Who are you?
Grant Lawrence.
Where did you grow up?
The village of Dundarave-By-The-Sea, in West Vancouver, British Columbia Canada.
Where do you live now?
The village of English Bay-By-The-Sea, in downtown Vancouver.
What do you do at CBC Radio 3?
I'm the host of various shows on CBC Radio 3, including our weekly podcast, our live Saturday night show which airs simultaneously across Canada on CBC Radio Two and all over North America on Sirius Satellite Radio. I also host a live shift weekdays on Sirius, 5:00PM to 8:00PM Eastern, 2:00PM - 5:00PM Pacific.
How did you get into radio?
I never, ever thought I would be in radio. It all started when I was invited to "call in from the road" when my band the Smugglers were on tour for pretty much the entire 1990s. I first began calling in to David Wisdom's late night program called Night Lines. Because of various time differences and degrees of drunkenness, the calls were really ribald and dirty, and became relatively infamous for their total lack of uh, politeness. It was no-holds-barred radio. During one phone call from a pay phone in New York City, the convenience store I was in was robbed at gun point while I crouched down on the phone with drunken courage describing the events to Canada. Another time in Atlanta, Georgia, in a really kooky area called Little Five Points, a street vendor's boa constrictor slithered up the payphone unbeknownst to me until its tongue flicked my ear and I completely freaked out. Eventually, as the Smugglers toured overseas, I would call in from all over the world: Europe, Japan, Australia, New Zealand.
Those calls caught the ear of one Leora Kornfeld, who was the host of Realtime in the mid 90s, the live show that came on in the primetime on Saturday nights before Night Lines. In the summer of 1997, both Real Time and Night Lines were unceremoniously and suddenly cancelled, and Wisdom was brought into primetime to co-host a new show called RadioSonic. Leora hired me in January 1998 as the researcher / mail boy / coffee-getter for that show. Both Leora and Dave eventually left RadioSonic and I moved through the associate producer and producer roles, finally became the host of RadioSonic in September 2001. In September 2003, the RadioSonic name was dropped in favour of the all-encompassing CBC Radio 3, and in September 2005, the show went back to its live format for the first time since Realtime, ten years earlier. That's where I am today.
What is your field of expertise?
Canadian music, 1977 - present, primarily. I'm pretty good on the international front between that period as well but occasionally make the odd massive blunder. I can hold my own back to 1954 or so on the rock n roll front.
Do you make music yourself?
Yeah, I've been the lead shouter of the Smugglers from 1988 to present, though we are in semi-retirement currently. We've released eight full length albums in that period. The early ones are all out of print, the more recent ones can be found on Lookout! Records of Berkeley, California.
What was the first album you bought with your own hard earned money?
Elvis Presley's Gold Records Volume 3 on cassette, 1984.
What was the first concert you attended?
The Gruesomes at Club Soda, Vancouver, BC, 1987.
What is your most shameful/glorious musical moment?
I once shit my pants in Saskatoon. It was the morning after a Smugglers concert, and back then (early 90s) the bands would stay in the brothel-like upstairs band room, where, legend had it, every band in Canada had been "sucked, f*ed and chucked". The morning after the show, I stumbled out of bed and thought I was letting out a morning "toot" but unfortunately I didn't realize the precarious looseness of my bowels, as they sprayed the inner wall of my ginch / gonch with molten poop. Instantly I took off the gonch and threw them out the second story window. Curious, a couple of the other band members looked out and saw that the gonch had landed directly onto the roof of our VW touring van. Thinking this was some type of sign, I then reasoned, naked from the waste down, that being as poor as we were back then that I might eventually need the underwear again, and that I should simply apply a piece of duct tape to the gonch and let the weather of Western Canada wash the gonch while on the roof! Perfect plan!
A week later, we were winding our way through the Western States, finishing the tour, in line to come back into Canada at the Peace Arch Border crossing just south of Vancouver. It was a busy, sunny Sunday afternoon and the border was packed. The line up was crawling at a snail's pace and everyone was bored, including the two hot sisters in the backseat of the car in front of us. They kept turning around to check us out, and I returned the attention by waving and making flirtatious gestures from the shotgun seat, unbeknownst to their parents in the front seat of their car. Suddenly I remembered the rooftop gonch. Leaning out the window and feeling around with my hand, there it was, soaking wet from the morning rain and shit-stained, but still there!
I balled it up in my hand and lobbed it. It landed perfectly on the trunk of the sisters' car, where, sure enough, one of them reached onto the trunk, grabbed the gonch and brought it into their car with them. There was a moment of calm as the girls inspected the mystery gift, then the entire car erupted from within - screaming and yelling, the car rocking from side to side, the gonch being whipped around like a hot potato. It entered the car from the right rear window and after thirty seconds of chaos, it exited the car from the from left driver's window, coming to a landing on the perfectly emerald lawn of the Peace Arch. The father turned to glare at us, but seeing five filthy, leering faces staring back at him, he thought better of a challenge, and simply put on his indicator and eventually changed lanes and pulled away.
I knew that underwear would be of further use. This is an example of my resourcefulness.
Is there any particular music that gets under your skin?
Classical music in the morning drives me crazy. I listen to Brave New Waves at night, which airs on CBC Radio Two, which is basically a classical music network besides the odd detour like BNW and R3. The staccato violins and complicated symphonic arrangements literally sound like some type of torturous mathematics to my ears and hurts my head. I hate that shit.
What are the top 3 Canadian songs of all time?
1. The New Pornographers "Letter From An Occupant", 2000.
2. Colour Me Psycho "Untamed World", 1987.
3. Dolores Claman "Hockey Night In Canada Theme", 1968.
Any guilty musical pleasures I should know about?
Billy Joel.
Why should I trust you?
You shouldn't until you get to know me.