David Gogo ... Sleeping on SRV''s Floor

Terry Evans  0:00  
Today's guest gave me guitar lessons before I even met him, and I remember the first time I ever saw him play live. I was looking at him as he came out in the stage, and even before he hit a note, I thought, oh, that poor bastard is absolutely ruined. That Stratocaster by putting a Montreal Canadian sticker. I

David Gogo  0:19  
should have put 24 on for each cup.

Terry Evans  0:23  
He's the king of boogie. David Go Go has agreed to be on my podcast, reluctantly. Today's podcast is brought to you by the new album from David go go, yeah, available now on Cordova Bay records. David Go Go has six Juno Award nominations and has been named guitarist of the year three times at the maple blues awards. Yeah, available now on all streaming platforms and@davidgogo.com reluctantly, how

David Gogo  0:51  
are you, sir?

Terry Evans  0:52  
I'm very well Dave. It's awesome to see you. It's been a while since we've been face to face. It's been even longer since we've been in person. It's always good to chat with somebody who looks so good in that, yeah, I

David Gogo  1:04  
am a cat in a hat, and there's that. Yeah, no, it's great, man. You know, like the pandemic kind of knocked the shit out of annual visits to towns. As a musician, you know, usually you try to time. I usually try to do once a year, if I can the different towns, Time does fly when you're out there. But yes, kind of upset the apple cart schedule. I somewhat, but I am coming back at the end of November. We just, were just announcing,

Terry Evans  1:30  
so Edmonton blue society, correct? St Basil is November 30 here in Edmonton, we, we, you've done a number of shows in Edmonton at, I seem to recall, was it the Polish hall you played with Johnny Winter, yes,

David Gogo  1:41  
I think he had to puke twice and show your razor blade before they let you in.

Terry Evans  1:44  
It was an interesting evening. Was there not someone who had a medical episode?

David Gogo  1:49  
I believe. So, yeah, yeah. Because we were kicking ass so hard, they had no choice but to immediately clutch their chest and fall to the ground, projectile vomiting all the way.

Terry Evans  1:58  
This was before defibrillators were on the corners of the walls in the building too. I think don't use

David Gogo  2:04  
a defibrillator. Be a man.

Terry Evans  2:07  
And then so I remember we, we show up at the Polish Hall, I'm visiting with you and everything, and Johnny winters playing, and you're, you're playing and stuff. And if it was between sets or after the show, or whatever, we go in to visit Johnny in his motor home. Yes, now there, there's a some significance before I get into the the, I mean, the Africa, hot environment inside his motor home. Yeah. Is there significance to Johnny winters travel in a motor home? Or, like I seem to recall, there's something peculiar when it comes to Johnny Winter and his desire to or was that just happened to be his green room sort of set up for that night

David Gogo  2:50  
 It's kind of the green room. I mean, there was lots of peccadilloes. I mean, I actually rode with them on the motorhome, I think after that trip in particular from the Polish Hall. The next gig was either red deer or Calgary. I can't remember right now. I did a lot of shows with Johnny over the years. So he had all sorts of peccadilloes about exactly what time he has to eat. He'd always live on Eastern Time, like New York State time, so he'd have to have dinner, you know, like, if he was out west, he'd have to have dinner at five o'clock, rather than eight o'clock and all that kind of stuff. But the but the Winnebago was more just like was so expensive to rent a tour bus, so it was more like the green room, something that's comfortable for him, because him being albino and legally blind is it was just kind of a comfort level, like you're always basically touring in the same thing, whether it's a different rental or not. So it was just a way to make ends meet, and had make sense for them with that particular stop. That was not the first time you'd played with Johnny. You'd been on tours with him before, and met him before, and that sort of thing. Do you recall the first the first meeting, and you're meeting Johnny Winter, so what? What is, what is going through your head? Well, he is one of my all time musical heroes, both Guitar wise and vocal wise, and just his stories amazing. That was the great thing about touring with him, was, after I got to know him, was being able to bring up things like, you know, the fact that he produced three different records for Muddy Waters, the fact that he was a personal friend of Jimi Hendrix and played with him, you know, he played Woodstock. There's always things to talk about. The first couple of years that I opened shows for Johnny, though we never got to meet him, he was he had different management at the time, and they kept him sequestered. You just didn't meet Johnny. They had him doped up and been, you know, on every sorts of medication you could imagine, just to kind of push him out on the stage. And it got, I hate to use the word pathetic, but it got pathetic after a while. But this guy, Paul Nelson, who's no longer with us, started out as a guitar tech and recognized what was going on, and he kind of eventually ended up taking over in terms of management and just getting out, getting Johnny out there, in the way he should be out there, and getting him the respect that he deserved. So it was nice to have to have that happen near the end of his career. Do you did like, obviously, we know the the sex, drugs, rock and roll, all of the things that go with.

Terry Evans  5:00  
Being a musician back in the day, starting in the 50s in through the 60s, 70s, especially 80s, 90s into the 2000s it seems to be different. But do you figure with Johnny Winter, there was that debauchery that happened, and then there was kind of a recovery stage sort of thing, where there was a sense of, you know, I hear about these, these musicians now that are touring, and they have personal chefs, and they have, you know, all their green shakes and everything like that. Was there ever that ebb and flow, that wave of debauchery to sensible touring and stuff that you sensed with him or like, was, was, you know, the guy you mentioned, was that part of his sort of deal with the with, yeah,

David Gogo  5:40  
it was more. It was more just trying to figure out how to keep the show on the road and to keep Johnny in a healthier state. Because I remember, at one time, this might have been in Red Deer, actually, you know, I was traveling on my own, but I was, I think, opening, you know, a dozen shows or something on that trip. So the first show the tour, I showed up and say hello to Johnny. He loved king of the hill. So I'd always walk on the Winnebago and go, huh? I can't believe it. I fell a Texan Johnny Winter, and he'd know it was me, so, you know. And so they would, yeah, he like, at that time, he only had, oh, I want to go back to the Red Deer thing. So he said to me, he did. But guess what? Said what he was I got off of methadone, and I kind of knew that they were going to give him a placebo and slowly reduce it. I go, Oh, yeah. How long were you on methadone for? He was 42 years so he'd gone to England, like in the late 60s, and discovered that you could register as a heroin addict. And he got back to the stage and told his manager at that time, hey, I want to do this. I'm in no but he just really liked doing heroin, so they got him on methadone, and he just kept doing that forever. So yeah, near the end of his life, they just started reducing the dosage and gave him a placebo and and he actually said to his then manager, Paul, he said, I don't know what it is, Paul, the last month or so, I'm just feeling great man. Well, let me tell you a little secret, Johnny, do

Terry Evans  6:59  
you? You mentioned Johnny is one of your, one of your favorite guitarists. Do you have a top three that you could rather you guys? You could, could you start at number three? And is Johnny in the top three?

