WEBVTT 00:00:00.000 --> 00:00:02.879 Imagine you're just days away from launching 00:00:02.879 --> 00:00:05.339 your debut album. You're this young acoustic 00:00:05.339 --> 00:00:07.559 duo. The momentum is finally building in your 00:00:07.559 --> 00:00:09.480 local scene. Your calendar's just packed with 00:00:09.480 --> 00:00:11.859 gigs. Living the dream, basically. You're finally 00:00:11.859 --> 00:00:14.419 ready to introduce your art to the world. And 00:00:14.419 --> 00:00:17.460 then a doctor walks into a sterile room and tells 00:00:17.460 --> 00:00:20.000 you that your immune system is about to be completely 00:00:20.000 --> 00:00:23.539 wiped out by chemotherapy. Oh, man. Yeah. Your 00:00:23.539 --> 00:00:26.239 entire public life, your tour, your momentum, 00:00:26.679 --> 00:00:29.219 it all just stops today. Which is, I mean... 00:00:29.359 --> 00:00:31.920 devastating absolutely and for most bands that 00:00:31.920 --> 00:00:34.340 is exactly where the wikipedia page ends right 00:00:34.340 --> 00:00:37.640 it's just this tragic what could have been footnote 00:00:37.640 --> 00:00:41.939 but for the canadian band 100 also stylized as 00:00:41.939 --> 00:00:44.219 a dollar sign and the number 100 just to know 00:00:44.219 --> 00:00:47.600 good catch yeah for them that devastating moment 00:00:47.600 --> 00:00:51.500 was uh It was actually just the prologue. It 00:00:51.500 --> 00:00:53.880 really is the ultimate subversion of the standard 00:00:53.880 --> 00:00:57.140 music industry narrative. We are so conditioned 00:00:57.140 --> 00:01:00.020 to expect this familiar trajectory, like the 00:01:00.020 --> 00:01:02.539 garage days, the lucky break, the inevitable 00:01:02.539 --> 00:01:05.019 ego clash. And the reunion tour 10 years later. 00:01:05.519 --> 00:01:07.719 Exactly. But when you look at the actual timeline 00:01:07.719 --> 00:01:10.819 of $100, you realize you're looking at something 00:01:10.819 --> 00:01:12.500 entirely different. You're looking at a master 00:01:12.500 --> 00:01:16.359 class in how severe constraints can forge completely 00:01:16.359 --> 00:01:19.260 unexpected brilliance. Welcome to this custom 00:01:19.260 --> 00:01:22.319 -tailored deep dive, designed specifically for 00:01:22.319 --> 00:01:26.390 you. Today, we're taking a seemingly brief but 00:01:26.390 --> 00:01:30.629 wildly dense source text about this Toronto -based 00:01:30.629 --> 00:01:33.310 alternative country band. And it is a fascinating 00:01:33.310 --> 00:01:35.689 source. It really is. And our mission today is 00:01:35.689 --> 00:01:38.129 to explore the complete life cycle of a creative 00:01:38.129 --> 00:01:41.290 project. We're going to look at how a group navigates 00:01:41.290 --> 00:01:44.109 unthinkable sudden adversity, how they emotionally 00:01:44.109 --> 00:01:46.030 and mechanically transform their entire sonic 00:01:46.030 --> 00:01:48.370 identity. And how a band can ultimately serve 00:01:48.370 --> 00:01:51.510 as an incubator for entirely new musical evolutions. 00:01:51.849 --> 00:01:53.620 Right. And I just want to say, well, you might 00:01:53.620 --> 00:01:55.700 be tuning in, hoping to discover some fantastic 00:01:55.700 --> 00:01:57.579 new music to add to your playlist, which you 00:01:57.579 --> 00:02:00.280 absolutely will. By the way, the underlying mechanics 00:02:00.280 --> 00:02:03.079 of this story apply to anyone trying to build 00:02:03.079 --> 00:02:05.439 something. Yeah, that's so true. Sometimes the 00:02:05.439 --> 00:02:08.840 most profound lessons on how to pivot when your 00:02:08.840 --> 00:02:11.319 life just completely derails are hidden in the 00:02:11.319 --> 00:02:13.419 shortest histories. OK, let's unpack this. We 00:02:13.419 --> 00:02:15.580 need to start at the beginning to really understand 00:02:15.580 --> 00:02:18.539 the baseline here, which takes us to Toronto 00:02:18.539 --> 00:02:23.860 in the year 2006. Right. $100 begins not as some 00:02:23.860 --> 00:02:27.840 massive wall of sound ensemble, but as this highly 00:02:27.840 --> 00:02:30.419 stripped -down duo. We've got Simone Schmidt 00:02:30.419 --> 00:02:33.180 handling the vocals and Ian Russell playing acoustic 00:02:33.180 --> 00:02:35.599 guitar. And that's it. That is the entire band. 00:02:35.819 --> 00:02:38.599 Which is an incredibly vulnerable setup. Oh, 00:02:38.620 --> 00:02:40.520 completely. If you think about the mechanics 00:02:40.520 --> 00:02:43.039 of the alternative country genre, I mean, it 00:02:43.039 --> 00:02:46.800 relies heavily on raw, unvarnished, literal storytelling. 