101. Peacefully Protesting Modern Day Slavery. Sonik. London, Ontario, Canada. 03/15/23

Episode 101, we are transcending time and space to talk with Sonik in London, Ontario.  Sonik was forced to rush back to Canada while touring in the southern U.S. in March of 2020 before the border closed on the 23rd.  He recounts his journey and what it was like being on the world renowned Las Vegas strip before it was closed due to the pandemy (2020).  While moving north through Tennessee his goal of visiting the Nashville Hardrock Cafe was foiled by covid!  Sonik plays Song Title in the Form of a Pandemy Question, inspired by Nardwuar the Human Serviette.  We discuss his collab with Samson Porter, Peaceful Protest, recorded at Jukasa Studio. Sonik shines light on the invisible people in our society and the need to peacefully protest for equality and justice for all as we address the housing crisis in the times of covid,  automation, and billionaires.

Sonik online

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Transcript

0:25

Good day and welcome to the pandemic show stories of the pandemic for people living in the pandemic. No one is alone on the pen. Demi show Thanks for joining us. As we unite humanity through stories of hope, connection, and community in the face of the global pandemic, we are all in this together, and we're glad you're here together with us.

Dave 0:48

Today we transcend time and space to London, Ontario, Canada.

Sonik 0:53

Who are you? Hey guys. I'm Sonic. I'm a rock artist from Ontario, Canada.

Dave 0:58

Sonic, thank you for your time today. I was fortunate to get to see you play in the summer when things had been reopened after the Global Pandemic that Shut Ontario down in 2020. I'm just really grateful for your time and for you to help us work to unite humanity with stories of shared experience. Let's do it. before I start this interview, I just wanna say that I'm recording on Upper Canada Treaty territory in Southern Ontario on the traditional home of the Hoone, an Sinabi and Chung Anton people. And we're at that stage in the pandemic where, in the news, Russian jets have collided with an American. drone over the the Baltic or Sea around the Ukraine, Russia war in Iran. 5,000 school children are recovering after girls started getting poisoned in schools in Iran. We're in a wild time, mid pandemic and Sonic, thank you so much for joining us. To us about your experiences as an artist and what was your life like before the, the covid locked everything down in 2020,

Sonik 2:05

just as a like songwriter. I was, uh, actually on the road during like when the lockdown was announced here in Canada. our prime minister actually told us to, uh, to get back to Canada. Cause I was in a different, I was in states and I was kind of doing a little bit of a tour, just like self, self booked, kind of self fun tour of like Arizona and California and then Texas and Nashville. But I got, it, got caught, caught short because, Yeah, they wanted us back in the country, so just as a songwriter. and just like performer, I was just doing a lot of performing, kind of independent like artist, business owner type thing. just kind of working for myself and, yeah, just, uh, that's kind of what my life was like.

Dave 2:47

what was that experience like with all of the uncertainty? What did it feel like and what was it like down there in the States, which seemed to, you know, does things differently than in Canada?

