MGB Footage

[Barfnuts]

Hi guys,

Thanks for the discretion in keeping the link private.

I felt I should address the replies that have followed since my first posts - As much as I'd love to provide the whole show for every MGB fan on this board and worldwide, there's a plethora of reasons of why I cannot.

The major reasons involve media/journalist integrity - footage like this is supposed to be only used sparingly as B-Roll (like what was used in the Rogers piece) and then discarded once the final piece is finished. I had already overstepped my boundaries by recording almost the entire show (usually you only need about 5-10 minutes at most for a story like that), which I'm sure I certainly wouldn't have gotten permission to do had anyone in the MGB camp known. Being as I am still a camera op, I cannot risk gaining a reputation of abusing media privileges by releasing footage containing material that technically shouldn't exist, is unauthorized, unapproved, and copyrighted out to anybody. I know now that this footage is apparently quite rare, but it doesn't change the fact.

While this does seem like a trustworthy group, it's just something I cannot do. Even privately, with the promise of not spreading it around, it doesn't change the fact that it's not my material to distribute. In afterthought, even posting that one song on Youtube was something I shouldn't have done. Even as an unlisted video, it already has a copyright claim against it, so who knows how long it'll even exist up there.

Another reason is that I don't want to ruffle any feathers with record labels, their lawyers, and especially Matthew himself. While I hear he used to have a much larger online social presence, including historically posting to this forum, I'm certain as the day is long that if he found any of this footage circulating around without his prior direct consent (and the consent of his record label and management likely), that he'd be pretty f*cking pissed at that clumsy 17 year kid who fumbled through likely the worst interview of his life 20 years ago, and I don't want that kind of karma from someone I respect. From what I hear, Matthew does not have a very fond place in his spiritual mindset for nostalgia, or the past in general (or at least he doesn't anymore).

I attempted to track down a method of communication in which to reach him directly (just to let him know that the footage exists, and if he wanted a copy of it), but he seems to currently have a fortress around his online social presence and it looks to me like he doesn't want anything to do with random fans/people sending him messages. I don't think there's even much attention paid to his official website anymore because there's little actual content, the MG smartphone app that is advertised all over the site no longer exists, and there's not even a contact option.

However, if any of you still have direct contact with him, or Ian/Dave, then by all means, pass along the information, tell them that the offer is available to them, and maybe they'll consent to letting you keep a copy for yourself.

And for the guys above offering me money to send them the show in exchange for secrecy - I appreciate the offer - I know you mean well, and that it's a "holy grail" of sorts, but profiting off of the footage would makes things worse tenfold.

I'm really sorry everyone - I didn't mean to open Pandora's box - I didn't know that footage like this was so rare. I kind of dropped off the MG(B) radar once they broke up, and I had just assumed that much more material would be available since they were the biggest band in Canada for at least a couple of years.

Anyways, I just wanted to explain myself so I didn't leave anyone hanging with their hopes up. I mean - for god sakes - that awfully done Rogers Cable story/interview I made surfaced on Youtube 20 years later - imagine how many places the source material would find itself if it ever saw the light of internet day. 

Keep rockin' y'all - don't hate me!
 

Cheers,
Travis

[Barfnuts]

Also - somewhat unrelated - what's with this big hate-on for Rico? I thought it was a pretty decent laid-back pop song, maybe a little underwhelming, but come on - yikes people!

[daniel_v]

33 minutes ago, Barfnuts said:

Hi guys,

Thanks for the discretion in keeping the link private.

I felt I should address the replies that have followed since my first posts - As much as I'd love to provide the whole show for every MGB fan on this board and worldwide, there's a plethora of reasons of why I cannot.

The major reasons involve media/journalist integrity - footage like this is supposed to be only used sparingly as B-Roll (like what was used in the Rogers piece) and then discarded once the final piece is finished. I had already overstepped my boundaries by recording almost the entire show (usually you only need about 5-10 minutes at most for a story like that), which I'm sure I certainly wouldn't have gotten permission to do had anyone in the MGB camp known. Being as I am still a camera op, I cannot risk gaining a reputation of abusing media privileges by releasing footage containing material that technically shouldn't exist, is unauthorized, unapproved, and copyrighted out to anybody. I know now that this footage is apparently quite rare, but it doesn't change the fact.

