Author Archives: Syggy Santos

Marianas Trench: How Can I Top Call Me Maybe?

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Remember when “Call Me Maybe” was released in 2012? It was one of the earliest memories when I moved to Canada at the age of six. Not only did I notice the growth of a trending song for the first time, but my sister and I discovered our first Youtube channel because of a parody of “Call Me Maybe” by Wassabi Productions, which is what I would call peak content back in 2012. 

I only learned in August that Josh Ramsay co-wrote the song and produced it. It was actually intended to be a folk song when Carly and Tavish Crowe first wrote it, until Josh Ramsay saw it and gave it the pop feel we recognize.

I didn’t realize Josh Ramsay was also the same singer in the Vancouver band, Marianas Trench, and “Here’s To The Zeros” was one of the first tracks that got me into them. I don’t often look up the meaning behind lyrics, but it makes much more sense to me now.

Wikimedia

Turns out the drive behind the song was after the massive success of “Call Me Maybe”, but with such a success comes a pressure to keep up, according to Josh. Even the name of the song is meant to be ironic because “Here’s to The Zeros” only has 16 million listens, which is nowhere near his most successful work.

 

This song is actually pretty deep, despite the bright and catchy tunes. It points out that labels only want musicians with a clean background with none of their issues behind the scenes revealed to the public. In the first verse, Josh references his heroin addiction that got him involved with the cops and kicked from high school. He makes it clear that many labels wouldn’t want to be near anyone with such a terrible background. It might be hard to draw the line on someone’s past mistakes, even for a reasonable person in 2025. We see the downfall of many figures either failing to uphold their morals and never grow or just unapologetically devolving. That hurts the image of those who actually grew out of their mistakes and just want to deliver good music and celebrate their journey.

 

His intent with this song was to celebrate the imperfections in him and his fans, and no one can actually have the spotless pop image that labels want. Even the clean stars feel this pressure, and many turn to non-clean substances in the back.

Sarah Mclachlan: Recovering and Building

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Do you remember that heartbreaking scene in Toy Story 2, where it reveals Jessie’s backstory with her owner, Emily? That might be one of the saddest songs ever in Disney Films. All this time, I never realized the singer for “When She Loved Me” was actually Sarah Mclachlan, and I should have known since I have a few of her songs in my library.

Right now, she’s on her Fumbling Towards Ecstasy 30th Anniversary world tour, playing on October 15 in Victoria. It’s good to know she’s performing again because she had to cancel her 2024 Canadian tour when she was diagnosed with acute laryngitis. Usually, acute laryngitis lasts about three weeks, and it’s often caused by the flu or vocal strain, but aside from her cancellation of last year’s tours, she said in an interview that she tried to avoid speaking for three to four months. That’s terrifying for both her and her fans. 

That experience made her realize how fragile the vocalis muscle can be and the value it had for her self-worth and sense of purpose. Luckily, she took the right steps in letting her voice recover, and now she’s back to performing. For her concert tickets, $1 in each ticket actually goes to the Sarah Mclachlan School of Music. 

I remember coming across an unrelated event that was located at the Sarah Mclachlan School of Music near Main Street Science World. I remember being puzzled when I saw that, but I haven’t looked any deeper into it. Is it the artist, or someone else with the same name? Yes, it’s actually her, and there’s a few more campuses in New Westminster, Surrey, and Edmonton.

 

Sarah School of Music

It was actually a charity that began in 2002 to give children access to music education because she saw music programs in public schools being cut over the years. My elementary and high school were both private schools, and music was one of the two pillars of their identity, with the second being sports.

At the Sarah Mclachlan School of Music, the point is to be free and accessible to students lacking opportunities for music education. They’re heavily focused on helping children find their voice. They also give students the freedom to select instruments to learn like piano, guitar, percussion, and songwriting.

It’s been over a decade since her last studio album, and her 10th album, “Better Broken”, was just released in September. She’s performing again, has a growing charity school, and she’s coming back strong with new music.