David Gogo  7:09  
Well, there's Hendrix and Jeff Beck. Johnny's probably right up there. You know, like, I don't, it's not really like a horse race for me, but, you know, there's all the blues guys too that I used to love to get to see that aren't around, you know, people like Albert Collins. We're still got Buddy Guy. He's on his last tour. But, you know, I used to go see and quite often open shows for all these great blues players, and sometimes even sitting with them, you know, Coco Taylor and John Mayall and all these people. Not a lot of them left.

Terry Evans  7:37  
Buddy guys still got his because he has a club,

David Gogo  7:41  
Yeah, buddy guys, legends in Chicago, yeah, yeah.

Terry Evans  7:45  
He's on his, he's on his last tour. And it's, you know, the swan song thing. It puts me in the mind of BB King, when he went through his last tour. That buddy, though, is BB would get up there and he'd just stay in his box and kind of meaning do that, you know, wrist wiggle sort of thing, you know, singing the songs, and everybody knows the story, but he never sang and played at the same time and stuff. But it became more of a band show than it was a BB show the last time we saw him, and I always remember BB was there until the last person was out of the lineup for, you know, signatures and that sort of thing. And it was sad, because the last time he was in Edmonton, he ended up not sitting at the chair at the table, Matt in these bands and signing stuff. And it was, it was unfortunate, because at that time, my son, who I named Riley after BB King, and it would have been, you know, great to have him there when Riley was was playing, to have them, you know, talking to each other as musicians instead of, you know, the radio guy named his son after the legend sort of thing,

David Gogo  8:53  
yeah. Well, just before I give an answer to that, I just wanted to mention that wrist wiggle was actually my nickname in high school. I It

Terry Evans  9:03  
wasn't your chip. And Dale's name.

David Gogo  9:06  
Well, I opened for BB shortly before he passed away, probably that same tour that you're speaking up, and I realized, you know, at the end of the show, like, that's the last time I'm going to get to see this man. And so I like to tell the story on stage that, you know, when he went to leave, I thanked him once again, and I had my son with me, and even brought my mom backstage. And I had met him a couple times before, not that he would remember, but I shook his hand and thanked him for everything. So he asked for one of my CDs. So I scuttled down in my dressing room and grab a CD, and I come back and hand him the CD, and he said, Well, you got to sign it for me, dude, and I'll never forget signing to BB King, good luck with your music. David Cook, but she gave me a weird look, but you're right. Like, like, BB just kind of wanted, near the end of his life, just wanted to sit there saying, You are my sunshine and stuff, you know. And he was just like, you know, part of his life where he was leaving, whereas Buddy Guy A year ago, I played down at the big blues Bender in Las Vegas, and I. I've the first time I saw a Buddy Guy was probably, I was underage, so probably, like mid to late 80s. I saw that ARPA was nightclub in Victoria, and it's back when, you know, Louis was just kind of going through a low ebb. And you know, he had to do two sets in this club, you know, and she in between sets, he just sat at the edge of the stage. I bought him a whiskey and sat with him and bullshitted with him so but when we saw him in Vegas last year, it was one of the best shows ever seen, Buddy Guy do, like, in terms of guitar playing, in terms of singing, in terms of everything. And he's well into his 80s, and he's still kicking ass and taking names. It

Terry Evans  10:31  
is remarkable to see how these guys can carry on, and especially, you know, like, I don't know if you read baby's book about the, you know, the Chitlin Circuit and all of the touring and all of the stuff that happened, and, no doubt, all of these guys, you know, Albert King and that, I mean, the blues was the road on the blues was part heavy part of the blues and and the lifestyle and, and it was grueling and painful and in so many ways, and you're fighting for your money and all kinds of stuff. Well,

David Gogo  11:07  
I co wrote a song with a guy named Tom hambridge. Now, Tom is a drummer and singer, but he's also a record producer, and he's produced Johnny Winter records, George Thorogood records, and he's kind of Buddy Guy's right hand man now, so we wrote a song, actually, with Johnny Winter in mind, called never going to change. And it's about that life on the road as a blues man. And for whatever reason, Johnny did not record it, but Buddy Guy ended up recording it, and it sounds just like we wrote it for Buddy Guy, because it's just about that whole thing of being on the roads. It's, you know, a teenager. And the thing about this kind of music is it's not really by choice that we do it, even though we love it, it's more like you to do it. You like Tom Wilson, he of the black king, the rodeo kings and and junk house and etc. He told me one time, so you're one of he goes, you're like me. We have to do this. We're lifers like we just have no choice. This is what you do. You play you play music, and you go on the road and you play it for people, and hopefully they dig it, and

Terry Evans  12:00  
you play the same way. So you it doesn't matter if there's 14 people in the in the house or if there's 1400 people in the house or 14,000 you play it the same way. You got to play it the same way, because that's what comes out of you, right?

David Gogo  12:13  
That's the big trick, yeah, is to keep that attitude. I think I do that, and I have done that in the past. So, yeah, you guys be prepared for both situations. I

Terry Evans  12:22  
giggle at your description of yourself, the self deprecating aspect of it, six time Juno loser, yeah, instead of saying six time nominal nominee, and I say, I say, I mean, we know each other, the humor is there, and I recognize it and and stuff. But is there? Is there a certain amount of confidence that you are still trying to reach, and sometimes insecurities might, you know, overtake the confidence, as it like? Do you find a struggle between the two, even though it's self deprecating, and you got a great sense of humor. Do you find sometimes there is that doubt that creeps in from time to time? Well, I

David Gogo  13:07  
think if you don't have a little bit of doubt, then you don't care, and you're not, you know, you're not going to give it all to what you're doing. I mean, I do that every night before I go on stage, I get nervous. I mean, to a certain degree, I've been doing it long enough they're up, you know, I'm not going to be getting physically ill or anything, but you know, you want, you want to have those nerves, you want to have the butterflies, because if you don't, then maybe you should be doing something else. Because this is what we're trying to do. We're trying to do it the best we can. And you should have that anticipation, you should have that bit of excitement. But you know, when you've been doing it for as long as I have, yeah, you can maybe start to believe some of the dark side of the humor. Like, you know, that being said, and I'm glad you asked me about the new album, is because, like, like, with my with my new album, I'm getting the best reviews of my career, having the most fun I've ever had, playing songs. And not to, you know, say anything bad about the records I have made or the people I have worked with in the past, but there's just something about this new one, where there's just such a great energy. And the nice thing is having people I've known in the business for a very long time who have no reason to blow smoke or anything just telling me like, wow, this is, didn't expect this. This is, I think, your best album. So as long as you can keep getting, you know, that kind of recognition, that kind of athletes like you can still keep writing it sound like I'm going, Well, hey, you know, 23 years ago, I put out this fucking record, man, and they played it on sea Fox. And then, yeah, you're not living in the paths I tend to be forward thinking and like, hey, what? Okay, what are we doing next? That is just fun to have some new songs to play as well.

