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Rockin' Rhonda: Peter and Dave, they're on the mics. All right, join the ride. It's gonna feel just right.

Peter McCully: This is the Pulse Community Podcast. Welcome back. I'm Peter McCully. Summer has officially begun. Canada Day is just around the corner, and the mid-Vancouver Island region is hopping. The parks, the beaches, the campgrounds, and the event calendars are filling up.

Dave Graham: I'm Dave Graham, and I say to our visitors, welcome. Have a wonderful time, and please spend lots. Blow the budget. Splurge. Treat yourself to that fine dining experience, the sightseeing flight, and the boat cruise. Oh, and you want souvenirs. Personally, I recommend investing in art as a memento of your stay, but hey, if you want to buy a vacation property, have at it. I have been getting ready for Canada Day.

Peter McCully: Oh, yeah? How so, Dave?

Dave Graham: I have my outfit ready. From a selection, and I mean a selection of headwear, down to my socks. I have an entire wardrobe that's all white and red and just emblazoned with maple leaves. Every item of clothing is appropriate for the big day. Hey, you wanna see my boxer shorts? They're exceptionally Canadian.

Peter McCully: Well, if you're currently wearing them, then no, I'll pass. Moving right along, I'll tell you what else is exciting. Port Alberni is experiencing the thrill of having HGTV's Hometown Makeover filmed there. Sarah and Brian Baeumler are in town, and understandably, it's creating quite a buzz in the community.

Dave Graham: It's so cool that the Baeumlers are just a few minutes down the road from us. I admire them both, Sarah for her sense of design, Brian for his knowledge and his abilities. I could really use his input on a bit of a troublesome shelf I put up. You can still see the holes in the wall where it was. I bet Brian could fix that, and Sarah could make it look nice. Do you think they listen to the podcast, Peter? They seem like nice people. Hello, Baeumlers.

Peter McCully: Well, Dave, they're probably pretty busy right about now, but Port Alberni has lots of stories to tell, and a show like this can put a place on the map in a big way. It's good news for the whole island.

Dave Graham: Agreed. I'm just saying that if Brian is looking for an easy win after Port Alberni, I have this shelf situation. And as further enticement, let me just say that I grill a pretty good hot dog.

Peter McCully: Well, on today's episode, Dave, we'll be meeting Carly Carey, a Nanaimo-based realtor, business leader, wife, and mother who fought cancer three times and came out the other side with a mission. She and her husband Morgan are now creating Carly's House, a free welcoming place for cancer patients who have to travel to Nanaimo for treatment.

Carly Carey: This last year, when I was diagnosed with stage four mantle cell lymphoma, and in a very rare situation, I had a double diagnosis of lymphoma and leukemia, I was privileged enough to be able to access chemotherapy at the Nanaimo Cancer Clinic again. While we were there, my husband would talk to other cancer patients and just hear about the hardship that they would face of having to travel from all over the island, minus Victoria of course, to come and get treatment and how hard that was.

Dave Graham: What a remarkable thing to do. She went through something as frightening as cancer three times and came out thinking about what she could do for others in the same situation. That is a special kind of person.

Peter McCully: And we also have Jamie Wollam joining us today. Jamie grew up in Southern California, got hooked on playing the drums at a Kiss concert when he was 10, and then he went on to build an impressive career in the music business. Since 2010, he's been the drummer for Tears for Fears, and he now calls Salt Spring Island home.

Jamie Wollam: I literally was driving up to Beverly Hills one day to do a recording session and my phone rang and I looked down and saw that it was Charlton's number. So I answered it. “What are you doing?” “I'm headed to a session. What are you doing?” He goes, “You want to be in Tears for Fears? Come on, man.” “No, no, I'm serious.” And I'm like, what? And then the odd thing was my first response was, “I don't know if I can do that gig.” Because, without going into a big diatribe about it, I've just named you the type of music I came from. And Tears is a very different style of music than what I cut my teeth on, which was rock stuff.

Dave Graham: Tears for Fears. They were such a big part of the music scene in the '80s and '90s and beyond. As a former radio broadcaster, which is just a fancy way of saying I was a DJ, I played a lot of their music over the years, and I'm looking forward to hearing Jamie's side of this story.

Peter McCully: We're launching something new this week. It's a podcast called Too Old or Movie Gold. Host Olin Vanderlien of the Comox Valley invites a panel to weigh in on movies. Watch for it on our website and our social media pages.

Dave Graham: The first episode features the 1991 firefighting action flick Backdraft, and the guest panel consists of Caitlin and Trevor Holm of the Nanoose Bay Fire Department, who come from a three-generation firefighting family, just like the brothers in the film. Future guests to the podcast include Doug Picard talking about the value of exercise in battling Parkinson's disease. Virginia Worcester will be here to tell us about the Hands and Heart Food Program in District 69. And I have to say, we are especially pleased to be shining a light on the substantial work being done in that program.

Peter McCully: And Chris Humphreys, a prolific author with more than 30 novels to his name, has not one but two new books out. He'll be joining us for a chat.

