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The Man Behind the Punk:
Interview with George Stroumboulopoulos...
The Favourites Game
WANNA KNOW MORE?
BURNING QUESTION
Me: Best book, movie, band. Only one.
There's so many so I'll just say that the best book right now is Hearbreaking Work of Staggering Genius by Dave Eggers. [Best movie], Fight Club. [Best band], Rancid.Me: Guilty pleasure?
Hmm, guilty pleasure. Let me think. I'm sure I've got a thousand. Maybe Collective Soul, I like that band.Just Another Day...
Me: Describe a typical George day.
It starts usually at 4:00 AM when I go to sleep from the night before. I sleep for a few hours. While I'm sleeping, I'm usually listening to music on a CD, or a rock radio station, or a hip hop station, or quite often I'm listening to talk radio at night. I wake up in the morning, talk radio is going on, I literally finally roll out of bed, put my clothes on, throw my head under a tap, brush my teeth, put on my jacket, and I go to work. I'm at work by 9:30, sometimes earlier, sometimes later. Basically it's reading, reading, reading, listening to music, reading, researching the next interview I'm working on, getting myself in a position where I can be ready for whatever they throw at me, and then I do my Much Music all day. In the meantime, I try to program either "Punkorama," or my new punk show, or the metal show, or work on other things and read. And then I'm always going outside just to talk to people who sort of show up to see me. Just like, you know, if kids come by to say hello, I do that. The next thing you know, it's 9:00 [PM], I'm off the air, I'll either have a band to go see play live, or I'll come to this place to do the radio show, or I'll have a meeting with somebody about another show. I get home around midnight, or today [at] 1:00 or 2:00, and then when I get home, I sit and unwind and watch a little bit of television, and I talk on the phone to a couple of people who I forgot to call during the day. And then it's 4:00 in the morning and I fall asleep, then it starts all over again.
Me: Does your day leave much room for a social life?
No, there is no such thing.
Me: How so?
I don't have much [of one]. I mean, my job is my social life now. I go see bands anyway, right, so it's just like this. Sometimes friends come with me to see bands, and sometimes I do it by myself. I don't turn it on or off, I am who I am. I'm exhausted. By the end of the day, talking to people all the time and being in broadcasting…being on air is really tiring, doing interview is really tiring. By the time it's all said and done I don't want to talk, I just want to go home and shut up. Sit in the dark, sit through a "Simpsons" re-run or watch "Law & Order" or "The Daily Show," which is amazing. I listen to this guy on CFRB named Jim Richards. I end up just crawling into bed and I'm exhausted beyond belief. My social life is, you know, whatever. Sometimes I have a good one. Some days I'm living like Aerosmith and some days I'm not.On The Culture of Celebrity
Me: Do you consider yourself a celebrity?
Oh, hell no. I have profile, and that's a different thing. People know who I am because I'm on television and because I'm on the radio, but I'm not a celebrity by any stretch.
Me: What is a celebrity?
I presume somebody who has created something. You know what, I don't know. In this culture everything's a celebrity. In this culture, the fucking idiots at Columbine are celebrities, right? Osama Bin Laden is a celebrity. I guess anybody who's got notoriety. I think I have notoriety, but I'm unwilling to call myself a celebrity.Me: Do you ever check out your fan sites?
I'll get [them] e-mailed. Someone will go, "Hey, look at this link," and I don't know what it is and I open it and there's pictures of me and I shut if off because it freaks me out. No, it doesn't freak me out, I'm just kidding. There's nothing on there that I don't know about me anyway, right?George The Heartthrob
Me: What do you think of your Much Music "heartthrob" status?
I don't think I have it. That's Rick's job.
Me: Not anymore. He's been dethroned.
No, no, no. I'm just this guy who does what he does and some girls like what I do and like who I am, and some girls don't, and that's how I look at it.Me: You said you've had people follow you home. What's your strangest fan encounter?
Maniac stalking me. Sending me 900 e-mails in four months, and waiting for me outside work, and just over the top nuts, but either than that, nothing…I have really a neat relationship with my audience because I'm no different than them. I'm not this TV guy, I'm just this guy. And also because of the way I look, the way I act and the things I say on TV. People realize that I'm not just some little fragile TV boy that you push around. A lot of people are, and they shouldn't be, but they think I'm some crazy man, bad man, which I'm not. But they look at me, and they see my face and the bags under my eyes, and that stare that I have and all that shit, and they think, 'oh, fucking stay away from him.' I'm not that bad, I'm harmless. Clearly. But no, it's totally cool.Teen Angst
Me: One of one your fan sites is called "Teen Angst Has Paid Off." Were you aware?
[Laughing] Yeah, I heard about that. That's funny.
Me: Did you have teen angst?
Everybody does, don't they? I certainly did, I think.
Me: What was on your teen mind, way back when?
I don't like when cops beat up kids and they're innocent. I don't like when there's a death penalty and I watch them do a stupid execution thing on CNN, I hate that. I think it's ridiculous, I think it devalues human life. So I had teen angst about that. And then when you're thirteen or fourteen you think no one understands you, and blah blah blah. But fuck, you get over that. Over time you realize it's not that they don't understand you, it's that they don't care, and that's cool.The Future?
Me: That same site had a poll that asked, "Where can you see George going after Much?" The majority answered, "Married with kids."
Jesus, what a nightmare that is.
Me: Okay, so I guess you don't see that.
No. I'm sure if I met the right person, why the hell not, right? But that's certainly where I'm not going.
Me: How long do you think you'll be doing this [at Much Music]?
[Whistles] Sometimes I say if I'm doing it by Monday I'll be surprised. But some days I think maybe I'll be do it for another year or so. We'll see.
Me: And then what?
Then I'll do radio or television somewhere else, I guess.On Sexiness...
Me: What is sexy to you?
Humble, honest, courage. I like humility, that's sexy to me. I like courage, I like love, I like respect, I like appreciation for life, and I like honesty. I find honesty and strength, matched with humility, extremely sexy.In All Earnesty...
Me: Do you want to add anything?
Sometimes I may come across as I'm being really self-righteous and pretentious, and I'm not really. I just really care about things being honest and people telling the truth. Growing up in Toronto, CFNY and Q107 were two incredibly important radio stations that really helped define a culture and be a part of the culture. But you know what, they've since gone away. And so has Much. Much has really changed from what it used to be. And I'm not saying it's a bad thing. I'm saying it's a thing that I wished was a little different. I'm really passionate about things, and I think it's often misconstrued as being earnest. Fuck, I ain't earnest, man. Not at all. I'm just sincere, and I think sometimes that causes a problem for somebody. ¤ C.Ho.
[ On meeting George for the first time. ]