Today on the podcast we are featuring the Toronto-based band Fake Magic. Learn more about them and listen to their track “Begging to be Lonely.”
Show Notes and Full Transcript
Hey everyone welcome to the Eat Sleep Breathe Music podcast. I am your host Jeanette Kimszal. For those of you just joining us, this is the podcast where I talk about different musicians and how their music affects me and then play I track of theirs for you to listen to.
So you can check it out and form your own opinion as well. And if you are so interested in sharing your thoughts on this track and the artist I’ll have details at the end of the show where you can leave your comments.
So I hope everyone is having a good New Year. I can’t believe it’s already the end of January. I feel like this year is just gonna fly by really fast.
I know I don’t normally chat a lot in the beginning of the podcast normally I kind of jump right into the topic at hand.
I thought today I would do a little something different. Don’t know if you guys appreciate that or if you want me to just jump right into talking about the band and everything but I don’t know what it is I’m kind of in a funk lately.
I don’t know if it’s just because it’s January. It’s December. What am I saying? It’s not December. It’s January (laughing) you know it’s been very grey.
I”m glad it’s not snowing. But it’s just been kind of like meh. And again it’s nice to have music to listen to feel better about things that are going on.
Or the lack of the sun and I think I might be in vitamin D as well (laughing). I try to get out even walking because endorphins help me feel a lot better but I don’t know I’m just…it’s just been.
It’s been…not depressing but just a January slump or something. I don’t know. I’m not a fan of winter. But I’ve never been so depressed about winter.
But I think it’s just like the last couple of days have been so grey. Again there have been spots of like the sun but you know I am thankful that it’s not actually like snow.
Or the weather could be a lot worse. Again maybe it’s that Seasonal Allergy Depression or something (laughing). You know again I do want to be thankful for music.
Because listening to this particular artist you know what uplifting. Even though the song itself was kind of depressing song looking at the concept of the song. It still feels like it’s got an upbeat vibe to it. Which is kind of nice.
It occupies my mind and makes me think of something else. And I think that is the thing too. When you listen to music you can escape and it can really kind of take you where the artist has gone.
Or if you are interpreting it in your own words as well. So I don’t know I’ve been thinking about that recently. I haven’t been listening to enough music.
Even though I’ve been doing these podcasts I do not listen to enough music during the day and that is probably my downfall because if I listen to more music I would probably be in a better mood.
Yeah, I think I need to start listening to more music. And I don’t know what it is I tend to listen to more podcasts all the time. I have like 6 or 7 different podcasts that I listen to and I have to get on track listening to them.
Like I can’t miss an episode, but I can because you can listen whenever you want. That is the beauty of podcasting and listening to podcasts.
So I don’t know I think I need to focus more on music and I think I need to focus more on listening to things that are uplifting and listening to things that are giving me a good mood.
Because I don’t know what it is the last couple of days have just been really kind of like meh. And not in the greatest of spirits. I don’t know why. I think it’s just the weather and January and cold and grey.
At least I have the music to keep me going and keep me positive and happy so it’s nice to have an outlet like that.
But enough of my digression. Now I’ll dive into talking about the Toronto-based group Fake Magic.
So today on the show I am chatting about Toronto-based band Fake Magic.
The band is made up of members Greg Markham, Bryan Paccagnella, and I don’t know if I am saying that correctly and please forgive me if I am pronouncing it incorrectly, and Cory Williams.
Greg plays guitar, bass, and keys. Bryan is on lead vocals as well as occasional guitar, keys, and electric kazoo. Both musicians create keyboard and drum loops using Logic.
And then Cory plays the lead guitar.
The original concept of the band was founded by Greg and Bryan. They met in grade 2. And I love how in Canada they say grade 2 and not the second grade.
It reminds me of Degrassi and how they say grade 2, grade 9. Just a little tidbit. I don’t know. That always makes me laugh.
Ah anyway (laughing) so they were…they met in grade 2 in the suburbs of Richmond Hill Canada.
They bonded early over a shared obsession with Weird Al’s album Bad Hair Day and music videos from the album.
They went on to go to the same high school and both attended Humber College in 2005.
Greg went for the jazz program and Bryan went for comedy writing and performance. Greg went on to play with WhosArmy
Growing up they played a lot of garage and basement rock. Influenced kind of ran the gamut but the two of them developed a knack for creating tunes.
Bryan spent years as a writer and comedian, performing sketch comedy around places like The Rivoli and Comedy Bar, gaining some viral fame and a Canadian Comedy Award nomination for a Toronto-centric parody of the Pet Shop Boys’ West End Girls with his troupe Plum Thunder.
And then Greg played in The Mohrs which is now Jackie and Keegan Powell. And that is where he met Cory in WhosArmy. He is the third member of the group when they played together in the band Whosarmy as I said before and won the CBC’s Cover Me Canada contest.
Then it seemed that Greg and Bryan lost touch while pursuing their careers but they reconnected in 2018 and started the Fake Magic.
In late 2019 they dropped their first EP entitled Hi-Fi. Then they put out the full-length N.A. in 2020. The track I’ll be playing later today is off their second album Sad Dad which is out now.
