Podcast duo embrace their Canadian mojo
Podcast duo Taggart & Torrens are ready to celebrate ‘Canadianity’ on city stage
Jeremy Taggart has traversed this great country a couple dozen times as part of Our Lady Peace and as one half of the podcast duo Taggart & Torrens. He recently released a book with fellow podcast host Jonathan Torrens in which they discuss what they’ve learned from travelling “the true north strong and freezing.” Q What made you guys decide to put your thoughts to print?
A I think it happened naturally from over 100 episodes of the pod, just telling stories and the way everyone has embraced the idea of Canadianity. The stuff we talk about is really celebrating Canada and it ends up becoming bigger than all of us. To write a book about came pretty natural, to have our perspective growing up in this country and also putting together our favourite things about this country and having friends of ours from different provinces give us some tips on individual provinces. It’s a lighthearted, fun book with a little bit of everything, no different than the podcast. Q What are the challenges of writing a book?
A Sitting down and writing, the actual act and the drive it takes to write a book. It’s easy to tell a story but it’s difficult to write it down and have it come across on the page the same way. We had a good time once we started but the practice of doing it, I especially got better toward the end when I started getting into it.
Q There are some “glowing ” endorsements on the back of the book, including Lloyd Robertson who said “I’ve not wasted a few hours I’ll never get back on this book. Oh well ... that’s the kind of days it’s been.” How did those come about?
A We told people to just tell us exactly how they felt and that is their true thoughts on the book. Honestly, how many times have you looked at a book and you read the things on the back and it’s just a big puff piece? It’s not up to us or someone else to tell you to read it, read it if you want. All of those superstar Canadianity heroes were nice enough to be cool and poke fun at us in a great way. Obviously we don’t take ourselves too seriously.
Q The book is broken down by region and talks about some of the things that make each place unique, but what unites us as Canadians?
A The country itself in terms of the solidarity of the people and understanding how great we have it with our economy and our health-care system and our resources and opportunities compared to other places in the world ... It really is a magical place and it’s only getting better. I think the rest of the world is just starting to catch on about how great it is. I remember growing up in the ’80s feeling like ‘What is being Canadian?’ It seemed to kind of get watered down by beer commercials and media about Canada. To me the true identity of this country is when you get out of the city and get to meet more rural communities and places that are more traditional Canadian spots where the history is a lot stronger. Q What is the most Canadian part of your own identity?
A My birth certificate is pretty good. I think my reservations with people I don’t really know. I talk in the book about what Canadianity means to me, how Canadians talk about ourselves as being too nice and over-apologetic. I think we’re just trying to get the other person to talk by being nice. By doing that you’re just getting to know who you’re speaking to before you can divulge your inner thoughts. It’s almost like Canadians are more like undercover cops than superstar sweethearts. Q What have you learned about Saskatchewan?
A We call Saskatchewan the epicentre and ground floor of bahdism. Our shows when Our Lady Peace played there were crazy. At Amigos there were 350 people hanging off the roof, you couldn’t fit another person in Taggart & Torrens defined (definitions from the book Canadianity: Tales From the True North Strong and Freezing)
bahd: Slang for “bud.” One who is kind in the way only Canadians can be. Canadianity: Too personal to define. For us, it’s hundreds of bahds showing up at a live TnT show in Saskatoon during a snowstorm.
there. And that was our first tour. To feel that amount of love was unbelievable. It has the Canadianity check. Q What do you enjoy the most about these shows?
A I get to play drums again so that’s fun. I don’t know why we didn’t do that last time. Probably because carrying a drum kit is hell. But it’s so much fun and really adds to the show. Having people up and having fun with bahds is amazing too.
We were at the Great Hall in Toronto and it was packed and we were there probably an hour and a half, two hours after the show meeting everyone. Especially with the circumstances of John Dunsworth and Gord Downie passing, there was an element of healing.
Everyone was kind of mourning together and that was really special because it was all people who really care about those people.