Here's part two of the two part series featuring Rik Emmett live at Black Bellows in Collingwood, hosted by NSTS. In this set, Rik takes us through some songs by Jimmy Webb and Brian Wilson (RIP) that he wishes he'd written, along with insights into how they were composed. We also go through some Triumph material and the stories behind those songs, and wrap up with a Q&A with the audience. This was an incredible evening, and Rik made it fun and memorable.
Jun 17, 2025•1 hr 16 min
As the host of No Sleep 'til Sudbury for the past eight years, I've been fortunate enough to enjoy some pretty gratifying experiences. This one ranks up there with all of them. Doing the show live in front of an audience was something I'd always wanted to do, and to do it alongside the legendary Rik Emmett just made it that much more unforgettable. Rik has always been one of my favourite guests, and as he always does, he made this night easy. I'm proud to call him a friend and I'm grateful for h...
May 14, 2025•48 min
Former Jitters frontman and songwriter extraordinaire Blair Packham drops by this week to talk about his brand new record The Impossible Dream, and he brought his guitar to do a couple of the album's songs for us. In addition to playing the tracks, Blair shares the stories behind the songs, which leads to some conversation around Canadian history, touring hijinks, and why he sometimes has to close his eyes while he performs.
Apr 01, 2025•51 min
Here’s part two of my hang with Rik Emmett, live from Eli’s Loft, to talk about his newest project Ten Telecaster Tales. As always, the conversation is rich, insightful and a lot of fun. Rik performs four tracks from the record that accompanies the book, for the very first time since they’d been recorded. In turn, he talks about performance as communion, from the smallest (this one for NSTS listeners) right up to Triumph’s US Festival appearance. He also shares great insights about the reggae in...
Mar 18, 2025•1 hr 7 min
He's back! The legendary Rik Emmett returns to No Sleep 'til Sudbury, or rather we return to his home studio, Eli's Loft, to discuss his new Ten Telecaster Tales project. It's always plenty of fun hanging out with Rik - the stories, the music, the insights, the voices he can do...in addition to talking about Ten Telecaster Tales, Rik and I go way off track and talk about his violin lessons, his way-too-tight pants days, little known Beatles facts, his three wedding rings, and lots more. Later th...
Mar 05, 2025•51 min
Executive chef and massive music fan Christian Pritchard drops by the No Sleep 'til Sudbury studios this week, armed with some great songs and stories. Christian, a Type II diabetic, discusses his plans to develop dishes geared more towards a healthier lifestyle, and also how much the No Sleep 'til Sudbury podcast sucks because he was only able to talk about five songs that make his skin vibrate (he was thus granted six).
Feb 18, 2025•32 min
It was my pleasure to host executive producer Stuart Coxe on the program this week. Stuart's credentials include producing CBC TV news program The National, developing the Dragons Den and Shark Tank TV programs, and working alongside Gord Downie on the Secret Path multimedia project. Stuart has since founded his own production company called Antica Productions, focusing on podcasts, television and film. He comes to the show bearing soundtracks to discuss, and his stories featuring his work with ...
Jan 30, 2025•35 min
It's that time once again, and this year I thought I'd combine music history and Christmas music to close out the 2024 No Sleep 'til Sudbury programming schedule. Christmas music actually evolved from Gregorian chanting to celebrate the winter solstice and the return of longer days, as far back as the 4th century. From there, a number of eras were responsible for the gradual development of the 'carol' onward through the centuries, and in this episode we touch on all of them. Merry Christmas ever...
Dec 16, 2024•14 min
CHUM-FM producer, Famous Lost Words podcast host and friend of the show Tom Jokic makes his return to NSTS this week with a brand new angle. Tom does a segment on his podcast called "When Rock Stars Attack", a hilarious take on snippy-ish musician interviews found in the CHUM-FM and MuchMusic archives. Today he graciously shares some of these clips with us, featuring Simple Minds singer Jim Kerr, Jann Arden, April Wine's Myles Goodwyn, and a Beatles skirmish involving George Harrison and Paul Mc...
Oct 25, 2024•46 min
Ah, the eternal question - of all of those truly great Beatles albums, which one is the best? In this special episode of No Sleep 'til Sudbury, we go through the discography of the one of the greatest musical groups of all time, and arguably, the band that started it all, to determine their best work. Which album is it? Press play and find out.
