Tag: get to know your whiskey

Cats, Whales and Hamsters

News From The Week That Was

As things start to open up again here in Ontario, the focus in The Cube this week went back to bringing up our acoustic chops.  We saw Puffer return after beating COVID and made some serious strides in terms of being able to perform live.  I didn’t take any pictures this week in The Cube, so the side picture this week is Sam, Scarfo and Linz’s brave boy who suffered an injury this week.  Sorry for the goofy lookin cone, dude.  Glad you’re gonna be okay.

Get to know your Whiskey!

What is something you have accomplished as an adult that your younger self would be proud of?

Boyne: I broke some cycles.

Scarfo: My younger self was kind of a prick and wouldn’t appreciate who I am now.  But he’d be into Dandelions and Failure.

Puff: My younger self was pretty blasé, but he’d probably be pretty stoked that I got a driver’s license… And still have all my hair. (A hearty middle finger from Scarfo on this one).

Who is your hero?

Boyne: Blindboy Boatclub.

Scarfo: Well, in second place for my hero is Chris Boyne.  The rest of humanity is tied for first***.  Joking aside, there are 3 people that I look to in terms of how to be a good man – my late grandfather, my dad and Steve Strohack.

Puff: Ringo Starr, cuz he’s to them good music skills and ye never seen him be a dick about anything to anyone.  Just seems like a gracious and kind person, which is something to aspire to. (Scarfo suggests starting by not maligning the follicly challenged).  

What did you want to be when you were small?

Boyne: The first thing that I can remember wanting to be was a Marine Biologist – that did not last long.

Scarfo: A garbage man.  I think they call it ‘sanitation engineer’ now, but when I was a kid, it was garbage man.  Hanging off the big truck, lifting the dumpsters with the truck forks – it was like working inside of a transformer.

Puff: An artist, cause I wanted to spend as much time as possible drawing.  I’d like to spend more time drawing now … 

***Note: Line borrowed from the late, great Bobby “The Brain” Heenan

Three Things I’ve Learned This Week

  1. Boyne isn’t shy about telling you when you look orange.
  2. Hamsters are nocturnal. (Not funny, just didn’t know that and learned it this week.)
  3. There are some people out there who have a real disdain for Grimsby, Ontario.

Peas, Cheese and Knees

News From The Week That Was

A bit of a mental break week in The Cube this week. We tried a different exercise wherein we worked on building something together from scratch. I’m not certain if it will land anywhere in particular, but it was fun as a process to put together. It also helps to ‘eat your vegetables’ and try new approaches to break out of your comfort zone. My comfort zone does not include peas. Beyond that, just some mix updates and more critical listens. “Songs About Crying” inches ever closer …

Get to know your Whiskey!

My apologies, due to a copy and paste error last week, Puff’s answer to the last question was omitted.  By way of apology, I am dedicating the full “Get To Know Your Whiskey” section to the missing answer:

Who would be your ideal dinner guest, living or dead, and what would you serve them?

Puff: My kids when they were small, and we’d have mac & cheese with hot dogs.

Three Things I’ve Learned This Week

  1. People seem to be really mad about knees this week.
  2. Reasonable people can disagree, but assholes are always gonna asshole.
  3. I am terrible at SuperBowl prop betting.

Coffee, Pizza Pockets and More Coffee

News From The Week That Was

Despite being down a Puff due to illness, it was a very productive week in The Cube for Boyne and Scarfo.  More work was done on the ‘surprise’ cover mentioned last week as well as some vocal redos on a number of songs in contention for the new album.  We consolidated and realized that we are looking at about 16 songs that we are going to whittle down to what will eventually be the next record.  We are looking toward doing some more writing this week to see if anything new squeezes out before we start making decisions.  Luckily, The Cube now has a newly acquired coffee centre, so some late nights ahead may be a little more comfortable.

Get to know your Whiskey!

What’s the most useful thing you own?

Boyne: My fan – keeps me cool, helps me sleep

Scarfo: I did mention that air fryer, right?  Seriously though, the recording rack that I bought – without that, there would be no Fighting Whiskey.

Puff: Probably a screwdriver or something

What’s your biggest fear?

Boyne: That luck exists and you only have so much of it

Scarfo: Heights.  No witticism here, I hate ladders.