With this last album, they added former WhosArmy bandmate Cory rounding the band out to a trio. So their earlier releases were just Gret and Bryan as a duo.
Though their music has been described within the section of alternative and rock genres the band tries not to label what they do.
Whatever interest comes to them is where they will put their sound.
They’re pretty funny about it. The band refers to it as dork rock, indie rock, and alt-rock. Call it Steven. Call it a cab. Take it down to Weird Street. It’s a good time.
So you know you’re getting something silly and fun with this band. Because they have a good sense of humor. And you know you can expect something that is gonna be fun.
It is also interesting to note there is a sincereness and dark vibe to their music. And in this track in particular. It really does talk about how you feel stuck.
The song “Begging to be Lonely” is basically about how slowly time moves when you feel stuck.
It comes from Bryan and Greg’s experience growing up in the suburbs of Richmond Hill in the 90s/00s, you know, they were always dreaming of a life downtown in the ‘big city’. This endless wait can lead to depression, excuses, and self-sabotage, hence the title “Begging to be Lonely”.
It’s the age-old thing where you feel like everyone is having more fun than you. You know you’re just kind of stuck in this place.
The thing I like about this song is there is this duality to it you know? There’s like a juxtaposition. At least in my opinion. You can have these like..the song sounds a little silly when it starts.
It almost sounds like there is a burp or something (laughing) which is kind of weird but I don’t know if that is what it is. It sounds like a burp to me (laughing)
And I thought it was interesting and it makes me think of Weird Al for some reason and I don’t know if it’s just because like they were talking about that in their bio.
But I thought it was an interesting concept because it’s kind of like the music itself has these..not super high energy not happy-go-lucky alt-rock sounds.
But there is this steady beat that gets you moving and grooving but it’s kind of not depressing it is kind of like that dark and sincere feeling.
There is that polarity between the music and the lyrics. Which I like because depending on what you’re into. You can take it all together as a very meaningful track where you have the dynamic of the music and the guitars and there are these. I can hear some of these electronic pieces in it.
And I like how it starts out with the chorus part of the song and you get really into the music right away. There are not a lot of build-ups, in the beginning, you are completely getting what is given to you.
It is this knee-slapping, kind of like head bobbing, garage indie rock fun time.
I also like the drums in this song. They are this continuous and steady beat that is hitting you from the get-go. They are like dum dum (imitating drums). Then it comes in with guitar (imitating guitar) and then they come together so well.
And the drum beats just kind of get to me. Like throughout the song and I like how they are continuous and it’s very enticing. Not hypnotic but it’s a nice amalgamation and combination of these sounds. And then you have the vocals come in.
And the vocals are different and distinct. It is interesting sounding. They are not so much as whiny but they seem to be a mix of distorted somewhat high pitched and it kind of makes your ears perk up and think “what is this? This interesting and something to take note of.”
As I said before this song is off their latest album Sad Dad. This is a concept album
With an established character, the narrative expands with each song, unraveling the life of a sad dad. Each of the 13 chapters expounds upon a different, surface-level, and metaphorical theme according to the band
The nice thing about this is that on the surface it can be really fun music and if you want to dig deeper you can look at all the emotional pieces of this music.
So it offers something for everyone. I would say if you’re interested in listening to the rest of it you can find it now on streaming platforms.
If you are someone into music videos you will enjoy the video that accompanies this track. It features the band jamming in the garage while life seems to “fly by” at a high speed. To capture these effects the video was shot 10x slower than it plays in the video. The band had to learn the song at that speed in order to capture the video. They said that each take was roughly a half hour long!
The video was directed by Kyle McDonnell, with cinematography by Steven McDonell. It also features cameos by director Kyle McDonell, Bryan’s wife Amy, photographer Jack Loughran and Bryan’s Aunt and Uncle’s family dog Oakley.
Their enjoyable sound has been noted with love from the blogosphere where the band has had writeups and interviews in YMX, Great Dark Wonder, Canadian Beats, V13, Cashbox, Tinnitist, Faeton Music, BK on the Scene, and also Throw Dice & Play Nice.
And with that being said I’ve been talking for quite a bit and I don’t want to take up any more of your time. So without further ado here is “Begging to Be Lonely” by Fake Magic.
We would love to know what you think about Fake Magic and their track “Begging To Be Lonely.” You can tell us in a comment on the podcast webpage. You can also leave an audio comment at the link in the episode summary.
For more information on Fake Magic, you can check out her official website www.FakeMagic.UCraft.Site
That is F-A-K-E-M-A-G-I-C dot U-C-R-A-F-T dot S-I-T-E
You can also like and follow them on Instagram, and Twitter.
On Instagram, they are at the handle Fake.Magic.Band
That is F-A-K-E dot M-A-G-I-C dot B-A-N-D
On Twitter, they are at handle Fake_Magic
That is F-A-K-E- underscore M-A-G-I-C-
If you’re looking for more new music be sure to subscribe to our podcast so you will get the latest updates on our artist features.
You can also find more music features on our website at www.EatSleepBreatheMusic.com. That is E-a-t-S-l-e-e-p-B-r-e-a-t-h-e-M-u-s-i-c dot com.
Thanks for listening and see you in the next episode!
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