Beachfest: In just two weeks, Parksville Beach transforms into one of the most spectacular outdoor events on Vancouver Island. Parksville Beach Festival opens July 10th, and the countdown is on. Right now, 30 world-class sculptors are preparing to arrive and bring this year's Beauties and Beasts theme to life in a jaw-dropping 30-hour sand sculpting competition. Watch the magic unfold July 9th through 12th. Want to get your hands in the sand? Parksville Canadian Tire sand sculpting lessons run July 11th and 12th, 10:00 AM to 5:00 PM. Expert instruction, all ages, no experience required. April Wine headlines opening weekend on July 11th. Tickets on sale now. Parksville Beach Festival opening July 10th. Visit parksvillebeachfest.ca.

Ian Lindsay & Associates: Ian Lindsay of Lindsay and Associates has played an active role in the local community since 1979. He has been with RE/MAX, Vancouver Island's most advanced real estate business network, since 1996, marketing and selling residential, rural, strata, recreational, investment, and project development real estate. Ian has received several awards recognizing his exceptional community commitment locally, as well as awards for outstanding performance and achievement from both RE/MAX International and the Vancouver Island Real Estate Board. You'll find true real estate professionals at ianlindsay.ca.

Peter McCully: Stay tuned to the podcast and our website and social pages for our upcoming giveaways. We have a summer of giveaways planned, and the latest is tickets to Beachfest Rocks.

Dave Graham: This is a three-day musical feast coming in August. We're talking a dozen different acts on the fabulous outdoor theatre stage, and we're topping off the prize with a couple of folding camp chairs, a cooler, and a $100 Thrifty Foods Smile card to help fill the cooler. Go to our website to enter, thepulsecommunity.ca. Let's get to our first guest. Here's Marilyn.

Marilyn: Carly Carey is a Nanaimo-based realtor, business leader, wife, and mother who fought cancer three times and came out the other side with a mission. Drawing on her own experience as a patient navigating treatment away from home, she and her husband Morgan are now creating a free, welcoming place for others to do the same. That place is Carly's House.

Peter McCully: Welcome to the podcast today, Carly.

Carly Carey: Thank you so much for having me.

Peter McCully: Now, Carly, you've been described as a three-time cancer warrior. Can you take us back to your first diagnosis? What was your world like at that time?

Carly Carey: I was 18, just in my first semester of university here at Malaspina at the time, now VIU, living at home with a single mother, and I was diagnosed with Stage 2B Hodgkin's lymphoma. The protocol for me at the time was to do six rounds of chemo in the Nanaimo Cancer Clinic. Then I would be going to Victoria for radiation, and the way that was set up was Monday to Friday every day for four weeks, and that was pretty grueling.

Peter McCully: Now, during your treatment, what was it about the experience of being away from home that really stuck with you, the moment that you thought there has to be a better way for people going through this?

Carly Carey: Even at 18, I just had this sense of clarity around how privileged we were to have the means to drive to Victoria. Even though we didn't have a lot of money by any means, but we had a working vehicle. My mom had enough money for gas. She also had the kind of job where she could take paid vacation. I had an uncle come down from Powell River and drive me for a week. So I had all this support, and I just really recognized how lucky I was that I was within driving distance to Victoria, so I didn't have to get a hotel if I couldn't afford it, and we had a car. So that has always sat with me.

Peter McCully: And how long did the treatment last?

Carly Carey: The chemo was every three weeks for six rounds. The radiation, this is what I always found so frustrating, the actual treatment takes less than 15 seconds. I would even say less than 10 seconds, if I remember correctly. So it's a four-hour round trip in a car for a treatment that's seconds long.

Peter McCully: Now, you and your husband Morgan are building a place for others to stay when they're in Nanaimo, Carly's House. Where did the idea for Carly's House come from? Was there a specific conversation or one of those light bulb moments that went off?

Carly Carey: This last year when I was diagnosed with stage four mantle cell lymphoma, and in a very rare situation, I had a double diagnosis of lymphoma and leukemia, I was privileged enough to be able to access chemotherapy at the Nanaimo Cancer Clinic again. While we were there, my husband would talk to other cancer patients and just hear about the hardship that they would face of having to travel from all over the island, minus Victoria of course, to come and get treatment, and how hard that was. There was this one story about a patient who lived in Port Hardy, which is one of our most northern communities, received chemotherapy in Nanaimo, but because of financial hardship, decided to decline the radiation treatment in Victoria. And when my husband and I got home that night, we really tried to imagine what that conversation was like for their family sitting around the dinner table, trying to weigh the pros and cons of getting to Victoria, staying in Victoria, the burden of leaving work and not being paid, and how really difficult that decision must have been for them as a family. I just can't imagine.

Peter McCully: So you and your husband Morgan came to the project with a background in real estate. Tell us how that shaped the way you approached solving the problem for these types of situations.