While this does seem like a trustworthy group, it's just something I cannot do. Even privately, with the promise of not spreading it around, it doesn't change the fact that it's not my material to distribute. In afterthought, even posting that one song on Youtube was something I shouldn't have done. Even as an unlisted video, it already has a copyright claim against it, so who knows how long it'll even exist up there.

Another reason is that I don't want to ruffle any feathers with record labels, their lawyers, and especially Matthew himself. While I hear he used to have a much larger online social presence, including historically posting to this forum, I'm certain as the day is long that if he found any of this footage circulating around without his prior direct consent (and the consent of his record label and management likely), that he'd be pretty f*cking pissed at that clumsy 17 year kid who fumbled through likely the worst interview of his life 20 years ago, and I don't want that kind of karma from someone I respect. From what I hear, Matthew does not have a very fond place in his spiritual mindset for nostalgia, or the past in general (or at least he doesn't anymore).

I attempted to track down a method of communication in which to reach him directly (just to let him know that the footage exists, and if he wanted a copy of it), but he seems to currently have a fortress around his online social presence and it looks to me like he doesn't want anything to do with random fans/people sending him messages. I don't think there's even much attention paid to his official website anymore because there's little actual content, the MG smartphone app that is advertised all over the site no longer exists, and there's not even a contact option.

However, if any of you still have direct contact with him, or Ian/Dave, then by all means, pass along the information, tell them that the offer is available to them, and maybe they'll consent to letting you keep a copy for yourself.

And for the guys above offering me money to send them the show in exchange for secrecy - I appreciate the offer - I know you mean well, and that it's a "holy grail" of sorts, but profiting off of the footage would makes things worse tenfold.

I'm really sorry everyone - I didn't mean to open Pandora's box - I didn't know that footage like this was so rare. I kind of dropped off the MG(B) radar once they broke up, and I had just assumed that much more material would be available since they were the biggest band in Canada for at least a couple of years.

Anyways, I just wanted to explain myself so I didn't leave anyone hanging with their hopes up. I mean - for god sakes - that awfully done Rogers Cable story/interview I made surfaced on Youtube 20 years later - imagine how many places the source material would find itself if it ever saw the light of internet day. 

Keep rockin' y'all - don't hate me!
 

Cheers,
Travis

Trust me, no one is going to hate you. You owe us nothing and your explanation makes perfect sense. Anton used to talk with Matt every once in a while, so who knows, maybe he can let him know if he thinks it wouldn't bother Matt or get you into trouble. That said, I know Adam confirmed earlier this year- when he asked Matt directly about early footage- that Matt has no interest in searching it up himself as, like you said, he does not look back on that time period fondly due to the internal politics that soured even the good aspects of that time period of the band's success, which is understandable. 

I think I speak for all of us when I say it was incredibly nice of you to share even that short video and even if it gets taken down, it was incredibly cool to be even able to see it once.

Peace  

[Barfnuts]

Holy schnikies, YouTube's copyright sensing software is really getting out of control.. I thought it could only recognize samples from actual recordings (like studio albums, or basically anything that is directly for sale) .. but now it can sense melodies from unknown recordings?? Scary sh*t man.

[PlasticSoldier]

2 hours ago, daniel_v said:

Chad, any chance you could get this setlist uploaded to your website? 

Yes, I just had a delay of fixing my computer, it'll be updated later tonight

[Barfnuts]

If anybody is really that interested, I've posted the full interview from the '98 show (all 4 clumsy minutes of it) here - feel free to do with it as you wish - I couldn't even bear listening to it so I hope it turned out haha...

https://youtu.be/h-CVoS2oMV0

Cheers
Travis

[trufflepigs]

Just curious if there would be any difference in the possibility of an audio only extraction of the footage?