Terry Evans  14:31  
It's, you know, what I discovered upon my umpteenth time listening to it, is, it's a great housework album. You know, I don't know who can sit and listen to an album anymore, sitting just doing that like there's so much going on. There's always something that has to happen. But I just found that there is a rhythm to the album. There is a move to the album that that goes with vacuuming, that goes with the stuff. And I just, I just found myself cleaning, and then all of a sudden it was over, and my Spotify thing ran into some other guy doing a cover of his easy tops like I thought the hell's going on. It is a terrific album. I've been thoroughly enjoying it, as I have with with many of your what do you got a dozen albums now? Or I

David Gogo  15:20  
think this is like 17 or something, yeah? So, yes, yeah. It's crazy, you know, you know, to try to keep keep things fresh, try to keep people interested, yeah, so, and that's why I kind of, I left my comfort zone for this record and went to Ontario and recorded with some people that I haven't really recorded with, let Steve Mariner take over the production and choose who the players are going to be. And there's a spontaneity and an energy that really happened, and you can hear it on the album. From

Terry Evans  15:44  
what I understand, you traveled light with this record. You You didn't even take did you take one guitar or, yeah, own gear? Yeah,

David Gogo  15:52  
it was weird. And here's the other reality of being a traveling musician, especially in Canada when you're on a certain budget, is I was going out to record for 10 days in just outside of Coburg, Ontario, at that cataract recording company with Jimmy Bosco studio. Jimmy was in the sheep dogs for a while, and he's now at Blue rodeo and does his own thing Anywho. I had to do that for 10 days. Then I had to whip up to Ottawa. Had a show to play in Constance Bay, just west of Ottawa, nice, sold out gig at the community center. And then from there, I was heading down to Roatan in Honduras. So to pack your suitcase for those so situations, live music, recording, tropical fun, it was difficult to fit everything in one suitcase, so I just brought my one guitar, which is guitar I hadn't played in a long time, my old sticker Stratocaster, I switched to a less follow a while ago. So I just had the one guitar Bucha Jimmy bosekill in his studio has a collection of vintage instruments like you wouldn't believe. So I would just say to him, Okay, on this next song, it's kind of a ballad, Jimmy, you know, and I need a real good woody sounding acoustic guitar, you know, like a real kind of a Strummer, you go, okay, play me a bit of the song. So just play him a bit on the guitar he had. And he'd run upstairs and come back with, like a 1958 Martin acoustic. And I, you know, ring hit that chord. Oh, god, that's it. Well, this next one, we want kind of a 70s rock sound. Oh, here's a 68 Les Paul, like he just had every guitar for the situation. So that was fun, too. And that was fun for me because I was like a kid in a candy

Terry Evans  17:19  
store, well, I guess. And well, and your collection of guitars is of note as well. Your resume. Did you have multiple resonators? Or, I remember you telling me the story for, oh, you got one from the 20s? Or, yeah,

David Gogo  17:31  
I've got 119 30 that's the metal body. So it's a brass body, nickel plated. That's one a gig with them. And then I have a 1935 wood body national. It's called a national Trojan, which is in really wicked shape. And, yeah, I've got a lot of guitars, and that's so if I record the albums in Nanaimo, I can always bring whatever guitars I need for that day, whether it's an old Gibson or a certain acoustic guitar. So that was a big thing for me to leave and do that. But I knew that Jimmy had these great guitars and and the other thing was, we just, with the exception of one song, everything was just guitar straight into an amp. And we had a little vintage Fender amp, sometimes a Gibson, but we keep those upstairs because we recorded in an old farmhouse. So that was the cool thing about it too, was I stayed there. So we stayed there and played there. So you're just outside of Coburg, Ontario, a little community, farming community called Baltimore, of all things. But you know, there's no no one to disturb you. You're just there to make the rep. So you stay there, you cook breakfast. There you hang out. There's tons of guitars, there's pianos, drums, like you just create. So that was the nice thing about it. So we just keep these amplifiers stuck in various bedrooms and one in the one in the one of the bathrooms, and just put a microphone up high in the corner for ambience, and one right on the goddamn amp itself, and just crank it so no pedals or anything. Just Just every just everything, just pin everything to 11.

Terry Evans  18:47  
You could always tell when somebody's on the phone in the bathroom, can't you, because of those acoustics,

David Gogo  18:51  
it's a special time. Isn't

Terry Evans  18:53  
it having a microphone or an amplifier in the in the bathroom? Is it? Was it your own little, big pink, like, the band, I

David Gogo  19:01  
know I talk about my bathroom habits,

Terry Evans  19:05  
because the band, the big pink, wasn't that named after the house or

David Gogo  19:09  
and a lot of the British bands did the same thing, like, like, rather than go to a traditional recording studio, like, LEDs up and would rent Mick Jagger's manor house out in the country, you know, that kind of thing. And the stones did it. And, yeah, music from big pink, there's just a vibe. They're doing it that way.

Terry Evans  19:24  
The Led Zeppelin for when the levy breaks, was he not? Was it? John Bonham was playing drums in the atrium of this old thing, and they were using the stones mobile studio parked out in front to record that. Did they not? Was that

David Gogo  19:37  
is correct? Yeah, trying to so very similar vibe to that, yeah, yeah, using the natural acoustics of the structure, like up the building, the

Terry Evans  19:45  
recording of of a record, a full record. Is that still your preference? Or do you sometimes find yourself, hey, I'm going to record a song, and, you know, because that seems to be. Way I'm going to record a song, put it on YouTube and hope it goes bananas, which is quite often what happens. But I find the purists and the veterans and the stuff I like more as an album, so you get a feel, a sense of where the person is at the time of the recording. Yeah,

David Gogo  20:18  
it's difficult. Al Pacino told me not to name drop. I got a phone call about six months before we started recording this album from miles Goodwin, the late miles Goodwin, he of the April wine, yes, so we'd kind of become buddies over the last couple years. I've played on one of his blues records, but he just kind of phoned me under the blue and said, you know, what are we doing? And he goes, I used, he said, I saw Facebook that you're writing for a new album like, and he's saying, like, is it even worth recording an entire album? Because, you know, it costs a certain amount of money to do that. And then how do you monetize it? If there's no record stores, how do you monetize it if radio stations, commercial radio stations, aren't allowed to play your your songs anymore when they could 15 years ago, why are we recording albums when a fucking rental car doesn't even have a CD player in it? Like there's a lot of just, just practical questions. And I think once again, it's because we have to for this new album. We did one kind of like a cyber single, a song called you. Used you used to mean so much to me. And that was for two reasons. Number one was kind of a stop gap between sessions that have been a while since I did a record. And it was also I recorded that with Steve Mariner and Jimmy bosekill, and it was kind of just, it was an experiment to see if I could work with those guys, you know, get out of my comfort zone and go to Ontario and be put in that situation to see if it would work. And it did. But unfortunately, it's hard to monetize that kind of thing, because you can tell all the people you want, hey, we got a song. It's a new single, so, but if no one decides to contribute or donate, then you know, next thing you know, you're just playing to everyone that you just spent, you know, $5,000 on a fucking song that they can all hear for free. So it's difficult. But that being said, if you just want to look at it in terms of art, you know, we want to make a great record, and that's with this album too, is realizing, okay, what's what's kind of been killing the music business? Well, a musicians are complete fucking idiots, and they'll undercut each other all the time. They'll willfully bend over and take it with anyone that that just doesn't want to pay you. It's silly. But also, there's this self indulgence ever since the CD came out of people, instead of having 10 songs on a record. Now it's 21 songs or 23 songs. Just because you can record 19 minutes of music or content doesn't mean that you maybe should. I think this, this new record is maybe 40 minutes. And all the records that I liked as a kid were about 40 minutes, 42 minutes.

