I’ve always said from day one that much of Soul Plane’s stupid antics make for material worthy of a reality show. And now, just over a year and some change later, MuchMusic (yes, the MuchMusic) is saying more of the same. Read on for the big news that will blow your tits off.
It has been confirmed, ladies and gentlemen, that Soul Plane will be featured on a new, upcoming series being aired on MuchMusic meant to document the struggle that Canadian bands must endure in order to have even the remotest shot at breaking into the primarily U.S.-dominated music industry. Essentially, the series breaks down into a number of episodes that have already been planned out (around 15, last I heard); each episode focuses on a different Canadian band trying to get somewhere in the music business. Soul Plane is going to be one of those Canadian bands that gets focused on. I have never been more excited in my life – I’m so pumped that if I blink I might explode.
It all started several months ago when I emailed MuchMusic replying to an ad I had seen on Craigslist about a reality series concept they were planning to put on the network. I almost didn’t do it – the mere idea of putting Soul Plane’s idiocy on any kind of screen that gets national exposure almost made my heart stop. Besides, several months ago I wasn’t sure where the hell the band was gonna be, what with Patrick (former bassist) having to leave by September of this year and Blythe (former vocalist) being impossible to get a hold of and nowhere to be found. We had no prospects on the horizon and even less gigging opportunities. Definitely not the best of times for us. But Kevin’s simple line of logic made me reconsider: “What the hell do we have to lose, Yui?” He was right. Anything would have been win-win for us at that point – I would have stripped buck naked and done jumping jacks in front of a funeral procession if it would have garnered some attention for Soul Plane. So, I wrote the email, hit “send”, and then I grunted, shrugged, smirked, farted, put it to the back of my mind (the email, not the fart), and went to go get something to eat from Kevin’s fridge.
Several days later I found myself in correspondence with a producer from MuchMusic. He provided me with more details about the show and asked me if I still liked the idea of having Soul Plane featured on it. He said he heard the music and enjoyed the freshness and uniqueness of our sound. In his email, he also asked me to leave a contact number for him to call me at. I laughed at the thought of anyone that important even bothering to read my email, let alone click the soulplanemusic.com URL link I hit him up with, but despite that, I still let him know that we were still eager to be part of the series and left him my cell phone number in my reply. I never heard from him again. I just assumed that he had probably done his research on us and then, like most people did at the time, smelled the garbage cooking. The dream of ever being on TV went as fast as it came.
When it became apparent more recently (say, two weeks ago) that Patrick would have to be replaced as swiftly as possible if Soul Plane was to make any big moves for the summer, I started browsing through Craigslist in desperate search of a new bassist. This is where I found Luke. This is also where I saw the same MuchMusic ad I had replied to, several months earlier, re-posted. After a thorough forensic examination, I was able to deduce that maybe they might not have finished casting for that same show yet. I re-sent a reply, more for kicks than anything else. I didn’t expect much would come of it.
Last Monday afternoon, my cell phone rang.
Yui: Hello?
Lady: Hi, may I please speak to You-ee? I don’t know if I’m pronouncing this right… Youuu-ee? Am I saying it properly? (sheepish giggle)
Yui: You are saying it perfectly… I’m impressed. This is Yui. What can I do for you?
Lady: Hi Yui, this is [Tara] calling from MuchMusic…
I suddenly wished that I had remembered to wear underwear that day. Clean-up in aisle 5, clean-up, aisle 5. I don’t think Tara noticed I shat myself, though, and if she did, she was very professional about it; she carried on normally – besides, what the hell else could she have expected when she’s bringing news this good to my gates? She introduced herself as one of the producers of the new MuchMusic reality show that I had sent in an application on behalf of Soul Plane for (“twice,” – she laughed as she said it – apparently this shows a great deal enthusiasm on our part). Tara then asked me a whole gang of questions about the band; from drawing parallels between Soul Plane and mainstream artists (she compared us to Black-Eyed Peas from back in the day! Holy shitpops!!), to discussing each member’s day jobs and academic statuses, to chopping it up about our respective hopes and dreams, we covered an entire continent of information about the band. I couldn’t understand for the life of me how anyone could want to know this much about us.
