Brandi Sidoryk is in Nice Horse

ep9 – Brandi Sidoryk is in Nice Horse

[00:00:00] You know, I think what really fuels the recent success of a movie, like a complete Unknown about Bob Dylan or previously with the Johnny Cash biopic Walk the Line is going beyond documentary and presenting a first person view of their own experience, seeing their story as their own, developing empathy by witnessing the struggles, the heartaches, and the little victories early on.

That kept them going. And I mean, it’s cool seeing all the bullshit Bob and Johnny had to put up with, but what the world really needs is a Dolly Parton biopic. I mean, now there is someone who has seen some bullshit, right? I can’t imagine the stories of what she had to put up with endure. Fight through would’ve made Johnny wear an even darker shade of black.

Our guest today is Brandy Sador, one half of the country band nice horse, an effortlessly optimistic and encouraging [00:01:00] talent who has also seen some bullshit. And if I can boldly draw a line between Brandy and Dolly, neither has led it, define them or their careers. These kinds of stories become great movie arcs.

Okay, because they inevitably capture one of our collective favorite themes of overcoming adversity and knowing there is more to us than the events we lived through. Brandy Sador is a multi-instrumentalist vocalist, bassist guitarist, French hoist, a musician in the Royal Canadian Navy. And founding member of Alberta Country Band Nice Horse, a band who has garnered steady praise and awards for their music and creative efforts, both locally and nationally with the Canadian Country Music Association over the span of multiple albums and singles in the past 10 years.

My name is Glenn Erickson. This is almost famous enough. Thanks for spending your time with [00:02:00] us. This is Brandi Sidor.

Glen Erickson: So, well, I mean, Brandi, the first, the first thing I was honestly gonna be like, I was gonna be like, I was gonna set the table with a bunch of stuff maybe, and then I was like, but before we do that, I need to make sure the guy you’re living with isn’t around. ’cause he’s a total skelly wag or whatever term

Brandi: Look, look. Yeah. He can be a real distraction. So I told him, he is around, he’s downstairs right now, but he said he’s, he promised me not to be a distract. He won’t be a distraction.

Glen Erickson: Okay.

Brandi: Yeah. Just, just, you never know when he might appear.

Glen Erickson: Okay. full transparency. ’cause nobody loves an inside joke on a podcast. is partnered up with my former band mate, Rob Angus, who’s,

Brandi: [00:03:00] Yes.

Glen Erickson: both an incredible, wonderful, warm hearted and, Absolute, jokester of a boy sometimes. So, uh, I love every

Brandi: He is all those things.

Glen Erickson: lucky you, lucky you. Better you than

Brandi: I

Glen Erickson: all that stuff.

Brandi: I, well, look, you were being in a band with him. You, you’ve been, you’ve been partnered with him for technically longer than I have, so, you know, you know better than me. But he did, he did ask me before going on the podcast with you today, he said, how, how are you and Glen gonna find enough stuff to talk about me for two whole hours?

I said, I don’t think we’re talking just about you.

Glen Erickson: I wouldn’t expect him to frame that any other way. Completely, honestly. I just love, I just love that when I reached out to ask you, it was not even two full minutes before I got a text in all caps about, uh, me asking you and not him. So, but

Brandi: Yeah.

Glen Erickson: spent way too much [00:04:00] time talking about him for his ego,

Brandi: Yeah, he’s, he got his, he got his five minutes. He is no more of, no more of this podcast.

Glen Erickson: That’s all he gets. Well, Brandi of Nice Horse. I am talking, to now what mathematically is one half of Nice Horse. Right.

Brandi: Yes. Mm-hmm.

Glen Erickson: you’re kind of, you’ve been sitting with that now for a year.

Brandi: Mm-hmm.

Glen Erickson: I mean, this is 2025, so I think this is the 10th year since you formed as a band.

And I don’t know if you guys

Brandi: is.

Glen Erickson: the Hawaii story, the official forming or if when you started actually making songs, ev every band maybe considers it differently. When do you consider when Nice horse actually formed?

Brandi: Yeah, I think it is that Hawaii trip, so in July of 2015. Be, and to be honest, that is actually when we started writing songs as well together as a group. because I was, I had sort of, as you know, I was in a project called Sydney York [00:05:00] prior to Nice Horse. And, and we had, uh, you know, had gone through the gamut of our career and, and you know, in all the, all the ups and the downs and the trials and the tribulations.

And at that time, Sydney York, who was my band mate, Krista Woodley and myself, we had sort of taken a bit of a break from, from Sydney, York. We just needed to step back. We had been doing a lot of touring and we just, we just wanted to reassess. And for me, that meant kind of getting back to what was the most important to me in music in the first place, which is songwriting.

So I, had in the, in 2015, had done a series of month long songwriting trips where I just rented my own house out on Airbnb and went somewhere else in the world to just feel inspired, feel creative and write. And so I, I spent a month in Paris that year. coincidentally at the same time as the Paris attacks, which was, quite the time to be in Paris, and I [00:06:00] spent a month in Hawaii.

And when I spent that month in Hawaii, I, I invited some of my, favorite. Collaborators to join me, which, uh, were Krista that the time was, uh, you know, also on a break from Sydney, York. She had been my band mate and co-writer for years. And, and, uh, Katie Rox who, was a friend for in the, in the music community for years.

She was doing a solo project and, and I loved her writing And, and Kayleigh Bird, who is also a solo artist, um, who had I had toured with for, um, in the years prior as Sydney, York. And so the four of us went to, to Hawaii and and I just invited them ’cause I’m like, come write songs and have some my ties on the beach with me and just, you know, do be friends.

And, and what happened was we kind of,

Glen Erickson: what

Brandi: we, we,

Glen Erickson: band,

Brandi: yes, exactly. And it was not intended.

Glen Erickson: And so now that I [00:07:00] know that part of the story, which I had never known before, how different would your life look if something instead happened in France? What kind of band would you be in now, if it was

Brandi: Yeah.

Glen Erickson: French origin story, a

Brandi: A French electro pop band.

Glen Erickson: who

Brandi: Yeah.

Glen Erickson: you know, well, you French horn. You could have, that’s

Brandi: Look,

Glen Erickson: of a stretch. Um, that’s a bit

Brandi: yeah.

Glen Erickson: Not a

Brandi: I’ve already played French horn in a pop band.

Glen Erickson: You have already played French horn. Okay. We’re already digressing, but I looked it

Brandi: Yeah.

Glen Erickson: what do, what are the most famous songs, you know, with French, that feature French Horn?

Brandi: Oh, I, I

Glen Erickson: Brandi

Brandi: this.

Glen Erickson: horn.

Brandi: Yeah. Well, I mean, look, there’s a lot of, there’s a lot of great horn parts in Brahms symphonies. I would also say there’s a lot of good Wagner horn parts, but I, but probably the thing that is most popular, I mean, is probably Peter and the Wolf. Yeah, people like know because [00:08:00] they like hear the instrumentation and they actually then can, but what about, what about all the Robinhood soundtrack, like John Williams, like tons of soundtrack stuff.

He uses French horn, which is

Glen Erickson: went right to actual orchestral music because you’re also trained, so you have this entire library. I have none of that library immediately anywhere near my frontal lobes, so I immediately was just going to like, pop songs,

Brandi: like pop music.

Glen Erickson: they’re, and they’re all very old, like,

Brandi: Was it like Beatles stuff was

Glen Erickson: that I, well, Beatles used it. Yeah.

Brandi: mm-hmm.

Glen Erickson: there’s clearly stuff written about McCartney being the first to try to slide in some orchestral arrangements in some

Brandi: Yes.

Glen Erickson: uh,

Brandi: Mm-hmm.

Glen Erickson: necessarily favorable with some of the others, but, Yeah, definitely some of the Beatles songs that are in there and Sergeant Peppers is

Brandi: Mm-hmm.

Glen Erickson: throw to. I was interested to find out that they were saying they think The Stones, You Can’t [00:09:00] Always Get What You Want, which is my favorite Stone song features

Brandi: interesting.

Glen Erickson: horn prominently, and they say Neil Young’s After The Gold Rush, which now I’m gonna have to go

Brandi: Oh,

Glen Erickson: and listen to also.

Brandi: and I will too. And, and you’re, you’re speaking of, um, not having some of that classical orchestral music, uh, at the front, uh, the front of your mind, uh, when we’re talking about this. But you will notice I also have some really interesting, unique gaps in my music repertoire because I spent a lot of time, a lot of my formative years engulfed in orchestral or classical music on opera and, and country.

Those are my, those like. Those are the, the, the genres that I really know. And so I have some really interesting gaps that I’m sometimes embarrassed to admit. Like if, particularly in like classic rock, like I have some really big gaps there that, every, every other human in the world knows except [00:10:00] for me it seems like.

Glen Erickson: Well, seems to know. I think it’s the way we always project our on ourselves though, right? Like we go into a place and we think we should know this ’cause of

Brandi: Yeah.

Glen Erickson: or

Brandi: Yeah.

Glen Erickson: But everybody, everybody has their gaps and then everybody fakes it and then they wait for that one moment.

They can throw out that one relevant tidbit that they know in a room, right? But I don’t

Brandi: I suppose that’s true. And it’s, and that’s funny point that you say that too, because I feel like, especially in the last five years of my music career, I’ve really tried to make a point of, of. Being so honest about what my gaps are, um, not just to myself, but like in, within the industry and publicly too, because I feel like that’s sometimes an easy trap to fall into in the music industry.

Is

Glen Erickson: I think it’s the

Brandi: is um,

Glen Erickson: I’m being completely honest, is that,

Brandi: yeah,

Glen Erickson: you’re so desperate for opportunities and chance validation that goes with it, but especially opportunities [00:11:00] that you will try to into any costume that you need to in any room, metaphorically, right.

Brandi: yeah. I,

Glen Erickson: and you get sucked

Brandi: I

Glen Erickson: that.

Brandi: right.

Glen Erickson: I have to be able to talk about everything and know everything and be really good at everything. All of that is, is that initial trap I think.

Brandi: Yeah, I think you’re right like that. It’s almost like that innate like desire to be respected within the industry as soon as you enter it. And, and I know there’s a lot of fear. Surrounding that. And I think it comes from both sides, artist and industry. Um, like so often I think I’ve never, I don’t, because I also love asking industry professionals for advice and other artists for advice because I feel like it’s information gathering and, and I like to hear what people have to say.

Um, but rarely does somebody ever say to me, and I didn’t notice this until later, that if like when I asked them a question, would they say, I don’t know. Which, I honestly think there’s a [00:12:00] lot of questions most of us don’t know the answer to in music. Um, like it’s an ever changing landscape and there’s no formula.

And so it’s funny that, rarely do you hear, I don’t know. I think people are scared to say that, but I don’t think, I think that’s a point of strength as, as opposed to a point of weakness.

Glen Erickson: Yeah, I do too. I think you’ll instead hear, that’s a really good question, which is really just code for, I don’t know, but I’m stalling.

Brandi: Yeah.

Glen Erickson: um,

Brandi: darling.

Glen Erickson: know, it’s also how they coach people to actually talk in interviews about That’s a really good question.