Sonik 2:56

I'm like the perfect, a person to ask this question to because it was something else. I was in California, around. The start of March, we left California and our plan was to go across, I had a show book that South by Southwest in 2020. but that South by Southwest actually got canceled, but we didn't know that till a few days before. And we were halfway on our way from California, uh, from like Santa Barbara, I think it was, and then we were gonna go like to Vegas, play in Vegas, Arizona. And then Texas in Nashville. And then I was gonna come back home so we just started to hear of this thing called like covid or whatever. So it was kinda like this thing that no one really knew what it was about. The person who was kind of, tour managing for me, her name's Christina. she, uh, knows a lot about what's going on in Taiwan and like, So she kind of had, like, her parents had like a, gave her some forewarning of what it was, cuz it was bigger in China than it was at that time. It was like, it was like nothing. Everything was still wide open here. so we were like, ah, we're just gonna go anyways. Cause I, I was in a different country. I had to get back home anyways and start making my way back to Ontario so we get to Vegas and the day, so we were in Vegas for about a week, like four days there and everything was normal. And the day we, we drove out of Vegas, the day we were leaving Vegas, they shut down the Vegas strip. And so like apparent, like the day we were there. People all over, like shoulder to shoulder, you know, like all the, all the like Asian tourists and just tourists from all over in Vegas. and then yeah, they apparently the day we left, we saw this thing on the news. We were getting like the Chinese news and this Vegas shutting down the strip actually made Chinese news and, uh, yes, historic. So it showed, it showed the Vegas strip completely empty and we were there. Like eight hours before, it was while we were driving outta Vegas to go to like Arizona and get across Texas. And then, uh, yeah, so I remember the date actually. So when we were in Texas, that's when we found out that everything's shutting down pretty much. Or we kind of knew on the way, but we were like, I, I was like, I gotta get back anyways. And, uh, the tour manager. Was moving to Nashville, so she had to get to Nashville and yeah. And so, south by Southwest was canceled for like, the first time in like 12 years apparently. and just, uh, so we get to get to South by Southwest. I'm in a hotel room with no one there. Like no one it's like hotel. didn't even want to kind of be open, so we, our Airbnbs got canceled and stuff too. So we had ended up in a hotel and then we ended up going up to Nashville. and then, yeah, I remember the day, it was like March 23rd, I believe was the last day that we could get in to, uh, Canada. So our prime Minister was like, come back and, uh, and then, so I had to take a bus. From Nashville back to Ontario and I was actually a day late, so I got back on the 24th And, uh, there's a bridge that goes over from Canada to the United States and it's always like lined with cars. It's like a super busy, it's like from Detroit, uh, Michigan, USA to, uh, Windsor, Ontario, Canada. And this, this bridge is. Like bumper to bumper with cars. And I got here, I got back a day late cause I took a bus from Nashville to Detroit. And then, it actually, it was supposed to go from Nashville to Windsor, but because the pandemic thing, they closed the border. So the bus I got dropped me off in Detroit was like, we can't take you over the border like we were supposed to, but we're not taking you over the border. And I was like, what do I do? I thought it was. So I ended up taking a cab across a cab across this bridge that was completely empty, and I've never seen it like that. It's always bumper to bumper cars. Yeah. And so I, I got in on March 4th and the, the border guard was just like, he looked at me like, what the hell are you doing He made it, he like, he like wasn't happy, you know, border guards, but yeah,

Dave 6:49

that's fascinating. Sonic from the fact that you were on the Vegas strip hours before. The shutdown heard around the world and then the, the iconic images, like you said, that were even broadcast around the world in China of an empty strip, like an empty times square in New York, like an empty Italy, empty Toronto. hopefully we never go through anything like that again in our lives. So your Airbnbs got canceled as a result of the pandemic

Sonik 7:17

Yeah. That's kind of what happened.

Dave 7:20

Yeah. And nobody really wanted to be out because everyone was told to stay home. And was it the same then there in the States? Everybody was saying there's this respiratory pandemic coming, we don't know much about it. Just stay home till we get our minds around. Yeah,

Sonik 7:33

that's a perfect description. It was like nobody knew, like, cuz now we know. Right? But, but then it was like, the air, Airbnb was like, we'll reimburse you for your, for your Airbnbs. Like, they weren't sure though. And then I wasn't sure like, yeah, people didn't wanna be near people. It was, it was very strange. when I got to Nashville, I'm like a hard, I'm like a rock guy, right? This is what I do, like rock music. So I, I like, wanted to go to the Hard Rock Cafe in Nashville, man. I walk up and like, if you would talk about just like picturesque images, I walk up to the door, it's like a, the hard rock, cafe in Nashville and big nice place like building. And then the door handles are like gold. And I walked through the gold door handles. I was so excited to be there and I just tried them and it was just locked and I was like,

Dave 8:19

The pandemic first. Ashville the pandemic squashed another Dream

Sonik 8:25

Yeah. I'll be, I just an excuse to go back

Dave 8:28

Sonic, I love your perspective on this situation. What was it like then when you got back to Canada? What was your lockdown like? Did you connect with nature? Did you focus on your music? How did, how did you pivot?