00:02:46.900 --> 00:02:49.639 Yeah. So when you're just a duo, there is absolutely 00:02:49.639 --> 00:02:51.889 nowhere to hide on stage. You don't have a roaring 00:02:51.889 --> 00:02:54.409 drum kit to cover up a missed chord. Or like 00:02:54.409 --> 00:02:57.650 a wall of distortion to mask a wavering vocal 00:02:57.650 --> 00:03:00.210 note or something. Exactly. Every breath, every 00:03:00.210 --> 00:03:02.349 strum, every single lyric is completely front 00:03:02.349 --> 00:03:04.689 and center for the audience to scrutinize. And 00:03:04.689 --> 00:03:07.750 they really lean all the way into that vulnerability. 00:03:08.150 --> 00:03:11.830 Like by 2007 they released their debut EP fittingly 00:03:11.830 --> 00:03:15.030 titled Hold It Together. Great title. Yeah, but 00:03:15.030 --> 00:03:17.689 almost immediately after this release, just as 00:03:17.689 --> 00:03:19.810 they're trying to gain traction, their world 00:03:19.810 --> 00:03:23.050 violently halts. Ian Russell is diagnosed with 00:03:23.050 --> 00:03:26.169 leukemia. Wow. And the reality of a leukemia 00:03:26.169 --> 00:03:29.789 diagnosis and the grueling systemic nature of 00:03:29.789 --> 00:03:32.469 the chemotherapy required to treat it, I mean, 00:03:32.550 --> 00:03:36.069 it means an absolute non -negotiable end to public 00:03:36.069 --> 00:03:37.949 performance. Because it's not just about being 00:03:37.949 --> 00:03:41.150 tired, right? No, not at all. Chemotherapy decimates 00:03:41.150 --> 00:03:43.949 your immune system. You literally cannot be in 00:03:43.949 --> 00:03:46.530 a crowded, poorly ventilated dive bar playing 00:03:46.530 --> 00:03:48.229 for an audience. Right, you'd catch everything. 00:03:48.430 --> 00:03:51.270 Exactly. The physical and medical toll just makes 00:03:51.270 --> 00:03:54.050 traveling, loading gear, and projecting energy 00:03:54.060 --> 00:03:56.680 out to a crowd night after night, biologically 00:03:56.680 --> 00:03:58.759 impossible. I want to focus on the mechanics 00:03:58.759 --> 00:04:00.659 of their reaction to this, because the source 00:04:00.659 --> 00:04:02.960 material points out something crucial. They didn't 00:04:02.960 --> 00:04:05.139 stop being a band. They just stopped performing. 00:04:05.740 --> 00:04:07.460 Russell and Schmidt continued to write songs 00:04:07.460 --> 00:04:10.360 together throughout this entire terrifying medical 00:04:10.360 --> 00:04:12.860 ordeal. Which is incredible. It is. And let's 00:04:12.860 --> 00:04:15.560 ditch the cliche idea of a ship dropping anchor 00:04:15.560 --> 00:04:18.560 in a storm here. Think of their hiatus not as 00:04:18.560 --> 00:04:21.930 a paused clock, but as a coiled spring. I like 00:04:21.930 --> 00:04:24.230 that. They couldn't release any kinetic energy 00:04:24.230 --> 00:04:26.470 by performing out in the world. So every single 00:04:26.470 --> 00:04:28.649 song they wrote in that isolated room was just 00:04:28.649 --> 00:04:31.550 winding that spring tighter and tighter. What's 00:04:31.550 --> 00:04:34.350 fascinating here is how physical limitations 00:04:34.350 --> 00:04:37.050 completely alter the architecture of a song. 00:04:37.430 --> 00:04:40.470 How do you mean? Well, when you're isolated from 00:04:40.470 --> 00:04:43.430 the world, you know, facing down the very real 00:04:43.430 --> 00:04:46.509 specter of mortality and severe illness, your 00:04:46.509 --> 00:04:49.810 songwriting. fundamentally