John Legend: When Talent Collides

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I remember 2013, where I thought almost everyone I knew suddenly became a pianist. From my sister to my classmates in second grade, they all played the same song. I’m referring to the intro of “All of Me” from John Legend.

I thought it was sweet that such a beautiful song was actually dedicated to his fiancee, who then became his wife. That song is the reason I know his name, but after listening to some of his other songs, this might be another R&B artist I overlooked.

He’s performing in Vancouver on December 3 at Rogers Arena. It’s his 20th Anniversary World Tour for his 2004 album “Get Lifted”. I remember discovering his album in a playlist of shared MP3s. For a baritone, his vocal range is wider than mine, and many confuse him for a tenor.

His primary sound involves the piano and his baritone voice with a warm and smooth timbre. Especially in his “Get Lifted” album, the song, “Ordinary People”, got people to stop and listen to it on the radio because the vocals and piano stood out from all the drums and high energy.

Christopher Polk/NBC

That debut album started through John Legend’s college roommate, Devo Harris, who was Kanye West’s cousin. In 2001, John and Kanye met at a time when they were just aspiring artists. Legend was turned down by labels everywhere, while Kanye produced a third of Jay-Z’s album, “The Blueprint”. Kanye made a bit of a name for himself as a producer, but hasn’t made his own music yet.

 

John and Kanye wrote songs together, and John even sang and played the piano for some of the songs in Kanye’s project, “The College Dropout”. In that time, the two wrote songs like “Let’s Get Lifted”, “Alright”, and “Used to Love U”, which eventually made it into his first album in 2004. Their careers were intertwined, helping each other rise to fame.

I didn’t realize that his real name was John Stephens. “John Legend” became his stage name because the poet, J. heard his music style, and John’s music reminded Ivy of old-school soul artists. He didn’t even intend to make a stage name for himself. His circle of friends in the studio gave him the nickname, but because it was bold, when people hear the name “Legend”, he’d better deliver.

He says that maybe he’ll live up to the name when his career is over, but he’s deserved that name since he got it.

Alan Walker: Where Are You Now?

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Do you remember Youtube 10 years ago, when Alan Walker played on every gaming channel? If you’re wondering where he is now, on Halloween, there’s an Alan Walker concert happening in Vancouver at the Pacific Coliseum.

If you’ve been on Youtube since 2014 to 2017, you might be familiar with his songs like “The Spectre” and “Faded” being used pretty much everywhere. I remember owning a Youtube account when I was 11 and finding tons of Asphalt 8 mobile gameplays using Alan Walker in intros and outros, or as a looping music bed. 

Even as a kid who was new to the platform, I could tell how generic the video production was for many channels when they used the same ten copyright free songs in their videos. Most videos you find from gaming channels from 10 years ago use a moving neon visualizer with bright, shifting hues along with their name in the center while Alan Walker’s music fades in.

His first song was “Fade” which was released in 2014 when he was just in high school. He started out with a hit, very quickly gaining millions of views, but his listeners felt something was missing from the song. This led him to reach out to a singer called Iselin Solheim, and they filled the song with the vocals that felt missing from the original track, which was then released as “Faded”.

djayzpro / Alan Walker

Alan Walker’s dream label is not something like Sony or Warner, but instead NoCopyrightSounds, which lets you use music for free without a copyright claim. That’s why you find so many Youtubers like gaming channels that use songs like “The Spectre” in their older videos. His growth in popularity was largely thanks to his desire to put his songs out there for free.

As for his identity and branding, he had a look of a hacker or an anonymous figure behind the scenes. Think of a black mask, hoodie, and a backpack. His main focus wasn’t trying to hide his identity, but rather shift the focus towards the music and not himself.

 

His songs give out a melancholy dystopian future vibe with a focus on emotional melodies and synths, rather than drums and bass. At his concerts, the lighting truly elevates the experience of listening to EDM live. With a high energy synchronization of strobes and panning beams; EDM is one of the best genres for laser effects, especially at an Alan Walker show.

