The Wild Adventures of the Strange Man - Interview with Michal Hasek

This is an interview with the Canadian singer-songwriter Michal Hasek, who did several privately pressed albums and performed all over Canada and the US during the ‘70s and ‘80s. In this interview, he share some of the stories from his time as a traveling musician, including hanging out with Alan Watts at the Ottumwa Heights Catholic College and being kicked off stage by Janis Joplin.

Michal was born in Czechoslovakia in 1946. Not long after, his family fled from the Soviet Union and after a few years living in various countries they eventually settled down in Canada. As a teenager in Toronto in the ´60s, he found himself in the midst of the current folk boom and he soon become part of the community of aspiring musicians hanging out in the hip neighborhood of Yorkville. He started playing coffeehouses and bars all over Canada as well as doing several tours in the Midwest. In 1974 his first album was released on his own imprint, Naja, which received some airplay and was later distributed by A&M (check out Acid Archives for a review of the album). He continued to play throughout the ‘70s and ‘80s and privately released two more albums, The Radio Play in 1978 and Night Fear in 1989.

We wish to thank Aaron Dunn for helping us get in contact with Michal, David Brown for kind permission to use some of his photos and Nathan Wisnicki for helping out with the recording.

Michal Hasek - s/t (1974)

-Naja (intro tune)

-Strange Man

-Kick'N The Ass - Amchitka          

Alan Watts - This Is It (1962)

-Love You

Michal Hasek with Sundog - The Radio Play (1978)

-The Radio Play

Michal Hasek - Night Fear (1989)

-Night Fear (second version)

Michal Hasek

-Northern Lights (bonus material to the CD version of his debut, recorded in the early ‘70s)

Michal Hasek - Hasek (compilation)

-Nottawasaga (recorded in the early ‘70s)