Carly Carey: It really unfolded very naturally. I'm a real estate agent. My husband's a real estate agent. We also walk the talk, so we buy rental properties that we hold and rent out. And right before I'd gone into chemo, we had purchased a home for rental. So the home that is being donated, we actually had no intention of donating it. It wasn't even on our mind at the time when we purchased it. After spending these months in the chemo ward and hearing these stories, my husband just felt compelled to use this house that wasn't rented yet and donate it for the use of cancer patients. And it really just came together through a series of conversations with patients, but also the Nanaimo Hospital Foundation has been really innovative and amazing to work with.

Peter McCully: So walk us through what Carly's House will look like once it's renovated and done. Who will it serve? How many people will it serve at a time? And what does a typical stay actually look like for a patient?

Carly Carey: That's such a good question. So we're renovating the home right now so that it can be a little bit more conducive to patients. So it'll be accessible. The front house has a ramp. We are installing a bathroom into the primary bedroom because when you are in treatment, dignity is really important, and also for safety reasons, having separate washroom facilities is important. The living room actually has doors that separate it from the kitchen, which if you ever feel nauseous and the smell of food bothers you, you can understand why that's important. And then other small things we'll do is make sure there's a barbecue on the back deck so that if cooking all really needs to happen outside, it can. So for me, the exciting part is I'm taking my lived experience and giving feedback into what is important for people who are sick, as someone who's now been through this three times. In terms of who it'll serve, it'll be anyone who qualifies for needing accommodations while they're receiving cancer treatment in Nanaimo, and the timing is really good because the Nanaimo Cancer Clinic is getting a big upgrade. We'll soon have radiation beds, which is huge, and the clinic will be bigger. But the great thing is the Nanaimo Hospital Foundation will actually be running the home. Morgan and I will not know who's staying there. Confidentiality and dignity are really important to us and the Hospital Foundation. They will run the house as they see fit. The names will go through them, and they will organize all the ins and outs of who stays there.

Peter McCully: I understand the goal is for folks who stay there to be completely free. How does that work? Who covers the ongoing costs once the house is up and running?

Carly Carey: That's part of why I'm here today is to raise awareness because we are looking for cash donations. The renovation is one piece, but then to your point, there's ongoing costs of running the house. So Westland Insurance has donated the cost of the house insurance for Carly's House. But obviously there'll still be other bills to pay like property taxes, internet, and things like that. So that's where we're relying on our community to do cash donations, and that's where we work in partnership with the Nanaimo Hospital Foundation.

Peter McCully: How did that partnership with the Hospital Foundation come together, and what does it mean for folks who want to donate to the project?

Carly Carey: Oh, it's huge. So I've been a volunteer with the Nanaimo Hospital Foundation for a number of years now. So when we first had this idea of, is this crazy, could we do this, we sat down with Barney, the CEO of the Nanaimo Hospital Foundation, and him, Morgan, and I really brainstormed on a way to make this all work. The great part is that if you would like to donate cash, and I always say no donation's too small or too big. If you want to donate $5 or $500, it's all so appreciated. There's a drop-down link on the Nanaimo Hospital Foundation. You can make a cash donation, and you'll actually receive a tax receipt. So you can file that as a donation with your tax receipt for the end of the year.

Peter McCully: I understand you're also accepting gifts in kind from local business, for instance. What are some of those most pressing needs that you're looking for right now, and how would a business actually go about making that happen if they had something that you were looking for?

Carly Carey: The next big thing we're looking for is an appliance package. A dishwasher, stove, washer, dryer, those kinds of things would be hugely helpful. I believe we still need flooring, so that would be helpful. If anyone is interested in partnering with us and supporting the project, they can reach out to me on social media, Carly Carey or Morgan Carey. We're on Facebook and Instagram. We also have our website, Carey Real Estate Group. And you can also just go to the Nanaimo Hospital Foundation, where you'll find a whole section that explains the project and how you can support.

Peter McCully: You're renovating with cancer patients specifically in mind, things like accessibility and easy cleaning. What are some of those details in the design that you're most excited about?

Carly Carey: I think really adding the addition of the toilet and sink in the primary bedroom is so huge. I feel people heal so much better when they can do so in dignity with family. The kitchen's also really big. It has a gorgeous skylight with a big island, and the idea is that you can go there with your family, cook home-cooked meals, have the dignity of separation and rest when you need it. I know that I could not have gone through what I went through without the support of my family, so I really am so excited that people don't have to be alone in a hotel room if they need to come here for treatment.

Peter McCully: Cancer treatment often means multiple trips over weeks and months, as you've mentioned. How does Carly's House address that reality? Is this a place where someone could return to if they needed to?

Carly Carey: Absolutely. This is a place to support people in need. And so how that all inner working will be fleshed out is the Nanaimo Hospital Foundation. They are the experts. This is why we partnered with them. Morgan and I know real estate, but they know how to run a house like this with a lot of care and dignity and respect. So they will be managing that, and I'm grateful for their expertise.

Peter McCully: If someone is listening today, Carly, whether they're an individual, a family, or a business, what's the single most important thing that they should do right now?