Brandi: Yeah.

Glen Erickson: puff up your interviewer, but, so

Brandi: Yeah.

Glen Erickson: well, I’ve completely abandoned your timeline before I even got into your timeline. Um, but I have, but what you were talking about just makes me think of another interesting question in the industry though, and that’s do you think in your observation, that whole willingness to sort of shed, what you don’t know and sort of [00:13:00] that authenticity part, you were talking about wanting the approval in the industry and I’ve

Brandi: Mm-hmm.

Glen Erickson: sort of, I think we all do, but, I’m gonna be honest about it here is I, I’ve always had this judgment over all my years that perhaps the people who look like they’re going for the approval of the industry aren’t confident in gaining approval with fans and audience or as successful and even vice versa. Like I’ve seen the people, see these people who just immediately like, we get jealous of them, right?

They just pick up a guitar and then someone says, you should come play. And then everybody loves what they do right off the bat

Brandi: Yeah, yeah,

Glen Erickson: they don’t give a shit about the whole, like, no, you gotta do it this way. And you’re supposed to know these people and you get all, but they don’t care about all that kind of stuff.

It feels like always two different people. Maybe that’s what I’m trying to say

Brandi: yeah.

Glen Erickson: even know if that’s

Brandi: I think.

Glen Erickson: just ’cause you’re really smart. I thought I’d ask whether you think I, [00:14:00] you

Brandi: I don’t know if I’m really smart, but I do, I do think that’s,

Glen Erickson: I wanna know what you think.

Brandi: I do think it’s really interesting because I, I think it almost boils down to, I think it boils down to personality types. And I, I think you’re right. There are those artists that don’t appear to care what anybody else thinks and pick up a guitar and, and write from the heart and can produce something amazing.

And it’s, and it’s why they become respected. but then there are, there are the others, and I can, I think I can put myself into this category a bit, is like, I’m not, I, I always say I’m not a capital a artist. I’m a type A artist. and the capital A artist to me is the one who doesn’t care. you know, the.

The business side of things is often secondary. They’ll, they’ll sit in a room for 12 hours and play. Um, and that to me is always capital A artist. And, and [00:15:00] I am a type A person. I, I, I have had to like, I’m a creative, but I’m also Type A and I’ve really had to manage that, how that looks and how, how it, presents itself in my career, in my music career, um, and how I balance the two.

and I’ve noticed that for me, I don’t like, I can’t help but care. Like that’s just gonna be me. And I have to accept that it is part of me though. And I think that that’s a relatable part of me and something that deserves, to be shared. From an artist’s perspective, as much as the not caring, seems to be, uh, deserves.

Its, its due in the, in this artist realm. And I think they’re just,

Glen Erickson: Yeah.

Brandi: different. And I think what I think both actually have some landmines that can trip you up a little bit when you’re navigating not just music, but a music career.

Glen Erickson: Yeah, I think they have merit and landmines. You’re right. Maybe that’s with

Brandi: Mm-hmm.

Glen Erickson: was being a little harsh and very black and white [00:16:00] with that sort of judgment statement. But

Brandi: Mm-hmm.

Glen Erickson: you know, full transparency. Probably a little bit of on my part because I think that’s where I fit in which

Brandi: Mm.

Glen Erickson: don’t know that I ever felt fully confident as you called it, as capital a artist either. But I

Brandi: Yeah.

Glen Erickson: really good at all these other things that seemed really important. And

Brandi: Yeah.

Glen Erickson: and it didn’t take long till I learned that perseverance was perhaps, uh, a greater characteristic than talent when it came to a career in music even. So, there’s all kinds of people on both sides and along the way. For sure. So let’s, let’s, uh, let’s jump back ’cause I want to keep talking about, I, I’m really interested, like you’ve been sitting for a year now, almost 10 years as a, as a group. Nice Horse since you

Brandi: Mm-hmm.

Glen Erickson: in a way went back to your roots. I know personally that’s for you. Like the way you said, like you time [00:17:00] doing a lot of different things classically trained.

You try this alt pop group and go for a real hard run at it and then kind of go back in this moment with friends in Hawaii to discovering kind of roots and, and probably just that connection you had with one another that really made it come out purely and

Brandi: Yeah.

Glen Erickson: that. then 10 years later, it’s just down to the two, two of you OGs you’ve been sitting up on that for a year.

You have an album that was out, you know, last year

Brandi: Yep.

Glen Erickson: that you’ve been sitting on. And so kind of looking back 10 year span, what do you feel, I’m gonna ask you a big question right off the bat and then we can start like,

Brandi: Okay.

Glen Erickson: up. But what do you feel cause you’ve had a bunch of, I’m gonna call it probably the rug pulled out from under you moments, or a handful of them. Like you’ve had

Brandi: Yes.

Glen Erickson: member changes a couple of times. You [00:18:00] had

Brandi: Mm-hmm.

Glen Erickson: change with one of that original four. You

Brandi: Mm-hmm.

Glen Erickson: not going to jump into it. My outside perception is that was a difficult one and challenging for you guys, um, relationally and, then the most recent one, I mean, Krista’s been with you forever, right?

You guys were really tight.

Brandi: Mm-hmm.

Glen Erickson: of changes are hard. So, but I don’t wanna assume anything. So in a 10 year span, what are the things or the thing that was the most surprising? In your career that you ran into.

Brandi: Yeah, the most surprising thing. I think the, I think that’s, you’re right. Like we, we have had a lot of moments where I’m, I’ve, I’ve kind of, you know, like, like thrown my hands up in the air and been like, what, what next? Like, what could possibly happen next? Um, and, and a lot of difficult moments and the, but I would say like, as difficult as the band member changeups [00:19:00] are, because they obviously are, it, being in a band is, being in a band is hard and.

And like it’s, it’s equivalent to breaking up with a person like Krista. And I joke about this all the time, like that we’ve probably, like, we’ve probably have more finance financial endeavors together, like more shared bank accounts than I have had with any partner in my life. Like that’s like, and, and to be honest, with all of the touring we did often in Sydney work with like five people to a hotel room.

I’ve probably shared a bed with Krista Moore than I have shared with some of my partners. Like, that’s like, that’s just the honest truth. And, and so those things are always really, really hard, because it’s hard to, this isn’t a business where you go Monday to Friday, nine to five, and you see these people and then you have this separation from them.

There’s, um, the line of the lines of separation are often blurred. And we were, we’re all friends when [00:20:00] we started, so they were even more blurred. Those, all of those, band changeups were very hard, but also not, also very understandable because keeping people together, in for long periods of time is hard and the industry is hard and there’s a lot, a lot of, it’s hard to be sustainable.

And so, so the financial, uh, stress of it, paired with, you know, with the creative side, like having all of those creatives, um, contributing, um, that it’s, it makes it, it makes it very, and and also motivations. Everybody does this. Keeping four people motivated on the same track, with the same values over, over, like the course of your life as you’re changing and growing is not always realistic.

Glen Erickson: It’s not

Brandi: Yeah. And,

Glen Erickson: hope. You

Brandi: and

Glen Erickson: [00:21:00] can ride it out together. ’cause you’re always gonna

Brandi: absolute.

Glen Erickson: wave. Yeah.

Brandi: Absolutely. And, and I know that like, I know that, like, I can think of one of those band member Changeups being like, really just, I, I think a difference in where, what we expected, what we, and what we wanted out of being in a band. And there are different, there are so many different ways a band can look and none of them are wrong.

Like none of them are wrong. You can be, you can be gunning for, to be playing stadiums or you can be playing in a garage band like. Once a month, and neither of those things is wrong. And it’s, but be because there are so many different places on the spectrum, you can land, it might not work and not everyone might have the same shared vision and someone’s vision might change over the course of time.

And, and that’s really how it felt. It doesn’t make it any easier. Um, but it, that is truly what happens. And, and with and with, I can definitely speak to, to [00:22:00] Krista, leaving Nice horse just over a year ago. for me that was so hard. Krista is my best friend and, remains so. but it’s hard.

It’s, it was hard because her and I have been creatively linked, um, for, for 15 years. And so that’s so being, being that creatively linked and it, it’s more the idea of like, ugh. Like, are we still gonna find ways to make music together? Like, that was something that was kind of my first question. But I also know being in a band is hard and I know that it, I know that it wasn’t right for her anymore.

And, and I had to respect that because I want, I also want the best for her, just like she wants the best for me. So, so I mean, as these things are hard, and I have, and I’ll be honest too, we, uh, we did therapy as a band for years. Like yeah. [00:23:00] Like, but because we thought it was important.

Glen Erickson: yeah. Well it’s so like a relationship, like everything you’ve been saying, right? Sounds like things we could just be talking right now about relationships, not music

Brandi: Yeah.

Glen Erickson: And but that’s what happens when you get into a band. A hundred percent. And I think, uh, everybody who’s done it obviously knows just how intensely down to all of the inside jokes and metaphors.

It’s how true it is. So, uh, the fact that you did therapy. I think it’s actually really incredible and incredibly mature, to put a stake or to, to not put a stake that sounded like the wrong version of the word. invest in this, in the level of stakes that you have the success or the career that you

Brandi: Yeah.

Glen Erickson: To like, take it that seriously. I think that’s pretty incredible. Um,

Brandi: you.

Glen Erickson: yeah. I can only imagine how difficult then that was. moving on from that and not having that around. I [00:24:00] mean, we were joking at the start about the guy in the basement, uh, my band mate, and I know

Brandi: Sounds like I’m keeping him in the basement, by the way, when you say that.

Glen Erickson: I like it.

That’s, that’s, uh, I wanna keep that picture for a while, so I’m gonna keep referencing it that way.

Brandi: Okay.

Glen Erickson: Um, I floundered for five years when that band ended because I didn’t want to play with anybody else. I didn’t want

Brandi: Yeah. Yeah.

Glen Erickson: my version and my vision of anything to anybody else’s songs, then those two guys’ songs.

So, um,

Brandi: Mm-hmm.

Glen Erickson: it’s really hard to get over. So I creatively, not just personally the way you’re expressing your relationship with Krista and with the others, but,

Brandi: Mm-hmm.

Glen Erickson: when you’ve got that much invested. So that Totally, totally makes sense. So Brandi, the, the thing that I was most surprised of when I like crack open the laptop to do some research on the things that I don’t know about you, because I’ve had the good fortune of knowing [00:25:00] you for quite a while.

I think

Brandi: Yeah,

Glen Erickson: maybe we met in New York City. Was it in New York City at, at

Brandi: I don’t think it was,

Glen Erickson: your shows? Were you not at CMJ

Brandi: no, it wasn’t CMJ, but we maybe met, I, I was actually trying to think about when we met too. because

Glen Erickson: South by, was it? We

Brandi: could have been south by,

Glen Erickson: American city at a

Brandi: I bet you, I bet you it was Austin. I bet you it was Austin. ’cause Sydney York played a number of times at South by, so I bet you that was what it was. Mm-hmm.

Glen Erickson: So, then obviously, you coming through and then the, the band change and you guys being in the Wa thing and all of these things, ever since, um, had the good fortune to know you and to watch the career, uh, of the band, not hard because you guys are so incredibly active on social media, so it’s very easy to keep up with you at the very least.

