JB-  Did you take any of that criticism or advice from the judges and transfer it now to how you perform now?

KM- Definitely.  One of the best pieces of advice I got from the show was at a dress rehearsal, I never noticed how my posture is on stage and I always tend to lean in and I've got really bad posture and I tend to lean into my guitar quite a bit and it was one of the executive producers of the show said you should really pay attention to your posture when you're singing because especially on camera it comes across like you're a hunchback if you don't really stand up straight and keep your head up.  It was something for sure that I became aware of throughout the process.  I think that was the main thing actually.  It goes a long way.  You feel so much more confident when you're able to stand up straight and not be ashamed of what you're doing.  I think the show just gave me confidence.

JB-  The band formed how long ago?

KM-  About 10 years ago.

JB-  Wow, so you've seen a big development in fan base in that time. 

KM- For sure.  I have to admit it hasn't been the fastest overnight success in the world.  We're far from being huge, massive international recording artists.  I feel where we're at is still pretty cool.

JB-  The band's name was mentioned a few times on Idol, but for those who haven't heard your music - I mean, your sound away from the Idol show - what kind of music do you play?

KM-  We would be like if John Mayer and Sheryl Crow were in the same band.  Sort of like pop rock would be the traditional category we would fall under.

JB-  And which one are you?  (laughing)

KM-  I think I'm probably Sheryl Crow.

JB-  There is a similarity.  I'm just looking at a picture of her…

KM-  (laughing)

JB-  I can see it.

KM- The thing about our band that I really, really love and I don't think I could live without is the way we sing together.  Especially in our live shows we, Renee and I, both sing like we're related or something.  It's a chemistry vocally that really works well together.  We're always using these cool harmony lines to get the music out there.  And it's really fun to sing with somebody that your voice blends so well with.

JB-  Well what is the relation?  How did you two get teamed up?

KM-  We're sort of like Fleetwood Mac but we get along really well now.  We met 10 or 12 years ago in this little town in Manitoba called Ile des Chenes on a Saturday night in this little church where everybody spoke French except me.  And Renee was singing there and I went up to her after and asked if she wanted to jam sometime and she thought I was hitting on her and I kind of was but then we got together and jammed.  And it got really serious musically and we tried "seeing" but we've been on and off for years!  (laughing)  It's so crazy to be dating your bandmate.  We're always on and off but you never know.

JB-  I guess if it can work for Rex (Goudie) and Melissa (O'Neil).

KM-  Yeah, that's true.  I guess it has worked for them.

JB-  For now!  Not that I'm a skeptic but we know how those celebrity romances sometimes don't always work out.

KM-  Our band is trying to take some time off the road to finish off our record to have that out in the new year.  We're planning for a late-February, early-March release.  We have a couple records out already- "Simple Stuff" and "Novice".  The band is Easily Amused.  I've noticed an increase in sales since the show.  It's really exciting.  People have taken some notice in what we've been doing.  The new record will be really, really cool.  We've been in the last month in studio at home here in Winnipeg and just writing and just trying to get as many songs as we can and trying to find the right producers and trying to get on track for that to happen.  There's a lot going on.  We're playing the Grey Cup social in Winnipeg this year.

JB-  I understand you've got some touring coming up.  You're going to be in Toronto, you're going to be doing the Grey Cup party in Winnipeg.  Where else can fans see you in the next little while?

KM-  We do have some plans for the new year to be working possibly - this is total rumour, but I might as well mention it - we are talking with a few of the Idol hopefuls that aren't on the show anymore and getting together and doing some dates in the new year, some Canadian dates and stuff.  Nothing's completely firmed up yet and we haven't figured out with who it will be but we're hoping in the new year, in conjunction with our CD release will bring us a bunch of Canadian dates.  In the near future we have some college shows that were booked way long ago that we're doing.  We tend to do a lot of performing in the New York market and the Boston market and in Toronto.  Over the fall we're going to keep building those areas up and playing once a month there if we can.  And come the new year we really want to work radio in Canada with the new video and single and get out and play as many small Canadian cities as we can.  And big ones too!  But we like the small ones a lot.