shifts away from external 00:04:49.810 --> 00:04:51.610 validation. Right, you're not writing a party 00:04:51.610 --> 00:04:54.250 anthem. Exactly. You aren't writing a catchy 00:04:54.250 --> 00:04:56.470 chorus to get a Friday night crowd to dance and 00:04:56.470 --> 00:04:59.110 buy drinks. You're writing simply to process 00:04:59.110 --> 00:05:01.589 your immediate terrifying reality. That makes 00:05:01.589 --> 00:05:04.430 total sense. The constraint of the illness forces 00:05:04.430 --> 00:05:07.269 the art to become incredibly dense. You're creating 00:05:07.269 --> 00:05:10.269 a stockpile of deeply personal, heavily weighted 00:05:10.269 --> 00:05:12.889 material because the music is functioning as 00:05:12.889 --> 00:05:15.449 a psychological lifeline, not a career stepping 00:05:15.449 --> 00:05:17.870 stone. But see, that brings up a massive logistical 00:05:17.870 --> 00:05:20.930 challenge. Right. So the chemo ends, the medical 00:05:20.930 --> 00:05:25.269 lockdown lifts. You have the stockpile of intense, 00:05:25.569 --> 00:05:29.269 heavy songs forged in a room of sickness. How 00:05:29.269 --> 00:05:31.730 do you take those deeply introverted maps and 00:05:31.730 --> 00:05:33.930 suddenly broadcast them to the world? And how 00:05:33.930 --> 00:05:36.089 they answered that specific question dictated 00:05:36.089 --> 00:05:39.189 the entire next phase of their existence. And 00:05:39.189 --> 00:05:41.529 it required a radical departure from everything 00:05:41.529 --> 00:05:43.769 they had done before. They decide to step back 00:05:43.769 --> 00:05:46.230 into the light and they cross paths with a musician 00:05:46.230 --> 00:05:48.250 and producer named Rick White, who invites them 00:05:48.250 --> 00:05:51.069 to record in his studio. A huge turning point. 00:05:51.310 --> 00:05:53.889 Yeah. Now, to pull this off, Ian Russell makes 00:05:53.889 --> 00:05:56.610 a choice that changes the fundamental DNA of 00:05:56.610 --> 00:05:59.350 one hundred dollars. He doesn't just hire like 00:05:59.350 --> 00:06:01.649 a studio session player to add a tambourine. 00:06:01.829 --> 00:06:03.949 No, he goes all in. He essentially drafts the 00:06:03.949 --> 00:06:06.250 entire rhythm section from a group he used to 00:06:06.250 --> 00:06:08.689 play with called John Ray and the River. He brings 00:06:08.689 --> 00:06:10.870 in a fully formed musical community. I mean, 00:06:10.870 --> 00:06:12.740 we are talking about taking the intimate acoustic 00:06:12.740 --> 00:06:16.060 duo and explosively expanding it into a massive 00:06:16.060 --> 00:06:19.199 six or seven piece band. Wait, let's group these 00:06:19.199 --> 00:06:20.860 new elements so you can understand what this 00:06:20.860 --> 00:06:23.079 actually sounds like. Suddenly you have Dave 00:06:23.079 --> 00:06:25.439 Clark. driving the drums, and Kyle Porter on 00:06:25.439 --> 00:06:28.620 bass. Creating this massive, heavy sonic floor. 00:06:28.879 --> 00:06:31.660 Right. Then you have Paul Mortimer layering an 00:06:31.660 --> 00:06:34.560 electric guitar, and Jonathan Agenian occasionally 00:06:34.560 --> 00:06:37.439 swelling in on the organ. The organ adds so much 00:06:37.439 --> 00:06:40.540 texture. It really does. And crucially, you have 00:06:40.540 --> 00:06:44.459 Stu Crooks playing the pedal steel, which, if 00:06:44.459 --> 00:06:46.959 you aren't familiar, is that sliding, weeping, 00:06:47.060 --> 00:06:49.959 atmospheric instrument that gives classic country 00:06:49.959 --> 00:06:54.149 its mournful, crying sound. Beautiful. It is. 00:06:54.550 --> 00:06:56.610 But I have to push back on this logistical nightmare 00:06:56.610 --> 00:06:58.329 for a second. If you're listening to this and 00:06:58.329 --> 00:07:00.449 you've ever managed a project or even just planned 00:07:00.449 --> 00:07:02.769 a group dinner, you know that managing seven 00:07:02.769 --> 00:07:05.110 people is incredibly difficult. Oh, it's like 00:07:05.110 --> 00:07:08.750 herding cats. Exactly. But Ian Russell is recovering 00:07:08.750 --> 00:07:11.519 from leukemia. Assembling a seven -piece band 00:07:11.519 --> 00:07:14.199 with pedal steels and organs sounds like a scheduling 00:07:14.199 --> 00:07:16.819 and physical nightmare, not a healing process. 