Terry Evans  22:33  
You know, it's funny, you bring that up, because I did notice the length of the songs on there. And in the past, you would see new music coming up from bands, whether they be blues artists or pop or rock or anything like that. And some of the songs would be four and a half, 445, 515, whatever the case. I mean, as you know, I mean, if you're going to go back to the Boston and the bad company and Led Zeppelin and that kind of thing, that's one thing back back then. But then you see the songs, because people's attention span is that much. You know, slower, a lot of artists are recording songs that are in the 330 315-250-8255, sort of zone. Was that a conscious thing for you, or you just Somewhat,

David Gogo  23:18  
yeah, there's, there was definitely a kind of a trim the fat, all pillar, no filler attitude when we went in. And I think what maybe separates me and some of the fellows I work with, with from other blues artists, is we, you know, we do try to think in terms of, you know, would this be able to get some airplay? You know, are we, you know, is this song too goddamn long? Maybe. And and so that's what I prefer to do, is make the the albums that we record the studio a little more concise, and then when you get out on the road and start playing live, you can maybe stretch out, you know, like, let's take that solo in that third song and see where we can go with it. You know,

Terry Evans  23:55  
the albums on your live shows is when you get to go up to the front of the stage and let your toes hang off the edge and show everybody how big your dick is with your guitar solo. So that's basically after the show. That's that's the way you described it to my my boys guitar player at the time, I seem to recall those words spoken. I want to play my favorite part of the one song, and it made me burst out laughing.

There you go. Get that mayonnaise out of the sun. And who took my towel? Yeah, the name of the record, David gogo is my guest. Now, a

David Gogo  24:48  
lot of the vocals on this album were first takes. And actually, we kept live stuff, which I've never really done. That song, we kind of finished the vocal, but Mariner says we need something for the fade out. So, like, I. Like to hang out at Nanaimo River. This was actually, this song is actually based more on the shoe shop River, this place called the Cherryville Roadhouse. I like to play there once a year. We give her the river. You know, they've got some nice waitresses there, but, uh, Nanaimo river. So Mariner says, Okay, for the fade out. I was still at the vocal mic. He said, Just say things that you would say at the river. So the first thing I said was, get that mayonnaise out of this sun. So that may be the first time that that lyrics ever been recorded. And I just think they kept all of me, there's, there's, where's the baby, which I thought was

Unknown Speaker  25:29  
that you can

David Gogo  25:30  
hardly hear the one because marriage, where Monica comes in, I go, where's the baby? And we only cut one because we we kept that guy's got a off. I like that. But the, oh, the only one he cut was, I said, it's okay. You can't get pregnant if it's in the water. That's the only one where Mariner went, Yeah, I think we wanted to cut that one. Oh, man, but there's those are things I say at the river. Well,

Terry Evans  25:52  
we'll get more into that in just a moment. We'll be right back. Get that mayonnaise out of the sun. It is great advice. I always wonder about that at resorts. When you go to tropical resorts and you go to the banquet or the buffet style lunch thing, and you order your burger, and then you get the ketchup and mustard that are in the squeeze pumps or whatever there, and then you go to the table and sit down with your lovely and you look over and you can see the salt and pepper, and then there's that mayonnaise sitting in that package out in the hot sun. I've never understood why they don't have have that on ice as well as catch up. When

David Gogo  26:28  
I was about 12 years old, we took a family vacation to Mexico, and, yeah, they brought up the ingredients for the burger bar around 730 in the morning, and around noon they're going to serve it. And I was going to grab a burger. My dad said, you can have one of those burgers. I said, Yeah. And he goes, No, you're not, so why not? And he pointed at the Germania. He goes, see, that's the set Nelson, seven in the morning. And by the way, remember that iguana that was on the fence? I don't see him around either.

Terry Evans  26:56  
Yeah, the man, he's killed the iguana we were talking about giving her at the river from, from the album, yeah, released in June of 2024, and it made me think of the many times that I've seen on your social media, Instagram, your your, well, shall we call it a proclivity, an inclination, a disposition to being nude at at the river. Is it the Nanaimo River? It is your, your tendency and propensity for new to submit the Nanaimo river is off putting for the neighbors. I'm sure. Are there any neighbors there, or is it just a,

David Gogo  27:36  
probably, just wish that I was off putting with my big gut? No, it's private property. So, you know, I might gross out a couple aunties or sisters, but that's about it. No, I love it. I just, I just love and when I'm on the road too, like, like I mentioned, Cherryville, I remember not last summer, but the summer before. I believe it was. It took me about four or five days to get home from there, and finally, my son was sending me a text, like, are you ever coming home? But I just couldn't resist man like I had to jump into every lake and every river I saw so and nude. If I could get away with it, I don't want to get beat up or thrown in jail or both.

Terry Evans  28:09  
And there's a certain item of clothing, an article of clothing, that you like to wear at the river that I guess allows the freedom underneath, because it's not layered or anything like that. It's, is it, what did you call it the oh, we call it the man dress. Okay, the maid is the man dress.

David Gogo  28:28  
There's a story with the man dress. I did a gig about 10 years ago. I was fired from a bunch of people for the Department of National Defense, and the idea was to rehearse at a military facility in Ontario, and then we were being shipped off to an undisclosed location in the Persian Gulf to entertain some of the people, some Navy people that were there. The boat was being fixed up or whatever, so they had a bit of time off. So we're going to entertain them. So we rehearsed for a few days in Trenton, Ontario, and then when we went to get picked up by the for the bus. I mean, we're going to this Persian Gulf. It was 45 degrees or something, so I showed up in the morning for the bus wearing my man dress. Of course, everyone thought I was a silly goose. The head military guy, or our liaison with the military said, Okay, there's a problem with the bus. We were going to take you to the airport with but they're replacing the bus. The only thing is, we're going to be half an hour late. So rather than feed you at the airport, we're going to feed you in the mess hall, and then we'll take you to the airport. We'll have plenty of time. So I had to go to the mess hall with my man dress on and get my lunch. So a soldier comes up to me, goes, sir, permission to speak to you, sir. I said, Go ahead, soldier. And he goes, sir, it takes a lot of balls to wear what you're wearing right now, sir. And I said, Well, this is the freedom that you're fighting for, son. So thank you very much. But I'll tell you when we when we got off that plane, it was 45 degrees, man. Everyone wished they had a man vest, no doubt.