But, the thing [00:26:00] I was so surprised at was that your self-titled record last year was technically only your second album. Over this entire span, right? Like you,

Brandi: Yes.

Glen Erickson: came out like, so you form, you decide in Hawaii, I, I need a break. I’m gonna go do these inspirational things. Four

Brandi: Mm-hmm.

Glen Erickson: together, you, you find a spark, you decide to go, like you came back with whatever spark you had.

The four of you, like

Brandi: Mm-hmm.

Glen Erickson: was visible to everyone around you because the industry jumped on it quite quickly. Like you had support, you were touring for like, or opening for acts that other people who had been around a lot longer probably were wanting those spops and

Brandi: Yeah,

Glen Erickson: out music, you put

Brandi: I,

Glen Erickson: EP and then a full length within 18 months of that period, right?

And so you

Brandi: yeah,

Glen Erickson: very fast trajectory and I was just so surprised that this was the [00:27:00] next, was this full length thing. So.

Brandi: I know.

Glen Erickson: Tell me a little bit about that journey. That’s a different journey. I mean, I have assumptions I don’t want to make them, so I’m just curious about how you see what that journey was between that quick start and the whole idea of an album to that gap, which may not feel like

Brandi: Yeah. Oh, it feels like a gap. I can tell you it felt like a painful, painful, excruciating gap. So, and actually you, you asking what the hardest thing has been in the last, like, in this 10 years of nice horse, I would say this is it. for, and I, for me, well there were two reasons. I think two major reasons that we, um, we didn’t release a second record until last year, second full length record until last year.

one of them was the pandemic. We were very much, um, we, the pandemic was not good for anybody, but in terms of the timeline of nice horse’s [00:28:00] career, it came at a pretty. Catastrophic time. for, for us, we had just released, our first single to radio and it went top 40 and we couldn’t do a thing about it.

We were, we even started the pandemic in a, in a like, kind of, in a, in a stressful place because we were in Switzerland when, it was announced that borders were starting to close. We were on Switzerland and on playing shows and, and, uh, we struggled to get back and nice horse, uh. Ha has been like a long distance band, um, spread across the country, uh, for we’ve, we’ve never all lived in the same city.

So when we got back to Canada, and I remember landing in Pearson and us being like, okay, everybody, we’ll see you in a couple of weeks when this all blows over. And, and one of us went to their [00:29:00] home in, in London, Ontario, and one went to their home in Vancouver. And, and, uh, and two of us went to our homes in Alberta.

And, and that was, that, that couple of what we thought was gonna be a couple of weeks was absolutely not a couple of weeks. And, and so it just came, we, we had a, we had a single that did well at radio that we couldn’t tour. We couldn’t capitalize on at all. And it really, we had, we were on such a good trajectory and it just really kind of took the window out of our sails.

Um, but that, I can’t, I can’t truly blame it all on the pandemic. How, however, I think that’s a part of it that is really, that did really stunt us. Um, but the other thing is, and this one is, this is the, this one is the hardest, um, uh, even to talk about it from, it’s hard. But, um, we, from the very beginning of Nice Horse, and you’re right, we were, we were given some opportunities that [00:30:00] we were so grateful for so early in our career.

We were all in, we were all musicians in different projects before, and none of that stuff. None of those opportunities were lost on us. We knew how important they were and how lucky we were to have them so early on in the, in, uh, the career of Nice horse. But, um, we also were continually being saddled with the perception that Nice horse was a gimmick because we were all women.

It was said to us so many times, I too many to count. Which was so frustrating and so confusing to us because we were all friends and we all, and it was the, to be honest, one of the most organic starts of a project I’d ever had. And I couldn’t understand, I couldn’t wrap my head around the fact that just because we were women, we were being perceived as a gimmick.[00:31:00]

It was so. It was so frustrating and, and also to be honest, pretty motivating. Like, we knew. We knew because that was, we were getting that feedback so much that we’re like, okay, what? Like, let’s look at other bands. Let’s look at our peers in the industry and what they’re doing, and let’s just aim to be three times better than all of them, because that’s just what we kind of had to, that’s where, that’s where our brains had to go.

We’re like, we can’t be as good. We have to be better, and we have to aim for that. Um, so that was, that was a big part. Yeah.

Glen Erickson: I mean, a, the

Brandi: Mm-hmm.

Glen Erickson: said is the unfortunate thing women have had to bear for a very long time in all kinds of

Brandi: Yeah.

Glen Erickson: That they can’t

Brandi: Mm-hmm.

Glen Erickson: they have to be better or they’ll be dismissed completely. Uh, but if I can just, like, I’d love to sort of just drill a little bit into where those voices [00:32:00] were coming from that were considering you a gimmick.

Like how close to you were those voices or were they, were they Alberta industry voices? Were they the, when you were trying to get into the wider industry, was it in country music or was it wider than that? I’m wondering where those voices were coming from that that

Brandi: I think it was, it was largely in country music. Um, there are a few, uh, Alberta voices that, that had mentioned it. Not people that had known us very well, mind you. but, a lot from radio. and, and from, from buyers, from festival buyers. Um, there was a, there was a festival that we played, um, fairly early on in our career and all, just never forget this, but, and it really feels like it, I think it, as much as this frustrated me and hurt me,

I think about this all the time. And so I guess I, in a way, I can thank this promoter because I, I’m so [00:33:00] mindful of this, uh, this fact, as a woman, making my way through the industry and, and acting as hopefully a mentor for emerging artists. Um, I remember we were playing this festival and our agent had warned us that they were a little on the fence about booking us in the first place, but they did eventually book us and we played the show and we played a, a really good show.

And afterwards he came up to me backstage and said, wow, that was great. He said, I’ve gotta be honest, I was reluctant to book you because last time we had an all female act, they weren’t very good. And immediately I. Uh,

Glen Erickson: Yeah.

Brandi: yeah. And so I said, I said to him, I was like, have you ever had an all male band that wasn’t very good?

And then after that, immediately stop hiring every other male band ever. Like that’s, [00:34:00] that’s, to me that’s

Glen Erickson: used that

Brandi: of what

Glen Erickson: All male band. Right.

Brandi: Yeah, exactly. Like

Glen Erickson: in the history of

Brandi: nobody,

Glen Erickson: been done other

Brandi: nobody. And no,

Glen Erickson: sort of derogatorily

Brandi: it’s,

Glen Erickson: too.

Brandi: it’s true that in itself. But I, I remember saying like, I knowing, I, I knew in that moment that other women were in the industry were always gonna be judged by what we did. And that might, and it’s not fair. But it’s the reality that we have to face right now. And, and that knowledge is powerful in itself.

And,

Glen Erickson: Mm-hmm.

Brandi: and so that made me think every single time, like about, and, and I mean, look, everyone in Nice Horse is, has always been professional, respectful there. Like every one of the women that has been in Nice Horse, I, um, I think of as like very professional and, [00:35:00] and has always, always, like, their deportment in the industry is always amazing.

I’m very proud to have worked with such professional women. but I, but we always like down to like, okay, everybody, let’s make sure the green room is spopless, because we don’t wanna be the people, we don’t wanna be the women that made it harder for the next women coming behind us. So, and, and it might not be fair, but.

Glen Erickson: like that, because you’re saying there’s guys like that all over who would take any small issue or misperception from you and projected onto every other version could come after you.

Brandi: Absolutely. Yeah. And that’s, and, and that I, I do,

Glen Erickson: Brandi. That’s like a huge weight.

Brandi: it is huge, but I think that it’s also,

Glen Erickson: that

Brandi: I all

Glen Erickson: Because that’s,

Brandi: look, it’s come up, it’s come up in my personal therapy, that’s for sure.

Glen Erickson: it’s just so unfair. Um,

Brandi: [00:36:00] Yeah.

Glen Erickson: should have to take that on. Sorry. Go ahead.

Brandi: It’s, it’s okay. That’s, uh, like, you’re right, it is unfair. But I also do, I also believe in the, like I believe in the talent coming up. Um, uh. Of, of all genders. I, and I want, I want to be, regardless of, regardless of men or women, I wanna be a good role model and I want to be professional, and I want to be a great musician.

And I, I wanna be able to do all of those things regardless of whether it seems to be my responsibility as a woman in the industry too.

Glen Erickson: absolutely.

Brandi: things anyways, so, so I, I do, I do accept that responsibility because I think it is something that needs. That I, I should be right now. And, and I hope, I hope that, and, and I should say this too, of all of these things, like I’m saying how people thought we were a gimmick and we had like a lot of animosity, um, like, you know, or just like reluctance about [00:37:00] an all female band.

That’s not every, that’s not every single person in the industry that said that. And there were so many that were not like that. I, and, and I would never want those people who were such great supporters to feel like, their contribution to, to helping lift us up. Um, is s slated in any way? and I hope that those people continue to do the, to make that positive change because, um, all of those things are helpful.

But then, but until we experience that cultural change, the broader cultural change is when it is truly going to get better, and more equitable for artists no matter what your gender is.

Glen Erickson: I think like even was having a conversation, if I can be frank about the podcast and with somebody who was asking me about my diversity choices, if you can believe. Right? So, and there was a moment where I realized what they were asking me was, are you gonna make sure [00:38:00] you get the female opinion? But

Brandi: Hmm.

Glen Erickson: really asking is, am I gonna get the female opinion on the female issues in the industry? Which is kind of what we’re talking

Brandi: Interesting. Yeah.

Glen Erickson: that I felt so bothered by that framing because, you know, I just want the female opinion on the

Brandi: Yeah,

Glen Erickson: on the career. I don’t need it on the female issues alone.

Despite that, they get

Brandi: yeah,

Glen Erickson: in marquee because there

Brandi: yeah.

Glen Erickson: equity or equality across the board. A hundred

Brandi: Yeah.

Glen Erickson: In fact, I, I had written down Brandi, a question about has the experience as the female artist changed though in your 10 years? I was curious and then I wasn’t sure if I wanted to say that for the reasons I just said, like, but you

Brandi: Yeah,

Glen Erickson: had the

Brandi: I,

Glen Erickson: series about shit people say to nice horse and being labeled a girl group.

But, but you

Brandi: Yeah.

Glen Erickson: and then me wondering about have things changed. [00:39:00] It makes me think of, um, like another Alberta country artist who you’ve worked with, Hailey Benedict, who I actually, I’ve asked her on Instagram if she wants to come on and she hasn’t responded. So if, if you see her, you can give her a kick and say, I actually want to talk to her about her career. But, um,

Brandi: poker.

Glen Erickson: I’m pretty sure, I know because I’ve sat down and talked to her and I’ve seen it more and more that she gets this gimmick response because she’s trying to be really good at playing lead guitar and gets put in, you know, a different version of a box than you guys did. But I’m, you know, I’m, so,

Brandi: Yeah.

Glen Erickson: wondering, like, have things ever have things not changed?

Brandi: Yeah,

Glen Erickson: she’s still

Brandi: yeah,

Glen Erickson: like, called out or criticized or put in a box, um, or misunderstood primarily.