00:07:17.500 --> 00:07:20.439 Wasn't this a massive, unnecessary risk? Why 00:07:20.439 --> 00:07:23.379 not just stay a low -maintenance duo? Well, on 00:07:23.379 --> 00:07:25.879 paper, it sounds completely counterintuitive, 00:07:25.939 --> 00:07:27.959 I'll give you that. Right. But if you look at 00:07:27.959 --> 00:07:29.579 the emotional mechanics of what they were trying 00:07:29.579 --> 00:07:32.860 to achieve, it was an absolute necessity. Remember 00:07:32.860 --> 00:07:34.899 that coiled spring you mentioned earlier? Yeah, 00:07:34.939 --> 00:07:37.550 winding tighter and tighter. Exactly. An acoustic 00:07:37.550 --> 00:07:41.050 guitar alone simply cannot carry the sheer sonic 00:07:41.050 --> 00:07:44.209 weight of staring down mortality and surviving. 00:07:45.310 --> 00:07:48.970 The songs had outgrown. the duo format. No, wow. 00:07:49.089 --> 00:07:50.990 I didn't think about it like that. Yeah. If you 00:07:50.990 --> 00:07:53.410 have a lyric born out of fighting cancer, you 00:07:53.410 --> 00:07:55.610 don't want to whisper it over a delicate acoustic 00:07:55.610 --> 00:07:59.930 strum. You need the driving vital heartbeat of 00:07:59.930 --> 00:08:02.670 a pounding drum kit. You need to feel it in your 00:08:02.670 --> 00:08:05.410 chest. You need the swelling church -like chords 00:08:05.410 --> 00:08:08.329 of an organ to elevate the sound. You need the 00:08:08.329 --> 00:08:10.589 pedal steel to physically weep the notes you 00:08:10.589 --> 00:08:13.089 can't sing yourself. So it's about matching the 00:08:13.089 --> 00:08:15.730 sonic architecture to the emotional weight, like 00:08:15.730 --> 00:08:18.110 throwing all the windows and doors in a house 00:08:18.110 --> 00:08:20.370 that's been boarded up for a storm and inviting 00:08:20.370 --> 00:08:22.910 the whole neighborhood in to make as much noise 00:08:22.910 --> 00:08:26.449 as humanly possible. It is a loud kinetic celebration 00:08:26.449 --> 00:08:29.920 of returning to the land of the living. And when 00:08:29.920 --> 00:08:32.500 you put seven talented musicians into a room 00:08:32.500 --> 00:08:35.480 with that kind of pent -up survival -driven energy, 00:08:36.039 --> 00:08:38.879 it immediately fuels an incredibly intense period 00:08:38.879 --> 00:08:41.759 of creation. And they do not waste a single second. 00:08:42.279 --> 00:08:45.820 On July 25, 2008, this newly minted seven -piece 00:08:45.820 --> 00:08:48.879 iteration releases their first full album called 00:08:48.879 --> 00:08:52.139 Forest of Tears on Blue Fog Recordings. And it 00:08:52.139 --> 00:08:54.240 doesn't just quietly slip into the local Toronto 00:08:54.240 --> 00:08:56.779 music scene? Not at all. A few months later, 00:08:56.860 --> 00:08:59.340 Forest of Tears is named a long -listed nominee 00:08:59.340 --> 00:09:02.500 for the 2009 Polaris Music Prize. For listeners 00:09:02.500 --> 00:09:04.399 who might not be familiar with the Canadian music 00:09:04.399 --> 00:09:06.840 industry, we really need to contextualize what 00:09:06.840 --> 00:09:08.899 the Polaris Music Prize actually represents. 00:09:09.120 --> 00:09:11.500 Yeah, it's a big deal. It is arguably the most 00:09:11.500 --> 00:09:13.820 prestigious artistic award in the country and 00:09:13.820 --> 00:09:15.980 it operates on a very specific set of mechanics. 