Terry Evans  29:52  
Yeah, when you're doing your posts on your social media and you can follow them at GO, GO guitar. On Instagram, you're also on the X. David, go go blues, I believe is that,

David Gogo  30:04  
yeah, Facebook's kind of my my jam, my Facebook Music Group, that's the one where I, you know, reach the most people. And I try to keep it a fairly clean show. I get a little bit crazier on the Twitter and the Instagrams.

Terry Evans  30:15  
The Nanaimo river that you go to, you found, obviously, a favorite little, uh, swimming spot, the fishing holes, slash, whatever it might be, is that close to go go mountain? Or you, they always make reference to go go mountain, the Christmas tree farm and the house and everything like that. What do you Yeah, it's like a five

David Gogo  30:33  
minute drive. So we used to have family property on another river spot, but that got lost in family chaos about 2530 years ago. So this is, yeah, it's like a five minute drive. So very, very close. Do

Terry Evans  30:43  
you have the GO, GO Christmas tree farm still is, I seem to recall, what, what do you have? Like the Ponderosa up there? Or, yeah,

David Gogo  30:52  
yeah. So we got where I live. My dad's got a house of one of my sisters. So we got 160 acres here. Then we got more down the road. That used to be my uncles and cousins place. My dad acquired that from them. They were no longer interested in it. So, as a matter of fact, as we speak, my son's out there right now pruning Christmas trees with a machete out in the field, getting them all shaped up for Christmas. So, yeah, it's a big thing. It's a great way to kind of utilize the property. You know, we've been here since 1897 and, yeah, so it's great, you know, p it says you cut. So people come up and we hand them a saw and that you can go out with grandma, or whoever, and or someone else's Grandma, that's what I do these days. But we go out and and they can pick any tree they like, and went and at the end of the little journey, they hand us all back and give us some cash and Merry Christmas.

Terry Evans  31:39  
Do you have a clerk Griswold family. We

David Gogo  31:42  
do have a Griswold, which we try to do that I take pictures, because some people, they go right to the very edge of the property. And seriously, I've seen, like, 17 foot long, like, so I usually try to take a picture and put it on my social media. It's a Griswold. And, yeah, today's Griswold, or the weekly Griswold, yeah. And it's, and it's funny, because, you know, dealing with the public is, is like, I work the front gate because I tried to time it. So I'm home for the busiest two weekends, or a couple weekends, maybe three weekends of the year, depending on the calendar, just to kind of be the publicity guy or PR guy, because I know my dad, like people don't like it when he threatens to shoot their dogs and stuff like that. But so front gate, so, but we thought a little bit of conflict, like last year, there was one guy, and it was super busy. I'm trying to get 10 cars into the farm, 10 cars out. My son's working with me, and all of a sudden this guy starts, like marching towards me, and you can tell he's on some kind of a mission. And he's one of these idiots that wears fucking shorts in winter, you know. And so he starts walking up. I go, can I help you? May I help you? Sir, on you to speak with Mike. Go, go. And I said, Well, if you walk that way, where you just came, just go to the second house. And he's in the office. His big sign says, Oh, well, I need to speak with someone that works for Mike Gogo. Well, same thing. Just go back there second house that he just starts giving me a hard time to go. Hey, I'm trying to do a job here, buddy. Like, if you want anything done, go to the second house. Go to the office. So he starts walking away. Then he starts giving my son a hard time. Well, I lose that. I turn around, I go, Hey, why don't you fuck right off? Well, just make one up. Because he starts going to every car that man told me to fuck off. That man told me to fuck off. So the next car that comes up, the guy just howling is a guy I went to high school with. And he said, you know, that guy's obviously nuts. And he pours me a big glass of wine that he just happened to have in his car. And he said, he said, I work with the public all the time. Here's my trick. He says, when I deal with a guy like that, I say to him, You know what, my boss told me, that once a year I'm I'm allowed to tell someone to go fuck themselves, and guess what? You're not the one. I'm not going to waste it on you. And that drives them really bad. In this environment, they want to be the one

Terry Evans  33:40  
you're not good enough for my fuck off.

David Gogo  33:42  
Yeah, you gotta earn the fuck off.

Terry Evans  33:44  
So it's a big family operation that then I had no idea, and I had no idea that you had that much land on the island. It's close to Nanaimo, yeah,

David Gogo  33:54  
about 15 minutes from, like, right downtown. So that's the other thing, is, it's close enough. You know, it looks like you're in the middle of nowhere, but you're not. You're 15 minutes from downtown. So people can come downtown. So people come up here and they feel like they're in winter wonderland, and it's cool. So the family tradition for a lot of people in town, with

Terry Evans  34:09  
owning the with the family owned land for since the What did you say 1897

David Gogo  34:14  
Correct? Yeah.

Terry Evans  34:16  
Has anybody come kicking your tires or trying to, you know, put in a resort or a golf course, or saying, hey, it's time to go, or anything like that, is there?

David Gogo  34:25  
Yeah, yeah. In fact, that

Terry Evans  34:26  
strong moment, yeah,

David Gogo  34:28  
yeah, absolutely. And that's what's the property on the road that I spoke of earlier that my cousins had, they decided they're gonna sell it. They didn't even tell my dad. My dad's helped him out from, you know, a lot over the years, and you know, he's just said to them, when you guys not going to give me a heads up or what? You know, he now, he now owns it, and they're probably kicking themselves because he logged a big part of it, and more than paid for the property, but he right away replanted it, and now we've got because as the Christmas tree, demand has grown, as the city's grown, now we've got the extra property to grow, because, you know, it takes seven years to grow a tree, so you gotta plan ahead.

Terry Evans  34:59  
Do you. You replant and then so that it like, is it that long that it this has been happening with the Christmas Yes, yeah. So you juniors out there planting and hacking them up with the machete and everything, yeah,

David Gogo  35:14  
and I'm, I'm rolling over and farting and setting my alarm for 10:30am so I can make your fucking interview.

Terry Evans  35:20  
Oh man, how was how is your boy? How old is he? Now?

David Gogo  35:25  
He's 20 fucking five years old.

Terry Evans  35:27  
Is that right? It's

David Gogo  35:28  
difficult to believe, you know. You know you know this. You know they grow up so fast, these little buggers. But I'm in the fortunate situation where him and his old lady, they live with me. They live up here on the farm, and they dig it, you know? I mean, he was playing some drums as well, like your son, and playing with the music itself, because kids their age are really, it's a weird generation, you know. And he did a few gigs, but the people, they just don't take it as serious as he was taking it. So he does a lot of other stuff, but in terms of, just like working here on the farm, I mean, he's got a good, healthy job, you know, they're out there every day getting fresh air and exercise and everything. And so it's nice. It's nice to have him around, for sure. Because, you know, when he was a little guy, I was on the road a lot, you know, like going to Europe for a month and stuff like that. And that can be difficult. So it's kind of fun to hang out now and do the thing. But yeah, it is. It's a big family, a family affair, for sure.

