My Favourite Music Podcast Right Now: Sticks & Stones
Hockey + Music on the Sticks & Stones Podcast with Dallas Smith and Jonathan Simkin
The link between music and hockey in Canada is undeniable. We hear music in the rink all the time, pre-game, during the game, on TV intros, all the dang time. And we’ve got plenty of artists who played hockey growing up, some who were pretty good, some who even got drafted to the NHL.
So, to have music meet hockey in a podcast from two guys who are professionally well-versed in one and love the other makes sense. And that gives us Dallas Smith and Jonathan Simkin and the Sticks & Stones podcast.
From the bio: A podcast from country Star Dallas Smith and 604 Records President/music mogul Jonathan Simkin. Two guys deeply embedded in the music industry, but with another thing in common– Sports! Hockey in particular. Each episode features guests from the world of hockey or music, or sometimes both! Conversations and stories from the road, to the dressing room and everywhere in between!
It’s been a lot of fun reminiscing with Jon. You know, when we first started working together it was 22 years ago – Dallas Smith
Sticks & Stones debuted at the end of March 2021 but started long before that. The idea started with 604 Records president, Jonathan Simkin who brought it to Canadian country star (and former rock star) Dallas Smith. The first episodes (#1 parts 1-3) were recorded in 2020 with new episodes recorded more recently (Dart Guy, Chad Kroeger and Bradley Kind) and more to come.
I had the chance to get on a Zoom call with Jonathan and Dallas to talk about the podcast and hockey and music – and it was clear from that call that what you hear on the podcast is what these guys offer together even when they aren’t recording.
Jonathan told me that the idea of starting a podcast had been with him for a while, and then the pieces kind of fell into place. 604’s comedy division (Comedy Here Often) is home to a few podcasts of its own, which became a podcast network, which gave his idea a home. From there, it was a text message to Dallas floating the idea, and then things got rolling.
Both co-hosts are big Vancouver Canucks fans, season ticket holders, and guys who just like to talk hockey. Jonathan told me, “I love talking to people who are intelligent and have an intelligent approach to hockey. There are a lot of lugans who love hockey too and that’s fine, but to me, it’s always more interesting when I can actually get into something a little bit deeper on it.”
He isn’t interested in lowest common denominator hockey talk, and neither is Dallas. It’s a philosophy that puts their hockey talk somewhere between fans getting loaded and either bitching about or lauding their favourite team and high-end analysts breaking things down without bias. Yes, they love the Canucks, but they see the ups and downs, the goods and bads, and they do their best to be even-keeled about the team.
In all of our previous conversations about his career, I’ve been asking Dallas Smith about his latest accomplishments, a #1 single or a new album or a tour… but we’ve never talked about his past achievements or stories or the behind-the-scenes. And that’s a draw for me and other listeners. With more than 20 years of stories to tell, there are going to be new ones for fans to hear, no matter how much they’ve been paying attention.
I asked Dallas about looking back and telling those stories and doing the podcast with Jonathan and he said, “It’s been a lot of fun reminiscing with Jon. You know, when we first started working together it was 22 years ago, so we’ve got a lot of parts of our careers that were intersecting and I’ve been on 604 Records for the last ten years in my country career,” He added, “We both are season ticket holders of the Vancouver Canucks, we met usually at the games with our kids and we’d talk hockey for a second, grab an ice cream and go back to the game. So it just made sense for us to keep the conversation going but have these conversations with some cool friends.”
Already those cool friends have included Chad Kroeger, Dart Guy, Bradley Kind, and Kole Lind. We know there are more episodes with guests coming as well (no spoilers), but I wanted to know who’s on the guest wishlist for these guys.
Jonathan gave names that included Sportsnet’s Iain MacIntyre and Trevor Linden. Dallas gave a list that included Bo Horvat, Dave Babych, Garth Butcher, and Kirk McLean.
Here’s hoping they are able to cross some of those names off their wishlist as the podcast rolls on.
Photos of Dallas Smith at Budweiser Stage, Toronto
If you love backstage and behind-the-scenes stories from the world of music, Sticks & Stones has that. If you love hockey (especially, but not only the Canucks), Sticks & Stones has that. And more than anything, if you like podcasts that feature co-hosts and guests that are having genuinely enjoyable conversations, Sticks & Stones has that.
Note: I hope that Dallas finds a space to tell his story about Mick Jagger and Keith Richards showing up at (Jim) Henson Recording Studios back in the Default days. Because even the short version I got on our call was a good one.
Thanks to both Jonathan Simkin and Dallas Smith for taking the time to talk to me about the podcast and music and hockey. I highly suggest hitting play on the Chad Kroeger and Bradley Kind episode, or going back and starting with the 3-parter that kicked things off for Sticks & Stones.
Enjoy!
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