Artist Spotlight on Default

Hellooo Mets! This is Jesse from Rock Sugar and

you're listening to the GeekCast Radio Network.

Keep it right here. GeekCastRadio .com presents

GeekCast Radio Special Episode Artist Spotlight

Default Like Teotium and Blatterd, and JT from

Saskatoon. This is the artist spotlight for the

2000s which will be continuing the epic music

spotlight. We have planned here at GCR I am one

of your hoste of John Mike and joining me is

JT from Saskatoon who? Apparently is not an authentic

geek since he forgot about his favorite wrestler

winning the title in his own hometown Fine, I'm

sorry. I didn't do my research. Can we please

let it go? And for those... Soon as people let

Aquaman go, that'll be fine. Yeah, there's like,

what, six people that don't let Aquaman go, Mike.

And the two people that brought up my, you know,

not knowing a certain wrestling fact don't even

really bug you about Aquaman, so... Well, that's

because one of them I would beat the ever -living

shit out of and the other one I can just kind

of tolerate. Anyway. So, today we are going to

be talking about yet another Canadian band in

default. And that's not some sort of financial

term either. No. Although there is a financial

escapade that happens within this band's history.

Sadly, yes, and we will be getting to that. Default

is made up of lead singer Dallas Smith lead vocals

Jeremy horror guitar Dave Benedict bass and Danny

Craig on drums These guys hit it big in 2001

with wasting my time It's just one of those songs

like right off just the chorus where he just

says wasting my time like over and over again

that you know It's one of those few songs that

does that that I don't mind. I gotta say right

away. Yeah. Oh, yeah. Yeah And you know they

hit with that and they you know got huge radio

airplay When they when their album came out uh...

the fallout uh... you know after hearing wasting

my time so much and just having it you know bore

a hole through my brain i was like okay well

i need to hear what other things these guys you

know what what other songs are they singing besides

just this one and deny was another single off

off of the fallout and deny is okay but again

deny was one of those ones where It got so much

ready like once once everybody was over wasting

my time and then I came out they were like we

have to play this every hour on the hour no matter

what and I like the song it's a good song but

it's not one of my overall favorites that I can

listen to from them yes it's not up there it's

maybe middle of the road it's not the worst song

they've ever done but at the same time it's not

the best one that they've ever done I just don't

No, I think it was because it was overplayed

on the radio that it just kind of it just kind

of made me sick after a while. Yeah No, I'm off

followed like after denying wasted my time like

Based on the strength of those two songs. I bought

the album because because I really dug there,

you know modern grunge kind of song Yeah, like

they're there that sound the one that I liked

after those two Was one late night one late night.

Yeah, cuz it just it tell it told a bit of a

story and It's just that's one of the things

I like about Default like the fact that you know,

they're discovered by Chad Kroger, you know,

you know, you know rock -and -roll Jesus, whatever

you want to call And and you know, we've talked

about that before yeah, it's a And of course,

you know, he also discovered theory of a dead

man and I just like their music like they've

got a good sound and You know the lead singer

Dallas is just got this he's got this quality

in his voice That it's not so much haunting Yeah,

but he's got that kind of Eddie Vedder like where

he kind of holds a high like a note for just

like just the right amount of time that just

kind of hooks you Like, it hooks you just like

that. Oh yeah. So, I don't know, especially the

first album, the first album I still love unequivocally.

It's, when you move on from that, it doesn't

peter out, but it's... For me, it totally does.

I love the band, I love a lot of their songs,

but the fallout was... Well, obviously it was

their debut album, but it was also the album

that I like the most songs off of just looking

at the track listing I love Sick and tired was

amazing that first track. Oh my god was so fucking

cool. I love that deny Whatever wasting my time

was great the other ones I liked was one late

night and funny story and Dustin Van Koor is

probably going to kick my ass for this but for

some strange reason in 2001 I would always play

this song one late night and seven dusts dead

set back -to -back I don't know why I would play

those two songs together but I don't know I just

but one late night Live a lie was another single

off of their by your side and faded Those are

really the only songs off of the fallout that

I actually like a lot of the other ones just

didn't grab me. Yeah Now after this before they

released a location, which is the next studio

album They had released a blind for the spider

-man soundtrack. Absolutely love that song. That

was a great great song Love that soundtrack Yeah,

well, I love bits and pieces of that soundtrack.

There are some things on there that just... whatever.

