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ep6 Kurt Dahl is lawyerdrummer · Almost Famous Enough

0:24
I think if there's one thing that everyone can use more of, it's free legal advice.
0:29
So, disclaimer about this episode, I totally did not ply our guest for free legal advice.
0:37
I don't want to turn you away if that's what you're hoping for.
0:41
I.
0:41
But you're gonna find out anyway, right?
0:43
I'm not sure.
0:43
The expectation was if you bring a lawyer on your podcast that you're going to attempt to get some free legal advice from them, or that you will carefully disguise your leading questions to sneak out some free legal advice.
0:57
Okay?
0:57
I might have done that a little bit and honestly, kind of hoping the game respects game here.
1:03
but Kurt Dahl is an entertainment lawyer by day.
1:07
Drummer in the Canadian rock band, One Bad Son by night.
1:11
Yes, it sounds a little superhero"ish" Kurt references Superman.
1:15
But we all know this is Daredevil, right?
1:18
Like this is totally Daredevil if the lawyer by day swapped the suit and the case notes for drumsticks and ripped jeans instead of a skin tight red body suit with cute horns.
1:30
Yeah, he's the rock and roll Daredevil, and I really hope he agrees.
1:34
One Bad Son recently celebrated 20 years accomplishing five top 10 singles and a number one in Canada, and a long list of touring and appearances.
1:45
Opening for the biggest names in rock and roll.
1:48
Rolling Stones being all you need to say there.
1:51
He has been practicing law since 2010 and balanced both demanding careers alongside building a family with his wife in Saskatoon, Saskatchewan.
2:01
My name is Glen Erickson.
2:03
This is almost famous enough.
2:05
Thanks for spending your time with us.
2:07
This is Kurt Dahl.
2:24
Glen Erickson: Well, first of all, Kurt Dahl, uh, thank you so much for spending some time, uh, with me here and in some conversation.
2:31
Glen Erickson: And this is our first time actually.
2:33
Glen Erickson: meeting.
2:34
Kurt Dahl: Yeah.
2:34
Glen Erickson: that's really, that's really cool to me.
2:36
Glen Erickson: I've known about you for, uh, quite a while.
2:39
Glen Erickson: I think maybe going back to 2016, I'm thinking maybe when you, um, I think when you became president of Sask Music, the provincial association, I was a former, past president, past chair of Alberta Music.
2:53
Glen Erickson: So, and stayed involved.
2:55
Glen Erickson: So, so little common ground to start on.
2:59
Glen Erickson: And, I know that that's when, I started sort of.
3:02
Glen Erickson: being more aware and knowing who you are.
3:04
Glen Erickson: But, yeah, I appreciate the time.
3:05
Glen Erickson: I'm doing this podcast about the life pursuing the dream and all the different things it looks like.
3:11
Glen Erickson: And, and I knew when I was first conceiving a list of guests, I knew I wanted to talk to you for obvious reasons.
3:19
Glen Erickson: You've done a lot of great work.
3:21
Glen Erickson: You've done a lot of great work as a lawyer in the entertainment business.
3:24
Glen Erickson: And obviously you've been an active musician with a career, uh, which is, uh, incredibly unique.
3:31
Glen Erickson: And so I'm sure lots of people come and ask you to talk about that, but, uh, I just think you most likely have some great behind the veil insights, for everybody about the business and if it's okay, we'll just organically see where that goes.
3:46
Kurt Dahl: Yeah, I love it, man.
3:47
Kurt Dahl: And honestly, yeah, I, I do feel, I feel lucky that I get to do sort of both have a foot in both careers, you know?
3:54
Kurt Dahl: And, um, yeah, I don't take it for granted, that's for sure.
3:57
Glen Erickson: Yeah, well, let's, let's start.
3:59
Glen Erickson: Right at that point with you adopting the moniker and running with lawyer drummer, you know, which is, you know, your social handles, I think it's so great, right?
4:09
Glen Erickson: Because I mean, there's lots of people who might have spent the majority of their adult careers in a duality.
4:16
Glen Erickson: Maybe there's a plumber painter, but.
4:17
Glen Erickson: They don't probably, you know what I mean?
4:20
Glen Erickson: Like grab the handle or something and run with it that way.
4:23
Glen Erickson: And that's, uh, the on the nose thing has really worked, for you.
4:28
Glen Erickson: So I'm, I'm definitely going to be interested in seeing what that has looked like over the course of time.
4:35
Glen Erickson: with where you're at right now, entering 2025, what, which side of those two is, uh, grabbing the greater share?
4:46
Kurt Dahl: you know, honestly, I think now at this stage in my life, the le the lawyer side takes up more time, right?
4:54
Kurt Dahl: I mean more, more bandwidth.
4:56
Kurt Dahl: But that doesn't mean it's.
4:57
Kurt Dahl: I get less enjoyment or fulfillment from the music side.
5:02
Kurt Dahl: Cause to me, you know, the music side, I guess the good way to put it is it takes up less of my overall time, but gives me so much joy, you know what I mean?
5:10
Kurt Dahl: So it's like, uh, I'm so lucky that I still have that.
5:13
Kurt Dahl: Right.
5:13
Kurt Dahl: So for example, I mean, to go back a few years, um, you know, in say 20, well, probably the time you heard of.
5:19
Kurt Dahl: Heard of me the first time 2016 around that time.
5:23
Kurt Dahl: I mean, one bad son was touring like eight, nine months of the year.
5:27
Kurt Dahl: Um, you know, we had, we're, I just lost memory on Facebook.
5:30
Kurt Dahl: Like we were the ninth most played band, uh, on Canadian rock radio.
5:35
Kurt Dahl: So we were, that's a reflection of just how much we were touring, right.
5:38
Kurt Dahl: How much work we're putting in at that point.
5:41
Kurt Dahl: And this is, so I guess, yeah, 2016, let's say, I was, you know, burning the candles, burning the candle at both ends and gone all the time.
5:49
Kurt Dahl: And, and, you know, while I loved it, I mean, music was just the, the, the, the main focus or took up more of the bandwidth.
5:56
Kurt Dahl: It's also like incredibly, incredibly demanding, right, to be on the road that much.
6:01
Kurt Dahl: And, it's hard enough if you're, if you don't have like a family at home, but, but I do.
6:06
Kurt Dahl: So, um, yeah.
6:08
Kurt Dahl: So I guess fast forward to now, like I would not want, I would not want to be on the road nine months of the year, even if
6:15
Glen Erickson: Yeah,
6:16
Kurt Dahl: if things were going amazing, I still.
6:18
Kurt Dahl: You know, I love my kids too much.
6:20
Kurt Dahl: I love my wife too much.
6:21
Kurt Dahl: So,
6:22
Glen Erickson: especially knowing the ebb and flow, right?
6:24
Glen Erickson: Like, so the music career is peaks and valleys and cycles, right?
6:30
Glen Erickson: Whereas, you know, a full time job, like, well, any full time job, I would consider, especially a lawyer, work is pretty steady, pretty steady, offering of work.
6:40
Glen Erickson: So, I can see, How that gets, you said, like, let's jump back.
6:45
Glen Erickson: So I'm going to ask to jump well, before I jump all the way back, cause I do want to jump all the way back with you and then start going.
6:51
Glen Erickson: But, Let's just go back to the name Lawyer Drummer really quick.
6:54
Glen Erickson: So how did you decide, start, I mean, I'm sure you knew you were living, you've been living in a duality since, you know, since you started pursuing all of this and deciding that you could, you could actually pull this off.
7:06
Glen Erickson: So when did that, when did you decide you needed to sort of hang on that brand?
7:12
Glen Erickson: I'm just really curious about it.
7:13
Glen Erickson: Yep.
7:16
Kurt Dahl: enough, in the early days, I tried to keep the two sort of identities separate from each other and keep them sort of secret from each other almost.
7:24
Kurt Dahl: Right.
7:24
Kurt Dahl: I didn't want people because at the time I was, I was, I hadn't, I was a nobody on both sides of those equations.
7:30
Kurt Dahl: I wasn't proven as a lawyer and we hadn't, I had, I wasn't proven as a musician.
7:34
Kurt Dahl: We hadn't had our first real success yet.
7:37
Kurt Dahl: So I didn't let people in the legal world know that I was a musician and in the music world, I didn't want to tell people I was a lawyer.
7:44
Kurt Dahl: Cause you know, to most musicians, lawyers aren't very cool, you know?
7:48
Kurt Dahl: So, So I kind of kept them secret from each other and then both kind of ironically, I guess, started to happen around the same time, started to create a buzz around the same time that was around, I mean, I guess 2012 we had our first breakthrough with Scarecrows as our first single.
8:05
Kurt Dahl: and then around that time, I had been working my ass off in Vancouver as an entertainment lawyer, and, you know, I was just living and breathing the music biz, and I was obsessed with entertainment law and becoming the best entertainment lawyer in the country, so I started to get a name for myself there.
8:21
Kurt Dahl: And then I was trying to keep the two identities separate, but people are like, Hey, aren't you the guy that, you know, we just interviewed for this about your band and now you're, we're doing this thing about the lawyer side.
8:30
Kurt Dahl: And so I just, at one point there was an article written in, in Saskatoon and it was by a late great dear friend of mine named Cam Fuller, and he was a journalist here in Saskatoon and he wrote this article and he sort of coined the term.
8:44
Kurt Dahl: It's, it's lawyer drummer, almost like a, like a superhero, you know?
8:48
Kurt Dahl: Um, And so, so myself and the band and my wife had a good chuckle.
8:53
Kurt Dahl: It's like, Hey, lawyer drummer, you know, it sounds like, you know, like it has that Clark Kent sort of Superman vibe.
8:59
Kurt Dahl: So then I just like, you know what, I'm just going to stop pretending to be something.
9:03
Kurt Dahl: I'm not, I'm both those things.
9:05
Kurt Dahl: Right.
9:05
Kurt Dahl: I'm.
9:06
Kurt Dahl: Like you said, we often have dualities.
9:09
Kurt Dahl: Sometimes we embrace them, sometimes we don't, but that's who I am.
9:12
Kurt Dahl: I'm a lawyer who also is a long haired rock and roll drummer.
9:15
Kurt Dahl: Um, and I happen to be really passionate about both.
9:20
Glen Erickson: Yeah.
9:20
Kurt Dahl: I embraced it and that was probably around that time, like 2012
9:24
Glen Erickson: Okay.
9:25
Kurt Dahl: yeah.
9:26
Glen Erickson: Yeah, that authentic admission is, I think that's pretty significant to a lot of things we talk about with developing artists, right?
9:33
Glen Erickson: Or people coming up in the way we would like to give advice.
9:37
Glen Erickson: Now, Because you're right, I, I, there's lots of opportunities to be unsure about that, but I guess part of my whole passion project of creating this podcast and trying to pull the veil back is making it so obvious and clear how there is no one same path that all of us follow to keep our feet on the ground.
9:58
Glen Erickson: In the music business when we love it so much.
10:00
Glen Erickson: And, you know, and, and you sort of just gave a perfect example of that.
10:04
Glen Erickson: I, I'm going to be completely honest with you.
10:06
Glen Erickson: There was this part of me that really, there's a nerd and a geographical history, part of me that wondered if there was any impetus that you needed to sort of set yourself apart, a lawyer drummer, because, I honestly had you confused with Kurt Dahl.
10:23
Kurt Dahl: Ha
10:24
Glen Erickson: And I, I know about your reaction.
10:26
Glen Erickson: You've heard this so many times.
10:27
Kurt Dahl: other Kurtal,
10:29
Glen Erickson: What are the F and Ods of a Kurt Dahl, but with an E at the end?
10:34
Glen Erickson: So nobody would know the silent E at the end of his from Regina, Saskatchewan.
10:39
Glen Erickson: So I, I spent most of my teenage and college years in Regina.
10:43
Glen Erickson: So that's a significant developmental upbringing out of, Regina.
10:48
Glen Erickson: So, and I was like a massive limb lifter and new pornographers guy.
10:51
Glen Erickson: So in the early 2000s, so very familiar with the name.
10:54
Glen Erickson: So when I first started hearing your name, I literally, of course.
10:58
Glen Erickson: Assumed that Kurt Dahl, the drummer from Limblifter, I mean, it's a drummer too, like, like how, like, what are the odds?
11:05
Glen Erickson: You're both from the prairies.
11:07
Glen Erickson: You're both drummers.
11:08
Glen Erickson: Um, I just thought that was crazy.
11:11
Kurt Dahl: And both moved to Vancouver.
11:12
Kurt Dahl: Cause so I like, so
11:14
Glen Erickson: Yeah, yeah, absolutely.
11:16
Kurt Dahl: like three multiple layers of confusion.
11:19
Kurt Dahl: And I remember, and yeah, and good point.
11:21
Kurt Dahl: I mean, looking back, I didn't, the lawyer drummer alias, it had nothing to do with that because people still, I want people to still know my name, right.
11:30
Kurt Dahl: Cause people,
11:31
Glen Erickson: Mm
11:32
Kurt Dahl: people, as soon as they go to my page, it's like lawyer drummer is Kurt doll, whatever.
11:35
Kurt Dahl: But, but it's a good point, like maybe subconsciously, but it's a quick funny story.
11:40
Kurt Dahl: in the early days in Vancouver, again, through my website, through my socials, I always encourage people to reach out and call me or email me, you know, and.
11:48
Kurt Dahl: Which resulted, especially in the early days, getting some really weird calls.
11:51
Kurt Dahl: And I used to foolishly pick them up at all hours to be like, to
11:55
Glen Erickson: hmm.
11:55
Glen Erickson: Ha
11:56
Kurt Dahl: I always wanted to give back and help out.
11:58
Kurt Dahl: So it was all good.
11:59
Kurt Dahl: But I remember I got this call one time.
12:00
Kurt Dahl: It was like, you know, 9 PM on a Friday.
12:03
Kurt Dahl: My wife and I were having dinner at, our apartment in Vancouver.
