Young singer-songwriter Callie Deacon shared her exceptional songwriting talent, impressing the guys with her ability to spin familiar phrases and ideas into original ones. Callie takes strong cues from Taylor Swift and Shawn Mendes. We talked about: why writing on the guitar is more fun than the piano (please note: this is the sole opinion of …
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Holiday Special 2015
For our third holiday special, it was the Song Talk Radio family only – Bruce, Neel, Phil, Janice and Etain (on tech). Phil shared some interesting holiday song trivia and a Christmas jingle from his old punk-pop band, The Parkdale Hookers. Bruce shared a childhood memory of the holiday season with the Beatles, and Neel shared a quirky …
Mark Martyre writes melodic word pictures
Mark Martyre is a Canadian writer and musician. His prolific song writing has produced 3 full-length studio albums since 2012: Down, Record (2012), London (2013), and Red Letters (2014), as well as several live records, and bootlegs. His music and lyrics have garnered critical acclaim and attention both nationally and internationally. Mark is currently working …
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How to write songs for other artists with Braeden Mitchell
The always brilliant Braeden Mitchell returns to Song Talk Radio to talk about co-writing, writing songs for other artists and getting back into the songwriting groove after taking a bit of a break. Some stuff we talked about: How to write songs for other artists SAC Songwriters Challenge Keeping a list of song titles place the strongest …
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Neel Modi and Sonja Seiler show us creative collaboration and more
Neel Modi is a multi-talented songwriter, drummer and keyboardist with an eclectic collection of recordings from the quirky to the imaginative. On this show, he presented “Depend on Me” – based on a challenge to write a song about a car accident from the brake pad’s point of view – it’s a “brake-up” song ;-), and …
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Gary Duke: Pushing yourself to try new approaches
Drummer, App writer, UX designer, guitarist and songwriter Gary Duke returns to our show (he was one of our first way back when!) and talked about exploring micro-tunings and pushing himself to try new approaches to songwriting. Gary on Facebook VIZIKLIK: visual metronome Gary’s Lyrics Good Luck, Baby I feel the walls are closin’ …
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Get loaded on songwriting ammo with One in the Chamber
One in the Chamber (Mike Baise – vocals, rhythm guitar, Cecil Eugene – lead guitar, vocals, Christian Dotto – bass, Gerrod Harris – percussion) join us to discuss their songwriting process as a band. We talked about: bringing a song to the band to be fleshed out singing lead vocals with lyrics written by a bandmate …
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It’s the 2nd Anniversary Show !!
We celebrate our 2nd Anniversary with quizzes, cake and a couple of tunes from guitarist extraordinaire Gary Woods. We even had noise-makers so you know it’s serious stuff!
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Jenny Ritter brings a little Victoria to TDot
Jenny Ritter and her very cool guitarist Tyler Belluz entertained us with a rich variety of tunes all beautifully sung. She started writing in her early 20’s. Her first band – The Gruff – played for 10 years. Jenny currently leads two rock choirs in Victoria, BC. A History of Happiness was written in crisis. …
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Songwriting Apps Review: Rhyme Genie, TuneSmith & Chordmate
In our first Apps Review Show, we take a look at Idolumic’s Rhyme Genie and Harmonic Sense’s Chordmate Apps. First up was Idolumic’s Rhyme Genie a fully cross platform (PC, Mac & iOS) program that boasts over 330,000 rhymes and more rhyme types than you’ve ever heard of. The desktop versions are brilliant and much better than any online rhyme …
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Eric Sorenson, Finding his Directions Home
Singer-songwriter and occasional co-host of Song Talk Radio, Eric Sorenson, returned to the show to showcase tunes from his upcoming EP, Directions Home, and a crowd-pleaser from his live shows. Eric was joined by his bandmates Liz Jaremyn and Andrew Ages. Stuff we talked about: International Songwriting Competition (deadline extended to November 5) IMSTA Festa Event – …
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Natural Progressions with Erin Ford
Erin Ford graced the Song Talk Radio studio to play some tunes from the upcoming release of her CD Natural Progression, a project 8 years in the making. We also chatted about: how her 10-piece band brings a collaborative element to her music seriously cool chord changes the use of vivid imagery in lyric writing …
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Just Love with Christine Gaidies