Boyz II Men: Pain For The Art

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I checked SongKick recently, and I found that Boyz II Men are performing at the River Rock Casino Resort in Richmond on October 24. I remember my family deciding whether we should go to the Boys II Men concert at the PNE or TLC. While the Boyz II Men concert happened right after TLC we knew our feet  would be burning red if we stayed any longer.

 

Their songs, “I’ll Make Love to You” and “End of the Road” are the two that I know best. They really capture the essence of 90s R&B, and I can see why my sister says R&B’s her favourite genre. It’s soulful with smooth layers of vocals.

Boyz II Men

“End of the Road” was so big in 1992 that for 13 consecutive weeks, it remained number one in the US Billboard’s Top 100, which is almost as long as Whitney Houston’s “I Will Always Love You”.

This is a song that you’ll most likely play during a breakup, but you might also play this at a wedding, or a prom. Before I even tried to understand the lyrics, it just struck me as a romantic evening kind of song.

“End of the Road” was produced by Kenneth “Babyface” Edmonds for the Boomerang movie soundtrack, and he almost kept the song until Boyz II Men decided to record it. They were in a studio in Philadelphia, ready to record before their world tour when they heard that Wayne was having trouble singing. The problem was that they only had that night to finish the recording. 

Wanya then decides to sing at the back so he could sing louder over the pain. The pain he felt in his throat during the recording process is what you hear in the final cut. Especially near the end of the song, Wanya sings “Help me out a little bit, baby”, that’s one of the moments that capture the emotion because he was actually in physical pain with his hands on his throat. His voice was being pushed to the limit, but he delivered a very striking moment that really made the song stand out. While it was hard for them to watch, it was a really good delivery that sold the emotion of the song.

Now, whenever you listen to “End of the Road”, you’ll realize Wanya was truly suffering as he sang. Sometimes, a work of art demands real pain to have impact.

Our Lady Peace: The Band That Helped Shape Canada

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It’s been a while since I’ve seen an alternate rock band, but I found out Our Lady Peace is performing on December 11 at the Great Canadian Casino Vancouver. I remember hearing “Superman’s Dead” on the radio as I was working on late night projects, but I didn’t expect them to be such an important influence in Canadian culture though. I just enjoyed some of their older songs.

Just earlier this June, they made it to Canada’s Walk of Fame. If you haven’t heard of Canada’s Walk of fame, it recognizes achievements or Canadians in things like science, business, or athletics. People like Jim Carey or Wayne Gretzky are big Canadian names, and if you look deeper into the history of Our Lady Peace, they’ve done a lot in 30 years.

Albums like “Naveed” and “Clumsy” resonated so well with Canadian audiences in the 90s with dark themes like loneliness and identity with a sense of optimism. For many young adults, this is something you’d listen to as you stare at a wall while you connect with the lyrics. That’s a time when you navigate your personal struggles and redefine your identity after an emotional burnout, so songs from Our Lady Peace tapped in their minds, making them examine themselves and their view on the world.

While I remember them for their older albums, they didn’t rely on the success of their existing songs. In one of their interviews in 2017, Duncan Coutts, their bassist, said the band doesn’t look back on their journey very much, and they instead use their time trying to innovate while keeping the integrity of their lyrics.

Our Lady Peace

They also co-founded the Summersault music festival that featured bands like The Smashing Pumpkins, Barenaked Ladies, and the Foo Fighters, and the earnings from the festival went to Canadian and American food banks. Not only have their songs made changes in people’s lives, but they also supported various causes like children’s hospitals, sustainability, and especially mental health issues relating to the struggles they project in their lyrics.

Throughout their career, they’ve left a positive impact on Canada’s identity, and they are an excellent choice to represent Canada’s music culture and social responsibility.