12:08
Kurt Dahl: And I get this call and he, he's like, Hey, Curt, like I, I got, I'm a musician.
12:12
Kurt Dahl: I got this questions.
12:12
Kurt Dahl: And I said, I'm a big fan of you.
12:14
Kurt Dahl: And And I love your band and stuff.
12:16
Kurt Dahl: So I'm, I'm thinking he knows one bad son and I give him like probably way too, way too much of my time, but I gave him like maybe half an hour of free legal advice and then at the end of the closet.
12:28
Kurt Dahl: Yeah, man, thanks so much.
12:29
Kurt Dahl: That's so helpful.
12:30
Kurt Dahl: And he's like, do you remember the time that you and I did acid back in 89?
12:36
Glen Erickson: ha ha ha.
12:37
Kurt Dahl: And I
12:37
Glen Erickson: Oh my gosh.
12:38
Kurt Dahl: was, I was eight years old in 89.
12:41
Kurt Dahl: I think, I think you've got me confused with the other.
12:44
Kurt Dahl: So, there's been many calls like that where people, yeah, obviously get the wrong Kurt.
12:50
Glen Erickson: Yeah, I mean, that's, that's a real pain in the ass for anybody, I'm sure.
12:55
Glen Erickson: But you seem to, by your demeanor have, uh, rolled it off your shoulder pretty easily, uh, Or at least that's how or or you're really good at putting on a face and I brought it up and you're going to go home to your wife.
13:09
Glen Erickson: But
13:09
Kurt Dahl: and, and I'm a fan.
13:11
Kurt Dahl: Like I'm a fan, like, like you said, I was a big limb lifter fan, agent electric, even new pornographers.
13:16
Kurt Dahl: So and I have met a couple of times.
13:19
Kurt Dahl: We, we got a photo together.
13:20
Kurt Dahl: This was again, back when I lived in van at some cool, like music venue, I forget what it was called, you know, the railway club or something, but, um,
13:28
Glen Erickson: that's the classic mover.
13:30
Glen Erickson: Yeah,
13:31
Kurt Dahl: So we're there and people are like, it's the two Kurt dolls.
13:33
Kurt Dahl: Let's get a photo, you know?
13:34
Kurt Dahl: And, he was cool about it.
13:36
Kurt Dahl: And he's, he, he, he said something interesting.
13:38
Kurt Dahl: He's like, what'd he say?
13:39
Kurt Dahl: He's like, people keep asking, calling me for legal advice.
13:42
Kurt Dahl: Yeah.
13:53
Glen Erickson: starts for you in like 2004, right?
13:55
Glen Erickson: Which is you're, you're, you're It looks like you got your undergrad in 2004 and you start writing songs with your buddies and, and deciding you're going to start making music under that, you know, formation, which I'm sure you had been playing drums for a long time beforehand and maybe had some different iterations and attempts with, with, with people, but that's sort of when everything Begins to take off for you, right?
14:19
Glen Erickson: Like 2004 South Katoon was that you had your undergrad.
14:24
Glen Erickson: I mean, it's, it's interesting timing.
14:26
Glen Erickson: I guess the question for me always is, were you thinking what was, what was the end goal?
14:33
Glen Erickson: What did you think was going to happen?
14:34
Glen Erickson: Was it like, I need to make the rockstar thing happen.
14:38
Glen Erickson: And this is a, I guess a lot of people use the term fallback, or were you always convinced you were going to try to like grow both things at the same time?
14:46
Glen Erickson: Or what was.
14:47
Glen Erickson: What was the focus kind of in that real young, like, initial stage?
14:52
Kurt Dahl: Yeah, good question, man.
14:53
Kurt Dahl: I mean, honestly, if I'm being totally honest, like, yeah, I, I, I wanted to become a rock star for sure.
14:59
Kurt Dahl: you know, and we always joke Shane and I in one bad sound, like we always, we started in oh four, we thought we'd have like a record deal by like, oh five, you know, we thought we'd a major
15:09
Glen Erickson: Yeah.
15:09
Kurt Dahl: by oh six, you know, and, we wanted to, we wrote songs that, thought, you know, we're meant for arenas and eventually we got there.
15:17
Kurt Dahl: It just took us, you know, 15 years.
15:19
Kurt Dahl: But, um, know, and I think the law thing, I wouldn't say it was a backup.
15:24
Kurt Dahl: I mean, you know, I read so many biographies of all my idols, all the rock star biographies, and.
15:30
Kurt Dahl: The common was they all got screwed over by someone in a suit.
15:36
Kurt Dahl: You know, they got screwed over by someone a contract.
15:39
Kurt Dahl: Right.
15:39
Kurt Dahl: And so I did, I do recall clearly, and it's funny what you remember, what you don't, but I remember thinking if I could become like a long haired lawyer who represented and saved all the musicians from those shitty contracts, That'd be a pretty cool career.
15:55
Kurt Dahl: I didn't think about the money.
15:57
Kurt Dahl: I didn't really care.
15:58
Kurt Dahl: I mean, I didn't come from money and I was naively, you know, that, that was not a driving factor.
16:03
Kurt Dahl: It was just like, it just seemed like a noble thing to do and a cool thing to do.
16:07
Kurt Dahl: And of course, fast forward.
16:08
Kurt Dahl: Now I am that guy, which is kind of.
16:11
Kurt Dahl: Cool.
16:12
Kurt Dahl: In a lot of ways that it actually played out that way, but really it was like, and a little bit selfishly too, like I want to make sure my band didn't get screwed over.
16:20
Kurt Dahl: So I was going to become a lawyer.
16:22
Kurt Dahl: I never intended to become a regular lawyer.
16:24
Kurt Dahl: Like, and I always joke that I'm not, I don't hang out with other lawyers.
16:29
Kurt Dahl: It's not my, you know, my, my people are the music industry and entertainment industry.
16:33
Kurt Dahl: People, if I go to lawyer events, I just, you know, just like, Get me out of here.
16:38
Kurt Dahl: You know what I mean?
16:39
Kurt Dahl: and I don't know anything about family law or, you know, um, property law, like, you know, buying a house, that kind of law.
16:47
Kurt Dahl: I don't know that stuff.
16:48
Kurt Dahl: It's not my passion.
16:49
Kurt Dahl: It was my goal was always to do this, you know, because This is what I know and what I love.
16:55
Kurt Dahl: So, and then, but again, I could, I've imagined that, guess I couldn't have imagined that I could have this balance in this, like, I love what I do.
17:06
Kurt Dahl: I absolutely love it.
17:07
Kurt Dahl: And I love that I can still play one bad son 20 years in, like, I never would have guessed that I, you know, even back then I was a dreamer, but I, I couldn't have picked this outcome if I, if I tried, you
17:19
Glen Erickson: So were you a really smart kid?
17:21
Glen Erickson: Were you the high grades thing?
17:23
Glen Erickson: Was it that version of a stereotype?
17:26
Glen Erickson: Was that true for you?
17:27
Glen Erickson: For someone who goes on to law school or at least, I guess the appearance of.
17:32
Glen Erickson: The path straight from your undergrad to sort of staying right on that, that path was that just, were you just always, you know, well educated, like good in school type guy?
17:44
Glen Erickson: Yeah.
17:45
Glen Erickson: Yeah.
17:47
Glen Erickson: Yeah.
17:49
Kurt Dahl: so the LSAT is like, yeah, the test you write to get into law school or to try to get into law school, right?
17:55
Kurt Dahl: These days, so many kids are trying to get into law school and you have to, it's a lot of pressure to write the LSAT.
18:00
Kurt Dahl: And I know this because people call me and I give them advice.
18:04
Kurt Dahl: so I, but for me, I wrote it on a whim.
18:07
Kurt Dahl: It was like some summer I was working, for a company called weed man.
18:11
Kurt Dahl: I was doing lawn care around, around the city.
18:14
Kurt Dahl: I was the weed man, which with long hair, you could imagine the jokes that I got.
18:18
Kurt Dahl: But, um, know, and I was like, I'm just gonna go.
18:21
Kurt Dahl: I, I, I took a business law course in commerce and it was, I just found law to be super intriguing, you know, and I was kind of bored with commerce already.
18:30
Kurt Dahl: I was like, I guess I'm not a businessman.
18:32
Kurt Dahl: So I literally got one summer day on a whim.
18:34
Kurt Dahl: I mean, I signed up ahead of time, but I went and wrote the LSAT, did very, like next to no preparation for it and had zero pressure going into it.
18:44
Kurt Dahl: And then as you can imagine, I did quite well.
18:47
Kurt Dahl: Otherwise I wouldn't be here.
18:48
Kurt Dahl: I wouldn't have applied.
18:49
Kurt Dahl: So I did very well on the LSAT and then I was like, okay, I guess this is a sign.
18:54
Kurt Dahl: You know, I was very, I was very kind of hippie ish, And just like, this is a sign from the, from the universe, I should do this.
19:00
Kurt Dahl: So, but to your question, I mean, was I a smart kid?
19:03
Kurt Dahl: I mean, I think that there's, if I applied myself, yes, I say that because, you know, it's just a fun little aside, but like in grade eight, I was like, you know, top of the class kind of thing when I got to high school.
19:16
Kurt Dahl: And.
19:17
Kurt Dahl: Got in with, you know, the wrong crowd or a crowd that didn't care about school and marks.
19:22
Kurt Dahl: And they were kind of like a rough crowd, but I thought they were cool.
19:25
Kurt Dahl: And my marks went from like here to just like, they just plummeted and my parents are like, what the hell is going on, Kurt?
19:32
Kurt Dahl: So I guess my point is, and then a year I realized these kids aren't actually very cool and actually not very nice.
19:39
Kurt Dahl: So I found a new crowd that actually were good people and cared about school.
19:43
Kurt Dahl: So my marks went right back up and is now as an A student.
19:47
Kurt Dahl: So.
19:47
Kurt Dahl: The only say this because as a dad, and I guess just to just as a human, I think who you choose as your friends and who you choose to be around with as a kid or as an adult has such a huge, huge impact on your life, you know, so, um, I mean, so I went from a to like D and was like, my parents said, what's going on?
20:07
Kurt Dahl: And really, It was just the people I was hanging out with.
20:10
Kurt Dahl: so yeah, you
20:12
Glen Erickson: Were you pursuing music back then at the same time?
20:14
Glen Erickson: Was that a developing passion in high school already?
20:17
Kurt Dahl: know, interestingly enough, I was very much, and then maybe you've found this with other guests.
20:23
Kurt Dahl: It's like, I was very much a late bloomer.
20:25
Kurt Dahl: I didn't pick up the drumsticks until grade 12.
20:29
Kurt Dahl: And which, as you know, like so many musician friends of mine, you know, their parents got them into it.
20:33
Kurt Dahl: They started playing guitar at age like six or seven.
20:36
Kurt Dahl: or there's like the child prodigies who start even earlier.
20:39
Kurt Dahl: And that was not me.
20:41
Kurt Dahl: I was not the cool musician.
20:43
Kurt Dahl: I was a big music fan, all through high school and Pearl Jam, Nirvana, Soundgarden changed my life.
20:49
Kurt Dahl: and I, I credit those bands for me becoming musician.
20:53
Kurt Dahl: And I guess by extension, an entertainment lawyer, but I was not, I was not a musician.
20:57
Kurt Dahl: I just had long hair, similar to what I have now and a pearl jam shirt on all through high school.
21:02
Kurt Dahl: And then grade 12, I was like, I want to just be, be a musician now.
21:07
Kurt Dahl: And I picked up the drumsticks and guess what?
21:10
Kurt Dahl: I was shitty at first.
21:11
Kurt Dahl: So it took me a lot of time to work at it.
21:13
Kurt Dahl: So, you know, by the time One Bad Son formed in 2004, I just started to sort of hone my chops as a drummer.
21:19
Kurt Dahl: It wasn't like I was, doing it for 20 years, you know.
21:23
Glen Erickson: So you really kind of built, you built that skill out with that band.
21:26
Glen Erickson: Do you probably, I, I'm going to make an assumption that that's perhaps how you look back and feel like it.
21:31
Glen Erickson: That's when it really, that's when it really clicked in and you were able to sort of grow your, which is kind of a cool thing.
21:36
Glen Erickson: You can tell me whether this is the way it worked out for you.
21:38
Glen Erickson: Cause I know it's worked out.
21:40
Glen Erickson: As a musician, for me, this way is when that sort of syncs up like that, you have a much higher potential to develop your own style, which is, you know, I think an interesting point of conversation amongst musicians, right?
21:55
Glen Erickson: Whether you just mimicked somebody and then just tried to be known as the great version or the great all around drummer, like whether you want to be a studio or whether you want a.
22:06
Glen Erickson: To be known for particular style, when I click in with a band at a time, I feel like then you start playing that.
22:15
Glen Erickson: And you don't try to be everything else.
22:17
Glen Erickson: Is that, did that happen for you that way?
22:19
Kurt Dahl: Yeah, totally.
22:20
Kurt Dahl: It's a, it's a great point.
22:21
Kurt Dahl: I mean, I was forced to create my own style because you know, one bad son and again, when we started out, it wasn't like we had, it took us a while to find our sound, but it wasn't like one bad son was exactly the type of music that I was listening to or that I worshiped, you know, like for me,
22:37
Glen Erickson: Mm hmm.
22:39
Kurt Dahl: Number one and two.
22:40
Kurt Dahl: So the who and Zeppelin, I love that stuff.
22:43
Kurt Dahl: Right.
22:43
Kurt Dahl: But one bad son was definitely not that right.
22:45
Kurt Dahl: So especially early years of our band, it was a lot heavier.
22:49
Kurt Dahl: So then it, it forced me to create my own style, which is, which was a good thing.
22:52
Kurt Dahl: Right.
22:53
Kurt Dahl: If, if we had just.
22:54
Kurt Dahl: If my, if my band mates were all huge Zeppelin fans like me, we would've ended up sounding like Greta Van Fleet, you know?