00:09:16.620 --> 00:09:19.480 It's judged by a massive jury of music critics, 00:09:19.860 --> 00:09:22.460 broadcasters, and experts. But the catch is that 00:09:22.460 --> 00:09:25.740 they judge purely on artistic merit. To no popularity 00:09:25.740 --> 00:09:27.559 contests. Exactly. They don't look at record 00:09:27.559 --> 00:09:29.759 sales, they don't look at genre, and they don't 00:09:29.759 --> 00:09:32.519 care about what label you're on. And here is 00:09:32.519 --> 00:09:34.940 the real takeaway, the real aha moment about 00:09:34.940 --> 00:09:38.100 that nomination. The Polaris jury is effectively 00:09:38.100 --> 00:09:41.679 blind to your backstory, which means... $100 00:09:41.679 --> 00:09:44.639 didn't get nominated for a major national award 00:09:44.639 --> 00:09:47.299 out of sympathy for a cancer survivor. They got 00:09:47.299 --> 00:09:49.840 nominated because the severe constraint of a 00:09:49.840 --> 00:09:52.299 medical lockdown actually forced them to write 00:09:52.299 --> 00:09:55.440 tighter, more profoundly affecting music than 00:09:55.440 --> 00:09:58.399 they ever would have otherwise. The art stood 00:09:58.399 --> 00:10:01.299 completely on its own two feet. Absolutely. The 00:10:01.299 --> 00:10:03.820 validation must have been incredibly potent. 00:10:04.139 --> 00:10:06.059 I mean, it proved that their massive pivot, taking 00:10:06.059 --> 00:10:08.460 the logistical risk of expanding to a seven -piece 00:10:08.460 --> 00:10:11.399 band, was working on the highest possible artistic 00:10:11.399 --> 00:10:13.679 level. And instead of taking a breath to enjoy 00:10:13.679 --> 00:10:16.000 that success, they immediately doubled down. 00:10:16.080 --> 00:10:18.139 They drop a couple of regional seven -inch singles, 00:10:18.159 --> 00:10:21.159 right? Yeah, 14th Floor in 2009 and My Father's 00:10:21.159 --> 00:10:23.600 House in 2010, mostly just to keep the engine 00:10:23.600 --> 00:10:26.460 running. And then comes the second full album, 00:10:26.639 --> 00:10:30.779 Songs of Man, released on May 10th, 2011 by Outside 00:10:30.779 --> 00:10:33.600 Music. A huge milestone. And here's where it 00:10:33.600 --> 00:10:35.960 gets really interesting. The source notes that 00:10:35.960 --> 00:10:38.539 this entire second album is recorded in just 00:10:38.539 --> 00:10:42.200 12 days at a studio called The Woodshed in Toronto. 00:10:42.799 --> 00:10:45.360 Wow. If we connect this to the bigger picture. 00:10:45.889 --> 00:10:48.590 Recording a full -length album with a seven -piece 00:10:48.590 --> 00:10:52.289 band in 12 days is an absolute high -wire act. 00:10:52.409 --> 00:10:54.850 It's unheard of today. In modern music production, 00:10:55.529 --> 00:10:58.429 bands often spend months in the studio. A drummer 00:10:58.429 --> 00:11:01.090 will play their part alone in an isolation booth 00:11:01.090 --> 00:11:04.450 to a click track. Then, days later, the bass 00:11:04.450 --> 00:11:07.009 player comes in and layers their part. Yeah, 00:11:07.230 --> 00:11:09.769 super piecemeal. Exactly. If someone messes up, 00:11:09.870 --> 00:11:12.419 you just digitally punch in a fix. Yeah. But 00:11:12.419 --> 00:11:14.679 recording in 12 days means they were likely playing 00:11:14.679 --> 00:11:17.120 live off the floor. Which means all seven of 00:11:17.120 --> 00:11:18.820 them are in the same wooden room, looking at 00:11:18.820 --> 00:11:20.820 each other, playing the song at the exact same 00:11:20.820 --> 00:11:23.889 time. If the drummer hits the snare drum... That 00:11:23.889 --> 00:11:26.370 sound physically bleeds into the singer's microphone. 00:11:27.110 --> 00:11:29.330 If the bass player messes up three minutes into 00:11:29.330 --> 00:11:31.370 the song, you can't just fix it on a computer. 00:11:32.009 --> 00:11:34.789 All seven of you have to stop, rewind and play 00:11:34.789 --> 00:11:36.710 the entire song perfectly from the beginning. 00:11:37.009 --> 00:11:40.029 It requires a staggering level of rehearsal and 00:11:40.029 --> 00:11:41.830 collective intuition. It really does. It's a 00:11:41.830 --> 00:11:44.139 musical sprint. You're trying to capture lightning 00:11:44.139 --> 00:11:47.360 in a bottle before the energy dissipates. And 00:11:47.360 --> 00:11:50.039 you have to wonder if this incredible urgency, 00:11:50.139 --> 00:11:53.639 this need to just plug in, blast it out, and 00:11:53.639 --> 00:11:56.259 commit it to tape in less than two weeks was 00:11:56.259 --> 00:11:59.639 a direct psychological reaction to the hiatus. 