After about a half-hour of conversation, she told me that she, as well as the other producers of the show, would like to meet with the entire band for an on-camera interview. We scheduled for the upcoming Friday, and Tara left me her contacts in case I had any further questions. I immediately got in touch with all my band members… once I let the cat out the bag, it was mostly screaming like little girls who just had their first periods and then hanging up on each other.
When Friday rolled around, we were ready. We got down to MuchMusic headquarters on
Anyway, some 20 minutes later, we got in front of a tagged-up wall in an open alleyway that borders a parkette, across from the MuchMusic building. Once they turned that camera on, we played it cooler than a meat locker in
We all came out of the interview feeling very good about the experience (it had almost nothing to do with the LSD). It went smoothly, and there were no noticeable slip-ups from anyone. I was most impressed at the way Gideon and Aaron handled themselves… it was like they were able to grow up instantly for the camera. Good thing, too, because no one’s in this shit to run a daycare. Kevin also threw down for Soul Plane real admirably, and despite their relatively-rookie statuses in the band, both Mel and Luke took care of their respective businesses – all in all, you just couldn’t knock our hustle. Even Conor was able to put the icing on the cake as he left each producer with a copy of the press kit and the demo pre-release for them to remember us by. I emailed them the next day thanking them for their time and the opportunity. We then put the rest in God’s hands.
Monday (yesterday) came around after a weekend of hope and anticipation – my cell phone rang again. It was Tara. She told me that Soul Plane has booked a spot on the show. I almost collapsed into myself on the spot – it felt like I had just won the lottery jackpot. I begged her not to play games with my heart. She promised me she was doing nothing of the sort. Once I came to terms with the fact that maybe she wasn't pulling some kind of prank on me, we went through a whole bunch of important shit I needed to know and spread to the rest of Soul Plane in order to prepare for the first day of filming. I could barely keep up… my heart was racing so fast it almost attacked. I furiously scribbled down everything she fed me on a scrap piece of paper, and the minute I got off the phone with Tara (but not without first thanking her and MuchMusic graciously, albeit repeatedly, for this once-in-a-lifetime chance) I sent out a text-message to everyone that matters: WE GOT MUCH MUSIC!!
Let’s put it this way: this is MuchMusic here. I’m not talking about some 15 seconds of grabbing your balls in front of a handycam on a Speakers Corner segment on CityTV. I’m talking about a full-fledged episode, all 22 minutes, focusing on Soul Plane, on a national television network that monopolistically controls the music industry in terms of which music videos get airtime for mass viewing and which ones get thrown into the nearest recycling bin as far as Canadian audiences are concerned. The best part about it is that this isn’t some kind of cheesy game show where we read off some poorly-written script and do a bunch of stupid shit that results in everybody hating everybody else – so no, Soul Plane isn’t selling out just yet. This is a show where people are going to be able to see Soul Plane in a very honest light. In fact, this series is almost documentary in the sense that the show has the full intention of granting exposure to relatively obscure, local bands that would otherwise never get to see the light of day – as legit a “reality show” as you’re ever gonna get.
And believe me, you gotta get you some of this.
And you can – it’s as simple as checking back with this site frequently. I’m going to be updating this blog as often as possible; ideally, I’d like to write a little something after every session MuchMusic has with us. I know you want to know about this, dear reader, so I’m going to try to be a people-pleaser and be as detailed as humanly ethical in my posts. However, I’ve been asked to refrain from spoiling any surprises planned for the show, and obviously I will oblige to this simple request that was made on the part of the MuchMusic team. As a result, some information will be withheld from my writings when I do post about these shoots later on down the line, but you’ll still be able to get the picture or at least a general idea, I promise. Please try to understand. And then try to watch the damn episode when it airs so that you can catch up on things I’ve intentionally left out.
Seriously, though, I only hope you’ll enjoy reading about it even a fraction as much as we will enjoy living it. See you in Hollywood, baby.
SOOOOOUUUUUUUUULL PLAAAAAAAAAAAAAAANE!!