23:01
Glen Erickson: hmm.
23:01
Kurt Dahl: thankfully they weren't, they were in more heavier stuff.
23:03
Kurt Dahl: So then we had sort of a mix of like Zeppelin meets Sound Garden or, the who mi with
23:09
Glen Erickson: Mm hmm.
23:10
Kurt Dahl: or whatever, right?
23:10
Kurt Dahl: So it was like those seventies influences, which I loved mixed with a heavier sort of nineties grunge vibe.
23:17
Kurt Dahl: And then the end result was my sort of heavy hitting style, which
23:21
Glen Erickson: Which is where the good stuff always comes from, don't you think?
23:24
Glen Erickson: Like, maybe not solely, but when you hear or get the back story on people and you see two sort of upbringings or influences collide and then see what comes out of it, Collaboration like that always seems to be a big thing.
23:41
Glen Erickson: So, so 2010, you guys are like messing around from 2004, 2010, accepting that you didn't have the major label deal in the first, you know, 18 months.
23:52
Glen Erickson: but you keep at it, right?
23:54
Glen Erickson: So you're keeping at it.
23:56
Glen Erickson: And 2010 is when I think a lot of things Seem to happen for you, between, moving to Vancouver, signing with 604, passing the bar, which is all again, keeping that balance going, but all like, that's a lot of big stuff in one year, did the grind.
24:16
Glen Erickson: Yeah.
24:17
Glen Erickson: Between like.
24:18
Glen Erickson: Did those six years feel like a grind?
24:21
Glen Erickson: Were there the moments of maybe this isn't happening for us?
24:25
Glen Erickson: Or was there a straight, that beautiful pie eyed rockstar dream belief that kept you on this trajectory?
24:33
Glen Erickson: What did, what did the grind look like through those six years?
24:36
Kurt Dahl: no, that's, that's a, and that's, uh, I think people often avoid like the hard years when they, when they tell their sort of success stories, you know, or their origin stories.
24:45
Kurt Dahl: Right.
24:46
Kurt Dahl: I mean, but you're right.
24:47
Kurt Dahl: Those six years.
24:48
Kurt Dahl: And I guess I would extend that to eight because we kind of broke through in 2012.
24:52
Kurt Dahl: So those first eight years as a band.
24:54
Kurt Dahl: Um, and not to mention obviously beside the band, there's my, my personal, my, my personal life, you know, my real life.
25:00
Kurt Dahl: Uh, those eight, those eight years were super tough.
25:02
Kurt Dahl: Like we, you know, we were literally, mentioned, we're trying to find our sound, we're also trying to find our audience, you know, and so we're touring.
25:10
Kurt Dahl: We had a bit of help from some local agents or one agent, but we drive like, you know, 18 hours to go like Thunder Bay or something and play to like
25:21
Glen Erickson: Good old right.
25:22
Glen Erickson: A passage here.
25:25
Glen Erickson: Hmm.
25:26
Glen Erickson: Hmm.
25:27
Glen Erickson: Hmm.
25:29
Kurt Dahl: drive 18 hours, play to six people, of which hated us.
25:33
Kurt Dahl: and then the other two were like distant relatives or something.
25:36
Kurt Dahl: get paid a case, a case of beer.
25:40
Kurt Dahl: Lose money, obviously, cause you had gas and hotels and then, but also drive home defeated, right?
25:46
Kurt Dahl: Like thinking you're driving there with hope.
25:47
Kurt Dahl: Maybe this is a great rock bar that's going to be packed with people that want to find the next big rock band.
25:53
Kurt Dahl: And you get there and it's like, no, it's just horrible.
25:56
Kurt Dahl: or we drive, I remember we drove one time to yeah, Southern Alberta, kind of by, Waterton national park, but there's like the small town.
26:06
Kurt Dahl: it was like, we played, it was like a three nighter and three sets a night.
26:11
Kurt Dahl: And I sort of bluffed and said, we had all these cover songs, which we didn't.
26:15
Kurt Dahl: And so we're playing originals too much.
26:16
Kurt Dahl: People that don't give a shit about us.
26:18
Kurt Dahl: And you know, by day, night two, we were just like, Defeated again.
26:24
Kurt Dahl: And, but it's those kinds of, then I remember the final quick story is we played a three nighter in Regina.
26:32
Kurt Dahl: It was a long weekend.
26:33
Kurt Dahl: And again, I sort of lied and said, we had all these covers.
26:36
Kurt Dahl: We get there and we had three nights at the venue and they gave us three nights of hotel and our first night we play, it was like a Thursday, let's say, and.
26:45
Kurt Dahl: The crowd is non existent and those that are there don't like us.
26:50
Kurt Dahl: we get back to the hotel that night and the hotel's like, you don't have a room here.
26:55
Kurt Dahl: And I was like, well, we have, we have a room for three nights.
26:57
Kurt Dahl: And she said, no, the venue called and said, it's canceled.
27:00
Kurt Dahl: You guys suck.
27:01
Kurt Dahl: Go
27:02
Glen Erickson: Oh, oh, oh,
27:04
Kurt Dahl: So.
27:05
Glen Erickson: harsh.
27:06
Kurt Dahl: it's also, that's how you build character, right?
27:08
Kurt Dahl: So then that's also, I got to employ my, my burgeoning legal skills.
27:12
Kurt Dahl: I called the venue.
27:13
Kurt Dahl: I said, after a lot of, um, swear words, I said, you're putting us up for tonight, cause we're here.
27:19
Kurt Dahl: It's 1.
27:20
Kurt Dahl: A.
27:20
Kurt Dahl: m.
27:20
Kurt Dahl: We're.
27:22
Kurt Dahl: So you say, fine, so we got hotels that night got up that next morning, got our gear out of the venue, drove home and again, that sense of defeat.
27:31
Kurt Dahl: Now, be fair, we weren't that good at the time, so our songs weren't that great, but it's those moments that really made us look inward as a band and as individuals and say, We're not, we're not as good as whatever's on the radio right now.
27:46
Kurt Dahl: Even though I didn't like Nickelback, et cetera, know, I thought we were better, but we weren't at the time.
27:52
Kurt Dahl: Right.
27:52
Kurt Dahl: Our songs weren't good enough to be on the radio.
27:54
Kurt Dahl: So we'd sort of make those mental leaps.
27:56
Kurt Dahl: Like, how do we, even though we don't like what's on the radio, how can we write stuff that's so effing catchy that radio can't deny it.
28:03
Kurt Dahl: And that took us eight years, but we eventually did it, you know?
28:07
Glen Erickson: So let me, let me put a pin right on that one because, that truth telling inside of a band when you're working with people and, and it might be similar with, because almost every solo artist I know has, you know, latched on to a guitar player that plays other gigs with them or some musicians or some people who are along every step of the way, right?
28:27
Glen Erickson: And.
28:29
Glen Erickson: You know, you have to have this belief that what I'm doing is great, you know, but you've probably read the 5, 000 entry bios for, you know, Juno awards or Western Canadian or factor grant submissions of, and people write their bios, like they, they, they pretend like what they think they're going to be right.
28:51
Glen Erickson: But they're
28:52
Kurt Dahl: Right.
28:53
Kurt Dahl: Right.
28:53
Glen Erickson: years old from like, small town, Saskatchewan.
28:55
Glen Erickson: So, it just reeks of.
28:58
Glen Erickson: All those things that make people a little just turn some people off, but but you kind of have to have that still because everybody who tells their story who made it big has that in their story still.
29:11
Glen Erickson: So you just sort of pointed that out, right?
29:13
Glen Erickson: That you were like, I think we're that good, but we're obviously not that good.
29:19
Glen Erickson: So what were, what were, and I know that I'm asking you to pull some thoughts out from a long time ago, but what, what were some of those things that were coming out?
29:29
Glen Erickson: Do you feel that you had to wrestle with, like in trying to say maybe we're not that good?
29:34
Glen Erickson: What were, what was the truth and what was the direction that you feel it gave you to work on?
29:39
Kurt Dahl: Yeah, it's so interesting.
29:41
Kurt Dahl: You're right.
29:41
Kurt Dahl: I think to succeed as a musician, I guess the same would apply if you're an actor or any sort of creative, you have to have a little dosage of naivete.
29:51
Kurt Dahl: Like, you have to of drink your own Kool Aid to a certain extent.
29:55
Kurt Dahl: You have to believe in yourself when no one else does, right?
29:57
Kurt Dahl: Because whether you're, you know, You know, whether you're Tom Cruise or you're Bob Dylan, like there's a time when nobody believes in you except you.
30:05
Kurt Dahl: Maybe your parents believe in you, but they don't know you're going to be as big as Tom Cruise or Bob Dylan, right?
30:10
Kurt Dahl: So, there has to be, you have to be a bit insane, I guess, as part of it, right?
30:14
Kurt Dahl: And that's why we, that's why we love great artists, you know?
30:17
Kurt Dahl: Um, They have to be, you have to be insane to do it.
30:20
Kurt Dahl: and then, and you have to sort of create yourself, right?
30:23
Kurt Dahl: Then Bob Dylan always said, it's like, life's not about finding yourself.
30:26
Kurt Dahl: It's about creating yourself, which I love that, right?
30:29
Kurt Dahl: but then you have to be able to, the, the, the, the second ingredient, which a lot of ours don't have is that harsh.
30:37
Kurt Dahl: Sort of self analysis, right.
30:39
Kurt Dahl: And being completely trying to be objective when it comes to yourself and say, you know, I mean, Bob Dylan knew he had talent, but he knew he wasn't as good as Woody Guthrie, his idol.
30:49
Kurt Dahl: So he's like, how can I become as good as Woody Guthrie?
30:52
Kurt Dahl: You know?
30:52
Kurt Dahl: Um, and some same actors, whatever, like you, have to be really your own harshest critic.
30:59
Kurt Dahl: Right.
30:59
Kurt Dahl: And so it's, it's that weird duality of being sort of insane and drinking your own Kool Aid, but also being like, How good is the Kool Aid really?
31:08
Glen Erickson: Yeah, yeah,
31:09
Kurt Dahl: and I think if I'm being honest, and speaking with self awareness, I think I was, I had a pretty good dose of that.
31:15
Kurt Dahl: Like I was like, guys, our song isn't that good.
31:18
Kurt Dahl: It's got, our song is seven minutes and it's got a 85 intro before any, before any vocals come in.
31:26
Kurt Dahl: That's not going to work.
31:27
Kurt Dahl: Just look, turn the radio on.
31:28
Kurt Dahl: No one's ever going to play this.
31:30
Kurt Dahl: So I think
31:30
Glen Erickson: yeah, yeah.
31:36
Kurt Dahl: you know, sort of brought that real self analysis element our songwriting.
31:42
Kurt Dahl: and then, so once you're aware, a good way to do it is look at, look at your idols, you know, and, and compare, right?
31:49
Kurt Dahl: So again, Bob Dylan and Woody Guthrie, for us, it was like One Bad Son comparing it to Led Zeppelin.
31:54
Kurt Dahl: It's like, listen, record, nothing compares to, uh, you know, Whole Lot Of Love.
32:00
Kurt Dahl: So let's.
32:02
Kurt Dahl: let's do better.
32:03
Kurt Dahl: Let's practice more.
32:04
Kurt Dahl: And so for One Bad Son, I mean as a band, I mean we just We all moved into a house together.
32:10
Kurt Dahl: It was like this decrepit, should have been condemned old house that had black mold in the walls.
32:17
Kurt Dahl: And we lived there and jammed like literally seven days a week.
32:21
Kurt Dahl: We just jammed.
32:22
Kurt Dahl: And, It's, it was great to be, it was a great way to become better songwriters and musicians.
32:27
Kurt Dahl: It was a bad way to have any sort of balance in life.
32:29
Kurt Dahl: Cause that's all we did was play in the band.
32:32
Kurt Dahl: and I guess, I mean, similar thing applies on the legal side.
32:34
Kurt Dahl: I mean, I poured myself into it.
32:37
Kurt Dahl: Like I wanted to become the best entertainment lawyer in the country.
32:40
Kurt Dahl: So I read everything about the music industry.
32:43
Kurt Dahl: I read every book.
32:44
Kurt Dahl: I, I, you know, read every biography.
32:46
Kurt Dahl: So I understood what's happened in the industry and blah, blah.
32:49
Kurt Dahl: and eventually, like anything you put in your 10, 000 hours and, and the results come.
32:54
Glen Erickson: Yeah, I that's amazing.
32:56
Glen Erickson: well, then let's look from.
32:58
Glen Erickson: 2017, which again, I sort of tongue in cheek to the right of passage, like making that long drive through Thunder Bay and Sault Ste.
33:07
Glen Erickson: Marie and, Oh, I forgot the name of those venues.
33:10
Glen Erickson: It's every band.
33:11
Glen Erickson: I know that's made those trips and knows that's the worst band house above a venue.
33:15
Glen Erickson: I think it's Either Sault Ste.
33:17
Glen Erickson: Marie or Sudbury.
33:18
Glen Erickson: Maybe the townhouse in Sudbury has the worst band room in history.
33:22
Glen Erickson: but you know, from an outsider perspective, you look like you're on that rite of passage for Canadian rock bands, right?
33:29
Glen Erickson: Between 2010 and 17 of, of, We're going to do a little more than the last time.
33:34
Glen Erickson: We're going to play a few more shows than the last time.
33:36
Glen Erickson: We're going to try and get a few more people out and we're just incrementally running the same cycle and the same circuit and just keep doing it and hustling and dreaming and, and connecting with people and all of that thing.
33:50
Glen Erickson: So that's what it looks like.
33:52
Glen Erickson: Your trajectory is, is that an accurate assumption?
33:55
Glen Erickson: Is that how you felt it was happening for you on the inside?
33:58
Glen Erickson: Yeah.
34:03
Kurt Dahl: it.