00:11:59.740 --> 00:12:01.840 Oh, that's an interesting thought. When your 00:12:01.840 --> 00:12:04.399 ability to make art is forcibly ripped away from 00:12:04.399 --> 00:12:07.419 you by a biological thread, you never again take 00:12:07.419 --> 00:12:09.039 your time for granted. You're not going to sit 00:12:09.039 --> 00:12:11.649 around. Exactly. You don't languish in a comfortable 00:12:11.649 --> 00:12:14.269 studio debating snare drum tones for six weeks. 00:12:14.690 --> 00:12:17.009 You hit record and you play like your life depends 00:12:17.009 --> 00:12:19.789 on it. And that sprint pays off yet again. Songs 00:12:19.789 --> 00:12:22.570 of Man lands on the long list for the 2011 Polaris 00:12:22.570 --> 00:12:25.370 Music Prize. Earning two Polaris nods for their 00:12:25.370 --> 00:12:27.909 only two full length albums proves that this 00:12:27.909 --> 00:12:30.529 newly formed ensemble wasn't just loud. They 00:12:30.529 --> 00:12:33.809 were incredibly tight. They had forged a unified, 00:12:34.110 --> 00:12:36.610 critically resonant voice out of sheer adversity. 00:12:36.840 --> 00:12:38.899 But you just painted the picture perfectly a 00:12:38.899 --> 00:12:42.240 second ago. You sprinted for 12 days to record 00:12:42.240 --> 00:12:44.879 a highly complex album with six other people 00:12:44.879 --> 00:12:47.259 right after fighting a life threatening illness. 00:12:47.259 --> 00:12:49.860 Yeah, it's a lot. That kind of pressure cooker 00:12:49.860 --> 00:12:52.679 creates absolute diamonds, but it also creates 00:12:52.679 --> 00:12:55.639 inevitable cracks. You just can't sustain that 00:12:55.639 --> 00:12:58.980 exact level of intensity forever. No, you can't. 00:12:59.059 --> 00:13:01.200 When you're sprinting that hard, utilizing all 00:13:01.200 --> 00:13:03.940 that pent up energy, the fuel eventually burns 00:13:03.940 --> 00:13:07.429 off. And that leads to a necessary metamorphosis. 00:13:07.830 --> 00:13:09.509 Right. Let's look at the timeline as we move 00:13:09.509 --> 00:13:12.370 into 2012, because the structure of the band 00:13:12.370 --> 00:13:15.590 begins to fundamentally shift. In January of 00:13:15.590 --> 00:13:19.009 2012, lead singer Simone Schmidt begins performing 00:13:19.009 --> 00:13:21.730 and releasing music under a new solo project 00:13:21.730 --> 00:13:24.690 called Fiverr. Which is the most natural mechanical 00:13:24.690 --> 00:13:26.889 reaction to the preceding years, honestly. Why 00:13:26.889 --> 00:13:28.950 do you say that? Well, when you're the lead singer 00:13:28.950 --> 00:13:31.389 in a seven -piece band, every single musical 00:13:31.389 --> 00:13:34.389 decision is a negotiation. You have to leave 00:13:34.389 --> 00:13:36.889 sonic room for the drums, the bass, the electric 00:13:36.889 --> 00:13:38.990 guitar, the organ, the pedal steel. That's a 00:13:38.990 --> 00:13:42.269 crowded room. Exactly. Launching Fiverr was a 00:13:42.269 --> 00:13:45.110 necessary escape valve. It allowed Schmidt to 00:13:45.110 --> 00:13:47.429 return to a specific kind of creative autonomy 00:13:47.429 --> 00:13:51.610 to explore quiet spaces in singular visions that 00:13:51.610 --> 00:13:55.009 a massive roaring ensemble simply cannot accommodate. 00:13:55.350 --> 00:13:57.429 You just need space to hear yourself think again. 