It makes me happy to see a culturally significant band in Canada still being appreciated today. To celebrate their milestone in Canada’s music scene, you can check out their upcoming Vancouver performance in December.

Aliens At Home: The Real Stagehand Experience

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I recently interviewed a local band called Aliens At Home, and I noticed they are performing again soon at The Cobalt Cabaret on October 23. Since I don’t see any shows from Green Day happening anytime soon in Vancouver, I do know that Aliens At Home, who were heavily inspired by Green Day, will be returning to perform at local venues.

They started out as a band called The Burnouts, covering Green Day’s songs for fun until their lead, Viral began songwriting and eventually tossed in two original songs in his shows. That ultimately shifted the band’s direction to now playing originals. If you’re wondering where the name came from, Aliens refers to how most of us aren’t native to the land, and that we’re all immigrants or aliens that feel at home. 

I discovered that he worked as a stagehand with my friend, and as someone who felt curious to know what the experience was like working backstage, I was a little shocked to hear how awful his experience was when he worked for Taylor Swift’s touring crew. From his experience as a stagehand, he wants to make sure that the crew at his shows don’t experience the same struggles he faced. He points out that since there’s no long-term relationship with her touring crew, in his experience, the crew was cheap and disrespectful.

Aliens At Home

I’ve only heard positive things about the local crews that worked with her, and from that, she sounded super generous. In her Era’s Tour, the amount of bonuses she gave out to the crew totaled to $197 million. There was also a time in 2015 where she flew her crew of 125 people to Australia for a tropical vacation.

To hear that Viral experienced none of that and that she allegedly went so far as to book an extra crew so that Viral’s crew couldn’t see the show completely contradicts the nice gestures that the public knows.

For stagehands, the hours are long, and the work is strenuous, but you must be focused in a fast-paced and high-pressure environment if the show is to go smoothly. Not every touring crew can have the same level of generosity as others.

Nowadays, the shady things going on behind the scenes becomes more and more transparent, but I’m glad to hear that Viral would take the extra steps to ensure his environment remains safe the bigger he gets.

Vancouver Symphony Orchestra: Elf In Concert

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We’re a few weeks away from Halloween, but immediately after, people get in the Christmas spirit and swap Halloween decor with Christmas decor. You know people start celebrating Christmas early when you start hearing Mariah Carey, but just like you hear ‘All I Want For Christmas Is You” every year, you might also be watching Elf every Christmas. 

It might be even more significant in BC since many scenes of the movie were shot here. An example would be the Pacific Coliseum for scenes in the North Pole

 

Since it’s such a beloved movie, tickets for Elf in Concert are available by the Vancouver Symphony Orchestra. The event starts December 19 at the Orpheum, but tickets get pricier as time goes on, so act soon if you want to hear it live. It’s actually been happening in Vancouver since 2023 because that marked the film’s 20th Anniversary.

It’s become a strange tradition for me to dress up as Buddy the Elf every year and walk the streets of Vancouver as Christmas approaches, and it’s great to know how many people recognize and appreciate the movie. It was a weird idea that popped in my head. My dad once wore it to work, and since then, I’ve been using it for Halloween and Christmas. 

Vancouver Symphony Orchestra

 

I don’t just walk around every year in an elf costume, I emulate everything Buddy did in New York from visiting my dad’s place of work, freaking out at a mall Santa, getting a crappy cup of coffee, and spinning a revolving door until I get tired. I draw the line at eating used gum and getting hit by a cab. 

I’ve had people shouting Elf references at me from a distance, and a woman once ran a few blocks just to get a picture with me. I was even given 20 dollars from a woman on the Skytrain who really enjoyed my costume. It’s just a fun thing I do to stay in the festive mood and spark a bit of joy when others see me.

While I haven’t seen Elf in Concert yet, I do expect to see it this year. Maybe I’ll find a crowd of people dressed as Buddy the Elf. When Christmas Eve approaches in Vancouver, expect to see a guy in an elf costume drinking a bottle of maple syrup, or maybe you’ll find a bunch of elves at the concert.

