Suburban Rock n’ Roll with Fake Magic

Show date:March 13th, 2023

Greg Markham and Bryan Paccagnella grew up in the suburbs of Richmond Hill playing a lot of basement rock.

In 2005 they moved to Toronto to attend Humber College – Greg for jazz, Bryan for comedy. Greg went on to play with WhosArmy, The Mohrs (now Jackie) & Keegan Powell. Bryan spent years as a writer and comedian, gaining some viral fame and a CCA nom for a Toronto-centric parody of the Pet Shop Boys’ West End Girls with his troupe Plum Thunder.

In 2018, they reconnected for their first EP Hi-Fi, followed by album N.A. in 2020. With their 2nd album Sad Dad, they aim to expand, adding guitarist, pal, and former WhosArmy band mate Cory Williams. Pursuing interests over trends, they avoid labels. Call it dork rock, indie rock, alt rock. Call it Steven. Call it a cab. It’s rock, and it’s a good time.

Bryan Paccagnella joined us to talk about the band’s song Sit Down. Download the lyrics to follow along.

We talked about:

Our new Songwriting Challenge 2023 webpage
Our former guest Chad Shank is teaching alongside Pat Pattison at Berkeley Online
Collaborating in a band and making every member feel included
Writing songs with a theme to create a concept album
Working “Tom Petty” style by writing many songs and then selecting thematically related ones for an album
Look mom, no chorus!