A New Video Interview With Bill Priddle From Treble Charger!!

Here's a neat find, a new interview with Treble Charger guitarist/vocalist Bill Priddle that was posted on YouTube in August! This was conducted by Joel Martin of The Joel Martin Mastery Podcast, which you can hear for free on most major podcast platforms, with video versions also uploaded to the podcast's YouTube channel. The series' primary intent is to conduct two hour+ remote interviews with (typically) Canadian musicians in order to tell their stories and learn about what made them what they are today, and Joel himself is a singer/guitarist from Southern Ontario, so he can relate in many respects for these deep dives. It's rare when the SMS' coverage heads into podcasting, but the video from the show's YouTube channel is embedded at post's end, and note that Joel extracts parts of his interviews as separate uploads, but we're looking at the whole shebang here. 

The interview with Bill was episode #71 of The J.M.M.P. (episode #78 dropped on Monday), but don't bypass his other episodes, as he's gotten some big names! The 2 hours & 14 minutes long interview starts with Joel (pronounced Joe-ell) asking Bill about his recent songwriting and the struggles therein for now vs. back in the day, before going back to the beginnings of Bill's love & interest in music, his early influences as a kid, how he got into learning guitar and singing, his early local band work in the late 1970s and 1980s, his day jobs before focusing on music, and his mixed feelings about how the Soo influenced and impacted his music (I do agree with Bill on our lack of a Canadian rock or college radio station). How Bill met Greig Nori early and decided to form a band together was also brought up, including their move to Toronto, their first band there (named Warehouse) and their initial unreleased (and allegedly poor) album.

After outlining his views on band development under labels and the perceived "death of music" in the early 1980s, Joel asks Bill about when he realized he could make a career out of his music, family reactions to his musical aspirations, the MacLean's magazine cover article that featured Treble Charger (from March 27th, 1995), and some of his later nicknames. Treble Charger proper are focused on next, including how they came up with their original name nc-17 & why they had to change it, their debut album of the same name from 1994, their own indie label Smokin' Worm Records, early opportunities and concerts from this album's timeframe, and knowing The Tragically Hip from their early days (to some surprising levels). They next discuss Treble Charger's self-titled album from 1995, the feeling he got hearing their songs on the radio, that album's succession of re-releases, Bill's ear for harmonies, ...

...the pros and cons of being in a band with two singers (and how studio politics relating to who should be the lead singer helped stop the band initially), his memories of their first Juno Awards nomination and trip to the ceremony. Next they focus on 1997's "Maybe It's Me" (Bill's favourite of their five studio albums), with Bill discussing his feelings about getting proper rock radio hits and a gold certification for it, working with producer Lou Giordano and how that influenced him in that later role, choosing to re-record and re-release "Red" as a single, information on the gear and recording processes that he has used, and his ideal pick for a song to be included in a Guitar Hero game if they were asked. We dive into the pop punk era of Treble Charger next via 2000's "Wide Awake Bored", with Bill discussing why he thought it and "American Psycho" was their biggest album and song each, ...

...recording the album at Sound City in Los Angeles, his favourite tour stops & memories from this tour cycle (including playing with bands like The Foo Fighters), and how his songs come together. The final Treble Charger album (so far) comes up next, namely 2002's "Detox", which Bill is candid about his mixed feelings for in terms of recording it and the band's continued shift to pop punk, conflicting with his burgeoning work with Broken Social Scene and learning a lesson about playing music for money or not. Next, Bill answers a fan question about their 2012 reunion, his strained relationship with Greig by the end of their first run, how they repaired things, and why the reunion involved just him & Greig with session/touring musicians. Bill did note that he doesn't consider Treble Charger to be dead, and that they are slowly working on new music and hope to play live again (possibly next summer).

It does sound like a deliberate, stress-free approach, with them playing/working together when the cards line up the right way, and while some true public activity hasn't come in the pandemic era, hopefully we haven't heard the absolute last from Treble Charger! If you're only interested in Treble Charger talk, that stops about 90 minutes in, with Bill then going into detail about his work with Broken Social Scene, Don Vail, and The Priddle Concern (where some songs declined for later Treble Charger albums were eventually found), as well as some insights on his later work as a producer. An hour and 53 minutes in, we steer back to local discussion when Joel asks Bill about his recent local band Pointless, and he even brings up his help with local punk trio A Dire Setback's debut album! Joel gives his thoughts on three original song demos that Bill sent him as well, but there was no discussion of All The Tired Horses.

After asking about Bill's musical longevity, Joel gives Bill a series of rapid fire questions (stuff like favourite venues, biggest shows, bands he loved that he opened for, etc.), plus some closing deeper questions about unfulfilled dreams, his proudest achievements, and his advice for his 10 year old self. Very informative interview for fans of Bill's lengthy music career, especially on the Treble Charger side of the coin, and Joel had lots of good questions to ask, with Bill coming across respectful, kind, and insightful for the duration! I wonder if Greig could be interviewed by Joel at some point? Give the entire 2+ hour interview a watch/listen below, and weekend concert previews are next! Thanks everyone!