Yeah. But, yeah, Elocation was their next album

and it didn't... Like, the lead single, Taking

My Life Away, it was a... They wanted it to be

another Wasting My Time. I don't think it got

there. Now that one it was an okay song yeah,

but again it that that I loved more in a category

of You know radio Radio play like hey, let's

put this on heavy rotation. No one's gonna care

cuz they all love it. Yeah, yeah I'm sorry that

not everyone loved it The funny thing is, with

this sophomore album in allocation, is that taking

my life away, all she wrote, and what was the

other one? Throw It All Away, were the three

singles. But yet you have a song like... and

again just like the fallout you have a song that

kicks the out you know kicks you in your ass

as soon as you start with who followed who yeah

and i love that song i don't know why it wasn't

a single you have who followed who and made to

lie were the two outside of taking my life away

that i absolutely love off the album yeah all

all that she wrote is good alone is good the

rest of them are just kind of meh I mean certainly

I mean that's European my to like outside of

the singles on allocation I loved crossing the

line and break down doors Because that's where

they got because I mean when it comes to rock

music one of my favorite things is I like guitar

riffs I like it's probably my favorite instrument.

I can't play worth a crap but But crossing the

line and break down doors. They both have like

that. They really channel that 90s You know Seattle

grunge thing with their guitars because there's

a there's a growl to and there's this energy

I Wouldn't necessarily a violent energy, but

there's a lot of energy in those songs that I

really you know gravitated towards yeah, and

I'm not knocking the band, but yeah, take my

life away It's like I used to wear around the

time allocation came out. I was still working

in a 7 -eleven and You know, we just put it on

the Rock 102, which is the rock station here

in Saskatoon. And it seemed like every 10 minutes

and like, hey, here's that song that everybody

loves. And I would say something like, hey, here's

that song that I could verbatim lip sync. Yeah,

because I've heard it so many times and I just

didn't care anymore. Yeah. And I think that's

kind of sad when you hear a song so much from

a band you like that you start not caring. That's

exactly what happened to me on, you know, with

Deny. I mean, you know, wasting my time got tons

of, of radio play, but Deny after wasting my

time kind of faded and people were over with

it, you know, Deny got so much radio play. It

was like, this song is making me hate this band

actually. You know what I mean? It's like one

of those things where, oh my God, you, you know,

it's like, you can't get away from it. Um, I

will agree that breaking down doors is a good

song. Um, But like I said just the ones that

stuck out to me and you know, everyone can tell

their own opinion But like I said who followed

who obviously taking my life away Made to lie

made to lie was a good it wasn't It was a slow

song, but it wasn't like a slow romantic song.

It told the story of how someone was made to

lie Yeah, you know And I thought that was really

really cool But other than that like I tried

listening to the album as like from cover to

cover and I just couldn't Yeah, I mean it's the

only other Default I have yeah besides the fallout

like the the next was that one thing remains

and comes and goes Yeah, I've heard a couple

of songs off each. I mean one thing remains Basically

the only song I remember off of there is the

memory will never die which was one of the theme

songs for WrestleMania 23 and It was used it's

been used a few times in the tribute to the troops

editions of like Smackdown yeah, and that's really

the only song I know off of there the the other

the other one that I really because you know

went on YouTube and you can find like the Whole

saw a whole albums on there in videos with like

lyric videos I did kind of like count on me Yeah

count on me was a good one For me honestly All

is forgiven is my favorite which is the first

track I can't win was another good one, but Again,

I just sadly think that default is just kind

of like going they're just fading and fading

and like they started off really really great

with the fallout and then the the next two albums

they just kind of like foamed it in I mean you

know there's there's maybe one or two great radio

play songs and like I said all is forgiven off

of one thing remains is a great song I love that

you know I love that that style that they use

on that song but again it's not an entire album

that I can listen to yeah like I said Count on

me one thing remains was a pretty decent song

I like that one like listening to the videos

on YouTube and that but yeah, it's just I Think

I only know the one one one or two songs total

off of comes and goes but Especially with one

one thing remains they they they coasted like

there's did they were coasting? But you know

because we spoke off -air about, and at the beginning

there, about some financial troubles. Maybe you

could bring up TVT quick at this point. Yeah.