34:03
Kurt Dahl: I mean, We didn't get sort of any breaks, you know, um, know, some bands like, Oh, you get picked up or song goes and that nowadays the song goes viral or some other bands as we're taking you across doing a big tour, you're the opening act, or you get a bunch of grant funding, which we never really got.
34:21
Kurt Dahl: you know, whatever, like just different, everyone's got some sort of moment for us.
34:27
Kurt Dahl: It was eventually just getting a bunch of hits on the radio, but.
34:31
Kurt Dahl: We did, we earned every fan the hard way, you know, like touring the country.
34:34
Kurt Dahl: So we had, you know, a van and trailer, we'd go back and forth and back and forth, you know, and, and again, like the, you know, I'm not saying that to complain.
34:42
Kurt Dahl: It's that's how we have such hardcore fans, every fan we earned like by melting their face in a live setting.
34:48
Kurt Dahl: Right.
34:49
Kurt Dahl: So, and then we got really good.
34:51
Kurt Dahl: at performing live.
34:52
Kurt Dahl: And, so that was, you're right.
34:54
Kurt Dahl: From 2010 to 2017, I mean, that was just nonstop touring.
34:58
Kurt Dahl: I remember one time we, again, we never got to the bus level.
35:02
Kurt Dahl: Cause to get to a bus level, as you know, costs a lot of money.
35:05
Kurt Dahl: You gotta be making a lot of money to have afford a bus.
35:08
Kurt Dahl: we never got there.
35:08
Kurt Dahl: We could have maybe towards the end, but then it would have made no money on tour.
35:12
Kurt Dahl: So we'd go on tour, be gone for two months and then, Have nothing to show for it except we were in a bus so, but I remember oftentimes doing like want to just get home after tour is done.
35:23
Kurt Dahl: So we finished off one year, one tour on the east coast.
35:26
Kurt Dahl: It was like Halifax final show and we saw when we're living in Vancouver at the time.
35:31
Kurt Dahl: And so we're like, let's just get home to our girls into our own beds.
35:34
Kurt Dahl: So let's just drive nonstop.
35:38
Kurt Dahl: What would we take turns?
35:38
Kurt Dahl: Of course, there's four of us and we just two hour shifts.
35:41
Kurt Dahl: So the driver and the shotgun, obviously stays awake to make sure the driver is safe and the two guys in the back and lay down on the bench, the two benches and sleep.
35:52
Kurt Dahl: we did that.
35:52
Kurt Dahl: So it's a two hour shift.
35:54
Kurt Dahl: So you do a full cycle and that you've driven eight hours.
35:57
Kurt Dahl: we did that and we just did nonstop from Halifax to Vancouver, which I mean, you could Google map it.
36:03
Kurt Dahl: I'm not sure how many hours it says, but.
36:05
Kurt Dahl: It was a
36:05
Glen Erickson: That's ridiculous.
36:07
Kurt Dahl: Yeah.
36:07
Kurt Dahl: It
36:07
Glen Erickson: We used to, we used to nonstop it, Edmonton to Vancouver, like a 14 hour, whatever you know what I mean?
36:14
Glen Erickson: Or one time I remember leaving the.
36:18
Glen Erickson: The Western Canadian Music Awards and Brandon and, and deadheading it through the night to Edmonton.
36:23
Glen Erickson: I mean, that felt crazy.
36:25
Glen Erickson: I can't even imagine all the way from Halifax.
36:28
Glen Erickson: I mean, that first eight hours rotation, you probably would feel like we haven't even gotten it anywhere yet.
36:34
Kurt Dahl: And so it says
36:34
Glen Erickson: that's legendary, right?
36:36
Glen Erickson: Like, does anybody do that anymore?
36:37
Glen Erickson: Does anybody even do that anymore?
36:39
Kurt Dahl: I
36:40
Glen Erickson: Right.
36:40
Kurt Dahl: hope they comment, but so if I
36:42
Glen Erickson: Oh man.
36:43
Kurt Dahl: it's actually cool if you map it, cause it really does show it's literally, I mean, aside from Newfoundland or, you know, the island, like it's really is coast to coast and a lot of that's through the U S so you're on the interstate.
36:54
Kurt Dahl: So it's a bit, the, the better
36:56
Glen Erickson: I was going to ask, did you, did you skip the Thunder Bay up and around
37:01
Kurt Dahl: it.
37:02
Glen Erickson: Detroit
37:02
Kurt Dahl: a,
37:02
Glen Erickson: and
37:03
Kurt Dahl: that, that
37:03
Glen Erickson: yeah,
37:04
Kurt Dahl: day.
37:04
Kurt Dahl: So it says 56 hours and that's nonstop, but I felt like I'm sure we have to stop for gas every two hours and stop for to stretch out and change your position.
37:14
Kurt Dahl: So probably end up taking us probably 70 hours straight.
37:17
Kurt Dahl: So that's what three full days, nonstop
37:20
Glen Erickson: did you ever get hassles at the border?
37:22
Glen Erickson: Like a lot of bands have a lot of stories because you've got a trailer behind you, you can't hide all that shit in your merch and they're like, you're coming here to play a show for secret.
37:33
Glen Erickson: And I've heard a lot of stories that way.
37:34
Glen Erickson: Did you ever, and just that innocent, we're just trying to cut, we're just trying to cut some time off of our trip.
37:42
Glen Erickson: You never had that issue.
37:43
Kurt Dahl: not too bad.
37:44
Kurt Dahl: I mean, I always made sure that we were at all of our ducks and oaks.
37:48
Kurt Dahl: I knew that I would screw us over.
37:49
Kurt Dahl: I remember one time our, our, our singer had like a belt that had like bullets on it.
37:55
Kurt Dahl: Like it was like a, like, you know, just a cool rock and roll belt made of bullets, you know?
38:00
Kurt Dahl: And they're like, do you have any guns or ammo?
38:01
Kurt Dahl: And we're like, no.
38:02
Kurt Dahl: and they, they just were, you know, it's luck of the draw when it comes to whatever agent you get.
38:08
Kurt Dahl: And usually they were great.
38:10
Kurt Dahl: one of them, one time one guy was like, I love you guys as a band, which I was like the ultimate, you know, we've got a full pass, you
38:15
Glen Erickson: Oh my God.
38:16
Glen Erickson: Yeah,
38:16
Kurt Dahl: no, no, no full, no cavity searches, you know?
38:19
Kurt Dahl: Um, and, but this, this other time is like, this guy was just in a bad mood or was bored or whatever.
38:25
Kurt Dahl: But so he, he tore apart, tore apart everything in the van and the trailer.
38:30
Kurt Dahl: And then we have to put it all back in, of course, and organize it again, which is a pain in the ass.
38:33
Kurt Dahl: But he found this belt that had bullets on it.
38:37
Kurt Dahl: And he's like, you told me there's no ammo here.
38:39
Kurt Dahl: I was like, dude, I was at this point, I was just so, frustrated.
38:42
Kurt Dahl: I was like, try, try to put those bullets in a gun and see what happens, right?
38:48
Kurt Dahl: Like they're, they're, they're stitched
38:49
Glen Erickson: yeah, yeah.
38:50
Kurt Dahl: the belt and they're not even real, but like they're old, whatever.
38:53
Kurt Dahl: But anyway, so we got kind of busted for that.
38:56
Kurt Dahl: They're like, who had the bullets?
38:57
Kurt Dahl: You know, we all kind of freaked out.
38:59
Kurt Dahl: And then when they showed us the belt, we had a good laugh, but you know, that's the only time ever.
39:03
Kurt Dahl: The time has been great.
39:04
Kurt Dahl: Although I'm sure it's different now in soon to be Trump's America.
39:08
Kurt Dahl: I'm sure it's going to be just a pain in the ass even more, but, that's, that's a whole other podcast, you know?
39:14
Glen Erickson: Yeah, that's very, very true.
39:16
Glen Erickson: So, well, if there was ever a good time, though, to have the lawyer in the band, you can see where that'd be valuable.
39:23
Glen Erickson: Have your ducks in a row, like you said, for
39:25
Kurt Dahl: Yeah,
39:26
Glen Erickson: crossing, stuff like that.
39:27
Glen Erickson: so that's what was going on with the band.
39:29
Glen Erickson: So what's happening with Kurt Dahl during this time?
39:33
Glen Erickson: Are you, is it still feel like a steady trajectory of your, your law career and practicing?
39:40
Glen Erickson: Are you married at this point?
39:43
Glen Erickson: What, and you know, now you have a new set of future aspirations and, and that stuff plays in.
39:50
Glen Erickson: So deeply, and I don't know if you ever had this experience before you answer, but did you ever come across people who like, didn't believe you were, I don't know what the right word is.
40:01
Glen Erickson: Didn't believe that you were like, all in maybe is the word or didn't believe that you could pull both of those things off.
40:08
Glen Erickson: I asked because I didn't start the iteration of a touring band for me.
40:12
Glen Erickson: Didn't start till I was 33 years old and I You know, and I had my second child, you know, shortly after that, within that time, and I'll never forget sitting on, uh, sitting in the booth alive with Grant Lawrence when he was doing Radio 3, to promote our second record coming out, and he kept wanting to ask questions about, Me trying to pull off being a full time dad and at this age and now just trying to break a band, you know, across Canada type thing.
40:40
Glen Erickson: So, I would get those questions.
40:42
Kurt Dahl: Right.
40:43
Kurt Dahl: He, he
40:43
Glen Erickson: Yeah.
40:44
Kurt Dahl: back to it.
40:45
Glen Erickson: Yeah.
40:46
Glen Erickson: They just, people get stumped on it and I would often get told, I'll never forget also sitting with a potential, I was trying to, you know, talk to someone about signed and, they, they didn't think that we were.
40:59
Glen Erickson: You know, for whatever reason, you met people in those positions, make their guesses.
41:03
Glen Erickson: They didn't see the signs that we're all in because we're still, we haven't given up our careers.
41:09
Glen Erickson: We haven't essentially sacrificed everything worth any, any meaning in our lives for music.
41:14
Glen Erickson: And so they weren't willing to jump on, on that.
41:17
Glen Erickson: And I'm curious about your own development of being married, a relationship, a career, like a lawyer, what your experience was trying to break a life in music that way.
41:28
Glen Erickson: Uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh.
41:31
Kurt Dahl: at the end of the day, I've always been someone in the States back to when I was a kid, like no one could tell me.
41:37
Kurt Dahl: What to do, you know what I mean?
41:39
Kurt Dahl: I don't like being told what I can't do, especially.
41:41
Kurt Dahl: and I imagine that's a common trait of, of you might interview.
41:45
Kurt Dahl: you know, for me, it's like, if someone said, you know, you can't be married and be in a band, or you can't be faithful and be in a band, which that's also part of the thing.
41:55
Kurt Dahl: Or if you like, or if you can't, you can't be a lawyer and be in a bad, I was just like, F you, I'll do what the hell I want.
42:00
Kurt Dahl: I'm Kurt Dahl, you know?
42:02
Kurt Dahl: so I was happily married and it doesn't mean it doesn't come without work.
42:06
Kurt Dahl: You have to work to be like in any relationship, but I would see guys out on the road.
42:12
Kurt Dahl: Who I knew had a wife or even kids at home.
42:15
Kurt Dahl: Maybe, you know, cheating on their wives and stuff.
42:17
Kurt Dahl: And I just like, I, I, it's the rock and roll cliche.
42:20
Kurt Dahl: And I just, it was not, I was never going to, I always said do one or the other, like, you know, if you're, if you're going to be, married and then we go out and cheat on your girl, when you're on tour, you know, Don't get married in the first place, dude.
42:31
Kurt Dahl: You know?
42:32
Kurt Dahl: and then the same would apply on the lawyer side.
42:34
Kurt Dahl: People are like, well, you can't really, you can't be a lawyer and a musician.
42:39
Kurt Dahl: And I'd be like, don't tell me what I can't do.
42:41
Kurt Dahl: I mean, I think there is something to be said.
42:43
Kurt Dahl: Like I remember, You know, Lou Reed once said like the best artists are ones that have no backup plan.
42:50
Kurt Dahl: They go all in.
42:51
Kurt Dahl: And, and I love Lou Reed.
42:53
Kurt Dahl: And I agree with almost everything he said, but, in this situation, I'd say he's wrong.
42:58
Kurt Dahl: I mean, I, you know, if anyone doubted what I could do as a musician, I mean, I'd easily prove them wrong once I got on stage, you know?
43:07
Kurt Dahl: Um, so I think it's, you know, I think it's, I'm able to do both careers and do them very well if I can speak with, you know, sort of some self analysis, but because I cut out a lot of other things in my life, you know, I don't really watch TV.
43:23
Kurt Dahl: I don't second guess myself.
43:25
Kurt Dahl: You know, once I commit to something, I just go and do it.
43:28
Kurt Dahl: I've always been good at just like getting, getting tasks done, right?
43:32
Kurt Dahl: So if I know, you know, If I know we got a record to record, in, in a month, I'll just get, go on the garage and hammer out my parts and do it until I'm, I'm great at it.
43:41
Kurt Dahl: You know?
43:41
Kurt Dahl: And I mean, the same applies on the, the legal side.
43:45
Kurt Dahl: Like I just, I put in the time, right?
43:47
Kurt Dahl: So, and I guess, and that's, and this is not at all meant to be braggy by any means more just like, because
43:53
Glen Erickson: No, be braggy.
43:55
Kurt Dahl: I mean, people always ask this sort of question, like, how do you do it?
43:57
Kurt Dahl: Right.
43:58
Kurt Dahl: And it's like, you know, I usually, I kind
43:59
Glen Erickson: Yeah.
44:00
Kurt Dahl: I write it off with some sort of deferring, um, answer, but I mean, like, it does help that I'm passionate about both, right?
44:08
Kurt Dahl: Like find things you're it's again, the cliche, right?
44:11
Kurt Dahl: Find, find something you're passionate about and you never work a day in your life.
44:14
Kurt Dahl: Right.
44:14
Kurt Dahl: So, you know, I, I work my ass off on both those careers.
