Wake Up Winnipeg - Episode 58

Wake Up Winnipeg - Episode 58

Hosted Live/Produced/Recorded
by: Andru Valpy
Air Date: 09/16/2010 on UMFM 101.5 FM
Download Location iTunes.
Web: http://wakeupwinnipeg.com
Become a FaceBook Fan: http://www.facebook.com
Rebroadcast: 9/22/2010 on CJUM 101.5 UMFM - 6:30 AM

On today's show, I had the chance to sit down and talk to Brad Roberts from The Crash Test Dummies.

I had only learned that The Crash Test Dummies were formed here in Winnipeg earlier this year.

You can imagine how silly I felt when I learned of this.

Earlier this spring it was announced that The Winnipeg Folk Festival would be bringing Crash Test back home to Winnipeg in October, as part of the dummies Canadian tour.

When Sony Music approached me about doing this interview in June, I was of course excited to take the opportunity to get to know more about the dummies. As a child in the 90's I had grown up listening to them while living down south and, like everybody else I had "mmmm mmmmm mmmm" stuck in my head every time it took to the airwaves.

On Sunday July 11 2010, I was volunteering at folk festival where it was announced that there would be a surprise visitor as a tween-er. The only information obtained from festival organizers was that the guest would be a surprise to those in attendance. It was also said that there may or may not be some controversy surrounding the performer.

. . . I had no clue what they were talking about.

Sure enough, the time came for the veil to be lifted and out walked Brad Roberts. .. suddenly it all made sense.

"Well Well Well, I bet you'd never expect to see me on this stage again"

Brad stated to a standing ovation at Birds Hill Park.

The move was pure genius with their upcoming show at the Burton Cummings theater coming up in October.

A few weeks later, I sat down and reached Brad on his cell phone as he was wondering around a public market.

We talked about his visit to the Winnipeg Folk Festival (to which he absolutely loved), and the evolution of The Crash Test Dummies here in Winnipeg.

It was very interesting to learn of Brads youth and how the folk festival helped shaped him as a musician, topped with his time spent at The Spectrum (Now The Pyramid).

I also touched on his songs "superman" and "mmmm mmmm mmm" and how they were formed, and his new album "oooh lah lah" which has been well received by the music community.

We featured the following tracks during his interview:

The Crash Test Dummies - Mmmm Mmmm Mmmm
The Crash Test Dummies - And It's Beautiful.



A copy of the interview with Brad will be made available in iTunes shortly, but in the mean time be sure to check out The Crash Test Dummies when they roll into town on October 9th at the Burton Cummings Theater, and study up on their new album "oooh la la".

I would like to personally thank Brad for his time and for sharing his story, and as promised I look forward to following up with him later on in the show.

-Av