Well, really quickly, I want to cover Comes and

Goes because I got it through Amazon at the time

because it wasn't in iTunes. And the iTunes version

is so weird because I have my volume for my computer

set at usually twenty twenty five percent just

because you know you can't have your computer

volume at you know fifty sixty percent all the

time it would blow people's you know years out

uh... and i can hit you know the the preview

track on any any other album and it would play

just fine at that level i click on cover comes

and goes out when i go to hit up you know about

preview track and it's so low it's like they

it's like they were sent really horrible mp3

versions of the songs because it just sounds

so it doesn't sound like they got a correct version

of the album because it just doesn't say i have

to turn my my volume up to hear it and then when

it goes to another song it's too you know it's

too loud so um but i did originally get it through

uh amazon mp3 There are a couple songs on here

that I like. I think Show Me, Supposed To Be,

and I think the first three singles were Turn

It On, All Over Me, and Little Too Late, which

All Over Me, funnily enough, is co -written by

default and Richard Marks. That's kind of weird.

That's kind of cool, but weird. Kind of cool,

but it's weird. Yeah. But yeah, I mean, you know,

the whole thing with with default, you know,

it's it's kind of sad that they've really faded

into this obscurity, I think. I mean, you know,

from, you know, one thing remains till comes

and goes. That was a long period of spanning

and then Comes and goes was so weird because

they released it in Canada in 2009 and then they

waited a whole year To release it in the u .s..

And like what the hell well I don't know if that

was really their decision, but well no well the

company obviously Right, I'm not saying it was

their decision. I'm just saying like you know

how Okay, every Tuesday music and DVDs and TV

on DVDs it you know albums drop and everything

else My question is why is it you know? September

2009 That it gets released in Canada and then

like a year later in October of 2010 It gets

released in the US like if they had to wait a

whole year releases of the US that makes no sense

It was just one of those really really weird

things. Yeah, but Again, like I said, not necessarily

the bands. Well, that was probably more political,

whatever within the company. But yeah, no, like

comes and goes. The only tracks I know were Turn

It On and Caught in the Moment, which I did the

Caught in the Moment again. It's got that unique

default sound to it. And I think it's one of

these days I'll track the songs down on YouTube

and listen to. I think it's a pretty decent song.

Definitely in keeping with default style But

again, I don't think they've faded so much into

obscurity. I mean because it's a lot of Like

there's a lot of pop radio like artists that

I heard when basically the newest station saskathans

wire 96 3 and they're like all basically it's

It's a top 40 radio station, but they're playing

like all about like the rap and remix and they've

got like actual DJ DJs There are some artists

on there that I heard like two or three songs

and then I didn't hear of them again for like

three years Oh, they're still recording. I thought

they were done and that's yeah, but it's just

the thing with default is that you know They're

oh, it's like any band. They're always working

They're always recording until you see that blurb

on like TMZ or much music or MTV or whatever

They're still there. So I will admit that they're

definitely kind of fallen by the wayside They

have and that's and that's really what I mean

about fading into into obscurity because like

You know, I know Okay, 2005 and we already talked

about this last episode but 2005 Nickelback released

all the right reasons and then they went on the

all the right reasons tour they toured for three

years and then they went back into the studio

and released Dark Horse in 2008 so, you know,

I knew like They're in the limelight, you know

the same thing with theory of a dead man. They

released scars and souvenirs in 08 they released

The truth is last year, you know, so two three

years. Yes, you are correct is you know average

for a band but like Until I did a search on Google

for default I didn't even know that they were

putting out and like they after one day one thing

remains it was like okay well they're no longer

doing you know i didn't know yet just didn't

know and then i found this thing like oh they

have a new album finally yay i mean it's the

same thing with um with another band i like and

i know i'm kind of going off topic here but uh...

you know something uh... course of nature they

release their album super calla in two thousand

two and then they'd left the music industry for

like six years they released damaged in 2008

and it's now 2012 and it's been four years we

haven't heard anything from course of nature

so i don't know what the deal is with that band

either but it's like it's these bands that you

know that you want to follow that you love and

you love certain songs from them but they just

kind of disappear yeah no i i agree with that

it's just excuse me It's yeah, but I mean I I

like default and I like them enough that I will

you know Probably stick around to the point of

exhaustion They're listening to them but Again,

like they're a ban. I mean like I said discovered

by Nickelback, which definitely gives them a

couple of points in their favor But yeah, I mean,

it's definitely a sliding scale when it comes

to the quality Cuz you know like I love I love

everything on the on fallout. I love mostly everything

on allocation and Then you look I like like three

songs off a one thing remains and like two songs

off it comes and goes They do a fifth album.