Carly Carey: I think if you feel inspired by this project, I would just so appreciate if you could go on social media, comment and share. You don't have to go on my social media if you don't want to. You can go to the Nanaimo Hospital Foundation website and share the link to Carly's House. I just think awareness would be so amazing, and it would be hugely appreciated.

Peter McCully: Beyond the physical shelter, the home, what do you hope patients and families feel when they walk through that front door?

Carly Carey: I hope they understand that we as Nanaimoites in the greater Nanaimo area, we have your back, and you are not alone. This is a community project built by real community members who care about you and your health for everyone on the island. And so I just hope they know that we care about them.

Dave Graham: Carly Carey, what an exceptional person. Three times through cancer, and her response is to build something for everyone else who's going through it. Carly's House is going to matter in a very real, practical way for patients going to Nanaimo for treatment, people who shouldn't have to worry about finding a place to sleep. You'll find links to Carly's House in our story notes.

Peter McCully: For your convenience, we have links to Vancouver Island webcams on our website, and we've just added podcast links, so now you can find other Vancouver Island podcasts through our site, thepulsecommunity.ca. We're also available on Apple, Amazon, iHeart, Spotify, the TikTok, and YouTube, plus Facebook and Instagram.

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Peter McCully: I don't know about you, Dave, but our first story with Carly resonates. The impact of her actions stay with you after that conversation is over.

Dave Graham: Oh yeah, but doesn't that speak to the power of the story and about the power of the individual? Dealing with something as frightening as cancer and being able to turn that around to be able to help others, that's extraordinary. Carly is extraordinary. I'm glad we could be a part of that.

Peter McCully: And we're always open to suggestions for other stories that we might follow. You can leave us a voice or text message through the contact link on our website, thepulsecommunity.ca.

Dave Graham: Time for our next story. It begins with a preteen attending a rock concert and in the process discovering his destiny. Here's Marilyn.

Marilyn: Jamie Wollam grew up in Southern California, got hooked on drums at a Kiss concert at 10, and spent the next three decades building one of the most impressive resumes in the business, touring with David Crosby, Jackson Browne, and Tom Morello before landing the drum chair for Tears for Fears in 2010. He now calls Salt Spring Island home.

Peter McCully: Welcome to the podcast today, Jamie.

Jamie Wollam: It's my pleasure. Peter, thank you for having me. This is awesome.

Peter McCully: You grew up in Southern California. Where specifically did you grow up?

Jamie Wollam: I don't know if anyone would even know. I was born in a city called West Covina, which is in Southern California. LA's technically downtown, but LA County is significantly large. So, in the San Gabriel Mountains. Pasadena's probably the biggest landmark where I go, that was 20 minutes away. Also, San Dimas, which is famous for a water park called Raging Waters. About 35 minutes out of downtown and about 20 minutes east of Pasadena.

Peter McCully: Were you the kid who was always tapping his pencil on the desk in class?

Jamie Wollam: The answer is no, only 'cause I went to, I guess they call it parochial or Christian school, and I didn't want to get in trouble. But I was always tapping on everything I could tap on, besides when I knew I wasn't gonna get busted for it. So yeah, it started for me very young, and it was definitely just an innate thing to want to start keeping rhythm.

Peter McCully: I asked Siri about you, and she says that a Kiss concert at age 13 is what pushed you in the direction to learn drums.

Jamie Wollam: Yes, except I'm gonna correct Siri because as much as Siri may know, God bless her, I was 10. So even younger. It was 1980. I begged my mom for three months to take me to see Kiss at the Los Angeles Forum, and it was on the Dynasty tour, which they had a huge hit off that record called I Was Made for Lovin' You. But I was a Kiss fan since I was probably seven or eight, and that was the very first concert I attended, and I still can smell the smells and remember the volume. It hurt, but at the same time, I was just absolutely in awe. So yeah, I was 10 years old, and it was Kiss at the Los Angeles Forum.

Peter McCully: And some of those guys are still going.

Jamie Wollam: Yeah. Sadly enough, Ace Frehley, the original guitar player, passed away. They're one of those bands that all of a sudden was like, the final tour, and then six months later, just kidding, it's the reunion of the final tour, whatever they're gonna call it this time. But yeah, Gene Simmons and Paul Stanley. And oddly enough, probably the biggest influential band for me to get into music, and I've never had the chance to meet any of them. Which is probably good. They say never meet your heroes. But yeah, they're still doing it.

Peter McCully: Back in the day, before all this technology was available, karaoke and whatnot, most drummers learned to play the tunes along to albums at home with or without headphones. What records get the most mileage at your place?