Sonik 8:41

our law was 14 day people outta country had to lock down. So I was 14 days secluded. So that was a big change after kind of this tour, which was quite busy and, you know, exciting and sightseeing and you know, playing and meeting new people. So yeah, it was like 14 day lockdown.

Dave 8:58

We talked to Del Gail Bowen, the blues matriarch from Lower East Side Vancouver, and she comes to her. She is an Afro Indigenous perspective, and she shared that from her cultural background. Pandemics have always come. And that in her culture, they know that a pandemic is a time to do self-reflection and think about how your community can be, can grow stronger in after times. Do you think people use the pandemic as a time to do that self-reflection and work on the things that really drive them like. The, the creative

Sonik 9:33

arts. Yeah. I think it was actually a really big thing spiritually for a lot of people who kinda live in a very busy lifestyle and what I call kinda like reaching the point of, it's called long-term exhaustion, where they're just working so hard just to get by for so long, you know? And, uh, just kinda. In a way, ignoring their health, like their, what? Their body rhythms and just because they have to be working, it's kind of like sacrificing your health for money or to get by or to keep your, your place, you know? Yeah. Um, so yeah, I actually do think it was a very, a very huge spiritual transition for many people.

Dave 10:16

Well, and it's really feeling like spring in Ontario. The robins. Sure we've got snow and there's another storm predicted this weekend. And we are recording on March 15th, but um, the Red Wing Blackbird are back. The robins are back like it's gonna be daffodil season soon.

Sonik 10:32

Spring is in sight. It's happening and it's my birthday tomorrow, March 16th.

Dave 10:37

Just so happy birthday. Sonic Now, did you work, we're gonna be playing song title in the form of a pandemic question inspired by Nard Wire, the Human Se, and we're gonna listen to, to one of your songs, peaceful Protest, the beginning of the pandemic. I think I was impressed by how much humanity seemed to work together, sharing information, trying to learn about the virus, trying to figure out how to keep people safe. Doing things like remote work for people that were able to, there was so much changes in cooperation, and then the, the longer the pandemic went on and the less support there were for people who were adversely impacted financially, it seemed that there was more and more conflict, and we had so many problems before covid 19. Income inequality, structural racism, environmental degradation, homelessness was a horrible problem. And getting worse every year. And it's just so much worse now with the pandemic. So there were so many problems pre pandemic. Can you just tell us a little bit about peaceful protests because it, there is so much that needs, it seems, needs to change I love how you've identified and the long term exhaustion with people listening to the drive to make money to pay their bills rather than their.

Sonik 11:54

Yeah. so this is actually a really exciting interview and it's, it's, it's actually interesting me how this is kinda all coming together, because, peaceful protests reminds me of my Vancouver days. Vancouver, Canada. It, it was a, it's a co-write, with, uh, my, my friend Sampson Porter. so we kind of did like a partnership on that one Yeah. It just, everything you're talking about just speaks so much truth, like peaceful protests is, you know, the homelessness is, it's just such an issue. And I'm glad you brought up the financial equality, because when you said this shows about uniting people and kind of progressing the world, That's kind of like one of my big ones is like, one of the things that I relate to is like people with disabilities and then, and then financial equality. That, that kind of, the kind of financial strains that comes with, physical disability or like, or like mental disability yeah, so this song was recorded, at ju Casaa Studios by. a good group of people there. Darren and Jill, were the producers on that one. And, uh, it was like me, Sampson, as well as, mark on base and Joel on drums.

Dave 12:57

it's a, the peaceful protest is about raising awareness about united humanity and how different people are marginalized. to generate more awareness about equality issues.