44:17
Kurt Dahl: Because I love both of them, right?
44:19
Kurt Dahl: If I was, there's things I hate doing, like, uh, my taxes, you know, like, um, so if I, if I was an accountant, I, I, I'd kill myself, you know?
44:27
Kurt Dahl: So, um, find things you love, right?
44:29
Kurt Dahl: And that's, that's how I'm able to do both, I think.
44:32
Kurt Dahl: And that's, so when, if anyone ever said, well, you can't do both that good, or you shouldn't, you shouldn't do that.
44:37
Kurt Dahl: It's not allowed.
44:38
Kurt Dahl: I just, again, my attitude of like, don't tell me what to do.
44:41
Kurt Dahl: I'll do what the hell I want.
44:42
Kurt Dahl: I'm going to create my
44:43
Glen Erickson: Yeah.
44:44
Kurt Dahl: that's always been my, my sort of guiding light, you know?
44:47
Kurt Dahl: Wow,
44:48
Glen Erickson: heard that Lou Reed quote an awful lot as well.
44:51
Glen Erickson: And it's a great quote.
44:52
Glen Erickson: And, and I have, and I have, and I have friends in the business who have great story.
44:57
Glen Erickson: Like my very first interview on here was Dan Mangan and, you know, his story.
45:02
Glen Erickson: Yeah.
45:02
Glen Erickson: And Dan's story about, you know, very embryonic stage in his life when he was driving all the way to South by Southwest.
45:09
Glen Erickson: And one of his best songs came out of that road regrets of, of driving,
45:13
Kurt Dahl: yeah.
45:14
Glen Erickson: driving, you know, he's, he's with all these dreams, right?
45:17
Glen Erickson: Like, I'm going to get discovered at South by and then he does not get discovered.
45:20
Glen Erickson: And then the drive home is, Very long and very hard, but he made a choice and it's part of his story of like, this is when I need to like jump off the cliff, right?
45:29
Glen Erickson: The, or the, the blind, like leap into all of this.
45:33
Glen Erickson: But the truth is, and I guess this is why these stories and everybody's stories are so important for me to tell here is, is that the percentage of people who get to actually make the choice that Lou Reed is suggesting and then live Achieve that and live in it is a small percentage, right?
45:52
Glen Erickson: And that's why it's the rock and roll dream.
45:54
Glen Erickson: I think it's wonderful.
45:55
Glen Erickson: It's beautiful.
45:57
Glen Erickson: The truth is that there is this massive percentage underneath it of people who get to, as I have always put it, be a part of the fabric of history of.
46:07
Glen Erickson: the music scene and the music business.
46:09
Glen Erickson: And, and for some people, you know, it's, they become a songwriter or they adapt to another part of the industry, or in my case, wore a lot of different hats in order to keep my feet dipped in it.
46:23
Glen Erickson: And you're in your case to follow two very large, distinct, demanding passions, sort of with each other.
46:30
Glen Erickson: equal fervor through a career.
46:32
Glen Erickson: So I think that's, that's where some really interesting stories are.
46:37
Glen Erickson: And I think that's what people should be asking.
46:41
Glen Erickson: How did you do it?
46:42
Glen Erickson: Right?
46:42
Glen Erickson: If they're asking, how do you do it, man, they should be listening for, can I see myself in that, right?
46:49
Glen Erickson: Can I believe that I I'm passionate about this other thing too?
46:53
Glen Erickson: I don't have to give everything up.
46:54
Glen Erickson: A lot of times it's.
46:56
Glen Erickson: a relationship with a lot of people I've, I've met that, you know, they allow a relationship to suffer for the glory of chasing a rock and roll dream.
47:05
Glen Erickson: How, when did you get married?
47:07
Glen Erickson: How far back did that,
47:08
Kurt Dahl: Yeah.
47:08
Glen Erickson: that go?
47:09
Kurt Dahl: it was that same year, 2010, that big sort of like,
47:13
Glen Erickson: Oh my ear for you, Kurt.
47:15
Glen Erickson: Oh my God.
47:15
Kurt Dahl: was, it was everything.
47:17
Kurt Dahl: Yeah.
47:17
Kurt Dahl: It was, it was crazy.
47:18
Kurt Dahl: It was actually all within a month too.
47:19
Kurt Dahl: So I got called to the bar and became a lawyer Saskatoon.
47:24
Kurt Dahl: Then I got married.
47:26
Kurt Dahl: then, uh, moved to Vancouver and got a new job and that is all within a month.
47:31
Kurt Dahl: So like, and a lot of looking back at the time, it's like, we just, this is what we got to do.
47:34
Kurt Dahl: Let's just go.
47:35
Kurt Dahl: And I mean, for a lot of people that could have really broke them, I mean, or, or one of those things could have not gone as, as they had hoped.
47:43
Kurt Dahl: I mean, thankfully, and again, I give a lot of credit to my wife.
47:46
Kurt Dahl: She's always been the rock, you know, and, And I couldn't have done any of this without her.
47:50
Kurt Dahl: Right.
47:50
Kurt Dahl: So, you know, I think that's part of it.
47:52
Kurt Dahl: It's like, I always had that big support at home.
47:56
Kurt Dahl: And then it also gave me like the motivation to be like a good husband and a good dad, all that stuff.
48:02
Kurt Dahl: Right.
48:02
Kurt Dahl: So, yeah, so that was really, you know, that laid the groundwork for everything else that came from, came afterwards, you know,
48:10
Glen Erickson: And how many years married before children came along?
48:14
Kurt Dahl: our first kid, 2015, so we were married five years.
48:17
Kurt Dahl: Yeah.
48:18
Glen Erickson: Okay.
48:19
Glen Erickson: Not too long.
48:19
Glen Erickson: So, so a large chunk of a large chunk of doing this lately has been with kids, which Completely changes, things.
48:30
Glen Erickson: What was, what was the very first thing that you were like, this, this has to change.
48:36
Glen Erickson: This is changing now when kids came along.
48:40
Glen Erickson: Yeah.
48:44
Kurt Dahl: touring like crazy.
48:45
Kurt Dahl: And I'd seen how that, that story ends in terms of like, you know, it's hard to be on the road, like, and it's things I love about being on tour, of course, and I, you know, I often miss it if I haven't done it for a while, but.
48:58
Kurt Dahl: It's a lot of times it's hard, right?
49:00
Kurt Dahl: Like you're not, you're not in your own bed and you're away from people you love and missing big events.
49:05
Kurt Dahl: Like I always hated missing like, you know, I wouldn't miss Christmas, but like missing kids birthdays or, you know, wife's birthday or whatever, right?
49:14
Kurt Dahl: Those kinds of things.
49:15
Kurt Dahl: Or even just like, there's a big event happening with all your friends and your family in Saskatoon, but you're You know, we're, I'm really picking on Thunder Bay today, but, uh, um, you know, that's just, that's part of, and that's what I would say.
49:30
Kurt Dahl: Any, any band that's made it on a, on a, on any sort of level, got so much respect for, you know, because your average fan just doesn't see all this.
49:39
Kurt Dahl: They see all the positives, whether it be on social media or, or, or on stage.
49:45
Kurt Dahl: They don't see all the sacrifice, right?
49:46
Kurt Dahl: Like you're to get to that level, to be, you know, to be The Tragically Hip, think about all the things they missed at home.
49:53
Kurt Dahl: Right.
49:54
Kurt Dahl: And, and I think about the people that have supported them to get them there and all that stuff.
49:57
Kurt Dahl: So I just have so much love and respect for, for artists that really do
50:02
Glen Erickson: Yeah.
50:02
Glen Erickson: Yeah.
50:03
Glen Erickson: So I'll never forget.
50:04
Glen Erickson: So, so my band had a great fortune that one of the members worked for WestJet during its time.
50:09
Glen Erickson: And he would, he would partner pass whatever his brother, who was also in the band, cause it was his brother and then buddy pass myself and the drummer.
50:19
Glen Erickson: and so we would go do that 401 tour, right.
50:22
Glen Erickson: From Windsor to Ottawa back and forth, like three times a year over touring Western Canada.
50:29
Glen Erickson: Um, Even once.
50:30
Glen Erickson: So, I'll never forget.
50:33
Glen Erickson: I had started getting used to this great validation where all we'd have to do is go there and come back to Edmonton.
50:39
Glen Erickson: And then, you know, either in some articles in the street rags, we'd get talked about, like, something's happening, right?
50:46
Glen Erickson: It looks really validating to everyone in your own scene that you're the ones consistently going.
50:52
Glen Erickson: It does something.
50:53
Glen Erickson: It elevates you.
50:54
Glen Erickson: And I was enjoying that feeling, but I'll never forget sitting outside.
50:59
Glen Erickson: I don't know if you're familiar with the Phog, in Windsor, the P H O G.
51:03
Glen Erickson: The is this tiny corner venue bar with this corner stage that could fit maybe 25 people into this room.
51:12
Glen Erickson: They got some folklore around them from CBC radio three.
51:16
Glen Erickson: and I always wanted to play it cause I was an indie rock guy and wanted to play all the well known venues at the time.
51:21
Glen Erickson: But I'll never forget sitting in the parking lot outside.
51:23
Glen Erickson: It was the night before father's day, feeling like the lowest pieces of shit that I could have ever felt like, what the hell am I doing here?
51:33
Glen Erickson: You know, and there was, it, it robbed, I couldn't come home from a tour and ever feel like, yeah, I'm cool.
51:40
Glen Erickson: I'm going to, you know, people don't really, people didn't really know what was going on or how you felt.
51:44
Glen Erickson: Um, it was a harsh feeling.
51:46
Glen Erickson: And to, to your point.
51:49
Glen Erickson: the, one of the largest impetus is to our, my band ending was my personal, you know, when the question is like, do we keep this going, I had just gone through, you know, my, seven year old daughter, you just innocently in my arms, just saying, I like it better when you're not gone.
52:08
Glen Erickson: You can't shake that when you hear it.
52:10
Kurt Dahl: that's
52:10
Glen Erickson: Right.
52:11
Kurt Dahl: Yeah, exactly.
52:13
Kurt Dahl: it.
52:13
Kurt Dahl: That's
52:13
Glen Erickson: Yeah.
52:14
Kurt Dahl: And so, and so
52:14
Glen Erickson: okay.
52:15
Glen Erickson: So
52:15
Kurt Dahl: just so I
52:16
Glen Erickson: yeah, yeah, go ahead.
52:17
Kurt Dahl: old, how old is your daughter now?
52:18
Kurt Dahl: That, that daughter.
52:19
Glen Erickson: Well, this is the very fun part about all this that she is 19 and she is going to listen to this episode and then we are going to do what I call post-fame where we're going to talk for 15 minutes about her take on an episode together like you and I are doing right now, her up in her room.
52:38
Glen Erickson: And then we, we share music inspirations and things like that all the time.
52:42
Glen Erickson: So we're just going to talk about whatever, in those little post epilogue kind of pieces.
52:48
Glen Erickson: So, maybe my greatest thrill in this podcast is, being able to incorporate my daughter, into it.
52:53
Glen Erickson: She's wonderful.
52:54
Kurt Dahl: I love it.
52:55
Kurt Dahl: And you know what?
52:55
Kurt Dahl: And to me that that is, it kind of relates to what you're saying to some extent, but like, yeah, like I always, those early years were tough when my kids are young and I was still touring and, and now two are very little, but like, you know, not quantity sort of touring, but
53:11
Glen Erickson: Hmm.
53:11
Kurt Dahl: things ever is like, obviously I've, or not obviously I should say, but I've got a great relationship with my kids.
53:17
Kurt Dahl: And.
53:17
Kurt Dahl: But getting able to being able to like have them experience the band now, cause now they're a bit older.
53:22
Kurt Dahl: We played, we played a show two weeks, weeks ago in town and you had a thousand people out and the kids came to sound check.
53:28
Kurt Dahl: And now it's like the band, it used to be a thing that took me away from my family.
53:32
Kurt Dahl: And now it's a thing that like, you know, they can see that dad is cool and they can see the sacrifice that I, the payoff to all the sacrifice I made, you know?
53:41
Kurt Dahl: So I love that you and your daughter can share that and share music and all that sort of stuff.
53:45
Glen Erickson: Yeah, it's incredible.
53:47
Glen Erickson: I mean, that's incredible for you as well.
53:49
Glen Erickson: Like, I, I would have loved to have been able to also have that experience, right?
53:54
Glen Erickson: I think it's pretty awesome.
53:55
Glen Erickson: like I said before, like you had gotten on my radar around 2016 2017.
54:01
Glen Erickson: And I started to know who you were and then sort of see some of the things that you were doing.
54:05
Glen Erickson: And I, and I think I immediately noticed that you were pretty active as in your voice in the community, which is pretty great.
54:15
Glen Erickson: So I don't know whether you know or not, but I mean, there's a number of things that you've been a part of different charities and fundraisers and activist voice.
54:23
Glen Erickson: the one that had real particular interest to me, and I don't know if it was late in 2018, early 2019, where you made a, social media post about wearing this shirt that you had made feminist,
54:36
Kurt Dahl: Right.
54:37
Glen Erickson: which, uh, by the way, I, I had ordered one.
54:40
Glen Erickson: I don't know if you know, I was one of the,
54:42
Kurt Dahl: know that.
54:42
Kurt Dahl: Nice.
54:43
Kurt Dahl: Nice.
54:50
Glen Erickson: six years, but, um, I love I love the shirt.
54:55
Glen Erickson: So here's why I want to ask you about that.
54:57
Glen Erickson: First of all, I want to ask what were the seeds behind printing a shirt, wearing it, publicizing it, and then even following through people's demand and printing extras and allowing them to order and also wear it and have that voice as a man in our culture right now and all the things going on.
55:16
Glen Erickson: I'm curious where that comes from.
55:17
Glen Erickson: I'm sure everybody who ordered one has their own angle and take about why.
55:22
Glen Erickson: Uh, but what I want to tell you before you tell me that it's like, the interesting thing to me is like, I ordered that because I'm pretty outspoken.
