David Kochberg and Vanessa Vakharia of Toronto band Goodnight Sunrise add to the dumpster fire of podcasts, ranting about music and whatever else is on their minds. Exes in a band, these best friends do sound like an old married couple. Maybe that's entertaining? Let us know.
We played a couple incredible shows in Saskatchewan two weeks ago and it already feels like a lifetime. When we don't play a show for a while we forget what it feels like to actually be a band - posting content and living online just doesn't cut it.
So today we discussed:
ways to hold on to the joy we feel from playing live
an exercise to try next weekend when we play a biker fest in Durham, ON on July 25
the nature of ego, why we crave attention and connection, and whether that is good/bad/both
Also the episode starts, like most, with Vanessa being extremely annoyed with David for absolutely no reason. Enjoy!
30 May 2026
Arguing about how to be successful podcasters
Our friend Elise Roller from Misfit Music Management insists that we are sitting in a gold mine with this podcast and that it can be the secret to finding success in building an audience for our band. Is she right?!
Our first task towards finding out was answering a bunch of questions for her, so naturally we thought “let’s make an episode out of it!”
We discuss:
What we think makes our podcast and band stand out from all the rest
What other podcasts would our listeners like
What content strategies do and don’t worth for us
How much should we emphasize being exes in a band as a marketing point
We also randomly realize our new song is being played on the radio (94.9 The Rock in Oshawa, Ontario) literally minutes before ending the episode, and tune in live in time to hear the legend John Angus from The Trews introducing it with some very kind words!!
7 May 2026
Arguing about changing our band name
We started our band Goodnight Sunrise (https://goodnightsunrise.com) 15 years ago, and recently we've been debating a big question: at what point do we hit the reset button and start fresh under a new band name?
Vanessa thinks everyone in the Canadian music industry has heard about us and already made up their mind. David thinks nothing will be that different if we just change our band name without changing our live show and genre.
So we recorded a very honest episode debating:
where we're at in our career
the state of the music industry broadly
the realities of being in an independent band
why branding/marketing is more important than the music
being jealous of our friends
the difference between earning success and feeling entitled to it
should we move to Germany?
and ultimately: should we change our band name?
20 Apr 2026
Arguing about Keanu Reeves' band Dogstar
David and Vanessa are both big fans of Keanu Reeves, but for slightly different reasons and with slightly different intensities.
One thing they're united on however is that their band Goodnight Sunrise would be a great opener for Keanu's band Dogstar when they play Fallsview Casino in Niagara Falls, Ontario on August 21st, 2026.
We've all heard of 6 degrees of Kevin Bacon - well we don't have time for that. We need a single degree of Dogstar! Someone help us!
11 Apr 2026
Arguing about the moon mission
If you are like David, you have been completely obsessed with the Artemis II lunar flyby mission the last 10 days. If you are like Vanessa, you're like "why are they going to the moon but not even landing on it?"
So we decided to break our radio silence (of not having put out an episode in weeks) to argue about:
why humans explore space
what the moon mission has to do with the Toronto Blue Jays playing in the World Series last season
what Katy Perry actually did in space
whether our cover of Space Oddity is better than astronaut Chris Hadfield's
whether it matters if billionaires fund space travel because of altruism or egoism
13 Feb 2026
Arguing about our new single "Over You"
We released a new single today called "Over You (https://ffm.to/overyougnsr)"!
In this episode we argue about:
what the song is or isn't about
what genre people seem to think this song is
what's the difference between punk and pop punk
are radio edits of songs still necessary today
what does David think of Vanessa's exes
does David ever wonder about his own exes
Listen to Over You now (https://ffm.to/overyougnsr)!
27 Jan 2026
Arguing about voice memos
As we enter our final days of writing songs for our next album, Vanessa gets real vulnerable and plays a bunch of random song ideas recorded on her phone. Let us know what you think! And please sign the attached NDA.
20 Jan 2026
Arguing about the speed of creativity
This episode was recorded live from a car on the highway. As a result, it's the first ep to break our "no editing" rule, but honestly it sounded like garbage and was unusable if we hadn't cleaned up the audio.
When we finally got around to treating it we had released another episode, so this is also out of chronological order. But it was a fun discussion about the joys and perils of creativity and publishing personal works.
In this episode we also argue about:
why we made a podcast
why we make & release music
why "creativity loves speed"
the roadblocks that slow creativity down
the fights we get into as a result
6 Jan 2026
Arguing about songwriting
David and Vanessa argue about:
Overcoming writer’s block
How each of their writing styles have evolved over the years
Which of us is Charli XCX and which is Lorde
Are toplining or rhyme dictionaries cheating?
How songwriting is like an escape room
27 Dec 2025
Arguing about what TV show to watch
On a very special episode of this brand new podcast nobody knows about, David and Vanessa argue about:
what TV show to watch next
if we picked the right name for this podcast
whether or not Kevin Costner drank his own pee on the set of Waterworld
19 Dec 2025
Arguing about what our podcast should be called
Wow! Another podcast! Just what the world needs.
We’re David and Vanessa. We’re in a band called Goodnight Sunrise (http://www.goodnightsunrise.com/). We also make a math education podcast called Math Therapy (http://www.maththerapypodcast.com/). So we decided, since there aren't enough podcasts out there, to make a new podcast where we talk about whatever we want and do literally zero editing.
So here is our first episode, unfiltered for better or for worse. We spent our precious time coming up with bad names for this show until we landed on one we liked at the end. But then after recording, we thought of a different and maybe better one, so we might change it, who knows.
Listen to our band: Goodnight Sunrise (http://www.goodnightsunrise.com/)
Listen to our math podcast: Math Therapy (http://www.maththerapypodcast.com/)
Contact GET A LIFE w/ David and Vanessa
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