[daniel_v]

16 hours ago, Barfnuts said:

If anybody is really that interested, I've posted the full interview from the '98 show (all 4 clumsy minutes of it) here - feel free to do with it as you wish - I couldn't even bear listening to it so I hope it turned out haha...

https://youtu.be/h-CVoS2oMV0

Cheers
Travis

Thanks for posting that too! Just an outsider's perspective, but both it and the edited clip that was aired with bits of songs that the band played sounded honestly professional. I think that as human beings we have a tendency to be even more critical of ourselves than others might be. I remember once back in 2015 at VIP soundcheck/question and answer thing that Matt did in Calgary I got to reference something he said regarding politics years back and then ask him if he would ever consider running as an independent himself. As I was doing it I thought I must sound nervous as shit because I could hear my own voice breaking at certain points (which is also funny because normally I'm not a nervous person or bad at public speaking) but when I listened back to it I could barely notice anything all. So don't beat yourself up. It was a really well put together segment and I didn't notice it sounding amateur like.

Over all that's pretty incredible getting to do that for your first interview ever, especially at that age. I think anyone would be nervous to interview someone who was (at the time) just on the cusp of becoming one of Canada's largest rock musicians. It was interesting hear his remark that he thought they maybe played it safe when it came to the writing of the album. For better and worse it definitely worked out for them. What was it like meeting/interviewing him back then? Did you meet any of the other band members? (If you don't mind me asking)

As an aside,  I had a random thought regarding the HSIY video last night when I was watching it again- I found it really interesting that Matt was playing the lead guitar in that song. When I originally compared the Raygun version to the LOTGA version, I always honestly thought that was Dave's guitar work given how polished and well done it was (and given that Dave was officially the lead guitarist). I had no idea that was Matt's handy work and that he could do it that well. I know after the band broke up that he would do a lot of the positions himself in the studio (and even live too when it came to guitar- see the lead work on Near Fantastica) but that was a fun little bit of info to learn regarding this individual song. I wonder if there were any others on Underdogs where he did lead guitar. 

Edited November 15, 2019 by daniel_v

[Stwlegend]

7 hours ago, trufflepigs said:

Just curious if there would be any difference in the possibility of an audio only extraction of the footage?

Thinking the same! Would be no different than a audience recording that could exist from those days and a common occurrence. Could have happened at that show. Definitely second that and hoping maybe audio is possible. 

[daniel_v]

No idea what station this one came from but another interviewer posted some old footage recently too. Pretty laid back interview with Matt in 98 when MGB was touring with Big Sugar. 

Edited November 27, 2019 by daniel_v

[Stwlegend]

5 hours ago, daniel_v said:

No idea what station this one came from but another interviewer posted some old footage recently too. Pretty laid back interview with Matt in 98 when MGB was touring with Big Sugar. 

Nice find! Thanks for sharing.  Worth it just for the very short live performance clip at the end.

[Barfnuts]

Well it certainly looks like they got a better lighting guy to run that show than the Coquitlam one! The guy at the show I was at had no idea what he was doing... I had to make Matt pasty-ass white while the rest of the guys were barely lit... rookies!

Edited November 27, 2019 by Barfnuts
grammatical error

[Barfnuts]

On 11/15/2019 at 12:25 PM, daniel_v said:

Thanks for posting that too! Just an outsider's perspective, but both it and the edited clip that was aired with bits of songs that the band played sounded honestly professional. I think that as human beings we have a tendency to be even more critical of ourselves than others might be. I remember once back in 2015 at VIP soundcheck/question and answer thing that Matt did in Calgary I got to reference something he said regarding politics years back and then ask him if he would ever consider running as an independent himself. As I was doing it I thought I must sound nervous as shit because I could hear my own voice breaking at certain points (which is also funny because normally I'm not a nervous person or bad at public speaking) but when I listened back to it I could barely notice anything all. So don't beat yourself up. It was a really well put together segment and I didn't notice it sounding amateur like.

Over all that's pretty incredible getting to do that for your first interview ever, especially at that age. I think anyone would be nervous to interview someone who was (at the time) just on the cusp of becoming one of Canada's largest rock musicians. It was interesting hear his remark that he thought they maybe played it safe when it came to the writing of the album. For better and worse it definitely worked out for them. What was it like meeting/interviewing him back then? Did you meet any of the other band members? (If you don't mind me asking)

As an aside,  I had a random thought regarding the HSIY video last night when I was watching it again- I found it really interesting that Matt was playing the lead guitar in that song. When I originally compared the Raygun version to the LOTGA version, I always honestly thought that was Dave's guitar work given how polished and well done it was (and given that Dave was officially the lead guitarist). I had no idea that was Matt's handy work and that he could do it that well. I know after the band broke up that he would do a lot of the positions himself in the studio (and even live too when it came to guitar- see the lead work on Near Fantastica) but that was a fun little bit of info to learn regarding this individual song. I wonder if there were any others on Underdogs where he did lead guitar. 