Puff: Balloons

Who would be your ideal dinner guest, living or dead, and what would you serve them?

Boyne: Robert Mitchum and this lasagna I have left in my fridge – it’s so good. Although I’m sure he wouldn’t like it and I don’t want to share it.. So prolly just feed him booze and let him talk.

Scarfo: Shakespeare and pizza pockets.  Pizza pockets would blow his old school mind.  We could talk story structure.  Or Ian McShane and whatever the hell he wants as long as he talks through dinner so I can just be in awe.

Three Things I’ve Learned This Week

  1. While not advisable, it is possible to have a 10 minute conversation about snakes before my morning coffee.
  2. When someone asks you what you are thinking about, sometimes the response just comes out, “Geography.”
  3. Sometimes, the hard work is the reward.

Surprises, Lizards and 5,000 Pounds of Garbage

News From The Week That Was

Another recording week in The Cube – a test vocal line went down on top of the acoustic song last week and we are looking at recording a surprise cover to add to the new album.  (Ooooooh – surprise!!).  There were some mid-week remixes of “Run” and “Hesitant” and we are inching ever closer to getting the new record out to you fine folks.

Get to know your Whiskey!

What TV shows are you watching right now?

Boyne: My name is earl and Succession

Scarfo: Succession, Ted Lasso, and rewatching The Newsroom.  I’ll never not be watching Lost.

Puff: The Witcher, Trailer Park Boys, W/ Bob & David, Solar Opposites, Letterkenny, Sneaky Pete

What was the first LP/cassette/CD/eight track you ever bought with your own money?

Boyne: The soundtrack to TMNT the movie – the first one on cassette.

Scarfo: I genuinely don’t know.  It was probably Weezer blue, Smash or Pretty Hate Machine.

Puff: Pink Floyd: Dark Side of the Moon was my first record, my first CD was either Queen or Run DMC

What is something that hasn’t happened yet, but would certainly break the internet?

Boyne: The internet is not a real place. I don’t really care what happens there. Or at least I don’t want to.

Scarfo: An EMP.

Puff: The Trumps turning out to be lizard people would probably do it, OR actual contact with really for real aliens.

Three Things I’ve Learned This Week

  1. When people ask, “Do you know how much crap you accumulate over a decade?”, the answer is roughly 5,000 pounds.
  2. A bad day can be helped by the arrival of wacky tshirts.  Not fixed, mind you, but helped.
  3. Living with me can make someone feel dead inside in a matter of hours.

No Titles, Revolutions or Pants

News From The Week That Was

Another acoustic tune on the go for us this week as we have the base of a track laid down for something that as of yet is untitled.  Beyond that, just some mixes being worked on.  Honestly, as Scarfo is moving this week, we have been limited – so has his willingness to say a whole lot in the blog 🙂

Get to know your Whiskey!

If you could take a week off from your regular life to immerse yourself in learning something new, what would it be?

Boyne: Woodworking

Scarfo: I’d love to say learning a language, but a week probably wouldn’t do it.  I’d love to learn the basics of carpentry, it would be cool to be able to build things.  And it would be another reason that I’m cooler than Jesus.

Puff: The ancient alchemical art of distillery. 

If you could go back in time ten years and tell yourself something, what would you say?

Boyne: Get rid of shit, you don’t need all that stuff

Scarfo: Save every penny that you have and bet it all on Leicester City to win the 2015 Premier League.

Puff: I would give myself a list of the winners of all major and minor sporting events for the decade to come

If you could erase one event from history, which one would you erase?

Boyne: April 16th 1994.

Scarfo: I mean, you’d have to be a dick to not say the Holocaust, right?

Puff: The ‘merican revolution.

Three Things I’ve Learned This Week

  1. Linz’s son has an arm that is always wet and no one knows why.
  2. Puff takes having buttons seriously.
  3. I always thought I hated pants more than anyone in the world.  Among the 4 people who live in my new home, I’m number 3 at best.

Monkeys, Monkees and Bananas

News From The Week That Was

Another recording week at The Cube this week, minus Puffer as he was fighting a family cold.  Note: He was fighting the cold, not his family . . . or at least that is how I read the text.  We are looking at the possibility of splitting some of the songs from the new record off into a 3rd release, some of the more ‘fun’ songs that we’ve done and leaving the softer stuff on it’s own.  More on that decision to come. 