Brandi: yeah. Well, and I will say this, like, I think I, um, I think Hailey, Is [00:40:00] is very good at playing lead guitar like I think she is, and she’s continuing to improve. Like she is really good and, and, and it’s, and but yeah, people will always say things like trying to be really good, heaven forbid somebody, um, show their progress as an artist and their formative years.

Um, getting, like, to me that’s also also the most important thing about Hayley is I think she showed a lot of her, her progress as a, as a lead guitarist, online. And that resonated with people. People, she has a following because of her honesty in, in her development as an, as a guitar player and as an artist.

And I think that’s really amazing and, uh, something that should be. Um, celebrated about her instead of scorned, which like, and that not, I’m not saying people have scorned it, but people are people, I mean, especially in social media and the internet can be, can be sort of harsh and unnecessarily. Um,

Glen Erickson: [00:41:00] Sort

Brandi: absolutely.

Yeah. But, but I also do, I also think, an artist like Hailey, and I think that we, found this too in our career is that it did get easier. I can’t tell though because it’s hard, because I can’t change, I can’t change my perspective. I’m here in my body and in, in my air, like, you know, in my sphere. And it’s hard for me to see, um, what’s happening outside of that.

I can only assume and, and gather information from other people, but I don’t, I can’t tell if it’s easier because we worked to gain the respect and. Us now personally have ha have some respect and some, and, um, that within the industry that makes it easier for us. And I know Hailey is likely feeling the same, um, because she has been doing great things and, uh, and she is, um, earning, um, and has earned, [00:42:00] uh, well-deserved respect in the industry.

So it’s hard to tell whether it’s it is actually, um, systemic change or if it’s just change within our sphere. Um, but I’m grateful for both. Yeah.

Glen Erickson: see, this is what I love about you, Brandi, is this incredible optimism and that you tell all of these stories with such a smile on your face, um, despite you getting, you know, having to tell me a story about how you got the shit hand of the deck sometimes. I, I do

Brandi: yeah.

Glen Erickson: that, I mean, I mean, look at it like, like what Hailey’s doing. Lindsay l already carved a path, a girl right out of

Brandi: Mm-hmm.

Glen Erickson: right? And so

Brandi: Yep.

Glen Erickson: is an incredible artist in her own right. She also her playing out front. Nobody’s comes outta the gate or is ever born great at the thing that they do right off the bat.

And it’s people who allow themselves to be seen as improving. I mean, the fact that Lindsay [00:43:00] just finished a run of shows, being the league guitar on the Shania

Brandi: Yeah.

Glen Erickson: like any guitar player of any gender, any era so far needs that long. To get that good, to be the one chosen to play those shows.

Right.

Brandi: Yeah. And I, and we don’t have these same conversations often. Yeah. And like I, I think there are, I think there are

Glen Erickson: a fact. It’s just a

Brandi: no, yeah, exactly. And look, I think Lindsay’s another great example like that woman. Like she chipped through bedrock to get through this industry. She has worked so hard and,

Glen Erickson: Yeah.

Brandi: and I have a, I have a great deal of respect for, I have, there’s so many people that I can just say so proudly that I have so much respect for, um, that are my peers in this industry.

And I, and I love to see them making positive change. And, and it’s funny that you say, um, that my, that I tell you these stories with a smile on my [00:44:00] face. I honestly think the reason is, is because like, yeah, like I feel like I’ve, you know, I’ve been kicked quite a bit in this industry and I don’t like that.

I, it’s, it’s hard. It’s crushing. Um, but I will, I love music. Like when I really, and I’ve been thinking about that so much, particularly in the last year of my life and of my career, um, when I strip everything away. All of the things that, and, and you can relate to me on this because you were just talking about how yeah, you’re a good musician, but you’re like good at all of these other business things too that are important to the industry side of things.

Um, and indirectly really important to a music career. Like I feel the same way sometimes. Like I can, like I’m a bit of a, a music industry multi-tool. Um, not for lack of a better word, calling myself a tool, but, um, when I strip it all away, what I [00:45:00] love to do, not what I have to do, not what I need to do, not what I do, uh, to progress this forward and this forward when I strip it all away.

What I love to do is music and I love to create, and that to me is what puts a smile on my face. Because, and, and it’s probably the reason why, you know, we persevere through all of this stuff is because when I really do strip it all away. It’s the music and I am

Glen Erickson: Yeah.

Brandi: gonna smile every day I get to make music.

Glen Erickson: Well, Brandi, I mean, that’s incredible. And I mean, this is, I think it’s a little more than that. Anyone who’s actually been in a room with you just knows that you’re a vibe and, and you’re fantastic to be around. And I think you’ve just also been blessed with, uh, some incredible character. So, but I

Brandi: Thank you.

Glen Erickson: it’s funny, I have to call myself out because I asked you like, has anything changed in this industry?

This is why it takes so fucking long to change. Brandi [00:46:00] I just caught myself because I knew of Lindsay L when she was still a teenager. Right when she was just writing with Randy Bachman and, and,

Brandi: Mm-hmm.

Glen Erickson: and because of that, I have this thing locked in where I just let the phrase escape a girl from Alberta and I have no business calling her a girl.

Right. Um, many years down the road, that’s what is so hard to change, right? Is um, it’s the people that look like me who call the shots and make decisions and yeah, I tried to just, I’m not tooting my horn. I tried to just call myself on it and I just fully recognize how many don’t, and

Brandi: but that’s the thing. I, I think you’re so right, Glen. Like I think that the important part is like we creating, creating lasting cultural changes really hard. We’ve, we’re literal we’re, we see it, it’s like so in our faces every single day right now. [00:47:00] Especially how hard and how sometimes fleeting, even ch like how unfortunately fleeting things that we thought had changed can be unchanged in a, in a heartbeat.

Um, and so I think that’s, but I, and. But I also don’t think it’s realistic for us to, uh, assume that nobody will ever make a mistake again in terms of, uh, uh, of, you know, saying, saying something the way people ha used to say it. I think, I think the biggest part is if it’s something that you maybe feel you shouldn’t have said, or you should have said a different way, truly calling, like calling your own self out on it makes it, makes it okay.

Like, you know, you are giving yourself the ability to change and grow and sometimes that happens in front of people, but you have to be also willing to change and grow. And I think that’s the biggest thing.

Glen Erickson: Yeah. so let’s, let’s put the gimmicky thing to bed because, um, [00:48:00] everybody has to know that what I was most fascinated about, the four of you when you first started, and really all the way along I. Was like, yeah, you went and you got together in Hawaii, you formed country band. Yeah. Like not all of you were country right away, or whatever reasons.

People, I don’t know, would infuse this reason. They think it’s a gimmick or you’re just trying to play, you

Brandi: Mm-hmm.

Glen Erickson: you think is trendy or whatever they would infuse in it. what I saw firsthand was, I don’t think you were a bass player before a Nice Horse. And I know for a fact Krista was not a drummer before a Nice Horse. So I absolutely dare anybody to put together a gimmick band and tell the people that they have to learn the instruments at a professional level that everybody’s going to expect for you to even land one of those gigs. Like if you, like, not everybody may know the name Tom Cochrane. Right. like [00:49:00] a, you know, a Canadian rock icon who had.

Massive hits through the late seventies and the eighties into the nineties and before. Life is a, like, he had a long career before. Life is a highway.

Brandi: Mm-hmm.

Glen Erickson: And now, you know, now for him, cars is a daily occurrence, probably, unfortunately. But so

Brandi: Yeah.

Glen Erickson: aside a massive icon. like, I’ve only played guitar and I would still be scared shitless the first time I get thrown into an opening act with an icon, right?

Like, let alone you, you, you didn’t have the years behind learning that instrument that I had behind playing guitar at the same age. And, so when I say put the gimmicky thing to bed, I cannot understand anybody not asking one contextual, critical question to understand how incredible you all are as musicians. the

Brandi: Thanks, Glen.

Glen Erickson: to your musicianship is absolutely stunning. And by [00:50:00] stunning,

Brandi: you.

Glen Erickson: I’m literally trying to achieve hyperbole. I, I don’t know, like I know some savants who can just pick up every instrument and play them. I don’t, I, I don’t think you guys are savants, so it’s, to me that much more inspiring you had to work your ass off to

Brandi: Yeah,

Glen Erickson: good.

Brandi: thanks Glen.

Glen Erickson: like you’re playing your base on Instagram all the time for people and

Brandi: Yeah,

Glen Erickson: new licks and

Brandi: yeah,

Glen Erickson: think is super fun,

Brandi: yeah.

Glen Erickson: to

Brandi: Well, I will, I will say, I will say this, Glen, so I, I actually did play bass before Nice Horse.

Glen Erickson: Okay.

Brandi: I, um, I’ve been, but so I, I actually was one of the few members of Nice Horse who did play my instrument before joining Nice Horse. I was in a, um, I was, uh, in, I was in a, um, a math rock band called Beekeeper for a number of years.

Um, that was the same time that I was in Sydney, York. I was also in this math rock band. [00:51:00] And, um, I, I, uh, I played, I started playing bass, um, two years after I started playing French horn when I was a kid. So I have played bass for a while. Um, but it just wasn’t my primary for a really long time. ’cause I, I mean, I pursued my degrees in classical voice.

I had. It wasn’t like always, I didn’t, I didn’t spend hours sitting in, in the practice room practicing bass. I spent hours in the practice room practicing voice. Um, so, so it didn’t, it, it definitely, my, my relationship with bass definitely shifted at the start of nice horse. But, uh, but it was still an instrument I played Krista, however.

Had not played drums before, an Nice Horse. She is an incredible classical bassoonist. She’s an an incredible musician. And I would, when you say that, maybe we’re not savants, if there was one of us who was going to be, I would say it’s Krista, I think she’s

Glen Erickson: Mm.

Brandi: one of the most incredible musicians I’ve ever met.

And, uh, and [00:52:00] she did, uh, she did, uh, learn the drums for nice horse. And I think one of the biggest accomplishments and something I’m so proud of, I’m proud of the entire band for this, um, but particularly of Krista, we, um, in, in 2022, we were all nominated. Um, on for our instruments at the Canadian Country Music Awards, which is the first time a band had all been nominated, um, in 30 years since Prairie Oyster.

And, uh, and Krista was the first woman to ever be nominated in Drummer of the Year. I’m intensely, intensely proud of her for that. And I, and I’m proud of the Yeah. And I, I think that was, it was, it meant, um, it meant a, a lot to, um, to have us all all be up there for that. And, and I think Krista, um, deserves a, a great deal of, of, um, uh, like, of props for that because [00:53:00] she, she had started playing that instrument, um, seven years prior.

So it’s pretty, it’s pretty incredible. Absolutely. But I will say this, uh, even, and this is the other thing that made that, I mean, we kind, we kind of talked about it a bit, um. Earlier about how long it took us to release a second record. Um, we, uh, we battled because we, what was really important to us as a band was that we were a band.

And, I might, I might be a lead vocalist and Katie might be a lead vocalist, but our other band members, their voice is their instrument in, in the context of our recordings. And it took us a long time to release that record because we recorded it two times over.

Glen Erickson: Yeah.

