gene Simmons right now.”
Ladies and gentlemen, this is Deke’s favourite video. The legendary Dan Gallagher put on some Kiss makeup to talk to Paul Stanley. It was such a party that Slaughter dropped in too! It was the infamous gig opening for Whitesnake, and you can get a sense of Paul’s anger that Kiss were not allowed to do their full stage show. David Coverdale’s ego is alluded to.
Best quotes:
“If I was gonna paint the Sistine Chapel, I’d do it with a roller. I’m not a fine artist folks!”
“Everything we did was always in addition to what the music was doing. We never did it in place of the music.”
“Whenever people put out sequels to movies, they’re usually not as good as the original. Alive II was pretty much as good as Alive I. When gotta make sure Alive III isn’t…Jaws 3D or something.”
“Michael [Bolton] used to have the mic in his hand and strut around…he’s a rocker!”
When Mark Slaughter and Dana Strum show up, it becomes a bit of a party.
NOTE: There are a couple audio glitches here that I didn’t notice until too late.
‘Twas the Pepsi Power Hour in 1987, and Erica Ehm asked Michael Schenker a question about fast guitar players. In just a minute and 15 seconds, he responded with a remarkable amount of wisdom. From MuchMusic.
The final episode of the Pepsi Power Hour aired at the end of the summer of 1991. The man with the sad honour of signing off was veteran Michael Williams. Off and on, Williams hosted the Power Hour since 1986 if not earlier. It was filmed at a welding shop in Calgary, Alberta. Because metal? (Bad, bad idea! Audio engineers, your thoughts on this setting?)
Williams played Metallica’s “One”, and “Hunger Strike” by Temple of the Dog. The shape of things to come.
The episode also features an interview with a new band called The Scream, featuring an up-and-comer named John Corabi. A couple years later, and Corabi would be the new singer in Motley Crue.
The very last band ever played on the Pepsi Power Hour was Van Halen. It was a big interview by Kim Clarke Champniss regarding the new album For Unlawful Carnal Knowledge. The very last song ever played was “Runaround”.
The Power Hour was supplanted by the inferior Power 30. It was a significant change. I rarely missed a Power Hour. The Power 30 was rarely worth catching. However, look for the ad for a promising new Saturday show called Start Me Up – three hours of rock!
YouTube has forced me to butcher this video to get it up, so there are no music videos. The Van Halen interview is mutilated. There are some ads and all the talking. It’s history!
Speaking of history: 100 VHS Archives! And counting! I started posting these in 2019 and I still have plenty of files left to upload, and a few more tapes to play. I’ve been taking it easy lately because the software is user-unfriendly and my VCR is making odd noises. But we’re not done. Not by a long shot.
Use Your Illusion wasn’t even out yet, but Guns N’ Roses were two solid weeks into a tour chock full of new and old music. MuchMusic’s Dan Gallagher talked with Duff McKagan and new member Matt Sorum before their show on June 7 in Toronto. Was there an album really coming?
MuchMusic was into adding strange visual effects to their videos in the early 90s. That choppy visual is not mine. That is from the source broadcast.
Axl Rose had hurt his ankle and was giving the injury a stretch, riding around backstage on a bike. Stay tuned to the end! I hope that was gum.
Topics discussed:
“Popping the question” with Matt Sorum.
The broad appeal of Guns N’ Roses.
Unexpectedly playing “November Rain” for the first time in a year in front of 20,000 people.
Unfortunately by 1992, when Blackie returned with new album The Crimson Idol, MuchMusic cancelled the Pepsi Power Hour and replaced it with the half-hour Power 30. No more hour-long in-depth shows with an artist like Blackie. This shorter talk is from midday in the summer of ’92.
Erica and Blackie joke around, but still get serious. They maintain their excellent rapport from the prior encounter. Topics discussed:
Spinal Tap’s three concerts in a single day, and Blackie’s cameo in the VHS release.
The concept behind new CD The Crimson Idol.
Pete Townsend.
The price for anyone who wants to make it in the music biz.
New video “The Idol”.
Once again well done to Erica Ehm who did the best with the limited time at hand.
A million thank-you’s to Brent Jensen, the author of No Sleep’Til Sudbury, Leftover People: A Journey Through Post-Rock & Roll America and All My Favourite People Are Broken. Chatting music is what we love to do here, and it was a privilege to speak with someone so saturated with musical knowledge, stories and connections. When you watch this show, I hope you feel the kinship that we music diehards share.
Obscure format junkies: Check out 0:24:10 of the video for info on a format Sony were working on called “The Cube”. It would have been a six-sided format around the time of the compact disc.
You can buy Brent’s books at Amazon, and you can check out his podcasts at nosleeptilsudbury.libsyn.com. (I’ll be checking out the Sandy Horne from the Spoons episode ASAP!) If you’d like some merch, contact him directly and he’ll hook you up. Details at the end of our video.
A million more thanks to Superdekes for setting this episode up. My brother from Thunder Bay should be known as “Superfan” after his meticulous homework and attention to detail!
There will be no sleep tonight as I hit the web looking for all these tunes! From Saxon, to Kick Axe, to Maiden (with and without Blaze), to Priest (with and without Ripper), please enjoy the music that makes our skin vibrate.
For those who missed it, here is the 11 minutes that Youtube missed, but Facebook had. Unboxings: Jeff Scott Soto, John Norum, The Black Crowes, Frank Zappa, Def Leppard.
By 1993, Ratt had broken up and Cinderella split with their drummer. Singer Stephen Pearcy and drummer Fred Coury then joined forces in a new hard rock band called Arcade. Promoting their debut album, Arcade played RPM in Toronto on July 17 1993 — their only Canadian date. They stopped by MuchMusic’s Start Me Up program (one of the only shows still playing rock music) for a quick chat with Michael Williams, who was introducing them on stage later that night.
With former bands never mentioned by name, Arcade discuss their current lineup and the Toronto Grand Prix. Was Pearcy wasted?
Up to bat: Erica Ehm (MuchMusic)
Pitcher: Duane Ward (Toronto Blue Jays)
Catcher: Gerald McGhee (Brighton Rock)
Umpire: Greg Fraser (Brighton Rock)
In 1991 Brighton Rock released their third album Love Machine, featuring backing vocals by Duane Ward of the Toronto Blue Jays! Erica Ehm got to play ball and ask questions of all of them. Questions about:
