By Justin Lee

Located on the cusp of Toronto’s Korea Town is an unassuming café that is directly above Joon’s Kitchen (who makes the best Duk Boki you’ll ever try). The sign above the small café reads Sky Blue Sky Sandwiches, which may or may not mean anything to you depending on how big a Wilco fan you are.

The name, of course, takes from the sixth album of the Chicago-bred, alt-country six-piece. Its probably just a coincidence, right? Think again. A quick glimpse at their menu and you’ll see signature sandwiches with names like Casino Queen, How To Fight Loneliness, She’s A Jar and Via Chicago. Surprisingly, this all went unnoticed for the first few months the café was open until Blog TO did a piece on the sandwich shop, which was soon followed by a report by Pitchfork, or as I like to refer to it as, “Oprah’s Book Club for Hipsters.”

Like so many others, Wilco has been my favourite band since university. And while the band has grown from near obscurity to a relatively well-known name in rock today, they are far from being the band you name-check at parties to sound cool. For anyone who has attended a Wilco show, you’ll probably recall being surrounded by a generally older crowd, and on some occasions, families. But one thing you will certainly take away from a Wilco show is that these six guys put on one of the best performances you’ll ever see. More importantly, it is one show that is completely free of any pretensions.

The same can be said about Sky Blue Sky Sandwiches owner, Chad Comfort. With a name like Comfort, it’s hard to be labelled anything but the “nice guy”. I mean, just try to order a sandwich from this guy and not be instantly drawn into a conversation about music, film, food, relationships, or just everyday life. I dare you. It’s impossible. Which is why this interview had to be cut down a bit, otherwise you would be forced to take a few breaks for food and rest in-between reads.

My Liner Notes: Tell me about how you first came up with the idea of opening Sky Blue Sky Sandwiches?

Chad Comfort: Years ago, my wife and I were talking about doing a diner kind of thing, we thought that would be  fun. We got caught up with other jobs, but then the opportunity presented itself where we could open something. And what we like to do and what I can cook is comfort food — sandwiches, soups, cookies — stuff that you can get at home that just makes you feel good. So we started with that idea, and I thought, well, if I can open my own place I would like to play the kind of music that I always wanted to hear. I was excited by that idea: good food, good music.

And how did you arrive at the name Sky Blue Sky Sandwiches?

CC: We were thinking of a name and [we wanted] something that represents who we are. For the first four or five months, 90 percent of people that came in didn’t know that Sky Blue Sky was anything Wilco-related, but at least they thought it sounded happy and comforting. And I think that describes the food. For the Wilco fans, they’re a non-pretentious band — we’re not pretentious. They’re a band that has a general appeal to people from 12 and 65, and that’s what we strive to be. We don’t want to say, “Oh, you have to dress a certain way, you have to look a certain way to come here”.

Why did you choose that specific Wilco album to name your restaurant after? Because some would argue that it’s probably the weakest of all the Wilco albums.

CC: My favourite is definitely Summerteeth, then A Ghost is Born and Yankee Foxtrot Hotel, and Sky Blue Sky would be somewhere underneath there. But if you just think of names, Summerteeth Sandwiches would make people think that you were biting into something that would break your teeth. But Sky Blue Sky Sandwiches had a good feel to it. So yeah, Sky Blue Sky was probably not my favourite album but I would still rank it ahead of Wilco (The Album).

I actually really loved Wilco (The Album).

CC: I think Wilco (The Album) sounds a lot better on a mix-tape or a playlist. If you just listen to a song here or there, it sounds great. But as a whole, I don’t think it’s as tight as their other albums. If I put in A.M., I know I’m getting a country album. If I put in Being There, I know I’m getting a country album that’s going off in a slightly different direction. Yankee Foxtrot Hotel has its own feel. A Ghost is Born is a really dark album. And Sky Blue Sky is kind of happier feeling. But Wilco (The Album) feels a little schizophrenic. When I listen to it I feel like it’s just all over the place. But the album has grown on me.

How did you decide to name each sandwich after a specific Wilco song?

CC: A lot of the sandwiches we came up and the name just fit it so nicely. The turkey sandwich we named “One Wing” and that just sounded too good. “Kingpin” sounded good for a bbq pulled pork sandwich. “Wishful Thinking” is a Portobello mushroom, roasted peppers and avocado, and it’s kind of like a burger for a vegetarian, so in other words, wishful thinking. There’s a craziness behind all the names, but we come up with the sandwich first then come up with the name. If you look at most sandwiches, the club sandwich, for instance, why is it called the club? It’s got three pieces of toast, they cut it twice instead of just once, they put toothpicks in it, and they call it the club.

How has music contributed to your relationship with your wife?

CC: I never really though much of it, but they say that religion plays a big part in your compatibility, and I guess you can say that music taste does too. The first time I met her, we were in university and she was coming back from a Tom Cochrane concert. We had different taste back then. She liked REM, U2, this was back when I was into a lot of classic rock. Then OK Computer came out and we could agree on that. She’s a huge Radiohead fan. Wilco is one of the bands that we have a funny history about, and that’s probably one of the reason why we picked it for our [restaurant] name. One of the first summers we were dating, she bought me as a present tickets to see Wilco. It said doors open at 6 and one of her friends said “don’t listen to that, it says 6 but the show won’t start until at least a couple hours later.” So we walk in about 8:30 and they were already on their second or third encore. People were walking out of the show saying, “that was the best show I’ve ever seen!” And since the tickets were a present to me she ended up crying. She felt so bad because we ended up missing it. But we kept going to concerts from there. We still have some different taste now but we’re growing to be a little bit more similar. 

When was the next time you got to see them?

CC: We were suppose to go see them again year or so later but she ended up getting sunstroke. We were in London and it was a weekend trip, so she went back to the hotel room and I ended up going. To me it was my favourite concert ever but I can’t really tell her that. It was the first one with the complete line-up that they have now, and Nels had a lot freedom back then. It was before Sky Blue Sky came out and they played “Impossible Germany” for the first time.

Did you and your wife ever exchange mix-tapes when you were dating? What kinds of songs would you put on them?

CC: Yeah, they usually had songs that we would laugh about. Old ’70s songs that we would laugh at that were sort of goofy. Maybe some Public Enemy or Digital Underground. Bell Biv Devoe, like “Do Me”? There was a time when I used to listen to that stuff. People would laugh now because I’m as white as white can get. I’ve tried to convert her on a lot of bands or artists, like Ryan Adams. But she wouldn’t like him. I would put him on a mix-cd so many times just to get her to like him. But she wouldn’t get upset even if I laughed at her for (listening) to Tom Cochrane, so who am I to judge? But that whole “Life is a Highway” thing, I can’t really do it.

What does your son listen to?

CC: He listens to a lot of stuff. There’s Beethoven’s Wig4/20/10, which takes classical composers like Beethoven and changes them into kid’s songs. Oh, he likes the Wiggles. He likes the Beatles. Hey Spencer, what kind of music do you like? You like Ryan Adams, right?

Spencer Comfort: Yeah, and Wilco.

What’s your favourite Wilco song?

SC: The first one.

CC: You probably like “California Stars”. The one you listen to with your grandfather. Spencer also likes the Ryan Adams song “To Be Young”, so even if my wife won’t like him, at least I’ve converted my son.

So what happens when Spencer grows up and he’s at that age where he’s really getting into music and he tells you he’s not into Wilco anymore. Would that upset you on some level?

CC: No, I would hope that he would just really like music and introduce me to something new. He can like whatever. He’s introduced me to more classical music than I’ve ever been exposed to, just through Beethoven’s Wig.