Get to know your Whiskey!

What’s something I would never guess about you?

Boyne: I have no concept of what others think of me, so maybe just that.

Scarfo: I asked Linz to help me with this one and she said, “I don’t know because you shock me every day.”  I’m not sure if this is a good thing or a bad thing.  Probably that I’m 41 and I still talk to and sleep with a stuffed monkey named Fritz.  He’s my buddy.

Puff: I played guitar on stage at the Ryman Auditorium

What has been your most memorable or inspirational gig and why?

Boyne: “The Mike and Mickey Show” – pretty much The Monkees, Mike Nesmith was pretty much my guy from the time I was 3 years old.  Seeing him in real life was emotional and wonderful.. plus I took my mom, seeing her seeing me seeing them, yeah that was special.

Scarfo: The most memorable would probably be the Mustache Festival with For The Hard Way.  Aside from it being a very receptive crowd and a great lineup (you can actually see the opening tune badly filmed here), the general level of bad decision making throughout the day was the key.  Knowing that we were in a field by mid afternoon and not playing until after sundown, our plan was to go beer/water/beer/water to stay ‘sober’.  14 waters later, we hit the stage . . . 

Puff: Hasn’t happened yet.

What are three words that best describe you?

Boyne: Cue. Green. Slime.

Scarfo: Stubborn, fun and gassy.

Puff: ***Note: Puff didn’t answer this one.  After reading his answers so far, I’m going to answer on his behalf: “Best Human Whiskey”.

Three Things I’ve Learned This Week

  1. Dishonesty regarding high levels of banana consumption can really set me off.
  2. People really have a hard time distinguishing between the names “Ken” and “Cody” and understanding which of them we are ‘fer’ and which we are ‘agin’.
  3. Capri Pizza is worth the drive to Windsor.

Boosters, Cuddles and Head Injuries

News From The Week That Was

Apologies for the lack of update last week, between work being nuts, getting boosted and some family stuff, I simply ran out of time.  As for news for this week, another new song was created in The Cube, though it certainly has some work to be done on it before it actually becomes anything.  Edits and mixes are continuing on the new album and we are moving forward nicely with that.  Lastly, today marks the beginning of our new feature, “Get to know your Whiskey!”  We blatantly ripped some questions from the “Exclaim!” questionnaire, but there are some additional questions added in as well.  Enjoy getting to know us, dinks.

Get to know your Whiskey!

Why do you live where you do?

Boyne: Everyone I love is here, it’s where I’ve always been.  I work here and love what I do.

Scarfo: I was recently evicted, so this is a bit of a jerk question.  I am in the process of moving to Galt for three reasons – 1. That is where my family lives; 2. It is very, very close to the Farm League Brewing tap room (stumbling distance) and 3. The aforementioned eviction.

Puff: It’s close to family.

What are the best and worst purchases you’ve ever made?

Boyne: Best, my last PC. The worst was the laptop I bought to replace it.

Scarfo: I should probably say something about my Les Paul, but I bought an air fryer a couple of hours ago that I am pretty pumped about.  As for worst, I took my chances on a Cleveland Browns “surprise box” from China recently – it came with 4 Browns masks that don’t fit me, 4 crocheted bracelets, a phone case that didn’t fit my phone and a hoodie that Linz immediately took.

Puff:  I’d say my ’86 Gibson Melody Maker has been my best. My worst purchase was a POS car that was a financial black hole.

How do you prefer to end your day?

Boyne: Reading myself to sleep.

Scarfo: By lying down in my bed?  A nice cup of tea in the evening is very relaxing and a little RDR2 is nice as well.  Something about a cup of hot Royal English Breakfast tea and shooting O’Driscolls in their penises that makes me settle right in.

Puff: Cuddlin’ with me wife.

Three Things I’ve Learned This Week

  1. It is possible to not laugh while watching a 7 year old smash his head off of a cupboard door and hit the ground.  Not easy, but possible.
  2. When an impressionable young adult asks, “Can we do a celebrity death bowl?”, you don’t correct them on the bowl/pool issue, you just say yes.
  3. Euro shouting lyrics never gets old.