Terry Evans  36:18  
So you mentioned your son's mother, and I just saw on your Instagram, what, what the fuck is with the divorce thing? Like, do you want to talk about that? Or, I mean, you put it on your social media, so I figure it's not a taboo topic to bring up. You thought you were divorced, but you weren't. Yeah, that

David Gogo  36:38  
was a that was a different woman. I was married to that woman. We never lived together. That was a weird thing. We never lived together, but we were married, but it was six years ago. She just said to me, Hey, I don't think this is working, like there's a thing called an uncontested divorce. We just go in to the law courts and sign their phony baloney forms and give them their phony baloney fee. And I said, Yeah, okay, I can do that. So we met up at the law courts and did the whole thing. And it was 300 and something dollars, you know, all told. So I said, Okay, I'll pay for it. She goes, No, I want to split it with you. I said, No, my love, we can, you know, I'll pay for it. No, no. So she insisted. So we split the fee. I walked her to her car, you know, farewell. And it was about 930 in the morning, and I knew that one of the old coal miner bars in Nanaimo was open the palace. I know they're open at 9am Royal Bank doesn't open till 1030 The palace is open at night. So I walked down to the palace, and I walked in there, and the owner says, Mr. Go, go. You're in here, Motley early. What's going on? I said, Well, I'm just celebrating my $137 divorce. And he just goes, like, listen, grabs a bottle of tequila and pours big water glasses full of tequila, and just tell me of your ways. But that was six years ago, and she got back in touch with me a while ago and said, You know, I never got that letter back signed by the judge. And you know, you mail the stuff off and you're supposed to get back. So we looked into it, and there was some silly clerical error, and I guess they tried to send a letter for whatever reason, it didn't make it, make make it to us see we got married in a place called for J Saskatchewan. It's felt forget. Chits are so a bit of fucking foreshadowing there. But they, they filled out in the form 4j, s, k, rather than Saskatchewan. Like, I don't know what the fuck else s k stands for, but so, yeah, for. So for six years, we thought we were divorced, and we haven't been so we just rectified that. We're just waiting to now get the papers back. But yeah, so my son said to me, so you haven't been married to her for six years? I said, Yeah, and we were trying to do the body count on that one, and it was pretty grim. That's

Terry Evans  38:37  
just, that's a crazy story that can only happen to you. I can't even imagine if, like, I remember you came in on the on the radio show one time, and you told the story about you and the Evola in Evola at the login pub, and the story that, the way you told the story, it was just, I couldn't, like, I just waited for the next thing to happen, and that's the one of the things I was looking forward to talking to you today because of your great storytelling and all of the stories.

David Gogo  39:08  
Well, yeah, and that's one thing I had to do, is get a book. And that's why I started my podcast. Was just to try to jog my memory of some of these things, because when you've been doing crazy things for 30 plus years, I mean, I just realized the other day one of my big fans in Quebec, Robert Dao, mentioned, because I said, Hey, I was the first act ever play Ottawa Blues Festival. Well, that was 94 so my first album came out in 9430 years in the business. I can rumba, seems like yesterday. But, you know, to get all those stories, it just, it's kind of, kind of jogging the memory. But, you know, I don't think it's an egotistical thing. I think it's that there's actually some interesting shit, whether it's sleeping on Stevie Ray Vaughn's hotel room floor, or dating a chick that used to be your or is your ex wife's twin sister's best friend,

Terry Evans  39:53  
your ex wife's twin sister's best friend.

David Gogo  39:57  
That's always fun.

Terry Evans  39:57  
I smell a blue. Song, oh,

David Gogo  40:00  
I wrote it.

Terry Evans  40:01  
We'll be right back. Reluctantly, you mentioned briefly sleeping on the floor of Stevie Ray Vaughan's hotel room. Stevie Ray Vaughn just earlier this month, would have been 70 years old. So that means it's 35 years since we lost them?

David Gogo  40:22  
Yeah, I find that already believe, you know, just thinking in terms, you know, I'm 55 that poor guy only made it to 35 really, it's just like it like to me, you know, I guess that's just what it's like when you're a certain age. You know, people 1015 years old are always seem like way, way older. You know, I'm older now by by a long time than than he ever was, 20 years than he ever was. Yeah, I mean, it's at the point. And the same thing writing a book, you know, I started working with different musicians. You know, I've got my my band in on Vancouver Island. I've got another band in Ottawa that I've worked with for probably 20 years now. But I'm starting to work with different Prairie Musicians, because that's just the reality of the Canadian music business is you can't afford to bring a whole band across Canada Anywho. As I start walking with, working with these new players, you know, which there's a bit of windshield time driving in the next gig. So I'll just happen to, you know, Stevie Ray, Vaughn will come up, and I'll start talking about my times that I got to spend with him. And you could see some of the younger guys like, Oh my God. It's like, it's like, he's like, when I used to hear guys talk about hanging out with Jimi Hendrix when I was a kid, because he's been gone for that long. So, you know, if you're a 30 year old guy, or a guy in your 30s, you never got a chance to see Stevie gray ball, you know, I got a chance to hang out with the man. I got a chance to, you know, luckily, I've got a couple photographs of when I was a punk kid. I got a belt he gave me. But the nice thing was, was even though, at the time, he was my, like, totally my hero because I was 14 or 15 years old. He also taught me, uh, lessons and how to, you know, humility and how to just take things in stride. You know, don't believe all the good height. Tom Cochran, same thing, if you believe all the good things that they tell you, all the smoking gonna blow up your ass. Then when you when someone says something bad about you, it's gonna be devastating. But if you take everything with a grain of salt and try to take constructive criticism, you know, take a certain amount of praise or accolades or whatever. But you know, don't take it all too serious. That's the main thing. It's just do what you do and do it the best you can

Terry Evans  42:09  
do. Stevie Ray, Vaughan, of course, the history is there. The you talk about ebbs and flows and ups and downs and all of the things that he dealt with, with addiction and everything like that. And the fact that he was, you know, somebody you looked up to, and you met at a young age, and how much you learn from him, you learn from from the good and from the bad too, don't you?

David Gogo  42:33  
Yeah, and I think the big reason why, I mean, I've had my struggles with booze and stuff over the years, because it's just kind of in the in the business, I always stared, steered clear of drugs. And I think a big reason was because of the struggles as guys like Stevie, or, you know, way back in Hendricks, when I used to read books about Hendrix, whenever he had a shitty gig, or, you know, had to leave after three songs, or it was always seemed to be a thing to do with drugs. And I saw it up, you know, up close and personal with Stevie, but I also saw him after he recovered. So it was pretty amazing just to see that happen, because I saw him in a couple situations that were pretty down and out, you know, luckily, he had some people with him that made sure that he was okay at the end of the night, every night. But, you know, it's just, it's just part of that, that business and the way they grew up. I mean, we did, we did shows, a couple of shows opening for Dickie Betts, the late Dickie Betts of the Allman Brothers, wow, he was still an animal, like in his 70s, and that's just the way he grew up. You just figured you got to drink a bottle of Jack Daniels and do an eight ball and punch a girlfriend after the show. Otherwise you're not a rock star. You know.