With her unique voice, inventive phrasing, and heart-centred lyrics, Christine Gaidies filled our little studio with music and conversation about “love and life”. From endings (My Hear is in the West) to sexy middles (Love 101) and the frustrations of searching for love (All I Ever Really Wanted).her songs weave a spell. Listen to the sweet …
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Exploring the art-rock strangeness that could only be Frank Horvat
Frank dropped by Song Talk Radio again, this time with songs from his recent release, Strange Machine. We talked about: using wikiloops for free backing tracks unconventional time signatures, and unusual uses of 4/4 the differences between art songs and pop songs a modern twist on the protest song Frank’s experimental writing process using Logic Listen to …
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Exploring Dynamics and the Unexpected with David Dino White
Incredible guitarist and singer / songwriter David Dino White stopped by and played us some songs with original approaches to lyrics, melody and song structure. Kinda of a Violent Femms vibe. Some stuff we talked about BandCamp.com Producer Ben Leggett Power Tab Software: sending tabs to a band before practice to speed up the process …
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He sang us good songs, he’s the piano man – Jeff Alan Greenway
Jeff Alan Greenway, backed by Cheryl Beatty on guitar and vocals, rocked our little studio with some powerful piano chops and heartfelt sounds. With a background in piano, jazz improvisation, cover and original bands, Jeff draws on his relationships to inspire his song writing. Whether it’s a call for closeness (Open These Doors), an on-again, off-again affair …
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Two guitars, 20 harmonicas, harmonies and beat boxing with Taylor & Bryn
The uber-talented duo of Talyor & Bryn impress the team with their fusion of styles and great sense of humour with 3 live performances, including an improvised lyric and melody by Taylor for their final song. We discussed: Taylor’s songwriting workshop Bryn’s harmonica workshop The IMSTA Songwriting Contest lyric progressions the effectiveness of stops in …
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Getting inspiration from life & classical music: Kaleb Hikele
The very talented Kaleb Hikele stopped by during his tour and played some great tunes, even one written for a wedding. Some stuff we talked about: theSunHarmonic.com working on pushing your limits playing for weddings strategies for lyric writing passing chords
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Country re-defined with Michael Cooper
Michael Cooper, raised in Stony Plain, Alberta, now living in Toronto, calls his music “country re-defined” and we agree. He’s been writing heart-felt tunes for over 20 years! His goal is to make the mundane extra-ordinary. His influences include Hank Snow.
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Songwriting with “Puppets Who Kill” creator John Pattison
Script writer, puppeteer and occasional singer-songwriter John Pattison joined us, without puppets, to perform and talk about three of his songs. Together we discussed: the difference between abstract and narrative songs John’s journey from script writer to song writer How John wrote a song in the men’s room at Massey Hall after a Paul Simon …
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Tony Burns on using double entendres in your songwriting
Singer-songwriter Tony Burns shares his fun but sensuous, blues-inspired tunes and talks about taking part in various singing communities. Other great topics in this show include: Double entendres Toronto Song Circle “Painting a picture” in songwriting Twitter: @yontburns Soundcloud: https://soundcloud.com/tonyburnsca Listen to the full Episode:
Super girl with a heart of armor – Jules
Singer songwriter Jules delivers three powerful tunes live in the studio. She’s just 14 and yet is well on her way along the road as a professional. Jules has been writing songs since she was 10. Some stuff we talked about: Robyn Dell’Unto her songwriting coach Karen Kosowski Her new EP Heart of Armor The benefits …
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Janice Ho
She not only tweets for Songtalk Radio, she’s an awesome singer/songwriter too! Have a listen to three of her sensitively written and beautifully performed songs. We talked about: chord substitution music or lyrics first? melody and lyric connections gambling addiction vocal collaborations “your heart’s a ghost town”
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Using real places in your lyrics to create real emotions with Dave Taylor
Singer songwriter Davie Taylor talks about starting later on in life and discovering that making music is what he’d rather be doing. Some stuff we talked about Producer Kevin Zarnett lyrics in the present tense will engage the listener and create more drama. Pre chorus variations Wheelhouse 4