Just stop gentlemen, you are too adorable. Theses guys have that sunshiney West Coast feel, which is weird in Canada because... like... the west coast is notoriously rainy and gets the least amount of sun of almost anyplace else in this country. But BC must be doing something right because they keep turning out consistently talented musicians and this band appears to have nabbed MOST of them at once.&nbsp; Daniel McBurnie, Graham Gomez, Alexa Unwin, Robert Hardie, Alex Hauka, Greg McLeod, Will Watson are Good For Grapes and their sound just plain good for you.&nbsp; www.goodforgrapes.com Their current album The Ropes is available on Soundcloud, Bandcamp, Spotify and ITunes, so go check it out - and tweet at me #GoodforGrapesLOVE when you do.&nbsp; All the best, see you next week. Paula

EP 54: Good for Grapes

A geek, a hot mess, and a goldfish named Duck. The new web series “You Again” follows the toxic &amp; hilarious relationship between recent exes, but now roommates, Audra (Andrea Kile Peterson) and Zander (Zachari Michael Reynolds). Yep, this junk just got real. Real real. Audra, is a dark alluring hot mess, free spirited &amp; attractive, but what would a character be without baggage? She can’t hold a job, or a relationship &amp; has questionable food cravings. Zander is a gaming geek, with boy-next-door good looks, who’d rather spend his evenings showcasing his avatar manliness via virtual sword play, but unfortunately he fails to conquer the real world as triumphantly. Now they have joint custody of a helpless goldfish. https://www.facebook.com/youagainwebseries/ https://www.indiegogo.com/projects/you-again-web-series#/ -- &nbsp; Support the Tell Me Stories Podcast &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp;

Episode 25: You Again Web Series Podcast

Well I stacked the deck here babies! You're gonna hear new music from a band called Stella Ella Ola who are so much fun its not fair to other bands, except Busty and the Bass are super damned fun too on stage. They weren't as much fun off stage so I had to cut the balls off my interview w/ Busty. Sorry about that guys, but I'm not going to air crap, and that's literally all it was. I loved the interview with Stella's crew and Kardinal Official is so busy and talented I've never felt so lazy! But it was awesome to get to sit down with them all, even Busty's crew (save one asshat) because they all had stories to tell and were willing to share. That's all I ask. I keep the format simple, I make every effort possible to make people comfortable and allow them an "out" when they need it, which you will hear. But respect my time and talent as I am respecting yours bitches, its a simple task literally every other musician I have ever encountered has been capable of - but this one guy. So focus on the positive - I am :) and I loved this year. I will do a retrospective as soon as I can on all that happened this year for TMS and I hope you will join me then! (okay, the dirt is below, read on you filthy animals if you want). www.stellaellaolaband.com www.kardinalofficial.com www.bustyandthebass.com &nbsp; I did my best to bite my tongue in the episode because there's no point in airing dirty laundry but here I will write whatever I damned well please and the lead singer of the band is an arrogant asshole. I've interviewed over 100 bands in the last year and a half alone, HUGE bands, brand spanking new bands and everything and everyone in between. This band draws a crowd but they mostly do cover songs (which is great when you are a garage band, step it up when you start booking shows please) and their albums were flat where originals were included. Possibly because they have 9 band members and Arcade Fire they are NOT. They covered Macy Gray and got on people's radar, added to this a great (truly great) live show and this band would convince you they are going places. That all came crashing down when I sat down to interview them, specifically the lead singer and actually ONLY him. Everyone else was a gentleman, respectful of my time and talent in what I do though it differs from what they do. This was the worst interview I've ever done. At one point the lead singer literally said "oh, this is just what we do to piss people off, we take over their podcasts and fuck around". It wasn't cute, it was rude and smacked so heavily of a mama's boy who's been too tightly coddled &nbsp;by a well meaning lady that he's now incapable of deciphering when he's being adorable and when he's being received as the prick he truly is. I'm not impressed and I have interviewed bands with a hell of a lot more talent and gratitude for the scene. That kid doesn't have it. He walked around like he was god's gift to the world and it was sickening. Mild talent and luck don't make you a rockstar babe. They never have. The rest of this band was lovely, talented and gave a shit about what they were doing there. This guy didn't. I don't recall a time I've been so put off by someone, this was truly a first for me and while I know I handled it well in the moment I had to have a bit of a pow-wow with my husband after to vent, it took all my might to keep said husband from running that little shit down and 'talking some mild sense' into him, old skool style. I don't condone violence and that would never have happened, clearly. But damn if I didn't fantasize about it for a moment or two when I listened back to this episode, having to edit and slice and dice it to kingdom come to make any of it work at all.&nbsp; My point is this: I am there for a reason, one I've worked for, just like every other band member, manager, organizer, bartender, everyone. I'm there because I'm talented and intelligent and caring about what I do and about what I put out in the world. I am not...

EP 59: Stella Ella Ola, Kardinal Official and Busty and the Bass

Sun K Official is a band to be reckoned with. At once rock with alt country tendencies they defy what it means to be a typical Canadian rock band - because they are anything but typical onstage and off. I sit down with Scott Tiller and Stuart Retallack of Sun K for stories on boots lost and found, confessions of a candy-aholic and basically everything in between.&nbsp; Describing their sound is easy - its damned good. Explaining why is harder. They are tight performers but come off as breezy in person; they are talented on next-level scales but each time I see them they speak to the audience like its their first humble show (its incredibly endearing and disarming in a way that almost shocks the audience when they have their sh*t together so well on stage). Sitting down with them for the first time they are polite, too polite to take a beer (thanks again Elora Brewing Company!) but manage to grab one a few jokes in. They settle into the interview and quickly begin to show their humour, friendship and honestly - who they really are. They are in it for the long haul and they intend to have a good time along the way. They take their music very seriously and so they should - they are sitting on a goldmine as evidenced by there, at the time of writing this, 107% overage of the PledgeMusic campaign they embarked on this year. People know this band is going places and want to be able to say to their music loving friends they helped get them there.&nbsp; They are travelling across Canada right now, sleeping in a van, eating from gas stations, writing as they go. It sounds a hard road to travel but that's what it is to be an Indie band in Canada right now - only with the addition of PledgeMusic and the ability for bands with real personality and creativity to FUND themselves into their dream jobs - we ebb ever closer to a day where every small town can host shows with bands as good as this, with sets this tights, with kids this talented. They are almost always from small towns themselves and getting to make money in this career, in this country used to be out of reach save a few major bands but its coming closer now. We are getting much closer now to something we can be proud of in a country with the least arts funding on the planet. In bands like Sun K I see a promise of this.&nbsp; In the meantime I'll be dancing my ever loving ass off at their shows big and small, knowing in some small way my being there is getting them closer to that goal, that world, that place where talent can be showcased without having to go stateside, where kids from small towns who sleep with their guitars under their beds can make a life of it - where we are all better off for getting to hear it.&nbsp; Thank you Sun K for a wonderful interview, for settling in and letting your hair down without taking your hats off. You guys were dolls.&nbsp; Sun K can be found at www.sunkofficial.com&nbsp;and you can download their album direct or find them on BandCamp, SoundCloud, ITunes and now on my show over at CFRU 93.3 FM because I can! Sun K: Kristian Montano, Stuart Retallack, Kevin Micheal Butler, Scott Tiller and Gil Paul www.tellmestoriespodcast.com :) &nbsp;

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