Am I even gonna care? You know cuz and it's not

for waiting it's for You know basically if the

the first track off of their fifth album which

I'm sure is coming if it doesn't like you know

blow you away yeah i'm probably like yeah i still

like them but i'm not going to make as much of

an effort anymore to listen to them so they're

kind of they they've got they've got they they

still have that talent it's just they need that

motivation yeah and i think part of the problem

with the motivation is the fact that they got

screwed Oh, and how. Yeah, by TVT Records. Now,

just a little background on TVT for those that

don't know. TVT Records started out as TVTunes,

which was founded in 1985 by Steve Gottlieb.

They are responsible for, in the beginning, like

television's greatest hits, 50s and 60s, 70s

and 80s, remote control, cable ready, all of

those. overpriced CDs that you can find with

60, 70 TV tunes on different CDs and stuff. They're

kind of the jerky little brother of KTEL Records.

Oh wow, yeah. Only reference I had. Their problems

started one year after Default signed with them.

In 2002, the label got into a dispute with Lyre

Cohen, head of Island Def Jam. The dispute involved

Cohen and Universal paying former TVT artist

Ja Rule $8 million to not deliver an album paid

for by TVT and promised the TVT instead deliver

it to Universal. In the resulting litigation,

Universal was prohibited by the courts from releasing

the album created with TVT's funding in the ultimate

trial over the claims of fraud and... Tortuous

interference, a jury awarded TBT a $132 million

judgment. Universal appealed the ruling. On appeal,

Cohen and Universal argued the existence of an

agreement between the parties meant that their

behavior was only a breach of contract and not

fraud or tort. The court agreed, reducing TBT's

award to $126 ,000. Oh, damn! Lord, you go from

132 million to 126 ,000. Wow, that's a loss.

Yeah, in the words of Samuel L. Jackson, that's

kind of sting. Yeah. And in 2007, TVT lost a

$9 million lawsuit to Slip N Slide Records when

a Florida judge ruled that Slip N Slide had legal

rights to distribute an unreleased album owned

by rapper Pitbull that he recorded for Slip N

Slide in 2001. TVT, who signed Pitbull several

years later, had sought to notice third parties,

such as record stores or digital download entities,

that the distribution and the sale of the album

would violate TVT's exclusive right to create

new music by the artist. The judge, however,

ruled against TVT as Pitbull had made the recordings

prior to signing with TVT an awarded slip and

slide a nine million dollar judgment as TVT attempted

to block the sale of the album. TVT filed for

appeal but was unable to post the required bond,

thus TVT filed for bankruptcy. Oh boy, and then...

In February of 2008, Gottlieb stated, This is

not the end of TBT. In June 2008, however, the

digital music label The Orchard was declared

the winning bidder by a New York bankruptcy court

and gained control of TBT's artists, contracts,

catalog recordings, and its distribution infrastructure,

thus ending the TBT Records label imprint. The

music publishing assets were transferred to TBT

Music Enterprise and later purchased by Reservoir

Media Management. Say that five times fast. So

I guess that was the end of TVT. Yeah, TVT is

essentially gone now. They're an entity on paper.

Yes. And, you know, for default, this is like,

you know, a huge, huge deal because, yeah, from

2005 to... essentially here in the US, 2010,

that's five years without an album. I mean, yeah,

Comes and Goes got released in Canada in 2009,

but for here in the US, that's five years without

an album. And they switched from, obviously,

TVT to EMI Canada and Fontana Universal. So,

you know, they got just... And all over... two

rappers. I find that extremely funny that the

rock band got screwed over by lawsuits from a

record company and rappers. Oh, boy. Well, because

no one listens to rock anymore. All the kids

like is rap. Damn you, 80s. But no, it's yeah,

that was damn near a death blow for default.

And like I said, I still have a lot of love for

the band. And like I said, I hope their fifth

album is kick ass. Yeah. But who knows? Maybe

they'll take this whole experience the last couple

of years and they'll channel some of the obvious

rage into their music. I mean, it certainly couldn't

hurt. Yeah, that's very true. I just don't know

where they can go to stand out from not only

other Canadian rockers but other current rock

bands now because Like I said, it comes and goes.

There was no huge promotion. Everything now,

all of the bands are on Twitter, Facebook, everywhere.

And there's promotion everywhere. Roadrunner

Records has promotion out the ass on YouTube

and stuff like that. And all these companies

have all this promotion. But yet default just

kind of falls by the wayside, like you said before.