Cosmic Caravan: For the Spirit of Woodstock

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There’s an event on November 7th at Unity of Vancouver that caught my eye from a band that aims to keep the original spirit of Woodstock from 1969 alive, Cosmic Caravan. It’s meant to be a tribute, featuring songs of artists who performed at the original festival.

You may have heard of the Woodstock festival before as one of the most peaceful music events ever, with memorable artists like Jimi Hendrix, The Who, Santana, and Creedence Clearwater Revival. Many who attended the original Woodstock reminisce on the good times since it’s a symbol of the ideals of peace and love in the 1960’s. 

If you’ve seen the 1970’s documentary of the event, you may remember the event wasn’t all love and drugs. It was a complete nightmare for organizers of the event. You expected a smaller crowd, but half a million people unexpectedly showed up, and suddenly the event became free. Artists demanded money before performing, and there were panicked negotiations, begging the local banks to open after hours for emergency loans.

abc / website

As for the crowds, an event that lasted four days with a massive crowd gets messy. For half a week, you’re stuck in mud, running short on food and water, and you lack access to nearby washrooms. Despite all the chaos, at least it became a significant cultural icon of peace and music. The same can’t be said for Woodstock ‘99, which was the complete opposite of peace and love. Instead, it was about riots and violence.

It had similar issues to the original: poor planning with nearly half a million people, lack of food and water, and an even worse case of sanitization. Above all, the toxic crowd is what put the name of Woodstock in the mud. 

Before the chaos of the crowd, the aim of Woodstock ‘99 on the surface was to keep the spirit of the original, but it was ultimately about profits, as they charged extreme amounts of money for admissions, and they cut corners for sanitation, security, and shading. They even charged high prices for necessities like water under extreme heat conditions. These are a few things that led to the event literally going down in flames by an enraged crowd fueled by alcohol and aggression.

While this upcoming Woodstock tribute concert is from a smaller band, hopefully the event still goes well and captures what people remember fondly about the original Woodstock.

Shred Kelly: Life after Death

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It’s scary to think about, but we’ll eventually lose someone important to us, but it’s not always such doom and gloom because new life follows after death. Shred Kelly’s band members, Sage McBride and Tim Newton, created an album in 2019 to honour the passing of Tim’s father while celebrating the birth of their first child. The album, “Like A Rising Sun”, is a reflection of how Tim and Sage worked through the responsibility of parenthood while coping with a significant loss. It gives an optimistic view on the meaning of life and death.

When they were writing the album, Tim would normally compose the music first, then follow with the lyrics. Writing this album was a bit of a challenge for him since there was so much to process about his daughter and his dad. When Sage brought her daughter to stay with her parents for the weekend, Tim took the opportunity to finish writing the lyrics. Tim’s dad is someone who wouldn’t enjoy a song about him that’s written in a sad way, so whenever Tim wrote about his dad, Tim honoured him by keeping an upbeat energy. The song, “Take Me Home”, was about how Tim’s parents first met and how in his dad’s final days, he spent it out of the hospital and back home with his wife until his peaceful passing.

Shred Kelly / Website

Whenever Tim hurt himself as a child, his dad would always tell him, “It’s a long way to your heart.” This is the phrase that stuck with him the moment he was informed through the phone that his dad is gone. In that moment, the pain was right in his heart. Tim faced sleepless nights with thoughts of his dad’s passing and the worries of navigating parenthood in our current world. Their song, “Underground” focuses on the anxieties that keep people up at night.

Their final song, “Rising Sun” explores the conflict between an event that’s heartbreaking and an event that’s heartwarming. While experiencing grief, they can also celebrate the gift of something positive and welcome their daughter into the world.

Their whole album is such a beautiful and personal story that captures the experience of a loss and a gift at the same time. It might resonate well if you’ve lost someone, but you’re moving forward with a new gift or a positive opportunity.