Jamie Wollam: It's a fascinating question, and it's exactly the way I learned. It was albums, lots of which paid the price of getting scratched because you gotta take care of albums properly. You look at them wrong, and they're gonna start skipping, and I remember the very first album I actually put on my headphones and was able to start playing to was Back in Black by AC/DC. I gravitated toward the music because I could feel like the drum parts were within my reach to start actually performing to or keeping up with. I didn't make my first album or my first song YYZ by Rush. I had a pinnacle of knowing that's where I, hopefully I could ever get to playing like that, but you can't start there. I would've given up after a week. But the albums for sure that really started me in was Back in Black by AC/DC. I played to that a great deal. I was really into a band called Iron Maiden when I was first starting too, so Iron Maiden, Number of the Beast, and then some of the other albums that I played to early on most frequently I stole from my sister's collection, which I'd have to put them back before she got home. She's older than me, but Pat Benatar. I loved pop rock music, and The Police. I played to a lot of Police, loved Stewart Copeland's playing, but I'd say those are what stuck out to me primarily, AC/DC, Back in Black, and Iron Maiden, early Ozzy, Crazy Train, Blizzard of Oz, the very first Ozzy record. Judas Priest, there's an album called British Steel, one of their famous songs, Breaking the Law. These were all attainable. I could hear it, and I could air drum to it, and it felt like I was air drumming correctly, so why, if I just sat behind a kit, I should be able to come close, right?

Peter McCully: Now, some of those drummers that you mentioned were drummers and singers.

Jamie Wollam: Yes. I will say this, I play guitar, and I play bass, and I sing. Part of the reason of getting the gig with Tears for Fears was they needed a drummer that sang, and the guitar player who I'd worked with before knew and had recorded me in his studio for vocal sessions, so knew that I could sing. And playing in many Top 40 bands when I was in my teens and early 20s, you can't rely on the main guitar player to sing three 45-minute sets worth of material three nights in a row without blowing out his voice. So he would constantly be going like, you guys gotta sing something. So I started taking on a good chunk of the vocal work as well. But singing drummers, I've always gravitated toward them. I find it fascinating. Musical drummers I find fascinating.

Peter McCully: So do I. Some of those drummers who can give a full vocal performance but not skip a beat on the drums, like Don Henley, Phil Collins, and even Karen Carpenter.

Jamie Wollam: I think Karen Carpenter gets remembered even more so obviously for that amazing voice versus the fact she was very well known and quite an accomplished player on the drums. But yeah, to do both, it's almost a third level, a whole other level of independence. They say just drumming involves both your hands and both your feet. That's different than any other instrument. But then you sing on top of that, which usually your melodies will be at a different rhythm than anything your other body parts are doing, and then you gotta stay in pitch, right? There was a band called Night Ranger that I really liked. Sister Christian was their big hit, and the drummer, Kelly Keagy, was the lead singer of the band as well. So always loved singing drummers.

Peter McCully: Let's go back a little bit. You went to the Percussion Institute of Technology in Hollywood at 18. So two things. First, I wonder what did you walk out knowing that you didn't know when you walked in, and how exciting was it for an 18-year-old to go to school in Hollywood?

Jamie Wollam: I would say I learned a lot, but probably the most memorable thing was how to read better. I could read fairly good basics, but really because you had to read charts. I'd never played with a big band. Growing up playing to Iron Maiden and Ozzy, and all of a sudden part of my curriculum is playing with a 25-piece horn or orchestra playing jazz and having to read a jazz chart. Scary, some of the scariest stuff. And I would still say I didn't continue to gravitate down that road. I can hang by my fingernails with a jazz trio now or whatever. I can get by. But I didn't go deep. I immersed myself much more in pop and rock and studio work. But for sure, the experience of learning how to read charts helped me tremendously in the years to follow with studio work. And I will say it was a trip, I didn't live in Hollywood because even though Hollywood's still a suburb of LA, I made the drive from my home, and LA traffic is legendary, and sometimes as the crow flies, what would've taken me 35 minutes took me over two hours each way, five days a week. So I did a lot of driving. But I really hadn't spent a whole lot of time in Hollywood other than doing gigs, so to be down there every day, five days a week, I got to see a lot. It's always had its kind of seedy element and its weird element and its fame element. It's got even more so now. People have a certain impression of it, and then they go there and like, holy cow, this place is a dump. But it's still one of the best times of my life. It was right after high school, so I was very pumped. I was eager.

Peter McCully: Now, you mentioned that you've played with a lot of bands. You've been on stage with Jackson Browne, David Crosby, and I understand that you recorded with Michael Jackson?