00:13:57.850 --> 00:13:59.710 But the splintering doesn't stop with a solo 00:13:59.710 --> 00:14:03.799 side project. By October of 2012 Schmidt, along 00:14:03.799 --> 00:14:06.299 with bass player Kyle Porter and electric guitarist 00:14:06.299 --> 00:14:09.879 Paul Mortimer. So a huge core chunk of the $100 00:14:09.879 --> 00:14:11.779 lineup. Right. They announced they have formed 00:14:11.779 --> 00:14:14.090 a brand new band. They bring in a new drummer 00:14:14.090 --> 00:14:17.110 named Simone TB, and they call themselves the 00:14:17.110 --> 00:14:20.350 Highest Order. A great name. And crucially, they 00:14:20.350 --> 00:14:23.529 explicitly pivot away from standard alternative 00:14:23.529 --> 00:14:26.269 country. They announce themselves as a psychedelic 00:14:26.269 --> 00:14:29.330 country band. That is a massive mechanical shift 00:14:29.330 --> 00:14:31.830 in how the music actually operates. Tell me more 00:14:31.830 --> 00:14:33.309 about that. Like, what does that actually mean 00:14:33.309 --> 00:14:35.450 for the listener? Well, traditional country music 00:14:35.450 --> 00:14:38.970 grounds you in literal linear storytelling. It's 00:14:38.970 --> 00:14:41.360 usually a narrative about a tangible thing, a 00:14:41.360 --> 00:14:44.440 broken heart, a hometown, a specific memory. 00:14:44.799 --> 00:14:47.120 The instruments are clean and recognizable. Okay, 00:14:47.320 --> 00:14:50.019 sure. But psychedelic country takes those same 00:14:50.019 --> 00:14:52.279 twangy acoustic guitars and just warps them. 00:14:52.940 --> 00:14:54.759 You run the instruments through tape delays, 00:14:55.200 --> 00:14:57.919 you coat the vocals in heavy reverb, and you 00:14:57.919 --> 00:15:00.700 untether the lyrics from linear reality. Wow, 00:15:00.899 --> 00:15:03.220 okay. You go from sitting on a wooden porch to 00:15:03.220 --> 00:15:05.879 floating in orbit. It's moving from the grounded 00:15:05.879 --> 00:15:08.840 soil to the experimental stratosphere. So what 00:15:08.840 --> 00:15:11.000 does this all mean? If you're looking at this 00:15:11.000 --> 00:15:13.399 strictly through the lens of a traditional music 00:15:13.399 --> 00:15:16.539 biography, you might hit the year 2012 and think, 00:15:16.539 --> 00:15:18.720 oh, what a shame. The band broke up. The timeline 00:15:18.720 --> 00:15:20.620 is over. Which is how most people would read 00:15:20.620 --> 00:15:24.360 it. Right. But I want you, the listener, to reevaluate 00:15:24.360 --> 00:15:27.120 how we measure the lifespan and success of a 00:15:27.120 --> 00:15:30.759 creative project. $100 wasn't a static monument 00:15:30.759 --> 00:15:33.139 built to stand in the town square for 40 years. 00:15:33.399 --> 00:15:35.799 It was a chrysalis. Oh, I love that analogy. 00:15:35.899 --> 00:15:38.899 It was this protective... temporary shell built 00:15:38.899 --> 00:15:42.139 out of absolute necessity after a trauma designed 00:15:42.139 --> 00:15:45.019 specifically to foster growth, provide community, 00:15:45.440 --> 00:15:47.820 and ensure survival. And once the healing was 00:15:47.820 --> 00:15:49.840 done, and the growth was complete, the shell 00:15:49.840 --> 00:15:52.299 naturally had to break open so the new iterations 00:15:52.299 --> 00:15:55.039 could fly out. This raises an important question 00:15:55.039 --> 00:15:57.580 about how we view longevity, not just in art, 00:15:57.759 --> 00:16:00.740 but in our everyday lives. The ending of $100 00:16:00.740 --> 00:16:04.620 wasn't a failure to endure. It was a highly successful 00:16:04.620 --> 00:16:07.850 completed mission. They successfully transitioned 00:16:07.850 --> 00:16:10.970 from an intense, trauma -forged alt -country 00:16:10.970 --> 00:16:14.529 group into branching paths that yielded the distinct 00:16:14.529 --> 00:16:17.350 solo work of Fiverr and the boundary -pushing 00:16:17.350 --> 00:16:19.809 psychedelic explorations of the highest order. 00:16:19.950 --> 00:16:22.330 If you look at your own life, whether it's a 00:16:22.330 --> 00:16:24.929 job you had for a few years, a creative partnership, 00:16:25.230 --> 00:16:27.909 or a specific phase of a relationship, we're 00:16:27.909 --> 00:16:30.250 so often taught that longevity equals success. 00:16:30.389 --> 00:16:32.990 We really are. If a band doesn't last for decades 00:16:32.990 --> 00:16:35.610 and do a massive stadium reunion tour, we assume 00:16:35.610 --> 00:16:37.870 they failed. If you don't stay at a company for 00:16:37.870 --> 00:16:40.610 20 years, the job was a wash. But that completely 00:16:40.610 --> 00:16:43.929 misunderstands the mechanics of growth. Not every 00:16:43.929 --> 00:16:46.570 project has to last forever to be a massive success. 