Sep 04, 2024•20 min
Jazz singer songwriter Lori Cullen calls into No Sleep 'til Sudbury this week to talk about The Thunder and The Bay, her new record dropping this Friday, June 7. Lori goes in a slightly new direction with this release, introducing elements of electronica and taking the material to new places - the songs are airy, colourful and dynamic. And with her selection of songs that make her skin vibrate, she completely stumps me - I'd never heard of any of them, a first for NSTS. But as always, it's all a...
Jun 04, 2024•24 min
We'd crossed paths previously over the years, but today Andy Kim sits down with NSTS for his first complete episode. The occasion is significant - on May 10, 2024 Andy's megahit "Rock Me Gently" turned 50. Andy shares the tremendous story of growing up in Montreal tenement housing and hearing "Be My Baby" for the first time, which compelled him to move to New York City and co-write smash hits like "Sugar Sugar". This gave way to him being handed his gold record for "Rock Me Gently" by John Lenno...
May 13, 2024•25 min
In the NSTS interview seat this month is Eye Eye and Bill Wood and the Woodies frontman Bill Wood, talking about the songs that have shaped him over the course of his life. In tandem with these songs, Bill shares some fascinating behind-the-scenes details of Eye Eye's success and navigating the pressures of their record company, his Steve Earle-inspired revelation, the early days on the road with The Oh Nos, and the many projects he currently has in the works, including a reunion project of sort...
Apr 16, 2024•57 min
Singer songwriter and friend of the show Stephen Stanley makes his long awaited return to NSTS this week, joining me live to chat about his excellent new record, Before The Collapse Of The Hive. The new record is a triumph - Stephen once again weaves vivid visual landscapes as an accomplished lyricist, but this time he goes further by fusing his familiar brand of rootsy Americana to new elements, resulting in a much different record than Jimmy & The Moon. We go through the songs together, an...
Mar 19, 2024•51 min
Friend of the show and vocal powerhouse Sandra Bouza drops by for a cup of coffee and a chat about her incredible new record, A Sound in the Dark. Sandra turns the tables and asks me to go through MY favourite tracks from the record, followed by an exclusive live performance of a brand new and very personal song she just wrote.
Feb 19, 2024•41 min
A few months ago filmmaker Sean Menard released his MuchMusic documentary entitled 299 Queen Street West, celebrating the history and cultural significance of what would come to be known as "The Nation's Music Station". I attended the premiere screening at Roy Thomson Hall in downtown Toronto, spoke to Rick Campanelli, Denise Donlon, Ed the Sock, Sook-Yin Lee, Bill Welychka, and other Much alum as they walked the red carpet, and offer my personal thoughts on the film here....
Jan 16, 2024•16 min
In the last episode of 2023, No Sleep 'til Sudbury welcomes legendary pro football running back Michael 'Pinball' Clemons, a man who's equally celebrated for both his athletic achievements and his neverending kindness and generosity. Pinball and I discuss the accomplishments of his charitable foundation and the upcoming "Christmas with the Clemons" gala, a fundraiser in service of marginalized youth. We also find out what Christmas songs can be heard in the Clemons house over the holidays....
Nov 30, 2023•16 min
This week on No Sleep ‘til Sudbury I’m joined by writer, musician, and fellow Sudbury kid Sean Barrette. Sean has written a book entitled Heartstrings – First Guitars, and it’s a very interesting project involving some notable guitar players and the stories they share with Sean about their very first guitars. Of course, we also talk about the songs that make Sean's skin vibrate, as well as the ever-compelling Friday night pizza playlists he puts together using his old iPod.
Nov 14, 2023•46 min
Welcome to part two of my latest NSTS chat with the very talented and always entertaining Rik Emmett, live from his home. Last week we talked about his new book entitled Lay It On The Line, and this week we discuss some of the other stuff he’s been working on - including reworked versions of some old Triumph classics and a new project called Ten Telecaster Tales. And guess what? Rik was kind enough to give us our own exclusive little taste of some of these songs.
Oct 23, 2023•43 min
He's back! Rik Emmett's new book, Lay It On The Line, is the focus of our latest chat live from the newly renovated music room of Rik's home. As usual, the discussion is funny, insightful and highly entertaining - not unlike his new book. In part one of our two-part conversation, the insights are particularly interesting. Rik sheds light on his motivations behind writing songs like "Fight The Good Fight", "Magic Power", and "Hold On", how a Triumph album cover tried to capture a Beatles motif (b...
Oct 16, 2023•57 min
I have no idea how this happened, but my pal Famous Lost Words host Tom Jokic and I taped an episode of the show in early May of this year that's just getting up now. Anyway, Tom is in fine form once again, recounting stories from his interviews with Lisa Marie Presley, Meat Loaf, and the late great Gordon Lightfoot (who had passed just days before we taped this). Tom even brought along a clip of Gino Vannelli telling him the amazing story of how he was signed by Herb Alpert. Enjoy, and be sure ...