Jamie Wollam: I did. That's a fascinating story. So I played drums on two songs on an album called Michael, which is posthumous, so it was within about a year after he passed. In a nutshell, I got a phone call from an engineer friend of mine, producer, who used to hire me for all kinds of things, from a cat food commercial to some major label record to whatever. But he called me and said, hey, are you free for a session, a week from now. And I said, yep. And he said, all right, bring these drums. He kinda talked to me about what it was, and I packed it. And I said, who's the artist? He goes, I'll tell you when you get here. Can't go into it, but it'll be cool. So then I walk in. He booked me for two days, and the first day was, I walked in, and there was some people standing around. Where do I bring my drums? He goes, you can bring them in. We're not even playing today. Today is just talking about what's going on. And the first thing I had to do was sign a nondisclosure at the time about what this was, and it was some producers that had demos of Michael. They'd started working up songs back before Michael had passed away, and they had to keep it quiet because there was a lot of legalities with the Jackson estate and the Jackson family and all these other people that had had working relationships with Michael. So it was all very hush-hush. And I couldn't talk about it until it was released. But it was fascinating. I wanna say the most fascinating part was when I very first went to start recording, and we're getting levels, and I put on the headphones, and I'm in the drum booth, and I got the drums set up, and we've got sounds. They're like, all right, we're gonna play you the track. When I first heard that voice of a song I've never heard, but it's unmistakable it's Michael Jackson, it was fascinating. It was exciting. It was sad. It was eerie, but it was incredible, all of those things. And so yeah, there's two songs on that record that I got to play on. It's a fascinating process. I wish I would have ever had the chance to meet him. That would've been once in a lifetime, but still, to be on a record that his voice is on is still pretty cool.

Peter McCully: I wanted to go back to something that you mentioned. You've done a lot of different things with music. You've produced music for film and for television as well?

Jamie Wollam: I've been a part of the production. I've done some independent film work. It's a very difficult business to break into, and it's also like anything in this business. When your passion of music, or if it's sports, or if it's acting, whatever, when you wanna be a professional, when you actually make some crossover and want your passion to become the business, can be very cutthroat. Because there's a lot of money to be made in the entertainment world if you have success, but the other part of that is it can be extremely fleeting. So you're only known for the last popular thing you did, and if you manage to have a good streak, God bless you. That being said, I've been a part of either doing drum parts or singing or doing for some pretty heavy-duty stuff. I'd say one of the most memorable things, very few people know this. Remaining humble in this business is essential to me because it's very easy. I guarantee I can get floored by nine drummers right now that would be out in this music store that no one's ever heard of. So I always am very aware there's lots of people who haven't had the success or the chances I've had. I've worked very hard, but so have they, so there's an element that I don't know when you get the break or whatever it is. But for the television show Friends, The Rembrandts did the theme song, but they call it bumper music, so all of that anywhere from three to 10-second music when Ross comes in the door and they're setting up the next scene, whatever, that's all me.

Peter McCully: Stingers and bumpers.

Jamie Wollam: Stingers and bumpers. That's it. So Friends is still probably one that I can hang my hat on and go, that was a pretty successful thing to be a part of the composition on.

Peter McCully: You've been the drummer for Tears for Fears since 2010? Tell us about that phone call.

Jamie Wollam: Correct. Yeah, I thought it was a joke at first, honestly. And it was the same musician-producer friend of mine who called me to do a lot of vocals. His name is Charlton Pettus. He's still the guitar player, band leader, musical director of Tears. He knew I was a drummer. We had done many sessions together but never played in a band of any sort together, and he was already in the band, and the band already had a different drummer. We had known each other for about three and a half, four years, and I literally was driving up to Beverly Hills one day to do a recording session, and my phone rang, and I looked down and saw that it was Charlton's number, so I answered it. What are you doing? I'm headed to a session. What are you doing? He goes, you wanna be in Tears for Fears? Come on, man. No. No, I'm serious. And I'm like, what? And then the odd thing was, is my first response was, I don't know if I can do that gig. Because, without going into a big diatribe about it, I've just named you the type of music I came from, and Tears is a very different style of music than what I cut my teeth on, which was rock stuff. And Tears comes from what would be considered a very new wave or synth-driven. But I didn't have a lot of knowledge. I wasn't a deep, at the time, I am now, but I wasn't a deep Tears for Fears aficionado. I just knew some of the hits. Always loved their stuff. But yeah, it was a bit overwhelming at first, and I thought, wow, this could be a really fascinating thing. And I actually had some apprehension about whether or not I would be the right fit for what they would want. However, fast-forward 16 years later, obviously I was, and I think that my rock background has actually been what they've enjoyed the most about my playing.

Peter McCully: Jamie, some of these songs are not the easiest to play as a drummer. There's a lot going on. I wanted to know, what is the hardest Tears for Fears song to nail live every night?

Jamie Wollam: That is a fascinating question, and I'm gonna approach it from two angles. My stock answer technically and physically to pull off is a song off of their Sowing the Seeds of Love record that's called The Bad Man Song. A drummer by the name of Manu Katché, who's played with everyone from Peter Gabriel to Sting, just a powerhouse drummer, and the idea in bringing him in to play drums on this song was, let him do his thing. So technically, it's got the most chops, the most drum-oriented stuff of Tears, versus it being a drum machine. So I'd say as a drummer, that is by far the most difficult piece. But then the flip side of that, and I wanna be able to address being able to play live, that's a fascinating thing. So my secondary answer, very close second, milla-inches or millimeters away from being equal or tied, would be Everybody Wants to Rule the World, and that is because it involves some unique syncopation. The reason why it is so difficult to me to play live is because it has a certain, this certain kind of independence that if I think about it too much, and again, live does a certain thing. When we're rehearsing all day long, I don't even have to think about it. But live, what happens is you get adrenaline, you get nerves. It's usually the first song. Takes me a few songs to settle into my groove. You gotta harness, it's like coming out on a bucking bull, right? You gotta be able to hold on and let the thing stabilize, and then you just get into wherever. But because it is shockingly so repetitive, there's a fine balance between overthinking about it. If I start to think about what I'm doing too much, I'll mess up, and if I don't think about the beat enough and just assume it's on autopilot, I can mess up.