Sorry for the late reply! I didn't realize you asked more questions of me... 

To tell you the truth, I don't get starstruck around celebrities.. so meeting Matt wasn't like winning the lottery, or like having a supermodel find you attractive - at that age (16-17), my main job was working as the field ENG camera op when a story needed to be shot (and edited) for a sports talk show (it was similar to Sportscentre I guess). I was given all-access media full season passes to the BC Lions, Canucks, and the (shudder) Grizzlies - remember them? So I could go to every game and walk around the entire arena and go wherever I wanted. They really have some nice food spreads on the third level of BC Place there for the media lol).

My function was to go to each game and shoot on the field (Lions), on the court (Grizzlies) and wherever possible (Canucks) to film highlights for the game, and then after the end of each game, the reporter and I would join the scrum in the players locker room and interview the players, so I'd gotten used to meeting people who were "larger than life", and I left them alone unless they approached me. The only ironic part about that job was that I can't stand sports so I never (EVER) went to a game unless I was working and couldn't really care less what was going on while it was being played (I know - how un-Canadian).

I also worked for a show around the same time that interviewed a bunch of local bands (like Gob, Matthew Good, etc) and out-of-town bands that came through town (I can't really remember who/how many from back then - I only remember K's Choice (anyone remember them?) because they were awesome people. All of the above were jobs that were handed to me, whereas for the MGB show, I personally set out to do a story myself because of my intense love of the band. I never thought that his manager would allow me access to either the show or Matt directly, but I guess he must've been having a good day and decided to give me the go-ahead (much to Matt's chagrin I'm sure)... 

I didn't meet any of the other band members that night. I'm guessing that they flew the coop as soon as the last encore was done. It definitely looked like Matt wanted to as well, which is probably why the interview is barely even 4 minutes long. I got the impression that I was wasting his time with stupid questions so I kept it as brief as I could.

I can't really comment on the HSIY recording because I don't know who did what in the studio .. but to tell you the god's honest truth - I hate to say it - but I disagree with you - I'm not a fan of Dave's guitar work. Personally I found much of the lead parts to be lazy sounding, at times difficult to listen to, and generally just very unmelodic. He rarely strayed outside of a span of 5 frets and most of the "solos" were dissonant notes that he would bend back and forth. That being said - he can come up with some pleasant rhythm lines (like in the verses of Apparitions for example - that is, if he even wrote them).

Maybe it's just because I'm also a guitar player myself, but I feel that guitar solos should be melodic and compliment (not copy, IE: Smells Like Teen Spirit) the main tune and feel of the song. That's just my own opinion, but 54-40 is probably a good band for him to be in because .... well...54-40 is.... IMHO... boring and I think I can only think of 1 or 2 songs from their entire career that I would listen to and not violently change the station. But then again - he has a career in music, and I don't - so what do I know... lol

I met Dave once when my band was recording our record at Mushroom Studios - we were in the main room/studio (ironically enough our producer/engineer was Dean Maher, who assisted Mr. Livesay while recording Underdogs), and Dave was in Studio B mixing, or something... I left him alone as much as possible, but ultimately in those narrow hallways when we did cross paths, he seemed very pompous and essentially ignored that I was even in his line of sight. I've played in many bands and I've met many-a-prima-donna, so I can only imagine the torture MG must have gone through when trying to bring forward new material, and getting the "I played three or four notes that weren't there before - I want 50% songwriting credit, you asshole" type of attitude.

Also - I have no doubt that MG could have done the lead lines in the studio - his guitar work is at times underrated. The fact that LOTGA was recorded without any distorted guitars blew me away - 1) because I never really noticed before, and is VERY rare in a pop recording, and, 2) not making even a tiny flub playing clean/acoustic guitar is a talent in itself. I personally can't stand playing acoustics (maybe it's because of my fat fingers!)

Anyways - enough of the offtopic... Hope I didn't offend anybody with my various opinions...

Cheers all,
Travis