55:32
Glen Erickson: I'm extremely supportive of.
55:35
Glen Erickson: the female voice in our society about equality and all the ways that it's ridiculous that things haven't changed, everything that we've gone through over the last six years of, you know, either whether it's largely branded like me too, or just these crazy continual challenges like what's happening in the States, uh, against freedoms of women and their bodies.
55:58
Glen Erickson: Um, I've always been 100 percent advocate, like, to me, there's no difference other than, you know, the differences that we can make between us.
56:08
Glen Erickson: And, but with all of that said, I remember putting the shirt on and thinking, should I be wearing this shirt?
56:16
Glen Erickson: You know, I've probably been a dick to women.
56:20
Glen Erickson: A number of times in my life, I've said a lot of things the same way I do with privilege.
56:24
Glen Erickson: I've said to women without understanding what I was really saying, because I'm a man, and I'm allowed to have so many short sighted shortcomings, right?
56:34
Glen Erickson: The things I don't even see, like the first time, the first time I learned.
56:38
Glen Erickson: That a woman checks doors and looks who's coming on the sidewalk and makes a choice whether or not to cross the street because of how safe she feels.
56:48
Glen Erickson: I've never had to do that in my whole life, right?
56:50
Glen Erickson: Um, and once you do that, it changes you.
56:54
Glen Erickson: And yet, with all of that knowledge, I remember the feeling of, should I be wearing this shirt because I was afraid of being called out as a fraud?
57:00
Glen Erickson: Um,
57:01
Kurt Dahl: yeah, no, they're.
57:02
Glen Erickson: those little feelings are.
57:03
Glen Erickson: In, so I'm just really curious about what the seeds were for you and what brought about something like that.
57:09
Glen Erickson: And I know it's just one of a lot of things that you sort of stood for, but I'm, I'm definitely interested.
57:15
Kurt Dahl: Yeah, I know.
57:16
Kurt Dahl: 100%.
57:16
Kurt Dahl: I think at the time it was, like the, the U.
57:20
Kurt Dahl: S.
57:21
Kurt Dahl: Supreme Court judge had been appointed.
57:23
Kurt Dahl: He was, you know, Kavanaugh, whatever, the guy that
57:27
Glen Erickson: Mm-hmm Mm-hmm
57:27
Kurt Dahl: by like three different women and he got appointed.
57:30
Kurt Dahl: then, The worry was at the time for, from, for a lot of people was that they were going to make abortion illegal again, which now it is essentially.
57:38
Glen Erickson: Yeah.
57:39
Glen Erickson: Yeah.
57:39
Glen Erickson: Mm-hmm
57:40
Kurt Dahl: it's just so sad that things have gone the way they've gone since then.
57:43
Kurt Dahl: But that, for me, it was like, know, I want to just use my voice, and my platform to kind of create awareness and raise some money and whatever.
57:52
Kurt Dahl: And I think that, I mean, for me, You know, my definition, uh, and everyone's got different definitions, I, I imagine, but my definition of feminism is, you know, that women and men should have equal rights.
58:06
Kurt Dahl: Um, and I think that, you know, in hindsight, even like some, mostly the, most of the response to that was really positive.
58:16
Kurt Dahl: And, and sometimes in life, when you get a couple of negatives, you focus on those, but some people were like, well, you know, you're a white privileged male lawyer.
58:22
Kurt Dahl: Like, how dare you.
58:24
Kurt Dahl: You know, think you can, whatever, whatever.
58:26
Kurt Dahl: I think that also I think those people are just really negative.
58:28
Kurt Dahl: Um, because, because of course the alternative is that I say nothing and do nothing.
58:33
Kurt Dahl: Right.
58:33
Glen Erickson: Yeah.
58:34
Glen Erickson: Good point.
58:35
Kurt Dahl: so I feel like you're always going to get shot down if you try to make a difference.
58:38
Kurt Dahl: Right.
58:39
Kurt Dahl: so it raised some money and.
58:41
Kurt Dahl: The response is great.
58:42
Kurt Dahl: Raise some awareness and then just donate it to a local women's shelter in Saskatoon.
58:46
Kurt Dahl: But, for me, it's just, and you see this happening in the U S more and more now, especially with Trump coming back in.
58:54
Kurt Dahl: It's like, there's a sense of like men have all the power again, and it's just really scary.
59:00
Glen Erickson: So, cause I recognize that I, I wasn't doing a podcast with you to get a whole bunch of Free legal advice for musicians, that wasn't the goal at all.
59:11
Glen Erickson: though there's lots of questions I could ask that are typical, like, what are the things that come up the most, et cetera, but you made a fantastic post on Instagram recently where you said.
59:21
Glen Erickson: Here's, here's 14 things I've learned in the last two decades, which I thought, Oh my God, like how well timed Kurt with the fact that I was going to be talking to you right away because I want to pull out from people what those are.
59:33
Glen Erickson: So, I mean, I'll tell everybody listening first and foremost, obviously they should go to the lawyer drummer, Instagram page and find that a post where you talk about these 14 things, which are all spot on, by the way,
59:46
Kurt Dahl: Thank you.
59:47
Glen Erickson: maybe then rapid fire.
59:48
Glen Erickson: I pull a couple of them out and just, You give sort of the broader context about how that's come to be really important to you in like
59:56
Kurt Dahl: Yeah.
59:56
Glen Erickson: quicker rapid fire So the very first one you said was success in quotes In the music biz comes in the long term not the short term established daily habits and routines that work towards that success and watch them Manifest so i'm really been curious about the place of how careers get developed in music and how that's changed i've been fascinated by like the contest TV show and whether that's actually a valid placement now that it's existed for 20 plus years in how artists find a career.
1:00:29
Glen Erickson: Yeah, everything from Idol to the talent shows and, you know, versus this idea where artists who are more pure would think people are skipping those steps.
1:00:37
Glen Erickson: Everyone should have to go up the same number of rungs on the ladder right in their career and which to me just whether I like those shows or not isn't true like everyone's trying to skip skip ahead to fame and fortune and not have to like you know go through all the the pain and the heartbreak and the way you described Those years for you.
1:01:00
Glen Erickson: So I'm just wondering what you feel about, you know, this idea of how you establish that and build that, you know, is there a version where you can't skip the steps or what does that look like for you?
1:01:12
Kurt Dahl: Well, I mean, I think for me, I just seen like some, some of my biggest clients, and, and even just friends that have done well in the music biz, like really, It really is long term.
1:01:22
Kurt Dahl: And, and like, I'm thinking of someone like say, Chris Stapleton, who, you know, spent how many years in Nashville, just writing songs for other artists, you know, and he was an absolute nobody and did that for, I mean, I don't know, 15 years or something, I, I, I'm not sure, maybe not that long, but,
1:01:38
Glen Erickson: Yeah.
1:01:39
Kurt Dahl: something like that, but, and then eventually just came up with like his own thing and then put all together and it was like this perfectly formulated artist and identity.
1:01:50
Kurt Dahl: And then he blew up that debut record.
1:01:52
Kurt Dahl: So, I mean, and they did it his own way to, so people.
1:01:56
Kurt Dahl: He didn't have to pretend to be someone else.
1:01:58
Kurt Dahl: Right.
1:01:58
Kurt Dahl: And that's another point in there.
1:02:00
Kurt Dahl: but I think so many artists, again, a lot of them are my clients where it's like, you, you take the road less traveled takes a bit longer, but when you get to the destination, you, you arrive fully formed, you know what I mean?
1:02:13
Kurt Dahl: And, um,
1:02:14
Glen Erickson: You're you're 13th point is about the most successful people are authentically themselves.
1:02:19
Glen Erickson: So don't try to be someone else.
1:02:20
Glen Erickson: And I guess you're kind of pointing at that one too, with that is sometimes it just takes you longer to find.
1:02:27
Glen Erickson: Maybe your authentic self.
1:02:29
Glen Erickson: Maybe we shouldn't put such a quick timeline on what we think is our
1:02:34
Kurt Dahl: yeah, look at someone like Bruce Springsteen.
1:02:36
Kurt Dahl: I mean, you know, his first two records bombed Bob Dylan's first two records bombed, you know, it's like, Yeah, it took a while to find themselves, but they didn't change just cause the first record didn't succeed.
1:02:48
Kurt Dahl: They didn't try to be someone else after that.
1:02:50
Kurt Dahl: Right.
1:02:51
Kurt Dahl: So,
1:02:51
Glen Erickson: Hmm.
1:02:52
Kurt Dahl: and then once you, if you stick to your guns and define who you are, and, then I think you've got a longer career ahead.
1:02:58
Kurt Dahl: Right.
1:02:58
Kurt Dahl: And, um, you know, Colter wall is a good example.
1:03:02
Kurt Dahl: You know, someone who's just always just done his own thing.
1:03:05
Kurt Dahl: It hasn't tried to, doesn't go to Nashville and do co writes, try to change the sound or whatever.
1:03:10
Kurt Dahl: He just kind of does his own thing.
1:03:11
Kurt Dahl: And people love him for that, you know?
1:03:13
Kurt Dahl: So I think that's kind of where it was coming from.
1:03:16
Glen Erickson: Okay.
1:03:16
Glen Erickson: your number seven you had talked about and you alluded this earlier about you either climbing up the mountain or on your way back down.
1:03:23
Glen Erickson: You can't stay at the top for very long.
1:03:25
Glen Erickson: so you said enjoy the climb as well as the descent.
1:03:28
Glen Erickson: You had talked about how nobody talks about the grind and the hard part of their story.
1:03:32
Glen Erickson: do you have a little picture of what the descent looks like in a career of music when you're, you know, it's peaks and valleys, it's ebbs and flows.
1:03:40
Glen Erickson: What does the descent look like?
1:03:43
Kurt Dahl: Yeah.
1:03:43
Kurt Dahl: You know, it's interesting.
1:03:43
Kurt Dahl: I mean, well, I experienced it with one bad son.
1:03:46
Kurt Dahl: I mean, every client of mine has experienced it.
1:03:48
Kurt Dahl: You know, a good example would be someone like Neil young, who, you know, at one point was touring arenas and then, you know, in the, in the seventies with like, say Crosby, Stills, Nash and Young, and then all of a sudden.
1:04:00
Kurt Dahl: In the eighties come along and his records tank and now he's back to like the midsize venues.
1:04:06
Kurt Dahl: And then at the end of the eighties, he's as rocking in the free world and he's back up to the top.
1:04:10
Kurt Dahl: He's back in arenas.
1:04:11
Kurt Dahl: And then, the nineties were kind of weird for him.
1:04:14
Kurt Dahl: So kind of smaller venues and then his big comeback album with harvest moon.
1:04:18
Kurt Dahl: So now he's back on it.
1:04:19
Kurt Dahl: So I think it's like, that's a good example.
1:04:22
Kurt Dahl: I mean, you can't, or even the biggest pop star, whether you're, I mean, Lady Gaga is a good example.
1:04:29
Kurt Dahl: Every song of hers for a time, there were just was a mega smash, but her last few releases haven't been right.
1:04:34
Kurt Dahl: But does that mean she's going to be done?
1:04:36
Kurt Dahl: Well, I, I really hope not.
1:04:38
Kurt Dahl: can't stay at, no one could stay at the top.
1:04:40
Kurt Dahl: Whether you're who are the biggest artists of all time.
1:04:42
Kurt Dahl: I mean, Elvis, a lot of his singles tank towards the end.
1:04:45
Kurt Dahl: You mean we've all, or I've seen that movie, right?
1:04:47
Kurt Dahl: It's towards the end.
1:04:48
Kurt Dahl: It's like his singles weren't doing anything.
1:04:50
Kurt Dahl: Michael Jackson.
1:04:51
Kurt Dahl: I mean, look where, how that ended up.
1:04:53
Kurt Dahl: I mean, no one can stay at the top.
1:04:55
Kurt Dahl: Right.
1:04:55
Kurt Dahl: So, almost getting to the absolute top, it can be a curse in some ways.
1:04:59
Kurt Dahl: Right.
1:04:59
Kurt Dahl: So sometimes you,
1:05:00
Glen Erickson: Yeah,
1:05:01
Kurt Dahl: You're almost better to kind of be just kind of going around the bottom rung of the mountain or the middle of the mountain, right?
1:05:07
Glen Erickson: well, it makes me think while you were saying that, that, you know, when you're trying to grow a career and you're aspiring to this, right?
1:05:14
Glen Erickson: Like that mountain isn't the biggest, you know, it's not the number one signal singles and being on all of those things like that mountain for me when I was going to say, I just wanted to play all those iconic venues across Canada.
1:05:25
Glen Erickson: If I could play the railway and the sidetrack here in Edmonton, if I could play the Dakota and in Toronto, like, Like at one point, that was my mountain, right?
1:05:33
Glen Erickson: And then I get to that point and then I see a higher plateau.
1:05:36
Glen Erickson: You're going to have descents off of all of those little ones too.
1:05:40
Glen Erickson: So I think that's a great point that it it's, it's like nobody stays in that place forever.
1:05:45
Glen Erickson: And, and creating a career, is definitely about, figuring out how to ride it up and enjoy it and ride it down and wait for the next.
1:05:55
Glen Erickson: Opportunity, right?
1:05:56
Glen Erickson: well, I'm not going to keep you.
1:05:58
Glen Erickson: I appreciate it.
1:05:58
Glen Erickson: I agree.
1:05:59
Glen Erickson: And I would suggest people go and read those things because I think they're spot on.
1:06:03
Glen Erickson: the other one that I like the best, by the way, which is applies to the number one rule in the music scene about your reputation having swing.
1:06:11
Glen Erickson: Wings, sorry, the reputation having wings.
1:06:13
Glen Erickson: It's a small industry and this is so true, especially in Canada.
1:06:16
Glen Erickson: Everyone knows everyone.
1:06:18
Glen Erickson: It's really the golden rule of don't be a dick.
