Everybody likes listening to music, but what is it like to actually make music? From song writing, to recording, to gigging, come learn all about Andrew and Suzanne’s experiences playing in bands in Montreal. Rock on!

Expressions included in the Learning Materials

* Gibberish

* To click

* A tough pill to swallow

* Rock on

* A cover

* Take the lead

Fun fact

In 2013, Canadian astronaut Chris Hadfield played David Bowie’s “Space Oddity” while on the International Space Station. More than 22 million people have watched the song’s video, which was the first ever to be made in space!

Check out the website for Andrew’s band, NO ALOHA.

 

Sample transcript

Andrew:           Thank you. I especially wanted to talk about my band today, because you also play in a band. And so I thought, hey, why don’t we just do an episode about what it’s like to be in a band and why we like doing this as a hobby?

Suzanne:        It’s true, I am in a band. I don’t play an instrument, but I sing; I use my voice.

Andrew:           Mmhmm. Well, that’s a very important part.

Suzanne:        Yeah, absolutely.

Andrew:           Like I mentioned just a second ago, today our topic is about playing in bands, because that’s something that Suzanne and I have in common. We are both musicians and we both play in bands. So, Suzanne, tell me a little bit about you band. I know it’s a relatively new band. Why don’t you tell us your band name and what kind of music you make?

Suzanne:        OK. I’m a little embarrassed about the band name.

Andrew:           Oh, everybody is, don’t worry.

Suzanne:        We’re still deciding on a band name that we all agree upon. We have not agreed upon a name.

Andrew:           OK, so it’s a work in progress?

Suzanne:        It’s a, exactly, a work in progress. So right now our band name is called Slush Devils.

Andrew:         Slush Devils. That’s a good winter Montreal band name.

Suzanne: Which is when we thought of the name, because we were stepping in a lot of puddles of slush that looked like they were frozen, and then when you exit the car or cross the street and your foot goes into this big puddle of cold, mushy, snowy water up to your ankle, and you go, “Man!” You get angry. So that’s where it came from.

Andrew: I like it.

Suzanne: Our band is, it’s me—I’m the only Anglophone, I’m the American—and the other three guys …

Andrew: Are they all from France?

Suzanne: Two of them are from France, and one of them is from a small island off of the coast of New Zealand, I’m not going to remember the name at this time. But he is from a small island off the coast of New Zealand and it is a French-speaking island.

Andrew: Hmm, that’s really cool.

Suzanne: It’s very interesting. They’re all three of them engineers by day.

Andrew: They’re all engineers?

Suzanne: They’re all engineers by day, and then there’s me, who is not an engineer at all.

Episode audio/Learning Materials: Culips