00:16:46.669 --> 00:16:49.409 Not at all. Sometimes, a project's ultimate value 00:16:49.409 --> 00:16:52.070 is simply to act as the crucible. It forms your 00:16:52.070 --> 00:16:54.710 skills, helps you survive a deeply tough period, 00:16:55.090 --> 00:16:57.289 and serves as the launch pad into your next phase. 00:16:58.049 --> 00:17:01.289 The absolute highest purpose of $100 was to keep 00:17:01.289 --> 00:17:03.830 his members alive creatively and then become 00:17:03.830 --> 00:17:06.150 fiver in the highest order. What an incredible 00:17:06.150 --> 00:17:08.970 trajectory to pull from such concise history. 00:17:09.549 --> 00:17:12.170 We started with a deeply vulnerable acoustic 00:17:12.170 --> 00:17:15.190 duo facing the total halt of a leukemia diagnosis. 00:17:15.309 --> 00:17:17.829 We watched them turn their medical isolation 00:17:17.829 --> 00:17:21.210 into a coiled spring, winding up a stockpile 00:17:21.210 --> 00:17:24.269 of heavy, vital songs. We saw the explosive kinetic 00:17:24.269 --> 00:17:27.210 release of that spring, drafting an entire community 00:17:27.210 --> 00:17:30.549 of musicians to expand into a lush, dynamic seven 00:17:30.549 --> 00:17:33.809 -piece ensemble. They ran a musical sprint, furiously 00:17:33.809 --> 00:17:36.230 recording two critically acclaimed Polaris -dominated 00:17:36.230 --> 00:17:40.250 albums by playing live off the floor. loud, undeniable 00:17:40.250 --> 00:17:42.390 proof of life. And finally, they realized the 00:17:42.390 --> 00:17:44.289 structure they had built had served its purpose. 00:17:44.490 --> 00:17:46.250 The pressure cooker had done its job allowing 00:17:46.250 --> 00:17:48.349 them to splinter off, find their autonomy again, 00:17:48.509 --> 00:17:51.150 and seed entirely new psychedelic genres across 00:17:51.150 --> 00:17:54.490 the Canadian music landscape. It completely dismantles 00:17:54.490 --> 00:17:57.410 the standard narrative. It proves that sometimes 00:17:57.410 --> 00:18:00.690 the most successful thing a band can do is evolve 00:18:00.690 --> 00:18:02.990 out of existence. But before we wrap up this 00:18:02.990 --> 00:18:05.150 deep dive, I want to leave you with one final 00:18:05.150 --> 00:18:07.910 provocative thought to mull over. Something that 00:18:07.910 --> 00:18:10.140 wasn't explicitly answered in the source text, 00:18:10.339 --> 00:18:14.099 but echoes through this entire evolution. When 00:18:14.099 --> 00:18:18.059 a band splinters, changes its name, and fundamentally 00:18:18.059 --> 00:18:21.480 shifts its genre, like moving from grounded alternative 00:18:21.480 --> 00:18:24.579 country to echoing psychedelic country, but bringing 00:18:24.579 --> 00:18:27.380 many of the exact same human beings along for 00:18:27.380 --> 00:18:30.500 the ride, How much of the original band's soul 00:18:30.500 --> 00:18:32.960 actually remains? Ooh, that's a good one. Is 00:18:32.960 --> 00:18:35.299 a band defined by its people, the specific shared 00:18:35.299 --> 00:18:37.500 trauma they survive together, or is it defined 00:18:37.500 --> 00:18:39.759 strictly by the physical sound waves it produces? 00:18:39.940 --> 00:18:42.900 It's a brilliant, lingering question. If the 00:18:42.900 --> 00:18:44.779 people are the same but the mechanics change, 00:18:45.180 --> 00:18:47.559 are you hearing a new band? Or just a new chapter 00:18:47.559 --> 00:18:50.099 of the same soul? A great puzzle to take with 00:18:50.099 --> 00:18:52.680 you into your own creative endeavors. Thank you 00:18:52.680 --> 00:18:55.200 so much for joining us on this custom deep dive. 00:18:55.480 --> 00:18:57.740 Keep exploring, keep questioning those standard 00:18:57.740 --> 00:19:00.180 narratives, and keep seeking out those hidden 00:19:00.180 --> 00:19:02.519 aha moments in your own reading. We will catch 00:19:02.519 --> 00:19:03.140 you next time.