Sonik 13:07

Yeah. So, I like to focus on solutions as opposed to problems, but you have to bring, bring up the problems. Right. And peaceful protests to me is definitely, it's about kinda like the transition from, from problems. like, if you remember Brexit back in the day. So it's like that, that. Opposed such a transition for the people in the UK and the life of people in the uk. And you're right, like what we're going through right now is like major, major transition. I, I heard, because of demographics are like declining. And not only that, we're getting, we're getting the transition to robot. Automation and robots who can do like the, the labor that we used to do that. It, it could, it's gonna, it's gonna, we're we're living in a completely different world. Yeah. Like it's, it's gonna be completely different in five and 10 years from now. And so I guess peaceful protest is just kind of like, speak about change, you know, don't harm people, but you can be firm with. trying to drive, change,

Dave 14:10

positive social change where we all look out for each other. We don't leave people behind because, yeah, exactly. I like how you mentioned you're committed to handicapped people, people disadvantage. and they were like, my cousin's a quadriplegic. and the, the pandemic made a challenging situation that much more challenging. sadly my mother's going through her dementia journey and we needed more help to support her with her condition. We really had to rely, we met a lot of foreign workers and I mean, foreign workers we're keeping things going here in Ontario and it's so complex So much has changed and now we have the threat of automation and are we gonna have a universal basic income like the Serb or as Ba Johnson calls it, the curb to make sure everybody's basic needs are met, and how do we get to a world like that's a, it's so refreshing to hear your music sonic, where you're addressing the heaviness and the, the evil in the world in a very positive. by saying, we're here and we can do better working together. And early pandemic showed us that governments could work together and create vaccines and all these types of things. So why can't we then cooperate on lifting people outta poverty in the beginning of the pandemic, 500 more billionaires were created in the first year while almost a billion people fell below the poverty line, according to the Money Minute on 98.5 C K A W r Canada's oldest community radio station. We know that more and more people are struggling with rents going up at all of these types of things. I love this song, empowers people in a positive. To be talking about these things, to be pushing back against the greed, trickle down, late stage capitalism kind of perspective that's out there. we're gonna give people just a taste. listen to peaceful protests, and then we'll start playing, song title in the form. a pandemic question. Sound good? Sounds good. Thank you. Sonic stories of the pandemic for the people of the. No one's alone on the pandemic show. that's just a little teaser From Sonic's YouTube page and on a social media, and yeah, shout out Sampson Porter for this great, collab with Sonic Memes, peaceful protests, just the type of music we need at this stage of the pandemic. Now, first question with Sonic Mid Pandemic, grand reopening, what should we all be peacefully protesting?

Sonik 16:53

Definitely financial equality because that solves so many issues. you have to present like a solution. I'm not sure what that is. Like I've, I've thought about this a lot to the point where I've actually written up like a, a 10 step plan for my city to solve their homelessness. And I've been watching this stuff online, this YouTube channel called Invisible People. definitely check that out because, we have this vision or like in our minds we have this like idea of like what homeless people are like or what we think homeless people are like. But it's actually completely changing. A lot of homeless people are like engineers or like nurses so we generally, we generalize homeless people, but it's, it's actually completely changing.

Dave 17:36

could be any working class person. So many of us are paycheck to paycheck. like it could be anybody. And if

Sonik 17:42

exactly like, yeah, your, your sister, your. you know, your mom, your, your daughter, your son, whatever. Like it's, we, we, you think of this like homeless people as a certain type of people, but it's actually evolved a lot and the, and good working class people who basically just, things are getting so expensive they like can't afford, like rent anymore.

Dave 18:04

It is alarm. with over a third now apparently of houses in Canada owned by corporations that wanna rent them out for profit. it's, it's alarming and it's scary. And what are we gonna do for not just the, the people now that are homeless, but for the next generation, the young people. So thank you for writing this song on peaceful protest. we have to have these hard conversations and music, it's gonna help people. It's gonna help bring people back together after the divisiveness of the pandemic and all the things that are going on in the world. And now moving into our next question with Sonic here today on the Pandemic Show. Song title in the form of a pandemic question inspired by Canada's own nard wire, the human serv. What was the pandemic like back home in Ontario based on your awesome song back home in Ontario, so what was the pandemic like back home in Ontario compared to other places?