Brandi: So we, because we continually had people telling us, Not to play on our own record. And we had to fight tooth and [00:54:00] nail and we would play and people would take our parts off and, and it was, and look, and I don’t, here’s the other thing is I don’t fault any of these people that were like, you have to, you can’t play on, we don’t want you to play on your own record.

They, they all wanted us to fit in that tiny little pinhole of country radio. And they, so they were trying to do something, they were trying to do something good for us. They weren’t there, there wasn’t ill intention. The problem is, is that

Glen Erickson: this isn’t, this one isn’t, this one isn’t just subjective to sexism, right? Like this is an industry

Brandi: yes,

Glen Erickson: generally, and it’s been around forever. I remember, uh.

Brandi: yes,

Glen Erickson: When I was younger, there was a band called Switchfoot. I don’t know if you’re familiar. They

Brandi: I.

Glen Erickson: grew out of the Christian rock into, and then they had that, um, uh, a couple big radio rock hits and,

Brandi: Mm-hmm.

Glen Erickson: some people I knew in the industry told me. So [00:55:00] when they were Christian rock top of that industry, they were

Brandi: Mm-hmm.

Glen Erickson: on their own records and then they went to record their mainstream label and they sat there in the studio and watched other people play their parts. Like

Brandi: Yeah,

Glen Erickson: this

Brandi: I totally.

Glen Erickson: country music. When you say a pinhole, the country music industry, if I’m right, I think you would agree with me, might have the smallest of sound that they’re choosing to

Brandi: I know it, it is the truth. And, and I and you’re, you are so right. What I like this issue that we’re, that I’m talking about is definitely not, um, it’s, it’s not exclusive to women, but because we were women and because of the, the barriers and the hurdles we were already facing, it was more important to us that we didn’t.

And so that, like the, the way it affected us, um, and what we wanted to do and what we wanted to represent [00:56:00] in music, because I re when it comes down to it, I would rather be ma I would rather make music that meant something to me and, and the women that I’m creating music with, um, and may and have it mean something, um, and, and contribute to positive change, um, as, as opposed to getting a top 10.

On country radio, to me

Glen Erickson: Yeah.

Brandi: more meaningful. and it’s what I, and it’s what I would love to if I like, and I mean, I hu I say this very humbly because this is me being presumptuous about leaving a legacy in music. But if I was to leave a legacy in music, that’s the one I would want to leave. So to me, that’s, I, and that was, that was how we all felt.

And so that, but it took, we, we, we had to fight. We had to fight for it, and we couldn’t, we, it was a real struggle. And, and so in the end, that [00:57:00] record was, was us. But it was, but it was a hard, it was hard one,

Glen Erickson: yeah. I mean, if

Brandi: and it took us years.

Glen Erickson: me, mean, if anybody had told me, uh, I wasn’t gonna get to play, or the four of us in my band. We weren’t the ones playing on our record, we would just set Pax in. Like, forget it. Like there’s not a

Brandi: Yeah.

Glen Erickson: happen and I never

Brandi: Mm-hmm.

Glen Erickson: consider the part of the fight that you’re talking about.

The fight for me just moved in my own personal pride and, you know, and preference and belief in my band mates.

Brandi: Yeah.

Glen Erickson: all

Brandi: Yeah.

Glen Erickson: layers on top of it, but,

Brandi: Well, and I will say this about your band in particular because, uh, like obviously you know that I love your band like that, that was like, not just because I’m dating one of the band members from the band, but, um, but but you, you were an influential band, like of an influential [00:58:00] band in, in for sure Western Canada.

Like, there wasn’t like a, like as Sydney York, like you were, The Wheat Pool was always in the consciousness of the music, the, the Western Canadian music scene and. You, the four of you would not have been had the sound you had, had you not all for played on it. That’s what made it special. Like that’s a part of the magic, um, is that the parts that you played on guitar are the parts Glen would play on guitar.

Like that’s like there were your parts and they were distinct to you and they didn’t sound like everything else. That’s the beauty of, that’s the beauty of a band. Like that’s the whole point.

Glen Erickson: first of all, that’s incredibly gracious of you to say. So thank you, Brandi. I appreciate it. And I didn’t, and I hope Rob didn’t put you up to it either, so that’s really nice. Um,

Brandi: Well, you know, you know, he didn’t because he didn’t even wanna say hi.

Glen Erickson: it’s true. That’s true. [00:59:00] Um, yeah, but I mean that’s, it’s so true. Um, there was, there was a magic and I would hope everybody else. is aspiring to play and coming up against these questions or thoughts, or maybe even someone’s posing it to them, the level of belief you just need to continue to have in yourself and the ones that you choose to make this with and to be higher than every other sound logic or, or industry advice that you get at any or workshop or anything.

Your level of belief in yourself has to be bigger right?

Brandi: Absolutely. And because, and because we talked about this, this isn’t just a, a thing that female artists face. It’s, it’s a thing that every artist will o often face in their career. Um, you, like, you have to, you have to be willing to invest that belief in [01:00:00] yourself because that, that is. That is how you sustain being in this industry.

If you don’t believe in yourself and you don’t have enough conviction in yourself to, to stand behind what you are doing musically, you won’t, you won’t generate any real artistic change in the industry. And, and, and that’s like, that’s I think a really important part about being in music is, is creating new things that haven’t been heard before.

I, I would prefer to create something that hasn’t been heard before as opposed to something that has been only heard, like exclusively heard. Like I, it just doesn’t, it seems counterintuitive as an artist. And I’m not saying that it’s wrong ’cause I, I don’t, I also don’t wanna slag any of those artists that, that fit that pinhole.

I think artists that are genuinely in that pinhole, that’s, that’s really, amazing. Because you’ve kind of won the lottery because who you are genuinely [01:01:00] and authentically fits what fits them, them, what they want.

Glen Erickson: well, because the pinhole

Brandi: But that’s not me.

Glen Erickson: with them. They didn’t, they didn’t create the pinhole. You can’t, you can’t create a pinhole. Right. Like

Brandi: Yeah. Mm-hmm.

Glen Erickson: artists through history have had the level of influence, and we’re talking on maybe two hands, right? In all of

Brandi: Yeah.

Glen Erickson: history have had the level of influence to actually create the pinhole that the industry then wants to push everybody else through.

Brandi: Yeah, yeah.

Glen Erickson: it’s somebody in the industry. The gatekeepers, the ones who determine the flow of money are generally deciding what that looks like. Country is

Brandi: Yeah.

Glen Erickson: di. Dependent successfully on radio for airplay. they’re

Brandi: Mm-hmm.

Glen Erickson: gatekeepers on that pinhole.

Brandi: Yeah.

Glen Erickson: I, I mean, I was gonna ask you a question about, ’cause uh, in pop music this year, it was like almost I was it a hundred percent female, almost like, [01:02:00] like the Grammys

Brandi: There was some epic representation.

Glen Erickson: back.

But besides that, it was so female and it was wonderful. It still feels like country music far behind that. But rather than continue to dig into that stuff,

Brandi: I, yeah.

Glen Erickson: you, you’ve spent a nice long time talking about stuff that isn’t the most fun part of the job or the industry for you. So let’s spin it around a bit.

’cause I’ve talked about

Brandi: Yeah. Let’s do that.

Glen Erickson: pulled outta you guys.

Brandi: Yeah.

Glen Erickson: some pretty awesome things happen in the last little while. So, uh, can you tell me about some of them and where they rank for you? Like the, I. You guys seem so incredibly pleased you singing the national anthem at like, you know, in, was it in Seattle at football, at

Brandi: Yeah, so we actually did two pretty epic, uh, Anthem performances last year. Um, one was for the Seattle Seahawks Buffalo Bills game, uh, in [01:03:00] October of last year. And the other one was singing the Anthem at the uh, MLB All Star Game last year.

Glen Erickson: is absolutely Okay, so how do you land that gig Brandi? Like how do you

Brandi: Okay.

Glen Erickson: gig?

Brandi: This is, this is one of those things that hilariously enough, um, uh, I can thank, uh, I can thank for both of those actually.

Glen Erickson: I.

Brandi: an amazing Albertan Canadian, uh, Keenan Vine, who is, who does a ton of radio produce or rodeo producing, um, in Canada and south of the border. And he was asked to, uh, do the, the opening sequence for the MLB Allstar game.

the be like being in Texas. They wanted something very like Western, uh, inspired. And so they were really, they were looking for, uh, country artists to sing the anthems. And, uh, Cody Johnson sang the American Anthem, for the All Star game. And when it came to choosing, [01:04:00] uh, the choice for the Canadian anthem, uh, Keenan, put our name and two other very incredible artists’ names forward. And, uh, the, and the MLB picked us. And so it was a, it was an incredibly big honor to have been chosen, to do that. And it was also just, it was just a mind blowingly like humbling opportunity to do it. It was like, that’s definitely the most people I’ve ever played for or performed for, in my life.

And what was further was they told us before, before we went to do the anthem, they said to us very firmly, the Canadian anthem does not get televised. The American anthem gets televised, but the Canadian one does not. And we’d had some friends who had done the, the anthem, the Canadian anthem at the MLB All Star game and they confirmed that.

Um, so we went in thinking. Just, just we’re performing to like 40,000 people in, in the stadium, which is also already [01:05:00] huge. But that’s it. And then we, uh, and we sang the anthem, and then we, we got off the, uh, we got off the field and our, and our phone started going off with these people being like, oh my gosh, I saw you sing the anthem.

And, and in my brain I’m like, these people aren’t all at this game. Like, what the heck? And it turns out that they did actually televise it, which, and the MLB All Star game is like broadcast. There’s like a 7 million viewership on at the Allstar for the Allstar game. So we had no idea that that was happening.

It was a absolutely, it was a very unforgettable experience for us. It was amazing.

Glen Erickson: That’s really cool. I mean, I think it’s pretty cool you even knew some other people who had already had that experience. I don’t know anybody else who’s had that experience. So now I know someone who has been able to

Brandi: Yeah.

Glen Erickson: I think that’s super cool, um, if I ever have to call on somebody for some information. tell me also about, so [01:06:00] you’ve got this long history, I’m gonna say it wrong, so I need you to correct me, whether it’s with cadets

Brandi: Okay.

Glen Erickson: Navy Cadets,

Brandi: Oh

Glen Erickson: the specific, uh, designation is of your

Brandi: yeah. So, so I’m, uh, I have been a member of the Royal Canadian Navy, uh, since I was 18, so yeah, I never was a part of cadets. I went straight into like full. Navy. but I am, and I still am actively serving act. In fact, after we talk today, I will be going directly to the Navy to work for them. So,

Glen Erickson: so awesome. And so

Brandi: yeah.

Glen Erickson: for them? You’ve been able to like do some pretty cool stuff lately, right?

Brandi: Yeah. I’ve had, I, I mean, I’m so, uh, I’m very thankful for my military career. I, I am a musician in the Navy, so I play, uh, I joined as a French horn player. Uh, but to truth be told, they, uh, uh, they needed a vocalist. And at the time in the Navy Reserves, they were not allowed to hire [01:07:00] vocalists. But I was a vocalist who also played French horn.