Terry Evans  43:36  
You know, it's so funny. It is weird. And I remember Dickie bats seeing the Allman Brothers and the one show that I saw them at the Shaw conference center in Edmonton, and it was just like, just when you didn't think it could get to anything further of a crescendo. There was just so much more that came out of Dickie and Greg and and, I mean, it was unbelievable. And then after, after the show that night, uh, Greg Allman, I went up and met him, and I had a pack of Marlboro gold, and there was one cigarette left in it, and I had a Sharpie, and the only thing I had to write on was that pack of Marlboros. I said, Hey, you know, would you mind signing my cigarette pack? He goes, Yeah, sure. So, I gave it to him, and he took it in his hand, and he wrote on it, Greg ALM, and the a n was on his finger. So the autograph that from Greg almond was Greg ALM on my Marlboro lights back, and the rest of his signature was on his finger. But Dicky Batson, he was, he absolutely blew me away. The one time that I did see the Allen brothers.

David Gogo  44:48  
Oh, he was, he was so good, man. He was so good. Yeah, yeah. We got, we got to see him throw at Les Paul once in Rochester, New York, at his guitar tech. That was pretty wild. We saw him do some pretty well self, considering. Only did a couple of shows on them.

Terry Evans  45:01  
Yeah, you know. You know you're talking about Stevie Ray Vaughan, how the fact that he was 35 when he was taken from us, it just put me in the mind. I just happened the with J key Lee, who took over from Randy Rhoads, playing guitar for Ozzy Osbourne, who Jakey Lee is now 73 years old to date the podcast, but recently suffered gunshot wounds while walking his dog at like 246 in the morning in Las Vegas, but he took over from Randy Rhoads when Randy Rhoads died at 25 so you think about the you know, Stevie Ray, Vaughan, Randy Rhodes, obviously Jimi Hendrix in the 27 Club. How much more they could have given if they would have become the age of an Albert Collins or a Johnny Winter or, you know, Buddy Guy, or something like that. If, yeah,

David Gogo  45:51  
well, even we just talked about the Allman Brothers. I mean, Dwayne Allman was 24 you know, I listen to those records and the stuff he accomplished not just the Allman Brothers, but, you know, he did the Derek and the Domino's record of Clapton. He did Aretha Franklin sessions, King Curtis, like, just on and on. Just ridiculous amount. I mean, these guys work, they worked hard. And Dwayne's one of the guys I wish I could have seen play live, but yeah, 24 I can remember,

Terry Evans  46:16  
hey, one of your podcasts I listened to was Canada's own Colin James, and it was from, was it earlier this year, or, I'm not sure that, I think it was about six months ago or something. Was it? Yeah, so obviously, pre car accident on the east coast during his eastern US tour. But the soul Bender podcast is up and up and going, and you've had all kinds of awesome guests and great conversations and storytelling on that as we're talking about, you know, guys like Dickie Betts and Stevie Ray Vaughan, obviously, people who you would give almost anything if you could sit and speak to them for an hour as You and I are talking right now, who are some of the people that you have had on your podcast, on the soulbender podcast, that have been amazing, and people that you still have the opportunity perhaps to and want to visit with.

David Gogo  47:13  
Yeah, it's a tough one, because I, you know, I think about it now. You know, all that time I spent hanging out in the Winnebago, Johnny Winter, I could have had a great podcast with that. So I'm trying to get more. It started off the podcast sort of more to me, talking about my career, my experiences, and then as that started to run out of somewhat, I thought, Well, it'd be great to talk to some, some of these fellow artists, not just speak for the story, but, you know, just to record it for posterity. And there's, there's actually been a couple of people that are no longer with us that are on the podcast, but yeah, Dickie would have been someone getting Colin. James was great. I've known Colin off and on for a long, long time. My buddy Mariner is playing with him now. So it was a really relaxed thing, you know. And it was during the day at, you know, in a hotel suite. And was that was a nice one. One of my favorites is a guy named Gene car. Now, Gene just passed away a couple months ago. He played in the NHL. He was picked 1971 I believe, was the year. So the first overall pick was Gila Fleur. Number two was Marcel Dion. Number three was Jocelyn gouvermont. Number four with Gene car. So he ended up playing in the NHL in the early 70s. His glory years being playing for the LA Kings in the mid 70s, where he befriended Glen fry and hung up with the Eagles all the time, and they wrote new kid, new kid in town, basically, about Gino. And so that's, that's an interesting interview from a person that's not a musician, but hung out with a lot of musicians. And just just to, you know, be there in that era, you know, be playing for the LA Kings in the 70s and partying with all those folks with that said, that's a pretty neat interview, but I just try to keep my eyes and ears open. You know, who's in town, who would I have access to? And, you know, it's mostly blues artists, but they've got some good stories, man,

Terry Evans  48:53  
yeah. Well, and you you know how to bring them out of out of people as well, you know, just listening to the way you handle yourself. You mentioned the fact that you, at first, it started just being about you and your career and things that happened to you and your terrific storyteller. I've been witness to that many times on the radio show and again today, for that matter, but the fact that you've been able to take your storytelling and all of the things that revolve around you and deal with you, specifically with your career, and you've been able to kind of twist that so that it's a receptive thing, and then you're able to contribute, because you have that kind of connection through what you do and it being so similar to what the people you're interviewing are doing. So I think it's terrific you listen and that that's key in interviewing someone is listening to them. Instead of trying to find a place to say what you want to say next or ask the next question,

David Gogo  49:54  
could you repeat that I wasn't listening? Set me up. I. Um, well, I'm a, I'm a big fan of reading musicians, biographies or autobiographies. Oh yeah, some, some are great, some are the shits. And that, that's the big thing. I watched once a thing with Larry King. And they asked him, you know, what's the trick of being such a, you know, being a person who interviews people for a living and the longevity that he's had? And he said, Yeah, listen, and also try the least amount. Try not to say me or I, like, don't make it about you. Make it about them. That being said, because I'm in the in the music business, I think that's what lets a lot of these people's guards downs. They know I'm in the business, and they know I've been at it for a long time. So a I'm going to ask them the questions they want to hear, rather than, know, what kind of extremes do you use that kind of stuff? But I do use the I and the me sometimes, just if I can relate to them in terms of whatever story they're telling or situation they've been in, in the in the business, because I've been in the business for a long time, and that's what makes it fun. Like whether Sean burrow from wide mouth or someone like that, you know, we have a certain relationship. We've seen each other on the road over the years, and there's just things that we can relate to. But that's a big thing too, is listening and knowing where to take the interview, like, what direction should we go and, you know, and trying to avoid certain things that you know maybe they don't want to discuss, you know, and that's good to maybe do that before the interview. One thing that was surprising was one of the people that I interviewed, apparently I went into kind of uncharted territory that I wasn't aware of. But they went with it, just because they felt more relaxed with me, rather than just, you know, Joe Blow from the Peterborough times or whatever. You

Terry Evans  51:33  
know, Josh and Sean Vro from wide mouth. Mason, that guitar is beautiful, isn't it?

David Gogo  51:38  
Oh, man, he's such a killer player.

