If you ever rushed home from school to catch the countdown, or your CD binder was full with Big Shiny Tunes, or if your musical education came directly from a downtown street-level studio, then this podcast is for you.
Welcome to Once On Much – the podcast that celebrates the golden age of Canadian music, when MuchMusic was culturally relevant and Canadian artists ruled the airwaves.
Each week, I chat with the artists who defined the sound of a generation, I’m talking to the bands whose biggest singles cemented their place on those iconic Big Shiny Tunes compilations – the albums that became the soundtrack to our highschool years.
You’ll hear from the musicians who made history, and some beloved MuchMusic VJ’s who visited our living rooms every day, acting as our cultural curators and tastemakers.
So, rewind your memories, grab your favourite band tee, and join me as we turn the spotlight back Once On Much.
Once On Much – Ep09 Ryan Dahle There are certain voices that are stitched into the fabric of Canadian alternative rock. Spend five minutes talking to Ryan Dahle and you realize he’s never really thought of himself as part of a “scene” — even though he helped define one. In our latest episode of Once
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Once On Much – Ep08 Wide Mouth Mason If you came of age in Canada in the 1990s, MuchMusic wasn’t just something you watched — it was something you belonged to. It was a front door to Canadian culture, a crash course in music discovery, and for bands lucky enough to break through, a launchpad
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Once On Much – Ep07 Pluto When Ian Jones looks back on the 1990s, his memories aren’t just of stages and studios—they’re of thrift stores, long tours, and a distinctly Canadian scene that felt both scrappy and quietly confident. In this conversation, the Pluto frontman reflects on coming up during a moment when Canadian alternative
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Episode 06 – The Killjoys When Mike Trebilcock thinks back to the 1990s, his memories don’t start with chart positions or industry milestones—they start inside a building. Specifically, the MuchMusic and CityTV headquarters on Queen Street in Toronto. It was a place of live performances, interviews, cameos (including a blink-and-you-miss-it walk-on in the film Balls
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Episode 05 – Moist In the 1990s, Canadian alternative rock wasn’t just a genre—it was a shared cultural experience. For Jeff Pearce, bassist of Moist, that era is best defined by the chaotic, beautiful energy of the MuchMusic Video Awards. Unlike the polished veneer of MTV, MuchMusic felt accessible and DIY. Whether it was the
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Episode 03 – Not By Choice For Liam Killeen of Not By Choice, the 2000s Canadian music landscape was defined by one powerful force: the MuchMusic monoculture. In an age before endless streaming and personalized algorithms, MuchMusic acted as the singular, national curator of cool. Liam explains that the network “dictated” the culture, exposing an
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Episode 03 – The Tea Party In this episode, Jeff Burrows looks back on the 90s as a wild, defining decade — a blur of massive festivals, MuchMusic-fueled momentum, and moments that didn’t feel surreal until years later. From the chaos and camaraderie of Edgefest to touring with Foo Fighters and Green Day (“walking through
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Episode 02 – Econoline Crush In this episode, I sit down with Trevor Hurst, the unmistakable voice of Econoline Crush, to revisit the electric landscape of late-’90s and early-2000s Canadian rock. Trevor reflects on a moment when MuchMusic helped build a true star system at home, giving Canadian bands space to break through in a
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Episode 01 – Hawksley Workman In this episode, I sit down with the inimitable artist, Hawksley Workman, to explore his genre-defying career, the legendary days of MuchMusic, and what it was like creating his early, influential records. He opens up about the invigorating energy of the late ’90s and early 2000s Canadian music scene, a
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