[Song: Everybody Wants to Rule the World - Tears for Fears]

Peter McCully: You landed on Salt Spring a few years back after living in Southern California. That's a pretty big shift. A remarkable place to land, though, after decades on the road. What's life looked like there for you, and how did you end up on Salt Spring?

Jamie Wollam: I speak openly and very honestly about this part of my life. Ultimately, the reason I made this change and moved up there was my inability in Los Angeles to get sober and remain sober, and it took a very radical change and a very radical shift to really hard reset my computer, if that makes sense. And so specifically Salt Spring, Canada of all places. I've been dual citizen since I was born, but my mom's Canadian and so she retired from her years working in Los Angeles and moved up, found a little place on Salt Spring Island. So I'd go visit. We'd visit. She's been there 25 years. I've been there almost eight. That was at a point in my life when I really thought I need to make a radical change. And LA is a real tough place to live if you are in the entertainment business. And I was going through a divorce and just very hard to find my feet. So I came up there, put all my stuff in storage, packed a suitcase and an acoustic guitar and didn't know which way was up, and I haven't looked back.

Peter McCully: You have a world-class recording studio, I understand, on Salt Spring. The Woodshed?

Jamie Wollam: Yeah. World-class on the inside and I call it the Monster House from the outside. It's an old shed that was used as an add-on one-bedroom apartment while the gentleman who was building on this six-acre property was literally milling the trees and building the cabin that I live in now. It sat basically as a storage place for 12 years, no running water. When given the opportunity, I looked at it and I thought, what? And then I thought I saw it. I could see it. So I was actually working through COVID when music wasn't happening. I started working at Windsor Plywood and so I learned a lot about building. I obviously got a great discount on materials and I thought I could make this into what I see it to be, and it is. I still keep it very low-key on the outside. I haven't done much on the outside. I call it the Monster House, but inside it's like when Willy Wonka opened the door to a place where you could eat everything inside. That whole scene when he opens the door and the people walk in and they're just like, what the... So yeah, it's quite lavish inside.

Peter McCully: And you're offering remote sessions and drum lessons from there?

Jamie Wollam: Yeah, I've been doing remote sessions now. It took me a lot of time. I've done a lot of session work myself, but as a drummer, not as an engineer. So yeah, I've had to really learn my chops and every day something technically is getting more and more this and that. But yeah, I offer remote sessions, which is the biggest part of my working when I'm not on the road with Tears, and I teach privately, and now starting to teach online through this place. It's my home.

Peter McCully: I would be remiss if I didn't ask you about your drum setup. I know there's drummers sitting out there listening to this conversation, saying, ask him what he plays.

Jamie Wollam: That's a mixed bag, too, but the last three tours that Tears has done since COVID, I have been playing ANF Drums, which are made and manufactured in Austin, Texas, by a guy named Rami Anton. Fantastic looking drums. It was very vintage looking, very almost like Civil War, back to Peaky Blinders, this whole kinda rustic, really cool look. I've been with Paiste Cymbals since 1990. I think I signed with them in 1997. I love and will continue on about their praises, but yeah, Paiste Cymbals for sure. Funny, I've had the gig for 16 years with Tears for Fears, I have only started to use or integrate electronics into my rig within about the last four years, and it's Roland. What I've come to know to be the leaders in these fields, and Roland just has amazing products, and so I use three trigger pads that I use samples, and then trigger pedal, it's PX90. I've only scratched the surface. I don't physically own a full electronic kit. Hopefully I will someday, but I still am an acoustic guy who implements it now with some electronics.

Peter McCully: Before we let you go, because you're here about to conduct a drum clinic in the Nanaimo, let's do a speed round of questions, Jamie.

Jamie Wollam: Sounds good.

Peter McCully: Best venue you've ever played.

Jamie Wollam: Madison Square Garden.

Peter McCully: Weirdest place you've ever heard a Tears for Fears song.

Jamie Wollam: Elevator of the hotel I was staying at, or the country grocer on Salt Spring Island. Yeah, that's a trip.

Peter McCully: One drummer who completely changed the way you think about drums.

Jamie Wollam: John Bonham.

Peter McCully: A lot of drummers could say that.

Jamie Wollam: There's a reason, yeah. I think one of the most influential, in the rock world, that there's ever been.

Peter McCully: If you weren't a drummer, what would you be?

Jamie Wollam: First baseman for the Los Angeles Dodgers. No question. Baseball and music ran parallel with me, and I'm still infatuated with watching baseball.

Peter McCully: What's the last piece of music that genuinely stopped you in your tracks, you had to just stop and listen?