Sonik 18:59

I do think they did a good job. they spent a lot of money and we're suffering from that now. like we talked about with the financial equality thing, I, I'm not sure if like, Versatile basic income is a good solution. Like, uh, it's, you know, there's only so much they can do and we kind of need like innovative solutions to fixing these problems, that have been kind of coming to a point for so long. Like, I mean, decades, like 50 years, these problems have been kind of, uh, building up on each other. So I think they did a good job. Yeah, they were, they're trying to save lives and that's obviously the number one, priority. yeah, I I thought Ontario handled it

Dave 19:41

super well. Yeah. We were lucky that the federal government put up a lot of money. Now they did kind of print money outta nowhere, is my understanding. So I was. Disappointed. I think there was, and I mean, I don't think they could have done a perfect job. I don't think they could have done a job where people weren't complaining one way or the other. How do you deal with this type, type of one in a hundred year crisis healthcare issue? And I think you nailed, nailed the nail on the head when you said they cared about people and I think the first year or two of the pandemic, that's the sense I got. They were gonna spend money to save people, but I was upset when they would give out Emmi money stimulus. To corporations and then the corporations would pay out dividends, so the money didn't actually go to the frontline or, or like grocery store workers. and the low wage workers that did all the hard heavy lifting during the pandemic, they got token short-term pay increases. Like, I don't think the problem in our economy is tied to the, frontline workers and low level positions getting, getting paid too much. They're being underpaid. I think the real problem is the billion. The, the, the Uber rich is our problem and we're underfunding the frontline grocery store workers, personal support workers, all of those professions. And I think the pandemic really showed me and pointed out, I think, to hopefully to community that we gotta, how we subsidize things. We can't just be subsidizing the rich. We have to address the issues of poverty. Without that money getting sucked away by people that have a house, have heating, have heat in the winter, have a freezer full of.

Sonik 21:12

Yeah. I agree, totally as well. And, financial equality needs to also happen I do believe that the, the rich need to be taxed more and not in a way that is like, like in a negative way, like tax the rich, you need to tax the rich or anything like that. But, I do believe in financial equality and that the rich are very well off and there are people, like in my backyard, Last week on the streets trying to get into sheds cuz it's so cold. Cause they don't have a place to stay. Shame. So there needs to be some type of equality in that sense. And, and I just wanna add as well too, I actually, I'm not one of those people who, who thinks like, gets all paranoid about the government or doesn't trust the government or whatever. I'm actually not of that voice. I actually personally believe that the government like is on our side and they're doing their best and they're, they're, the government is there to help. the government spends like billions and billions of dollars, every year just to keep us alive. So, so when I say like, tax rich, I hope it doesn't come off as like, as like, uh, I don't know what the word would be, like, kind of like negative, there has to be some, some type. It's, it's just like equality across the board that we're talking about. People like

Dave 22:25

pe I, I think, and let me know if you agree with this. People who work hard should be. but nobody needs 10 billion. When there's hundreds of thousands, millions of people that don't know where they're gonna live don't know what they're gonna

Sonik 22:38

eat. Yeah. There needs to be a solution to homelessness. Yeah, and it's, it's not even just about working hard. there are people with disabilities who, who physically can't do that. So they, they need to be reimbursed as well. And not just physical, like mental disabilities are, it are just as bad in this, in. Society if you have a problem with that, like you are at a disadvantage in society. so it's not so much about, like, everyone talks about like hard work, like work so hard, and I do believe in that, but kind of more in a way that. like people, for people to support themselves, whether it's working super hard or not, they need a way to support

Dave 23:15

themselves. And what were some of your ideas for your community to address some of the challenges? Cause I feel like the challenges in your community are similar to the challenges in my community and all of our communities.