So, um, so I joined when I was 18 and going to university in Toronto. because I was like, well, I can play French horn and. I’m a vocalist first, so I, I immediately joined there and have been working as a French horn player, bass player, and vocalist with them since then. Um, but my, my role, shifted during the pandemic, uh, a little bit, um, because I, largely, my experience in the military had been, as a musician, and, and, uh, when the pandemic hit, my touring stopped in nice force.

And, the military had all of these musicians that were supposed to go on tour as well, and they didn’t have, they didn’t know what they were gonna do with them. Like they, they were just, they didn’t have any idea what to do with these musicians. And so I reached out to, the, the officer, that is in charge of the music branch for the Naval Reserves, and I said.

What are you doing with all of [01:08:00] these people? And, uh, and she said, I’m, I’m not entirely sure yet. We’re still, um, looking at options. And I said, well, if you need something for them, I would be happy to build an online music program for them, to, to do in lieu of touring. And she said, can you do it in a week?

And I said, yes.

Glen Erickson: Wow.

Brandi: And this has been, this is one of those things where, here we’re talking about earlier in this podcast, we’re talking about being honest when you don’t know something. This is one of those times when I’m like, I truly do not know if I can build this in a week. It’s probably impossible, but I’m gonna try it anyways.

I’m gonna say yes and I’m gonna figure it out. And that the, and so I, we ended up building a program. that was really the first of its kind for, for the Canadian forces, where we had our musicians for all, from all across the country, participating in this online program, like this of, of training and, [01:09:00] and really getting involved in building, doing social media videos, which was something that was fairly new for, for the Naval Music branch.

Um, and, and, uh, and building a production team from our, from our very talented members. It was a, it was something, it’s something I’m very proud of, and I was lucky, lucky enough to receive, um, a commendation from, uh, from the commander of the Naval Reserve for my work with that. Um, and I’m, I’m intensely proud of that for, for the reasons being number one, it was something that I, I didn’t, I didn’t know how to do.

I, I had an idea of how I was going to execute it. Um, but I, I wanted to, I wanted to make it happen, and I, and I’ve wanted to push myself in that way to try to, to make something that I hadn’t created before. Um, and I was, I was also intensely proud because I feel like my civilian [01:10:00] music career, um, really helped me in that because as a civilian musician who has been DIY for a large portion of my career, I’m so used to just being like, okay, this needs to be done.

I don’t know how to do it. I gotta figure it out. Like, that’s, that’s just been the way, uh,

Glen Erickson: Yeah.

Brandi: you just, you see a barrier and you’re just like, how do I blow through this? Because the barriers are there, they’re always gonna be there. And it’s just like, how do I, how do I circumvent this barrier? Yeah. And so to me it was, um, a real challenge and, and, uh.

And it’s that spirit. It was kind of that spirit of what I do in my, in my career, my civilian music career that I brought to, to my military career to be like, you know what, we’re just gonna, like, we’re just gonna find a way to get this done. And I felt like I had nothing to lose. Like I probably pushed open some doors that I wasn’t meant to push open.

but I, I always kind of joke about it [01:11:00] where I’m like, the, the way I did things, I was probably like, if I would’ve stepped half a step to the left, maybe they would’ve court-martialed me for it. But instead I was just half step this way and I received a commendation because I think you don’t, you great things don’t happen if you don’t take some big swings and take some chances.

And, and that was what I had and that was what I was proud of, was that I took some really big swings and I took some very big chances and, and took some risks with my own career and, um, and they paid off. And I was very proud of that. And they did something good for, they, they did something to advance the Canadian forces, which, you know, I, I think that’s, that’s important, especially, you know, as a Canadian, I’m proud to, I mean, obviously my little, my little naval tattoo right here.

I’m very, I’m very proud.

Glen Erickson: I love it. Uh, I, yeah, I think that’s incredible Brandi. Like, um, I, you know, I know from experience that my participation in anything that came to do with building and developing, [01:12:00] know, at this point in my life is some of the stuff I’m happiest about, that I got to participate, the opportunity was there and proud of the, the things that I got to do too.

So, um. that’s incredible that you’ve had that opportunity, very unique opportunity that most people wouldn’t know

Brandi: Thank you.

Glen Erickson: even there and you’ve been able to have an impact. Tell me, uh, so tell me about what’s next. Nice Horse. So, besides the fact that you did a cover of the Cars Drive, which I love, which is recent

Brandi: you.

Glen Erickson: this year, which is fantastic. I don’t think I’ve heard it with banjo before, so there you go. Um,

Brandi: It.

Glen Erickson: so, yeah, I know. So you’ve been working on the duo version for a year now, and

Brandi: Mm-hmm.

Glen Erickson: you know, you came off finally getting that album out and obviously some deep breaths and some, and, um, you know, recalculations, [01:13:00] I don’t get the sense that you’re choosing to slow down or stop or, or any of that.

So what. What’s the, what’s the plan? What’s the things looking forward to from Nice horse at this point?

Brandi: Yeah, I think, I think that it’s so funny, I don’t think I could ever slow down in music. Like, I just don’t think I could, like,

Glen Erickson: think

Brandi: as, like as, as long as I am on this side of the dirt, I think I will be creating, I, that’s something I’ve really realized in the last year of my life is that that is just what I wanna be doing all the time.

I, I just love it so much and, and not even just in music. Like I, like, I’ve really been getting back into. Uh, like I do a lot of sewing and now I’ve been sewing all of my own stage outfits and, and I’ve just like, I just am always craving finding opportunities to be creative, so there’s absolutely no way I will be stopping in music, that’s for sure.

Um, nice Horse has, [01:14:00] so the, the cars cover that you’re talking about, we actually recorded that as part of a, um, a TV show appearance that we made in January for a show called Wild Cards. Um, and, and, uh, we were so lucky because not only were we physically in the episode, um, but we were also, they, they had, um, I believe four of our own original songs that they licensed for the show, as well as having us record this version of the cars, uh, drive by the cars.

And it’s. Uh, they, the producers and the showrunner really wanted that song. It was so important to them and, and, uh, and they were so happy with how it turned out, which really made us feel great because, you know, it was their vision and we wanted to realize, um, you know, having, having achieved their vision and also do a song that sounds like nice horse.

So, um, so it was really FA fun, exciting [01:15:00] challenge. And, um, that was my first time ever being in a TV show, which was kind of fun. Um, and yeah, on set was totally, um, it was totally, well, I shouldn’t say, I shouldn’t say this. The being on that Wild card set was actually a total, not a totally new experience for me because three weeks prior to that, to doing that, uh, filming, we were also doing a filming for another TV show, um, that doesn’t release until December.

That we are also in. And so that one also that, and, and we, we signed an NDA, so I’m not allowed to say which show it is, but it’s a show I’m very excited about. Um, and

Glen Erickson: Okay.

Brandi: very, very well.

Glen Erickson: then. I won’t ask the wrong,

Brandi: Yeah.

Glen Erickson: but all I

Brandi: Yeah.

Glen Erickson: is do you, did you get any lines in either of these programs?

Brandi: Yes. So yes. So Katie had lines in the wild cards [01:16:00] one,

Glen Erickson: of the S sag or whatever it is in Canada?

Brandi: yeah, yeah.

Glen Erickson: part of the

Brandi: Thera,

Glen Erickson: Academy?

Brandi: Yeah. Appar. Apparently we are, they did have us sign all of that paperwork to become part of the,

Glen Erickson: I love

Brandi: yeah. So, and, and we do both have lines in the one that’s coming in December. So, which was also very unexpected. I didn’t think we were going to have lines, but it was, um.

It’s just, it was a, it was an exciting new opportunity and, and, uh, and I’m definitely excited for that one to come out. And they, they also, they licensed a, you know, a song like a song of ours that I really love is gonna be on it. And, yeah, there’s something, there’s just something really special about, isn’t like, it’s the best thing about, about this career is that there is a, there are a lot of unglamorous things that we do and a lot of work that goes into it.

And, and so, so many, you know, there’s really these really high highs and then these like, totally like huge disappointments. [01:17:00] But I, I, I sometimes have to remind myself and sometimes other people remind me, like sometimes I’ll get a note from somebody that I went to high school with that is like, oh my gosh, you’re doing all of these cool things and.

And, and while they sending me that I’m advancing four shows and writing a grant that’s due in 20 minutes, and, and I’m, and I’m not feeling that lucky in that moment. But the truth is, is that it does make me think and like, you know what? You’re right. I’ve done, I’ve done some really cool things that I’m so proud of and, and I, I can be, I can be really grateful for those.

Even in those times when you don’t, sometimes you’re at the lowest and you’re, you know, mentally or, or emotionally in this career, I.

Glen Erickson: And the only thing that’s preventing more of those incredible happening is if you stop. Yeah. Right.

Brandi: Yes. And I think that that’s the tough part, is that,

Glen Erickson: Yeah.[01:18:00]

Brandi: and I’m, I’m not a, I’m not a great, that’s for better or for worse, and this is probably something the military taught me, in fact, I’m pretty sure it’s, that’s where I learned from. Um, but I also come from a family of farmers and I feel like farming is basically a half step away from being a musician.

Um, it’s a very, a lot of the same skill sets and mindsets go into being both. Um, it’s just, it, it sounds so, it sounds so. it’s, it sounds too presumptuous and almost high and mighty to say that this is a calling what we do, but I, I just don’t, I feel like music is just so wrapped up in the person that I am, like it’s, it feels like such a huge part of my existence.

Um, and it feeds me in so many ways and drains me in others. But it’s not, it’s never the music that drains me. It’s

Glen Erickson: Yeah,

Brandi: the industry that drains me, but the music never drains me. And I think that that’s, that’s the, I don’t think like like [01:19:00] music can try to quit me, but I can’t quit it.

Glen Erickson: Well, Brandi, I, this has been a blast. Uh, I absolutely love

Brandi: It really has been same.

Glen Erickson: you are maybe the hardest working person I know. And if I was sat down at a table and someone said, who’s the hardest working musician you’ve known over the last 10 years? I don’t know that I could name anybody else above you, Brandi, like besides the amount that you create, the amount of flights that you apparently take your life on a regular basis to get to all these places and do these things.

I mean, I remember reading where you and Katie talked about you started walking dogs to pay for your trips to Nashville. In Nashville. You were

Brandi: Yep.

Glen Erickson: dogs and ended up having too many dogs to walk probably to do the things you were in

Brandi: Yeah,

Glen Erickson: to do. Like if that isn’t a better picture just this unending hustle. [01:20:00] and I’m glad that you

Brandi: it is so funny.

Glen Erickson: is the thing that sustains you because, it is just point blank to anybody who would want a life this. A that there’s a lot of different paths to what you end up calling a career.

Brandi: Yeah.

Glen Erickson: and number two is that it’s gonna take a ridiculous amount of hustle and heartbreak probably to get there or to piece it together. But you know, if you, if you can tap into the thing that sustained you at the start or gave you the dream at the start, and I guess that’s what I see when I look at you and when I hear you talk and it’s very and inspiring. I appreciate it. Like I, you know, personally, Brandi, like started doing this because I had to create something.