Jamie Wollam: It's so easy to get hung on the speed round. I'm gonna say a band called Dawes, D-A-W-E-S, out of Los Angeles. Anything by Dawes, but it was their newest record.

Peter McCully: One word for what Salt Spring Island has given you.

Jamie Wollam: Recovery.

Peter McCully: Good word. Loudest crowd you've ever experienced?

Jamie Wollam: Rock In Rio, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, 2017, 150,000 people.

Peter McCully: Wow. What brand of drumsticks do you use?

Jamie Wollam: Vater. V-A-T-E-R, Vater, and I love them. They're 5B Nude, they're called, 'cause they don't have the shellac on 'em, just sanded wood. Yeah, Vater.

Peter McCully: So they don't slip away.

Jamie Wollam: That's exactly right. I was having trouble with blisters, so that's it, Vater 5B Nudes.

Peter McCully: Favorite city to wake up in when you're on tour?

Jamie Wollam: New York City.

Peter McCully: Last concert you attended as a fan? Not a player, just as a fan.

Jamie Wollam: John Mayer.

Peter McCully: If Salt Spring Island had a soundtrack, what would it be?

Jamie Wollam: I Can See Clearly Now. It's one of the rainiest places, but it's probably one of the top five most beautiful places I've ever seen and been to, and I can't believe that I have the opportunity and have lived there for almost eight years. The beauty.

Peter McCully: The most memorable thing a fan has ever said to you after a show.

Jamie Wollam: I think you hit me in the head with this drumstick. As blood was trickling down her forehead, they tossed a drumstick, and apparently it hit her in the head. She didn't see it coming, and I'd say that'd probably answer it.

Peter McCully: For a young drummer sitting, listening to this right now, wherever they happen to be, they're out there playing along with records the same way you started. What's the one thing that you'd want them to know about playing drums?

Jamie Wollam: Be comfortable with your own voice on the drums. Do your best to not compare, because comparison can oftentimes really spin you off of just becoming whatever. And practice. Practicing and playing what you already know, but playing what you already know isn't practicing, that's playing. But practice. Work on things that better you as a musician, and always play with a click track.

Dave Graham: Jamie Wollam and a new chapter of his life beginning with a phone call, an invitation to join Tears for Fears. And what's his reaction? Oh, I don't know if I can do that gig. I admire that honesty, the candor. You'll find links to Jamie's work in our story notes.

Peter McCully: And you'll find something for the kids with our Skookum Kids Stories featuring Captain Dave and the crew of the Mellow Submarine, and Peter and Gracie, the Eskimo dog. This week's story has Captain Dave and his first mate and best friend, Larry the Lobster, traveling to Dodd Narrows, where they discover and learn about the rockfish that live there.

Dave Graham: And to add to the fun, we now include coloring pages to go along with each new story. We have a new one coming out weekly.

Peter McCully: Our Radio Archaeology classic radio series features original episodes of Dragnet featuring Sergeant Joe Friday, and Gunsmoke with Marshal Matt Dillon.

Dave Graham: Oh, the old radio programs are special. They're a direct link back to the time before the internet, before MP3s and USBs and even TVs. It was the golden age of radio, involving the listener by engaging their imagination. What a concept.

Peter McCully: As part of our Pulse Community Podcast, join Cindy Thompson of Parksville for a resilience project. After a decade on the front lines of humanitarian work, writer and advocate Katie Bergman learned that caring for the world begins with caring for yourself. A powerful, honest conversation about burnout, purpose, and resilience.

Dave Graham: You'll find these podcasts and more at thepulsecommunity.ca. Oh, and while you're there, sign up for our newsletter to stay up to date on our podcast guests and contests.

Peter McCully: We invite you to enter our latest contest. It's for Beachfest Rocks, three days of memorable music, plus a couple of camp chairs, a cooler, and a $100 Thrifty Foods Smile card.

Dave Graham: I'd put $100 of chocolate in that cooler and be a happy, happy man, but that's just me, and I'm not allowed to enter. I suppose you could put food and beverages in that thing, too.

Peter McCully: Well, that's it for another episode of the Pulse Community Podcast. Thank you for spending some time with us. We genuinely appreciate it.

Dave Graham: Yes, we do. So we heard from a woman who turned a devastating diagnosis into a sanctuary, and a man who found his sanctuary on a nearby Gulf Island after 30 years of touring the world. Those are great Canadian stories with Canada Day approaching. Hey, Peter, turn out the lights, will you?

Peter McCully: Why? What on earth for?

Dave Graham: My Canada Day socks. It says they glow in the dark.

Peter McCully: Peter, where are you going?

Dave Graham: Okay, hit the lights on your way out, then. I want to see these puppies light up.

Rockin' Rhonda & The Uptown Blues Band: Here comes Peter, here comes Dave, oh listen. Bringing stories, making waves. No missing. Spinning tales in the podcast cave. Laughs and insights everywhere. What a treat. Peter and Dave, they're on the mics, all right. Join the ride. It's gonna feel just right.