Sonik 23:27

basically the thought of this idea where the government buys or like the city. So the City of London say, buys a huge chunk of land and with taxpayers money, with money that's already being spent on welfare and stuff, and. these homeless people. If you, if you watch that channel that I was talking about, it's called Invisible People on YouTube. they don't need what we all have. They don't even need a room in a house. Obviously that would be ideal. But, but in terms of, of ju you just wanna improve their situation and so it, step one would be they'd get a chunk of land. Step two, it would be like 100 to 150 people, communities of homeless people. And it would be homeless people. so they, they'd either set up tents or you can get them like trailers, like an old trailer for a homeless person is a huge step up in life. The one thing that they talk about that they need is they just need a place that they can go get their mail cuz they don't even have an address. So they can't get a job and they can't get their mail. Like that's actually a huge problem for homeless people. That's something I didn't even think about until I watched this channel. And then, so you could have like a chunk of land and. A whole bunch of trailers on it, or even just allow a hundred to 150 homeless people set up tents and then they'll, they, they have, like, they'll have jobs for the people and the, these people, as long as it's better than what they have, which is making no money, and they have jobs like, there'll be like security, there'll be like gardening. And then the people who do well in those specific jobs get to become like supervisors or like organiz. and they kind of, so they, there's still a ladder that they can climb even if it's not up to

Dave 25:05

our standard. I like that component of public responsibility for our community. And that reminds me of some things that are happening in Kitchen or Waterloo up the 4 0 1 where they're now doing tiny home communities of homeless people and there was a tent encampment in kitchen on Victoria Street that the government was gonna, you know how they send in the militarized police with the bulldozer and. get everybody out and then kind of destroy everything and throw it in the dump while there was an injunction. Because the judge, I believe the judge said, you can't, you can't tell these people. They gotta go somewhere else where there's nowhere else for them to go. So now by the. Paramedics facility in Waterloo. It's also by the dump, but they're putting in a tiny house community. There's another one in Kitchener by the school board office, I think there's maybe 30 houses there, but it, it's helping the people that are there. And you made a really good point that most of us that are housed and don't deal with poverty, don't think about every day is they don't even have an address. To be an official person in our, you need an address to be a person official. Yeah, to get on a payroll. Yeah. I'm thinking the private sector hasn't built affordable housing in the last 30 years to keep up with demand. Maybe it's time the government builds more affordable housing for working people, and especially people with kids and young families. You think that could be a potential

Sonik 26:26

solution? Yeah, definitely.

Dave 26:28

Sonic, we're so fortunate here today on the Pandemic Show to be talking with you and hearing your story as we strive to unite humanity with stories of shared experience. What do you hope the world is liking After times

Sonik 26:42

I hope people just like have more freedom, less, less, modern slavery, I guess you could call it, more freedom for people so that people are able to have the time and space to be able to think for themselves and, and, better themselves because they have time and, and space and energy instead of just being run down all the time. to be able to kinda like improve their. I hope I see that. Definitely like the whole robotics thing and, and like they say there won't be lack of jobs, but, what I heard is that like from the demographics and the robots taking over jobs, either wages are gonna go way down, which could be really bad, or there's just gonna be less jobs. yeah, hopefully Get the robots to do the hardest work and give people more time and space to, to be able to kinda think and progress their life,

Dave 27:32

enjoy the finer things in life, like

Sonik 27:34

the arts. Yeah, it, it's really hard to say, like, it's such a huge transition that we've never, and it's happened so quickly, we've never experienced anything like this in such a short period of time, so it's really hard to say how we will evolve as humans. or how things will progress forward.

Dave 27:51

Hopefully it'll be peaceful.

Sonik 27:53

It's fun to think about though,

Dave 27:55

and it's fun talking with you here today on The Pandemic Show. Sonic, thanks so much for your time and I'll see you at the Peaceful Protest Rock on.

28:04

Thanks for listening to the pandemic show. We're all in this together, and we're glad you're here together with us physically distance with us@pandemicshow.com. Pandemic show is on Instagram, Twitter, and Facebook, stories from the pandemic for the people of the pants. Do you have an interesting pandemic story and want to share email us@pandemicshowedatgmail.com. Thanks to all our guests. Thanks to giant value for seeing us in and letting us know everything is going to be all right. No one is alone at the pandemic show.