Our Recap Of Greig Nori's Interview On The Borderline From June 2023!!

With the recent announcement of a Treble Charger reunion concert at The Machine Shop on March 7th, now's as good a time as any to finally cover an audio interview that singer/guitarist Greig Nori took part in last June! I profusely apologize for the delay in this making the site, it fell through many cracks, but the timing is right given the reunion concert! This was for an episode of Rock N' Roll Heaven on The Borderline, as hosted by veteran local musician/photographer Brian Tremblay, and it runs for 76 minutes, albeit including eleven Treble Charger songs during the runtime, starting with "Takes Me Down". If you want to skip past Brian's introduction and this song, the interview proper begins at about 4:40 into the episode. Brian first asks Greig about when he decided to move back to Sault Ste. Marie full time and how his relationship began with the Algoma Conservatory of Music and The Loft, of which he is the general manager.

If you're only familiar with Greig as a musician, his work as a producer in Toronto comes up here, including where he got the idea to merge a studio with a live performance venue rather than his high-end studio in Toronto that was seeing a declining usage into the 2010s, with emphasis on bands taking advantage of the setup for social media purposes and promotion. The next two songs are "Don't Believe It All" & "Friend Of Mine", which sandwich more studio equipment talk. Greig next goes into his apparent involvement in an upcoming film soundtrack featuring some surprising attached names, before Brian begins asking about Treble Charger (if you're looking for that part, jump to the 20 minute mark). Greig brings up how Treble Charger formed, why they changed their name from nc-17, and how they technically weren't from the Soo originally, having formally joined forces down south.

After "Morale" is played on air, Brian asks about why Treble Charger broke up in 2004 (quite a leap in the timeline!), with Greig even admitting that he didn't really want to continue playing the pop punk-leaning music that Treble Charger was playing at that point. Their reunion show in Toronto in 2012 (Greig was off a couple years on the date) is brought up next before "Motor Control" is played. Next, they discuss the end of Greig's work with Sum 41 (he produced both "Does This Look Infected?" & "Chuck"), his time working on disBand on MuchMusic from 2008-2010, and why that show ended. We next hear "Red" to cap off the first half of the interview, after which Brian reads some statistics about how many songs get uploaded to (and heard from) streaming services, with Greig offering his advice to musicians hoping to get discovered. Treble Charger's biggest punk-era hit "American Psycho" is played on air next.

The discussion about helping rising newer musicians get noticed is continued afterwards, with Greig suggesting some specific routes that bands should take (he recommends the Canadian Musicians Co-operative), with this segment interrupted by a playing of "Brand New Low". After we hear "Business", Brian asks about Greig's current songwriting plans, albeit not attached to a specific project yet, along with his individual work songwriting with musicians who record at the Conservatory/Loft (the teased new Treble Charger album from the late 2010s is not brought up here). This is where the interview ends, but the episode ends with playings of "Favourite Worst Enemy" and "More's The Pity", sandwiching Brian's episode closing plugs and thank yous. Solid listen that, if a little heavy on industry talk, lets us hear from Greig on a wide range of topics! You don't hear him interviewed much nowadays.

This may be a perception thing more than reality, but the episode feels over-edited, like how the Treble Charger discussion leaps from their beginnings to their end without really talking about their heyday, while the Sum 41 chunk is only how that relationship ended. Is there an unedited cut with this stuff intact? I still think Brian should either place the songs in more natural spots or have more obvious transition markers so they don't come in so abruptly, but fans of Treble Charger will definitely want to hear this whole interview from last summer at this link or above! That's all for today, but stay tuned for more news and notes soon! Thanks everyone!