JB-  Fans can also hear your music in a few places - not live, but recorded.  I think you know what I'm getting at.

KM-  Yup.  We've got the MySpace.  It's myspace.com/easilyamusedband and that has some of our latest recordings.  We try to keep blog entries updated.  Our website is easilyamused.ca.  There's music there.  They can also download our records on iTunes which is kind of cool.  Do a search for Easily Amused.  We haven't had a lot of luck with our music in record stores in Canada.  So everybody reading this and somebody happens to be married to like a music distributor that knows how to get music into Canadian record stores we would love to chat with you.  It would be so exciting to get our physical CD into the music stores as well.  Although, we all know the iPod is the new way to go.

JB-  Do you have an iPod?

KM-  I do!  I just got an iPod actually.

JB-  What's on it?  Besides the Easily Amused albums and the album from Canadian Idol?

KM- I've got a lot of positive books on tape on there.  And then I've also got a lot of house music.  Paul McCartney is one of my biggest influences.  I listen to him a lot.  I'm really into Tegan & Sara lately.  Their record "So Jealous" is just totally rockin' my world.

JB-  Are you suggesting Keith is "easily amused"?

KM-  Well I hope to be, I guess.  Keith and Renee are easily amused.  We may just call our next record "Keith and Renee"… you never know!

JB-  Or John and Sheryl.  Whichever works.

KM-  Sonny and Cher.

JB-  If you have the wigs…

KM-  It could totally happen that way.  We'll launch a Sonny and Cher comeback and we'll dress up like them and nobody will have ever heard of us.  That'll be great.

JB-  Try that for the Grey Cup crowd, they might like that. 

KM-  I don't know, man!  It's Winnipeg!  Winter-peg.  People are harsh here in November.

JB-  You know there's so many different websites that you can watch video and hear audio of the performances.  I guess people record it on their computer and then post them.  Have you seen that?  Have you checked that out at all?

KM-  I had a link sent to me from YouTube of one of the performances I did.  That was really cool.  It was funny to watch back and think, "What was I thinking?"  (laughing)

JB-  And there are these message boards.  Do you check those out at all?

KM-  I did after the show.  That's really incredible, the amount of support on there.  I didn't realize I had a fan club called "Macpherson Nation".  I couldn't believe it.  I thought that was hilarious.  Wow, people are so funny and cool.

JB-  You'll be bigger than the "Adler Nation" [referring to Canadian radio personality Charles Adler] pretty soon. 

KM-  That's right, man.  The Winnipeggers know what we're talking about!  The message boards are always entertaining to check out.

JB-  Winnipeg is the Slurpee capital of the world.

KM-  It certainly is.

JB-  What is your favourite flavour of Slurpee?

KM-  I really like root beer because root beer is a hard find.  I questioned one of the ladies and apparently they stain the Slurpee machine and then they can't put any other flavour in there ever again so when they make the root beer investment in the Slurpee machine it's a permanent thing.

JB-  Now imagine what it does to your insides!

KM-  I guess.  It's either good or bad. 

JB-  But does it really matter?  It's a Slurpee!

KM-  I love Slurpees!  One of the segments I really wanted to do on Idol if they would have come back home here is I wanted to just go buy a bunch of Slurpees for Winnipeggers and just go knock on random doors and just give them Slurpees.  That would define exactly what happens in this city.

JB-  How many Slurpees do you have in the winter?

KM-  I, on average, would probably drink about a Slurpee a week.  And I have some friends in Toronto when I'm out there and I'm trying to turn them into official Winnipeg Slurpee drinkers.  So I tend to drink more Slurpees in Toronto than in Winnipeg in the winter.  But it's probably because we spend more time in Toronto doing stuff and I just can't go through a week without a Slurpee!  Slurpees are the way to go!  Slurpees are a form of giving friendship.  We need to spread the love…

JB-  One Slurpee at a time!  (laughing)

KM-  Exactly!