Sep 19, 2023•40 min
The previous episode of little known behind-the-scenes facts about your favourite rock artists and records that aired a little while back was so popular with you guys that I decided to do another one. This time around, we look at stuff like what the actual "song from 1962" referenced in Bob Seger's "Night Moves" is (and that it was in fact from 1963), how OMD and Depeche Mode's influence over ZZ Top resulted in the biggest hit record of their career, what that strange noise is at the beginning o...
Aug 15, 2023•16 min
Speaking of The Redwood Theatre... It was the site of my conversation with my pal Rob Preuss as we talked about his exciting new project, Rob Preuss and Friends. This episode was taped back in April, but I explain why in the intro - before Rob does his own show intro (and outro at the end of the show). If you're in the Ottawa area this weekend, you can see the Rob Preuss and Friends show at Bar Robo on Saturday July 22. He also plays the El Mocambo on Saturday, August 26th. Don't miss it!...
Jul 17, 2023•34 min
I knew it would be enjoyable, but I have to say that this was one of my favourite all-time NSTS conversations. Songwriter to the stars Rob Wells joins me at my home this week, and the musical geek out session we have is off the charts. In addition to bringing in some fantastic songs, Rob shares his astonishing story about how a kid from Peterborough was eventually tapped to write songs with Justin Bieber, Selena Gomez, Nick Lachey, The Backstreet Boys, and Weezer. We also discuss his imaginary f...
Jun 13, 2023•51 min
This week on NSTS I welcome Chris Sisam, formerly an executive with Corus Radio and The Edge and manager of 90s pop band Wild Strawberries, who's now doing some very interesting things in the music publishing and royalties space. Chris offers some interesting insights into how the financial aspect of the music business works, and touches on Clarence Clemons' sax solo in Jungleland, Springsteen's rehearsal requirements, Don Henley's acerbic comment to the crowd at an Eagles Toronto show, and one ...
May 16, 2023•28 min
This may be the first time a live banjo performance is heard on No Sleep 'til Sudbury. Former Stompin' Tom bandleader and banjo player Duncan Fremlin returns to the show this week, and he brings along his Doogie and Dun partner, Juno-nominated singer songwriter Douglas John Cameron. In addition to sharing the albums that were formative in their musical lives, the two perform a medley of songs from their shows, including a take on Stompin' Tom's "Sudbury Saturday Night" that you have to hear to b...
Apr 17, 2023•40 min
Most of us like the trivia and the behind-the-scenes stuff. So this week on No Sleep 'til Sudbury, we feature some little-known facts related to some of your favourite musical artists. For example: The unusual recording request Axl Rose made during the Appetite for Destruction sessions. The hilarious misunderstanding that led to a lyric change for The Cars. Why Aerosmith whipped themselves with an actual bullwhip in the studio. Scorpions singer Klaus Meine's confusion over American female fans w...
Mar 27, 2023•16 min
Whiskey Jack frontman, former Stompin' Tom Connors bandleader, and author Duncan Fremlin drops by this week to chat about his new book entitled My Good Times With Stompin' Tom. Duncan's a Soo boy, and he ignites the Sault Ste. Marie - Sudbury rivalry right out of the gate. We do manage to have a civilized conversation about his years spent touring with Stompin' Tom Connors however, and about the songs that make his skin vibrate. He even got invited back for another episode - maybe Soo guys aren'...
Feb 21, 2023•33 min
Last week, we were stunned by the news that guitar legend Jeff Beck had died. This week, No Sleep 'til Sudbury returns to pay tribute to a man who was considered by many to be one of the greatest guitar players ever. Our tribute reflects on the highs and lows of Beck's haphazard musical journey - being fired from the Yardbirds, the brief triumphs of two different Jeff Beck Groups, throwing guitars off stage, his love/hate relationship with Rod Stewart, being temporarily deafened during a GN'R so...
Jan 16, 2023•19 min
As the year comes to a close, I wanted to share a fun and personal Christmas music playlist that gets a lot of airtime at the Jensen house around this time every year. Last year's holiday playlist contained more familiar Christmas tunes - this one, less so. But I do hope there's something on it you like. Here's the playlist link on Spotify . Merry Christmas and the happiest of holidays to each and every No Sleep 'til Sudbury listener. It fills me with joy that I can share things like this with y...
Dec 20, 2022•13 min