I was

Brandi: Yeah,

Glen Erickson: dry since the pandemic and I knew that there was a certain version of things I wanted to do. This is the creative outlet for me. I get to do. You know, the hour and some you and I spend together is the life giving part. And then I [01:21:00] have to spend

Brandi: Yes.

Glen Erickson: editing and all this stuff. But guess what?

I

Brandi: Yep.

Glen Erickson: Um,

Brandi: It’s so funny, this, that’s the part, the PE people are going to hear the part that, you know, that part that feeds you, which is also amazing. ’cause we get to show people the part that feeds us. And then, and then you’re gonna go back behind the scenes and do all of the other things it takes to do the thing you’re creating.

And, and I mean, and I know you’re, I know because you are also, I’m not calling you a tool like I call myself, but you are also a multi-tool of the industry. And so you end up doing all of these things too.

Glen Erickson: trades in the business. You’re not wrong to

Brandi: exactly.

Glen Erickson: Yeah.

Brandi: But I, I honestly like as we’re sitting here talking, like, and you’re talk, you mentioned the dog walking.

I honestly, if I roll it back, oh. Of everything I have done in my life, probably since I was the age of 12, I think almost every single thing I have [01:22:00] done that’s not music was for music. It was maybe like walking dogs. Look, I loved all those dogs, so I’m very happy to walk those dogs, but. But I, I got to that point because I’m like this, walking these dogs helps me create more music.

And I was, and I was a flight attendant for a number of years. And, and I mean, sorry, like I, I mean, I’m very sorry to the airline that I worked for, but I was working there because I’m like, if I work here, the schedule is flexible enough that I can do music. Like, it’s like everything funneled towards this one singular passion that I have.

And, and, uh, for better or for worse, sometimes, maybe for worse, like, I, I, maybe, maybe I would be a, maybe I would be a, a a different human being if I just wasn’t so singularly focused on this thing that I love so much. But I [01:23:00] do love it so much and that that’s not really gonna change.

Glen Erickson: well, Brandi, you, you try to say for worse, but that smile on your face just makes it absolutely hollow. I can’t believe it when you say it. So,

Brandi: Look, sometimes there’s lots of tears, Glen, but the guy that’s in the basement has to deal with them. So

Glen Erickson: uh, when, when he gets out of the basement, he can deal with it. Okay.

Brandi: yeah.

Glen Erickson: appreciate your time so much, and your honesty and your energy. Like I said, uh, you’re a

Brandi: Glen.

Glen Erickson: I’ve ever seen you and, um. I always love some Brandi time. Uh, I wish you and Katie and Nice Horse, of course, all the best. And I can’t wait to see obviously your TV show in December.

But, I just wanted to say thank you again for your time and you so much and everything that you’re doing. yeah. So thank you. Appreciate it.

Brandi: Thank you. I appreciate you too. [01:24:00]

alexi:

Glen Erickson: Hi. Good evening.

alexi: Oh, good evening. How are you?

Glen Erickson: I’m, I’m just fine. Thank you for asking. so this is, uh, so we’re talking about Brandy Sidoryk of Nice Horse and, The episode, and I was so happy that she was a guest.

And the moment I booked her as a guest, I was excited immediately because I’m just so used to her energy and it’s, and it’s very high energy, very often, very positive as well. seems like a glass half full person, so who doesn’t love talking to somebody like that? And she, I thought she completely delivered.

So, um. Yeah. I was like, oh yeah, this is, this is the best thing ever. And then I just, I almost got lost in the conversation with her and I think maybe, I don’t know, like I’m still learning this stuff. Right? So this is episode nine [01:25:00] only of my life, and that doesn’t always happen. So. That’s kind of a pleasant treat maybe for me.

we’ll see whether that’s a pleasant treat for anybody else if I get lost in a conversation. But

alexi: I think it’ll be, I

Glen Erickson: yeah.

alexi: I really enjoyed listening to this one. and I think even if you remove my bias of that, I like listening to you talk. I think it was just a really interesting one to listen to. And she is so, she just, she just seems so optimistic and positive. She

Glen Erickson: Yeah.

alexi: seems so lovely.

Mm-hmm.

Glen Erickson: she has a, a smile on her face.

Um, but more than that, like what, what makes you know that it’s not a painted [01:26:00] smile? Is the vibe, right? The way a person is communicating that, you know, it’s authentic, that she’s, anyhow, just that whole, yeah, that whole thing. But I realized, yeah, and I just realized afterwards, I’m like, ah, people. I. I, or maybe it’s good.

Maybe I, it’s great that I let people know that she’s like smiling all the way through this. Maybe that’s actually a positive at the moment. I was thinking maybe that’s not, maybe people are annoyed that I’m identifying things they don’t get to see. But I’ll post some clips of our conversation as usual.

Yeah, I really, I, I mean, I had a question for you specifically about it because I realized in the middle of the conversation when we were talking and, and got into at length, I feel about the role that they feel or she has had to play as a woman in the music industry. Over a span of time now and seeing the changes, but also, you [01:27:00] know, as she gets greater opportunities, feeling this responsibility at times for what she does, she knows is going to impact how somebody looks at future women or women bands, if you want to call it.

We kind of made a joke about that.

alexi: there because I feel like we were on the same brainwave. ’cause all of my notes are from that part of the conversation

Glen Erickson: Okay, good.

alexi: word for word. What I was gonna bring up,

Glen Erickson: Okay, so jump in where you would jump in on all of that.

alexi: your question because

Glen Erickson: Well, the point I was, sorry, sorry. Yeah, the, so the point I was gonna make was I got caught in right in the middle of that, of, of course feeling a lot of empathy and wanting to find out more about that experience. But also realizing that literally running adjacent to that was the fact that I was another guy in the industry making her talk about [01:28:00] that more than just talking about herself and her music.

Do you, do you follow me? Like again, she was being, I was all of a sudden super cognizant of the fact that, am I. Making her be a spokesperson for the industry as a woman in an all woman band, quote unquote. And instead of just asking Brandy questions about her experience as an artist, which is what I was in my heart doing and what I set out to do,

alexi: Mm-hmm.

Glen Erickson: anyhow, I just, do you understand?

Like I just became so cognizant of, of, I, I.

alexi: dude asking her and making her represent all women. And I get that.

Glen Erickson: Yeah. So I wanted to get your perspective, obviously as a listener of all of these podcasts so far, but also as a young woman, hearing another woman talk about her experience and how you see all of that.

alexi: No, I, I think [01:29:00] that, um, I mean, I might be remembering incorrectly. It’s been a few days since I listened, but like she, she kind of delved into it, which like, I shouldn’t say totally changes the fact, but it’s not like you forced some answer of her. It’s not like you, set the stage so that she had to. but I think you asked insightful questions that like could amplify, like, amplify her voice on the situation. but I, I thought it was so interesting and I’m so happy she talked about it the way she did. ’cause she didn’t, she didn’t speak on behalf of all women. She, everything that she posed, she posed. From like an individualistic point of view, like, this was my experience and this is what I like, felt, or like,

Glen Erickson: Mm-hmm.

alexi: um, needed to feel. And I think like, just like as a woman, the way she phrased that conversation like a, I’m speaking for all woman. It was like, as

Glen Erickson: Hmm.

alexi: woman, here’s my experience and I know other women experience it,

Glen Erickson: Yeah.

alexi: which [01:30:00] is so important.

And I think it’s. Just like the easiest way to amplify women’s voices in that sense. Um, but I wrote down that you had said to her during that conversation, when she was talking about, and it was specifically the example of like the green room, that it’s such like a small thing, but that she like was cognitively aware about the fact that she felt the need to leave a green room space than she found it.

Glen Erickson: Yeah.

alexi: that there was no negative connotation on women and women in the industry and women bands for like the next people, like down the path. and you had kind of like paused her and just said like, what a huge unfair burden to bear to act so perfect so that the path behind them, um, for other women is kept clean. And I think just the fact that she was able to pose that so nicely was just like, as a young woman, almost like refreshing to hear because I’ve had countless conversations with [01:31:00] other, like women in my life in all walks about this and having to like, just like the feeling of having to prove that you belong in the space that you do. whether

Glen Erickson: Yeah. Yeah,

alexi: academic, like sport related, and just like just always feel the need to like prove that they deserve the space that they’re in,

Glen Erickson: yeah.

alexi: way that men feel really.

Glen Erickson: Yeah.

alexi: it’s interesting because. Usually examples are so broad and so large, um, especially in like academia and like, you know, me with my lab.

Like it’s, it’s just like big picture things. it’s really interesting for her to be able to articulate it with such like a small detail of leaning, even like a green room, nicer. ’cause I’m like, it, it is exactly that. And I think it’s like something that’s really important for. whether it be like women who haven’t thought about it that way, or people who don’t identify as women who might have not even [01:32:00] thought about that before.

Glen Erickson: Yeah.

alexi: I think that’s just such a, point that hits home and will for a lot

Glen Erickson: Yeah.

alexi: a lot of people who identify as women. And I think it’s just, yeah. Such an interesting point for the podcast to come up about. ’cause

Glen Erickson: Yeah,

alexi: never even thought about it in that sense, like in a

Glen Erickson: well, I mean a few things there. Like one is I, I have this terrible, and maybe it’s not terrible. Sometimes it feels terrible, a quality where I think of the joke in a moment to add levity. To a serious moment. I’ve done this in like boardrooms before. places I don’t often control myself very well with making a joke at the moment.

I wanted to make a joke about it’s her own fault for having a band called Nice Horse that she feels like she has to be nice and clean up behind herself. Anyhow, that was a, it would’ve been a terrible joke, and I’m really glad I withheld, in the moment. The, the thing that I was thinking in the moment was.

[01:33:00] I, so, I mean, I have, I’ve had the exact same approach. Like I’ve cleaned up rooms where we stayed. I mean, we used to, when we used to tour, there’s a number of well-known venues across Canada that would have band rooms because there were, there were bars that regularly had live music, and there was an era where people were creating band rooms.

So they would put the band up. Overnight.

alexi: Yeah.

Glen Erickson: Um, and we would always make a real point of leaving it as clean as, or cleaner as when we came in. And green rooms the same way. Like we tried to be a respectful band. We would, you know, be very kind and, and generous with the, the sound people who usually kind of get crapped on all, like all these aspects of being a professional.

I remember working at those things.

alexi: of you.

Glen Erickson: Well, that’s exactly it, but what I’m saying is the only thing in my mind was my own integrity,

alexi: Mm-hmm.

Glen Erickson: which was really important [01:34:00] to me, and I would hope that every band would have that, but I had no experience once or did it ever come to my mind really that I was doing this for somebody else

alexi: Yeah.

Glen Erickson: that I needed, I should say, that I needed to do it.

For somebody else that it was important that it had value. It never had to be presented to me that way because like our joke that nobody’s ever called it an all male band. I wasn’t sitting there thinking I need to carve a great path for the all male alt country bands behind me that come across Canada.

Never. So one of many relatable experiences I’m sure that women and those identifying have had to. Encounter right when they,

alexi: Yeah.