Terry Evans  51:41  
The one he just got that the paint is, what is it the is it Mo? I don't even know. Is it periwinkle that? Yeah,

David Gogo  51:47  
I'm trying to figure out. I'm sure I made some facetious comment about it on social media. It's kind of a, well, yeah, what

Terry Evans  51:56  
would you lavender? Maybe lavender or,

David Gogo  52:00  
yeah? Well, he's just such a killer player. And he does this weird thing where he wears three different slides on his finger. So when you play slide guitar, I use a bottleneck, like a glass bottle neck. You can use metal or whatever you want. So I usually just use it on my pinky. Well, he's got three. So I was doing a show with him a year or so ago, and it was, you know, I was on the bill. He was on the bill, and I think Brandon Isaac, but in the middle of the show, I filmed a bit of it and I sent it to my my buddy, Russell broom. No, Russell plays with Jan Arden, and he produces tons of great records. Like he's a really well known guy and, like, no less respected guy, he just said, Don't show me that. Okay, so here's you should go, Sean, bro, he just three slides it. Don't show me that. So, you know, they just showed Yeah, okay, Russell

Terry Evans  52:42  
broom came up to grand McEwen Community College and did a thing, and my son got to play drums with him. Oh, cool, yeah. When, when Riley was still enrolled at Grant Mac. Yeah, he's

David Gogo  52:54  
a great guy. Yeah, great player.

Terry Evans  52:55  
The the wide mouth mason stuff was, was always fun. Did you ever have the desire or or want for a gigantic pink Trojan condoms? Bus,

David Gogo  53:15  
close. Condoms are for six they I remember when they did that. They got an endorsement. Well, I know I tried to get an endorsement with shimus regal for years. Why not endorse what you like? Right? Yeah, condoms and

Terry Evans  53:26  
scotch. I remember that kind of pulled up in front of the side track cafe in Edmonton, and it was all of the buzz that night they played at the at the side track with white. Oh, man, they

David Gogo  53:37  
would have killed it that night, too. Man, the side, right? I was thinking that the other day, but, you know, I'm finally getting to go back to Edmonton. I'm I'm thinking about the places I played, because someone was asking me that the other day, in side tracker. That was a good or for a long time. And before that got I started playing off we played. It was called the power plant at the university. Yes, that's what, that's where I started plant. And it was a place called on Dante's. For a minute, on Dante, yeah, just off a white Ave. I never did play the commercial. We played mostly the university, because when I started off, we were kind of younger guys. Anyways, we started playing, you know, we played more that was still our crowd, you know. And then, you know, moving on to the side track and and then you try to be, I mean, that's what I found in this business in the last few years, there's a lot of people are being proactive. If there's not a good venue, create one, like I did that a few years ago, because we hadn't played in Edmonton, and they just knocked the side track down. I was hanging out with a friend of mine in Edmonton who lives up kind of in that area around the Chateau Louis in that and he said, Well, I got a friend who's got this place, the B Street bar, so we just went up there and had a beer. Talk to the guy. He goes, Yeah, let's do a show. So I said, Well, I'll just do it for the ticket money and Jesus Christ, like, we sold it out in about a week, and then, like, the guy loved it. Were you there the night where you brought in a bison? He actually smoked a bison in the parking lot.

Terry Evans  54:50  
I don't remember I was there that you played there two nights, I think a Friday to Saturday night. I remember correctly, but I remember it being. Packed and sweaty, seeing you up there doing your thing. And, yeah, it was awesome, but that's what the blues is all about, being a sweaty, packed bar, right?

David Gogo  55:09  
Exactly. Yeah, no, he got so excited. He's Macedonian, the owner. So he got so excited with the selling out. And apparently he had to shoot the bison himself to some bison farm and and then they brought it in like they cooked it in the parking lot for a day or so. I thought it'd be dry as hell, but we were eating on stage, like in between song. But they just brought it in in a pole, and they put plywood and paper down on the on the pool table. It was fucking medieval. It was great.

Terry Evans  55:39  
Oh my God. He told me, he

David Gogo  55:40  
told me the difference between a buffalo and a bison. A buffalo is a large, hairy beast that roams plains in North America, and a bison is something that an Australian washes his face in.

Terry Evans  55:54  
That's why we don't do jokes on the show. When's the last time you bought a pair of flu bug shoes?

David Gogo  56:00  
You know, how funny you should mention that I was looking at some flu bugs on a lovely woman the other day, and it's been a long time their designs, I mean, I hate to say this, and if I'm blowing my endorsement, Well, God damn it, you should have gone on it 10 years ago. None of their designs have really particularly been able to float my boat in the last few years. And if you're throwing up that kind of cash, you want to look kind of good. My dad showed up some crazy footwear a while ago that he just saw on Facebook or something. He ordered it for me. But my flu bugs, I keep in immaculate condition. They only go on stage. I actually went to the flu bug store in Victoria about a year or so ago, and they had a display, and it was called, like, vintage vlog or something, and it was like, basically every pair of shoes I'd ever bought from them, and that's now their museum. I like, I like the nice sweat where, though, well,

Terry Evans  56:46  
you know, you mentioned the fact that you're 55 you're chasing me. I'm going to be 60 this year. I know. So you're going to have to take a couple of things into consideration. Your nostril hairs will start growing way faster than they used to. And if you can find velcro flu bugs, do it,

David Gogo  57:06  
we'll look for those. The nose here thing I that I took care of that last weekend I played on Quadra Island, and they had a prime rib dinner special, and that horse radish, nice, yeah, just burnt it right under there. Just snorted me a couple radish lines, and that was

Terry Evans  57:21  
good. David gogo.com for all things, go, go, you can even buy vinyl. There all kinds of nifty stuff. Go Go guitar, on Instagram, on Facebook. I'm we've just basically skimmed the surface of what we could have spent together, as far as time goes, and all of the conversations remind people of the new album, yeah, which is on your favorite streaming services and in stores now. You can also buy it@davidgo.com Edmonton, blue society, November 30 at St basil's dot Saint Basil's here in Edmonton, and, of course, the soul Bender podcast, it's always great to catch up with you. Always good to see your smiling face. Man,

David Gogo  58:07  
likewise, and the cats have an inter lean too much. We got Pete who fought a cougar a couple weeks ago. You say you follow my social media. My son and his girlfriend let the cats outside the other day, and out of nowhere, big goddamn Cougar ran right at them and peep, the mom cat just turned around and they went toe to toe. They wrestled. They rolled about five times down the driveway and disappeared into the forest. We thought she was gone forever, but she came back two days later. So she started to make some noise on your peep. So we'll just be careful, because, I mean, she fought a cougar, man, and it's not the kind of Cougars that usually hang out at my house. I

Terry Evans  58:41  
my house. I that's not he likes them, all right, man, yeah, love you, man, we'll talk to you soon. Rock on. Reluctantly, today's podcast is brought to you by the new album from David go go, yeah, available now on Cordova Bay records. David Go Go has six Juno Award nominations and has been named guitarist of the year three times at the maple blues awards. Yeah, available now on all streaming platforms and@davidgogo.com