1:06:20
Glen Erickson: Um, because in our, our music business and scene is so small.
1:06:26
Glen Erickson: back when I was trying all my hand at this, Same time as you really, the early or mid 2000s, 2010, 2012.
1:06:34
Glen Erickson: it seemed like everybody knew who each other's agents were, who the managers were, who the publicists were.
1:06:40
Glen Erickson: Nobody knew who a lawyer was.
1:06:42
Glen Erickson: Nobody knew who to ask.
1:06:43
Glen Erickson: Nobody thought they needed it until maybe they were going to get major label signed.
1:06:47
Glen Erickson: And then I guess I talked to a lawyer.
1:06:50
Glen Erickson: All of that's really.
1:06:51
Glen Erickson: Changed, I think, in your presence, on the scene, by the way, Kurt, I think, is, deeply appreciated, even if people don't know it, yet they, they should understand, like, how important it is to have someone, active and advocating, such as yourself, in, in entertainment law and being available, which kinda, who, who needs to reach out to you?
1:07:14
Glen Erickson: Where are people at in their career when they need to talk to you?
1:07:18
Kurt Dahl: Yeah.
1:07:18
Kurt Dahl: Good question, Glen.
1:07:19
Kurt Dahl: I think obviously if you get a contract put in front of you, like that's an obvious one, because I've had so many artists come to me after they signed a deal and could be a week after it could be a year after.
1:07:29
Kurt Dahl: And they're like, I need to get out of this deal.
1:07:31
Kurt Dahl: It's horrible.
1:07:32
Kurt Dahl: I can't do a lot of work with a signed contract.
1:07:35
Kurt Dahl: I mean, sometimes you get like the silver bullet.
1:07:37
Kurt Dahl: You can be lucky.
1:07:39
Kurt Dahl: There could be something wrong.
1:07:40
Kurt Dahl: You can get out of the deal, but most of the time, no, otherwise system would fall apart if contracts were easy to get out of.
1:07:46
Kurt Dahl: Right.
1:07:47
Kurt Dahl: So.
1:07:47
Kurt Dahl: Come to me before you sign a contract.
1:07:49
Kurt Dahl: I think a lot of people think, uh, a common misconception or a common I guess, is that they can't afford a lawyer.
1:07:57
Kurt Dahl: So why reach out to one?
1:07:59
Kurt Dahl: I mean, I would say reach out to me first.
1:08:01
Kurt Dahl: If you get a one page deal and it's super easy and no issues with it, I might not charge anything.
1:08:07
Kurt Dahl: That being said, if it's a 20 record deal, Because it's an important deal.
1:08:14
Kurt Dahl: but I always give a quote, so you'll, you'll know ahead of time.
1:08:17
Kurt Dahl: and then I guess other than that, I think if you don't have a contract in front of you, I mean, would say that if things are happening in your career, whether people are getting interested in you, whether it be.
1:08:27
Kurt Dahl: You're adding team members like a manager or an agent or a whatever, even publicist.
1:08:32
Kurt Dahl: Like people are starting to say, Hey, let's, let's work together.
1:08:36
Kurt Dahl: That's reach out and just establish a connection with someone like myself.
1:08:39
Kurt Dahl: We can have a phone call, get to know each other, whatever.
1:08:41
Kurt Dahl: So when the time comes and something's like urgent, you can just pick up the phone and call me.
1:08:46
Kurt Dahl: And I mean, yeah, in general, I think if you're, if you're co writing songs with someone, you could use a co writer agreement probably if you're featured on a recording, like you're a vocalist or a whatever session player, it might be worthwhile to see what kind of, you know, rights you have to revenues and that sort of stuff.
1:09:02
Kurt Dahl: So, I think if you're, if you're watching this and you've got questions and think maybe Kurt could help just shoot me an email or message
1:09:08
Glen Erickson: Yeah,
1:09:09
Kurt Dahl: and
1:09:09
Glen Erickson: for sure.
1:09:10
Kurt Dahl: a call.
1:09:10
Kurt Dahl: You
1:09:12
Glen Erickson: What would a band agreement cost?
1:09:14
Glen Erickson: Cause I think this is a killer for everybody who ends up in a band that they don't get a band agreement.
1:09:21
Glen Erickson: And, uh, I think it's crucial, like they should have it at the start, right.
1:09:26
Glen Erickson: And everybody doesn't think about talking to a lawyer until later, but they need a band agreement and they trust the ones they get off the internet somewhere.
1:09:33
Glen Erickson: Or should they.
1:09:35
Glen Erickson: Should they make that a point?
1:09:36
Glen Erickson: Always.
1:09:37
Kurt Dahl: I mean, I honestly say that the stuff you get on the internet, especially now because you can, you can draft contracts with AI, but the thing is like what you're paying a good lawyer for is their experience in the industry.
1:09:50
Kurt Dahl: So which AI, I mean, it just doesn't have, I mean the life experience that I have.
1:09:55
Kurt Dahl: Right.
1:09:55
Kurt Dahl: So, Every band agreement's different.
1:09:57
Kurt Dahl: It really, you want someone who's going to draft something that's tailored to your band, you know, cause you can be rolling stones or Pearl jam would have different band agreements, right?
1:10:07
Kurt Dahl: Like the stones.
1:10:07
Kurt Dahl: It's like two people are kind of running, steering the ship Pearl jam.
1:10:10
Kurt Dahl: It's more all of them, whatever.
1:10:12
Kurt Dahl: Right.
1:10:13
Kurt Dahl: So.
1:10:15
Kurt Dahl: Every band is different.
1:10:15
Kurt Dahl: Every band agreement's different.
1:10:17
Kurt Dahl: As far as cost.
1:10:18
Kurt Dahl: I mean, I, I always say like, I need to find out what's the nature of the band and what's involved.
1:10:23
Kurt Dahl: So, but that's where I have a phone call for free and then I can send you a quote.
1:10:27
Kurt Dahl: You know what I mean?
1:10:28
Glen Erickson: That's brilliant.
1:10:29
Glen Erickson: I did apply you for some free legal advice anyhow, so I apologize.
1:10:33
Glen Erickson: I lied, but, but I, I appreciate you giving those tips and that advice to people.
1:10:37
Glen Erickson: I think it's really important, but, uh, most of all, I just appreciate.
1:10:41
Glen Erickson: you Kurt taking the time to kind of unpack your life a little bit for us and, and get a peek in, I think your career is super interesting and probably a million things we could have talked about and, and had so many things to learn from.
1:10:56
Glen Erickson: So, thank you for taking the time with me and spending the time as well as the, the work you do in the community.
1:11:02
Glen Erickson: And I continue to wish you great success.
1:11:06
Kurt Dahl: Thank you.
1:11:06
Kurt Dahl: Glen it was a great, a great discussion, man.
1:11:08
Kurt Dahl: Appreciate it.
1:11:09
Glen Erickson: Thanks Kurt.
1:11:09
Glen Erickson: Bye bye.
1:11:18
Glen Erickson: Hi Lexi.
1:11:20
Glen Erickson: okay, so we're gonna, talk about episode six,
1:11:24
alexi: yes.
1:11:25
Glen Erickson: dah, uh, lawyer drummer.
1:11:28
Glen Erickson: Lawyer, drummer, which, he, he dove into a little bit, which was kind of interesting.
1:11:34
Glen Erickson: It's a little take on it, but, um, yeah.
1:11:37
Glen Erickson: Kurt Dahl, this is the first, so we're at number six, right?
1:11:43
Glen Erickson: This is the first time I've talked to somebody that I didn't already have history with.
1:11:49
alexi: True.
1:11:49
alexi: Yeah, I was gonna mention it was the first person who I didn't have, not a personal connection with, but I hadn't, like I.
1:11:57
alexi: Heard of him as much as everyone else, nor had I like obviously met him or had any relationship or ties to.
1:12:05
Glen Erickson: yeah.
1:12:06
Glen Erickson: I mean, if you kind of go through that all, you're right.
1:12:08
Glen Erickson: Like a few people, you've probably heard their name.
1:12:11
Glen Erickson: I mentioned a lot in different ways, uh, and some of them having a bunch of history with, and other people just, uh, act more actively having done things, with or even I guess met, in that case.
1:12:24
Glen Erickson: But yeah, so this was, I was really looking forward to it for that reason and I think it was pretty a great opportunity.
1:12:30
Glen Erickson: I'm really happy.
1:12:32
Glen Erickson: and it, and it's so funny'cause I have those.
1:12:35
Glen Erickson: Uh, I wouldn't call them apprehensions, but I, I had, I don't know, you know what I mean?
1:12:40
Glen Erickson: Like, the whole thing in my head like, this is gonna be different.
1:12:42
Glen Erickson: The other ones were easy and I sort of, I, I kind of served myself up a softball with the first handful, uh, of podcasts, which you probably should do.
1:12:52
Glen Erickson: I mean, I think that's, I should do to get things started.
1:12:55
Glen Erickson: And then this one's like, okay, this is where I'm actually, you know what I'm saying?
1:12:59
Glen Erickson: So.
1:13:01
Glen Erickson: He, again, just like all the others, he was extremely kind and generous and, uh, very transparent and open in talking, and made it really, really easy for me.
1:13:11
Glen Erickson: And I really appreciated, uh, all of that about the conversation for sure.
1:13:16
Glen Erickson: I, Did you, um, you know what we didn't get into about.
1:13:20
Glen Erickson: with him that I wanted to, uh, you probably picked up on at the end is like, I really thought, okay, we'll talk about his history and we'll do a segment just sort of laying the groundwork of how he got to be, who he is and where he is and, and the things that came with that.
1:13:36
Glen Erickson: And then I thought, I'm gonna spend a good chunk of time on those, uh, 14 things that he had posted in his social media.
1:13:43
Glen Erickson: At the end, um, that were like a, you know, a pretty accurate like, music industry summary from his perspective.
1:13:52
Glen Erickson: Um, and I thought that it would dovetail into the fact that I could ask him a bunch of questions from the legal angle of the music industry that I thought maybe a lot people would wanna know or would expect me to try to like hammer out some free legal advice from him.
1:14:06
Glen Erickson: But, uh, we ended up talking so long of on.
1:14:11
Glen Erickson: Just his career development and all the things that we left ourselves no time for, for that at the end, which is a little unfortunate.
1:14:20
Glen Erickson: There was a lot there we could have gone, you know?
1:14:23
Glen Erickson: Yeah.
1:14:24
Glen Erickson: But, um, the biggest one, and I was gonna say, I can't remember actually off the top of my head right now, if.
1:14:33
Glen Erickson: We got into it, but, um, he said half the people in the music, amazing, intelligent, talented, thoughtful, generous, kind people in the world.
1:14:42
Glen Erickson: The other half are snakes.
1:14:44
Glen Erickson: Um, I'm lucky to work exclusively with the former.
1:14:47
Glen Erickson: So that was from his posts, which I thought was pretty, I don't know.
1:14:52
Glen Erickson: It is like, it's pretty bold and brave because I think a lot of even want to make a sniff of calling people up.
1:15:01
alexi: snakes.
1:15:02
alexi: Yeah.
1:15:03
alexi: I mean though, like, I mean obviously he didn't delve into it, but, he, he was mentioning like, well, no, he was mentioning though, like, um, a number of times during the episode, like not falling into the wrong like, uh, studios and like producers and people who sign you and like.
1:15:22
alexi: I don't know.
1:15:23
alexi: I feel like the general theme along that topic was like you can sign with some pretty bad people and like end up working in pretty bad situations because of people, which I mean kind of alludes to that, to that point he makes.
1:15:37
Glen Erickson: Yeah, and I mean, you can tell me what you think from your perspective and sort of the amount of time that you've spent in your life so far.
1:15:45
Glen Erickson: Paying attention to, I guess, the perception that the music industry kind of creates, like the mainstream music industry, primarily a hollywoodish version of music of, you know.
1:16:00
Glen Erickson: Of this story of, yeah, there's like these awful record companies who want to take advantage, and then the artist is always the person who is maybe the hero of the story who just wants to do the right thing and maybe gets taken advantage.
1:16:13
Glen Erickson: Like that's an old story that I don't know whether you that still gets spun or if it looks different.
1:16:19
alexi: I mean, I also think though, like you gotta take into account that like you are my dad.
1:16:25
alexi: Like, I think I hear a lot more insight I mean, if anything, more the wonderful good parts than like the horror stories.
1:16:33
alexi: But not to say that I don't also, you know, kind of get to hear about that side.
1:16:39
Glen Erickson: There's a little bias in your interpretation now.
1:16:42
Glen Erickson: So you, you I've, I've sort of tainted any ability for you to have a completely clear perception.
1:16:50
alexi: take.
1:16:50
alexi: Yeah.
1:16:51
alexi: I mean, like, maybe, I think
1:16:52
Glen Erickson: That's a good point.
1:16:53
Glen Erickson: I.
1:16:53
alexi: you just described is like kind of that the, the, the age old story of like how the music industry is portrayed.
1:16:59
alexi: Like, I mean that's kind of accurate, like of how I see it in a sense.
1:17:04
alexi: I mean, you see it on social media too,
1:17:07
Glen Erickson: Yeah, I think sometimes people in this day and age.
1:17:11
Glen Erickson: I hate, I can't believe I use that phrase in this day and age.
1:17:14
Glen Erickson: Like if there's anything that tells anybody what, how old you think you are.
1:17:19
Glen Erickson: Uh, it's when you use a phrase in this day and age, I think that when I look around currently, because there's been obviously so many changes in the music industry, but it's different the way you look at it when you've been in the industry.
1:17:34
Glen Erickson: I guess it's just that abil, that inability to have.
1:17:37
Glen Erickson: well for myself to have, uh, uh, an unbiased version of it anymore.
1:17:43
Glen Erickson: And you're sort of suggesting that by, uh, adjacency, by proximity, you're not completely clear of having an unbiased or,
1:17:53
alexi: Yeah.
1:17:53
Glen Erickson: or perception of it either.
