So the night before I wrote this, I was hit by a bus! I’ve been stuck in an elevator, savagely assaulted by a meth addict, and now…

Hit by a bus! I was just leaving a gig in Niagara Falls and not moments later, a transit bus tried to muscle into my lane and sideswiped my car. No one was hurt and damage was minor but it makes you reflect on how lucky we are and how quickly that can all change. So in that spirit… let’s count our blessings for the past year even as we look forward to the next. 

Where did 2022 go? I think it’s Running Wild Running Free into 2023! 

This year we released both the original album Open Hearts Open Minds and our Christmas EP Holiday Classics V1 in addition to the occasional live music performance, videos, acting gigs, and lots of writing and recording for our releases coming in 2023. 

I’ll try to recap what I can… 

 

OPEN HEARTS OPEN MINDS –the album, the journey, the aural onslaught!! 

Through 2021 (while in full pandemic mode), I coordinated the efforts of around 25-30 musicians around Canada, USA, and Brazil to produce the Open Hearts Open Minds album which I finally released in October 2022 (after releasing various singles through the year). 

Through the process of working on this, I worked with many great artists like Dan Konopka from OK Go, Mark Zubek at Zedd Records, Leon Harrison of The Lazys and Bandwagon Hub, Phil Demetro at Lacquer Channel, Kilian Bamberg, and all of my Intergalactic Choir (as “Captain” Erica Corbo has dubbed them) who sang on Love Is A Glorious Thing and title track Open Hearts Open Minds. And Felino!! His remix of Operators Are Standing By stunned me. Plus, his city was declared a Sister City to Reykjavik while we were working together which I thought was a sign from the Viking gods! 

I’m very proud of the songs on the record as they represent a wide variety of experiences and emotions both lyrically and musically. Lyrically, there are songs about being locked down (Bon Soir Regrette A Demain, Flaming Doves), freedom (Running Wild Running Free, Storm the Countryside), love (Love is a Glorious Thing), and more as well being written at various times in my life. 

The week it was released we were named Earshot Distro Artist of the Week. They said this: "Outside the box world views, alt-pop-influenced hooks interlaced with a tinge of garage rock scores with the head & heart."

Earshot Distro distributes music to Campus & Community radio stations across Canada so we definitely thank Earshot and all of the stations that played our music through the year. We were on a few nationally syndicated programs as well as many individual shows in many markets across Canada and even some in the US. 

Our lyric video for Running Wild Running Free was also fun to create and included video clip submissions from across Canada and the US and also across species as we received a submission from an actual dinosaur in New York. Thanks, Titanosaur!

 

HO HO HO! HOLIDAY CLASSICS V1 

While working on Open Hearts Open Minds, I also recorded  our first Christmas single Deck The Halls in 2021 including Dan Konopka on drums and Steve Baric on lead guitar and –of course- Jessica Magoch on co-lead vocals as well as Kari Lyn, Kim Thompson, and Tannis Slimmon on background vox. 

This year we completed and released Holiday Classics V1 EP. 

While I can’t thank Jessica enough for co-singing with me on these classics, I can definitely encourage you to keep your eyes peeled for her debut album Trivial Pursuit. I know she’s been developing it for quite a while and what I’ve heard is phenomenal. When she first sent me her vocals, I was struck by how her vocal delivery took my ears back to so many jazz greats like Billie Holiday, Ella Fitzgerald, and Alice Vaughan. No surprise she won Best Jazz Singer in Philadelphia not too long ago. On background vox are the great Carleen in Los Angeles and Cheryle Dueck here in the Toronto area. 

Rounding out our Christmas classics is a new version of This Christmas which I co-wrote with Calgary's Kim Thompson and which features the cello work of Natalie Williams Calhoun from PEI. 

Definitely make sure you listen to this great release all throughout the holiday season!! 

 

TMD CUSTOM SONGS & TMD LISTENS 

Two other ongoing projects I started in 2022 are TMD Custom Songs and TMD Listens in addition to providing online music lessons and songwriting sessions (which you can book HERE). 

The idea behind TMD Custom Songs is I write and record a song in collaboration generally with a couple getting married. I did one for an anniversary as well but the idea is the same. I interview the couple and craft lyrics and music based on their stories and musical interests. Here’s a blog post I wrote about it for Best For Bride.

Also I started making weekly-ish Spotify playlists that feature whatever I’m listening to that week and then I do up some Liner Notes giving some background on the artists. There’s always good stuff. Check out TMD Listens 35,the most recent one, here which features as many of my current collaborators as possible.

This kind of got me back to my roots as a music fan. I used to make mixtapes all the time and love sequencing music, which I used to do when I would occasionally do a radio show when I worked at CFRU 93.3 FM. I love the surprise of the next track being a different tempo, different mood, etc. and I apply all that same logic to developing my live setlists. In fact, some of the tricks I use come from David Bowie...

 

A GLIMPSE AT 2023… 

I have two main musical projects for next year in progress. 

One is my new covers EP Secret Covers V1 which includes 5 fun covers I’ve recorded. These are: 

My Shit’s Fucked Up –Warren Zevon 
Brand New Love –Sebadoh 
Iron Man –Black Sabbath 
Response of a Lakota Woman to FBI Investigation circa 1973, Pine Ridge –Bob Wiseman 
Army of Me –Björk 

Another is my next album of originals tentatively titled Passing Lanes of Fate. Through 2022, I’ve been collaborating with various great people across the known universe on the tracks that are going to be on the new album. 

I can’t share much about the new songs (other than that they are killer). Awesome stuff with the usual suspects and then also new people in New York City, Los Angeles, Washington, D.C. and more! 

In general, thanks to our partners in the industry including everyone at Indie Week, MDIIO, DISCO, Bandzoogle, Printful, Indie Pool, CD Baby, Earshot Distro and all the campus & community radio stations that played our music, as well as the fine folks at the Hamilton Public Library –where I record so much of my work in public! 

Also thank you to everyone who has purchased music or merch. We love you! 

If you haven’t picked up a TMD T-shirt, tote bag, running shoes, or the TMD Official Holiday Classics Christmas Candle, step right up to our online Store! 

If you’d like to be involved in future projects or would like to collaborate on something of yours, please let me know or if you have ideas for future projects, we’re always interested in hearing from you! 

Otherwise, my best wishes for the new year. Let me know what you have planned! 

Yours in music, 

Mac 

P.S. Check out this cool vinyl compilation that is finally available to order. It includes our track Reykjavik Shuffle from our 2020 release American Dream. https://fleecerecords.ca/shop/ols/products/interlake-all-stars 

P.S.S. Anyone who wants stickers, just let me know. I’ll mail them to you at no charge!