Glen Erickson: you were saying, you’ve at your young age experienced it at the university in academia and, you know, it crosses your mind. It never had to cross my mind. So that’s [01:35:00] pretty significant.

And I thought it was kind of funny joking though, when we were like, nobody’s ever called it an all male band. Like they call it. They have to identify that this is an all female band. Like it’s still a novelty. Like it’s still a novelty in 2025. Like it’s not a novelty.

alexi: joking about that, I was kind of laughing along and then I was like, had that moment I think that you guys also did, and I was like, wait, like it’s, it’s kind of not a joke, like

Glen Erickson: That shouldn’t, yeah, and I, the other thing I was trying to articulate, I’m gonna say it. At the risk that I still haven’t articulated the way I want it to mean, and that’s fine and you’re usually gracious if I make the mistake. But what I was trying to think of was the fact that the way I would like it to be in the world right now is like I do want her opinion as a woman,

alexi: Yeah.

Glen Erickson: not, not on.

The problem going on for women, I just is, I want a balanced discourse in the [01:36:00] world that some in so many places doesn’t feel balanced, right? I want to be able to offer my opinion and recognize that it comes from a certain demographic and perspective and you know, gender and socioeconomic biases.

I get all that, but I still want to be able to. Offer my opinion to the world or, or offer my ideas and I want to be able to interact with others. And it’s almost feels like we’ve lost the ability to even say that because it’ll get torn apart and stripped down so quickly that I want to just hear about Brandi’s experience, and it’s gonna be from the female perspective.

But I don’t need to call that out. I, but I, but that’s just the way it is. But it keeps getting called out and that’s where I’m saying I loved everything she had to say and that we had a really good conversation. It felt like friends, but I was still so cognizant of that. I still can’t have it without feeling like I’m calling [01:37:00] out that particular thing, unfortunately.

alexi: that you’re even. Able to think about it. Not only like in the moment, like reflect on it. I think that’s like the, that’s like crossed and makes it so that you’re not

Glen Erickson: Yeah.

alexi: it out. Like I think, I think the issue stems from when, like call it out and like throw a label on, throw that woman label on something, and leave it there. Like they’re

Glen Erickson: Or, or, or just take the pieces they want out of context and apply it to some other larger story, which isn’t fair either.

alexi: and I think you see that like I think the best example is like in women’s sports,

Glen Erickson: Hmm. I.

alexi: see a female athlete or team headline or break any news without the first word on that headline being like that they’re a female team, whether a woman athlete, like. I think it’s like that, but you’re not doing that.

You’re not being like, oh, look at this female

Glen Erickson: Yeah.

alexi: Look at this like woman perspective. You’re just also bringing up the fact that like her perspective [01:38:00] comes from where it does

Glen Erickson: Yeah,

alexi: might be important.

Glen Erickson: yeah, I, that’s a great point because I think we’re at a point in the music industry where there still are some traditional tensions. I. Of equality and such between the genders in the music business. But there, but there is like, it’s, it’s also such a long ways from even the way I know it was talked about when I was young and it’s come so far.

So you’re right. Now we can look at sports and we can look at the WNBA and we can look at the PWHL and we can say, we can see, sorry, all of the. the kind of negative or difficult rhetoric around it and, and challenging conversations and those stupid old traditional viewpoints. but it has to start somewhere, right?

And it started years ago with people just having the idea and nobody willing to sort of, you know, be put in that box. And, and so those athletes [01:39:00] are trying to break. Out of those boxes. And, and I guess I just hope that the conversations that are most important still keep happening just to break down old ways of thinking, right.

And, and continue to move towards things. so all of that stuff aside, oh, I should finish that off by saying, her and I did chat for a while after the podcast and. And the nicest thing she said to me related to this, but also just in general for doing this podcast that someone could say to me was like, yes, those, there were a couple of really challenging things that aren’t easy for me to talk about, but it felt really easy with you.

So I don’t think I could have gotten a better compliment from such a sweet person. Uh, I was very appreciative.

She’s done so many different things, so, Always the hustle. If you wanna look to somebody. for some hustle inspiration. She’s kinda the top shelf [01:40:00] of anybody I’ve met right across the country. So,Okay. Um, I very quickly wanted to just ask you. I’m gonna put you on the spot just really quick because, uh, I had a meeting with somebody recently regarding, you know, some work I do to support the Edmonton Folk Festival Folk Music Festival.

And you know them like obviously starting the preparations for transitioning to making announcements. They’ve already announced their headliner here in Edmonton. Uh, Mount Joy on the Sunday night finale night. So just in those preparation talks, I was reflecting on the fact that you like are such a folky now in a sense for our festival.

Like you just love our festival so much, which is great. Like it’s so exciting and I get to bring you every year. And I have been doing that for a long time ’cause I’ve been working with them for 10, 12, 13 years I think.

alexi: time.

Glen Erickson: And so as a result, I’ve been able to bring you for a long [01:41:00] time and I was wondering if off the top of your head, you have a top one or two folk fest memories.

alexi: Oh.

Glen Erickson: And I don’t know whether it’s just a memory of being at the folk festival that you’d point out, or whether it’s like, a musical discovery or something that, um, has kinda locked in as a favorite for you.

alexi: Oh yes. Let me pull up, let me pull, well, I’ll say there’s one that’s like

Glen Erickson: What are you pulling up? Do you have notes about that too?

alexi: no. Um, no, you’re asking for two. You’ll get two. My first one though isn’t like a distinct, like this is a one moment in time.

Glen Erickson: Okay.

alexi: But when I was like little and going to folk fest, like

Glen Erickson: A few years ago, like

alexi: Okay. No stop. No. When I was little, like when we were

Glen Erickson: okay, like 10 years ago. Okay.

alexi: Yeah. I just, I remember like loving it during the day and like you guys would buy like the [01:42:00] kernel corn, what’s it called?

Glen Erickson: Kettle corn, the big bag of kettle corn. Yeah.

alexi: And like we would like like sometimes like face painting and like walk around, but I, I distinctly remember like there were some of the late nights, where you would want one of the like late night shows, and mom of course would agree. I just remember sitting on like the side stage and being like half asleep, half not, and like, just like leaning on your mom and then just like watching the live music and falling in love with it. And that just being like a constant thing throughout the years, um, kind of growing up. And I was like, I think that’s like really where my, my very heavy fondness of live music really stems from.

Glen Erickson: Yeah, it’s ’cause you got kind of brainwashed. ’cause you were just falling asleep and I just

alexi: into

Glen Erickson: kept, yeah, a hundred percent. Yeah.

alexi: but other than that, I was gonna say last year’s folk fest. I think it was like kinda the first year that was a little more like, and this is noticed to you and mom, but was like a little more [01:43:00] independent.

Glen Erickson: There’s no diss there.

alexi: well, because I loved going with you and mom, but last year was like the first year where I was like, you know, I got to go with like my boyfriend and like my friend and like,

Glen Erickson: Yeah.

alexi: up with people and, and last year’s lineup was just so, and I got to see Wild Rivers Live.

I was pulling up my folk Fest playlist from last year

Glen Erickson: Oh, okay. Cool. Cool.

alexi: but I got to see Wild River Live and like love them. then there’s a couple other people I got to see live that I love, like black pumas and rodeos there again, et cetera. But Briscoe, the band Briscoe, I watched their set last year and I remember sitting on the hill. I was so tired. And I literally, like every song they played, I was just like, I need this song. I need this song. they were all so good. And then they have song called The Well. And that I think is like the song that brought back my terrible habit of like putting a song on repeat this summer.

Glen Erickson: Oh, [01:44:00] that one. Okay.

alexi: ‘ cause that one, I, I just remember I kept playing it for you in the car and I kept playing it. And then I was, there was one playlist that I had made for work, and every time I was like serving a brunch shift, that playlist would get played and it was on there. So I was hearing it every like, work shift. Yeah. And that song was just like, I don’t know, that like, it’s still like, hits a certain note in my brain.

And I think

Glen Erickson: Yeah.

alexi: like kinda launched, um, like kind of a new music discovery for me this past summer.

Glen Erickson: Yeah, that’s great. Right.

alexi: it was

Glen Erickson: So a, that’s no diss on us. In any way. Like, if anything, we’ve encouraged your independence all along, and I don’t think anything makes me happier than to see you take ownership of that event for yourself and make it your own. So, that might’ve been the most fun, actual part of it for me was, a, having you outta my hair and b uh, just kidding.

Just kidding. But, uh, I, I love [01:45:00] seeing you do that. Like I, we talked about before at the day in Vegas when you and your brother were just running back and forth from stage to stage. ’cause you wanted to see every act pretty much. And, you know, music dad, I, how am I supposed to be more proud than you engaging with it?

That, to that level. That’s pretty awesome. Uh, the second thing I was gonna say is. Yeah, last year was pretty incredible, was last year when Angie McMahon was on the lineup and I didn’t even realize it and missed it

alexi: Yes,

Glen Erickson: then I start watching one of the best comedies of the last five years Shrinking, uh, which we should have a whole conversation on that, uh, in post fame on its own because the music supervisor role is actually one of the main actors, and the music choices are so.

Perfect for an indie snob like me, they’re so bang on. But the most, the most impacting song of the last few [01:46:00] seasons of that show was at the end of an episode with this song Letting Go by Angie McMahon. And then I was. And then I came to you and I was like, that sounds so familiar. I think she was at Folk Fest and you were like, she was at Folk Fest last year, dad.

And I was like, so I can’t believe I blew that one and didn’t see that song get performed because it’s incredible. I’m gonna put it on our playlist. It’s so incredible. So that’s kind of, yeah, last year had a lot of cool stuff.

alexi: so what we learned is going into this year, we’re gonna

Glen Erickson: I need more of, yeah. I need to do my research better and not just be, fall into the trap of like, I’ve never heard that name before, blah, blah, blah, blah. So, we’re gonna do our research better.

alexi: what I did last year, you make a, you look at all the people and then you make a playlist and you add like two or three of their songs to the playlist, and you hit shuffle when

Glen Erickson: You mean of people you don’t know? Oh, okay.

alexi: Yeah, like what I did is I made a playlist and [01:47:00] I like, but for most of the artists, like some, I was like, Hmm, I really don’t think I’ll be into you.

And so I didn’t add them. But for most artists, I just wanna Spotify and like there’s their top 10 songs

Glen Erickson: Yeah.

alexi: the ones that intrigued me the most, I’d add like two or three

Glen Erickson: Okay.

alexi: and then I’d shuffle it. And then some artists, I’d fall in love with some, I’d be like, I really am not into this. And I’d remove them.

But the ones I was really into, I’d add more. And then. I got really into those artists, and then

Glen Erickson: Yeah.

alexi: fact that I would get to see them in like a month or two down the line was

Glen Erickson: Yeah. Okay. Well, we’ll, we’ll maybe we’ll make a shared one, which is code for, you’ll get to do all the work of adding them for me, but might, that might help. Help me. That’s gonna be great.

Okay. Thank you so much for your insights. I was looking forward to it. I appreciate it. Okay.

alexi: Yeah. I’ll see you in the morning.

Glen Erickson: See you in the morning. Love you.

alexi: Bye.

Glen Erickson: Bye.