And they're just like, oh, those guys. yeah we

don't yeah well whatever they do we have to hang

out with them yeah exactly do we have to hang

out with those guys but it's like you know i

i don't know you know like with with saliva seven

dust um nickelback three of a dead man now blackstone

cherry you know hinder buck cherry i don't know

if default can really hang in in rock anymore

i just don't know Yeah, they're definitely going

to have to fight for a place at the table. I

mean, like I said, you just look at their history,

sliding scale of quality. I still love them,

but you've got to be honest. Sliding scale of

quality, and they've got to put some more passion

into their work. Yeah. And again, this is something

we'll talk about later when we get to that artist

spotlight. but you know take a look at theory

of a dead man you know they are a little bit

tongue in cheek but that's what they like about

themselves they want to be tongue in cheek with

you know songs like bad girlfriend and everything

else but take a look from 2008 scars and souvenirs

to 2011's the truth is between that time tyler

connelly went through a divorce so of course

all of the songs are on On The Truth Is is gonna

be, you know, he -man -woman -hater songs. You

know what I mean? I can see that in... What was

that first track that came off of The Truth Is?

The first track was Lowlife. Yeah, Lowlife. You

can see that in Lowlife. Yeah, Lowlife is the

tongue -in -cheek. The one where it's like a

he -man -woman -hating song is The Bitch Came

Back. you know it's you know stuff like that

you know they're they're they're great songs

i love theory of a dead man but what i'm saying

is like default needs and you know i don't want

to wish ill will towards anyone but for them

to step up to the table now at this point they

need to not evolve but they need to have something

to say doesn't have to be political doesn't you

know you know doesn't have to be like oh my god

we stand up against this you know that no they

just have to have Something to say from their

personal lives or whatever, they have to make

a meaningful record at this point to stand out

from everyone else. Yeah. And I hope that they

do it. I still listen to their old stuff. I,

you know, as we've said, I love a lot of the

songs off, off the fallout. I still love listening

to them. Um, but it's just, you know, it's kind

of a sad history for them. Yeah, it's just. I

don't necessarily mean this exactly, but they've

definitely got a little bit of an abused trailer

park girl going on. They've been slapped around

so much and they're still trying to make it work.

But they just keep going back for more. Oh god,

I got a better reference. Lone Ranger, tell me

not to go to town. Well, why don't you listen

to him? I'm trying to give you the advice. What

is the advice? Vice say Tonto, don't go to town.

They're going to beat you up again, man. Yeah.

Pretty much. I mean, what are you going to do?

Yeah, I don't know. We're going to do a commercial

break and then we're going to come back with

with the clothes out of the show. So we'll be

back after this. Burn out dreams of others which

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to you on demand. So we are back and just, you

know, as some closing thoughts for me on default,

I love, you know, sick and tired, wasting my

time. What really pissed me off about comes and

goes is they put They re -released Wasting My

Time, but they put like a Chinese twang instrument

into it. You know what I'm talking about, Jay

Z? Kinda like a, oh God, you know, watch Mulan

or you know, something like that. Like it was

some weird Chinese musical sound. I don't know.

It was so weird. I was like, why are they re

-releasing a different version of a song that

made them famous over ten years ago. Hey, Nostalgia

Market, what are you going to do? I just, you

know, I hope they come back with a fifth album

and I hope they succeed, but sadly I think that

default just needs to default on themselves.

Yeah, oh no, that's, nah, but oops. No, I definitely

agree that default needs to, you know, they need

to step it up, not referencing the movies. And

they need to step it up. They need to find their

cojones. And I would recommend the band sit down

and listen to the fallout, separately and as

a group, and then try writing some music again.

Try and rediscover that. You know eye of the

tiger they had back then Because that like I

said, that's the problem There's there was definitely

a sliding scale in terms of quality when it comes

to their music since their debut and I Really

loved the band and I would love to see them go

on and succeed a little further. So Yes, I mean

what else can you say about them? Love the band

love their music and Like I said, I hope the

fifth album kicks some ass At this point in their

In their Wikipedia article, there is no mention

of a fifth album, which is kind of sad to me.

But, you know, hey, there could be, eventually,

one of these days. Maybe, you know, we'll have

to wait another 10 years to get it, but... You

never know what's going to happen. Nope. We hope

you enjoyed this episode of GeekCast Radio, which

you'll join us next time when we will be continuing

the Artist Spotlight with Lifehouse. For now,

I am TFG1 Mike with JT from Saskatoon. Thank

you for listening. Until next time, keep rocking

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