1:17:55
Glen Erickson: But I do think that for people right now who are looking around, um.
1:18:02
Glen Erickson: I guess my assumption is that it's a different story because I know how much has changed in the business, but I guess what's interesting, yeah, the breakthroughs are similar and different, so I think a lot of people feel like they're different or how it happens.
1:18:19
Glen Erickson: So it used to happen that somebody had to discover you, right?
1:18:24
Glen Erickson: And the person who discovered you had to have the backing.
1:18:28
Glen Erickson: Of a company usually big enough and with enough resources to actually make something happen for you.
1:18:34
Glen Erickson: And that's what it meant to be discovered.
1:18:37
Glen Erickson: And the decentralization of that is that right now, and I, and that's kind of a joke, which it currently, which is being discovered, is you finding a way to go viral on some form of social media, right?
1:18:53
Glen Erickson: So you.
1:18:55
alexi: Like the rules have reversed.
1:18:56
Glen Erickson: Yeah, but the whole thing is actually the same.
1:18:59
Glen Erickson: Like you are looking for a quick method to get fast exposure to millions instead of hundreds of people.
1:19:07
Glen Erickson: You wanna make that big of a jump, and it used to have to be through a gatekeeper.
1:19:12
Glen Erickson: And now it's almost exclusively.
1:19:15
Glen Erickson: Through these quote unquote organic means.
1:19:18
Glen Erickson: Yeah.
1:19:19
Glen Erickson: But, but so, but the point he's making is actually the same, right?
1:19:23
Glen Erickson: Because before the snakes were those gatekeepers who abused that privilege and took advantage of people, versus the ones who were gatekeepers, who actually.
1:19:38
Glen Erickson: Created beautiful careers for people and gave people opportunities when they saw it really deserved it.
1:19:43
Glen Erickson: But we always focus on the snakes.
1:19:46
Glen Erickson: So, yeah.
1:19:47
Glen Erickson: But, and now, you know, in the same way though, there's still a thing where the snakes of the world are the ones who are sitting there being like, I can make you go viral.
1:19:59
Glen Erickson: I can, you know what I mean?
1:20:01
Glen Erickson: Like, I, I can do all the, anyhow, all the same.
1:20:04
Glen Erickson: It's a different version of a snake who's playing the exact same game, who's saying, I can get you to millions of people and they don't actually have your best interest in mind.
1:20:14
Glen Erickson: And so being careful of those, I think that was the interesting point to me is like, it feels like everything's changed, but it's really the same.
1:20:24
Glen Erickson: It's still, still, it's still the same thing going on.
1:20:28
Glen Erickson: Uh, I mean, real quick, just'cause I like to tell stories, it makes me think of.
1:20:34
Glen Erickson: a story, and I don't remember how much I ever told you about this, but one of the biggest opportunities that ever came to fruition in my life in the music industry that I really wanted to happened.
1:20:45
Glen Erickson: Uh, a couple of, I'm gonna say a couple, maybe a year before Covid.
1:20:49
Glen Erickson: 'cause nobody remembers how much time is anymore.
1:20:53
alexi: Yeah.
1:20:54
Glen Erickson: pandemic.
1:20:55
Glen Erickson: But I think it was maybe only a year.
1:20:58
Glen Erickson: Did I ever tell you about how I got introduced to that?
1:21:00
Glen Erickson: Billionaire in Edmonton here, and his daughter is an aspiring musician in the city, uh, who I knew of.
1:21:09
Glen Erickson: And then through another friend who he had contacted because he was looking for a way, he, he just thought like he had been exposed to the snakes.
1:21:20
Glen Erickson: Right.
1:21:20
Glen Erickson: So his daughter had been sort of contacted and, and sort of.
1:21:26
Glen Erickson: I know you used the term, but I don't like it.
1:21:28
Glen Erickson: Wooed to come out to Toronto and record some demos with some DJs and producers, which is kind of the way certain aspects of the industry work that way.
1:21:38
Glen Erickson: It's like, come out here, we'll we'll do some recordings and then I'll see what I can do with those and then maybe we'll end up working together.
1:21:44
Glen Erickson: And once she went out and once and, and her dad thankfully.
1:21:49
Glen Erickson: Great guy.
1:21:50
Glen Erickson: Was involved, right?
1:21:51
Glen Erickson: And he asked questions and he got involved and and was able to sort of sniff out less than trustworthy people who the deal was never gonna be in her favor if things worked out.
1:22:04
Glen Erickson: And you know, obviously as a astute business guy, he was very much bothered and he was like, and so his concern was there's snakes.
1:22:15
Glen Erickson: And so a lot of these.
1:22:17
Glen Erickson: As he would put it, kids, they need a break.
1:22:20
Glen Erickson: You know?
1:22:20
Glen Erickson: They need to be able to not have to go.
1:22:23
Glen Erickson: Uh, we've alluded to it in a couple of these episodes about skipping some steps on the ladder and, and he wanted, well, his big idea, I guess, was to create like a local version of like an American Idol slash local TV show contest.
1:22:40
Glen Erickson: So it would almost be like you'd get a partnership with local.
1:22:44
Glen Erickson: Tv, like Telus or something, and then we would have people competing for votes from the local audience and, and sort of contest it up.
1:22:53
Glen Erickson: And anyhow, and I was pitching a development program to'em instead.
1:22:58
Glen Erickson: I was like, I don't think that really works.
1:22:59
Glen Erickson: But I had all that experience with the development programs at Peak and the project wilds and stuff.
1:23:05
Glen Erickson: So.
1:23:06
Glen Erickson: so that was probably one of the most interesting times in my life.
1:23:09
Glen Erickson: All the meetings with him, he is a wonderful guy.
1:23:11
Glen Erickson: Um, it didn't turn out maybe also one of my bigger disappointments'cause I thought it would've been awesome and I would've loved to run all of that and run with it.
1:23:21
Glen Erickson: But, it was a cool relationship and it was all based on his exposure to the typical six in the industry.
1:23:28
Glen Erickson: But yeah.
1:23:29
Glen Erickson: yeah, but Kurt was a great, Kurt was a great guy.
1:23:32
Glen Erickson: He had all kinds of cool things to say and I could tell like, he does a number of these and he gets asked a lot of the similar questions.
1:23:39
Glen Erickson: I tried to avoid all the same questions he would normally get, but I, he's also a guy I could tell, I could talk to for easily another hour about all kinds of things, and he would have so much to say and so many stories and, and stuff.
1:23:53
Glen Erickson: So I appreciated that a lot.
1:23:55
Glen Erickson: so real quick, uh, I would, I need you to remind me again of the artist you played me this morning, and I've asked you twice.
1:24:03
Glen Erickson: You played me a song and you said you just had it shared to you and you shared it to me, and that's my favorite thing.
1:24:09
Glen Erickson: This goes.
1:24:09
Glen Erickson: So I want you to tell me again.
1:24:11
Glen Erickson: So now we're sharing it with everybody else.
1:24:14
alexi: So is like, it's okay.
1:24:15
alexi: 'cause I put this on my Instagram story, so I can't even say I've been gate keeping it.
1:24:19
Glen Erickson: Oh yeah.
1:24:20
alexi: so it's true.
1:24:20
alexi: I put it on my Instagram story with a photo, but, was Sick Dogs, but the artist was, Hey, comma, nothing.
1:24:31
alexi: Um, and.
1:24:32
alexi: I keep mentioning this on the podcast of like the songs that I repeat and I swear I don't even do it that often, but it keeps coming up.
1:24:40
alexi: But I, but here we are.
1:24:43
alexi: Apparently I'm discovering that I do it more often than I think.
1:24:46
alexi: but yeah, I had it sent to me by, my partner and then I was like, this is like such a great song.
1:24:53
alexi: Kind of like threw it on a playlist.
1:24:55
alexi: Um, forgot about it.
1:24:57
alexi: For maybe a few months, and then rediscovered it and was like, this is the song that fits like my timeline.
1:25:04
alexi: Like right now.
1:25:06
alexi: Kind of feeling
1:25:07
Glen Erickson: Hmm.
1:25:08
alexi: just click and you're like, this feels like very, like right now.
1:25:12
alexi: Maybe that's just me.
1:25:13
Glen Erickson: Well, I, I don't know I've ever thought about it that way, but I get what you're saying.
1:25:17
alexi: Sometimes I hear songs and I'm like, yeah, this is like a great song representation of like how I feel about like.
1:25:25
alexi: The point in my timeline I'm in right now in my life, like it just clicks in my head and I'm like, yeah.
1:25:30
Glen Erickson: Sense.
1:25:31
Glen Erickson: I don't know if I've thought that thematically of a song for a while, but I know like, just like musically or tonally, it literally just felt like, like it was, I guess I use the term soundtrack because soundtracks are more about how a song makes you feel while a scene is happening.
1:25:52
Glen Erickson: And I definitely feel like there's soundtrack songs in my life, like, definitely that.
1:25:58
Glen Erickson: People watching by Sam Fender in the fall.
1:26:03
Glen Erickson: Uh, late fall was that for me.
1:26:05
Glen Erickson: And, uh, I mean, his full album just came out this week too, by the way, and I, and really enjoying it.
1:26:11
Glen Erickson: But yeah, that was a, that was a soundtrack song for me.
1:26:15
Glen Erickson: And then there's other ones where I've never even gotten into like the whole album or their whole discography.
1:26:21
Glen Erickson: Right.
1:26:22
Glen Erickson: Um.
1:26:23
Glen Erickson: There's one, oh dude, I forgot the name.
1:26:26
Glen Erickson: How could I forget the name right off the bat of the band?
1:26:28
Glen Erickson: shoot.
1:26:28
Glen Erickson: I'm gonna have to like, come up with,
1:26:31
alexi: hop
1:26:31
Glen Erickson: oh, I know.
1:26:32
Glen Erickson: It's really crazy, but it's a song.
1:26:34
Glen Erickson: Uh, I'm pretty sure it's called California, but I'm gonna like dig it up here.
1:26:37
Glen Erickson: But it's definitely like a soundtrack song for me.
1:26:41
Glen Erickson: So I don't know, like, I think it's cool if you found in another song that you're playing over and over again.
1:26:47
Glen Erickson: I think lots of people have.
1:26:49
Glen Erickson: Soundtrack songs and can totally like, totally relate to that.
1:26:54
alexi: yeah.
1:26:55
alexi: And it's not the lyrics either.
1:26:56
alexi: Like it's just Yeah, it's definitely that feeling like, also I put it on my story, with a picture from a night out with a lot of people and two others from that night out used the same song in their stories
1:27:11
Glen Erickson: Oh,
1:27:11
alexi: too.
1:27:11
Glen Erickson: you
1:27:12
alexi: And I
1:27:13
Glen Erickson: such an.
1:27:13
alexi: no, this isn't me flexing that I put people on.
1:27:16
alexi: This is, I was just like, yeah, like it's just such a like right now song.
1:27:19
Glen Erickson: That's great.
1:27:20
alexi: fit the energy of the night.
1:27:21
alexi: So I was like, that was
1:27:22
Glen Erickson: Yeah.
1:27:23
alexi: Fun.
1:27:24
alexi: Find
1:27:25
Glen Erickson: The song is called California.
1:27:26
Glen Erickson: I Was right.
1:27:27
Glen Erickson: It's by Delta Spirit and it like, um, when I made my workouts playlist,
1:27:34
alexi: yes.
1:27:35
Glen Erickson: quite a while ago, I.
1:27:36
Glen Erickson: That was like a song that as soon as I heard it, I'm like, how did I not hear this before?
1:27:41
Glen Erickson: Because you know, you look it up and you're like, oh, it was released like two years ago previous, or something like that.
1:27:46
Glen Erickson: And I'm like, how did I miss it?
1:27:48
Glen Erickson: How disappointing.
1:27:49
Glen Erickson: But then it becomes, in that moment, it becomes everything about your life.
1:27:54
Glen Erickson: So I totally get what you're saying.
1:27:56
Glen Erickson: Yeah.
1:27:57
alexi: It.
1:27:58
Glen Erickson: Yeah.
1:27:59
Glen Erickson: I totally get it, Lex.
1:28:00
Glen Erickson: Um, okay.
1:28:03
Glen Erickson: Okay, well then I'm gonna go and try to remember, Hey, comma shoot, dude, what is my problem today?
1:28:11
alexi: it.
1:28:12
Glen Erickson: Everyone?
1:28:13
Glen Erickson: Hey everyone.
1:28:15
Glen Erickson: It's not, Hey comma, everyone.
1:28:17
alexi: No.
1:28:18
Glen Erickson: Hey.
1:28:18
Glen Erickson: Hey, comma, dude.
1:28:20
Glen Erickson: Hey comma.
1:28:22
Glen Erickson: Uh, I'm not gonna get it.
1:28:24
Glen Erickson: I.
1:28:26
Glen Erickson: Hey, comma.
1:28:27
Glen Erickson: Oh, that makes, oh, that seems so on the nose, actually, when I think about it, but, okay.
1:28:32
Glen Erickson: I'm not gonna write it down because that would make me even older than I am.
1:28:36
Glen Erickson: So I'm gonna go and add it to a list here.
1:28:39
Glen Erickson: I'm gonna add it to our playlist here.
1:28:40
Glen Erickson: What am I talking about?
1:28:41
Glen Erickson: I'm gonna add it to our almost famous enough playlist on Spotify, and it'll be there.
1:28:47
Glen Erickson: And then if other people want to hear it.
1:28:50
Glen Erickson: They don't have to re-listen to the podcast, like I'm gonna have to probably to remember the name.
1:28:55
Glen Erickson: Just kidding.
1:28:56
Glen Erickson: Okay.
1:28:56
Glen Erickson: Thanks for your time.
1:28:58
Glen Erickson: Appreciate it.
1:28:59
alexi: Okay.
1:28:59
alexi: Love you.
1:29:00
alexi: Bye.
1:29:00
Glen Erickson: love you.
1:29:01
Glen Erickson: Bye.